Behind every little fish is a great white lie
February 28, 2018 7:53 AM Subscribe

This week in Washington is all about testing limits.
Hope Hicks' testimony before the House Intelligence committee tested the limits of executive privilege.
Jared Kushner tested the limits of his provisional security clearance, and flunked.
Robert Mueller's investigation tested the limits set by Republicansby digging into Trump's business deals with Russians and his 2013 activities around the Miss Universe Pageant.
Meanwhile, Americans tested the limits of their prescriptions for anti-anxiety medications.
posted by murphy slaw (1777 comments total) 91 users marked this as a favorite

Manafort pleads not guilty to the revamped charges.
posted by lovelyzoo at 7:59 AM on February 28, 2018 [6 favorites]

Honestly, the raw hurricane of objectionable facts - things that make you reflexively shout 'No!' - that come out of this 'administration.' Golly.
Because I'd like to say, here we go, Mueller looking into Trump's business esp. Miss Universe is it. This is also the thing that Trump said he would not 'tolerate' but who knows?
Maybe this is the special Ninja talent of this administration - that they fling so much fucking crazy you literally can't see which way is up. And whatever else you might think disparagingly about Trump and Co, they have kept up this chaos for a solid year. Not too shabby. Not good, but impressive. In a bad way.
posted by From Bklyn at 8:01 AM on February 28, 2018 [8 favorites]

Couple comments deleted. Gonna try to keep the new thread lean, thank you everybody for helping with that.
posted by LobsterMitten (staff) at 8:06 AM on February 28, 2018 [22 favorites]

Education Department Wants To Protect Student Loan Debt Collectors (NPR, Feb. 27, 2018)

You read that right - under the direction of Betsy DeVos, who is dedicated to supporting religious and charter schools (Eric Lipton for New York Times, Oct. 27, 2017), wants to protect Student Loan Debt Collectors. I'd make a comment about Jesus and his feelings debt collectors, but I respect the separation of church and state.

In an internal document obtained by NPR, the U.S. Department of Education, under Secretary Betsy DeVos, argues that the nation's loan servicers should be protected from state rules that may be far tougher than federal law.

"Congress created and expanded the Direct Loan Program with the goal of simplifying the delivery of student loans to borrowers, eliminating borrower confusion, avoiding unnecessary costs to taxpayers, and creating a more streamlined student loan program," the memo reads. "Recently, several States have enacted regulatory regimes or applied existing State consumer protection statutes that undermine these goals."

The memo, which was first reported by Bloomberg, has not been officially released; it marks the latest move by the Trump administration to align itself with debt collectors over the nation's 44 million student loan borrowers.

Emphasis, because this is how you report on these shitty practices. 1) This isn't a new direction for DeVos, Trump and company, and 2) this is pitting the future of the country against select profiteers.

This is after the Department of Education stopped working with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, "really the only sheriff directly tasked with watching the student loan servicer industry"(per Seth Frotman, CFPB's student loan ombudsman) last August to share information and cooperate on enforcement(NPR, September 20, 2017).

Don't believe Trump and co when they talk about wanting to improve the educational opportunities for people in this nation.
posted by filthy light thief at 8:14 AM on February 28, 2018 [89 favorites]

Recently, several States have enacted regulatory regimes or applied existing State consumer protection statutes that undermine these goals

Once again, "states rights" means that states have the right to do what DC Republicans say is right.
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 8:19 AM on February 28, 2018 [38 favorites]

Maybe this is the special Ninja talent of this administration - that they fling so much fucking crazy you literally can't see which way is up. And whatever else you might think disparagingly about Trump and Co, they have kept up this chaos for a solid year. Not too shabby. Not good, but impressive. In a bad way.

The next Republican President- Pence or Ryan or Rubio or whoever- is watching, and taking notes. A high percentage of the objection to Trump remains aesthetic, and when it's a "normal" Republican pulling this Gish Gallop of Objectionable Shit it'll be far more tolerated by Democrat and Republican alike.
posted by Pope Guilty at 8:23 AM on February 28, 2018 [31 favorites]

Looks like Manafort is gonna hitch his wagon to a Trump pardon.
posted by azpenguin at 8:26 AM on February 28, 2018 [1 favorite]

Pence or Ryan or Rubio or whoever- is watching, and taking notes.

They're not that smart.

Once again, "states rights" means that states have the right to do what DC Republicans say is right.

Huh? My state (yeah, liberal headquarters MA) flatly refused to give immigration data to the White House when they asked for it, and currently bans guns like the AR-17.
posted by Melismata at 8:26 AM on February 28, 2018 [3 favorites]

Manafort lives in Virginia. Virginia has a Democratic Governor and Attorney General. It would be terribly inconvenient for Manafort if he was charged with state crimes which cannot be pardoned by the President, wouldn't it? Or are we to assume that he paid state taxes on all that ill-gotten lucre?
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 8:29 AM on February 28, 2018 [22 favorites]

NSA Chief: U.S. Response 'Hasn't Changed The Calculus' Of Russian Interference (NPR, February 27, 2018)

National Security Agency and U.S. Cyber Command chief Adm. Michael Rogers told the Senate Armed Services Committee on Tuesday there is only so much he can do. That is because, according to Rogers, President Trump has not ordered him to go after the Russian attacks at their origin.

Sen. Jack Reed of Rhode Island, the committee's ranking Democrat, asked Rogers, "Have you been directed to do so, given this strategic threat that faces the United States and the significant consequences you recognize already?"

"No, I have not," Rogers replied.

But the spy chief pushed back on suggestions that he should seek a presidential signoff.

"I am not going to tell the president what he should or should not do," Rogers said when Connecticut Democrat Richard Blumenthal pressed him on whether Trump should approve that authority.

"I'm an operational commander, not a policymaker," he added. "That's the challenge for me as a military commander."
...
In another part of an oversight hearing in which Rogers appeared as the sole witness and in which Republican members kept silent about the Trump administration's response to Russian meddling, Reed asked whether Moscow was trying to obtain a strategic objective by influencing U.S. public opinion on elections.

"Yes, sir," Rogers replied. "I believe they're attempting to undermine our institutions."

Without going into details, he said he has directed the Cyber Command's Cyber Mission Force "to begin some specific work" in response to Russia's interference in U.S. elections.

But Rogers also made clear that he had not been granted what he called "the day-to-day authority" to disrupt Russian hacking operations at their point of origin. That, he said, would have to come from Trump through Defense Secretary James Mattis.

Trump still has not signed new sanctions against Russia, after the U.S. Treasury pulled some "a school kid who forgot they had homework due next period" move and copied list not of Putin’s inner circle, but of people whose names appear on the Kremlin website and in Forbes’s 2017 list of the wealthiest Russians, which Leonid Bershidsky wrote was a disgrace (Bloomberg op-ed, Jan. 30, 2018).
posted by filthy light thief at 8:29 AM on February 28, 2018 [30 favorites]

Once again, "states rights" means that states have the right to do what DC Republicans say is right.

I keep talking about Democratic messaging challenges in these threads, and the one cited above is a major example. Republicans don't care about hypocrisy, but pointing it out isn't "he said, she said" or "gotcha journalism," it's demonstrating that Republicans don't act like they actually believe the principles they use to get elected.

Democrats may be criticized for being too cozy with Wall Street or whatever, but in general, their policies do tend to reflect their core beliefs.

Republican policies do too, but those beliefs are not the ones they want to air publicly, because then they'd have a tough time getting elected. "Transfer the other half of the nation's wealth to the ultra-rich" is not a popular platform, no matter how many news articles try to paint the party's ideas as "populist."
posted by Gelatin at 8:31 AM on February 28, 2018 [38 favorites]

That last link has a link to another page that details all of the ... uh... links from Russia to Trump.
The Many Paths from Trump to Russia.
I lived in Little Russia in SF and there weren't this many Russian connections.
posted by runcibleshaw at 8:32 AM on February 28, 2018 [35 favorites]

The next Republican President- Pence or Ryan or Rubio or whoever- is watching, and taking notes. A high percentage of the objection to Trump remains aesthetic, and when it's a "normal" Republican pulling this Gish Gallop of Objectionable Shit it'll be far more tolerated by Democrat and Republican alike.

I'm kind of hoping this cuts both ways. I've been spending a lot of time arguing about Massachusetts politics lately, and the dread specter of Elizabeth Warren running in 2020 get bandied about a lot by people who hate her but just can't explain why. Someone inevitably drops the "fauxcohantas lol" turd in the punchbowl. I'm at the point where I just respond, blandly, "You're currently supporting a serial liar and malignant narcissist, who openly worked with the Russians to swing the election from the winner of the popular vote, and who would be under house arrest while his financial and political misdoings were investigated by a federal grand jury if he were anyone other than the head of the executive branch of government. And you want to talk about how this other, extremely-well-qualified, not-under-indictment-for-treason candidate is unfit for office because of an answer she maybe-gave on an employment application twenty years ago? Fuck off."
posted by Mayor West at 8:35 AM on February 28, 2018 [140 favorites]

My new thread reminder: with everything going on, let’s all remember to be nice to each other here. Everyone is stressed and anxious and angry so let’s be good to each other.
posted by skycrashesdown at 8:35 AM on February 28, 2018 [26 favorites]

azpenguin: Looks like Manafort is gonna hitch his wagon to a Trump pardon.

Reminder: Investigations of Manafort in New York Are Beyond Trump’s Power to Pardon (Ben Protess and Jessica Silver-Greenberg for New York Times, Oct. 30, 2017)

In July, President Trump wrote on Twitter that “all agree the U.S. President has the complete power to pardon.”

But for Paul J. Manafort, who surrendered to the F.B.I. on Monday after being indicted on federal criminal charges, Mr. Trump’s power has a limitation of potential significance: a presidential pardon does not apply to charges from state and local authorities.

Although it is not known whether Mr. Manafort will receive or even request a presidential pardon, he also faces scrutiny from authorities in New York whose prosecutions would not be subject to one.

Since the article went up, DOJ took down their FAQs concerning Executive Clemency that was linked in the NYT article, but their own site still recognizes that it existed. (Also, the internet does not easily forget.)

The site also had a page on Rules Governing Petitions for Executive Clemency, which is also now missing. But they do have Trump's stats on requests for clemency, and those he has granted.
posted by filthy light thief at 8:36 AM on February 28, 2018 [19 favorites]

DOJ took down their FAQs concerning Executive Clemency

This is a smart move, since the only clemency Trump has granted was a unilateral pardon of Joe Arpaio against the advice of DOJ. I imagine their "Frequently Asked Questions" would now be rather uncomfortable.
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 8:40 AM on February 28, 2018 [12 favorites]

Axios: "Javanka and Kelly are locked in a death match. Two enter. Only one survives. — A White House official"

Who run Trumpertown?

In other news, he will never ever ever forgive Jeff for recusing:

@realDonaldTrump
Why is A.G. Jeff Sessions asking the Inspector General to investigate potentially massive FISA abuse. Will take forever, has no prosecutorial power and already late with reports on Comey etc. Isn’t the I.G. an Obama guy? Why not use Justice Department lawyers? DISGRACEFUL!

Also: Trump approval is underwater in South Carolina.

Fifty percent of South Carolina residents surveyed said they disapproved of the job Trump is doing, according to a new poll from Winthrop University. Trump's statewide approval rating, 42 percent, is marginally better than his national standings of 35 percent.
posted by Rust Moranis at 8:41 AM on February 28, 2018 [30 favorites]

the dread specter of Elizabeth Warren running in 2020 get bandied about a lot by people who hate her but just can't explain why.

I'll give you a hint: it begins with "wo" and ends with "man." I was having lunch with two dear, good friends the other day. They are progressive Democrats! And yet the husband said something about Kirsten Gillibrand: "I think she wants to run in 2020 but she doesn't seem very...Presidential to me." From a man whose wife has held a high-powered job throughout their marriage and after they had their kid! I swear my tongue was like Swiss cheese, I was biting it so much. Misogyny is subtle and unexamined and seems to crop up in the "There's something about her I just don't like" or "I'd vote for a woman, but not that one" etc. etc. ad nauseam.

What is heartening me is the number of local seats that are flipping from R to D or at least giving the R's a good challenge. The Presidential office is big and flashy, but local is where the rubber meets the road. And states are not without power - blue California and Washington are standing up to Trump, and Oakland mayor Libby Schaaf warned immigrants of an impending ICE raid.

If Democrats get out and vote in their numbers, they can turn their states blue and get Schaafs and Inslees in office no matter who is in the White House.
posted by Rosie M. Banks at 8:47 AM on February 28, 2018 [105 favorites]

The CNN site linked by runcibleshaw is a pretty solid approach to keeping track of the dense cast of characters. We're at a point where a mere wiki wouldn't do the job; it's more like following the overlapping timelines of the Terminator franchise or something.

One person not in that page's list is Steve Bannon, and that probably makes sense? It occurred to me the other day that Mueller having interviewed Bannon for many hours (in person!) is cause for hope precisely because of his lack of Putin entanglements (that I'm aware of) other than his just being in the campaign/administration. So in theory, he was freer to say what he knows without incriminating himself. But of course that's just speculation on my part.
posted by InTheYear2017 at 8:49 AM on February 28, 2018 [2 favorites]

Lying to Congress is a crime, but little-white-lying to Congress is OK.
posted by kirkaracha at 8:49 AM on February 28, 2018 [8 favorites]

Good news from Texas, where Democratic Senate candidate Beto O'Rourke has been endorsed by Smash Mouth.

Official reaction from the Texas Democratic Party.
posted by Chrysostom at 8:51 AM on February 28, 2018 [68 favorites]

"Isn’t the I.G. an Obama guy?"

It's 2018 and the President of the United States is broadcasting appeals to the general population to educate him regarding who nominated his officials.

For the record, the Inspector General of the Department of Justice is Michael E. Horowitz, who became IG under Obama in 2012, but who has served in the DOJ and US Sentencing Commission under HW Bush, Clinton, W Bush, Obama, and now Trump, with a 10 year stint in private practice (doing white collar defense!) from 2002-2012.
posted by jedicus at 8:51 AM on February 28, 2018 [24 favorites]

The Russians have enough propagandists and hardcases already that they didn't need to put major effort into turning Bannon, particularly when 90% of the rest of Team Trump -- including Trump himself -- were and are soft and easy targets for compromisation. They recognized that he would do enough sustained damage on his own without being handed a script to follow.
posted by delfin at 8:56 AM on February 28, 2018 [2 favorites]

In President Trauma's mind, anyone not him nor his family who existed during the Obama presidency is an Obama guy. (Tax and misogyny included, fees may vary.)
posted by riverlife at 8:57 AM on February 28, 2018 [2 favorites]

Manafort trial date set for September 17.
posted by Chrysostom at 8:58 AM on February 28, 2018 [17 favorites]

Bannon's acknowledgement that he accused the President's son, son-in-law and campaign manager of treason is a good sign that he doesn't consider himself to be part of the same treason. I can't imagine that the events of recent weeks have resulted in warmer personal feelings between Steve Bannon and the Trump family.
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 8:58 AM on February 28, 2018 [2 favorites]

Democratic Senate candidate Beto O'Rourke has been endorsed by Smash Mouth.

What with the prevalence of Shrek and "All Star" in the meme community, this is bound to rustle a few jimmies. And that makes me happy.
posted by Faint of Butt at 9:02 AM on February 28, 2018 [6 favorites]

Chrysostom: Manafort trial date set for September 17.

Right now, I'm still a bit sick to my stomach with all the terrible things that are happening, but in 5-10 years when the moral arc of the universe corrects for this abhorrent detour, there will be so many interesting stories about who knew what and when, and why they did what they did.

Manafort's trial date is dangerously close to the major 2018 elections, and could potentially push a lot of people to become active, or despondent. If it were earlier, they could possibly wrap up with enough time for a new and terrible October Surprise, or later, and they would still be too early to provide major motivations.
posted by filthy light thief at 9:03 AM on February 28, 2018 [10 favorites]

Nixon had his Enemies List; Stupid Nixon, being incapable of writing his own, has his goons maintain an Enemy Filing Cabinet full of the people who could one day be the deciding votes to remove him from office.

Aides for President Trump have compiled folders to keep track of attacks Republican lawmakers and others levy against the president, The Washington Post reported Wednesday. The newspaper reported that aides have documented criticisms made by Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) and other detractors about the president.
posted by Rust Moranis at 9:05 AM on February 28, 2018 [30 favorites]

It's unlikely that the trial will actually end up happening on or even near Sept. 17. Continuances are common, especially when both sides have expensive attorneys.
posted by Holy Zarquon's Singing Fish at 9:05 AM on February 28, 2018 [6 favorites]

@realDonaldTrump
Why is A.G. Jeff Sessions asking the Inspector General to investigate potentially massive FISA abuse. Will take forever, has no prosecutorial power and already late with reports on Comey etc. Isn’t the I.G. an Obama guy? Why not use Justice Department lawyers? DISGRACEFUL!

Yeah he's a joke and we're used to ignoring his crazy tweets, but he's instructing his AG to prosecute the people investigating him and his political enemies. This banana republicanism is obstruction and impeachable, even if he never did or said anything else.
posted by chris24 at 9:09 AM on February 28, 2018 [82 favorites]

Bannon's acknowledgement that he accused the President's son and campaign manager of treason is a good sign that he doesn't consider himself to be part of the same treason.

That's from "Fire and Fury" -- aka Bannon's version of "What Happened" -- he appears to be a primary source for most of it. Whatever perception you have of Bannon from that book is probably the perception he wants you to have.

Remember that Bannon was a former Vice President of Cambridge Analytica, who reached out to WikiLeaks with an offer to help organize the hacked emails, and left a whole bunch of voter data laying around where Russia could find it.

Also there are the shady stories I linked to in this previous megathread comment, of Bannon meeting secretly with the royal families of Jordon and UAE, working on that nuclear power deal Flynn wanted which was being impeded by the sanctions on Russia.

The Russian bot network spent the entire campaign tweeting out links to Breitbart articles.
posted by OnceUponATime at 9:14 AM on February 28, 2018 [66 favorites]

We have to do all 4 years of this shit, don't we? What are the actual odds of Trump being ousted or even being brought up on charges during his term?.

Slim.

Impeachment requires a majority in the House to bring charges, but a 2/3 majority in the Senate to convict and remove him. The simple majority might be possible post-midterms, but:

1) It is mathematically impossible for the Dems to win enough Senate seats in 2018 to gain a 67-33 majority. There are simply not enough GOP-controlled seats up for reelection this year, even if Dems managed to run the table.

2) It is conceptually impossible for any Republican Senator to vote to impeach Donald Trump under any circumstances. We can't get more than one or two defectors at a time to vote against things that many red state constituents HATE. Any GOP Senator voting to impeach Trump would need a food taster for the rest of his or her life.

What about 2020? Well, the same math applies, and I would like to witness an election in which the Dems gain 67 Senate seats -- which would be FDR-era-level dominance -- and yet Trump still wins reelection.

Now, what CAN happen is that if evidence emerges that is beyond the slightest shadow of a doubt, there will be those among the Republican Party who will kick the back door open, point at it and cough loudly. If given the choice of resigning with both middle fingers up and screaming about corruption and conspiracies or going through the motions of hearings where even Republicans would feel compelled to remove him, I suspect that Trump might take the rubles and run.

An alternative would be that if similar Mueller writing looms on the wall imposingly enough, Trump experiences a Sudden and Mysterious Health Crisis and steps down because of that.
posted by delfin at 9:21 AM on February 28, 2018 [24 favorites]

It is conceptually impossible for any Republican Senator to vote to [convict] Donald Trump under any circumstances.

I strongly disagree. If Mueller presents conclusive evidence of Trump committing felonies which the general public overwhelmingly considers morally repugnant, the political calculus could change instantaneously. There are SOME Republican senators who would never convict Trump. Not all.
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 9:34 AM on February 28, 2018 [11 favorites]

It is conceptually impossible for any Republican Senator to vote to [convict] Donald Trump under any circumstances.

Remember that the same thing was true in Watergate right up until it wasn’t.
posted by C'est la D.C. at 9:36 AM on February 28, 2018 [72 favorites]

Trump still has not signed new sanctions against Russia

Daily Beast: Democrats Try to Outflank Donald Trump After He Failed to Implement Russia Sanctions

This week, House Democrats are filing a resolution aimed at compelling the administration to implement those sanctions under the Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA). A copy of the resolution was obtained by The Daily Beast.

“Congress passed a pretty comprehensive sanctions bill with respect to Iran, North Korea, and Russia last year—and the president has not implemented any of those sanctions. So we need to put our foot to the gas pedal,” Rep. Gerald Connolly (D-VA), who is introducing the House resolution, said in an interview. “If the president’s not going to do it, then Congress needs to.”

The resolution names Russia’s “continued aggression in Ukraine and forcible and illegal annexation of Crimea and assault on democratic institutions around the world, including through cyberattacks.” It mirrors a Senate resolution introduced this month by Sens. Ben Cardin (D-MD), Bob Menendez (D-NJ), and Sherrod Brown (D-OH).

The House and Senate efforts are largely symbolic, lawmakers acknowledge. And they’re unlikely to force real action absent Republican support. But Democrats are hoping that the effort will keep the spotlight on the sanctions as Moscow continues to destabilize Eastern Europe and the Middle East, and as Trump and his associates remain under investigation by the special counsel.

Incidentally, also in yesterday's security clearance purge four Commerce Department appointees lost their posts after problems in background checks (Washington Post). "The department determined that the four appointees — including one who worked for the agency for nearly a year and served for several months as a senior adviser to Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross — should not be given access to classified information, according to multiple officials who requested anonymity to discuss personnel matters."
posted by Doktor Zed at 9:36 AM on February 28, 2018 [18 favorites]

Misogyny is subtle and unexamined and seems to crop up in the "There's something about her I just don't like" or "I'd vote for a woman, but not that one" etc. etc. ad nauseam

I am honest to God at the point where I just want to disenfranchise these assholes. Like in the event we could somehow make sure these crimes were prosecuted fairly and not, you know, in a super racist or misogynist or otherwise shitty way (shut up I can dream), well...

I’d want to see a nationwide push to take crimes against the marginalized very, very seriously, and I’d like the prosecutions to be fucking zealous. And then?

Every been convicted of a hate crime? DISENFRANCHISED. Ever been convicted of gendered violence? Stalking, sexual assault, harassment, intimate partner violence? DISENFRANCHISED. You are not fit to participate in civic society; BE GONE.

It wouldn’t fix the subtle misogyny of “she’s just not Presidential” (and good lord, his poor wife), but I do like the idea of sending the message that if you’re a violent bigoted asshole, you no longer get to participate. You have shown you are not fit to have a voice. Sit the fuck down. You get a time out for ten years.

This has been fantasy hour with schadenfrau. If you need me I’ll be fantasizing about revolution in the corner over there.
posted by schadenfrau at 9:36 AM on February 28, 2018 [46 favorites]

Several comments deleted. Let's not get deeper into the infinitely repeated "what will happen, will Trump resign, when impeachment, nevr impeachment because GOP, oh but maybe impeachment, what about the 25th, but Pence is worse" etc line. We don't know, and we have this conversation every single thread. Yes things are terrible, OMG these unbelievable fuckers, but in the name of keeping the threads smaller, we need folks to not repeat those points over and over. With love in my heart, here's a rule of thumb: if you're making a one-liner comment, consider taking it over to Chat instead.
posted by LobsterMitten (staff) at 9:37 AM on February 28, 2018 [38 favorites]

Btw, in the primary last night for the upcoming AZ-08 special election, the GOP opted not to nominate the minister who has been getting topless selfies from an aide, going instead for the one who has been accused of illegal financial transactions.

That's Representative Trent Franks' former district. He had offered a staffer 5 million dollars to be a surrogate. Had also tried to persuade another aide that they were in love by having her read an article that described how a person knows they're in love with someone.

After Franks resigned, the GOP must have thought they'd hit the jackpot with Steve Montenegro. Upstanding minister and family man who already has kids and therefore presumably has no need to ask his staffers to bear his children.

Alas....
posted by zarq at 9:39 AM on February 28, 2018 [17 favorites]

That's Representative Trent Franks' former district.

And I'm very pleased that both party candidates are women, in light of that.
posted by Chrysostom at 9:45 AM on February 28, 2018 [8 favorites]

From the Pacific Standard, a story by Massed Haroun: The Trump Administration Is Reportedly Separating Hundreds of Immigrant Children from Their Parents (because of course it is):

The American Civil Liberties Union filed suit this week against federal immigration officials in an effort to reunite an asylum seeker and her daughter who are being held at separate detention facilities located some 2,000 miles apart. The incident is one of what the advocates claim are hundreds of similar separations transpiring across the country, part of a greater effort by the Trump administration to dissuade immigrants from coming to the United States at all.

In the lawsuit filed by the ACLU on Monday, a woman referred to only as Ms. L arrived in San Diego in November from the Democratic Republic of Congo with her daughter, referred to as S.S. After some preliminary questions about the circumstances of Ms. L's arrival, U.S. immigration officials determined that she was in grave enough danger to potentially receive asylum in the U.S. and allowed her case to continue to the next stage of consideration. At first Ms. L was housed, along with S.S., in what she describes as a sort of motel, the lawsuit says. But after about four days, immigration authorities placed Ms. L in a San Diego immigrant detention facility and shipped her child to a separate facility in Chicago.
posted by Bella Donna at 9:46 AM on February 28, 2018 [39 favorites]

Gizmodo's Matt Novak‏ on Twitter: On the left, the screenshot from Assange that he says proves he didn't want to talk with Roger Stone. On the right, the full message.
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 9:59 AM on February 28, 2018 [37 favorites]

And yet the husband said something about Kirsten Gillibrand: "I think she wants to run in 2020 but she doesn't seem very...Presidential to me." From a man whose wife has held a high-powered job throughout their marriage and after they had their kid! I swear my tongue was like Swiss cheese, I was biting it so much. Misogyny is subtle and unexamined and seems to crop up in the "There's something about her I just don't like" or "I'd vote for a woman, but not that one" etc. etc. ad nauseam.

I've been seeing "progressives" trot out excuses like the NRA and Al Franken (yes, really) for justifying kneecapping Gillibrand. It just disgusts me.
posted by NoxAeternum at 10:03 AM on February 28, 2018 [28 favorites]

This is fascinating - managing the environment based on watersheds and ecoregions makes so much sense ... assuming you have the staff to manage those areas.

It does from a 40,000ft view but when those watersheds and ecoregions cover multiple states you now have multiple teams that need skills in dealing with the bureaucracy of multiple states. Like take most of oregon. There's many watersheds and ecoregions that border Washington, Ohio, Idaho, Nevada, and California. You get something like the Blue Mountains tucked away in the corner you'd have to deal with Oregon, Washinton, and Idaho simultaneously. Better to have federal bureaucrats at each state working with bureaucrats in other states to push common goals.
posted by Talez at 10:07 AM on February 28, 2018 [7 favorites]

Doktor Zed: "The department determined that the four appointees — including one who worked for the agency for nearly a year and served for several months as a senior adviser to Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross — should not be given access to classified information, according to multiple officials who requested anonymity to discuss personnel matters."

But that's the thing - these aren't "personnel matters," but "national security matters."

If only the Republicans would treat them as such.
posted by filthy light thief at 10:23 AM on February 28, 2018 [19 favorites]

Regarding the state voter registration hacks and questions about what actually happened -- Illinois has been very up front (and caught hella flack about it, it was extraordinarily bad PR, especially as the other six states kept insisting they hadn't been hacked and Illinois was saying, "We know we were hacked, we don't know what they got.") and has continued to community very openly about the hack as they have learned more about it. Everyone who may possibly have had their records accessed received a letter from the state detailing what the hackers could possibly have seen. No one in Illinois had anything in their records changed, as far as the two-year investigation has been able to show. Nobody has shown up at the wrong polling station, none of the data was different from backups of the same data, etc. So I am pretty confident that the Russians actually just hacked in to let us know they could hack in, and didn't fuck with anything (but our trust in Democracy).

Moreover, the Russians hacked the state board of elections voter database, which keeps track of voter information. But ballots and tallying is carried out by the counties -- hacking the state voter rolls does not give them any access to manipulating ballots and tallies (in Illinois). Illinois also has a solid procedure, that all election judges are trained on, for people whose voter record is incorrect in the database, or who moved and it didn't update, or whatever else; laws that favor broad registration; provisions for last-minute registration; etc; so even if they did in the future mess with voter registrations, it wouldn't necessarily prevent anyone from voting. It'd be bad, but since Illinois already has very voter-friendly voting laws, it wouldn't be very effective.

Meanwhile, we've been working on hardening our elections systems for two years now, because Illinois was upfront about the hack and our state board of elections was willing to take the heat in order to do the right thing and get it fixed. They got resources, they got cooperation from the feds (and have been cooperating with the feds), and since the scandal played out 18 months ago, nobody's super-fussed about it going into our 2018 gubernatorial election + midterms. We already had the panic, the accusations, the finger-pointing, the notifications, the double-checking, etc., so the sense in the state is that it's old news, and it's been handled. The states that are JUST NOW being like "okay, yes, we were hacked" are going to have a lot less confidence from their voters going into 2018.
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 10:31 AM on February 28, 2018 [66 favorites]

Meanwhile, we've been working on hardening our elections systems for two years now

Can you provide any links discussing what exactly has been done to harden the systems?
posted by C'est la D.C. at 10:36 AM on February 28, 2018 [2 favorites]

Sessions has finally subtweeted at Trump over his tweets attacking DOJ. Reportedly Sessions was willing to absorb the attacks as long as they were mainly aimed at Sessions himself, but Trump crossed a line with him when he started going after career DOJ attorneys.

It would be so delicious if Trump's bullshit flipped Sessions and Sessions became a racist scumbag who also helped take down Trump.
posted by Justinian at 10:44 AM on February 28, 2018 [28 favorites]

CNN: Sessions fires back against Trump's tweet this AM:

"We have initiated the appropriate process that will ensure complaints against this Department will be fully and fairly acted upon if necessary. As long as I am the Attorney general, I will continue to discharge my duties with Integrity and honor, and this Department will continue to do its work in a fair and impartial manner according to the law and Constitution."

i'm probably projecting when i read "As long as I am Attorney General" as "go ahead, try to fire me, you nacho-cheese-colored dumbass"
posted by murphy slaw at 10:45 AM on February 28, 2018 [55 favorites]

The states that are JUST NOW being like "okay, yes, we were hacked" are going to have a lot less confidence from their voters going into 2018.

Five of the seven states that the intelligence community has identified as being hacked also have voter id laws in place: Wisconsin's is the strictest. Arizona, Alaska, Texas and Florida are the others. If several thousand voter addresses were to be altered in each state, that could conceivably cause enough chaos -- especially in extremely busy precincts -- that it could prevent people from voting due to delays, clerical errors or confusion.

Especially in states with legal voter suppression. Voter id laws are great unless you're poor, black, latino or elderly, after all.

Man, if I lived in any of those seven states (including Illinois) I wouldn't have much confidence in a system that had previously been hacked unless I knew that there were specific changes being made to prevent it in the future, the way y'all are doing. The fact that Russia didn't change voter records this time doesn't reassure me at all. I'd want a guarantee (or as close to one as is humanly possible) that they wouldn't have the opportunity to do so again.
posted by zarq at 10:52 AM on February 28, 2018 [14 favorites]

Shocker: Democrats’ predictions about the GOP tax cut are coming true, Paul Waldman, Washington Post

And of course, most of the news media treated this argument in the standard he said/she said manner: Republicans say this, Democrats say that, and the truth lies in some secret location we may never actually reach.

Well, it has been only two months since President Trump signed the bill into law, and we’re already learning what anyone with any sense knew at the time: Everything Democrats predicted is turning out to be right.

posted by the man of twists and turns at 10:54 AM on February 28, 2018 [94 favorites]

Gonzales follows Charlie Cook's lead, moves PA-18 special election to Toss Up.
posted by Chrysostom at 11:03 AM on February 28, 2018 [7 favorites]

Reportedly Sessions was willing to absorb the attacks as long as they were mainly aimed at Sessions himself, but Trump crossed a line with him when he started going after career DOJ attorneys.

Somehow I suspect this is less about him wanting to stick up for the people in his department and more the realization that he's obligated to do it if he doesn't want to soak in constant resentment at his office and from the White House.
posted by scaryblackdeath at 11:04 AM on February 28, 2018 [5 favorites]

My favorite insight from the WaPo article about the tax law, linked by the man of twists and turns:

It’s in part because lies about the future — and that’s what they are when you know that what you’re saying is utterly bogus — will not be policed with nearly the same vigor as lies about the past. If Trump claims that he had the largest inaugural crowd in history, it will immediately get shot down and subject to mockery even from neutral reporters. But if he says that all the benefits of his corporate tax cut will flow to workers, which is no less a lie, it will usually be met with “Critics question whether there is evidence to support his assertion.” When Republicans said that their tax cut wouldn’t increase the deficit because it would create so much economic growth that revenue would actually increase, it was treated as a questionable claim, not an assertion on par with “If I flap my arms, I can fly to the moon” or “With a week of training, my dog will be able to do a perfect rendition of ‘Enter Sandman’ on the electric guitar.”

posted by InTheYear2017 at 11:08 AM on February 28, 2018 [53 favorites]

NBC News, Katy Tur and Carol E. Lee, Mueller asking what Trump knew about hacked emails

In one line of questioning, investigators have focused on Trump's public comments in July 2016 asking Russia to find emails that were deleted by his then-opponent Hillary Clinton from a private server she maintained while secretary of state. The comments came at a news conference on July 27, 2016, just days after WikiLeaks began publishing the Democratic National Committee emails. "Russia, if you're listening, I hope you're able to find the 30,000 emails that are missing," Trump said.

Witnesses have been asked whether Trump himself knew then that Clinton's campaign chairman John Podesta, whose emails were released several months later, had already been targeted. They were also asked if Trump was advised to make the statement about Clinton's emails from someone outside his campaign, and if the witnesses had reason to believe Trump tried to coordinate the release of the DNC emails to do the most damage to Clinton, the people familiar with the matter said.
...
Investigators are also asking questions about Trump's longtime relationship with Republican operative Roger Stone, according to witnesses. Investigators have asked about Stone's contacts with WikiLeaks during the campaign and if he's ever met with Assange.

"They wanted to see if there was a scheme. Was Stone working on the side for Trump?" after he officially left the campaign, one person interviewed by the special counsel's office said, adding that it seemed investigators wanted to know, "Was this a big plot?"

posted by zachlipton at 11:12 AM on February 28, 2018 [52 favorites]

Good. I fucking hate when the response to that is "If he really was colluding, why would he say that? If anything it's evidence that he wasn't."

Specious fucking reasoning.
posted by defenestration at 11:19 AM on February 28, 2018 [4 favorites]

I had to take a break from a conversation after a friend told me that Gillibrand was “too polished” on Colbert, which means she’s an unreliable, passionless political animal. I sputtered something about voting for her over Trump with zero qualms and then stepped away to primally scream into my pillow.

I’m cynically amused by the selection of Brad Parscale as Trump’s 2020 campaign manager. Somehow, despite the mass of dead neurons that make up Team Trump, they figured out that Brad’s targeted Facebook nonsense was one of the key winning strategies they plan to retain from 2016.

Facebook better be fucking ready this time.
posted by xyzzy at 11:29 AM on February 28, 2018 [23 favorites]

Our country (and the world) is so tragically sexist. A woman politician will always be labelled all different types of too 'something', often in contradictory ways.
posted by defenestration at 11:35 AM on February 28, 2018 [28 favorites]

This is insane. This is a reply to Trump's earlier Twitter call out of Sessions for using the proper Inspector General process to look into any FISA violations that might have occurred:

@JerryFalwellJr: I couldn’t agree more. @USAGSessions must be part of the Bush/Romney/McCain Republican Establishment. He probably supported @realDonaldTrump early in campaign to hide who he really is. Or he could just be a coward.

He's is one step short of describing Sessions as part of the Deep State.
posted by mmascolino at 11:36 AM on February 28, 2018 [44 favorites]

Philip Bump for WaPo "What did Trump know, and when did he know it?"

"We’re asked to believe, then, that there were three instances in which Trump campaign staff were, or may have been, informed about potential dirt on Clinton that was being offered by the Russian government. That in the two cases where that clearly happened, that Trump himself was never informed of that incriminating information, even when one of the recipients of that offer was his own son."

posted by OnceUponATime at 11:37 AM on February 28, 2018 [24 favorites]

I take heart from how well women have been doing in the special elections and in the Virginia elections last fall.
posted by Chrysostom at 11:39 AM on February 28, 2018 [23 favorites]

Our country (and the world) is so tragically sexist. A woman politician will always be labelled all different types of too 'something', often in contradictory ways.

Cracked hits it out of the park on this issue.
posted by Melismata at 11:39 AM on February 28, 2018 [21 favorites]

WSJ is reporting that Vornado wants to sell its 49.5 percent share of 666 Fifth Ave. and is talks with--wait for it--Kushner Companies to buy them out. Apparently Kushner loses money on every deal but makes it up in volume. The WSJ article is pay-walled, but here's a derivative summary from Curbed.
posted by carmicha at 11:42 AM on February 28, 2018 [14 favorites]

I've long been critical of Hamilton 68, which professes to chart the activity of Russian propaganda bots, because they've given no real information on their methodology for determining that accounts are, in fact, propaganda bots. Yet they're uncritically cited by media sources as "this is what the bots are doing." Well, now I'm extremely critical. Stop Blaming Russian Bots For Everything:

“I’m not convinced on this bot thing,” said Watts, the cofounder of a project that is widely cited as the main, if not only, source of information on Russian bots. He also called the narrative “overdone.”

The dashboard monitors 600 Twitter accounts “linked to Russian influence efforts online,” according to its own description, which means the accounts are not all directly traced back to Kremlin efforts, or even necessarily to Russia. “They are not all in Russia,” Watts said during a phone interview last week. “We don’t even think they’re all commanded in Russia — at all. We think some of them are legitimately passionate people that are just really into promoting Russia.” So, not bots.
...
Jumping to blame the bots is something that’s not just happening in newsrooms around the country, but in government offices around the world. Watts recalled hearing from a couple of Senate staffers half a year ago “that were jumping off a cliff” because of something they saw on the dashboard. “It’s like — whoa, whoa, whoa,” he said, “do you understand what you’re looking at?” Apparently not.
...
Perhaps, but the reality is much more nuanced. Assigning blame to sockpuppets doesn’t take into account the agency of loud and influential online voices like that of the pro-Trump media Twitter personalities who pushed and spun the memo and fashioned hundreds of memes to go viral in the fever swamps. Nor does that explanation credit Sean Hannity, Fox News, or the GOP lawmakers who championed the memo as a Watergate-esque revelation of government malfeasance and kept it in the news for the better part of a month. To chalk the entire memo incident up to foreign interference and automated messaging is to dismiss the call that’s coming from inside the house and give a pass to savvy media manipulators by suggesting they’re nothing more than useful idiots to the Kremlin.

Uh, man, maybe you should have clarified what you were doing before people took seriously the dashboard you yourself labeled "Tracking Russian influence operations on Twitter."
posted by zachlipton at 11:47 AM on February 28, 2018 [13 favorites]

> @USAGSessions must be part of the Bush/Romney/McCain Republican Establishment.

I'm old enough to remember the days when even grassroots Republicans were claiming GWB was a god striding the Earth among men. Have they turned on Reagan yet?
posted by The Card Cheat at 11:51 AM on February 28, 2018 [14 favorites]

"Can you provide any links discussing what exactly has been done to harden the systems?"

Here's a link to their general press release; many of the specific measures are secret, as they've been working closely with federal cybersecurity experts. But as you know my husband and I have been pretty involved in state politics and have some friends at the state board of elections (and at some county boards too) and we've heard some scuttlebutt and feel fairly confident. We feel VERY confident that even if there were another hack (and one that actually affected records), the state board is prepared to respond appropriately on a human level -- that is, they are ready to respond so so people who show up at the wrong precinct or whatever are able to vote (even if they have to cast provisional ballots), as they do every year, and they will have actual human eyeballs paying a lot of attention to that this year and looking for patterns in voter record problems that might indicate a systemic problem -- and if there is a problem they'll be addressing it with human labor in real time so people are able to vote, instead of deferring to a compromised database.

Which, you know, you can harden the computers all you want (and I have some Opinions on Illinois's voting systems and I am not shy about sharing them and my board of elections friends are not always delighted to run into me as a result), but the real hardening of the system is Illinois's commitment to strong and expansive voter rights that work hard to ensure everyone who wants to vote CAN vote with a minimum of hassle -- NO ID required, same-day registration, online and by-mail registration and address updating (as well as at various state and municipal offices), extensive early voting, long election-day voting periods, and lots of precincts so lines aren't too long and voting isn't to far away. Basically if you show up on election day (or at one of several locations in your county in the ~30 days prior to election day), you can vote.

Which makes regular identity theft a bigger concern with hypothetical future hacks than voter registration purges!
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 11:51 AM on February 28, 2018 [24 favorites]

To me, the simplest explanation for "Russia, if you're listening..." is that no one had yet gotten through Trump's skull that it doesn't look good to get hacked data from Russian sources. In his world, it was "just business", and holding against it would be unfair because what about Crooked Hillary's emails? Of course, for someone to dissuade him from being so confessional would have required momentarily dropping the usual charade that criminals tend to follow among themselves (they don't say to each other "we broke the law").

As Alexandra Erin has said, if Trump was playing poker and you quietly advised him to bluff because he's holding nothing, he'd declare to the table "I'm bluffing because I've got nothing", then be mad at you that your strategy didn't work even though he followed it to the letter. (Of course, if you'd anticipated this and tried different advice, he'd also screw that up, just not as boldly. For example, see "NO COLLUSION", equivalent to "I'M RAISING BECAUSE I'VE ACTUALLY GOT AN AMAZING, BEAUTIFUL HAND. THE BIGGEST HAND IN HISTORY")
posted by InTheYear2017 at 12:07 PM on February 28, 2018 [18 favorites]

Philip Bump for WaPo "What did Trump know, and when did he know it?"

Al-Monitor's Laura Rozen provides a quick rundown of what we know Trumps Senior and Junior have said about the hacked DNC e-mails:

"If it is what you say, I love it, especially later in the summer."
"Russia, if you are listening, I hope you're able to find the 30,000 emails that are missing."
"This just came out," Trump said. "WikiLeaks, I love WikiLeaks."
"This WikiLeaks stuff is unbelievable," Trump said. "It tells you the inner heart, you gotta read it."
"It's been amazing what's coming out on WikiLeaks."
"Another one came in today," Trump said. "This WikiLeaks is like a treasure trove."
"Getting off the plane, they were just announcing new WikiLeaks, and I wanted to stay there, but I didn't want to keep you waiting," said Trump. "Boy, I love reading those WikiLeaks."
"Hiya, it’d be great if you guys could comment on/push this story,” Wikileaks to Don Trump Jr. Oct. 3, 2016.
"Already did that earlier today,” Trump Jr. responded. "It’s amazing what she can get away with.”
"Hey Donald, great to see you and your dad talking about our publications,” WikiLeaks to Don Jr. Oct. 12, 2016
"Strongly suggest your dad tweets this link if he mentions us. ..There’s many great stories the press are missing and we’re sure some of your follows [sic] will find it. Btw we just released Podesta Emails Part 4.” Wikileaks to Don Jr. Oct. 12, 2016
"Very little pick-up by the dishonest media of incredible information provided by WikiLeaks. So dishonest! Rigged system!” Trump (senior) tweeted 15 minutes later.

Meanwhile, on Capitol Hill, the Democrats continue to try to raise the issue of accountability for the Trump administration as Senator Ron Wyden calls on Senate Intelligence Committee to hold public hearings over Trump finances.
posted by Doktor Zed at 12:09 PM on February 28, 2018 [42 favorites]

Philip Bump for WaPo "What did Trump know, and when did he know it?"

A good companion to that is this Josh Marshall piece from last week that hasn't been posted here, Why The Trump/Russia ‘Skeptics’ Are Wrong:

For the second half of 2016 Donald Trump himself and his campaign knew that Russia was engaged in a wide-ranging effort to subvert the 2016 campaign and to work to get him elected. Yet despite this knowledge he and his campaign continued to approve numerous contacts with Russian government officials, clandestine meetings, receive offers of assistance. He also continued to push a decidedly Russia friendly policy agenda, even to the point of threatening to short-circuit or abandon the NATO alliance – probably Russia’s principal foreign policy goal not only today but decades back into the Cold War. They continued to authorize all of this, continued to feel out the possible dimensions of the relationship and, critically, made no effort to contact the FBI or other relevant federal agencies about a plot they knew these agencies were tracking and trying to combat.
...
He knew. He 100% knew. And yet they continued on with the contacts and clandestine discussions and public policy promises right up to election day and intensified them during the transition. Not once, as far as we know, did anyone associated with the Trump campaign or Trump himself speak to anyone from law enforcement or the intelligence community and say, “Hey, you told us about that interference campaign. This one guy contacted us and we had a few conversations with him. Just wanted you to know.”

Not once.

Looking at "what did he know and when did he know it" is interesting, but also asking "what did he do about it" shows a pattern of behavior that appears to be criminal. Even without a "smoking gun" that skeptics will loudly demand for proof of collusion, the evidence that is currently public is already damning.
posted by peeedro at 12:20 PM on February 28, 2018 [59 favorites]

Trump's bipartisan meeting with Congress on guns is looking a lot like his immigration meeting: he agrees with everyone, randomly attacks Obama for not solving the problem (which Joe Manchin agreed with, despite the fact they were discussing a bill Obama pushed for), then will go off and do whatever his staff thinks he should do.
posted by zachlipton at 12:21 PM on February 28, 2018 [19 favorites]

Oh, and now he's suggesting the police should have taken the shooter's guns away "whether they had the right or not," because he's still a fascist at heart.
posted by zachlipton at 12:22 PM on February 28, 2018 [28 favorites]

Eagerly awaiting the NRA statement condemning Trump for demanding that people's guns are arbitrarily taken away, unlike any mainstream Democrat
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 12:29 PM on February 28, 2018 [85 favorites]

I know politicians meeting and hashing out deals in smoke-filled rooms behind closed doors gets an undeservedly bad rap but that's how stuff gets done. These public meetings where Trump and co and useful Democratic idiots sit around a conference table and make a succession of speeches does absolutely nothing. It's a photo op not a serious policy conference.

Perhaps I'm being unfair to the Dems and skipping this meeting would be a PR nightmare? But in any case the meeting itself is stupid. It's an episode of The Apprentice except he's the goddamn President and Gary Busey isn't there to take the fall.
posted by Justinian at 12:29 PM on February 28, 2018 [16 favorites]

These public meetings might serve a purpose if anyone ever stepped up and called him on his shit right to his face, but has that ever happened?
posted by Atom Eyes at 12:33 PM on February 28, 2018 [8 favorites]

The closest is probably Governor Inslee calling out Trump at that governors meeting a couple days ago. I don't know if that qualifies.
posted by Justinian at 12:34 PM on February 28, 2018 [5 favorites]

I'm a finance idiot so maybe I'm missing something obvious but - how can Kushner Companies buy out the Vornado stake in 666 Fifth Ave? I thought the point was Kushner Cos is already leveraged to the eyeballs, so who would front them the cash for a buy out? If they could find that money surely paying off the mortgage next year wouldn't be a concern?
posted by aiglet at 12:35 PM on February 28, 2018 [11 favorites]

@AJentleson: Trump learned from DACA that one meeting staged for TV where he basically spouts gibberish will yield him weeks’ worth of coverage that credulously portrays him as engaged in the legislative process.

As an example of his bullshit, he attacked Sen. Toomey for being "afraid of the NRA" because his background check bill didn't include raising the age to buy rifles (which it didn't...because it was a background check bill...which the NRA opposed). He's sat there with his arms crossed almost the entire time. Of course, none of it will matter because the White House is surely working up statements now about how Trump didn't mean any of the things he said.

Interestingly, it was Sen. Grassley who took a minute to ask that we stop attacking everyone with mental illness.
posted by zachlipton at 12:37 PM on February 28, 2018 [23 favorites]

The closest is probably Governor Inslee calling out Trump at that governors meeting a couple days ago. I don't know if that qualifies.

Oh, that was beautiful!
Everyone should watch this brutal GIF of trump's petulant facial expressions and body language as the governor lays into him. [Twitter link]
posted by Atom Eyes at 12:39 PM on February 28, 2018 [28 favorites]

so who would front them the cash for a buy out?

Traditionally, that’s where Russian oligarchs step in.
posted by schadenfrau at 12:40 PM on February 28, 2018 [23 favorites]

At the very least we get to fill our Elected GOP Tears mugs with this. Cornyn has the eyes of a trapped animal.
posted by Rust Moranis at 12:43 PM on February 28, 2018 [4 favorites]

From my man Chris Hayes: "Everyone realizes that literally nothing said in this meeting matters at all right?"

My point exactly, except pithier because it was made on Twitter.
posted by Justinian at 12:45 PM on February 28, 2018 [19 favorites]

Ok, Trump throwing Rep. Scalise under the bus (telling him not to include concealed carry reciprocity in the Fix NICS bill, because if they do that, nothing will get passed) is completely hilarious, and I'm pretty sure it's the most awareness of a policy issue Trump has ever demonstrated.

wait, the guy pushing concealed carry reciprocity is steve scalise? the one who got shot at batting practice for the congressional baseball game?

that's… dedication, i guess
posted by murphy slaw at 12:49 PM on February 28, 2018 [63 favorites]

I don't understand why these meetings are being televised. Nobody used to do that, right?
posted by suelac at 12:50 PM on February 28, 2018 [2 favorites]

Betsy DeVos, who is dedicated to supporting religious and charter schools (Eric Lipton for New York Times, Oct. 27, 2017), wants to protect Student Loan Debt Collectors.

This should be a top 5 issue for Democratic congressional candidates this year, and if the district skews young, maybe the top issue. It's black and white, easily explained, and literally no one likes student debt loan collectors.
posted by msalt at 12:51 PM on February 28, 2018 [29 favorites]

The Instagram Stars Hiding Their Famous, Muslim-Hating Mom, Pamela Geller
posted by Artw at 12:51 PM on February 28, 2018 [12 favorites]

Trump realizes now he can call these meetings, say a bunch of shit that makes no sense and propose some things that will never get a vote from a Republican Congress, and then reap weeks of “Trump Shows Presidential Leadership For Not Being A Total Nazi And Reading Words!” coverage from CNN and the NYT.
posted by T.D. Strange at 12:52 PM on February 28, 2018 [12 favorites]

I don't understand why these meetings are being televised

An attempt to prove Trump isn't senile.
posted by OnceUponATime at 12:52 PM on February 28, 2018 [15 favorites]

@nycsouthpaw: Why doesn’t someone at the meeting bring up the broken promises of the DACA meeting and ask why we should believe that any of today’s meeting is in good faith?

I don't understand why these meetings are being televised. Nobody used to do that, right?

Because Trump is acting in a reality show.
posted by zachlipton at 12:54 PM on February 28, 2018 [40 favorites]

A few deleted. Fine to cover the factual stuff happening here, but again, let's reel back on the omg-these-fuckersblogging and the short "why would they"/"because they're fuckers" stuff -- left unchecked it becomes an endless self-increasing all-day chatter stream and it balloons the number of comments without really adding substance. Better to take one-liners to Chat, which can handle the all day low level chitchat mode.
posted by LobsterMitten (staff) at 1:09 PM on February 28, 2018 [7 favorites]

Like take most of Oregon. There's many watersheds and ecoregions that border Washington, Ohio, Idaho, Nevada, and California. You get something like the Blue Mountains tucked away in the corner you'd have to deal with Oregon, Washinton, and Idaho simultaneously.

Ohio?

More generally, dealing with all of the states involved in a given watershed is exactly what the bureacrats at Interior should be doing. Until you convince water to respect state boundaries, the current system makes no sense.
posted by msalt at 1:09 PM on February 28, 2018 [2 favorites]

As Trump keeps (meaninglessly) saying he wants a "strong strong bill, and really strong on background checks," it's helpful to turn back to this May 2016 story: NRA members skeptical of whether Trump's gun rhetoric matches his record:

David Kopel, a lifetime NRA member and prominent gun rights expert and attorney from Colorado, said in an interview Wednesday that he did not know how long Trump’s gun rights fervor would last if he made it to the White House.

“He’s so obviously non-ideological that it’s hard to count on him maintaining any position for long when it might become politically inconvenient,” he said.

Anyway, I assume there'll be a background briefing with Stephen Miller in an hour where the White House will explain that Trump didn't mean anything he said, followed shortly by Ryan and McConnell saying "that's very interesting and we need to work together to reach a blah blah blah" and not allowing anything to come to a vote, followed by Trump attacking the proposals he just supported. Because we literally just did that with DACA, and we learn nothing.

As a sidenote, I think it would be a profitable exercise to play poker against Sen. Feinstein.
posted by zachlipton at 1:12 PM on February 28, 2018 [14 favorites]

Oh god, this is going into the highlight reel for sure. Donald J. Trump said, at his reality-tv style televised bullshit gun policy meeting: I'm not into popularity.
posted by FelliniBlank at 1:13 PM on February 28, 2018 [23 favorites]

The fact that Russia didn't change voter records this time doesn't reassure me at all. I'd want a guarantee (or as close to one as is humanly possible) that they wouldn't have the opportunity to do so again.

To repeat an important point from the previous catch-all thread:
No one has reported that Russia (or Russian hackers) did not change voter records. The most has been reported is that they did not change votes, and just yesterday, there was one vague report that they did not remove any voters from the registration rolls entirely.

They could have made many changes, including some that would result in secretaries of state or automated purge programs removing people from the voting rolls. They could have checked the box that makes a voter on the rolls inactive, or the other box saying they have been sent an absentee ballot so don't let them vote at the polls, or even that their absentee ballot has already been received.
posted by msalt at 1:16 PM on February 28, 2018 [57 favorites]

Thank you, msalt. That's exceptionally helpful.
posted by zarq at 1:17 PM on February 28, 2018 [2 favorites]

"No one has reported that Russia (or Russian hackers) did not change voter records."

Illinois has reported that no voter records in Illinois were altered in this hack. (Other states are on their own.)
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 1:22 PM on February 28, 2018 [7 favorites]

NYT, Haberman, Hope Hicks to Resign as White House Communications Director, the day after she testifies to the House Intelligence Committee. She's expected to leave in the next few weeks.
posted by zachlipton at 1:29 PM on February 28, 2018 [89 favorites]

As communications director, she worked to stabilize, to some extent, a fractious press department of about 40 people who were often at odds with one another during 2017.

the gray lady still has a gift for understatment, i see.
posted by murphy slaw at 1:31 PM on February 28, 2018 [7 favorites]

Trump: “Take the guns first, go through due process second.”'

Oh my god! This! This was Obama's plan all along! This is why he let the Russians rig the election! Him and Hillary! It's so Obama can come for our guns and make Trump take the blame for it!

...what bothers me is how I can type that to be completely silly only to consider how many people are probably thinking that same thing right now without a trace of irony.
posted by scaryblackdeath at 1:31 PM on February 28, 2018 [50 favorites]

so who would front them the cash for a buy out?

Traditionally, that’s where Russian oligarchs step in.

Even if they don’t/can’t buy Vornado out, it’s in Kushner Companies’ interest to “negotiate” because they can then influence how the valuation of Vornado’s 49.5 share is determined. There are arguments for pushing it high (selling/refinancing through Russian oligarchs or whoever is seeking influence) or low (settling with creditors); what they want depends on their long-term strategy and perception of such factors as whether Jared will be indicted or worse come February 2019 when the note is due. Kushner Companies claims the building will pencil out if they can redevelop to the run of ~$4 billion, IIRC. Vornado wasn’t interested in that scheme but maybe KC is ~~thinking~~ pretending that they can pull that off if they control/option the other 49.5 percent.
posted by carmicha at 1:34 PM on February 28, 2018 [4 favorites]

Hope Hicks to Resign as White House Communications Director

thus to all communications directors who openly admit that their job is to lie to people
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 1:36 PM on February 28, 2018 [42 favorites]

Just to prevent further confusion, Vornado Realty Trust (the real estate investment trust entangled with Kushner) does have a historical connection to, but is in modern times not in any way affiliated with, Vornado Air (makers of the electric heater that warms up my bathroom).
posted by Faint of Butt at 1:39 PM on February 28, 2018 [23 favorites]

Youtube finally rose from its slumber to slap down the actual murderous terrorist group that they'd inexplicably been continuing to host.

The Hill: YouTube bans neo-Nazi channel for violating hate speech rules

Atomwaffen Division was banned days after the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) asked YouTube to remove anti-Semitic videos, according to Motherboard.
posted by Rust Moranis at 1:40 PM on February 28, 2018 [59 favorites]

Hope Hicks to Resign as White House Communications Director

Maybe she forgot the machine she used to steam Trump's suit while he's wearing it.
posted by kirkaracha at 1:41 PM on February 28, 2018 [9 favorites]

My Stephen Miller voodoo doll must be defective; every time I stick another pin in it, somebody else quits!
posted by FelliniBlank at 1:45 PM on February 28, 2018 [86 favorites]

Paging Mr. Mooch to the white courtesy phone!

I can't tell if you're kidding but there's been some noise in the rumor mill about that, how Trump is pushing boundaries and trying to make Kelly miserable in his job by bringing his bomb throwers and shit stirrers back into the White House:

What has emerged, however, is a sort of detente, with Trump trying to renegotiate the relationship on his own terms. The president has in recent days told Kelly that he can no longer bar Trump loyalists like Corey Lewandowski, Anthony Scaramucci, and Dave Bossie from the White House. Last week, as Axios reported, Trump held an Oval Office meeting with Kelly and Lewandowski. According to two sources with knowledge of the meeting, things got heated when Trump informed Kelly that he needed to “get along” with Lewandowski. After the meeting, Trump told Kelly that he wanted to “find a role“ for Lewandowski in the West Wing, a source briefed on the conversation said. Kelly, according to a source, replied that Lewandowski couldn’t pass a security clearance. Scaramucci’s return to the fold also represents something of a rebuke of Kelly, given that firing the Mooch was one of Kelly’s first moves as chief. Trump is also elevating advisers that have been marginalized in the Kelly era.

posted by peeedro at 1:48 PM on February 28, 2018 [12 favorites]

Why Trump Is Reluctant to Escalate the Cyber War With Russia

Finally, there is the very real prospect of escalation. Columbia University researcher and cyber expert Jason Healey made this point in a piece this week. He wrote that Putin saw his election interference in 2016 as a response to what he perceived was the U.S. government's role in releasing the Panama Papers, a trove of secret bank records that exposed offshore wealth hidden by a number of high government officials, including Putin.

Healey told me that the task for policy makers is to get the right balance for cyber actions against Russia related to the election this year. "Trying to get this calibration right -- of something that is just disruptive enough that it throws off the Russian game, but not so severe that they feel they need to come back heavier -- is what needs to happen," he said.

The problem is that Putin has won the contest of what military planners call "escalation dominance" for now.

MUELLER WANTS TO KNOW HOW FAR THE GAME OF EMAIL TELEPHONE GOT WITHIN THE TRUMP CAMPAIGN

NBC has a story that has gotten a lot of people excited, reporting that Mueller’s team has been asking:
Policy towards Russia: Why Trump took policy positions that were friendly toward Russia and spoke positively about Russian President Vladimir Putin
Roger Stone: Whether Stone was aware of information the group had before it became public and when it might be released
Trump’s knowledge: Whether Donald Trump was aware that Democratic emails had been stolen before that was publicly known, and whether he was involved in their strategic release
I think this story is both less and more than people are making it out to be.

It’s being overhyped for its facial value. Of course Mueller is going to ask about what the president knew and when he knew it. Of course he’s going to chase down whether Roger Stone’s repeated claims to know what was coming were bluster or not.

But on at least two counts, I think there’s more to this story than meets the eye.

posted by the man of twists and turns at 1:51 PM on February 28, 2018 [14 favorites]

Just to prevent further confusion, Vornado Realty Trust (the real estate investment trust entangled with Kushner) does have a historical connection to, but is in modern times not in any way affiliated with, Vornado Air (makers of the electric heater that warms up my bathroom).

If you're my age, you might remember Vornado as the owners of Two Guys department-store.
posted by octothorpe at 1:53 PM on February 28, 2018 [7 favorites]

Why Trump Is Reluctant to Escalate the Cyber War With Russia

Man, I'm glad this author doesn't accept that Trump is a Russian agent, because that would make this article really short
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 1:53 PM on February 28, 2018 [41 favorites]

It's been suggested on here before that instead of changing voter records, Russian state actors may have made copies of the data to use in their microtargeted disinformation campaign. That sounds nefarious enough to me.
posted by Soliloquy at 1:57 PM on February 28, 2018 [27 favorites]

So people on Twitter are saying that White House comms directors now have the same career trajectory as Defense Against the Dark Arts teachers and Spinal Tap drummers.
posted by FelliniBlank at 2:02 PM on February 28, 2018 [82 favorites]

This is all old news in this thread, but collecting it together as a thing of beauty:

In previous years, any one of these would have been Administration-ending or at least Administration-crippling scandals, but now Hope Hicks resigning after admitting her lies to Congress is barely causing a ripple...

NYT: Hope Hicks Says She Has Told White Lies for Trump
NYT BREAKING: Hope Hicks to Resign From White House Communications Post

... because it has already been overtaken by:

NYT BREAKING: In a televised meeting, President Trump stunned lawmakers by embracing gun control measures long opposed by the N.R.A. and many Republicans

In a televised meeting in the Cabinet Room, the president appeared to stun giddy Democrats and stone-faced Republicans by calling for comprehensive gun control.

OmniShamblesGate continues its shambling march.
posted by RedOrGreen at 2:06 PM on February 28, 2018 [47 favorites]

... because it has already been overtaken by:

I really believe the biggest problem facing the new push for gun control isn't the NRA and the gun lobby, but rather this White House's own raging incompetence. These teens don't just have to overcome the opposition; they have to struggle through the opposition's self-inflicted messes to get anything done.
posted by scaryblackdeath at 2:11 PM on February 28, 2018 [6 favorites]

Just check out this list of "Trending" news stories:

Hope Hicks to Resign as White House Communications Director
Trump Stuns Lawmakers With Seeming Embrace of Gun Control Measures
Hope Hicks Acknowledges She Sometimes Tells White Lies for Trump
Trump Calls Sessions’s Handling of Surveillance Abuse Allegations ‘Disgraceful’
Op-Ed Contributor: Has Jared Kushner Conspired to Defraud America?
Someone Forged a Nomination of Trump for the Nobel Peace Prize. Twice.
Dick’s Sporting Goods, Major Gun Retailer, Stops Selling Assault-Style Weapons
The Interpreter: Xi Sets China on a Collision Course With History
Barbra Streisand Cloned Her Dogs. For $50,000, You Can Clone Yours.

How can anyone keep up?
posted by RedOrGreen at 2:12 PM on February 28, 2018 [73 favorites]

Hope Hicks primary job was putting a stack of news clippings flattering Trump on his desk every morning. She can do the same job from a Fox News show and Trump doesn't even need to bother with the onerous chore of reading. And the pay is a lot better.
posted by JackFlash at 2:12 PM on February 28, 2018 [21 favorites]

There is actual criticism of Trump on /r/The_Donald right now. Mostly they're trying to pretend that Trump is playing 3d chess (or 4d chess, oddly none have mentioned 9d chess which I thought was the standard for multidimensional chess metaphors) or that it's "the art of the deal". But several are extremely upset, a few actually called him a "gun grabber", many were screaming that a ban on bump stocks would eventually result in a ban on semi-automatic weapons.

I have to say, a ban on semi-autos doesn't seem particularly evil or like a bad idea. Bolt action is fine for hunting, and would make a mass shooter a lot less dangerous. But to them it's anathema, and a few even suggested that as a New Yorker Trump was tainted with evil anti-gun cooties.

Likely their discontent will die down, a few of them (accurately) pointed out that no gun control bill will get through the current Congress. But I was genuinely shocked to see open criticism of Trump over there.

It gives me hope that we might be able to demoralize enough of 'em that we can swing some elections.
posted by sotonohito at 2:14 PM on February 28, 2018 [28 favorites]

More on the in-person voting front -- Polling Place Battleground: Freedom Of Speech Versus Freedom From Intimidation, in which NPR provides some context to today's SCOTUS hearing on Minnesota's prohibition of political statements worn into voting places. New York Times summed it up as such: N.R.A. Logo? No. #MeToo Shirt? Maybe. Justices Weigh Political Apparel at Polls.

The case centers around an asshole who wore a “Please I.D. Me” button to a polling site in Minnesota, part of an effort by like-minded bigots to insinuate to others that there was some requirement to show ID to vote (there wasn't) and scare away some people from voting. Adam Liptak summarized the discussion as follows:

The case started when members of the Minnesota Voters Alliance, which says it works to ensure “election integrity,” turned up at Minnesota polling places wearing T-shirts bearing Tea Party logos and buttons saying “Please I.D. Me.”

They were told to cover the messages and were allowed to vote even if they refused. But they risked prosecution for disobeying poll workers’ orders.

Justice Sonia Sotomayor said the “Please I.D. Me” buttons were particularly objectionable, adding that they conveyed “a highly charged political message” that a lower court had found “was intended to intimidate people to leave the polling booth.”

The Supreme Court case was not centered on the particular items the challengers wanted to wear. It was instead a general challenge to the law, saying it is overly broad and vague even if the particular items could constitutionally be barred.

Mr. Breemer, representing the challengers, seemed to frustrate the justices with his refusal to say exactly where he would draw the line.

“We’re going to have to write an opinion on this,” Justice Kennedy told him. “You say: ‘Well, I don’t know. I don’t know.’ ”

It's a messy one, but interesting to follow.
posted by filthy light thief at 2:14 PM on February 28, 2018 [13 favorites]

It gives me hope that we might be able to demoralize enough of 'em that we can swing some elections.

I was hoping that some would realize that Trump isn't "their guy" but is just an opportunist who usually sides with racist, xenophobic, homophobic, pro-corporation views, though will also blow a different direction given a strong enough breeze, but if Texas's surge of liberal enthusiasm and ebb of conservative action in early primary voting is any indicator, it may be a good dosing of both reduced Republican turn-out (or party affiliation) and an increase in Democratic action.
posted by filthy light thief at 2:19 PM on February 28, 2018 [7 favorites]

More generally, dealing with all of the states involved in a given watershed is exactly what the bureacrats at Interior should be doing. Until you convince water to respect state boundaries, the current system makes no sense.

In a sane world, a thoughtful study of the efficiency gains from converting DOI areas of responsibility to better reflect environmental boundaries would be something I would absolutely support.

However.

1. This is not a sane world, and this project is merely cover for laying off 4,000 DOI employees, and a reorganization that will suck time and resources away from the actual job of managing the public domain and regulating the nation's resources. I can tell you that my job will be made more difficult and inefficient by this reorganization, because it will be even harder to get FWS staff to respond to consultation requests.

2. Lots of organizations outside DOI have to deal with the DOI agencies -- BLM, NPS, FWS, etc. Reorganizing the entire agency will play merry hell with all of those relationships, and will cost money to both other agencies and private industry.

I suspect Zinke is in for a battle, and all his citations to John Wesley Powell won't save him.
posted by suelac at 2:21 PM on February 28, 2018 [19 favorites]

Bloomberg, More Than 30 White House Aides Lose Top Secret Clearance, Sources Say. They now only have Secret clearance while their background issues are worked out.

CNN, Betsy Klein, The White House chief calligrapher has a higher clearance than Jared Kushner. Yep, the chief calligrapher gets a Top Secret clearance because of their need to know scheduling details for the President and world leaders (the other two in the office do not). While that really says more about the problems with over-classification than anything else, it points to some questions about just what Jared and these 30+ other aides are supposed to be doing all day. You can also read the link for some fascinating discussion of the work of the calligrapher's office.
posted by zachlipton at 2:21 PM on February 28, 2018 [55 favorites]

Along with today's loss of Hope Hicks, Political appointee at Interior resigns after KFile inquiry into birther, anti-Muslim comments (Andrew Kaczynski and Chris Massie for CNN, Feb. 28, 2018)

Christine Bauserman, a former Republican activist in Arizona who also worked for President Donald Trump's 2016 campaign, served as a special assistant to Secretary Ryan Zinke, providing him operational support that included coordinating policy briefings. Bauserman initially joined the administration as a member of the so-called "beachhead teams," which consisted of advisers tasked with shaping Trump's new administration.

A KFile review found that Bauserman repeatedly shared conspiracy theories, made anti-Muslim comments and shared anti-LGBT sentiments on social media.

"The positions expressed by Ms. Bauserman are inappropriate and unacceptable, and they are not consistent with those of the Secretary or the Trump Administration. The Department has accepted Ms. Bauserman's letter of resignation," Heather Swift, a spokeswoman for Department of the Interior, told CNN in a statement.

The surprising thing was that a member of the "beachhead teams" was still on-board after more than a year, and hadn't been outed as a deplorable individual of one stripe (or ten).
posted by filthy light thief at 2:24 PM on February 28, 2018 [19 favorites]

Number of times NRA-backed Republican Donald Trump has called for confiscation of guns: 2.
Number of times Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama has called for confiscation of guns: 0.

C'mon, Its all talk. Don doesn't have the juice to make gun control work. Unless he primaries Paul out of a job, he's just a RSIC (rubber-stamper-in-Chief) now.
(At least that's what I would be whispering in his ear, were I Chuck and/or Nancy)
posted by Chrischris at 2:27 PM on February 28, 2018 [7 favorites]

Was Hope Hicks one of those people who lost their Top Secret clearance today?
posted by Ray Walston, Luck Dragon at 2:29 PM on February 28, 2018 [2 favorites]

I know a lot is happening, but I just want to back up a second to "Take the guns first. Go through due process second." Please consider how quickly the articles of impeachment would have been filed if President Obama said that.

Yes, everyone goes around believing Trump doesn't believe the things that come out of his mouth, but that people are not rioting in the streets at that is the strongest sign that conservatism, as a project, has all been one long con.
posted by zachlipton at 2:32 PM on February 28, 2018 [117 favorites]

From the White House calligrapher link:

The calligrapher's function is intertwined with US diplomacy as the US hosts heads of state, demonstrating that the US is committed to working with or wants to improve relations with other countries.

Ahead of a state dinner, Paulus would delve into the history of the hosted country, its symbols, and its fonts, which calligraphers call "hands" throughout time.

"As calligraphers, we feel like we're playing an integral role. The invitation sets the stage for the whole event. Calligraphers are helping, simply, to set the stage for diplomacy," the former chief calligrapher said.

"Whatever happens, whatever conflicts they have, if you see your name beautifully written on a placard, your nation's flag on a menu, you can't help to soften up a bit," he said. "Protocol is about human interactions, and as calligraphers, it's our job to introduce creativity and beauty."

From the sound of it, the White House calligrapher might be the only official in the entire administration actually doing the work of foreign diplomacy.
posted by Atom Eyes at 2:35 PM on February 28, 2018 [108 favorites]

Curbed: College Republicans launch climate coalition, urge Congress to take action

"The group is advocating what’s known as the Baker-Shultz Plan, a comprehensive proposal to create a gradually rising, and revenue-neutral, carbon tax that would create dividend payments shared by all Americans. The plan would include a tax on carbon emissions, starting at something like $40 a ton, that would gradually rise and encourage companies to switch to cleaner, renewable energy sources.

“S4CD makes clear to our fellow young Republicans that we no longer need to choose between party orthodoxy and the mounting risks facing our planet,” said Kiera O’Brien (Harvard College ’20), VP of S4CD and President of the Harvard Republican Club, in a statement. “The Baker-Shultz Plan is a prudent climate solution that embodies the conservative principles of free markets and limited government.”

posted by Eyebrows McGee at 2:39 PM on February 28, 2018 [34 favorites]

From the man of twists and turns link Shocker: Democrats’ predictions about the GOP tax cut are coming true,

Democrats could play this game if they wanted to. They could say that we need to fix the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program because every “dreamer” creates 500 jobs for native-born Americans. They could say that single-payer health insurance will increase life expectancy to 150 years. They could say that we can give everyone free college at a cost of only $0.79 per taxpayer. But they don’t. It isn’t that Democrats don’t ever make a misleading argument or get some facts wrong, because they do. But when they do it’s generally on the small stuff, not on foundational claims that get repeated hundreds of times by every one of them in support of their highest legislative priority.

If you’re a Republican, you look at this news and say, “So what?” Everything’s working out great: You got your tax cut, corporations and the wealthy are swimming in money, and the next time you take control of government you’ll do it all over again. Sure, Democrats will squawk, and all their criticisms and predictions will turn out to be right. But it hasn’t stopped you in the past, and it won’t in the future.

So accurate and so sad. The GOP knows that nearly half the voters are perennial suckers for their messaging and the rest of their voters are wealthy and greedy. I know education is the key, but it is so damn difficult to get people to remember.
posted by Mental Wimp at 2:48 PM on February 28, 2018 [17 favorites]

In other academic news, Lehigh U faculty voted to rescind Drumpf's honorary degree. The board of trustees had declined to do so after a previous petition. The vote was 83% in favor.
posted by Dashy at 2:50 PM on February 28, 2018 [41 favorites]

So if Eric Trump is the one making most of the decisions at the company and Eric Trump let slip he's still talking about business with his dad, doesn't that mean effectively Trump is still controlling his business?
posted by lumnar at 2:50 PM on February 28, 2018 [9 favorites]

So if Eric Trump is the one making most of the decisions at the company and Eric Trump let slip he's still talking about business with his dad, doesn't that mean effectively Trump is still controlling his business?

No. Trump wouldn't so blatantly violate the emoluments clau...
posted by Talez at 3:13 PM on February 28, 2018 [14 favorites]

College Republicans launch climate coalition, urge Congress to take action

That's adorable. Shultz waits until nearly his 100 year on earth to finally agree with something Democrats have been pushing since, oh, the Reagan era. Baker and Shultz were in the Reagan administration when he pulled the solar panels off the roof of the White House just to poke a stick in the eye of environmentalists.

I think you are a little late to the party, guys.
posted by JackFlash at 3:16 PM on February 28, 2018 [24 favorites]

AP-NORC Poll: Most Americans say Trump is racist

Fifty-seven percent of all adults, including more than 8 in 10 blacks, three-quarters of Hispanics and nearly half of whites, said they think Trump is racist. Eighty-five percent of Democrats consider Trump racist, but just 21 percent of Republicans agree.

Here are the full poll results.
posted by zachlipton at 3:16 PM on February 28, 2018 [35 favorites]

Bloomberg, More Than 30 White House Aides Lose Top Secret Clearance, Sources Say. They now only have Secret clearance while their background issues are worked out.

It puzzles me that someone who can't pass a background check can see things with a Secret label. Anyone have insight into this?
posted by Mental Wimp at 3:22 PM on February 28, 2018 [3 favorites]

Hope Hicks was interviewed by Mueller's team in December, and more recently Mueller's folks interviewed former legal spokesman Mark Corallo, who (according to the NYT) told them Hicks said that emails by Don Jr. about the infamous Nov. 9th meeting with Russians "will never get out."

Could Hicks' resignation be a sign that she is planning to flip? She's not even 30, and a long prison term would hit her a lot harder than it would, say, Bannon or Sessions or Manaforte.
posted by msalt at 3:27 PM on February 28, 2018 [8 favorites]

thus to all communications directors who openly admit that their job is to lie to people

Maggie Haberman @maggieNYT adds to her story, "Hope Hicks departure is NOT about yesterday's hearing, per multiple sources. She had planned it before, had been thinking about it for months. She had informed a very small number of people prior to Hill hearing that she planned to leave."

It may be sheer coincidence that Hicks' announced departure comes the day after her nine-hour stonewalling session on Capitol Hill, but the other recent White House event that could tie in to this is the resignation of her colleague senior communications aide Josh Raffel, whom she'd worked with in private sector PR at Hiltzik Strategies. It was through Hiltzik that they met Ivanka and were drawn into Trumpland. Their departure, sudden or otherwise, may suggest that White House palace intrigue, or fortune in general, is going against for Jared and Ivanka, their patrons and allies.

Speaking of Jared, CNN reports, Regulator Seeks Information About Kushner's Ties To 3 Banks:

New York's banking regulator has asked Deutsche Bank and two other small lenders about their financial relationships with Jared Kushner, his family members and the family's real estate business, according to a person familiar with the matter.

The Department of Financial Services, the New York regulator, sent a letter last week to Deutsche Bank, Signature Bank and New York Community Bank seeking information about financial arrangements, such as loans and lines of credit, with the Kushner Companies and the family members, the source said.

The regulator, which oversees the safety of New York banks, has asked whether there are any personal guarantees by Jared Kushner on the financing arrangements, to understand the banks' risk if there is a default and the Kushners are unable to pay. The letter is also seeking information about whether any collateral was provided to secure the loans, this source added.

The request by Maria Vullo, the superintendent of the Department of Financial Services, follows an updated financial disclosure form by Kushner revealing new debt and uncertainty over the future of 666 Fifth Avenue, the heavily indebted Manhattan office tower. Earlier this month Vornado, the co-investor on the property, indicated plans to sell its stake.

With questions about the financing of Kushner Companies' investments and Robert Mueller's special counsel investigation looming, the regulator is focusing on the safety of the small banks, which could be affected if the Kushners or their business has trouble paying their debts, the person familiar with the matter said.

As the old financial saying goes, “If you owe banks thousands of dollars, then you have a problem. If you owe $1.4 billion on an overpriced piece of Manhattan real estate, then banks have a problem.”
posted by Doktor Zed at 3:33 PM on February 28, 2018 [33 favorites]

It puzzles me that someone who can't pass a background check can see things with a Secret label. Anyone have insight into this?

Because the whole classification policy is bullshit. Anything below Top Secret is nothing that any foreign entity would be interested in. The low level stuff, secret and confidential, is aimed more at keeping U.S. citizens in the dark than anything else.
posted by JackFlash at 3:35 PM on February 28, 2018 [12 favorites]

Through Day 8 of Texas primary early voting, 15 largest counties:

Party: 2018 / 2016 / 2014

Dem: 264,052 / 242,591 / 139,413

GOP: 250,238 / 317,819 / 215,076

Also, in Harris County (Houston), which was 79/21 GOP in 2014, and 59/41 GOP in 2016, currently is 51/49 Democrat.
posted by Chrysostom at 3:36 PM on February 28, 2018 [25 favorites]

College Republicans launch climate coalition, urge Congress to take action

/record-scratch

Oh, I see. "The group is advocating what’s known as the Baker-Shultz Plan, a comprehensive proposal to create a gradually rising, and revenue-neutral, carbon tax that would create dividend payments shared by all Americans. "

"Revenue-neutral" is pushed by all the austerity-humping ghouls on the right as a begrudging acknowledgement that the climate-disrupted world they're currently careening us towards will turn their riches to ashes in their mouth. It's an excuse to cut taxes elsewhere for corporations, while maybe encouraging decarbonization of their operations.

It's a start! Certainly far beyond what most conservatives are willing to support. We should take that and use it to pressure the center for non-revenue-neutral carbon taxes that support community resilience and climate justice, as the impacts of climate change will be disproportionately experienced by the poor. Corporations and the developed world have externalized carbon costs for over a century now, and they need to pay their fair share to work on reversing the damage they've done. Revenue-neutral would not be sufficient.
posted by Existential Dread at 3:38 PM on February 28, 2018 [21 favorites]

The plan would include a tax on carbon emissions, starting at something like $40 a ton, that would gradually rise and encourage companies to switch to cleaner, renewable energy sources.

Well. This is at least a step in the right direction, and good on these College Republicans for at least acknowledging scientific reality. Quite sincerely, it's better late than never. But this is too little, too late. Any carbon tax plan needs to address at least two problems:

1. Internalizing the negative externality. The true cost of burning fossil fuels is not represented by its price, and to be truly effective, a carbon tax needs to bring its cost in line with the true economic impact of global warming. Additionally, the tax revenue raised needs to be put to work remediating the effects of global warming, not merely paid as dividends to the American people. Otherwise we're still robbing Peter to pay Paul. These costs are immense, and so a carbon tax plan needs to be similarly immense to be effective.

2. The problem is not combustion, it's extraction, and that's what must be taxed. Fossil fuels represent a reservoir of carbon that has left the natural carbon cycle of our biosphere over hundreds of millions of years. The instant it's extracted, it's back in the carbon cycle. One way or another, it will eventually be oxidized to carbon dioxide, because that's a low-energy state for carbon. Taxing emissions is tackling the problem only indirectly. Regulations are most effective when they're most targeted at the problem they address, and the true problem is extraction. This means taxing the oil, coal, and natural gas industries, heavily, to internalize the true costs of extraction. Of course politically this is taking on a juggernaut, and it's hard to see this becoming reality, no matter how necessary it is.

The plan the College Republicans are endorsing doesn't seem to do either of these things. So it's definitely better than nothing, and represents a starting point for them engaging with the reality of the disaster that we'll be facing over the next few decades. But it's nothing like enough, and should only be seen as a starting point for getting them on board with real solutions for climate change.
posted by biogeo at 3:39 PM on February 28, 2018 [30 favorites]

as an actual plan for addressing global warming, this plan is laughable.

as a shift in the overton window, it feels very, very significant.
posted by murphy slaw at 3:50 PM on February 28, 2018 [65 favorites]

Reuters: Exxon to exit oil ventures with Russia's Rosneft due to sanctions

Hope Tillerson's keeping a close eye on his beverages.
posted by Rust Moranis at 4:06 PM on February 28, 2018 [25 favorites]

WaPo, Mueller investigation examining Trump’s apparent efforts to oust Sessions in July

Special Counsel Robert S. Mueller III has been investigating a period of time last summer when President Trump seemed determined to drive Attorney General Jeff Sessions from his job, according to people familiar with the matter who said that a key area of interest for the inquiry is whether those efforts were part of a months-long pattern of attempted obstruction of justice.

In recent months, Mueller’s team has questioned witnesses in detail about Trump’s private comments and state of mind in late July and early August of last year, around the time he issued a series of tweets belittling his “beleaguered” attorney general, these people said. The thrust of the questions was to determine whether the president’s goal was to oust Sessions in order to pick a replacement who would exercise control over the investigation into possible coordination between Russia and Trump associates during the 2016 election, these people said.
...
Behind the scenes, Trump has derisively referred to Sessions as “Mr. Magoo,” a cartoon character who is elderly, myopic and bumbling, according to people with whom he has spoken. Trump has told associates that he has hired the best lawyers for his entire life, but is stuck with Sessions, who is not defending him and is not sufficiently loyal.
...
On the anniversary of Sessions’ confirmation earlier this month, senior aides decided to buy Sessions a bulletproof vest with his name emblazoned on it as a gift, according to a person familiar with the matter.

It's worth noting that two of the aides who were there for the false statement writing party on Air Force One were Hope Hicks and Josh Raffel, and they've both quit in the last 24 hours.
posted by zachlipton at 4:15 PM on February 28, 2018 [64 favorites]

Looks like Jones is taking too much of his own Super Male Vitality. He also appears to be personally trialling his new product, Super Anti-Semite Vitality.

Daily Beast: Alex Jones Accused of Sexual Harassment, Bullying at InfoWars

InfoWars owner Alex Jones allegedly bullied, discriminated, and sexually harassed a number of his employees, according to Equal Employment Opportunity Commission complaints obtained by the Daily Mail. Rob Jacobson, who worked at the conspiracy site for 13 years, alleges that Jones called him "The Jewish Individual" and "The Resident Jew" before he was fired. Ashley Beckford, who is African American, alleges that Jones and others mocked her for her race and denied her promotions. She also claims that Jones “grabbed my butt" after initiating a "side-hug," and was grooming her for "sexual exploitation."
posted by Rust Moranis at 4:20 PM on February 28, 2018 [30 favorites]

> Trump has told associates that he has hired the best lawyers for his entire life, but is stuck with Sessions, who is not defending him and is not sufficiently loyal.

He *still* doesn't realize Sessions isn't his *personal* attorney? And that he didn't "hire" him? JFC.

> The president, this adviser added, had been hoping the attorney general would be so embarrassed by Trump’s scathing comments that he would leave.

President of the ~~United States of America~~ High School Clique
posted by The Card Cheat at 4:23 PM on February 28, 2018 [38 favorites]

Curbed: College Republicans launch climate coalition, urge Congress to take action

They're Here to Fix Climate Change! They’re College Republicans.

In return for these concessions to environmentalism, the Baker-Shultz promises a “significant regulatory rollback.” The proposal calls for a full repeal of the Clean Power Plan and a general restriction on the EPA’s ability to regulate carbon-dioxide emissions.

Trump Is Trying to Repeal Obama’s Clean Power Plan—and People Are Pissed

wiki: The Clean Power Plan -
"The final version of the plan aims to reduce carbon dioxide emissions from electrical power generation by 32 percent by 2030, relative to 2005 levels. The plan is focused on reducing emissions from coal-burning power plants, as well as increasing the use of renewable energy, and energy conservation."
posted by the man of twists and turns at 4:56 PM on February 28, 2018 [11 favorites]

1. Internalizing the negative externality. The true cost of burning fossil fuels is not represented by its price, and to be truly effective, a carbon tax needs to bring its cost in line with the true economic impact of global warming.

On NPR this afternoon, there was a discussion of to what extent the federal government will help state and local governments with funding to battle the effects of global warming. Classic case of pay me now or pay me later, with the GOP whining, "I don't wanna pay at all!"
posted by Mental Wimp at 4:58 PM on February 28, 2018 [6 favorites]

Because the whole classification policy is bullshit. Anything below Top Secret is nothing that any foreign entity would be interested in. The low level stuff, secret and confidential, is aimed more at keeping U.S. citizens in the dark than anything else.

The information stolen and published by Chelsea Manning was (as inferred from the wikipedia article) all from the SIPRnet. SIPR can only host information up to Secret. The charge of 'aiding the enemy' ensued. Obviously, there was significant intent to sweep some major bullshit under the rug (e.g. Collateral Murder). But the release of properly classified Secret stuff actually *can be* damaging to national security. Even unclassified information can be aggregated to create useful inferences. Thus, OPSEC.

My personal view is that Kushner has been scouring TS/SCI information, looking for market advantages - not so much looking out for *us*.

As to how someone can get a security clearance while not passing a background check...this is only my pov: they are meant to do two different things. the clearance is meant to suggest that a person does not have enough - or the the right kinds of - skeletons in the closet to be successfully leveraged by a hostile actor. a background check is meant to determine the liklihood of someone commiting a future offense based on their history.

The mass revocation of clearances is long overdue. these guys are bad guys, hiding bad stuff. very exploitable. i have no idea how someone without a TS/SCI could even do their work. the only real defense against abuse is criminal charges for distributing classified information to someone who has the wrong combination of clearance and need-to-know.

If I'm Kelly, I get one FBI agent per staffer and pair 'em up all day long (jk). Or, implement a two-man rule. At least that way, if one or the other does something bad, there is immediate legal jeopardy for the one who doesn't report.

My two cents.
posted by j_curiouser at 4:58 PM on February 28, 2018 [12 favorites]

Because the whole classification policy is bullshit. Anything below Top Secret is nothing that any foreign entity would be interested in. The low level stuff, secret and confidential, is aimed more at keeping U.S. citizens in the dark than anything else.

posted by JackFlash at 3:35 PM on February 28 [5 favorites +] [!]

Well, hey, I haven't passed a background check. Does that mean I can see confidential and secret documents being passed around in the White House?
posted by Mental Wimp at 5:01 PM on February 28, 2018

Honestly, watching the White House right now is kind of like engaging in Kremlinology back in the '70s, except the politburo is composed entirely of eight-year-olds.
posted by TheWhiteSkull at 5:02 PM on February 28, 2018 [38 favorites]

Axios. Scoop: Besieged Sessions dines with Rosenstein in show of solidarity

With photos. As I understand it, once Sessions gives Rosenstein bread and salt that means Rosenstein has Guest Right, and therefore cannot be fired within Sessions' castle or holdings.
posted by Rust Moranis at 5:20 PM on February 28, 2018 [137 favorites]

Chris Hayes did a 5 tweet sequence a couple hours ago which matches what I'm seeing in the media:

People still aren't getting their heads around the enormity of the tail end of the Russia story distribution.
[...]
Since this tweet made no sense, I'll clarify. Let's think about a bell curve/normal distribution of possible end results to the Mueller investigation about What Happened between Trump and Russia. over to the left of the bell curve you have the most miminal amount wrongdoing, which is basically what we know so far. Moving to the middle: people associated w the campaign worked w Russian intermediaries in some fashion, perhaps somewhat glacingly or just a few key moments and then out there on the right, the tail end, most extreme part of this distribution: that basically the President of the US signed onto a quid pro quo with a foreign adversary to engage in a criminal conspiracy to infiltrate and sabotage and American election.

For a very long time I have thought that that final possibility, the "tail end" was *extremely unlikely*. But as time goes on, and evidence comes in, it's likeliness seems to increase to me. And I think very few people are prepared to reckon with what it would mean if it were to turn out to be true.

Analysts, pundits, and even journalists are, I think, falling into a type of argumentum ad consequentiam. If it were true that Trump actively conspired with Russia then we have an actual Manchurian Candidate in the White House, the election was completely illegitimate, every action taken since then has likewise been illegitimate, and the country faces the second greatest crisis in its history. And that's practically unthinkable, therefore they don't yet seem to grapple with the fact that it really might be true.

Which is understandable. But people have to start coming to grips with the fact that it might be true and what that will mean if it is. It's still not yet certain by any means (though I think Obstruction is now a slam dunk) but as Hayes says every revelation increases the likelihood of it being true and that's... not good.
posted by Justinian at 5:22 PM on February 28, 2018 [118 favorites]

Well, well, well. These sure are some interesting times.
posted by mosk at 5:27 PM on February 28, 2018 [7 favorites]

the second greatest crisis in its history.
Is number one the civil war, 9/11, or the Cuban missile crisis? Or something else?
posted by vrakatar at 5:28 PM on February 28, 2018 [2 favorites]

Civil War. Though I suppose the imminent threat of nuclear annihilation during the Cuban crisis was, uh, kinda bad too. This would be significantly worse than 9/11 in my opinion. That was terrible and horrific but in no sense an existential threat (unless we did it ourselves I guess.)
posted by Justinian at 5:31 PM on February 28, 2018 [22 favorites]

Kushner took hundreds of millions in loans after meeting with bank officials in the White House.
posted by Andrhia at 5:36 PM on February 28, 2018 [42 favorites]

Candleman: In my opinion there's a big difference between people just posting a series of freakouts about WHAT IF and a link to an actual national journalist talking publicly about the reluctance among the pundit class to come to grips with the situation and why that might be so. It's a moving story. But I already said my bit so it's unlikely that particular thread will keep going anyway.
posted by Justinian at 5:39 PM on February 28, 2018 [2 favorites]

Jim Acosta, CNN: Scoop: Mueller’s team is asking about comments made by Hope Hicks about Russian contacts to the NYT, a former Trump campaign official who has spoken to Special Counsel’s office tells CNN.

Lordy, this has been quite the news day, hasn't it?
posted by un petit cadeau at 5:43 PM on February 28, 2018 [30 favorites]

prepared to reckon with what it would mean if it were to turn out to be true.
Analysts, pundits, and even journalists are, I think, falling into a type of argumentum ad consequentiam. If it were true that Trump actively conspired with Russia then we have an actual Manchurian Candidate in the White House, the election was completely illegitimate, every action taken since then has likewise been illegitimate, and the country faces the second greatest crisis in its history.

I've thought the evidence for an explict Trump alliance with Putin and direct cooperation in the election, as well as on going payoffs in office, was compelling from the beginning, and we're to the point now that's it on the verge of being overwhelming. And much, if not all, of elected Republicans knew all along and are actively participating in the coverup.

The main issue here is we don't have a mechanism for invalidating an election. Even if it were proven Trump is literally guilty of treason, and hand feeding the nuclear codes to Putin, impeachment is an inadequate remedy. Impeachment doesn't roll back an illegal appointment of Gorsuch, or an illegitimate GOP tax bill, or all the other damage they've already done. It's written. There's no going back, there's only rebuilding the pieces and prosecuting the perpetrators, except fully 40% of the population and 51+% of the government is entirely unwilling to do either, because they still benefit from treason.

So uh, yea. Shit's bad. And there's little avenue to improvement other than defeating every single Republican and making sure they're forever known as the party that betrayed America. Republicans after 2018 should be treated like Nazis in 1947 Germany, and that's not hyperbole. Anything less will mean they got away with it.
posted by T.D. Strange at 5:43 PM on February 28, 2018 [94 favorites]

If you're curious about how (or if) the insane monster avalanche of developments is being received in the Conservosphere: right now on Fox News, Tucker Carlson is interviewing a college republican who is filing a complaint after campus progressives photoshopped his face onto a cracker.
posted by Rust Moranis at 5:45 PM on February 28, 2018 [74 favorites]

It has been really weird following Josh Marshall tracking down the Russia/Manafort angle since well before the election. For a long time I kept wondering if I was following him down a rabbit hole, that the Trump phenomenon was so bizarre that it had pushed him over he edge into grasping for conspiracy theories to account for it. I believed him, but I didn’t trust myself for believing.

And now, a year into Trump’s first term, it’s beginning to look like he was not only on the right track, but every day the newspaper has another story of the Mueller team chasing down the same leads he was writing about in the summer of 2016.

I don’t know where this ends, but at least I feel less crazy.
posted by murphy slaw at 5:48 PM on February 28, 2018 [46 favorites]

With photos. As I understand it, once Sessions gives Rosenstein bread and salt that means Rosenstein has Guest Right, and therefore cannot be fired within Sessions' castle or holdings.

I think it means the opposite; it's the kiss of death - It's "having the meatloaf". In the Trump world, there seems to be something about ritual humiliation of people around food - Romney; Christie, and probably others I can't think of.

The Red Wedding is coming; I just don't know who is Frey, Bolton, or Stark just yet.
posted by nubs at 5:48 PM on February 28, 2018 [7 favorites]

I’ve never seen Feinstein so happy, or Cornyn so sad.
posted by leotrotsky at 5:50 PM on February 28, 2018 [33 favorites]

My bad, I did open another sleeve of Thin Mints today.

From Ari Melber:

Breaking: In first appearance since facing Mueller's investigators last week, former Trump aide now says he thinks Don Jr. *told* Donald Trump about Russian offer of dirt on Clinton.

"Where's the crime?" he asks...

posted by Dashy at 5:51 PM on February 28, 2018 [36 favorites]

Last week Thursday was the new Friday. This week it’s Wednesday. By midnight tonight every hour will be Friday afternoon.
posted by notyou at 5:51 PM on February 28, 2018 [38 favorites]

President Trump on Monday accused some governors of being “scared” of the National Rifle Association (NRA) and argued that “sometimes” government officials would have to fight the gun lobby to achieve necessary reforms.

Sometimes the idiot king stumbles upon something.
posted by leotrotsky at 5:54 PM on February 28, 2018 [20 favorites]

Lordy, this has been quite the news day, hasn't it?

Poor @kylegriffin1 of MSNBC is reduced to begging for a breather, for the second time in a few weeks. And this is his actual job.
posted by FelliniBlank at 5:55 PM on February 28, 2018 [8 favorites]

Sometimes the idiot king stumbles upon something.

I really wonder what would happen if Democrats do retake the House and Senate, he's so fucking stupid he might agree to damn near anything they asked as long as he got to sit at the big boy chair and sign a shiny gold paper at the end.

If 2018 does go well the first priority should be finding Stephen Miller a girlfriend and getting him out of Trump's ear, then seeing how many Democratic wishlist items Trump can be tricked into supporting.
posted by T.D. Strange at 5:58 PM on February 28, 2018 [15 favorites]

It's going to be Hope Hicks, and only Hope Hicks, going to prison out of all this, isn't it? If you're up to your ears in corruption, looting, sex crimes, and collusion with an unfriendly nation, the system yawns and dares the media to make a big deal out of any of it. If you're the least dirty out of the dirtiest dirtbags to ever get dirt on a pile of dirt? Hope you get a nice cellmate.
posted by Rykey at 5:59 PM on February 28, 2018 [5 favorites]

Scoop: Mueller’s team is asking about comments made by Hope Hicks about Russian contacts to the NYT, a former Trump campaign official who has spoken to Special Counsel’s office tells CNN.

Can somebody parse this for me? My brain is having an issue understanding it. Hope Hicks made comments, to the NYT, about Russian contacts, and Mueller wants to know about them, according to somebody who was previously a Trump campaign official, who has spoken to Mueller? Is this correct?
posted by gucci mane at 6:00 PM on February 28, 2018 [1 favorite]

Maddow and Hayes were just bantering about the wacko newsday, and she mentioned that she, once again, tossed out her planned A, B, and C blocks, and the guy from the Kushner loans story is currently en route to MSNBC but hasn't arrived yet.
posted by FelliniBlank at 6:02 PM on February 28, 2018 [3 favorites]

Can somebody parse this for me? My brain is having an issue understanding it. Hope Hicks made comments, to the NYT, about Russian contacts, and Mueller wants to know about them, according to somebody who was previously a Trump campaign official, who has spoken to Mueller? Is this correct?

Yes. Some or all of these "Mueller has been asking people about" stories seem (?) to be coming from Sam Nunberg, the same Trump ex-aide who was telling stuff to Ari Melber earlier tonight.
posted by FelliniBlank at 6:05 PM on February 28, 2018 [1 favorite]

Were these comments she made to the NYT public, or secretive?
posted by gucci mane at 6:08 PM on February 28, 2018

@MichaelSLinden
HOLY CRAP! Right after private equity firm Apollo gives Jared Kushner a much-needed $184 million loan, Trump rescinds his earlier promise to close a huge tax loophole that benefits private equity managers. That loophole stayed in the final tax bill.
posted by chris24 at 6:08 PM on February 28, 2018 [99 favorites]

the same sam nunberg who was prattling on about how trump screws everyone … last week

you couldn’t write this stuff, you’d be laughed out of hollywood
posted by murphy slaw at 6:09 PM on February 28, 2018 [3 favorites]

Poor @kylegriffin1 of MSNBC is reduced to begging for a breather, for the second time in a few weeks. And this is his actual job.

Meanwhile, on FOX News.
posted by T.D. Strange at 6:13 PM on February 28, 2018 [2 favorites]

If 2018 does go well the first priority should be finding Stephen Miller a girlfriend

come on man, the problem with Stephen Miller is that he's an asshole. It's not that somebody needs to "find" him a woman.
posted by ActingTheGoat at 6:16 PM on February 28, 2018 [82 favorites]

come on man, the problem with Stephen Miller is that he's an asshole. It's not that somebody needs to "find" him a woman.

exactly. even hitler had a girlfriend, didn’t help.
to think otherwise is to buy into incel delusions.
posted by murphy slaw at 6:19 PM on February 28, 2018 [50 favorites]

> Mueller’s team is asking about comments made by Hope Hicks about Russian contacts to the NYT

At this point, is Mueller asking any questions that he doesn't already know the answer to?
posted by klarck at 6:21 PM on February 28, 2018 [11 favorites]

I think that Mueller is so much better at what he is doing than anyone else that there is no point in anyone asking what he is up to.
posted by Quonab at 6:23 PM on February 28, 2018 [22 favorites]

Apparently moderators at /r/the_donald are banning anybody critical of Trump's anti-NRA comments.

So refreshing to see the circular firing squad where it ought to be.
posted by Rust Moranis at 6:27 PM on February 28, 2018 [92 favorites]

I've thought the evidence for an explict Trump alliance with Putin and direct cooperation in the election, as well as on going payoffs in office, was compelling from the beginning

His people specifically softened the RNC platform's stance on Russian aggression in Ukraine. We talked about that here when it happened. That little detail should have set off every alarm in the country, although I grant a lot of other alarms were already ringing by then and maybe they got hard to distinguish from one another.
posted by scaryblackdeath at 6:30 PM on February 28, 2018 [41 favorites]

I'm surprised about the White House calligrapher, honestly.

Not the calligrapher per say, but the calligraphy.

I had been assuming that everything being written by and for this administration was naturally in BOLD, COMIC SANS.
posted by floweredfish at 6:34 PM on February 28, 2018 [16 favorites]

Just a quick update from this from last thread, eleventy billion years ago:

After 4 days of striking, the West Virginia teachers’ union has reached an agreement to end their historic work stoppage.

Almost every county has again cancelled school for Thursday after teachers rejected a proposed deal, citing the lack of any progress on long-term funding for their health insurance to prevent premium increases that would continue to cause reductions in net pay, despite the proposed raises.
posted by zachlipton at 6:40 PM on February 28, 2018 [44 favorites]

Meanwhile, last night in Arizona, the conservative-controlled Board of the Maricopa County Community College District voted to eliminate the faculty contract entirely, to take effect this coming October. Yes, that’s in the middle of the fall semester.

They also eliminated the 40-year-old formal mechanism by which the faculty could even make recommendations to the Administration and Board on policy.

The District is one of the largest in the country, serving over 250,000 college students, is the largest feeder of transfer students to the state universities, and is the biggest driver of workforce development in the state. And the conservatives just killed faculty contracts.
posted by darkstar at 6:50 PM on February 28, 2018 [27 favorites]

Zinke grifter asshole update: still Zinke, still grifter, still asshole.

Zinke on track to be $200K over travel budget: report
posted by Rust Moranis at 6:50 PM on February 28, 2018 [14 favorites]

sotonohito: "I have to say, a ban on semi-autos doesn't seem particularly evil or like a bad idea."

Without saying it's good or not that'll pretty well ban all the most popular rifles and the vast majority of hand guns. You might as well go full Aussie style ban if you've got the ability to pass a semi-auto ban.

ActingTheGoat: "come on man, the problem with Stephen Miller is that he's an asshole. It's not that somebody needs to "find" him a woman."

Someone leave TV Tropes open on his browser. Maybe play up how good Nethack is.

Rust Moranis: "
Zinke on track to be $200K over travel budget: report"

$diety on a rubber crutch; does the guy just spend all his time flying 1st class.
posted by Mitheral at 7:06 PM on February 28, 2018 [3 favorites]

Remember the scandalous video about the 2016 secret meeting between Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska and Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Prikhodka on a Norwegian yacht trip that was released early last month on YouTube by Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny?

Well, the escort/sex expert who was Navalny's source has now been jailed in Thailand but says she will spill information on Trump and Russia if the US will arrange for her release.

Anastasia Vashukevich, an escort service worker from Belarus who catapulted to a certain measure of fame after filming a yacht trip with Russian billionaire Oleg Deripaska and Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Prikhodko, was detained in Thailand over the weekend in a police raid on her “sex training” seminar. While still in custody Tuesday, she published Instagram videos asking U.S. journalists and intelligence agencies to help her.

Deripaska, with whom Vashukevich said she had an affair, used to employ former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort. But Vashukevich, better known by the alias Nastya Rybka, provided no evidence Tuesday to back up the claim that she had new information to offer related to the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election. A post to her Instagram account showed her sitting on the floor of what was described as a Thai jail cell and said she was sick.

“I am the only witness and the missing link in the connection between Russia and the U.S. elections — the long chain of Oleg Deripaska, Prikhodko, Manafort, and Trump,” Vashukevich said in a live Instagram video Tuesday, apparently shot as she was driven in an open-air police van through the Thai resort city of Pattaya. “In exchange for help from U.S. intelligence services and a guarantee of my safety, I am prepared to provide the necessary information to America or to Europe or to the country which can buy me out of Thai prison.”

And just to add another dollop of WTF to this airport-thriller news story: "Coincidentally or not, one of Russia’s most important security and intelligence officials was also in Thailand on Tuesday. Russian Security Council Secretary Nikolai Patrushev, former head of the Federal Security Service, held talks in Bangkok on the security of Russian tourists, RIA Novosti reported."
posted by Doktor Zed at 7:23 PM on February 28, 2018 [9 favorites]

ELECTIONS NEWS

** PA-18 special: GOP funding in this race has exceeded $9M. For one seat, where a Dem didn't even run in 2014 or 2016, that Trump won by 19 points, that's getting redrawn in 8 months anyway.

** 2018 Senate:

-- MS: Lots of developments here. State Sen McDaniel formally jumped into the GOP primary against incumbent Wicker. BUT he indicated he still might drop out of that race and run in the special for Cochran's seat, should he resign. Not clear to me if he would need to make that decision prior to the March 1 filing deadline or no. McDaniel probably doesn't have much of a shot against Wicker, a special could be anyone's game.

On the blue side, Dems finally got a good recruit in the Wicker race in House Minority Leader Baria. Baria's won as a D in a very red area, so he may have good cross-party appeal. The other top tier candidates are either shooting for governor (AG Hood), or waiting to see what happens with Cochran (Brandon Presley).

** 2018 House:

-- PA: You might remember the Dem primary battle being cast as moderates vs progressives in the old Lancaster County based PA-16 (we had a little argument about here). In light of the redistricting, Lancaster is now in the new PA-11. And Hartman (the moderate) is going to run for the new PA-10, which is possibly winnable (Trump 52-43), and where the Dems had no good candidate. King (the progressive) is still running in PA-11, although it's probably hopeless - the new district is much redder. Probably the best outcome - no feelings get bruised, and we have a shot at a seat still.

** Odds & ends:

-- Conventional wisdom has been that incumbent Illinois GOP governor Rauner's goose is cooked, and a new SIU poll corroborates that. Rauner loses 50-35 to Pritzker, and 48-34 to Biss. In the primary, it's Pritzker 31, Biss 21, Kennedy 17.

-- Dems running candidates in all NC legislature seats this fall (50 Senate, 120 House).

posted by Chrysostom at 7:27 PM on February 28, 2018 [45 favorites]

I think I picked the wrong day to spend a few hours away from the Thread. I hate to ask but is there a quick breakdown anywhere of what happened today?
posted by a snickering nuthatch at 7:29 PM on February 28, 2018 [1 favorite]

whatthefuckjusthappenedtoday.com
posted by zachlipton at 7:30 PM on February 28, 2018 [7 favorites]

whatthefuckjusthappenedtoday.com

Which was last updated at 3:19 pm. lol
posted by FelliniBlank at 7:36 PM on February 28, 2018 [17 favorites]

Hope Hicks’s many opportunities (Alexandra Petri, WaPo)

She was also one of those Schrödinger’s Adults with whom the president has surrounded himself, fully and miraculously responsible for all sorts of major decisions until suddenly and conveniently helpless. One moment, you are a Boy Genius who absolutely ought to be performing advanced surgery on the Middle East; the next, you are a mere infant who could not hope to fill out a form without frequent pauses for juice and snacks.

Either way, she was the opposite of Trump, Town & Country promised. But she could whisper him. (Trump is always needing to be whispered, like a ghost or a horse.)

Where will she go now, with her unique qualifications — an ability to speak softly and carry a big shtick? She will go fall in a forest, soundlessly. She will accept a position as Senior Vice President of Seeming So Put-Together That Everyone Assumes You are in Charge of Something.

But what will fill the void left by Hope? Or was there even a Hope there, in the first place? She should have been the last thing left in this Pandora’s box. There is supposed to be something left in the box after the monsters begin to fly out.

posted by Johnny Wallflower at 7:46 PM on February 28, 2018 [60 favorites]

i suspect that if we weren’t in the middle of this everburning tire fire of a political moment, alexandra petri might never have found a worthy target on which to sharpen her rapier wit.

still not worth it.
posted by murphy slaw at 7:52 PM on February 28, 2018 [10 favorites]

FelliniBlank: My Stephen Miller voodoo doll must be defective; every time I stick another pin in it, somebody else quits!

I think you should keep right on sticking those pins, FB. Working great as far as I can tell!
posted by skippyhacker at 7:54 PM on February 28, 2018 [16 favorites]

When I was a kid, I remember complaining that the news was boring. My dad replied "You don't know how lucky you are."

Now, my dad had lived through all kinds of excessively-exciting stuff like hyperinflation, revolutions, and the Holocaust, but even so: I'm starting to understand why he appreciated boring news.
posted by Joe in Australia at 8:25 PM on February 28, 2018 [115 favorites]

The main issue here is we don't have a mechanism for invalidating an election. Even if it were proven Trump is literally guilty of treason, and hand feeding the nuclear codes to Putin, impeachment is an inadequate remedy.

Broken record here. Free and fair elections are the foundation of our democracy. Impeachment is the only tent for a legitimately elected POTUS. However, the Constitution is silent on remedies for a corrupted election. Traditionally, the courts have made decisions regarding contested elections, and by extension, shouldn't they have the decision about what to do about a party that steals an election?
posted by Mental Wimp at 8:48 PM on February 28, 2018

Traditionally, the courts have made decisions regarding contested elections, and by extension, shouldn't they have the decision about what to do about a party that steals an election?

No. Not remotely on this scale. You really don't want to turn over political outcomes to an unelected judiciary, and they shouldn't want that role, and have historically declined it as a political question (although since Bush v. Gore and Gorsuch maybe all bets are off now and we are de facto rule by the five Republican Justices). But making that shaky arrangement explicit is untenable, both for the Justices themselves and the country. This isn't a juristocracy, and we shouldn't even want it to be.
posted by T.D. Strange at 8:54 PM on February 28, 2018 [7 favorites]

The craziest infrastructure week yet is unfolding on D.C. journalist Twitter:

The Washington Post's Damian Paletta @damianpaletta reports, "NEWS: Trump plans major trade announcement Thursday on steel and aluminum imports (232). This could be the first of several MAJOR trade decisions as White House 'nationalists' gain power."

But Axios's Jonathan Swan @jonathanswan demurs, "huh. this doesn't gel with any of what I'd been hearing." but admits "not saying it's wrong just a huge surprise. I was told 301 announcement was coming first and the 232 debate far from resolved.. but Trump is in a volatile mood and who knows!" Then he observes, "Something is SERIOUSLY wrong when senior administration officials and officials across Washington who should know what's going on with this — don't." and "To be clear — I am not saying WaPo is wrong. I trust their reporting. Just saying it's bizarre that people who should know about this don't, and it doesn't fit what was planned. Feels like a Wilbur —>Trump scenario."

Politico's Ben White‏ @morningmoneyben backs up the Washington Post story: "White House could announce intention to apply stiff steel and aluminum tariffs on Thursday even as aides including Gary Cohn are arguing hard against it. Via @AndrewRestuccia and @ABehsudi" Swan counters, "Total breakdown of process. And there’s no real paperwork to sign but DJT is his own man & likes what he hears from Navarro & Ross. Loss of Rob Porter made a difference here.. whatever happens tomorrow it probably wouldn’t have happened under previous trade group process." and "Trump is hopping mad tonight. In a bad place. I think when we do the tick tocks we’ll find this was a moment where he said “F it.” (Though I think this one is still very TBD, and I assume at *some point* tonight John Kelly will locate the steering wheel again.)"

Politico's Adam Behsudi‏ @ABehsudi qualifies their earlier story a bit: "Steel and aluminum tariffs could be announced by Trump on Thursday, but White House and industry sources still say there's a lot of back and forth on this. w/ @AndrewRestuccia" and Jonathan Swan adds, "Lots of back and forth (mainly because senior White House officials were learning about it for the first time by reading the Washington Post.)"

Swan concludes tonight's infrastructure week: "A staunch Trump loyalist inside the administration texted me this just now (reacting to the Sessions and trade announcement craziness): 'This is venturing into "okay, this is just too much' territory."
posted by Doktor Zed at 8:58 PM on February 28, 2018 [19 favorites]

I remain skeptical that anything is "just too much" for the GOP as a whole.
posted by Chrysostom at 9:00 PM on February 28, 2018 [26 favorites]

You know, unless he comes out for tax increases.
posted by T.D. Strange at 9:02 PM on February 28, 2018 [11 favorites]

You impose stiff tariffs on steel and aluminum imports and you make a few US industries happy in the short term. And within a year, red state exporters of agricultural products will be baying for blood, as our global competitors slap their own tariffs on US ag exports. Kentucky bourbon, grain from Kansas and Nebraska, cheese from Wisconsin...

There’s a reason they call it a trade war.
posted by darkstar at 9:07 PM on February 28, 2018 [23 favorites]

You impose stiff tariffs on steel and aluminum imports and you make a few US industries happy in the short term

And you piss off a whole heap more. The last time we tried this cockamamie scheme under Bush we saved a few thousand jobs but cost industries more than a couple billion dollars. Steel users were spending an extra half a million fucking dollars a year to save a single US steel job while at the same time we also threatened our export industries to the EU.

These people don't see beyond their spiteful noses.
posted by Talez at 9:23 PM on February 28, 2018 [14 favorites]

I mean, it's not like German steel workers are being short changed or undercut on wages and benefits like the near slave labor of dumped Chinese steel. They're fully unionized and have just won an optional 28 hour work week! They just kick the living shit out of US workers at making steel.
posted by Talez at 9:27 PM on February 28, 2018 [18 favorites]

Swan concludes tonight's infrastructure week: "A staunch Trump loyalist inside the administration texted me this just now (reacting to the Sessions and trade announcement craziness): 'This is venturing into "okay, this is just too much' territory."

Yeah, Political Twitter is making it sound like the White House is imploding tonight with Chaos Reigning. Breakdown of process, breakdown of policy, it's all falling apart. We're still right about on track, maybe a bit ahead of schedule.

I don't understand what they could be thinking. What good could come of this? All I can figure is steel tariffs would be popular in the Rust Belt (and basically nowhere else) while the pain from the retaliation will be felt in places Trump either will never win (CA) or will always win (Great Plains). But that's giving too much credit and it's probably the lashing out of a toddler having a tantrum.
posted by Justinian at 9:36 PM on February 28, 2018 [4 favorites]

Lordy, this has been quite the news day, hasn't it?

It really feels like things in Washington are completely coming apart at the seams
posted by Ray Walston, Luck Dragon at 9:38 PM on February 28, 2018 [9 favorites]

You really don't want to turn over political outcomes to an unelected judiciary, and they shouldn't want that role, and have historically declined it as a political question (although since Bush v. Gore and Gorsuch maybe all bets are off now and we are de facto rule by the five Republican Justices).

Couldn't agree more. However, this is a criminal matter, not a political matter.
posted by Mental Wimp at 9:44 PM on February 28, 2018 [1 favorite]

It really feels like things in Washington are completely coming apart at the seams

Washington can stop it any time it wants to.
posted by Merus at 9:55 PM on February 28, 2018 [38 favorites]

They just kick the living shit out of US workers at making steel.

i would phrase this as “german factories kick the shit out of US factories at making steel”. it’s not lazy workers, it’s lack of investment in manufacturing technology and training to use it.
posted by murphy slaw at 10:02 PM on February 28, 2018 [41 favorites]

Colbert's show posted the full uncut interview with Omarosa. It's 19 minutes, and honestly not worth wasting your life watching her, but it's a really bizarre painfully awkward video (not sure how well that will translate into an edited version for the show). She laughs inappropriately at pretty much every question, most of which are not remotely about laughing matters.

This clip toward the end finally starts to come around to the central contradiction here, which is that she declares herself to be offended by many of the things Trump has done, yet continued to work for him (the Access Hollywood tape was like "a gut punch"; Colbert: "a little lower"). Colbert reads off a laundry list of some of Trump's worst moments, to which she shakes her head and declares them all to be "awful" and "unacceptable" and "unequivocally unacceptable," but she's got nothing more to say in response besides "no I don't work for him anymore...nor do I regret trying to be a voice of reason at the table and trying to be the change."

The interview started with her explaining that teary Big Brother clip where she said everything is not going to be ok was specifically about immigration, about people who have been here for decades being deported. Pressed again on this point, "is everything going to be ok under Donald Trump?", her only answer is extremely Trumpian: "we'll have to wait and see...[audience boos]...yeah, suspense." That's the heart of this interview—nothing matters to Omarosa: she can feign concern for Trump's victims one minute and pull his reality show gimmicks the next. Good riddance.
posted by zachlipton at 10:23 PM on February 28, 2018 [29 favorites]

Hope Against Hope (David Remnick | The New Yorker)

“Hope Hicks is kidding herself if she thinks that her tenure in the Trump White House will be judged only for harmless, situational untruths.”
posted by Barack Spinoza at 10:55 PM on February 28, 2018 [8 favorites]

IANAL, but the "sometimes I lie for Trump" and its walkback yesterday, coupled with resigning today, points to felony risk for Hicks to me.
posted by rhizome at 10:59 PM on February 28, 2018 [10 favorites]

IANAL, but the "sometimes I lie for Trump" and its walkback yesterday, coupled with resigning today, points to felony risk for Hicks to me.

It actually struck me as a very clever evasion. We've established already that lying to Congress is a crime -- felony even? (Key question: does it depend on Congress asking DOJ to prosecute, or could Mueller file charges for lying to Congress?)

Given that, just saying what Trump wanted -- "No, I never lie!" -- would be an easily proven crime. She's learned the lesson of Watergate, that vague half-denials e.g. "I don't recall that" are almost impossible to prosecute for perjury. Who's to say what someone recalled, or which lies are little and white?
posted by msalt at 11:45 PM on February 28, 2018 [3 favorites]

Well, Melania looks quite comfortable with it: Trump’s awkward gesture towards Pence caught on camera
posted by Joe in Australia at 1:21 AM on March 1, 2018 [14 favorites]

Who's to say what someone recalled, or which lies are little and white?

Depends on whether it's a bench or jury trial.
posted by snuffleupagus at 4:39 AM on March 1, 2018 [5 favorites]

In return for these concessions to environmentalism, the Baker-Shultz promises a “significant regulatory rollback.”
Oh my god these fucking squirts. 'Alright, alright, I'll do the right thing as long as I get paid extra for it!' It's like those knuckleheads that go 'O why should I even stop being racist if you can't be bothered to be super nice and polite to me?!'
posted by glasseyes at 4:41 AM on March 1, 2018 [8 favorites]

Rubio's approval rating is plummeting. Looks like continually slamming the Parkland teenagers isn't a good electoral strategy. Good thing he's not facing election for another four years.

Incidentally, every single kid at Stoneman Douglas will be eligible to vote in Rubio's next election in 2022.
posted by Talez at 5:07 AM on March 1, 2018 [89 favorites]

^ every single *surviving* kid
posted by GCU Sweet and Full of Grace at 5:51 AM on March 1, 2018 [47 favorites]

Oh I missed this one... Ahead of a bipartisan meeting with President Donald Trump Wednesday to discuss school safety, Democratic Senator Joe Manchin refused to support a ban on AR-15s, stating that none of his friends who own the semi-automatic rifle have ever broken the law with it.

He doesn’t personally know any mass shooters or terrorists, so it’s all alright!
posted by Artw at 6:00 AM on March 1, 2018 [42 favorites]

Yeah well I know plenty of people who have to settle for a 303 or a .22 for a weapon when dealing with feral pigs and none of them have ever had a problem with it.
posted by Talez at 6:09 AM on March 1, 2018 [8 favorites]

This was mentioned in the previous thread, but here's some reporting:

Polygon: Discord is purging alt-right, white nationalist and hateful servers

"Each of the servers affected — TRS, Atomwaffen, Nordic Resistance Movement, Uncesnsored politics , Ironmarch, Pagan Pathway, European Domus and Fashlash — are known for curating content that promotes hateful ideologies and pro-Nazism."
posted by snuffleupagus at 6:21 AM on March 1, 2018 [26 favorites]

Mitheral Without saying it's good or not that'll pretty well ban all the most popular rifles and the vast majority of hand guns.

Gotta open with something.

And the NRA cultists have been telling us stoopid liberals for years that we don't understand guns and all of our efforts at control are doomed because of our inability to appreciate and obsess over the minutiae of gun specs, that our bans on assault rifles are just too woefully ignorant to even laugh about, and that anything we propose is automatically wrong because we're not NRA lifetime members.

Fine.

Let's open with a nice, simple, easy to comprehend, proposal that would undeniably ban the sorts of weapons that cause the problems. If that's bad then let them make a counterproposal. But you know what? Banning semi-autos would work. And they couldn't whine about how we're just banning cosmetic stuff.

If they don't like my proposal let them make one of their own from their superior knowledge.

I think part of our nationwide problem is that there's no credible anti-gun movement. The range of opinions in public affairs range from fanatical pro gun to less fanatical pro gun but possibly open to tiny little changes. Every major Democratic pol has felt it necessary to pose with guns and talk about how much they love hunting and hunters at the very least.

If nothing else a strong movement pushing a genuinely anti-NRA stance would force the gun cultists to negotiate a bit more. Right now we start from the position that all guns are great and any restrictions are horrible and try to edge from that position to "maybe a bit more background checks".

If we start from "ban all semi-autos" then we can settle for other stuff.

And it isn't as if the NRA and its cultists have rewarded anyone on the liberal side of things for their pro-gun stances. Despite every major Democrat telling America how much they love guns, the NRA has been unrelenting in painting them as evil "gun grabbers" who want to repeal the 2nd Amendment. So why bother trying to cozy up to them or present ourselves as reasonable?

Every moderate needs extremists as a sort of unspoken threat to get things done. MLK couldn't have gotten what he got if it hadn't been for Malcolm X and the other truly radical black activists in the background for the white power structure to see as the unreasonable alternative to MLK. "Deal with us or you'll have to deal with them" has been vital to every successful movement.

America is in desperate need of a genuine full throated anti-gun movement, if for no other reason than to force the gun cultists to make concessions to the moderates.
posted by sotonohito at 6:24 AM on March 1, 2018 [51 favorites]

The problem with that is the Second Amendment prevents it from being a plain old political tug-of-war. A full-throated anti-gun movement would have to advocate for a Constitutional amendment.
posted by snuffleupagus at 6:33 AM on March 1, 2018 [1 favorite]

A full-throated anti-gun movement would have to advocate for a Constitutional amendment.

I think this greatly depends on your interpretation of the amendment. If you place the emphasis on "well-regulated militia" then, well, we have that. It's called the national guard. If you want to fire guns, you can party like its 1799 and join up and keep the weapons at your local national guard arsenal until it's time to drill. I don't think that's contrary to 2A, it's just contrary to how some people interpret 2A.

I mean, even countries with what we'd consider very strict gun control allow some people to have guns. It's not like no one in Great Britain hunts. It's not like no one there collects historic weapons. But if you want a modern, military or law enforcement-grade weapon, you can join the military or law enforcement. Which, again, I don't think is contradictory to the US constitution.
posted by soren_lorensen at 6:40 AM on March 1, 2018 [59 favorites]

Trump’s awkward gesture towards Pence caught on camera

Any port in a storm.
posted by kirkaracha at 6:41 AM on March 1, 2018 [3 favorites]

If we start from "ban all semi-autos" then we can settle for other stuff.

Why don't we start with "license all guns"? Mass shootings aren't the source of most gun violence, it's homicides and suicides. License guns like we license other dangerous things in society. Comprehensive background check, require passing a rigorous test, required continuing education, required pro bono work in the community, loss of license in the event of misbehavior, etc. As you go up the danger spectrum (muzzle loader -> lever/bolt/pump action -> semi-automatic -> automatic) you increase the rigor and pain-in-the-neckedness of holding the license. This is ALREADY THE CASE with Class 3 items (suppressors, automatic weapons, etc.)

You don't need to ban something to safely regulate it. Calling for bans just gives the NRA the enemy they want.
posted by leotrotsky at 6:42 AM on March 1, 2018 [59 favorites]

Trump’s awkward gesture towards Pence caught on camera

Any port in a storm.

I guess he doesn't realize that Mike's already measuring Oval Office drapes behind that vacant smile.
posted by leotrotsky at 6:44 AM on March 1, 2018 [2 favorites]

Gun control discussion seems better at home in the shooting thread. At the rate news was generated yesterday, we'll be burning through a thread a day if we're not careful.
posted by stonepharisee at 6:45 AM on March 1, 2018 [12 favorites]

Reminder: gun control debate goes in the Parkland/guns thread.
posted by FelliniBlank at 6:46 AM on March 1, 2018 [4 favorites]

Colbert reads off a laundry list of some of Trump's worst moments, to which [Omarosa] shakes her head and declares them all to be "awful" and "unacceptable" and "unequivocally unacceptable"

“Every critic, every detractor, will have to bow down to President Trump,” she said. "It’s everyone who’s ever doubted Donald, who ever disagreed, who ever challenged him. It is the ultimate revenge to become the most powerful man in the universe.”

posted by kirkaracha at 6:46 AM on March 1, 2018 [29 favorites]

Yeah, Political Twitter is making it sound like the White House is imploding tonight with Chaos Reigning.

Yep, it's just business as usual at the Trump White House. Trump was humiliated yesterday, twice over, with a defiant public gesture from his beleaguered Attorney General and the departure of his comms director/surrogate daughter. As is typical with him, narcissistic injury resulted in narcissistic rage, and he lashed out, causing chaos in his immediate vicinity, which then spreads outward. Axios's Jonathan Swan has often provided exasperated staffers with an outlet for leaking in such situations.

One other reason why I was paying especially close attention to Swan yesterday, however, was that, per @TrumpsAlert, Donald Jr. started following him on Twitter yesterday morning.
posted by Doktor Zed at 6:55 AM on March 1, 2018 [6 favorites]

Colbert reads off a laundry list of some of Trump's worst moments, to which [Omarosa] shakes her head and declares them all to be "awful" and "unacceptable" and "unequivocally unacceptable"

“Every critic, every detractor, will have to bow down to President Trump,” she said. "It’s everyone who’s ever doubted Donald, who ever disagreed, who ever challenged him. It is the ultimate revenge to become the most powerful man in the universe.”

I really don't understand how people like that work on the inside. Is this a mask they take off when the cameras stop rolling, or do they behave this way in private as well? Did they never have an internal moral compass, or did they intentionally snuff it out?

What happened to them to turn them out this way?
posted by leotrotsky at 6:56 AM on March 1, 2018 [18 favorites]

Meanwhile, in Russia, this morning Vladimir Putin officially declared Cold War 2.0 on the western world. (“You didn’t listen to our country then. Listen to us now.”)

Reuters: Putin, Before Election, Unveils New Nuclear Weapons To Counter West

President Vladimir Putin unveiled an array of new nuclear weapons on Thursday, in one of his most bellicose speeches in years, saying they could hit almost any point in the world and not be intercepted.[...]

“They have not succeeded in holding Russia back,” said Putin, referring to the West.

“Now they need to take account of a new reality and understand that everything I have said today is not a bluff.”

Among the new weapons that Putin said were either in development or ready: a new intercontinental ballistic missile, a small nuclear warhead that could be attached to cruise missiles, underwater nuclear drones, a supersonic weapon and a laser weapon.

The audience, made up of Russian lawmakers and other leading figures, frequently stood up and applauded his presentation, which culminated with the Russian national anthem being played.[...]

“Unfriendly steps towards Russia such as the deployment of the (U.S.) anti-missile system and of NATO infrastructure nearer our borders and such like, from a military point of view, will become ineffective.”

Naturally Putin turns out to share Trump's obsession with nuclear weapons, only it turns out he's been concentrating on them.
posted by Doktor Zed at 7:08 AM on March 1, 2018 [40 favorites]

I really don't understand how people like that work on the inside. Is this a mask they take off when the cameras stop rolling, or do they behave this way in private as well? Did they never have an internal moral compass, or did they intentionally snuff it out?

They are what they need to be in the moment to get ahead. They are pleasers, which means they are chameleons, to the people that they think are their best chances for getting ahead. They are users to everyone else. I have worked for a person like this, and it's all calculated for advancement. That is their primary focus to which everything and everyone else is sacrificed and compromised: How do I get to the next rung up?

She talked big shit when she thought Donald's coattails were her ticket to a better life. Now she realizes what direction he's headed in, and she wants to be the first rat off the ship. So now, instead of pleasing him, she needs to please the court of public opinion to rehab her image, while she crosses her fingers and hopes nobody asks what it is she does, exactly.
posted by middleclasstool at 7:43 AM on March 1, 2018 [27 favorites]

There may also be some personal revenge to this as well, if the stories of the manner of her departure contain any truth.
posted by middleclasstool at 7:44 AM on March 1, 2018

There is an undeniable creepiness in a Videodrome way, how these creatures from reality TV have slithered out of their semi-fictional world to lay waste to our real one.

Also: isn’t it about time for Javanka to fuck off to the south of France or St. Martins or some shit? Don’t they usually vacation when it gets this hot at home?

And: Do you think they’ll let Jared have the cell next to his father? I don’t think it works that way, but these days, you never know.
posted by valkane at 7:51 AM on March 1, 2018 [26 favorites]

If they don't like my proposal let them make one of their own from their superior knowledge.

The problem is that they've been doing just that, filling the law books with deliberately unenforceable, loophole-riddled “gun control” laws, like a sort of legislative carbon monoxide.
posted by acb at 7:52 AM on March 1, 2018 [6 favorites]

From Kurt Eichenwald:
Ah, what the hell....this is the portion on Trump's drug use from the Newsweek story that set off a war. Matt Mcallaster, soon fired under sex discrimination cloud, said he was 2 frightened to publish despite push by every other editor. I've left Newsweek.
posted by Cookiebastard at 7:58 AM on March 1, 2018 [48 favorites]

Republicans are not just attached to Trump — they’re his customers, too
posted by T.D. Strange at 8:06 AM on March 1, 2018 [3 favorites]

They are what they need to be in the moment to get ahead. They are pleasers, which means they are chameleons, to the people that they think are their best chances for getting ahead. They are users to everyone else. I have worked for a person like this, and it's all calculated for advancement. That is their primary focus to which everything and everyone else is sacrificed and compromised: How do I get to the next rung up?

Think how much better the world would be if everyone learned from a young age that they don't need external validation to be a person worthy of love and respect. I feel the same way about Trump. I wish somebody, back when he was still a little kid, had shown him some kindness, empathy and love, and given him the footing of self-worth necessary to grow into a decent human being.
posted by leotrotsky at 8:07 AM on March 1, 2018 [16 favorites]

this is the portion on Trump's drug use from the Newsweek story

That's ridiculous! It says Trump's been taking drugs long-term whose side effects include "delusions, paranoia, and hyperactivity" and "sleeplessness and impulse control problems." I'm sure someone would have noticed if the president of the United States had exhibited that kind of behavior.
posted by kirkaracha at 8:14 AM on March 1, 2018 [73 favorites]

Think how much better the world would be if everyone learned from a young age that they don't need external validation to be a person worthy of love and respect. I feel the same way about Trump. I wish somebody, back when he was still a little kid, had shown him some kindness, empathy and love, and given him the footing of self-worth necessary to grow into a decent human being.

It took me nearly 40 years to really understand in my bones that I'd never fill the hole in me with perfectly-aligned life circumstances, even if such a thing were achievable. And I was raised well by loving people. The fact that he doesn't appear to have much of an internal life almost seems like a mercy to him (or maybe a survival adaptation) from that perspective.
posted by middleclasstool at 8:16 AM on March 1, 2018 [21 favorites]

Meanwhile, in Russia, this morning Vladimir Putin officially declared Cold War 2.0 on the western world. (“You didn’t listen to our country then. Listen to us now.”)

Yeah, watch that little animated video demonstrating their new Sarmat ballistic missile. Its target? Florida. [real]
posted by zakur at 8:27 AM on March 1, 2018 [13 favorites]

this is the portion on Trump's drug use from the Newsweek story

"Hope Hicks, a White House spokeswoman, acknowledged that Trump used them as diet pills for a few days in the early 1980s." Perhaps one of the "little white lies" she told on Trump's behalf?

For what it's worth, some of these details match up with a 2016 story's from the late lamented Gawker—Rumor: Doctor Prescribes Donald Trump "Cheap Speed"—based on original reporting in 1992 from the similarly late lamented Spy Magazine in 1992.
posted by Doktor Zed at 8:30 AM on March 1, 2018 [13 favorites]

Of course Trump would use a cheap knockoff.
posted by kirkaracha at 8:33 AM on March 1, 2018 [16 favorites]

Given that a significant fraction (if a small one) of the country seems to think he's kind of okay, though, maybe I'm understating the potential impact of this.

It's Don's Teflon. If [Hillary Clinton/Barack Obama/etc. etc.] had been a speed-freak for 8 years and lied about it...
posted by Cookiebastard at 8:35 AM on March 1, 2018 [7 favorites]

Doktor Zed: ...based on original reporting in 1992 from the similarly late lamented Spy Magazine in 1992.

And of course Spy Magazine got there twenty-five years ago, and the rest of us are only catching up now.
posted by wenestvedt at 8:38 AM on March 1, 2018 [31 favorites]

To be fair, Obama did admit to smoking weed in college, and nothing much was made of it. (That stood out from all the pointed racism and obstructionism, anyway.)
posted by Autumnheart at 8:39 AM on March 1, 2018 [4 favorites]

Yeah, watch that little animated video demonstrating their new Sarmat ballistic missile. Its target? Florida. [real]

Putin knows what he's doing. His aim is to get Trump to commit trillions to the US's nuclear arsenal, diverting resources from the productive economy, with the ultimate aim of doing to the US what Reagan did to the USSR, and thus settling a personal grudge.
posted by acb at 8:41 AM on March 1, 2018 [58 favorites]

Every major Democratic pol has felt it necessary to pose with guns and talk about how much they love hunting and hunters at the very least.

I get that people can be frustrated with the Dems but this is a bit of an oversimplification. MeFi-favorite-punching-bag Dianne Feinstein is as senior and major a Democratic pol as you can get, and she is the NRA's enemy #1. She's been fighting guns for more than 20 years. Anyway, here's a little gif for our collective amusement.
posted by a snickering nuthatch at 8:41 AM on March 1, 2018 [16 favorites]

I called both my Republican senators' DC offices to express my concern that the reason Trump broke his promise to close the carried interest loophole was because the director of the Apollo hedge fund met Jared Kushner at the White House and gave him a $184m loan, and that by voting to keep the loophole my senators were personally enriching the Trump family and wealthy Republican donors at the expense of the American people.
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 8:43 AM on March 1, 2018 [60 favorites]

To be fair, Obama did admit to smoking weed in college,...
Right. He admitted it. Wrote about it in his autobiography even. He didn't lie about it.
posted by Cookiebastard at 8:43 AM on March 1, 2018 [8 favorites]

Trump used them as diet pills for a few days in the early 1980s."

May not even be a lie in the strictest sense. He used drugs for a few days in the 1980s. And a few other days in the 1980s. Maybe around 170 times each year in the 80s"

"I used to do drugs. I still do, but I used to too."
posted by Twain Device at 8:45 AM on March 1, 2018 [36 favorites]

MeFi-favorite-punching-bag Dianne Feinstein is as senior and major a Democratic pol as you can get, and she is the NRA's enemy #1.

This is very true. I am not a fan of DiFei at all, but she has been in the lead for getting rid of assault weapons and the NRA hates her with a passion.
posted by Sophie1 at 8:47 AM on March 1, 2018 [6 favorites]

"I used to do drugs. I still do, but I used to too."

I think the key phrase was "as diet pills" actually. If he used them as diet pills for a few days but then continued using them as speed then it could be literally true while being misleading in the extreme.
posted by Green With You at 8:52 AM on March 1, 2018 [3 favorites]

I am beyond despairing that we appear to have reignited the nuclear arms race after having made so much progress in arms reduction over so many years. I mean, that's what's happening, right? I can't really read this any other way - I don't think Putin is completely lying here, and I don't see us living in a world where this isn't met in turn by an escalation on the US side.
posted by MysticMCJ at 8:53 AM on March 1, 2018 [24 favorites]

I get that people can be frustrated with the Dems but this is a bit of an oversimplification.

It's not just an oversimplification, it's simply false.
posted by biogeo at 8:55 AM on March 1, 2018 [1 favorite]

I have never understood why you need an arms race past the "we have enough weapons to kill every human on Earth" point. Which I believe we are at. More nukes won't make us more dangerous if we can already kill everyone on earth.

Not that stupid and greedy people won't seek to build more of course.
posted by emjaybee at 8:56 AM on March 1, 2018 [4 favorites]

I should have said "every Democrat running for President".
posted by sotonohito at 8:59 AM on March 1, 2018 [1 favorite]

I forget, did Clinton do the dumb duck hunt thing? I think the cosying yo to pro-lifers was more her equivalent of this.
posted by Artw at 9:03 AM on March 1, 2018

I don't think Putin is completely lying here,

No, but neither is he completely telling the truth. The propaganda is, "we now have a missile the US can't stop". But as far as I know, that was already true. The Star Wars missile defense system never worked. This announcement does not necessarily mean the Kremlin has developed any major new nuclear capacity.
posted by biogeo at 9:05 AM on March 1, 2018 [23 favorites]

TABLEGATE SHOCKER: HUD: Carson Directs Agency To Cancel Order For $30,000 Dining Set

Carson continued: “I left this matter alone to concentrate on bigger issues. I was as surprised as anyone to find out that a $31,000 dining set had been ordered. I have requested that the order be canceled. We will find another solution for the furniture replacement.”

posted by murphy slaw at 9:10 AM on March 1, 2018 [17 favorites]

Republicans are not just attached to Trump — they’re his customers, too

posted by T.D. Strange at 8:06 AM on March 1 [+] [!]

Hit a paywall. Is there a non-walled version of this?
posted by Mental Wimp at 9:13 AM on March 1, 2018

I dunno to what extent Putin desires mutual nuclear escalation. It may be that he wants to show off how much he can get away with -- how much Trump will not act provoked, because of whatever their arrangement is. The world will see a contrast with the reaction to Kim Jong-un; Donald's unlikely to tweet speculation about the size of Vladimir's nuclear button, invent a dopey nickname for him, drop nightmarish hints about how he'd like to use American nukes, etc.

(Meanwhile, I can't imagine the deplorables settling on a narrative. Over the past couple years, we've heard that Hillary would be much too weak on Russia, that she'd have nuked Russia, that she's the Ultimate Russia Colluder, that Putin is a wonderful guy anyone would be lucky to consider a friend, and so forth.)
posted by InTheYear2017 at 9:14 AM on March 1, 2018 [11 favorites]

They used the meeting with Mr. Ryan to raise broader concerns about the direction of the House Intelligence Committee under its chairman, Representative Devin Nunes of California, the officials said.

holy crap, i knew Nunes was an idiot and had gone rogue, but this is rogue idiocy to the point that, in any normal congress, he'd be expelled from the chamber.
posted by murphy slaw at 9:24 AM on March 1, 2018 [7 favorites]

No, but neither is he completely telling the truth. The propaganda is, "we now have a missile the US can't stop". But as far as I know, that was already true. The Star Wars missile defense system never worked. This announcement does not necessarily mean the Kremlin has developed any major new nuclear capacity.

Skate to where the puck will be, not where it is. Eventually ICBM defence will work. It's hard, not impossible. Shooting a missile into a missile is a thing that can be done, and is done on smaller scales. Russia is claiming that they are on the way to obsoleting that research before it finishes.

Yes, that would be a big deal in terms of maintaining Russian strike capability.
posted by jaduncan at 9:26 AM on March 1, 2018 [2 favorites]

Politico:

Rep. Trey Gowdy, chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, on Wednesday requested that Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson turn over all documents and communications pertaining to allegations by a high-ranking civil servant that she was the target of reprisals after sounding the alarm on agency spending.

posted by Chrysostom at 9:33 AM on March 1, 2018 [43 favorites]

Shooting a missile into a missile is a thing that can be done, and is done on smaller scales. Russia is claiming that they are on the way to obsoleting that research before it finishes.

That's already well known, because it's much easier and cheaper to deploy decoys than it is to create the capacity to detect the actual warhead. And then if a defense system develops -- at great cost and effort -- the capacity to detect one warhead among a dozen decoys, it's much easier to deploy a hundred and overwhelm the system again. That's why missile defense has always been a pipe dream.
posted by Gelatin at 9:35 AM on March 1, 2018 [14 favorites]

It says Trump's been taking drugs long-term whose side effects include "delusions, paranoia, and hyperactivity" and "sleeplessness and impulse control problems." I'm sure someone would have noticed if the president of the United States had exhibited that kind of behavior.

Goddammit I’m kind of tired of stuff that’s been obviously true forever — remember when a bunch of us were like “yo that dude is on speed” during the debates? — getting confirmed and the response is just “well of course.”

Between this and Treasongate, I feel like fucking Cassandra.

I dunno to what extent Putin desires mutual nuclear escalation

I don’t think he does. I think he sees that his covert acts of war against the United States and various NATO members are being uncovered, and he’s announcing that he has new weapons of overt war.

I also think it’s impossible to understand why Putin does what he does without understanding what’s going on inside Russia, and I don’t know who has that kind of expertise. It does seem like he’s dealing with a declining quality of life, an aging population, and a bunch of unrest among young people, so. Stirring up external conflicts is probably helpful, and certainly within the FSB/Putin playbook. (Remember all those terrorist apartment bombings that turned out to be FSB? Yeeeeaaahh.)
posted by schadenfrau at 9:36 AM on March 1, 2018 [21 favorites]

Breaking now that Trump has decided to go ahead and start a trade war with China over steel and aluminum. This, just ten minutes after WaPo posted this story:

Trump opts against announcing steel and aluminum tariffs Thursday after fierce White House blowback
posted by Barack Spinoza at 9:36 AM on March 1, 2018 [15 favorites]

“The White House” is no longer a metonym. It’s 100% warring factions and palace intrigue 100% of the time. This is no way to run a country.
posted by Barack Spinoza at 9:40 AM on March 1, 2018 [47 favorites]

The timing of Putin is awesome. And the targeting of Florida (Mar-A-Lago!) is precious. Lack of a terrorist attack on US soil, this rebooting of the cold war almost feels like a telephone agreement between two plutocrats to aid them both in maintaining control. We have always been at war with Oceana.

I honestly don’t think Donald Trump sees himself as an American. He sees himself as a member of the billionaire boys club, and that transcends all borders. The plutocrat club is an international country club where only the rich get to sit around and bullshit each other about how many people they own. Running the government as a business means citizens are all just employees, ants to be trod on and terminated for whatever reason that maximizes profit not for the general populace, but for the boss. Trump.

There are no laws, no social niceties, no rules or norms. There is only fuck you, where’s my money?
posted by valkane at 9:41 AM on March 1, 2018 [64 favorites]

In the last week we've had a bunch of polling of the generic congressional ballot. Suffolk and CNN did traditional live-caller polls and came back with +15 and +16. YouGov and Morning Consult, AFAIK, use online non-probability sampling online polling and came back +2 and +2.

Those are not results that can be reconciled as margin of error. I wish the elections were this week for a lot of reasons but one of them is so that we could see which methodology is bullshit. I know which I'd bet on.
posted by Justinian at 9:41 AM on March 1, 2018 [2 favorites]

Breaking now that Trump has decided to go ahead and start a trade war with China over steel and aluminum.

is the the Congressional GOP ever going to tire of trying to operate a marionette while only holding half of the strings?
posted by murphy slaw at 9:43 AM on March 1, 2018 [5 favorites]

Breaking now that Trump has decided to go ahead and start a trade war with China over steel and aluminum

Whatever it takes to get Hope Hicks off the front page.
posted by snuffleupagus at 9:43 AM on March 1, 2018 [3 favorites]

He sees himself as a member of the billionaire boys club, and that transcends all borders.

So sort of a "globalist elite," to coin a phrase?
posted by contraption at 9:43 AM on March 1, 2018 [17 favorites]

Eventually ICBM defence will work.

Opting out of MAD isn't something a nuclear-armed state should- hell, can- be permitted to do. Nobody in their right mind would tolerate such a thing.
posted by Pope Guilty at 9:44 AM on March 1, 2018 [5 favorites]

so that we could see which methodology is bullshit. I know which I'd bet on.

Which? I would think that traditional live-caller polling would be *more* likely to be Republican-leaning. Or am I misunderstanding what's meant?
posted by tivalasvegas at 9:45 AM on March 1, 2018

I'd sure like to opt out of the beta.
posted by snuffleupagus at 9:45 AM on March 1, 2018 [5 favorites]

Those are not results that can be reconciled as margin of error. I wish the elections were this week for a lot of reasons but one of them is so that we could see which methodology is bullshit. I know which I'd bet on.

special election results have been much closer to +15 than +2
posted by murphy slaw at 9:46 AM on March 1, 2018 [2 favorites]

Which? I would think that traditional live-caller polling would be *more* likely to be Republican-leaning. Or am I misunderstanding what's meant?

I'd bet on the the live-caller polling pretty heavily. Live-caller polling uses random sampling. The online polls are non-probability polls. They recruit people with ads and stuff. It is still possible to get good results but you have to use sophisticated mathematical adjustments to control for your sample. Mostly I think they don't.
posted by Justinian at 9:48 AM on March 1, 2018 [2 favorites]

He sees himself as a member of the billionaire boys club, and that transcends all borders.

My cab driver's conservative talk radio was savaging the globalist elite of Davos with their private jets, but for some reason the President escaped criticism. There must be something special about him.
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 9:49 AM on March 1, 2018 [11 favorites]

Breaking now that Trump has decided to go ahead and start a trade war with China over steel and aluminum.

Worth noting that China isn't even the top exporter of steel to the US, it's 11th. The top exporter is Canada.
posted by zombieflanders at 9:50 AM on March 1, 2018 [15 favorites]

Great point, cjelli. And the fact that we don’t know whether to take the words of the president literally or seriously sure is a sign of something, and none of it good.
posted by Barack Spinoza at 9:50 AM on March 1, 2018 [2 favorites]

Great point, cjelli. And the fact that we don’t know whether to take the words of the president literally or seriously sure is a sign of something, and none of it good.

i'm sure the stock market will wait patiently for clarification.
posted by murphy slaw at 9:52 AM on March 1, 2018 [12 favorites]

The timing of Putin is awesome. And the targeting of Florida (Mar-A-Lago!) is precious.

This is another dominance display by Putin, pure and simple. His motives are partly geopolitical - who knows what moves he's planning to make in spring or summer in the Baltics, for instance - and partly political, since he literally pulled out the big guns for a re-election campaign rally. But sticking it to Trump because he can is priceless.

Meanwhile, Fox News Pentagon correspondent Lucas Tomlinson @LucasFoxNews tweeted, "U.S. officials say Russia's nuke powered cruise missile not operational yet, still in 'R&D' phase and has crashed recently in testing in the Arctic, despite claims by Putin today." and "U.S. officials here say Russia 'worried' about Pentagon's plans to develop two new 'low-yield' nukes. Putin's speech needed to match Trump administration plans and shore up support at home ahead of presidential election this month".

Welcome to the Arms Race 2.0.
posted by Doktor Zed at 9:57 AM on March 1, 2018 [14 favorites]

this rebooting of the cold war almost feels like a telephone agreement between two plutocrats to aid them both in maintaining control.

It also allows Trump to substitute tough-guy security theatre for action by escalating the U.S. nuke program rather than implementing the sanctions that would actually hurt Putin and his Oligarch cronies (and presumably the mysterious definitely-not-Trump-related party that got that 19.5% share of Rosneft).
posted by Buntix at 9:58 AM on March 1, 2018 [9 favorites]

is Canada exempted?

I would assume that the main target of this is, in fact, Canada. Trump has been amplifying his rhetoric on unfair Canadian trade a lot in the last month. This gets a lot of play in the Canadian press, but I'm pretty certain it those concerns are lost in the noise in the US.

A couple of typical articles in Canadian media for the past few weeks:
GlobeandMail: Blame Canada: Trump paints us as suave international swindlers
CBC: 'Canada does not treat us right': Trump threatens new tax

This is frontpage news every day in Canada.
posted by bonehead at 9:59 AM on March 1, 2018 [39 favorites]

there's nothing signed as yet, and nothing to sign, so it's still officially a question mark, although the word seems to be that he will sign something 'next week.'

Based on his legislative history I expect him to sign an executive order demanding the Treasury department look at tariffs and report back in a few months
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 10:00 AM on March 1, 2018 [2 favorites]

Justinian: "The online polls are non-probability polls. They recruit people with ads and stuff."

Yeah, I do online surveys with Ipsos - you can earn points for stuff. Mostly product questionnaires, but sometimes it's politics. They do ask me my demographic info, but I am still pretty skeptical of response validity.
posted by Chrysostom at 10:01 AM on March 1, 2018 [1 favorite]

Just announced: Trump says U.S. will impose tariffs of 25% for steel, 10% for aluminum

U.S. President Donald Trump has announced new tariffs for imports of steel, at 25 per cent, and 10 per cent for aluminum that are to be implemented next week.

As pointed out, Canada is the top supplier of both to the US economy, even though it's not mentioned as one of the "bad actors". Interestingly, Canada is also the largest importer of US steel, largely because of auto manufacturing and military purposes. It will be interesting to see what the blow back is. This could be the single issue that kills an integrated NA auto industry, even if NAFTA survives.
posted by bonehead at 10:04 AM on March 1, 2018 [5 favorites]

Speaking of warring factions within the WH, here’s a handy guide to the current chaos:

A Brief Guide to Every 5-Alarm Fire Currently Engulfing the White House (Eric Levitz | NY Mag)

The Trump White House has long been an area known for its wildfires. But even by this administration’s combustible standards, it’s been a singularly incendiary week. By the time the president woke Thursday morning, nearly every corner of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue was engulfed by a distinct (figurative) conflagration.

Here’s a quick rundown of every “would have been the biggest internal crisis of the year (and/or presidency) in a different administration” currently blazing through the West Wing’s halls.

1. The president is (once again) at war with his attorney general.

2. A senior White House adviser is at war with the chief of staff.

3. The world is at war with Jared Kushner.

4. The president’s authoritarianism is at war with his pro-gun fanaticism.

5. The director of the National Economic Council is at war with the White House trade adviser.

6. Hope is lost.

posted by Barack Spinoza at 10:11 AM on March 1, 2018 [71 favorites]

Couple of points on Ben Carson to firmly establish him as a complete piece of shit. First, the total cost of his dining room set is $165,000; $31,000 is just for the table. And second, his primary concern with HUD itself & the people it services seems to be making sure the poor people it's mandated to help aren't being helped too much:

Compassion, Mr. Carson explained in an interview, means not giving people “a comfortable setting that would make somebody want to say: ‘I’ll just stay here. They will take care of me.’”

posted by scalefree at 10:12 AM on March 1, 2018 [41 favorites]

The This could be the single issue that kills an integrated NA auto industry, even if NAFTA survives.

Kills the integrated auto industry? The US automakers just had their president increase the price of their raw materials while firing an opening trade war salvo against our biggest car export destination. The US auto industry will be be lucky if they’re not in chapter 11 in the next five years.
posted by Talez at 10:16 AM on March 1, 2018 [27 favorites]

But yeah, we’ll save/create a couple hundred steel jobs which have been eviscerated by technology and per capita production inmprovements and not foreign competition.
posted by Talez at 10:18 AM on March 1, 2018 [6 favorites]

Welcome to the Arms Race 2.0

Project Pluto revisited?

This is DLC at best.
posted by snuffleupagus at 10:18 AM on March 1, 2018 [6 favorites]

Aluminum, in particular, is made in Canada because it's very power-intensive and Canada, mostly Quebec and BC, has lots of low-cost hydroelectric power. As a result, most Canadian aluminum is produced with little carbon emissions.

In the US, something like 3/4 of power is non-renewable, being NG, then coal, then nuclear. So this policy, shifting aluminum manufacture to the US, is a profoundly anti-climate change policy too.
posted by bonehead at 10:18 AM on March 1, 2018 [52 favorites]

Reuters: The US Ambassador to Mexico has announced her resignation in May.
posted by jedicus at 10:19 AM on March 1, 2018 [12 favorites]

How Democrats Are Helping Trump Dismantle Dodd-Frank

VP Nominee Tim Kaine leading the way.
posted by T.D. Strange at 10:30 AM on March 1, 2018 [16 favorites]

South Carolina has been a magnet for foreign car manufacturers over the past decade as well due to good value for money for wages compared to Germany. Expect that area to start being hit hard if the tariffs go on for more than a Scaramucci.

Back in January the German auto plant workers for Mercedes had a very unpleasant on the job.. confrontation... with a lackey of the executives over the decision to offshore C-class hybrid production to Charleston. This could get real awkward when said execs start getting the bills for the tariffs.
posted by Talez at 10:36 AM on March 1, 2018 [4 favorites]

Trump spent the campaign praising Larry Kudlow, and look how that turned out.

@larry_kudlow: Stocks down over 300 points on @realDonaldTrump announcement of 25% steel tariff and 10% on aluminum. Tariffs are taxes on users, think cars, trucks, planes, cans etc. POTUS so good on taxes & regs, so bad on trade.

Sen. Thune sums it up though: “There is no standard operating practice with this administration. Every day is a new adventure for us.”

In other news, WSJ reports that Mnuchin, Dogged By Protesters, Doesn’t Want Video Posted. His speech at UCLA went not particularly well, so he's asked them to not post video of it. Which is bad enough, but I'm not at all understanding why UCLA would honor that request.

And a quick plug here for a meetup including both me and lalex in the same room, at the end of the month in New York, unless my flight is cancelled and lalex is left awkwardly insisting we're really not the same person despite my absence. Come join us! (and discuss that over in IRL, not this thread)
posted by zachlipton at 10:42 AM on March 1, 2018 [36 favorites]

How Democrats Are Helping Trump Dismantle Dodd-Frank

"a spokesperson for Senator Tim Kaine responded, “Campaign contributions do not influence Senator Kaine’s policy positions."

"Mark Warner, Kaine’s fellow senator from Virginia, is also co-sponsoring. “Campaign contributions have never influenced Senator Warner’s decision making on policy matters and never will,” "

This is the same statement that Marco Rubio made about his 3 million dollars from the NRA. I wonder if Kaine and Warner hold the same position with respect to Rubio?
posted by Justinian at 10:46 AM on March 1, 2018 [4 favorites]

Reuters trying to both sides the Dow dropping 300 instantly by pointing out US steel and aluminum stocks are going up.

Jesus Christ, 4th estate. Have a fucking spine for once.
posted by Talez at 10:47 AM on March 1, 2018 [23 favorites]

Blast from the past (August 2017)! Axios Exclusive: Trump vents in Oval Office, "I want tariffs. Bring me some tariffs!"

Trump, addressing Kelly, said, "John, you haven't been in a trade discussion before, so I want to share with you my views. For the last six months, this same group of geniuses comes in here all the time and I tell them, 'Tariffs. I want tariffs.' And what do they do? They bring me IP. I can't put a tariff on IP." (Most in the room understood that the president can, in fact, use tariffs to combat Chinese IP theft.)[...]

Staff secretary Rob Porter, who is a key mediator in such meetings, said to the president: "Sir, do you not want to sign this?" He was referring to Trump's memo prodding Lighthizer to investigate China — which may lead to tariffs against Beijing.

Trump replied: "No, I'll sign it, but it's not what I've asked for the last six months." He turned to Kelly: "So, John, I want you to know, this is my view. I want tariffs. And I want someone to bring me some tariffs."

Kelly replied: "Yes sir, understood sir, I have it."

At one point in the meeting, Navarro pulled out a foam board chart. Trump didn't pay attention to it, saying "I don't even know what I'm looking at here."

Trump made sure the meeting ended with no confusion as to what he wanted.

"John, let me tell you why they didn't bring me any tariffs," he said. "I know there are some people in the room right now that are upset. I know there are some globalists in the room right now. And they don't want them, John, they don't want the tariffs. But I'm telling you, I want tariffs."

(Who would have thought the mediating influence of Roy Porter would be missed so soon?)

It's as though Trump, having proved unable to start a conflict in the Korean Penninsula, is looking to ignite a trade war in which it would be collateral damage.
posted by Doktor Zed at 10:49 AM on March 1, 2018 [24 favorites]

AIADA blasts the tariffs.
posted by Talez at 10:50 AM on March 1, 2018 [4 favorites]

How Democrats Are Helping Trump Dismantle Dodd-Frank

"a spokesperson for Senator Tim Kaine responded, “Campaign contributions do not influence Senator Kaine’s policy positions."

"Mark Warner, Kaine’s fellow senator from Virginia, is also co-sponsoring. “Campaign contributions have never influenced Senator Warner’s decision making on policy matters and never will,” "

This is the same statement that Marco Rubio made about his 3 million dollars from the NRA. I wonder if Kaine and Warner hold the same position with respect to Rubio?
posted by Justinian at 10:46 AM on March 1 [2 favorites +] [!]

To them all I say, "Prove it. Give back the donations and hold fast on your position. Then I'll believe you're acting on principle rather than on personal gain."
posted by Mental Wimp at 10:52 AM on March 1, 2018 [24 favorites]

It's as though Trump, having proved unable to start a conflict in the Korean Penninsula, is looking to ignite a trade war in which it would be collateral damage.

It’d almost be amusing if it wasn’t for the fact three million jobs or so are tossed into a flurry of chaos for this petulant little shit.

How is this 'a both sides' situation?

Because this isn’t robbing Peter to pay Paul, it’s robbing Peter, Teddy, Larry, Curly, Moe, Happy, Sneezy, Grumpy, and Bashful to pay Paul. It’s like a fuel train derailing and lighting up in flames and the press showing up with the headline: “Train Derailment - Spectators pleasantly warmed”.
posted by Talez at 10:57 AM on March 1, 2018 [28 favorites]

Don't think we've discussed this yet. Russia “Previewed” Plan to Disseminate Emails with Trump Campaign.

A significant recent revelation in the Russia investigation has been largely overlooked in the rush of several breaking news stories over the past few days. A nugget of information is contained in the memo written by Democrats on the House Intelligence Committee (the so-called Schiff Memo), which was released on Saturday morning.

Prior to the memo, we knew that a Russian agent told Trump campaign adviser George Papadopoulos of “Moscow possessing ‘dirt’” on Hillary Clinton “in the form of ‘thousands of emails,’” according to Papadopoulos’s plea statement. The memo went a legally significant step further. As Rep. Adam Schiff recently told Chris Hayes, “our memo discloses for the first time that the Russians previewed to Papadopoulos that they could help with disseminating these stolen emails.” Rep. Schiff added, “When Donald Trump openly called on the Russians to hack Hillary Clinton’s emails, they’d be richly rewarded if they released these to the press, his campaign had already been put on notice that the Russians were prepared to do just that and disseminate these stolen emails.” (The full transcript and video clip is below.)

posted by scalefree at 11:00 AM on March 1, 2018 [59 favorites]

"U.S. officials say Russia's nuke powered cruise missile not operational yet, still in 'R&D' phase"

If Putin wants to employ lots of very smart people to redevelop tech from the early 1960s, I'm not sure we should complain?
posted by GCU Sweet and Full of Grace at 11:05 AM on March 1, 2018 [2 favorites]

Stocks down over 300 points on @realDonaldTrump announcement of 25% steel tariff and 10% on aluminum. Tariffs are taxes on users, think cars, trucks, planes, cans etc. POTUS so good on taxes & regs, so bad on trade.

Will all the new boats for the Navy be made of wood? Will there be fewer or will they just be more expensive?
posted by srboisvert at 11:05 AM on March 1, 2018 [2 favorites]

Will all the new boats for the Navy be made of wood? Will there be fewer or will they just be more expensive?

Is this going to affect the contract price with Boeing for the new AF1s?
posted by SpaceBass at 11:09 AM on March 1, 2018

Is this going to affect the contract price with Boeing for the new AF1s?

Probably not. The planes are already built and most of the expense is in building and integrating the communications and security features that are needed for the president's planes.
posted by peeedro at 11:11 AM on March 1, 2018 [3 favorites]

To them all I say, "Prove it. Give back the donations and hold fast on your position. Then I'll believe you're acting on principle rather than on personal gain."

Nah, you don't need to make it a battle of domination, just ask them if that means they support public financing of elections. If donations don't have any effect, it's essentially charity by donors to fund the election machine, and nothing about public financing would change that.
posted by rhizome at 11:12 AM on March 1, 2018 [7 favorites]

Blame Canada: Trump paints us as suave international swindlers

What a fool. He forgot that we are also debonair.
posted by srboisvert at 11:14 AM on March 1, 2018 [17 favorites]

It’d almost be amusing if it wasn’t for the fact three million jobs or so are tossed into a flurry of chaos for this petulant little shit.

And for similar reasons, Trump tweeted this morning about "Manufacturing in U.S. Expands at Fatest Pace SInce May 2004" and "Unemployment filings are at their lowest level in over 48 years. Great news for workers and JOBS, JOBS, JOBS! #MAGA" would be laughably ironic.

Sen. Ben Sasse (R-Neb.) responds to Trump's tariff announcement, "Let's be clear: The President is proposing a massive tax increase on American families. Protectionism is weak, not strong. You'd expect a policy this bad from a leftist administration, not a supposedly Republican one."

Coincidentally, a new USA TODAY/Suffolk University Poll finds "58%-32%, those surveyed say they want to elect a Congress that mostly stands up to the president, not one that mostly cooperates with him".
posted by Doktor Zed at 11:17 AM on March 1, 2018 [20 favorites]

not only did Trump round the steel tariff up by 1%, he also increased the aluminum tariff by 3.3%:

The Commerce Department had recommended tariffs on all steel and aluminum imports, higher tariffs on imports from specific countries or a quota on imports.

Ross last month offered the president three options:

—tariffs of 24 percent on all steel and 7.7 percent on aluminum imports from all countries.

—tariffs of 53 percent on steel imports from 12 countries, including Brazil, China and Russia, and tariffs of 23.6 percent on aluminum imports from China, Hong Kong, Russia, Venezuela and Vietnam. Under this option, the United States would also impose a quota limiting all other countries to the aluminum and steel they exported to the United States last year.

—a quota on steel and aluminum imports from everywhere, limiting each country to 63 percent of the steel and 86.7 percent of the aluminum they shipped to the U.S. last year.

posted by murphy slaw at 11:25 AM on March 1, 2018 [6 favorites]

I'm still baffled as to how something as utterly critical as trade policy is in the hands of a single individual.

What the actual fuck were the Founders thinking when they put that together.

"Hey, maybe we should make stuff like tariffs a Congressional act that requires Presidential signoff, like laws. Naah, let's just give the President unlimited power to impose tariffs at their whim, that's a better way to do things!"

We're seeing, thanks to Trump, just how much of America's structure of state was reliant on the President being a decent person and abiding by political norms. We're going to need to write a **LOT** of previously informal stuff into law and make sure the law has serious, non-Congressional triggered, teeth.

As for the Democrats dismantling the (weak, insufficient) protections put in place after the last time the rich white boy's club cratered the economy, of course they are. Why, taking an anti-bankster position here might actually give people a reason to vote for them, and they can't be having that!

I'd also like to know what the actual fuck the Democrats think they're doing basically giving the same people who ruined the economy for grins and giggles back in 2008 total control and no oversight? Do they want a recession? Or are they just such greedy chucklefucks they don't give a damn?
posted by sotonohito at 11:29 AM on March 1, 2018 [15 favorites]

We'll have to see what actually happens with the numbers. My understanding is that nothing has been signed yet, as nothing was ready on paper today. (reading the timelines posted by journalists is really quite amusing/spine tingling as one who has been under that particular kind of gun before. There's a lot of bureaucratic panic on display.)

For all practical purposes, this announcement of sanctions was no more a formal declaration of policy than one of his late-night rage-tweets.
posted by bonehead at 11:29 AM on March 1, 2018

At one point in the meeting, Navarro pulled out a foam board chart. Trump didn't pay attention to it, saying "I don't even know what I'm looking at here."

Trump made sure the meeting ended with no confusion as to what he wanted.

"John, let me tell you why they didn't bring me any tariffs," he said. "I know there are some people in the room right now that are upset. I know there are some globalists in the room right now. And they don't want them, John, they don't want the tariffs. But I'm telling you, I want tariffs."

For pretty substantial number of people, this is the ideal of "strong leadership". I'm not talking about Trump-worshipers in general, although there's a lot of overlap. I'm talking about the perception that anyone who gets their hands dirty with the specifics of policy is being nit-picky, bureaucratic, and basically weak.

These people imagine that when there's a dispute or problem in government (or in business, or between neighbors), the best possible role for an authority figure isn't to learn, mediate, weigh options, or even issue specific instructions, but rather to declare what ought to happen, because that's decisiveness. If the leader attempts to break "what ought to happen" into concrete parts, then the ineffable magic of "leadership" is gone, like the proverbial dissected frog. And if underlings fail to follow up (what part of 'tarriffs' don't they understand?), that's on them.

Of course, this interpretation is the opposite of "the buck stops here". But for the mindset I'm talking about, there's no contradiction at all; it's the definition of responsibility. To them, any de-simplification by a leader figure looks like buck-passing, or foot-dragging. If you act like you know more about something than I do, or like you know less, you must be pulling a fast one on me. Don't try informing me about possible solutions to my problem, and don't ask questions to learn more about it either -- just fix my problem, dammit!

So when Trump says "I don't even know what I'm looking at here" in response to an economic chart, that's not seen as an admission of ignorance (which would be surprising given his narcissism), but as sticking it to the bamboozlers, the pencil-pushers who get a strange thrill out of defying basic common sense.

(This is also why I disagree with that news story saying "Trump made sure the meeting ended with no confusion as to what he wanted." He clearly wants something called "tariffs", but that's about it. He's the most confused one in that room, confused in a way that will never allow him to see himself as confused.)
posted by InTheYear2017 at 11:32 AM on March 1, 2018 [48 favorites]

I'd also like to know what the actual fuck the Democrats think they're doing basically giving the same people who ruined the economy for grins and giggles back in 2008 total control and no oversight?

I know! It’s like you elect a black guy president, give people healthcare, and then hand the house over to the opposition.

The Democrats can’t just click their fingers and fix everything. Democrats were busy all through 2008/2009 burning mounds of political capital to try and do good things for the American people for them to be left in the 2010 election going “hello? Liberals? Progressives? Leftists? Where are you all?”.
posted by Talez at 11:33 AM on March 1, 2018 [36 favorites]

I know I'm late to this but I'm trying to catch up and I'm still stuck on the Newsweek business linked above and i just

"In a telephone call from Newsweek, Bornstein, Trump’s current doctor, said he would only answer questions if I could identify the location of Mount Sinai. Assuming he was referring to the world-renowned hospital, I replied “Manhattan.” He said that was incorrect, and asked the question again. I asked if he meant the actual Mount Sinai and he said he had not specified anything. I replied Mount Sinai was in Egypt, in the Sinai Peninsula. He said that was wrong and hung up."

i don't
just
like yes i know the cold war's back on and we're putting tariffs on everything and democracy is, as usual, pretty much literally on fire but
...what?
posted by halation at 11:33 AM on March 1, 2018 [115 favorites]

For all practical purposes, this announcement of sanctions was no more a formal declaration of policy than one of his late-night rage-tweets.

well, sure. on the other hand, the markets are reacting to what he stated today. entire industries are making decisions based on these numbers and he's acting like it's the same as rounding your server's tip up to the nearest dollar.

not that trump has ever rounded up a tip in his life
posted by murphy slaw at 11:34 AM on March 1, 2018 [3 favorites]

What the actual fuck were the Founders thinking when they put that together.

I guess they assumed the process would only select the best and brightest not the human incarnation of an email from your grandmother with 'FW: FW: FW: FW: ' in the subject.
posted by PenDevil at 11:35 AM on March 1, 2018 [28 favorites]

A Brief Guide to Every 5-Alarm Fire Currently Engulfing the White House (Eric Levitz | NY Mag)

Today appears the day for major news outlets to realize there's just too much shit to report and fall back on listicles:

16 insane things that happened in Trumpworld in just the last 48 hours (Analysis by Chris Cillizza, CNN Editor-at-large, March 1, 2018)

Even by President Donald Trump's frenetic standards, the events of the last 48 hours have been insane.

Major resignations! Infighting! Robert Mueller! Javanka! And much, much more.

Because no one could keep track of it all, we -- me and the one and only Brenna Williams -- made a list. Here it is:
White House communications director Hope Hicks resigned.

John Kelly and Jared Kushner/Ivanka Trump are fighting.

Special counsel Robert Mueller is looking into Donald Trump's financial maneuvers prior to his announcing for president.

Trump publicly attacked Attorney General Jeff Sessions. Again.

Trump convened a conversation with senators and House members on gun safety in which he pooh-poohed a House-passed bill that grants states reciprocity on conceal and carry and seemed open to a comprehensive gun control measure.

We learned that Kushner has been stripped of his top secret security clearance, hamstringing his ability to oversee his broad portfolio of responsibilities within the White House.

Hicks testified before the House Intelligence Committee in relation to its investigation into Russia's attempted meddling in the 2016 election and acknowledged that she has told white lies in service of Trump.

The Washington Post reported that four foreign countries -- Israel, United Arab Emirates, Mexico and China -- had assessed that Kushner was vulnerable to manipulation due to his complex financial interests.

Longtime Javanka confidant Josh Raffel announced he was leaving the White House.

It emerged that the Department of Housing and Urban Development spent $31,000 to replace furniture in the office of Secretary Ben Carson.

A political appointee at the Interior Department resigned after CNN's K-File found a series of anti-gay and anti-Muslim comments she made via Facebook and Twitter.

Trump announced the hiring of Brad Parscale as his 2020 campaign manager.

Trump sent a flurry of tweets on Mueller's ongoing Russia investigation -- including one that read simply: "WITCH HUNT!"

US Cyber Command chief Adm. Mike Rogers told members of Congress that Trump had not authorized him to disrupt Russian attempts to meddle in future US elections.

Former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort pleaded not guilty to an array of (new) bank fraud and money laundering charges brought against him by Mueller.

The White House parted ways with Stephanie Winston Wolkoff, a senior adviser to first lady Melania Trump. Wolkoff's event-planning business was paid more than $26 million for its work on Trump's inauguration.
And brace yourself: that was only through Wednesday.

Hey Chris, why not just link to What The Fuck Just Happened Today? (Timely: the headline for Day 406: No one listened.) WTFJHT has more items in the past 48 hours, and also provides brief summaries, along with outbound links.
posted by filthy light thief at 11:36 AM on March 1, 2018 [44 favorites]

Business Insider: Trump's massive new tariffs could have distressing consequences for your beer purchases
posted by porn in the woods at 11:38 AM on March 1, 2018 [4 favorites]

Wait, the Dow dropped only 300 points?
*Checks Google*
Oh. I see. 500 and still trending downward. That makes a little more sense.
posted by scaryblackdeath at 11:41 AM on March 1, 2018 [27 favorites]

Wait, the Dow dropped only 300 points?

yeah there is a missing "in the ten minutes following the announcement" there
posted by murphy slaw at 11:46 AM on March 1, 2018 [4 favorites]

And of course, the Dow right now is reacting to what we're reacting to -- numbers that seem to be written on the back of a napkin, might go up and might go down, who the hell knows, why react *too* much when they aren't yet solid -- although you'd think the fact that these numbers are being written on the back of a napkin in the first place would scare the markets way more than any tariffs.
posted by saturday_morning at 11:48 AM on March 1, 2018 [2 favorites]

Even by President Donald Trump's frenetic standards, the events of the last 48 hours have been insane.

And they've been accelerating in the past 24—Axios: The Wild Wars Within The Trump White House

After a crazy 24 hours, sources close to President Trump say he is in a bad place — mad as hell about the internal chaos and the sense that things are unraveling.

The big picture: Hope Hicks leaving is obviously a huge blow to him. Every time he reads about Attorney General Jeff Sessions, his head explodes. The staff is just trying to ride out the storm.

Everywhere you look inside this White House, top officials are fighting, fomenting, feuding or fleeing, insiders say in conversations with us.[...]

Be smart: Trump is in a bad, mad place, feeling ill-served and confined by staff. The people he genuinely enjoys and feels close to are gone (Keith Schiller), leaving (Hope) or getting pounded in the press (Jared).

• The restraints are almost fully loosened, and what staff sees in private is more public than ever.

• We have never seen top officials this concerned, defeated.

Buzzfeed concurs: As Trump Spirals, Many Of His Staffers Are Looking To Exit

Many mid- and low-level staffers are anxious to leave and are actively looking for jobs elsewhere, sources close to the White House say. Those staffers saw the surprising resignation of Trump loyalist and communications director Hope Hicks on Wednesday as a sort of tipping point.

A former White House official said he's spoken with more aides inside the White House who are trying to leave the administration, but not necessarily getting the kinds of high-paying offers in the corporate world as former aides usually do.

"Things are still pretty bleak inside the White House," the source said. "I've talked to several people in the last week trying to find a way out, but they can't get out because no one is really hiring people with Trump White House experience. Not a fun time to say the least."

Another source close to the administration said he has also talked to those on the inside about potential job offers. The source said he remembers seeing one particularly fitting pun about Hick's departure on Thursday: "The White House has lost Hope." "That about says it all, right?" the source added.

posted by Doktor Zed at 11:59 AM on March 1, 2018 [54 favorites]

Remember when Republicans criticized the Obama administration for hamstringing the economy by creating uncertainty? That was a talking point for years!
posted by chrchr at 12:10 PM on March 1, 2018 [24 favorites]

Remember when Republicans criticized the Obama administration for hamstringing the economy by creating uncertainty? That was a talking point for years!

And yet the capitalists they profess to revere are supposed to have earned their vast wealth by prevailing in times of uncertainty. Feh.
posted by Gelatin at 12:12 PM on March 1, 2018 [6 favorites]

Either CNN focused on the myriads of dramatic relationships and positions of the notable attendees, or nothing was really said at today's "White House opioid event" -- Embattled Cabinet members attend White House opioid event (Dan Merica for CNN, March 1, 2018)

Three embattled Cabinet secretaries -- Attorney General Jeff Sessions, Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson and Veterans Affairs Secretary David Shulkin -- all appeared at a White House summit on the opioid epidemic, carrying on with business as usual.

The event, focused on the deadly opioid epidemic and the Trump administration's attempts to combat the scourge, comes amid a swirl of negative stories about Trump's Cabinet secretaries and his long-simmering ire for Sessions. Trump was not expected to attend the summit, but first lady Melania Trump opened the event with a call to action on opioids.

"Everyone in this room knows that our country is in the middle of the opioid crisis, and I am so proud of the work that this administration has already done to combat this epidemic," the first lady said.

What work is that now? Trump's focus on the epidemic as a law enforcement issue and not about treatment? (NPR, Feb. 7, 2018)

NPR had more critical, if brief, coverage of the actual event:

White House officials insist the administration has been hard at work, and that's what Thursday's opioid summit is all about. It featured Cabinet members, along with Mrs. Trump and counselor to the president Kellyanne Conway.

The summit was intended to "highlight the progress the Administration has made to combat drug demand and the opioid crisis," a White House official said in a statement.

In 2016, the most recent year for which data are available, opioid-related overdoses killed more than 42,000 Americans. That's an average of 115 deaths every day.

Last November, the president's commission on opioids released a lengthy set of recommendations [PDF*, titled because of course no , and most remain a work in progress or unaddressed altogether.

Several advocates NPR contacted ahead of the summit said they hadn't seen as much action as they had hoped, especially in the area of making quality, scientifically sound treatment options more readily available.

In recent weeks there has been some movement, with a congressional budget agreement pledging to add several billion dollars to combat the crisis and the Department of Justice announcing it would work with states that are suing drug manufacturers.

Still, the advocates said that is far short of what they had hoped when Trump declared an emergency, and they said they were interested to see what new information they could learn from the White House summit.

Emphasis mine.

* Meta commentary: the file is named "Final_Report_Draft_11-1-2017," and the only attribute in the PDF is to an author "Shatzkes,Kenneth" whose name is not found in the document, but his Twitter account lists him as "Policy Advisor to @GovChristie for Opioid Crisis," which makes sense, as Christie is the Chairman of The President's Commission on Combating Drug Addiction and the Opioid Crisis.
posted by filthy light thief at 12:12 PM on March 1, 2018 [4 favorites]

Reminder: gun control debate goes in the Parkland/guns thread.

Grim thought: Metafilter probably needs an ongoing, catch-all "latest mass shooting topic" like these political topics.
posted by msalt at 12:16 PM on March 1, 2018 [15 favorites]

Y'all please rein it in with the one-liners, this thread's already growing fast enough just with actual news.
posted by cortex (staff) at 12:18 PM on March 1, 2018 [4 favorites]

WaPo: A video Steven Mnuchin doesn’t want you to see
posted by snuffleupagus at 12:19 PM on March 1, 2018 [15 favorites]

"Things are still pretty bleak inside the White House," the source said. "I've talked to several people in the last week trying to find a way out, but they can't get out because no one is really hiring people with Trump White House experience. Not a fun time to say the least."

That's some yummy schadenfreude. I have zero sympathy for anyone who took a job with these toxic yahoos.

But more importantly, wouldn't you assume that any Trump appointee had some kind of Russian connection/was compromised and was therefore a danger to your organization if it wished to be free of Russian manipulation? I know I would take a pass on that risk.
posted by emjaybee at 12:21 PM on March 1, 2018 [48 favorites]

Somehow, the Mooch is still speaking on behalf of the WH. From CNN, Scaramucci says 'morale is terrible' in White House.

Former White House communications director Anthony Scaramucci said Thursday that chief of staff John Kelly is running the West Wing through a culture of fear and predicted more departures from the White House are to come, adding that "morale is terrible."

"The morale is terrible. The reason why the morale is terrible is that the rule by fear and intimidation does not work in a civilian environment," Scaramucci told CNN's Chris Cuomo on "New Day," apparently referring to Kelly's experience as a retired Marine Corps general.

posted by hanov3r at 12:26 PM on March 1, 2018 [1 favorite]

Trump meeting video game makers next week to discuss violence

White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said Thursday that President Trump will meet with leaders of the video game industry next week to discuss depictions of violence.

Ten minutes ago he walked in to the Opioid Summit, admired the extrajudicial killing of "these drug pushers" in "certain countries" and then suddenly walked out, leaving the room in stunned silence for 10 seconds or so before Kellyanne Conway said "thank you for coming, everybody."

I'd say that encouraging vigilante murder squads would be a bigger problem for violent crime than video games, but what do I know.
posted by Rust Moranis at 12:27 PM on March 1, 2018 [84 favorites]

Boston extended a less than warm welcome to Rick Gates and so he's no longer asking a judge for permission to visit the Hub with his kids over spring break.
posted by adamg at 12:45 PM on March 1, 2018 [4 favorites]

ThinkProgress: On Thursday morning’s edition of Fox & Friends, host Brian Kilmeade criticized survivors of the February 14 Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting who took part in a CNN gun violence town hall a week later as “emotional” and “illogical.”

During an interview with NRA spokesperson Dana Loesch, Kilmeade told her, “No one had it worse than you in that town hall where people were just so emotional, illogical — they were unconsolable [sic].”
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 12:46 PM on March 1, 2018 [9 favorites]

The Washington Post reported that four foreign countries -- Israel, United Arab Emirates, Mexico and China -- had assessed that Kushner was vulnerable to manipulation due to his complex financial interests.

There's a glaring omission from that list and I wonder why.
posted by Joe in Australia at 12:50 PM on March 1, 2018 [9 favorites]

missile defense is a sham.
posted by j_curiouser at 12:52 PM on March 1, 2018

This has gotten buried underneath the avalanche of news, but there's been a war brewing between Sen. Grassley, who has been working for years on some fairly modest yet important criminal justice reforms (eliminating mandatory minimums for certain non-violent drug offenses) and Sec. Sessions in concert with the White House, who wants to lock people of color in jail for long periods of time. Grassley put out some pretty extraordinary statements blasting Sessions for not supporting his bill after "how hard it was" for Grassley to get him confirmed.

Well, however mad Trump may be at Sessions, it certainly didn't stop him from taking Sessions's side by appointing William Otis to the US Sentencing Commission:

Otis is a notorious opponent of attempts to roll back mandatory minimum sentences and mass incarceration. He's a familiar face to anyone who's followed debate on the issue, mostly because he's often the only person news outlets and conference organizers can still find who's willing to speak out bluntly in support of mandatory minimums.

"Two facts about crime and sentencing dwarf everything else we've learned for the last 50 years," Otis said at a 2014 Federalist Society gathering. "When we have more prison, we have less crime. And when we have less prison, we have more crime."

posted by zachlipton at 12:53 PM on March 1, 2018 [20 favorites]

"Republican consultant" Rick Wilson in WaPo: When you let a closet Democrat like Trump lead the GOP, this is what you get He can’t defend traditional, conservative Republican positions when he doesn’t know what they are.

posted by Joe in Australia at 12:56 PM on March 1, 2018 [4 favorites]

He's not wrong.
posted by Melismata at 12:57 PM on March 1, 2018 [3 favorites]

This has gotten buried underneath the avalanche of news

also buried, but much less important:

in light of trump's recent taunting of jeff sessions, the Washington Post has posted a video explainer about Mr. Magoo

posted by murphy slaw at 1:01 PM on March 1, 2018 [4 favorites]

Rust Moranis: Ten minutes ago he walked in to the Opioid Summit, admired the extrajudicial killing of "these drug pushers" in "certain countries" and then suddenly walked out, leaving the room in stunned silence for 10 seconds or so before Kellyanne Conway said "thank you for coming, everybody."

I'm gonna need a [real] [paraphrase] or [fake] here - I don't see any reference to this elsewhere online.

Meanwhile, Think of the (other) children —Trump says violent games are OK for his young son, maybe not for yours -- "I look at some of the things he's watching and I say, 'How is that possible?'" (Kyle Orland for Ars Technica, March 1, 2018)

Last week, President Donald Trump tried to shift some of the blame for recent school shootings on video games and other entertainment, saying that "something has to be done" because "the level of violence on video games is shaping more and more people's thoughts." Trump expanded on those thoughts in a discussion with a bipartisan group of lawmakers Wednesday, bringing his own young son's experience with violent media into the debate.

"The video games, movies, the Internet stuff is so violent," Trump said during the livestreamed meeting with lawmakers [YouTube], in response to parental concerns passed on by Tennessee Republican Marsha Blackburn (relevant section begins at 1:12:20). "It's so incredible. I get to see things that you wouldn't be—you would be amazed at. I have a very young son who I look at some of the things he's watching and I say, 'How is that possible?'"

How that's possible in the Trumps' case, of course, is that President Trump allows his "very young son" to watch and play these violent "things." Trump didn't make any mention of any media diet restrictions he put in place after seeing those "incredible" violent images his 11-year-old son Barron is watching, suggesting he's not personally worried Barron will be one of the "more and more people" whose thoughts he says can be "shaped" by such media.

posted by filthy light thief at 1:01 PM on March 1, 2018 [6 favorites]

"Republican consultant" Rick Wilson

He's a long time Never Waivered Never Trumper and told a Trump apologist/lackey that he would gut said apologist like a fish on live TV. He faces death threats daily and all he would have to do to make it all stop is acquiesce and toe the party line. He's got more cajones and integrity in his little finger than most people do in their entire soul. He is well read, he is well spoken, and even though we think some of his positions are thoroughly backwards he doesn't stop fighting with us.

Dismissing him as a "republican consultant" with those air quotes does this great man a disservice.
posted by Talez at 1:02 PM on March 1, 2018 [15 favorites]

Talez The Democrats can’t just click their fingers and fix everything. Democrats were busy all through 2008/2009 burning mounds of political capital to try and do good things for the American people for them to be left in the 2010 election going “hello? Liberals? Progressives? Leftists? Where are you all?”.

I'm afraid I don't follow your reasoning here at all.

Are you arguing that, because in 2010 the left was unsuccessful in keeping a Democratic majority in Congress that it must now be punished with a repeat of the 2008 economic catastrophe and that therefore it is right and proper for Senate Democrats to vote in favor of laws that will recreate the catastrophe?

Is that actually what you're saying, or have I horribly misunderstood your point?

Also, for the Nth time, the left voted in 2010 about the same as it did in 2008. Point your ire at the centrists and right leaning Democrats, they're the ones who sat out the midterms, not the left. At the urging of people to pander to the center the ACA was stripped of almost all of its value, and they repaid that lurching to the center-right by staying home while we on the left sucked it up and voted Democrat. I'm about done being berated for failing to save Obama's majority after he pissed it away on the Cato institute approved ACA thanks all the same.

Seriously, what's going on with the Democrats voting (current count is 12) to kill Dodd-Frank? Why would they do that?
posted by sotonohito at 1:02 PM on March 1, 2018 [11 favorites]

I'll boycott any game company that "meets" with Trump to help him divert blame from the NRA to the gaming industry. Fuck that noise.
posted by sotonohito at 1:04 PM on March 1, 2018 [17 favorites]

I'm gonna need a [real] [paraphrase] or [fake] here - I don't see any reference to this elsewhere online.

I'm seeing it reported by Jim Acosta and Daniel Dale on Twitter, though without video. "The drug dealers, the drug pushers, they are really doing damage. They are really doing damage. Some countries have a very, very tough penalty. The ultimate penalty."
posted by Holy Zarquon's Singing Fish at 1:04 PM on March 1, 2018 [1 favorite]

I'm gonna need a [real] [paraphrase] or [fake] here - I don't see any reference to this elsewhere online.

Aaron Rupar, Think Progress

And that's it. Trump dropped by the opioid event, said he'd like to execute drug dealers like his buddy Duterte, and then left.
Trump alludes to Duterte-like punishments he'd like for drug dealers.

"The drug dealers are really doing damage. Some countries…

(actual tweetstream includes video clips)
posted by murphy slaw at 1:04 PM on March 1, 2018 [6 favorites]

I'm gonna need a [real] [paraphrase] or [fake] here - I don't see any reference to this elsewhere online.

Pretty much [real]. He spoke awkwardly for a few minutes: called up an (apparently) unwilling audience member to talk about his (apparently) dead son, rambled incoherently, admired state-sanctioned murder of pushers, and walked off. The awkward reaction from the audience and kellyanne's response is real as I remember it as well.
posted by Rust Moranis at 1:05 PM on March 1, 2018 [1 favorite]

Uhhh. @MSNBC: EXCLUSIVE: White House is preparing to replace H.R. McMaster as national security adviser, in a move orchestrated by CoS John Kelly and Defense Secretary James Mattis, according to five sources.

Toward the end of the month possibly. One name under consideration is Stephen Biegun, who was on the Bush NSC 2001-2003. This does not seem good at all.
posted by zachlipton at 1:05 PM on March 1, 2018 [25 favorites]

Dismissing him as a "republican consultant" with those air quotes does this great man a disservice.

Calling Trump a 'closet Democrat' is hot dogshit, "principled Never Trumper" or no. Also, from his lil column:

As a longtime GOP consultant, I’ve always had a half-joking, half-serious rule about political candidates and elected officials:

posted by Existential Dread at 1:06 PM on March 1, 2018 [18 favorites]

His finger might have integrity but his pretending Trump is a democrat suggests the rest of him is filled with something else.
posted by LarsC at 1:06 PM on March 1, 2018 [32 favorites]

I'm afraid I don't follow your reasoning here at all.

Are you arguing that, because in 2010 the left was unsuccessful in keeping a Democratic majority in Congress that it must now be punished with a repeat of the 2008 economic catastrophe and that therefore it is right and proper for Senate Democrats to vote in favor of laws that will recreate the catastrophe?

That's pretty post facto. The populace chooses the layout for Congress. My point is that it's not like Democrats in Congress got to 2010 and said "we've done enough, Republicans you can wreck the place again". The country decided to simultaneously abandon them and stop them from making forward progress while putting the lunatics back in charge of the asylum as a visceral reaction to a black president making their lives better.

Blaming Democrats because they didn't idiot-proof banking laws when they did so much in the two years they had is unreasonable, counter productive, and blames entirely the wrong people.
posted by Talez at 1:07 PM on March 1, 2018 [20 favorites]

An Industry Group Says the Trump Administration Is Run “Like a Bad Family Owned Small Business” — And They Love It
posted by Artw at 1:07 PM on March 1, 2018 [15 favorites]

White House is preparing to replace H.R. McMaster as national security adviser, in a move orchestrated by CoS John Kelly and Defense Secretary James Mattis

Oh good, the moderates will save us
posted by Rust Moranis at 1:08 PM on March 1, 2018 [11 favorites]

He's a long time Never Waivered Never Trumper and told a Trump apologist/lackey that he would gut said apologist like a fish on live TV. He faces death threats daily and all he would have to do to make it all stop is acquiesce and toe the party line. He's got more cajones and integrity in his little finger than most people do in their entire soul. He is well read, he is well spoken, and even though we think some of his positions are thoroughly backwards he doesn't stop fighting with us.

I mean, it looks to me like he's trying to foist the fascist takeover of his party off on Democrats, but other than that yeah, sure cajones
posted by Ray Walston, Luck Dragon at 1:08 PM on March 1, 2018 [23 favorites]

That will be a fun trend to track in the post-trump future: the Republican pivot from Nev-R-trump to "Let's give the guy a chance" to "I pledge eternal fealty to my Big, Strong Daddy" to eventually "Boy, I'm sure glad that lousy Democrat is no longer in office!"
posted by Atom Eyes at 1:08 PM on March 1, 2018 [28 favorites]

Blaming Democrats because they didn't idiot-proof banking laws when they did so much in the two years they had is unreasonable, counter productive, and blames entirely the wrong people.

We’re not blaming them for writing imperfect laws, we’re blaming them for repealing even the inadequate weaksauce regulations passed after 2008.

What part of this are you not getting, 12 Democrats including the most recent Vice Presidential nominee are working with Trump to deregulate Goldman Sachs, again.
posted by T.D. Strange at 1:11 PM on March 1, 2018 [29 favorites]

Hey, just a reminder for Texas folks. Today and tomorrow are the last days for early voting. Tuesday March 6 is official voting day. The ballot is long. Loooooong. 6 pages long in Collin County. And unlike previous years, there's enough Dems running that you can't vote straight ticket, there's a too many choices. In the Dems pile. IN TEXAS. Vote. Go. Do it.
posted by SecretAgentSockpuppet at 1:14 PM on March 1, 2018 [38 favorites]

Talez You seem to be misunderstanding. There's nothing post-facto here or 2010 here.

As of today, that is March 1, 2018, twelve of the **CURRENT** Senate Democrats are reportedly supporting a new bill being pushed in the Senate to destroy Dodd-Frank. Chuck Schumer, our vaunted Minority Leader, is one of them.

This isn't about Dodd-Frank being insufficient, it's about Dodd-Frank being destroyed with Democratic votes.

A large number of the current Democratic minority in the Senate are voting to strip us of the meager protections of Dodd-Frank and yet again let the banksters run wild and loot the economy until we are again driven into a recession.

That's what I'm objecting to. Events happening today, not events happening eight years ago.
posted by sotonohito at 1:15 PM on March 1, 2018 [22 favorites]

Can someone direct me to a link showing which Dem Senators are on board with this repeal? Thanks.
posted by Emmy Rae at 1:18 PM on March 1, 2018 [1 favorite]

I mean, depending on who they replace him with; McMaster was anti-Flynn and anti-Bannon, but I'm not confident that makes his role in the White House a good one.

one of my concerns (especially as a member of GWB’s NSC has been name-dropped) is that while the focus on North Korea may draw down, Mattis may start pushing for the hot war with Iran that he wants
posted by murphy slaw at 1:19 PM on March 1, 2018 [3 favorites]

@MillerCoors: "Like most brewers, we are selling an increasing amount of our beers in aluminum cans, and this action will cause aluminum prices to rise. It is likely to lead to job losses across the beer industry."

What % of the US beer market does MillerCoors control?
posted by JoeZydeco at 1:21 PM on March 1, 2018 [1 favorite]

Now, on the topic of the fleeting nature of majorities...

I do think the Democrats need to learn from past mistakes and start hammering out the laws they intend to pass once the get another majority. They need to be having public meetings, counting votes, dotting every i and crossing every t so that come Jan 21, 2021 assuming all goes well and we have a majority in the House and Senate as well as a shiny new Democratic President, they can ram through everything in a few days.

We need, desperately, for the future laws and executive orders to be written now. In public, with public input and criticism, so that they become basically the real Democratic platform. Vote for us and these laws will be put in place!

There's no reason for the XO's, especially, to happen in dribs and drabs over months. Let the new Democratic President have them all printed and right after they take their oath of office they can sign them and done.

There's similarly no reason for the Democrats to delay any votes or fail to have the new laws ready to vote on long before the Congress of 2021 begins its first meeting.

Saying that the Democrats "only" had their supermajority for two years and therefore it's childish to have expected them to do more is silly. Two **DAYS** should be long enough, provided that they've done their homework like good Congresspeople and gotten the laws already debated and written.

The Republicans have shown us that the very concept of debating bills on the floor is a laughable fiction, so fine. We don't. We write 'em in public, we debate 'em in public, and then we just vote on 'em in Congress. No need to waste time on debates with the Republicans.
posted by sotonohito at 1:22 PM on March 1, 2018 [42 favorites]

Can someone direct me to a link showing which Dem Senators are on board with this repeal? Thanks.

S.2155 - Economic Growth, Regulatory Relief, and Consumer Protection Act

Sen. Bennet, Michael F. [D-CO]*
Sen. Carper, Thomas R. [D-DE]
Sen. Coons, Christopher A. [D-DE]
Sen. Donnelly, Joe [D-IN]*
Sen. Heitkamp, Heidi [D-ND]*
Sen. Jones, Doug [D-AL]
Sen. Kaine, Tim [D-VA]*
Sen. Manchin, Joe, III [D-WV]*
Sen. McCaskill, Claire [D-MO]*
Sen. Peters, Gary C. [D-MI]*
Sen. Tester, Jon [D-MT]*
Sen. Warner, Mark R. [D-VA]*
posted by T.D. Strange at 1:22 PM on March 1, 2018 [15 favorites]

Dismissing [Rick Wilson] as a "republican consultant" with those air quotes does this great man a disservice.

Those are literally the words that the WaPo used to describe him. I didn't know anything else about him, so I quoted the WaPo's description. He calls himself "a longtime GOP consultant" in the body of the article, too.
posted by Joe in Australia at 1:23 PM on March 1, 2018 [7 favorites]

My mistake, I thought Schumer was on that list. Sorry Chuck, I wrongly maligned you.
posted by sotonohito at 1:25 PM on March 1, 2018 [4 favorites]

It’s the usual list of garbage. When there is a “majority” those guys are going to be a problem.
posted by Artw at 1:28 PM on March 1, 2018 [6 favorites]

"Republican consultant" Rick Wilson in WaPo: When you let a closet Democrat like Trump lead the GOP, this is what you get

This is the line I predicted as soon as the Russia scandal broke. The Republican Party is gonna ride Trump's racist kleptocracy as far as they can, destroying the economy and damaging our democracy in the process, and then if or when it collapses in a giant shitstorm of crime and scandal they'll try to avoid all responsibility for it by blaming Democrats. See! Trump is actually a Democrat! Look what the Democrats made us do!

It's happening in real time.
posted by Justinian at 1:30 PM on March 1, 2018 [88 favorites]

My mistake, I thought Schumer was on that list. Sorry Chuck, I wrongly maligned you.

dunking on certain Democrats gets a little reflexive in here sometimes
posted by prize bull octorok at 1:30 PM on March 1, 2018 [22 favorites]

rick wilson may be one of the loudest and most steadfast of the NeverTrump republicans, but never forget for a moment that if he managed to wrest the party away from the Trumpist contingent, he would resume supporting candidates that push utterly terrible policies instead of Trump’s horrific and incoherent ones.

the enemy of your enemy is the enemy of your enemy, nothing more.
posted by murphy slaw at 1:31 PM on March 1, 2018 [47 favorites]

a move orchestrated by chief of staff John Kelly and Defense Secretary James Mattis

Apparently the 3 generals were playing Risk - White House Edition. Inevitably two are going to gang up on the 3rd; now they square off. I'm betting on Jim Mattis.

Bolton would be a disaster, but I can think of a worse replacement: Dana Rohrbacher. Would Republicans have the stones to vote against him?
posted by msalt at 1:33 PM on March 1, 2018

The National Security Adviser is not a Senate-confirmed position. That's why Michael Flynn got the job.
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 1:34 PM on March 1, 2018 [4 favorites]

WaPo, ‘Every day is a new adventure’: Trump upends Washington and Wall Street with shifts on trade, guns. The last paragraph is something else:

Senior White House aides, including Short, have continued to tell Republican members to not overreact to Trump’s comments, particularly on the assault rifle ban he seemed to support. One senior GOP aide said Trump’s team was telling them to recall earlier meetings on immigration, where he seemed to side with Democrats before eventually changing his tune.

The White House's line to Republicans is just 'remember how he said stuff and then did the opposite last month? He can totally do that again.' Fundamentally, what does it mean for our government if everyone knows the President's word is entirely meaningless, to the point his own staff advertises this as a selling point?
posted by zachlipton at 1:35 PM on March 1, 2018 [42 favorites]

zachlipton: Fundamentally, what does it mean for our government if everyone knows the President's word is entirely meaningless, to the point his own staff advertises this as a selling point?

Depends on which part of "our government" you're talking about there. For staff-level positions and their upper management, it's a fooking nightmare. For Trump appointees, you know you're riding the waves, and clearly do your best to loot the system while Trump's in power. For Congress, keep pushing your positions and try to toss out emotional images to sway the whirling dervish in power to spin your way long enough to get something passed.

If you're a lobbyist, invest in air time on Fox News at key times.
posted by filthy light thief at 1:41 PM on March 1, 2018 [5 favorites]

The "closet Democrat" bit is the G.O.P. version of "No True Scotsman" - anything they don't like is (D). And it reminds me of the thin, faint silver lining to the dumpster fire that is the Trump Misadministration: that a COMPETENT Republican President might do even more damage to our institutions. But meanwhile, Trump's Meaningless Word is a feature, not a bug, as it allows the most dangerous of the Cabinet to have their work destroying everything good about the Federal Government to go relatively unnoticed (but not here). But I can't see a "Never Trump" Republican NOT supporting the evil works of ZInke, DeVos and Mnuchin, and if Carson wastes his time on office decorating, that takes away from his efforts to destroy HUD.
posted by oneswellfoop at 1:49 PM on March 1, 2018 [15 favorites]

I’m not going to kiss the ring of a Never-Trumper who starts his No True Scotsman thinkpiece with a fantasy depicting HRC as a gun grabber. She was never, to the despair of more than one concerned citizen, a gun grabber.

Trump is not a Democrat or a Republican. He is an amoral, sociopathic opportunist. He’s been registered to and donated to every party. He has no guiding principle but his father’s eugenic theory of social Darwinism.
posted by xyzzy at 1:58 PM on March 1, 2018 [71 favorites]

NYTimes: Senate Intelligence Leaders Say House G.O.P. Leaked a Senator’s Texts

So this gets even weirder when you factor in one of those other really weird-ass news stories that popped up one night and didn't really go anywhere: the time Julian Assange offered a fake Sean Hannity unspecified news about Sen. Warner through "other channels."

Eric Columbus with a short thread here. Warner was trying to get in contact with Christopher Steele by contacting a lawyer who had also done work for Oleg Deripaska. The speculation here, and it's pure speculation, is that the texts may have made their way to Deripaska and from him to Assange.

It's not clear to me that's what happened, but look at what we know. Warner sends a bunch of messages trying to get in contact with Steele last year, Assange messages fake-Hannity in late January offering news about Warner (and implying they already have existing "channels" over which they can communicate securely), and a week later, Fox News is publishing Warner's messages.

This all seems like it should be the focus of its own investigation.
posted by zachlipton at 2:03 PM on March 1, 2018 [37 favorites]

Speaking of investigations, NBC News, Ken Dilanian, William M. Arkin and Julia Ainsley, Mueller eyes charges against Russians who stole, spread Democrats’ emails

Special Counsel Robert Mueller is assembling a case for criminal charges against Russians who carried out the hacking and leaking of private information designed to hurt Democrats in the 2016 election, multiple current and former government officials familiar with the matter tell NBC News.

Much like the indictment Mueller filed last month charging a different group of Russians in a social media trolling and illegal-ad-buying scheme, the possible new charges are expected to rely heavily on secret intelligence gathered by the CIA, the FBI, the National Security Agency (NSA) and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), several of the officials say.

Mueller's consideration of charges accusing Russians in the hacking case has not been reported previously. Sources say he has long had sufficient evidence to make a case, but strategic issues could dictate the timing. Potential charges include violations of statutes on conspiracy, election law as well as the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act. One U.S. official briefed on the matter said the charges are not imminent, but other knowledgeable sources said they are expected in the next few weeks or months. It's also possible Mueller opts not to move forward because of concerns about exposing intelligence or other reasons — or that he files the indictment under seal, so the public doesn't see it initially.
...
Another major unanswered question is whether Mueller's grand jury will charge any Americans as witting participants in the hacking and leaking scheme — including anyone associated with Trump's presidential campaign. Americans referenced in Mueller's previous indictment of Russians were described as "unwitting."

One source suggested that a new indictment could include unnamed American co-conspirators as part of a strategy to pressure those involved to cooperate. The previous Mueller indictment involving the Russian social media operation cited a co-conspirator that it did not name.

"Next few weeks or months" is vague indeed, but I'm glad these cards, what actually happened, are finally getting put on the table. This is getting very interesting for Trump. Mueller's indicting Russians for what they did, and he's indicting and investigating Americans for their knowledge of what Russians did. What happens when those two tracks meet in the middle is anybody's guess.
posted by zachlipton at 2:07 PM on March 1, 2018 [34 favorites]

The speculation here, and it's pure speculation, is that the texts may have made their way to Deripaska and from him to Assange.

Then why is Senate Intel blaming House Intel? Did Assange send the texts to Nunes? Could Nunes be desperate enough to collaborate with Assange at this stage?
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 2:08 PM on March 1, 2018

Rick Wilson is pro-gun, pro-NRA, and was making AR-15 jokes on Twitter a few days after the Pulse nightclub shooting. He also has a lot of other views any progressive would find repellent. It's cool that he hates Trump and has been constantly dunking on pro-Trump Republicans, but that doesn't make him a good person.
posted by The Card Cheat at 2:13 PM on March 1, 2018 [31 favorites]

He has no guiding principle but his father’s eugenic theory of social Darwinism.
And a sprinkle of Norman Vincent Peale, a dash of Roy Cohn, and the tried and true path of rich boy racism.
posted by rc3spencer at 2:14 PM on March 1, 2018 [5 favorites]

One name under consideration is Stephen Biegun, who was on the Bush NSC 2001-2003.

From 1992 to 1994, Mr. Biegun served in Moscow, Russia as the Resident Director in the Russian Federation for the International Republican Institute, a democracy-building organization established under the National Endowment for Democracy.

Mr. Biegun, born 1963, graduated from the University of Michigan where he studied Political Science and Russian Language. He is a third generation Ford Motor Company employee. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and the Aspen Strategy Group, and is a member of the boards of the US-Russia Foundation for Economic Development and the Rule of Law, the Moscow School of Politics, Freedom House, the US-Russia Business Council, the US-ASEAN Business Council and FordSollers, Ford Motor Company’s joint venture operating in the Russia Federation.

Source: Ford Motor Co. Bio
posted by Mister Fabulous at 2:14 PM on March 1, 2018 [12 favorites]

It’s like a fuel train derailing and lighting up in flames and the press showing up with the headline: “Train Derailment - Spectators pleasantly warmed”.

That would be true if Reuters only had the resources to publish one story per day. In fact, they can publish more than one story per day. This is they story they published about the overall stock market:

Wall Street drops more than 1 percent on Trump tariff comments
posted by ultraviolet catastrophe at 2:20 PM on March 1, 2018 [3 favorites]

Trump isn't a closet Democrat. Republicans have spent the past forty-plus years being closet Trumps.
posted by InTheYear2017 at 2:22 PM on March 1, 2018 [97 favorites]

I am perfectly happy for Rick Wilson to continue speaking to his fellow Republicans in whatever fucking language they might listen to.

The idiots who'll be posting TRUMP=DEMOCRAT memes on Facebook a few years from now are a lost cause anyway.
posted by prize bull octorok at 2:24 PM on March 1, 2018 [9 favorites]

The guy tweets like 30 times an hour so I'm not sure anyone can listen to it all.
posted by JoeZydeco at 2:26 PM on March 1, 2018

The New York Times on the tariffs: In particular, the Trump administration’s invocation of national security concerns could set a precedent in which China and other nations are willing to use national security as grounds for tariffs, hurting the ability of the World Trade Organization to arbitrate disputes.

The real risk isn’t that steel and aluminum are a bit more expensive, though that is likely to be the case. It’s that an entire system of global trade, which the United States helped build, might be undermined.
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 2:26 PM on March 1, 2018 [8 favorites]

And talking of staff retention issues:

Politico:Trump’s tariff war nudges Cohn toward White House exit

Gary Cohn, President Donald Trump’s top economic adviser, has been rumored to be on the brink of leaving the White House for months but stayed for one main reason: to stop the president from imposing steep tariffs.

By Thursday afternoon, Cohn had lost the fight.

Relatedly, an interviewee on the radio news just now was bemoaning the fact that 45 has absolutely no way to engage Putin on arms negotiations, because nobody's been appointed - no under-secretary for arms control, nor an assistant secretary, nor any team whatsoever.
posted by Devonian at 2:26 PM on March 1, 2018 [23 favorites]

That would be true if Reuters only had the resources to publish one story per day. In fact, they can publish more than one story per day. This is they story they published about the overall stock market:

Wall Street drops more than 1 percent on Trump tariff comments

Reuters is a news service. It's a pick what you want buffet. The will run all kinds of stories with all kinds of editorial slants hoping that papers pick some of them up.
posted by srboisvert at 3:09 PM on March 1, 2018 [4 favorites]

CNN: FBI counterintel investigating Ivanka Trump business deal

US counterintelligence officials are scrutinizing one of Ivanka Trump's international business deals, according to two sources familiar with the matter.

The FBI has been looking into the negotiations and financing surrounding Trump International Hotel and Tower in Vancouver, according to a US official and a former US official. The scrutiny could be a hurdle for the first daughter as she tries to obtain a full security clearance in her role as adviser to President Donald Trump.

posted by mmascolino at 3:11 PM on March 1, 2018 [38 favorites]

And here I was thinking well, they* seem to have cornered Jared Kushner, at least for the time being, but surely Ivanka has kept any shenanigans at arm's length, so she's probably good.

-------------
*God only knows.
posted by notyou at 3:17 PM on March 1, 2018 [1 favorite]

Reuters is a news service. It's a pick what you want buffet. The will run all kinds of stories with all kinds of editorial slants hoping that papers pick some of them up.

In the article is a note about the Volatility Index peaking -- again. That's what's scary about this to me. If I recall my Chaos Theory correctly, as the system breaks down, the amplitude of the swings just keeps building.

Like the market's VIX
posted by mikelieman at 3:24 PM on March 1, 2018 [5 favorites]

I read a tweet that suggested Putin's talk had an unstated domestic agenda, that the majority of it was devoted to social progress & the fiery nuclear stuff was designed to attract international attention so he could use that to pivot & say "I talk about domestic affairs & all they focus on is war." It would resonate with Russians who heard the speech & would remember the social aspects that took up most of the speech. Just speculation but it's a smart move if that's what he intended; provoke a strong reaction from the West but lay down a smokescreen for domestic deniability.
posted by scalefree at 3:24 PM on March 1, 2018 [2 favorites]

NYT (a couple days ago), Helene Cooper and Eric Schmidt, U.S. Banks on Diplomacy With North Korea, but Moves Ahead on Military Plans, discussing a recent tabletop exercise for what an assault on North Korea would look like:

A war with North Korea, Defense Secretary Jim Mattis has said, would be “catastrophic.” He and Gen. Joseph F. Dunford Jr., the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, have argued forcefully for using diplomacy to address Pyongyang’s nuclear program.

Commanders who attended the exercise in Hawaii were told that roughly 10,000 Americans could be wounded in combat in the opening days alone. And the number of civilian casualties, the generals were told, would likely be in the thousands or even hundreds of thousands.

The potential human costs of a war were so high that, at one point during the exercise, General Milley remarked that “the brutality of this will be beyond the experience of any living soldier,” according to officials who were involved.

posted by zachlipton at 3:38 PM on March 1, 2018 [10 favorites]

Then why is Senate Intel blaming House Intel? Did Assange send the texts to Nunes? Could Nunes be desperate enough to collaborate with Assange at this stage?

Completely separate path. The attorney who received the requests from Sen. Warner gave them to the Senate Intelligence Committee, as part of a bunch of requested communications. Nunes demanded that they share them with the House committee, and Fox News quickly had distinctively marked pages provided to House Intel.

The [suspected] Deripaska - Assange route was months earlier.
posted by msalt at 3:39 PM on March 1, 2018 [2 favorites]

Politico:Trump’s tariff war nudges Cohn toward White House exit

The big picture in this White House is a complete rout of the Jared - Ivanka team, with Kushner's loss of his top security clearance and the departure of Gary Cohn, Hope Hicks and Josh Raffel. Conversely, Gen. Kelly is ascendant.
posted by msalt at 3:44 PM on March 1, 2018 [8 favorites]

People seriously voted for Trump as the less hawkish candidate and a year later we have the JCOS table topping war crimes with hundreds of thousands dead.
posted by T.D. Strange at 3:48 PM on March 1, 2018 [38 favorites]

The invaluable Marcy Wheeler noticed something interesting about NBC's report that Mueller is preparing charges against the Russians who executed the DNC hack. Tl;dr--previous reporting from WSJ indicated these charges were coming, but now Mueller will charge instead of the Cyber Crime division, and Wheeler considers this very interesting, but leaves why as an exercise for the reader. My speculative answer: Mueller now believes he can link this crime to the Trump campaign activities he's been investigating.
posted by johnny jenga at 4:02 PM on March 1, 2018 [56 favorites]

Trump’s corruption deserves to be a central issue in the 2018 midterms, Matt Yglesias
posted by the man of twists and turns at 4:07 PM on March 1, 2018 [18 favorites]

Well here's a Rand Corp write-up of a war game [PDF] they ran that looked at a Russian attack on the Baltics (it doesn't go well for NATO). Skip to page 12 for a photo of the game map, hex grid, and markers.
posted by notyou at 4:09 PM on March 1, 2018 [1 favorite]

The Baltics, as in the "border of a land war in Asia" Baltics? Yeah, I wouldn't think NATO would fare any better than anybody else.
posted by rhizome at 4:11 PM on March 1, 2018

Cribbing from politicalwire:

In a recent Suffolk poll with 1000 respondents, approval for Trump broke down like this:

Favorable: 337
Unfavorable: 585
Undecided: 77
Never heard of him: 1 (who by other crosstabs is a white Republican woman in the midwest)
posted by GCU Sweet and Full of Grace at 4:11 PM on March 1, 2018 [9 favorites]

What rock has she been living under and is there room for one more?
posted by Atom Eyes at 4:17 PM on March 1, 2018 [30 favorites]

Surely Trump wouldn't have announced his bullshit meeting next week with video game executives unless someone had invit—

But the Entertainment Software Association, which represents video game companies, said that the meeting is news to them.

“ESA and our member companies have not received an invitation to meet with President Trump,” the group said in a statement.

posted by zachlipton at 4:19 PM on March 1, 2018 [34 favorites]

Well, he clearly invited them in his mind, which is apparently all that matters.
posted by mosk at 4:22 PM on March 1, 2018 [4 favorites]

NYT, Justice Dept. Report Is Expected to Criticize Andrew McCabe Over Media Disclosures. This story consists of, *deep breath*, "unauthorized leaks of forthcoming report on authorized leak that appears to have included unauthorized material." In other words, McCabe leaked, but he was supposed to, but he leaked too much negative stuff about Clinton, and now we're reading a leak about that:

A Justice Department review is expected to criticize the former F.B.I. deputy director, Andrew G. McCabe, for authorizing the disclosure of information about a continuing investigation to journalists, according to four people familiar with the inquiry.

Such a damning report would give President Trump new ammunition to criticize Mr. McCabe, who is at the center of Mr. Trump’s theory that “deep state” actors inside the F.B.I. have been working to sabotage his presidency. But Mr. McCabe’s disclosures to the news media do not fit neatly into that assumption: They contributed to a negative article about Hillary Clinton and the Obama administration’s Justice Department — not Mr. Trump.

The efforts to discredit McCabe come as he is one of the witnesses who can corroborate Comey's testimony about Trump.

Also, Jim Sciutto has possible names for a McMaster replacement: Safra Catz of Oracle, John Bolton, Stephen Biegun of Ford. John Bolton terrifies me for obvious reasons, but what the actual fuck is Safra Catz doing on that list?
posted by zachlipton at 4:35 PM on March 1, 2018 [7 favorites]

FWIW, I noticed this Daily Beast article a couple weeks back about how Oracle execs made a bunch of donations to Devin Nunes’ re-election campaign right after former WH intelligence aide Ezra Cohen-Watnick joined the company:

The Silicon Valley Giant Bankrolling Devin Nunes
posted by KatlaDragon at 4:43 PM on March 1, 2018 [20 favorites]

Americans referenced in Mueller's previous indictment of Russians were described as "unwitting."

This reminds me: one of the articles of faith we have going is that Mueller is actually going to charge Trump with a crime at some point, but given that Mueller himself is a Republican, it seems more reasonable to me that he's going to go only to the point where he can say 'we bagged the Russians' and no further.

I mean, we're assuming that Mueller would look at Manafort and Gates, working for the Trump campaign, and say 'people higher up must have known what was going on', but that's assuming Mueller, a Republican, is a man of integrity who's going to do the job right, unlike every other Republican-leaning intelligence or law enforcement official in this whole, sordid affair. What's to say he won't declare that, in his opinion, no-one higher that Manafort knew or understood what he was up to?
posted by Merus at 4:44 PM on March 1, 2018 [8 favorites]

Rick Wilson ... He is well read, he is well spoken, and even though we think some of his positions are thoroughly backwards he doesn't stop fighting with us. Dismissing him as a "republican consultant" with those air quotes does this great man a disservice.

Rick Wilson just thinks Trump is bad for the brand. He wants to replace him with Ted Cruz and the same agenda.

Rick Wilson learned his rat-fucking working for Lee Atwater of the Willy Horton ad. Rick Wilson created and ran the despicable ad attacking Max Cleland, a man who gave up two legs for his country, displaying him as an enemy of America alongside images of Osama bin Laden and Saddam Hussein, because he voted for union representation for some Homeland Security employees.

Rick Wilson is a terrible human being -- and spare us the well read, well spoken bullshit.
posted by JackFlash at 4:45 PM on March 1, 2018 [59 favorites]

Huh, I didn't know about his Atwater connection or any of that, I thought he was just a sassy NeverTrumper. Which I suppose is a goal of his.
posted by rhizome at 4:48 PM on March 1, 2018 [3 favorites]

This reminds me: one of the articles of faith we have going is that Mueller is actually going to charge Trump with a crime at some point, but given that Mueller himself is a Republican, it seems more reasonable to me that he's going to go only to the point where he can say 'we bagged the Russians' and no further.

There is absolutely no reason whatsoever to believe that Mueller is doing anything but his best to get to the bottom of things. Everything in his history and that we've seen so far indicates this is so. That doesn't mean he's going to take down Trump Co. It's possible that they didn't actively conspire (hah) or, much more likely, that the evidence that they did actively collude could not be obtained despite his team's best efforts.

At some point you've either got to believe in the rule of law or just give up altogether and man the barricades.
posted by Justinian at 4:51 PM on March 1, 2018 [38 favorites]

A Russian attack on the NATO member states would involve sinking Russia's fleet and blockading their blue-water ports while severing cargo train lines, threatening an invasion of Vladivostok, and waiting for their tiny economy (Smaller than Italy, about on par with Australia) to implode trying to keep those shiny new Armata tanks fueled and manned. It requires bundles of cash they just don't have to field a modern, professional army, and food and fuel they won't be able to import to sustain the nation.

But, yes, they'd occupy Riga virtually unopposed... for a very little while.

This assumes an American in the White House, and not a Russian stooge.
posted by Slap*Happy at 4:56 PM on March 1, 2018 [15 favorites]

If Roosevelt and Stalin could ally after Hitler betrayed the latter.... Progressive / Gamer alliance of convenience followed by decades of Cold Meme War?

One name under consideration is Stephen Biegun, who was on the Bush NSC 2001-2003.

the International Republican Institute [...] under the National Endowment for Democracy.
US-Russia Foundation for Economic Development and the Rule of Law
US-Russia Business Council

Indicative of a man who is an enemy of The Russians, in fact been working to jam them up for decades. The "Moscow School of Politics" line is weird - on a brief search seems to mostly exist as a line the bios of him and a few of his type, but I found a mention of it being "an annual program that includes a delegation of 24 young-adult leaders from the Russian Federation who visit to learn how a range of institutions within a U.S. metropolitan area address community needs."
posted by save alive nothing that breatheth at 4:59 PM on March 1, 2018 [2 favorites]

Americans referenced in Mueller's previous indictment of Russians were described as "unwitting."

I feel like there should be a better word for people in positions of responsibility or power who actively un-know or not-know things.
posted by srboisvert at 5:03 PM on March 1, 2018 [8 favorites]

“ESA and our member companies have not received an invitation to meet with President Trump,” the group said in a statement.

right now a bunch of bureaucrats at the European Space Agency are looking at their calendars and wondering why the hell they have a meeting with President Trump to discuss violence in video games.
posted by murphy slaw at 5:05 PM on March 1, 2018 [51 favorites]

The scrutiny could be a hurdle for the first daughter as she tries to obtain a full security clearance in her role as adviser to President Donald Trump.

i just wanted to highlight this, because it indicates that, while all of the talk has been about Jared Kushner, Ivanka Trump was among the 30 white house officials to have her security clearance downgraded.
posted by murphy slaw at 5:12 PM on March 1, 2018 [46 favorites]

Eugene Robinson (in an OpEd at WaPo) on the current disaster:

The ceaseless barrage of news — both real and fake — from the Trump administration can be numbing, so it’s important to step back every once in a while and look at the big picture: Never have we seen such utter chaos and blatant corruption.

posted by Barack Spinoza at 6:08 PM on March 1, 2018 [60 favorites]

I haven't seen this covered anywhere but perhaps the wise Mefi audience knows the answer regarding Jared and Ivanka's clearances. As a married coupled, their lives and finances and problems are intermingled deeply. We know that it is unlikely that Jared will ever get a Top Secret clearance due to unspecified problems. With that said, for someone like Ivanka who is married to a "can't get a TS clearance" person, does that effectively make her also too much of a risk as well?
posted by mmascolino at 6:16 PM on March 1, 2018 [3 favorites]

Yes, the married couple’s clearances definitely impact each other, since either person might be expected to be subject to the same vulnerabilities as their spouse. However, the President has the right to overrule the clearance protocol at any time.
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 6:22 PM on March 1, 2018 [2 favorites]

NPR: A prominent Kremlin-linked Russian politician has methodically cultivated ties with leaders of the National Rifle Association, and documented efforts in real time over six years to leverage those connections and gain access deeper into American politics, NPR has learned.

Russian politician Alexander Torshin claimed his ties to the National Rifle Association provided him access to Donald Trump — and the opportunity to serve as a foreign election observer in the United States during the 2012 election.
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 6:26 PM on March 1, 2018 [32 favorites]

Never have we seen such utter chaos and blatant corruption.

That kind of headline takes the schadenfreude out of reading the actual reports of chaos and corruption at the Trump White House, e.g. Hicks departure sinks White House morale and Trump’s mood (NBC)

Behind the scenes, sources suggest that morale is waning at the White House. Two people close to the administration tell NBC News that the president is angry and depressed after losing Hicks, whom he had looked upon as one of his own children.[...]

Most significantly, however, White House officials fear that Hicks’ departure will leave the president unmoored. Hicks and Trump’s former bodyguard, Keith Schiller, were among the closest nonfamily members to join the president at the White House. Schiller left the job last summer.

Two administration officials note that she was among the few people able to influence Trump on messaging, at times helping him craft tweets or, on occasion, even stopping him from sending posts that might do more harm than good — something even Kelly, a retired four-star general, has not managed to do.

"The people who are trying to protect the president from himself and his tweets have lost an ally with Hope's departure," one of the sources said.

So it appears we can anticipate Trump entering his King Lear phase, only with crazier and angrier Tweets.
posted by Doktor Zed at 6:29 PM on March 1, 2018 [29 favorites]

Daily Beast, Exclusive: Secret Documents From Russia’s Election Trolls Leak

The Kremlin-backed troll farm at the center of Russia’s interference in the 2016 U.S. election has quietly suffered a catastrophic security breach, The Daily Beast has confirmed, in a leak that spilled new details of its operations onto obscure corners of the internet.

The Russian “information exchange” Joker.Buzz, which auctions off often stolen or confidential information, advertised a leak for a large cache of the Internet Research Agency’s (IRA) internal documents. It includes names of Americans, activists in particular, whom the organization specifically targeted; American-based proxies used to access Reddit and the viral meme site 9Gag; and login information for troll farm accounts.

Even the advertisement for the document dump provides a trove of previously unknown information about the breadth of Russia’s disinformation effort in the United States, including rallies pushed by IRA social media accounts that turned violent.

Weirdly, the auction lists February 10, 2017 as the date, and it's not clear the seller entirely appreciated what they were offering, but the reporters confirmed the authenticity of some of the documents, validating conversations the IRA-created "Blacktivist" account had with US activists. Included in the documents is information that the trolls amplified animosity over an April 2016 event at Stone Mountain, where white supremacists would clash with protesters.
posted by zachlipton at 6:32 PM on March 1, 2018 [30 favorites]

Ok this is a pet peeve: it's cojones. Not cajones. If you're going to be sexist in another language, get it right.

And also, using the word testicles to mean tough is fucking sexist.
posted by medusa at 7:11 PM on March 1, 2018 [49 favorites]

More on Grown Up Man At The Wheel McMaster: Trump and McMaster have seemed anxious to part but so far remain together

So much insanity in here. McMaster can't be in the same room as Mattis or Tillerson to the point they only meet once a week and must set the agenda 72hrs in advance. McMaster is pissed at Mattis for lording his 4 stars over McMasters 3 stars. Trump wants to promote McMaster from 3 to 4 star general just to get him out, but the Army doesn't really want McMaster back. Stephen Biegun, an auto excutive, is apparently in line for NSA not for his foreign policy experience (he has none) but because Trump likes his trade views.
posted by T.D. Strange at 7:17 PM on March 1, 2018 [10 favorites]

@realDonaldTrump: Good (Great) meeting in the Oval Office tonight with the NRA!

@ChrisCoxNRA: I had a great meeting tonight with @realDonaldTrump & @VP. We all want safe schools, mental health reform and to keep guns away from dangerous people. POTUS & VPOTUS support the Second Amendment, support strong due process and don’t want gun control. #NRA #MAGA
posted by RobotVoodooPower at 7:18 PM on March 1, 2018

Sorry, Biegun apparently worked as a NSC staffer and advisor to Bill Frist. That's still not a resume that gets you appointed as National Security Advisor.
posted by T.D. Strange at 7:20 PM on March 1, 2018 [1 favorite]

Good (Great)!
posted by gucci mane at 7:20 PM on March 1, 2018 [1 favorite]

Why does Trump run around declaring so many things to be "Good (Great)" ?

It's like he's mentally upgrading his boasts in his head as he thinks of them, yet writes both down.
posted by zachlipton at 7:22 PM on March 1, 2018 [12 favorites]

zachlipton: Why does Trump run around declaring so many things to be "Good (Great)" ?

Wikipedia may hold the answer!

Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap... and Others Don't is a management book by Jim C. Collins that describes how companies transition from being good companies to great companies, and how most companies fail to make the transition. The book was published on October 16, 2001.

Maybe it's an aspirational thing. Is Trump a Prosperity Gospel guy? It mught be the only religion he could truly believe in.
posted by wenestvedt at 7:28 PM on March 1, 2018 [1 favorite]

Stephen Biegun, an auto excutive, is apparently in line for NSA not for his foreign policy experience (he has none) but because Trump likes his trade views.

Let's check his bio.

From 1992 to 1994, Mr. Biegun served in Moscow, Russia as the Resident Director in the Russian Federation for the International Republican Institute, a democracy-building organization established under the National Endowment for Democracy.

Mr. Biegun, born 1963, graduated from the University of Michigan where he studied Political Science and Russian Language. He is a third generation Ford Motor Company employee. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and the Aspen Strategy Group, and is a member of the boards of the US-Russia Foundation for Economic Development and the Rule of Law, the Moscow School of Politics, Freedom House, the US-Russia Business Council, the US-ASEAN Business Council and FordSollers, Ford Motor Company’s joint venture operating in the Russia Federation.

Hmmm?
posted by JackFlash at 7:34 PM on March 1, 2018 [37 favorites]

Good and great are both power words. Why not work both in whenever you have the chance?

Jeebus, imagine the emails, phone calls, and texts leading up to tonight’s meeting and subsequent tweets.

“Good (great!) job, everyone, we’ve put this one back in the box.”
posted by notyou at 7:36 PM on March 1, 2018

Good to Great emphasizes the importance of corporate leaders to have modesty. There is no way in hell Trump is basing his life around that book.
posted by Quonab at 7:37 PM on March 1, 2018 [3 favorites]

Good to Great emphasizes the importance of corporate leaders to have modesty.

Neverrrr minnnnnnnd. </emily_litella>

*tears up library request for Good to Great, throws pieces in the air*
posted by wenestvedt at 7:39 PM on March 1, 2018 [1 favorite]

zachlipton: Why does Trump run around declaring so many things to be "Good (Great)" ?

It's like he's mentally upgrading his boasts in his head as he thinks of them, yet writes both down.

Totally spitballing here, but it's possible that it's his weird interpretation/reaction to some advice he got, such as "You've gotta one down on calling everything great", and he was like "Okay, I'll call things good (but I'll make sure people know I mean great)".

I think his other uses of parentheses, which are similarly jarring, have been along those lines. Unfortunately, it's impossible to find analysis of this, because every Web search for Trump + parentheses gets discussions of that antisemitic punctuation thing that his fans do (and some Jewish writers intending to reclaim it from them).
posted by InTheYear2017 at 7:41 PM on March 1, 2018 [1 favorite]

Rick Wilson is a propagandist. He's a regular on Ana Marie Cox's podcast, "With Friends Like These", and she calls him "a former practitioner of the dark arts", and when he describes what he does it becomes clear he was a media consultant, which means - propagandist. Like Karl Rove? But with a really friendly kind of voice that makes me let my guard down. It's not like that makes him evil ... and it doesn't cancel out his opposition to Trump, and I don't think he's officially on a campaign right now. But he's been a Republican propagandist since the '80s, and to some extent he still is. On that podcast he'll drop lines like "I thought Republicans were for balanced budgets", never mind that Reagan himself didn't balance the damn budget but Clinton did. Or a line about "small government", never mind that Bush created the modern surveillance state and tried to define marriage.

And he was opposing Roy Moore in the strongest of terms, which is great, except he kept saying that "We've NEVER had ANYTHING like this in the Republican Party, we've NEVER elected a child molester to the House," which is just plainly not true. c.f. Dennis Hastert and Mark Foley, just off the top of my head. Same thing with the ethical scandals in Trump's administration - he wanted to pretend these were brand new developments completely out of step with the real GOP - and I don't think he's said a word about Mitch McConnell stealing a Supreme Court seat.

He's been working in the GOP since the '80s - it holds not only his livelihood, but parts of his identity as well. That's the context he's in. He's not any kind of friend. He just hates Trump.
posted by Rainbo Vagrant at 7:42 PM on March 1, 2018 [28 favorites]

Ok this is a pet peeve: it's cojones. Not cajones. If you're going to be sexist in another language, get it right.

And also, using the word testicles to mean tough is fucking sexist.

Not to mention fucking stupid. Testicles are pretty much the opposite of tough. "He's got balls" really means "there's a highly vulnerable spot just hanging out there which you can kick and make him fall over and throw up."
posted by phearlez at 7:42 PM on March 1, 2018 [60 favorites]

Conversely, Gen. Kelly is ascendant

General Kelly is the White House now.
posted by Ray Walston, Luck Dragon at 7:44 PM on March 1, 2018 [2 favorites]

Mr. Biegun, born 1963, graduated from the University of Michigan where he studied Political Science and Russian Language. He is a third generation Ford Motor Company employee. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and the Aspen Strategy Group, and is a member of the boards of the US-Russia Foundation for Economic Development and the Rule of Law, the Moscow School of Politics, Freedom House, the US-Russia Business Council, the US-ASEAN Business Council and FordSollers, Ford Motor Company’s joint venture operating in the Russia Federation.

FFS, who's Trump gonna nominate next: Karla or Red Grant?

He's literally shouting, "I'M COMPROMISED! LOOK WHO I'M NOMINATING I'M COMPROMISED!"
posted by leotrotsky at 7:53 PM on March 1, 2018 [5 favorites]

Through Day 9 of Texas primary early voting, 15 largest counties:

Party: 2018 / 2016 / 2014

Dem: 312,230 / 281,302 / 156,592

GOP: 287,978 / 386,617 / 246,385

* If I'm doing the math right, the Dem lead is actually widening.
* if you were wondering - the top 15 counties are about 65% of all voters.
* In the past, the party share of the primary vote very closely predicted party share in the general in statewide races.
* Many more first-time primary voters for Dems vs GOP.

This does not definitively predict anything, of course. But it does seem to be the latest in a series of indicators that Something Is Happening In Texas.
posted by Chrysostom at 7:57 PM on March 1, 2018 [50 favorites]

NYT, Landler and Haberman, Trump’s Chaos Theory for the Oval Office Is Taking Its Toll. We've got the usual chaos, Gary Cohn threatening to resign, Kelly describing his move to the White House as "God punished me," Trump surprising everyone by randomly starting a trade war, and Trump walking around furious at Sessions, but the end of the story:

Privately, some aides have expressed frustration that Mr. Kushner and his wife, the president’s daughter Ivanka Trump, have remained at the White House, despite Mr. Trump at times saying they never should have come to the White House and should leave. Yet aides also noted that Mr. Trump has told the couple that they should keep serving in their roles, even as he has privately asked Mr. Kelly for his help in moving them out.

To some staff members, the chaos feels reminiscent of the earliest days of the Trump administration. Some argue Mr. Kelly should have carried out a larger staff shake-up when he came in. That has allowed several people to stagnate, particularly in policy roles, one adviser said.

Trump telling his daughter and son-in-law they should stay, while saying they never should have come, while also privately trying to get rid of them, is extremely on brand.
posted by zachlipton at 8:07 PM on March 1, 2018 [68 favorites]

i swear, if you want to get a policy out of trump, you need to walk into the oval office with a pre-written executive order and make him sign as soon as you get him smiling and telling the room that the whole thing was his idea
posted by murphy slaw at 8:12 PM on March 1, 2018 [8 favorites]

Daily Beast, Exclusive: Secret Documents From Russia’s Election Trolls Leak
... it's not clear the seller entirely appreciated what they were offering, but the reporters confirmed the authenticity of some of the documents, validating conversations the IRA-created "Blacktivist" account had with US activists.

Please approach these documents with extreme caution. They are no more reliable than Wikileaks releases, and like those, a standard piece of Russian troll-craft is to release a large amount of real, stolen materials mixed in with fabricated or altered emails and documents, to give the latter more credibility.
posted by msalt at 8:22 PM on March 1, 2018 [22 favorites]

Ah yes, "Trump's Chaos Theory." Kind of like my "Forgetting My Keys and Locking Myself Out of the House Theory" and my "Eating So Much Cheese I Throw Up Theory." Funny that these clever strategies seem to backfire somehow.
posted by neroli at 8:24 PM on March 1, 2018 [13 favorites]

I took break from all this to watch some distracting historical drama. Rommel (2012) probably wasn't the best respite choice.
posted by srboisvert at 8:26 PM on March 1, 2018 [2 favorites]

it sounds so clever when you call it “survival of the fittest” or “the strong survive”, but in nature, business, and politics, it’s better described as “throwing everything at a wall and seeing what sticks”
posted by murphy slaw at 8:26 PM on March 1, 2018 [8 favorites]

The Baltics, as in the "border of a land war in Asia" Baltics?

Not really, unless I'm misunderstanding you. Baltics as in, the small nations south of Finland, north of Poland and Belarus, east of Sweden and west of Russia. (map) To wit, Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania.
posted by msalt at 8:30 PM on March 1, 2018 [1 favorite]

Please approach these documents with extreme caution. They are no more reliable than Wikileaks releases, and like those, a standard piece of Russian troll-craft is to release a large amount of real, stolen materials mixed in with fabricated or altered emails and documents, to give the latter more credibility.

While I understand the sentiment here and share the desire for caution, the story doesn't contain anything particularly explosive of the sort that it would make any sense to fabricate, and the reporters here did the legwork checking the documents with the US citizens mentioned in them, so when the docs say Russian trolls reached out to so-and-so activist to ask them to hand out these flyers at a protest, they talked to that person, and they seem to have been pretty careful about confirming what they reported. This isn't "we dumped a big set of alleged Russian troll documents on the internet"; it's journalism, and it looks at first glance like a good example of the right way to do this kind of work.

The story is pretty much just a few more examples of the kinds of things we know from the Mueller indictment.
posted by zachlipton at 8:32 PM on March 1, 2018 [15 favorites]

>>Conversely, Gen. Kelly is ascendant
>General Kelly is the White House now.

So are Jared and Ivanka. But obviously, the title and official powers of any job in this White House do not determine the amount of power one actually has.

Jared and Ivanka are fading fast, and Kelly is gaining relative power. The burgeoning trade war is one example, as Kelly is reportedly a tariff hawk.
posted by msalt at 8:33 PM on March 1, 2018

Politico's article Trump Ignored 'Bright Line' On Discussing Russia With Hicks implies Hicks was jettisoned as The Woman Who Knew Too Much:

President Donald Trump’s lawyers have urged him not to discuss details of the unfolding Russia investigation with anyone outside his legal team, warning of a conversational “bright line” that could put aides and associates in legal jeopardy, according to current and former Trump aides.

But Trump often ignores that legal advice in the presence of senior aides — including his departing confidante and White House communications director, Hope Hicks.

“I think the president has put her in a very precarious position,” a senior Trump administration official said in a recent interview.[...]

Hicks’ exit from the White House in the coming weeks will hardly immunize her from legal headaches. But it will spare her from “learning more things on the inside that could potentially lead to a second or third visit to the special counsel’s office and higher legal bills,” as one former Trump aide put it.

The former Trump aide, who experienced firsthand the lack of discipline in the president’s discussions about Russia matters, said the situation stemmed in part from the unique nature of a White House that “runs on personal access and loyalty.”

“Part of the problem in this White House is you have, every day, people who engage in matters concerning this investigation,” the source said. “That is problematic, because not only does it distract from the work that taxpayers are paying them to do, but it also — in certain instances — can make them witnesses or potentially targets of the investigation. That’s really dangerous.”

For the record, Hicks has been part of Trump's inner circle throughout significant campaign and administration events, including Carter Page and George Papadopoulos joining the campaign's foreign policy team, Trump's decision to fire James Comey over a weekend at his Bedminster, NJ country club, the the composition by Stephen Miller of the letter detailing the reasons for firing Comey, the Air Force One drafting of Trump's misleading statement about the June 2016 Trump Tower meeting, and so many more.
posted by Doktor Zed at 8:47 PM on March 1, 2018 [22 favorites]

He's literally shouting, "I'M COMPROMISED! LOOK WHO I'M NOMINATING [Stephen Biegun] I'M COMPROMISED!"

I'm not being sarcastic above. Dude went to Russia to fuck with the Kremlin, working for these USG soft power proxies.

The National Endowment for Democracy engages in "democracy promotion" which is an American euphemism for "expanding our empire's sphere of influence." It is now banned in Russia.

The International Republican Institute is a GOP branch of the NED. It, and the Democrats' branch, are now banned in Russia.

The US-Russia Foundation for Economic Development and the Rule of Law grew out of something called The US Russia Investment Fund set up under the "Support for East European Democracy Act" for USAID to buy up a chunk of the Russian economy following the Soviets' collapse. It is now banned in Russia.

The US-Russia Business Council seems to be more a straightforward trade group, doesn't seem to be banned in Russia yet, but that does still work towards USG soft power.

So, probably on your side.
posted by save alive nothing that breatheth at 8:50 PM on March 1, 2018 [11 favorites]

What with the bandwidth of Trump's scandaldom expanding I figure we could use a moment of normalcy, wit & humanity to offset it. Beto O'Rourke writes from the road: Trying to get to our Cooper town hall in time yesterday and was going a little too fast. Grateful to the sheriff's deputy who wrote me the ticket and even more grateful that he joined us for the community gathering afterwards.
posted by scalefree at 9:11 PM on March 1, 2018 [15 favorites]

The teacher strike in West Virginia will continue Friday, its seventh day. The WV Senate is stalling on the promised raises, citing skepticism of the governor's sudden $58 million increase in revenue estimates since last month, and they've still failed to come up with any kind of long-term fix to fund public employee health care.
posted by zachlipton at 9:14 PM on March 1, 2018 [15 favorites]

Who is still working in the White House? (Alexandra Petri, WaPo)

Hope Hicks is gone. H.R. McMaster may be on the way out. Who remains, it is difficult to say. The ranks are getting sparser and sparser every week and have to be combed more and more carefully into place. Here, as best as I can determine, are the people still at the White House:

Chief of Staff John Kelly, who committed a sin and is being punished, doomed to walk the Earth until every scrap of goodwill he accrued by seeming even vaguely level-headed is eroded away by his continued presence in the Trump administration and remarks in favor of Civil War-averting compromises or in defense of men accused of abuse.

A Russian intelligence official who came in months ago to drop off some misleading papers, but was given something important to hold and now considers everyone family and cannot bear to leave.

“Fox and Friends.”

Six tumbleweeds.

A pigeon that flew into the Oval Office during an important meeting, but everyone else present at the meeting had been removed because their clearances were downgraded, so they had to keep the pigeon to preserve institutional memory.

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, amazingly.

posted by Johnny Wallflower at 9:15 PM on March 1, 2018 [69 favorites]

I think the good (great!) thing is just abbreviation. He’s saying it’s great that this other thing is okay, with the implication that it could easily have been otherwise. It’s like if someone asked you about the biopsy you had and you answered “Everything’s fine. Which is fantastic!”
posted by um at 9:29 PM on March 1, 2018 [2 favorites]

Kellyanne Conway endures. I wonder if Trump considered her to run his 2020 campaign.
posted by carmicha at 9:43 PM on March 1, 2018

“Cold War II,” Richard N. Haass, Project Syndicate, 23 February 2018
posted by ob1quixote at 10:04 PM on March 1, 2018 [1 favorite]

Kellyanne Conway endures.

She is the Mercer family mole in the White House. Probably instructed to keep her head down until the optimal moment for activation.
posted by JackFlash at 10:26 PM on March 1, 2018 [12 favorites]

So, probably on your side.

Here's a video of Biegun in a conference discussion with Sara Kendzior and Peter Brookes (Heritage Foundation) and he is clearly Pro-Trump.
posted by PenDevil at 10:49 PM on March 1, 2018 [1 favorite]

And it reminds me of the thin, faint silver lining to the dumpster fire that is the Trump Misadministration: that a COMPETENT Republican President might do even more damage to our institutions.

I found this recent @JHWeissman thread helpful in thinking about whether Trump’s lack of competence is, in fact, a good thing.

So, in light of the fact that Florida is now seriously considering arming middle school teachers to prevent mass shootings, I want to share some thoughts on how Donald Trump actually plays a crucial role in Republican policy thinking.

It's often said that Trump doesn't have policy preferences. That's mostly true, with some exceptions (he really wanted that 20% corporate tax rate, for instance).

But he manages to shape Republican thought in another crucial way. I call it the "why the fuck not?" effect.

People who think a lot about policy tend to be cautious. They care about outcomes and unintended consequences, as well as political blowback.

Trump does not give a fig about policy. Or outcomes. And so he has no caution. He just wants wins.

So, when he hears an idea he likes, no matter how absurd, he embraces it. The absurdity may even draw him to the idea, because it pisses off his egghead opponents.

Repeal the individual mandate without replacing it?

Why the fuck not?

Arm teachers?

Why the fuck not?

This actually has a meaningful impact on Republican policy making. When the President supports something, no matter how absurd, it expands the realm of the possible.

Suddenly, Senators start saying "why the fuck not?"

State legislators start saying "why the fuck not?"

Suddenly, they're passing bills that break the health care market in order to fund tax cuts for Goldman Sachs and give Mrs. Goldwein the 8th grade math teacher a glock.

Because why the fuck not? After all, Trump's for it.

posted by chappell, ambrose at 11:04 PM on March 1, 2018 [63 favorites]

Good (Great)

Impossible not to hear this in the voice of that other orange salesman, Tony the Tiger.
posted by Rat Spatula at 11:42 PM on March 1, 2018 [10 favorites]

That Washington Post story (by Greg Jaffe and Josh Dawsey) that T.D. Strange linked above has a couple of fascinating nuggets, both of which paint McMaster in a poor light.

“'He treats me like a three-star' rather than a coequal, McMaster has complained to colleagues of Mattis, a retired four-star Marine Corps general."

McMaster is, in fact, a 3-star general.

"McMaster has told fellow Army officers that he is honored to work on some of the most important issues facing the country, but he can be quick to show the strains of the job. Mattis and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson often dominate meetings chaired by McMaster... 'He often gets frustrated, goes through a phase, and his peer support group pulls him out of a funk,' one senior administration official said."

Striking because Tillerson has been portrayed as a bland, dim grifter letting the ship of State drift in stormy seas. Yet apparently he dominates McMaster with vitality and personality.

The whole bit makes McM sound like a petty, weary old man. (He's 55; Tillerson and Mattis are 65 and 67, respectively.)
posted by msalt at 11:51 PM on March 1, 2018 [14 favorites]

But, yes, they'd occupy Riga virtually unopposed... for a very little while.

Once they got dug in and orchestrated a tame Latvian legislature to vote for rejoining the motherland, their military doctrine would authorise nuclear retaliation for any threats to their territorial integrity (including their newly added Riga oblast). Which would probably be enough to keep the facts on the ground frozen: the Baltics to be governed from Moscow and the Baltic to be a Russian lake, with Washington (and London and Canberra and Seoul and so on) refusing to recognise this. There'd be recognised governments in exile operating from, say, Stockholm or Bonn or somewhere, and Estonia's virtual bureaucracy ticking away ineffectually in some AWS cloud, disconnected from the real world, but Russia would soon eliminate all resistance, secure the Baltics and start putting pressure on Finland.

It's no longer a question of do we send corn-fed farmboys from Iowa to die for Riga; it's a question of do we sacrifice, say, Berlin or Copenhagen or Warsaw to the aftermath of a counterinvasion.
posted by acb at 3:25 AM on March 2, 2018 [4 favorites]

Yes, you can give Mrs. Goldsmith a glock, but then school district insurers will tell her to leave it at home and adminstrators will start asking themselves deep questions like, how do you fire an armed person without backup? Cuz that’s what the police do. They have backup when Officer Jackson has to turn over his piece. Just in case.

That’s the problem with “why the fuck not.” It just wastes people’s time until responsible adults in insurers and unions and courts spend time and money explaining why the fuck not to these deeply stupid people.
posted by xyzzy at 4:24 AM on March 2, 2018 [53 favorites]

Donald J. Trump @realDonaldTrump
When a country (USA) is losing many billions of dollars on trade with virtually every country it does business with, trade wars are good, and easy to win. Example, when we are down $100 billion with a certain country and they get cute, don’t trade anymore-we win big. It’s easy!

18 months later when he's about to be run out of the country, which is now destitute, on a rail: "Who knew trade wars could be so difficult?"

I'm just going to go out into the Nor'easter and scream until the hurting stops or at least until the people in white coats come to take me away.
posted by Talez at 4:26 AM on March 2, 2018 [56 favorites]

Federal gov't offices in DC are closed today on account of extreme bluster, so today may be a mercifully slower news day...

... or not. Who knows!
posted by Westringia F. at 4:30 AM on March 2, 2018 [3 favorites]

Once they got dug in and orchestrated a tame Latvian legislature to vote for rejoining the motherland, their military doctrine would authorise nuclear retaliation for any threats to their territorial integrity (including their newly added Riga oblast). Which would probably be enough to keep the facts on the ground frozen

Latvia is a member of NATO, and there are NATO troops on the Latvian border right now, which means an invasion by Russia carries with it some risk of nuclear retaliation in and of itself.NATO could also immediately threaten Kaliningrad. Once Russia starts invading European countries the "facts on the ground" are no longer "frozen" and "territorial integrity" is out the window.

Russia can't sustain an occupation financially just on its own expense, let alone the global blowback, or handle the responses that would come in other disputed areas in the former USSR the west has been content to ignore; and I doubt an invasion force even if it reached Riga could survive exposure to conventional NATO and allied air-power for long enough to legitimize the threat of a nuclear response by a captive government. It would have to be more brazen than that. I'm not in a big hurry to find out, though.
posted by snuffleupagus at 4:35 AM on March 2, 2018 [16 favorites]

According to Yanukovych, Paul Manafort also worked for free for him (via @NeilMacFarquhar, NYTimes):

“I personally didn’t set any amounts to be paid for his work and we never discussed this topic with him—how much he should get.

After the 2010 elections, Manafort was a pro bono advisor to me.”

posted by pjenks at 5:04 AM on March 2, 2018 [4 favorites]

Donald J. Trump @realDonaldTrump
We must protect our country and our workers. Our steel industry is in bad shape. IF YOU DON’T HAVE STEEL, YOU DON’T HAVE A COUNTRY!

So we're going to throw the US auto and machinist industries under the bus!
posted by Talez at 5:15 AM on March 2, 2018 [12 favorites]

So we're going to throw the US auto and machinist industries under the bus!

And the beer industry!
posted by PenDevil at 5:19 AM on March 2, 2018 [8 favorites]

"IF YOU DON'T HAVE STEEL, YOU DON'T HAVE A COUNTRY!"

i mean
um
...yes?
...that's why we import 4x more than we export? because we need it to build stuff and make stuff and we can't make enough of it cheaply enough here? and it's been actually working out pretty well for us?
posted by halation at 5:26 AM on March 2, 2018 [30 favorites]

Serious question: Is Trump or somebody Trump knows just shorting the Dow at this point? Like he's taken a billion dollar short and wants to drop the market a couple thousand points? Can we have Mueller to look into this? Because nobody can be that. fucking. stupid.

There's like this special rule Trump gets: When attempting to accomplish a Plan, player may spend Stupidity points instead of Intelligence points. When completing a Plan in this way, player must roll a d20 and look up the outcome on the Stupid Watergate chart in Appendix IV, and write down the corresponding Sloppy Evidence Trail on their character sheet.
posted by jason_steakums at 5:42 AM on March 2, 2018 [29 favorites]

The National Endowment for Democracy engages in "democracy promotion" which is an American euphemism for "expanding our empire's sphere of influence." It is now banned in Russia.

The International Republican Institute is a GOP branch of the NED. It, and the Democrats' branch, are now banned in Russia.

The US-Russia Foundation for Economic Development and the Rule of Law grew out of something called The US Russia Investment Fund set up under the "Support for East European Democracy Act" for USAID to buy up a chunk of the Russian economy following the Soviets' collapse. It is now banned in Russia.

The US-Russia Business Council seems to be more a straightforward trade group, doesn't seem to be banned in Russia yet, but that does still work towards USG soft power.

So, probably on your side.

I dunno. There was this article in one of the other threads that basically claimed that anyone who has lived in Russia for a longer period of time will somehow be compromised, if perhaps unknowingly because you can have been manipulated by agents pretending to be critical of the regime. It's probably an exaggeration, but I can see the point.
IME, this is specially apparent with conservative Russia experts: obviously they know more about the situation in Russia than the rest of us, and they are critical of the regime, it's their analysis of the other threats to the West that seems skewed to me; a caricature of it could be " don't worry about Russian interference in Western elections, the real threat is the erosion of Christian values in the US and Europe". And it's even worse when it's more nuanced and less obvious. I don't know Stephen Begun, but if his thinking is along that line, he'd be a very dangerous NSA.
posted by mumimor at 5:43 AM on March 2, 2018 [5 favorites]

“trade wars are good, and easy to win...It’s easy!”

This...is a crazy man talking. The narcissism and self-delusion and sociopathic disregard such a statement displays...

While we were all worried about nuclear annihilation and gaming out how to keep his little hands off of the football, he just casually set fire to the economic foundation of the country.
posted by darkstar at 5:50 AM on March 2, 2018 [52 favorites]

While we were all worried about nuclear annihilation and gaming out how to keep his little hands off of the football, he just casually set fire to the economic foundation of the country.

China has been salivating at the day it can decapitate the head of the post-Bretton Woods world order and the Western hegemony it provides. Trump has not only been completely obtuse about how it works and how to defend it, he's just hacking away at it for good measure.
posted by Talez at 5:54 AM on March 2, 2018 [23 favorites]

The only person laughing and winning from the US starting a trade war will be Putin.
posted by localhuman at 5:55 AM on March 2, 2018 [7 favorites]

Boy, lots of crazy stuff going on in the world and DC. I'm sure Trump is tweeting about... Alec Baldwin? (And misspelling as usual with "dieing")

@MattGertz (MMFA)
Oh sweet Jesus.

At 4:24 am, Fox & Friends First ran a segment about Alec Baldwin saying he was tired of playing Trump on SNL. An hour later, Trump tweeting an attack on him.

Left, Fox & Friends First, 4:24 am
Right, Trump, 5:42 am
SCREENSHOTS

---

But I'm sure he eventually turned to important things...

@MattGertz
Fox & Friends First was also airing John Cornyn's warnings about trade wars.

Left, Fox & Friends First, 5:07 am
Right, Trump, 5:50 am

Same image aired at the top of the 4 am hour.
SCREENSHOTS

---

@NoceraBV (Bloomberg)
“Trade wars are good, and easy to win” is the single stupidest thing any US president has said in my lifetime.
posted by chris24 at 5:57 AM on March 2, 2018 [94 favorites]

@davidfrum (Atlantic)
The trade war Richard Nixon launched in 1971 was neither good nor easy to win. Instead, it brought a decade of stagflation. LIke Trump, Nixon was motivated entirely by winning votes from what Nixon literally called "the constituency of uneducated people."

Trump's Latest Tariffs Are a Huge Blunder: The president is risking serious economic and political consequences

Donald Trump is often compared to Richard Nixon in his disdain for law and ethics. The parallel applies to economics too. Nixon in 1971 quit the Bretton Woods agreement and imposed a surtax on all imports. The “shock” disrupted the world economy and profoundly angered formerly trusting friends already uneasy over the war in Vietnam. But Nixon, who knew little and cared less about economics, had his eye fixed on one concern only: the 1972 election. His emergency economic measures—joined to a loosening of monetary policy and a big increase in Social Security payouts the next year—were selected with an eye to one concern only. In the words of Allen Matusow, the shrewdest student of Nixon’s economic policy, “Somehow he had to make the economy hum by 1972 or face likely defeat in his quest for reelection.” What that meant in practice, Matsuow wrote, was that Nixon governed not according to what would work in the long term, but according to “the prevailing mood of the two-thirds of the country he called the ‘constituency of uneducated people.’”
---
The last time the U.S. imposed steel tariffs, back in 2002, the project was abandoned after 20 months. A 2003 report commissioned by industries that consumed steel estimated that the Bush steel tariffs cost in excess of 200,000 jobs—or more than the total number of people then employed in the entire steel industry at the time.

posted by chris24 at 6:02 AM on March 2, 2018 [37 favorites]

“Trade wars are good, and easy to win” is the single stupidest thing any US president has said in my lifetime.

Ok, maybe Bush didn't say anything so stupid about "wars", but we did have this from his Secretary of Defense:

"It is not knowable how long that conflict would last. It could last, you know, six days, six weeks. I doubt six months."

Real wars still beat trade wars for significance in my book.
posted by pjenks at 6:07 AM on March 2, 2018 [5 favorites]

Oh, it gets better.

@realDonaldTrump
When a country Taxes our products coming in at, say, 50%, and we Tax the same product coming into our country at ZERO, not fair or smart. We will soon be starting RECIPROCAL TAXES so that we will charge the same thing as they charge us. $800 Billion Trade Deficit-have no choice!
8:57 AM · Mar 2, 2018

At this point, since canoodling with pretty women seems to be one of the only things that distracts Trump from insanity, I'm considering throwing on a wig, dress and heels and going to DC to see if I can take one for the team.
posted by delfin at 6:10 AM on March 2, 2018 [47 favorites]

Latvia is a member of NATO, and there are NATO troops on the Latvian border right now

The NATO troops in the Baltics are a tripwire, not a defence force. They could not provide meaningful resistance to a concerted Russian invasion.
posted by acb at 6:14 AM on March 2, 2018

uh, is there any country on earth right now with a 50% tariff on US imports?
posted by murphy slaw at 6:17 AM on March 2, 2018 [1 favorite]

Once Russia starts invading European countries the "facts on the ground" are no longer "frozen" and "territorial integrity" is out the window.

There's a lot of Crimeans who would debate that.
posted by acb at 6:19 AM on March 2, 2018 [4 favorites]

uh, is there any country on earth right now with a 50% tariff on US imports?

Japan has a 50% tariff on US beef imports. (and all beef imports from countries with which it has no specific trade agreement.) But Trump may getting 50% as a number by thinking of the tariffs he recently got to slap on imported washing machines, which will go up to 50%, as recommended by the U.S. International Trade Commission for the very specific reason of propping up Whirlpool so it doesn't collapse outright.
posted by halation at 6:28 AM on March 2, 2018 [4 favorites]

I was just reading some background on NATO and Latvia, and as I dug deeper I came across a report on the situation Re: Putin Interference in: Everything, from Crimea to conspiring to violate US Law, to money laundering.

And we need a leader who can stand up to that GLOBAL threat.

And we got Trump. A Putin Puppet. Who is hell-bent on turning the US into a puppet state of Putin's.

It's snowing, and there's no bourbon in the house.
posted by mikelieman at 6:29 AM on March 2, 2018 [10 favorites]

The NATO troops in the Baltics are a tripwire, not a defence force. They could not provide meaningful resistance to a concerted Russian invasion.

Of course not, but it's not the US or NATO that would be provoking a nuclear confrontation by daring to respond to a seizure of Latvia, and it's weird to frame it that way.

Crimea would be one of those 'other areas' I was alluding to.
posted by snuffleupagus at 6:37 AM on March 2, 2018

A little bourbon with your breakfast, mikelieman? Desperate times, etc. I am feeling a bit of survivor's guilt after having fled the US for family reasons. But it is not like I landed in nirvana. Every day the Swedish local daily newspaper is filled with stories of right-wingers who aren't seemingly as dangerous as Trump (yet) or the GOP but who somehow want to emulate the American move to the right. The US still manages to extort undue influence on other countries. Even as a bad example there are people who want to follow our path. Yikes.
posted by Bella Donna at 6:41 AM on March 2, 2018 [9 favorites]

When a country Taxes our products coming in at, say, 50%, and we Tax the same product coming into our country at ZERO, not fair or smart. We will soon be starting RECIPROCAL TAXES so that we will charge the same thing as they charge us. $800 Billion Trade Deficit-have no choice!

Okay. So, clearly he doesn’t know what a trade deficit even is. That $800 Billion is how much more the US imports than it exports. Think about that. Think about why that is. It is because the US is rich. This is the problem he’s trying so valiantly to solve. Godspeed, dumbass.

Here’s the thing: All that stuff the US is importing? Y’all need that stuff. Without it, your economy completely collapses. That is why you’re willing to get a little screwed on the deal. What you export, though — we don’t really need much of it, and it’s WAY cheaper to get it basically anywhere else. That is why you’re willing to get a little screwed on that deal too.

And he wants higher tarriffs on exports? Okay. Sure. Result: Now you don’t have any exports, because, again, already cheaper from any other country.
posted by Sys Rq at 6:50 AM on March 2, 2018 [46 favorites]

i’m fairly sure that he doesn’t know the difference between a deficit and a debt, and he thinks that our trading partners are going to start sending goons to bust our kneecaps if we don’t get rid of it.
posted by murphy slaw at 6:53 AM on March 2, 2018 [17 favorites]

Without it, your economy completely collapses. That is why you’re willing to get a little screwed on the deal.

It's not getting screwed on the deal. It's literally the benefit of the deal. The US gets to maintain massive trade deficits without the currency collapsing in a heap because of the world's appetite for US dollars for both trade and a reserve currency.
posted by Talez at 6:54 AM on March 2, 2018 [22 favorites]

Trump keeps reminding me of those "Little Timmy" characters from Saturday morning cartoons, or children's books. You know, the clever little kid that comes up with a solution none of the stoopid adults ever thought of:

"Why don't we take the exhaust pipe from the cars and connect it to a box? And when the box is full, we take it off and bury it deep underground!" And so the skies cleared up, and all the birds returned to the city, and all the people were happy again. And they put up a monument to Timmy with a brightly shining plaque that said "Timmy, Conqueror of Pollution".

He is so incredibly un-learned on every topic he thinks he can bring a "fresh perspective" and just solve all those problems just. like. that. His childish worldview doesn't allow for nuance or real-world obstacles, he is convinced that everyone is just not trying hard enough, or can't use simple solutions because they prefer complex ones.

If I could wish for one thing it is that someone would teach him the quote by H.L. Mencken: "For every complex problem there is an answer that is clear, simple, and wrong."
posted by PontifexPrimus at 6:58 AM on March 2, 2018 [72 favorites]

Jesus Fred Christ Trump Sr., this is the stupid timeline when the day after Russia's leader holds a rally featuring a video of a nuclear missile attack on Florida, the occupier of the Oval Office spends his morning complaining about an actor's impression of him on late-night television and generally shouting back at Fox & Friends over Twitter.

Putin has cannily followed up with an interview with NBC's Megyn Kelly, ~~trolling~~ telling her, "My point of view is that the individuals that have said that a new Cold War has started are not analysts. They do propaganda."

Baldwin, meanwhile, couldn't resist Trump's bait and tweeted back, "Agony though it may be, I’d like to hang in there for the impeachment hearings, the resignation speech, the farewell helicopter ride to Mara-A-Lago. You know. The Good Stuff. That we’ve all been waiting for."
posted by Doktor Zed at 6:59 AM on March 2, 2018 [61 favorites]

And the Dow is down another 350 points at open based on Trump's idiocy. 1.5%. S&P and NASDAQ down .9%.
posted by chris24 at 7:00 AM on March 2, 2018 [5 favorites]

Does an impeached president still get lifetime SS protection?
posted by Mitheral at 7:05 AM on March 2, 2018 [4 favorites]

"IF YOU DON'T HAVE STEEL, YOU DON'T HAVE A COUNTRY!"

I can't help but see parallels to Mao and the Great Leap Forward here.

Like Trump, Mao was abysmally ignorant on most topics and certainly knew nothing about steel and steel production. They both almost randomly just sort of latched on to steel production as the single and solitary measure of national worth and value.

In Mao's case, with the enormous power he wielded, that lead to the Great Leap Forward. Mao not only knew nothing, but (like Trump) both disdained and distrusted those who did. He saw a "backyard steel smelter", and decided that everyone in China should build one and thereby make lots of steel and surpass the UK's steel production.

The result was the Great Chinese Famine. Not only did farmers stop farming to try and meet the impossible quotas set by Mao, but they melted down farming tools, cooking pots, and other essentials as well. The result was a lot of very poor grade pig iron, and the countryside being stripped of trees, as well as a lot of furniture being burned to fuel the smelters.

Trump, obviously, lacks the power to do quite so much harm as Mao, but he's of a startlingly similar mindset and obstinate foolishness.

We won't see widespread famine as farmers melt down their John Deeres to try and meet steel quotas, we'll "just" see economic collapse and widespread poverty thanks to a pointless trade war.
posted by sotonohito at 7:06 AM on March 2, 2018 [59 favorites]

Mao knew a bit about guerrilla warfare though.
posted by Mocata at 7:10 AM on March 2, 2018 [3 favorites]

(I apologize for my contribution to the Baltic Invasion derail. I shared that link to Rand because I was curious what a high level “professional” war game played by Joint Chiefs of Staff might look like since war gaming a US attack on North Korea came up in the thread. (My original “I wonder” comment got nixed, so that context was lost. ) At least at Rand Corp, the war games the pros play look like giant versions of the ones grognards play.

Anyway, carry on!)
posted by notyou at 7:10 AM on March 2, 2018

The Intercept this morning: Jared Kushner’s Real-Estate Firm Sought Money Directly From Qatar Government Weeks Before Blockade

Kushner, according to reports at the time, subsequently undermined efforts by Secretary of State Rex Tillerson to bring an end to the standoff.
posted by RobotVoodooPower at 7:14 AM on March 2, 2018 [35 favorites]

So the Great Leap Forward was neither Great, nor a Leap, nor Forward. Like the Holy Roman Empire.
posted by kirkaracha at 7:15 AM on March 2, 2018 [9 favorites]

One of the major uses of coal is to make steel, and it's the expensive, high-quality coal that you can actually make a profit on -- "met coal" -- that goes into steel production; it's what's preventing the complete collapse of the coal industry. China in particular imports shit-tons of US met coal to make steel.

Obviously Trump has no idea that reduced demand for US steel will drive down the price of US coal, and that high Chinese steel production is great for US coal and frankly all that's keeping the remainder of the industry from bankruptcy. In fact, reduced Chinese steel production (due to the global recession) has been largely responsible for the several coal bankruptcies in the last few years.

So fire up the irony machines for when his favorite manly-man real-America industry, coal, is decimated by his efforts to "save" his second-favorite manly-man real-America industry, steel, because he has no idea how steel, coal, money, trade, diplomacy, chemistry, or anything else works. They're both manly industries, and therefore he can save them by manly posturing! That's all he needs to know! Understanding supply and demand is for girlie industries!
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 7:20 AM on March 2, 2018 [128 favorites]

So fire up the irony machines

steely machines, surely
posted by murphy slaw at 7:22 AM on March 2, 2018 [39 favorites]

"steely machines, surely"

Not without met coal they're not!
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 7:25 AM on March 2, 2018 [50 favorites]

Right-wing gun owners fear Trump is flipping on their gun rights.
posted by jgirl at 7:26 AM on March 2, 2018 [1 favorite]

I assume Manafort has resigned himself to serving time at the best facility he can manage. It sounds ridiculous to say, but wouldn't he be safer in U.S. custody than trying to live in the world after cooperating with the FBI and giving up whoever his Russian counterparts are? God, it makes me feel like a crazy person even thinking that.

I don't think it's crazy at all. Remember how a whole bunch of Russian businessmen, diplomats, and military figures met with "accidents" as soon as Trump & Co gained access to intelligence briefings back in December 2016? Not to mention the patterns of Putin critics, honest journalists, and ex-KGB agents meeting with mysterious deaths or becoming victims to what are obviously murders which just never happen to be solved. If I were Manafort I might make the same decision. Litvinenko was under the protection of MI6 while living in the UK and he was still murdered. A prison would be safer.

It has been really weird following Josh Marshall tracking down the Russia/Manafort angle since well before the election. For a long time I kept wondering if I was following him down a rabbit hole, that the Trump phenomenon was so bizarre that it had pushed him over he edge into grasping for conspiracy theories to account for it. I believed him, but I didn’t trust myself for believing.

This has been the most infuriating aspect of the whole debacle. The signs were there in late 2015, early 2016--including the Russians sowing discord among the left. But everyone who brought it up was treated like a raving conspiracy theorist. Never has "I told you so" tasted quite so bitter. Even the people who were willing to believe active measures were actually a thing that Russia did scoffed at the idea it would happen in the USA and that it could actually work. It was a perfect example of confirmation biases and the backlash effect at work.

I dunno, maybe it would've helped to point out that Russia was simply engaging in next-level ratfucking. The left accepts that's a real thing that happened, that it was practiced by actual people (Nixon, Rove, Atwater, etc), and that it worked.
posted by Anonymous at 7:30 AM on March 2, 2018

JFC, this tariff shit is bonkers. Does Trump not have any real economists as advisers? Or is he just not listening to any of them? Is there any legitimate, serious economist anywhere who thinks these steel/aluminum tariffs are a good thing?
posted by zakur at 7:31 AM on March 2, 2018 [3 favorites]

Does Trump not have any real economists as advisers? Or is he just not listening to any of them?

Door number 2!

It doesn't matter that he has experts; Gary Cohn is right there and adamantly against them. There have been numerous reports on how Trump will automatically go against whatever an expert says. He thinks someone informing him is speaking down to him and hates it. His ignorant instincts are always best. Tell him something he feels is best isn't and you wound his narcissism.

Add in the pressure he's under in other areas and the need to try and distract from incompetence and collusion and you get this.
posted by chris24 at 7:35 AM on March 2, 2018 [18 favorites]

Bloomberg -- Tariffs Update: Latest News as the World Reacts (excerpts)

The EU Signals Its Intention to Hit back
The European Union -- the world’s largest trade bloc -- signaled its response to Trump will involve a combination of tit-for-tat retaliation, “safeguard” measures to prevent a flooding of the EU market with steel diverted from the U.S. and a complaint to the World Trade Organization.

WTO’s Foundations Are at Risk, Industry Group Warns
“This whole issue can blow up the WTO,” Axel Eggert, the industry group’s director general, said in a Bloomberg Television interview in Brussels. “This is not about national security. This is about propping up a U.S. industry that isn’t viable.” He urged Trump to rethink his tariff plan and work with the EU to curb steel overcapacity in China, the biggest producer....Germany’s benchmark DAX index plunged on the potential impact of the U.S. tariffs on Europe’s biggest economy, a manufacturing and exporting powerhouse. It was down 2.3 percent by noon in Berlin.

National Security Excuse Not Constructive: Norway
[W]hat national-security risks is Trump actually pointing to in trade flows, especially when metal comes from your friends and allies? National security as an excuse for protectionism is not constructive, Norway’s Foreign Ministry said. The White House got this far by using Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962, which permits the government to explore whether imports undercut national security. Earlier today, the Japanese made much the same observation.

posted by snuffleupagus at 7:38 AM on March 2, 2018 [13 favorites]

I have not been freaking out about the tariff stuff because I'm assuming it's just Trump being Trump and he's lying his ass off to garner praise from his base. He does this shit all the time.

Also everyone who actually knows him says he loves making threats in public but in person can't stand interpersonal conflict. He sends lackeys to fire people rather than face them himself--The Apprentice was a perfect example of how he sells himself as the exact opposite of who he actually is. It sounds like this tariff move would be a totally unilateral one and would force him to regularly deal with multiple genuinely angry advisers and staff at once. It's one thing to scream at someone when you've got a bunch of yes-men around you backing you up. Quite another when you're alone and you know everyone disagrees with you.

Then again, he's a narcissistic moron in the early stages of dementia. So.
posted by Anonymous at 7:40 AM on March 2, 2018

The European Union -- the world’s largest trade bloc -- signaled its response to Trump

work with the EU

Damn it. If someone tells Trump that the EU says his tariff idea is a bad one, he'll jump right on making it happen.
posted by Twain Device at 7:41 AM on March 2, 2018 [1 favorite]

I can't wait to see how Trump walks back this tarriff and which marginalized community he will punish to do it. Because there's no way this thing actually gets enacted.
posted by Tevin at 7:41 AM on March 2, 2018

If you crash the economy you can make yourself and your friends a lot of money in doing so

Billionaire investor and longtime Trump confidant Carl Icahn dumped $31.3 million of stock in a company heavily dependent on steel last week, just days before Trump announced plans to impose steep tariffs on steel imports.

Trump confidant dumped millions in steel-related stock last week, days before tariff announcement

posted by localhuman at 7:41 AM on March 2, 2018 [96 favorites]

Every dollar the U.S. sends overseas as a trade deficit ultimately comes back to the U.S. as investment, because the U.S. is where U.S. dollars are legal tender. That Trump characterizes the deficit as the U.S. "losing money" demonstrates that he has absolutely no idea how international trade works at even the most basic level. This is not a particularly difficult concept to communicate or understand, and every major media outlet should be responding to this claim with a five minute explanation of how trade deficits actually work. Of course they won't, and so a significant number of people will think Trump must be on to something with this, even if they're not otherwise Trumpists.
posted by biogeo at 7:45 AM on March 2, 2018 [26 favorites]

Trump's embrace of Russia: The evidence on public display already paints a jarring picture (John Harwood | CNBC)

* Trump's in-plain-sight embrace of Russia gets obscured by the Trump news avalanche. It's worth reviewing what's been established so far.

* Long before running for president, Trump relied on Russian money.

* Trump consistently defends Russia and attacks U.S. officials investigating Russia.

posted by Barack Spinoza at 7:45 AM on March 2, 2018 [24 favorites]

Well it got the national conversation off guns, didn't it?
posted by Talez at 7:46 AM on March 2, 2018 [14 favorites]

Well, Breitbart's tickled pink this morning with the big headlines "White House Globalists Fail to Stop Trump’s ‘America First’ Trade Agenda" and "China ‘Might as Well Have Carpet Bombed the American Heartland’" and the little headline "Stock Jitters"
posted by RobotVoodooPower at 7:53 AM on March 2, 2018 [2 favorites]

Does an impeached president still get lifetime SS protection?

Mitheral: Impeached, yes. See Bill Clinton. Convicted: Unknown. The Constitution only provides that, in addition to removing the official from office immediately upon conviction, the Senate may also bar them from holding any future office of “honor, trust or profit”. The courts could come out a number of ways around this though there might be good reason for Secret Service to keep an eye on this fuckknuckle if he is convicted and pardoned. Wouldn't want him off selling secrets...
posted by Sophie1 at 7:57 AM on March 2, 2018

Bob Casey (D-PA) tweeted yesterday in support of the tariffs and got dragged. Pennsylvania, steel, he's up for reelection in 2018 etc but sometimes it's better to keep your mouth shut for a bit.
posted by soren_lorensen at 8:01 AM on March 2, 2018 [18 favorites]

Wouldn't want him off selling secrets...

Little late for that now. We're never going to know how far Russia is inside the White House, State, NSA, Pentagon now after Trump let them walk through the White House with boxes of unscreened "camera equipment". We should just assume Putin is hearing every word said in a SCIF live.
posted by T.D. Strange at 8:02 AM on March 2, 2018 [11 favorites]

I believe no one has lifetime SS protection anymore, didn't they reduce it to 10 years a while back? Presidents can also decline it, as Carter did, since he's an amazing human being.
posted by Melismata at 8:04 AM on March 2, 2018 [5 favorites]

One of the major uses of coal is to make steel

And even then, the coke you get as a refinery byproduct is cleaner, cheaper, and easier to mold than what you get from Met Coal.
posted by aspersioncast at 8:05 AM on March 2, 2018 [1 favorite]

This has been the most infuriating aspect of the whole debacle. The signs were there in late 2015, early 2016--including the Russians sowing discord among the left.

Sarah Kendzior got really, really fired up along these lines on a radio show this week. (It's the Rick Smith show if you're interested in listening; alas I can't find a direct link.) Trump's public pro-Russia statements and actions during the campaign were more than enough to know that Putin had major suction with Trump. The Harwood piece Barack Spinoza links to lays it out pretty well, although that article somehow forgot to mention that Paul Manafort worked as campaign manager for free! Also that Trump floated the idea of breaking up NATO, which is Putin's wildest geopolitical stretch goal! None of this stuff would make any sense if Trump simply wanted warmer relations with Russia.

To make a somewhat strained poker analogy: Sometimes you don't have to stare deeply into someone's soul to know what they're holding -- their bets, their betting history, and the cards on the table make it obvious.
posted by johnny jenga at 8:07 AM on March 2, 2018 [20 favorites]

~~That~~ Trump ~~characterizes the deficit as the U.S. "losing money" demonstrates that he~~ has absolutely no idea how ~~international trade~~ [X] works at even the most basic level.
posted by aspersioncast at 8:07 AM on March 2, 2018 [8 favorites]

Rick Wilson learned his rat-fucking working for Lee Atwater of the Willy Horton ad. Rick Wilson created and ran the despicable ad attacking Max Cleland, a man who gave up two legs for his country, displaying him as an enemy of America alongside images of Osama bin Laden and Saddam Hussein, because he voted for union representation for some Homeland Security employees.

Rick Wilson is a terrible human being

Indeed. And, let's be very, very clear, since the newspapers that publish his op-eds won't, Trump's election is a direct result of the kind of politics Wilson and his ilk practice, in which facts and values simply do not matter when there is power to be grabbed and held onto.

One way to gain power in a democracy is by creating popular, functional policies. Another way is to pull the kind of underhanded shenanigans these creeps practice -- and I might add, they're taught to and rewarded for it going all the way back to their College Republican days.

Which is why the "both sides do it" narrative pushed by the media since time out of mind is such a pernicious lie. Democrats may occasionally play hardball, but they probably won't be calling Republicans traitors in the midterms even when it's all too obvious that many of them actually, truly are.
posted by Gelatin at 8:09 AM on March 2, 2018 [23 favorites]

After the 2010 elections, Manafort was a pro bono advisor to me.”

That's a long time to not have an income.
posted by Ray Walston, Luck Dragon at 8:10 AM on March 2, 2018 [4 favorites]

"Right-wing gun owners fear Trump is flipping on their gun rights."

Yesterday I was having a schadenfreudy moment, checking out The Donald on reddit, and they are losing their collective shit about the gun rights thing.

Please see this beauty (reddit screencap on imgurl, second image).

And here is the schadenfreude thread on reddit
posted by Tarumba at 8:12 AM on March 2, 2018 [11 favorites]

Here is the Sarah Kendzior radio show referenced by johnny jenga.
posted by Emmy Rae at 8:14 AM on March 2, 2018 [4 favorites]

I believe no one has lifetime SS protection anymore, didn't they reduce it to 10 years a while back? Presidents can also decline it, as Carter did, since he's an amazing human being.

I watched documentary a few years back on HW Bush and he had secret service men docking his bloody boat.
posted by srboisvert at 8:17 AM on March 2, 2018

Paul Manafort worked as campaign manager for free

If Trump had followed MetaFilter, he might have been aware that if you're not paying for it, you're not the customer. You're the product being sold.
posted by Faint of Butt at 8:22 AM on March 2, 2018 [64 favorites]

T.D. Strange Little late for that now. We're never going to know how far Russia is inside the White House, State, NSA, Pentagon now after Trump let them walk through the White House with boxes of unscreened "camera equipment".

Christ. We're going to have to pay to basically tear down and rebuild the entire White House, aren't we? No telling what surveillance gear the FSB has managed to hide in the walls, the light switches, the electrical outlets, and really just about everything.

MRI's or X-rays, or sonograms, or whatever on all the art and sculptures and historic furniture, wholesale dumping and repurchasing of everything non-historic. Tearing out all the wiring, tearing off all the wall panels and replacing them. Shit.
posted by sotonohito at 8:22 AM on March 2, 2018 [17 favorites]

Ah, according to the Former Presidents Protection Act of 2012, the lifetime protection was reinstated by Barack Obama. Yet something else he hasn't been given credit for.
posted by Melismata at 8:23 AM on March 2, 2018 [3 favorites]

Does an impeached president still get lifetime SS protection?

Benefits of the Former Presidents Act of 1958 are only available to Presidents that were not removed from office, so if he was convicted (or permanently removed via the 25th Amendment), no. For all other former Presidents the FPA was amended in 1997 to reduce SS protection to 10 years then raised back to lifetime by the Former Presidents Protection Act of 2012.
posted by scalefree at 8:24 AM on March 2, 2018 [3 favorites]

Tarumba: "Right-wing gun owners fear Trump is flipping on their gun rights."

Oh don't worry, gun-clutchers -- Congress has moved on. Befuddled By Trump, Senate Will Not Vote On Gun Measures Next Week (NPR, March 1, 2018)

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell told reporters Thursday that the Senate will move on to the banking bill after voting on several nominations this week. McConnell said he hopes to vote on changes to the background check system for most gun purchases but did not provide a timeline or any further details.

"We'd love to do that at some point," McConnell said. "I'm hoping there is a way forward."

The lack of commitment is the surest sign yet that Congress does not plan to quickly address gun access, despite pressure from the White House and survivors of last month's deadly shooting at a Florida high school.

There is no plan for any action on gun legislation ahead of the two-week Easter recess at the end of March. The Senate will next take up Idaho GOP Sen. Mike Crapo's bipartisan legislation to ease bank regulations. The Senate also plans to vote this month on Ohio GOP Sen. Rob Portman's legislation to combat sex trafficking, and Congress must pass a sweeping spending package by March 23.

There is no room in the agenda for guns, unless senators reach agreement on legislation that could move through the Senate via an expedited process known as unanimous consent. Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., who is opposed to any new restrictions on gun rights, said he did not believe that kind of consensus was within reach. "Look, we've got a lot of disagreement on the Republican side, and I would be surprised if something moved anytime soon," he said.

Thanks, Florida ~~Man~~ Senator, for taking the suffering of the young people of Florida to heart.

(And that "pressure from the White House" line is bunk -- the article goes on to note that "Republicans spent the day Thursday struggling to respond to a set of vague instructions Trump laid out during a televised meeting at the White House.")

Sorry, gun-violence ravaged nation, Republican leadership regards bill easing bank rulesas a top priority (Pete Schroeder and Michelle Price for Reuters, March 1, 2018) -- and worse, Thirteen Senate Democrats signed on as backers.

Why I would vote 'no' on Senate bill to amend Dodd-Frank (Former Congressman Barney Frank, in an Op-Ed for CNBC, March 1, 2018)

I write this in anticipation of the debate on the Senate Banking Committee bill to amend Dodd-Frank, which is expected to begin next week.

The history behind this current debate begins with the Republican takeover of Congress in 2010. Having just passed by the narrowest possible margin a comprehensive law covering most aspects of financial regulation, my colleagues and I expected over the next few years to begin the process of fixing things we hadn't been able to reach or might, based on experience, wish to reconsider.

It's a long article, full of history and details, but it gets down to the fact that Republicans and a few Democrats support raising the Financial Stability Oversight Council (FSOC) limit to $250 billion, "a level twice as high as is prudent."

As I have noted before, the failure of two or three such institutions would put us in Lehman Brothers territory. They then exacerbated that problem by putting in place rules that will make it excessively difficult for any future regulators to invoke what has from the outset been an important Democratic argument—namely that there be a right for the FSOC to take jurisdiction over banks between $100 and $250 billion if that bank's activity threatened stability.

Did someone mention concerns about Republicans pushing us into broad financial instability?
posted by filthy light thief at 8:25 AM on March 2, 2018 [12 favorites]

Children's protection ends at 16, though, which means that Malia immediately lost secret service protection when Trump was inaugurated & Sasha lost it later that year - I mean, I know their family know far better than me and will take their security seriously, but I'm always a little concerned about that. If you ask me, children should also get a 5- or 10-year minimum too.
posted by mosst at 8:26 AM on March 2, 2018 [6 favorites]

"Hey, maybe we should make stuff like tariffs a Congressional act that requires Presidential signoff, like laws. Naah, let's just give the President unlimited power to impose tariffs at their whim, that's a better way to do things!"

That's actually how things constitutionally work. Congress handed most of this power over to the president, and the courts didn't like it but were willing to go along with it as long as the power was kept narrowly channeled.

The tl;dr for why this happened is that Congress learned through bitter experience that they continually fuck this up, and the last time they tried to deal with tariff policy on their own they almost killed democracy on Earth and helped indirectly kill around 50 million people.

The longer version is that Congress faces a much wider set of protectionist pressures and it's easy for them to default to approving everyone's protectionist legislation. I'll vote for your bill to prohibitively tax imported shoes if you vote for mine to prohibitively tax imported hats, etc etc. At the extreme, you end up with 193x's Smoot-Hawley and help turn what might have been a normal but unpleasant downturn into a global economic meltdown that led smoothly into the second world war. So afterwards they handed most of the direct power to the President, whose single nationwide constituency provides less incentive to fuck things up.

Trump just doesn't need incentives to fuck things up, is all.
posted by GCU Sweet and Full of Grace at 8:31 AM on March 2, 2018 [19 favorites]

Children's protection ends at 16, though, which means that Malia immediately lost secret service protection when Trump was inaugurated & Sasha lost it later that year - I mean, I know their family know far better than me and will take their security seriously, but I'm always a little concerned about that. If you ask me, children should also get a 5- or 10-year minimum too.

I get a little indigestion every time I see the name "Obama" on the front page of the National Enquirer. For exaclty that reason. There is only so much President Obama can personally do.
posted by ocschwar at 8:34 AM on March 2, 2018

A couple weeks ago, Trump buddy and economic adviser Carl Icahn dumped a bunch of stock of the Manitowoc company, who manufactures cranes and is thus a major consumer of steel. Icahn's selloff began on Feb 12, prior to Wilbur Ross floating the trial balloon of a 24% steel import tariff.

This just isn't subtle at all. Part of me hopes this level of corruption was also endemic before Trump, just much better hidden. Otherwise, our economy and society are in serious trouble once every powerful sociopath realizes just how much flagrant illegality will go unpunished, or even unnoticed.
posted by johnny jenga at 8:45 AM on March 2, 2018 [45 favorites]

For what it's worth, that's $31.3m in a fund of about $20b, or 0.16% of the fund.
posted by hexaflexagon at 8:49 AM on March 2, 2018 [1 favorite]

Wilbur Ross waggles can of soup on CNBC and mutters about how tariffs are no big deal while the DOW ticker plummets in the window next to his addled head
posted by Rust Moranis at 8:51 AM on March 2, 2018 [22 favorites]

haha i think i hear someone laughing or gasping at ross in the background of that video at around 0:13 when the soup can comes out

'About 2.6 pennies' worth of steel per can,' Ross claims, and then asks, 'who in the world is going to be too bothered by 6/10ths of a cent?'

does literally anybody currently employed by the executive branch understand how economics works
maybe some of the support staff, could we ask them to come in and explain
posted by halation at 8:59 AM on March 2, 2018 [43 favorites]

For what it's worth, that's $31.3m in a fund of about $20b, or 0.16% of the fund.

So just misdemeanor securities fraud, not felony securities fraud. /sarcasm
posted by zakur at 9:03 AM on March 2, 2018 [6 favorites]

According to Google, Campbells sells 440 million cans of soup per year in the US. That 6/10 cent per can is worth $2.6 million to Campbells (someone check my math, I do not math gud).

I do not normally get my news via TV so I've never seen a lot of these yutzes in action before and holy shit Wilbur Ross, have a cup of coffee or something? Wake the fuck up before you have to try to sell a trade war on CNBC? I felt my own meager ability to speak publicly literally being sucked from my own body watching that.
posted by soren_lorensen at 9:04 AM on March 2, 2018 [18 favorites]

In a throw-back to happier (?) days, I'm reminded of how Hamilton-obsessed the politics threads were leading up to the election.

Lin-Manuel Miranda and Jimmy Fallon React to Weird Al's "Hamilton Polka"
posted by Surely This at 9:07 AM on March 2, 2018 [31 favorites]

'About 2.6 pennies' worth of steel per can,' Ross claims, and then asks, 'who in the world is going to be too bothered by 6/10ths of a cent?'

This argument is so freakin' disingenuous.
posted by drezdn at 9:16 AM on March 2, 2018 [15 favorites]

Wilbur Ross waggles can of soup on CNBC and mutters about how tariffs are no big deal while the DOW ticker plummets in the window next to his addled head

Y'know, normally one doesn't judge the total economic impact from a take-on-all-comers global trade war by the first salvo, but you do you, Wilbur Ross. We should be thankful the administration got you out on the business channel circuit before naptime.
posted by murphy slaw at 9:17 AM on March 2, 2018 [8 favorites]

EPA would not say this week whether any of Pruitt’s positions have changed since 2005.

How could one resist replacing "changed" with "evolved" in writing that?
posted by srboisvert at 9:19 AM on March 2, 2018 [31 favorites]

and no thought as to what these tariffs are supposed to accomplish -- is it to exact concessions? is it prop up the economy as a whole? some sector of the economy?

It's not an economic motive, its racial grievance signaling just like the Carrier stunt, the "saving" of coal, etc. Steel is a Big Important White Industry that used to provide single earner jobs to support a family on one white man's income and now doesn't BECAUSE SOMETHING ABOUT MEXICO AND CHINA AND GLOBALIST JEWS. So TARIFFS! Bannon's ethnonationalism didn't leave the White House when he did, Trump was always on board with the racial grievance parts and still is, this is just an economic outlet instead of an immigration or criminal enforcement one we're more used to seeing through one year.
posted by T.D. Strange at 9:20 AM on March 2, 2018 [23 favorites]

Further fun in the case of Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens. Some expressed extra disappointment upon hearing of his indictment for felony invasion of privacy due to the good work he had done for veterans through his charity The Mission Continues.

Well…

TPM: Missouri AG Probing Beleaguered Gov’s Former Charity

Missouri Attorney General Josh Hawley is investigating the veterans charity that scandal-plagued Gov. Eric Greitens founded eleven years ago.

“The Attorney General’s Office has an open inquiry into the charitable activities of The Mission Continues, pursuant to the AGO’s enforcement responsibilities under the consumer protection and charitable registration and reporting laws,” Loree Anne Paradise, Hawley’s deputy chief of staff, told TPM in a statement.
…
Greitens, a Republican, left the charity, The Mission Continues, in 2014. But questions about his enduring ties to it date back to his 2016 election campaign. In October of that year, weeks before voters went to the polls, the Associated Press revealed an overlap between people who donated to his campaign and to the charity.

At the the time, Greitens, who was in a tight race, denied using the donor list for The Mission Continues to raise money for his campaign. Doing so would be a violation of federal campaign finance laws, which bar non-profits from engaging in political activity on behalf of a particular candidate, and require campaigns to report the use of this sort of list as an in-kind contribution.

posted by murphy slaw at 9:30 AM on March 2, 2018 [18 favorites]

The tariff on steel imports seems to play well in Ohio. Both of our senators have expressed approval.

Ohio Senators Urge Protective Action on Possible Steel Tariffs
posted by Surely This at 9:31 AM on March 2, 2018

I do think that every country should maintain their steel production ability as well almost all other forms of production at some level because you never what will happen with your trading partners. For example, they could elect a moron whose capriciousness destabilizes world trade by taking unpredictable and inconsistent positions that make planning and investment very risky. In which case it would be prudent to have at least a kernal of domestic industry that could ramp up over time to meet local demand as well as export to other countries that might also be affected.
posted by srboisvert at 9:31 AM on March 2, 2018 [38 favorites]

TPM: Missouri AG Probing Beleaguered Gov’s Former Charity

It's never just one thing with these guys. Once you turn over the rock, all sorts of things come to light.
posted by Chrysostom at 9:33 AM on March 2, 2018 [18 favorites]

The US still produces a shitload of steel. Capacity utilization is only 71%.
posted by T.D. Strange at 9:35 AM on March 2, 2018 [4 favorites]

A lot of the steel produced in Western PA these days is specialty products on a smaller scale. Sort of artisinal steel. It takes a sophisticated plant and well-trained workforce to produce.

If anyone is interested to see what steel production was historically in Western PA and what it looks like today, Rivers of Steel National Heritage Area has a fantastic map (and a great website just in general).
posted by soren_lorensen at 9:46 AM on March 2, 2018 [14 favorites]

'who in the world is going to be too bothered by 6/10ths of a cent?'

This argument is so freakin' disingenuous.

Yep. As a billionaire investor, Wilbur Ross has made a career out of bothering with aggregate 6/10ths of cents.
posted by Rykey at 9:47 AM on March 2, 2018 [12 favorites]

When does Hope Hicks get to be a “wunderkind” instead of a “former model”? - "The media undermined Hicks with sexist language right up until her last day."
posted by the man of twists and turns at 9:48 AM on March 2, 2018 [20 favorites]

In addition to ostensibly pro-tariff Wilbur Ross, the senior trade adviser Peter Navarro is a protectionist, so Trump isn't going against literally his entire team (although I doubt I single one isn't concerned about his ignorant recklessness in carrying out policies they support). Amusingly enough, Navarro's chart is the one Trump indignantly said he couldn't understand. As chris24 said, "He thinks someone informing him is speaking down to him and hates it", and that holds true even if that someone is trying to give reasons that he's right.

An exception I imagine would be if those reasons fed his narcissistic supply. For example, if Navarro used a fancy graph to "explain" that steel tariffs would have a positive economic effect thanks to his electoral college win. Somehow.
posted by InTheYear2017 at 9:48 AM on March 2, 2018 [4 favorites]

At the the time, Greitens, who was in a tight race, denied using the donor list for The Mission Continues to raise money for his campaign.

NYT reporter (formerly of 538) @bencasselman gave to TMC and has been receiving Greitens campaign solicitations since.
posted by a snickering nuthatch at 9:53 AM on March 2, 2018 [5 favorites]

The call-out of sexism in descriptions of Hope Hicks is spot on, but "wunderkind or former model?" is a false choice. The correct descriptor is "enabler of facism."
posted by Lyme Drop at 10:10 AM on March 2, 2018 [82 favorites]

More WV teacher's strike news:

Jacobin: From our correspondent on the ground in West Virginia: "The mass rally inside the capitol just voted to occupy the building until their demands are met."
posted by murphy slaw at 10:19 AM on March 2, 2018 [58 favorites]

Greitens, who was in a tight race, denied using the donor list for The Mission Continues to raise money for his campaign.

If you look at a recent Form 990 for this charity, it raised about $8.4 million in donations and spent less than $2 million of that for program services and grants. Notable expenses include over $3 million for employee salaries and benefits, with several officers earning $200,000.

Grifters gotta grift.
posted by JackFlash at 10:22 AM on March 2, 2018 [13 favorites]

A couple of fresh denials about staffing changes at the White House today:

Chief of Staff John Kelly:

“I have absolutely nothing to even consider resigning over,” he said Friday, according to a White House pool report. “We didn’t cover ourselves in glory in terms of how we handled that on Wednesday morning; it was confusing.”

National Security Advisor H.R. McMaster:

“Look, General McMaster is not going anywhere,” White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said during an interview with “Fox and Friends” Friday morning. “As the President said yesterday in the Oval Office to a number of people, he thinks he is doing a great job and (is) glad he is here.”

Neither one has been reported to have the "full confidence" of the president yet, so it's still anybody's guess.
posted by murphy slaw at 10:29 AM on March 2, 2018 [4 favorites]

Dang, I read his book, and he sounded pretty good. I guess it was too good to last.
posted by wenestvedt at 10:30 AM on March 2, 2018 [1 favorite]

NBC: Trump was angry and ‘unglued’ when he started a trade war, officials say

According to two officials, Trump's decision to launch a potential trade war was born out of anger at other simmering issues and the result of a broken internal process that has failed to deliver him consensus views that represent the best advice of his team.

Narcissistic injury leading to disinhibition. If this bad week means a trade war, then when he has a worse week it will probably mean a real war.
posted by Rust Moranis at 10:31 AM on March 2, 2018 [79 favorites]

also in that article, from the "well-oiled machine" dept:

Ross had already invited steel and aluminum executives to the White House for an 11 a.m. meeting on Thursday. But Ross, according to a person with direct knowledge, hadn't told the White House who the executives were. As a result, White House officials were unable to conduct a background check on the executives to make sure they were appropriate for the president to meet with and they were not able to be cleared for entry by secret service. According to a person with direct knowledge, even White House chief of staff John Kelly was unaware of their names.

By midnight Wednesday, less than 12 hours before the executives were expected to arrive, no one on the president's team had prepared any position paper for an announcement on tariff policy, the official said. In fact, according to the official, the White House counsel's office had advised that they were as much as two weeks away from being able to complete a legal review on steel tariffs.

posted by murphy slaw at 10:39 AM on March 2, 2018 [28 favorites]

Deep in the wilds of Pennsylvania, the Times finds that most elusive of creatures: the Regretful Trump Voter.

House Race in Pennsylvania May Turn on Trump Voters’ Regrets (Trip Gabriel, NYT)
posted by Johnny Wallflower at 10:41 AM on March 2, 2018 [6 favorites]

Regretful Trump Voters are epidemic; the Openly Regretful Trump Voters are the true unicorns.
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 10:51 AM on March 2, 2018 [10 favorites]

I'm sure that it's merely a coincidence that there's a congressional election in steel country USA in about two weeks.

Surely the GOP wouldn't initiate a potential global trade war to save one single seat, would they?

Or, when the Pennsylvania voter has served their purpose, there'll be another announcement that Trump "has heard the voices of businesses harmed by tariffs", and they'll be lowered or dropped.
posted by Chuckles McLaughy du Haha, the depressed clown at 10:52 AM on March 2, 2018 [8 favorites]

from the "you blew it up, you maniacs!" dept.:

Georgia Passes Bill That Stings Delta Over N.R.A. Position

ATLANTA — Georgia lawmakers approved a bill on Thursday that stripped out a tax break proposal highly coveted by Delta Air Lines — the most stinging punishment that America’s pro-gun forces have leveled so far on one of the many corporations recalibrating their positions on firearms after the Florida high school massacre.

The $50 million sales tax exemption on jet fuel that was sought by Delta, one of Georgia’s biggest employers, had been included in a broader tax-relief bill. But this week, a number of Georgia Republicans, including Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle, sought to remove the perk as retribution for Delta’s decision to end a promotional discount for members of the National Rifle Association.

posted by murphy slaw at 10:53 AM on March 2, 2018 [16 favorites]

There is no indication that this tariff announcement was instigated by the congressional GOP. It's the result of Trump rejecting the pleas of the congressional GOP and going with what sounds good to him, as suggested by Wilbur Ross, without consulting any of the relevant departments or conducting a legal review.
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 10:55 AM on March 2, 2018 [9 favorites]

Here is the transcript of the Sarah Kendzior radio show referenced by johnny jenga.
posted by Johnny Wallflower at 11:07 AM on March 2, 2018 [11 favorites]

Well I voted in the early voting for the primary today and there were a surprising number of of folks there! But in the parking lot, a truck for one Republican candidate with signs/ballons with the name on it, and that seemed extremely skeevy to me. I mean, signs are allowed around the polling place, but a truck with some dudes sitting in it holding signs...should I report it I wonder?
posted by emjaybee at 11:11 AM on March 2, 2018 [6 favorites]

There is no indication that this tariff announcement was instigated by the congressional GOP. It's the result of Trump rejecting the pleas of the congressional GOP and going with what sounds good to him, as suggested by Wilbur Ross, without consulting any of the relevant departments or conducting a legal review.

It wouldn't surprise me if Ross or someone else had mentioned the race as part of the case for tariffs. But, evidence against that possibility: Trump hasn't himself mentioned the race on Twitter.
posted by InTheYear2017 at 11:22 AM on March 2, 2018

zachlipton: Well, however mad Trump may be at Sessions, it certainly didn't stop him from taking Sessions's side by appointing William Otis to the US Sentencing Commission: Otis is a notorious opponent of attempts to roll back mandatory minimum sentences and mass incarceration....

Who also has publicly called to abolish the U.S. Sentencing Commission and has a history of making ~~racially charged~~ racist remarks about crime. (NPR, March 2, 2018)

What's with Trump picking people to be in charge of agencies that they've publicly stated should not exist? Oh right, dismantling government and looting along the way.
posted by filthy light thief at 11:22 AM on March 2, 2018 [13 favorites]

Georgia Passes Bill That Stings Delta Over N.R.A. Position

Delta will stay put in Atlanta, but the longevity of the careers of some of this current crop of politicians just got a lot shorter. Basically, it would cost a lot more to move operations than it would for Delta to just buy a new slate of Republican legislators.
posted by darkstar at 11:23 AM on March 2, 2018 [33 favorites]

Most of NBC's latest "Mueller's obviously asking questions about the stuff he should be asking about" story isn't that interesting, but this jumps out at me:

As part of the scrutiny of Kushner's discussions with Turks, federal investigators have reached out to Turkish nationals for information on Kushner through the FBI's legal attache office in Ankara, according to two people familiar with the matter. Separately, Qatari government officials visiting the U.S. in late January and early February considered turning over to Mueller what they believe is evidence of efforts by their country's Persian Gulf neighbors in coordination with Kushner to hurt their country, four people familiar with the matter said. The Qatari officials decided against cooperating with Mueller for now out of fear it would further strain the country's relations with the White House, these people said.

Doesn't this amount to Qatar blackmailing Kushner: do what we want or we'll hand over evidence to Mueller incriminating you?
posted by zachlipton at 11:24 AM on March 2, 2018 [35 favorites]

Trump fomented his political career by being anti-establishment. Now he is the establishment, and he's like one of those movie A.I.s forced to grapple with a logical paradox, smoke pouring out of him, except the A.I. is also really stupid
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 11:25 AM on March 2, 2018 [17 favorites]

What we didn't realize was that when Trump said "I alone can fix it", he didn't mean "fix" as in "repair", he meant "fix" as in "the fix is in".
posted by murphy slaw at 11:30 AM on March 2, 2018 [12 favorites]

In politically-related news: Mike Huckabee Resigns From Music Education Board After Fierce Backlash From Nashville (NPR, March 2, 2018)

In less than 24 hours, presidential candidate, conservative radio host and former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee was announced as a new board member of the Country Music Association Foundation, the organization's philanthropic arm, before being swiftly forced to resign after a chorus of dissent over the appointment erupted in Music City and beyond.

"I genuinely regret that some in the industry were so outraged by my appointment that they bullied the CMA and the Foundation with economic threats and vowed to withhold support for the programs for students if I remained," Huckabee's letter of resignation read, which was accepted in a statement by the CMA. The organization, which produces a huge festival in Nashville each summer as well as the televised CMA Awards, has yet to offer further comment on its motivation for appointing him.

The CMA Foundation, which invests in music education programs all across the country, made the announcement about Huckabee's appointment late afternoon on Wednesday. Soon after, artists, CMA members and fans began voicing their outrage, most notably Jason Owen, co-president of Monument Records and owner of Sandbox Entertainment, who represents well-known clients like Little Big Town and Kacey Musgraves. Owen, who is openly gay, sent a letter to CMA CEO Sarah Trahern and the director of community outreach, Tiffany Kerns, expressing how the decision to appoint Huckabee meant he would "no longer support the CMA Foundation in any way" and would advise his clients to follow suit.

"[Huckabee] has made it clear that my family is not welcome in his America," Owen wrote. "And the CMA has opened their arms to him, making him feel welcome and relevant. Huckabee speaks of the sort of things that would suggest my family is morally beneath his and uses language that has a profoundly negative impact upon young people all across this country. Not to mention how harmful and damaging his deep involvement with the NRA is. What a shameful choice."

That's right, Huckabee was ousted because of his terrible views on same-sex marriages and on gun rights!

Good on you, Jason Owen and everyone else!
posted by filthy light thief at 11:30 AM on March 2, 2018 [124 favorites]

In any reasonable society the Huckabee family would be pariahs for their odious behavior, hatefulness, and deceit. I'm glad to see the sudden reversal but dismayed that anyone thought appointing this sanctimonious self-promoting huckster was a good idea in the first place.
posted by Nerd of the North at 11:37 AM on March 2, 2018 [11 favorites]

emjaybee To the best of my knowledge, in Texas that's perfectly legal as long as they're the proper distance from the polling place. In my precinct I've never gone to vote without seeing several people with trucks, awnings, and so on urging me to vote for one candidate or another. Sometimes the candidate themselves is there to ask for votes.
posted by sotonohito at 11:38 AM on March 2, 2018 [2 favorites]

Reuters: “We will put tariffs on Harley-Davidson, on bourbon and on blue jeans - Levis,” European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker told German television.

To be honest that sounds like a joke, but it sounds like a joke that reluctantly acknowledges the start of a global trade war.
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 11:42 AM on March 2, 2018 [20 favorites]

And for another round of "we all knew it, but now we have the proof" -- Oil Was Central in Decision to Shrink Bears Ears Monument, Emails Show (Eric Lipton and Lisa Friedman for New York Times, March 2, 2018)

Even before President Trump officially opened his high-profile review last spring of federal lands protected as national monuments, the Department of Interior was focused on the potential for oil and gas exploration at a protected Utah site, internal agency documents show.

The debate started as early as March 2017, when an aide to Senator Orrin Hatch, Republican of Utah, asked a senior Interior Department official to consider shrinking Bears Ears National Monument in the southeastern corner of the state. Under a longstanding program in the Utah, oil and natural gas deposits within the boundaries of the monument could have been used to raise revenue for public schools had the land not been under federal protection.

“Please see attached for a shapefile and pdf of a map depicting a boundary change for the southeast portion of the Bears Ears monument,” said the March 15 email from Senator Hatch’s office. Adopting this map would “resolve all known mineral conflicts,” the email said, referring to oil and gas sites on the land that the state’s public schools wanted to lease out to bolster funds.

The map that Mr. Hatch’s office provided, which was transmitted about a month before Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke publicly initiated his review of national monuments, was incorporated almost exactly into the much larger reductions President Trump announced in December, shrinking Bears Ears by 85 percent.

Oh sorry, it's about "raising revenues for public schools," which just happens to come from energy extraction. Except Interior Dept. panel weighs lower royalty payments for (offshore) oil and gas drilling (Juliet Eilperin for Washington Post, February 26, 2018; via comment by peeedro in the prior thread).

Spoiler alert: The committee appears to be poised to recommend that royalty rates be lowered for certain resources. And that's on top of the fact that oil, gas and coal companies are paying less than they should even under current rules. (Ryan Alexander of Taxpayers for Common Sense, for U.S. News & World Report, Feb. 28, 2018)
posted by filthy light thief at 11:51 AM on March 2, 2018 [39 favorites]

Trump fomented his political career by being anti-establishment. Now he is the establishment, and he's like one of those movie A.I.s forced to grapple with a logical paradox, smoke pouring out of him, except the A.I. is also really stupid

A classic case of overfitting his training data.

He came up in the world as a corrupt businessman greasing wheels and getting deals, screwing up and stiffing creditors and moving on until he settled into a branding operation.

Now he is trying to use those same skills and techniques in a position where you can't bluster because everyone knows you cannot walk away from the table, you have next to no secrets or privacy, you are the creditor and wheel greasing is close to impossible because it is illegal and you are now in full sun. Oh and unless you execute perfectly you can only damage your brand.
posted by srboisvert at 11:55 AM on March 2, 2018 [18 favorites]

Doesn't this amount to Qatar blackmailing Kushner: do what we want or we'll hand over evidence to Mueller incriminating you?

Why, it's almost as if there should be some kind of system put in place to ensure that individuals susceptible to blackmail aren't allowed to work in senior roles in the White House.
posted by chappell, ambrose at 11:57 AM on March 2, 2018 [62 favorites]

The leaks are not coming from Mueller. They're coming from people in the line of fire trying to scare Trump into firing Mueller.
posted by chris24 at 11:59 AM on March 2, 2018 [53 favorites]

A lot of these leaks sound like they're coming from the defense side to me, not Mueller's office. Remember that Bannon met with Mueller's team a whole bunch recently, and he loves to call up reporters and say possibly true things to stir shit up.

The most interesting leak to me is a potentially forthcoming indictment in the DNC/campaign email hacking. That's not necessarily from Mueller's office either, but it strikes me as a story that seems to have come from law enforcement sources.
posted by zachlipton at 12:01 PM on March 2, 2018 [19 favorites]

Axios:

Czech Justice Minister Robert Pelikan appears to be leaning toward extraditing Russian hacker Yevgeniy Nikulin to the United States rather than Russia, after telling parliament he will base his decision on where the most severe crimes were committed and which side requested his extradition first. Both criteria point to the U.S.

Why it matters: Nikulin is the centre of a tug-of-war between the U.S. and Russia after he was picked up by the Czech authorities in Prague in October 2016 on an international arrest warrant tied to the hacking of social networks including LinkedIn, Dropbox and Formspring. However, the U.S. authorities believe he may also have information about Russian state-sponsored cyber activities — a view politicians and analysts say is supported by Russia’s desperate attempts to have him sent back home.

posted by Chrysostom at 12:03 PM on March 2, 2018 [27 favorites]

Yea, all those leaks are "this is what Mueller asked my client about, and here's the story my client wants you to know about their answers. What? No! Of COURSE that's ALL Mueller asked my client about...nothing else, at all. Definitely nothing incriminating or treasonous. ...well maybe light treason."
posted by T.D. Strange at 12:08 PM on March 2, 2018 [18 favorites]

Georgia Passes Bill That Stings Delta Over N.R.A. Position

Delta says it sold a total of 13 tickets through its now-discontinued discount program for NRA members.

Also, the Governor still wants the jet fuel exemption and will be pursuing it in a separate bill; says it's "non-negotiable."
posted by melissasaurus at 12:14 PM on March 2, 2018 [50 favorites]

The most interesting leak to me is a potentially forthcoming indictment in the DNC/campaign email hacking. That's not necessarily from Mueller's office either, but it strikes me as a story that seems to have come from law enforcement sources.

The Wall Street Journal published a similar story last November, almost four months ago already...

U.S. Prosecutors Consider Charging Russian Officials in DNC Hacking Case By Aruna Viswanatha and Del Quentin Wilber

The Justice Department has identified more than six members of the Russian government involved in hacking the Democratic National Committee’s computers and swiping sensitive information that became public during the 2016 presidential election, according to people familiar with the investigation.

Prosecutors and agents have assembled evidence to charge the Russian officials and could bring a case next year, these people said. Discussions about the case are in the early stages, they said.
...
Federal prosecutors and federal agents working in Washington, Pittsburgh, San Francisco and Philadelphia have been collaborating on the DNC investigation. The inquiry is being conducted separately from Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation of alleged Russian meddling in the 2016 election and any possible collusion by President Donald Trump’s associates.
...
The Justice Department and FBI investigation into the DNC hack had been under way for nearly a year, by prosecutors and agents with cyber expertise, before Mr. Mueller was appointed in May. Rather than take over the relatively technical cyber investigation, Mr. Mueller and the Justice Department agreed that it would be better for the original prosecutors and agents to retain that aspect of the case, the people familiar with the Justice Department-FBI probe said.

(emphasis mine).
posted by OnceUponATime at 12:17 PM on March 2, 2018 [8 favorites]

The most likely matchup in the GA governor race is LG Cagle - the guy who started all this Delta fracas - vs Abrams. Cagle only leads Abrams 45-39, in a poll conducted right before the whole thing.
posted by Chrysostom at 12:19 PM on March 2, 2018 [5 favorites]

'About 2.6 pennies' worth of steel per can,' Ross claims, and then asks, 'who in the world is going to be too bothered by 6/10ths of a cent?'

This argument is so freakin' disingenuous.

If conservatives didn't have disingenuous arguments, they wouldn't have any arguments at all.
posted by Gelatin at 12:26 PM on March 2, 2018 [43 favorites]

BuzzFeed, Even Italian Prosecutors Can't Find The Professor At The Center Of The Trump-Russia Probe. The Italian authorities can't find Joseph Mifsud either (he's apparently accused of inflating some salaries at a university a decade ago), and the guy seems to have vanished. We already know his girlfriend, who says Mifsud is the father of her child, says she hasn't heard from him since October.

This is all very normal stuff here.
posted by zachlipton at 12:48 PM on March 2, 2018 [26 favorites]

Publishers already contacting Hicks about book deal: report

One White House insider also told the website that Hicks reportedly kept a "detailed diary" of her interactions and time in the White House, a resource that could be a major asset if she plans to write a memoir.

Really none of them have ever even seen The Wire have they? Hope, is you taking notes on a criminal fucking conspiracy? A book deal shouldn't even be on her mind, she's going to jail if any of them are.
posted by T.D. Strange at 12:52 PM on March 2, 2018 [44 favorites]

I know the daily grift of this Presidency is old news, but what's happening tonight, as Trump arrives at Mar-a-Lago bears repeating. The latest pool report explains:

A reminder that Mar-a-Lago is Trumps private, for-profit resort with a six-figure initiation fee. Tonight it is hosting an RNC fundraiser, the rental fees from which will profit the president personally. The fundraiser at this writing remains closed press.

reportedly kept a "detailed diary"

I don't trust the Daily Mail, but this is a damn good joke (if you watched The West Wing):

@donnatella_moss: Here’s hoping she didn’t lie about it.

Seriously though, if there's a diary, that thing is going to be subpoenaed, and could come under the Presidential Records Act.
posted by zachlipton at 1:00 PM on March 2, 2018 [33 favorites]

Do we know what subreddits the Russian state targeted yet, as per the Daily Beast article?

Reddit seems to be just now reacting to this, which for some reason is making me laughcry.
posted by schadenfrau at 1:01 PM on March 2, 2018 [4 favorites]

Of course they don't watch The Wire. It's not about the overprivileged getting lauded for being awesome. It's not about rich dudes getting richer. It's about dark, depressing topics and ordinary people struggling with difficult problems, and sometimes bad things happen to the good guys, who, let's face it, are neither rich nor powerful, so why would the trumpista clan watch this show?

They firmly believe that laws are for "lesser people," and they have lawyers who will get them out of any "little problems" they run into. And even the ones who are aware that some actions are too shady to record safely, are oblivious to the idea that they could be complicit in something just by being in the room when it's being discussed. As long as they're not recording their own actions, they believe they're safe.
posted by ErisLordFreedom at 1:03 PM on March 2, 2018 [9 favorites]

Seriously though, if there's a diary, that thing is going to be subpoenaed

The Pod Save America guys on one of last weeks (I think) podcasts talked about how "nobody even takes notes" in the White House for just that reason. Unless its something they WANT to record for history, they know every word is subject to the Records Act and subpoena. Or you would know that if you weren't a fucking moron with no business in government in any capacity much less the White House.
posted by T.D. Strange at 1:05 PM on March 2, 2018 [7 favorites]

Extreme privilege really does function as a kind of stupidity, doesn’t it?

$10 says she edits it or tries to destroy it.

There’s also the possibility that she took notes and edited them in real time to decrease her own liability for obvious criminal acts, but considering what we know already about her behavior, I’m gonna go with nah.
posted by schadenfrau at 1:10 PM on March 2, 2018 [5 favorites]

I know the daily grift of this Presidency is old news, but what's happening tonight, as Trump arrives at Mar-a-Lago bears repeating.

Just going to throw in a plug here for WNYC's Trump Inc. podcast. It's a dive into the history and finances of the Trump organization. It's pretty clear that the grift is business as usual for the Trumps.
posted by nathan_teske at 1:12 PM on March 2, 2018 [6 favorites]

Ray Walston, Luck Dragon: "After the 2010 elections, Manafort was a pro bono advisor to me.”

That's a long time to not have an income."

Well he didn't have NO income; he just wasn't drawing a salary from anyone in the USA.

halation: "'About 2.6 pennies' worth of steel per can,' Ross claims, and then asks, 'who in the world is going to be too bothered by 6/10ths of a cent?'"

Spot the person who has never been poor. 6/10th on a 60 cent can of soup is a 1% increase. If that's no big deal let's just increase entitlements across the board 1%.
posted by Mitheral at 1:16 PM on March 2, 2018 [56 favorites]

Assuming this is true, and I kind of doubt it is, there are precisely two and only two reasons why Hope Hicks would have kept a detailed diary of her time in the White House.

1) She correctly identified the legal peril in which she found herself and in response began taking contemporaneous notes in order to protect herself if she ever needed a bargaining chip with prosecutors. It would function in a similar vein to Comey's summary memos after his meetings with Trump. Not quite as good since she isn't a senior law enforcement official and didn't send copies to her colleagues but the next best thing. A very smart play on her part.
2) She's stupid as fuck.

I do not herein take a position on which of these options is true.
posted by Justinian at 1:25 PM on March 2, 2018 [37 favorites]

Seriously though, if there's a diary, that thing is going to be subpoenaed

The level of stupidity required to keep a diary at the Trump White House would be, well, exactly what Steve Bannon ostensibly said about her in Fire and Fury: "'You don’t know what you’re doing,' shouted a livid Bannon at Hicks, demanding to know who she worked for, the White House or Jared and Ivanka. 'You don’t know how much trouble you are in,' he screamed, telling her that if she didn’t get a lawyer he would call her father and tell him he had better get her one. 'You are dumb as a stone!"

And if Hicks didn't know how much trouble she was in then, Vanity Fair reports she might have become aware now: "But in recent weeks, Hicks became disillusioned with her job, people who’ve spoken with her told me. Her closeness to Trump meant she was also nearest to the hottest flames of the fires that have burned in the West Wing, the most intense being the Russia probe. Hicks has racked up substantial legal fees, one source told me. 'She’s in immense personal jeopardy,' one Republican close to the White House said yesterday. 'This is a sign the Mueller investigation is a lot more serious than any one of us thought.'"
posted by Doktor Zed at 1:27 PM on March 2, 2018 [18 favorites]

Do we know what subreddits the Russian state targeted yet, as per the Daily Beast article?

Obviously, /r/The_Donald (to this day). But there was clear manipulation in /r/politics -- which is much larger, with about 3 million subscribers -- as well. There were very few pro-Trump or anti-Clinton comments, but a reliable force of about 5,000 upvotes for any anti-Clinton, pro-Trump or pro-Bernie Sanders article. (Presumably a similar force downvoted pro-Clinton articles; I saw very few, which is what would happen because that's what downvoting does.)

This block of votes vanished suddenly on the day Bernie Sanders dropped out of the Democratic primary, and since then the subreddit has been generally anti-Trump and leaning Democratic just about as much as you would expect from the demographics of Redditors. I suppose that Revolution Messaging could have been involved rather than the Russian agency, but someone was clearly manipulating it.
posted by msalt at 1:35 PM on March 2, 2018 [13 favorites]

>>Assuming this is true, and I kind of doubt it is, there are precisely two and only two reasons why Hope Hicks would have kept a detailed diary of her time in the White House.
>3. Extra juicy book deal

4. Very naive young person with no background in politics or crime who has always kept a journal, and it never occurred to her there was any reason not to.
posted by msalt at 1:36 PM on March 2, 2018 [18 favorites]

'She’s in immense personal jeopardy,' one Republican close to the White House said yesterday.

Ok NOW it’s $100 says Mueller already flipped her
posted by schadenfrau at 1:36 PM on March 2, 2018 [3 favorites]

3. Extra juicy book deal

I didn't think you were allowed to profit from a crime, though

My gut suggests that Hicks tries to give up the diary as part of a plea deal. I think she probably started it either because she's a diary kind of person, or, alternatively, because Comey kept records and thus keeping records is what savvy people do. If that's the case, though, it won't have the juicy stuff.
posted by Merus at 1:37 PM on March 2, 2018

Spot the person who has never been poor. 6/10th on a 60 cent can of soup is a 1% increase. If that's no big deal let's just increase entitlements across the board 1%.

The fact that he proudly announced how he bought the can for $2 at a 7-11 is a pretty big clue too. (Insert digression here about how lack of transportation and access to grocery stores mean poor people have to pay more for basic necessities.)
posted by zachlipton at 1:40 PM on March 2, 2018 [22 favorites]

Daily Beast, Veteran Affairs Secretary David Shulkin ‘Extremely Paranoid’ Ahead of Damning New Investigation, Sources Say

Embattled Veterans Affairs Secretary David Shulkin is likely to be the subject of another damaging investigation as early as next week, one that could prove politically fatal.

The top watchdog for the Department of Veterans Affairs is preparing a report that is expected to criticize Shulkin over his use of his security detail to run personal errands, The Daily Beast has learned. Three sources familiar with the situation say the forthcoming Inspector General report will likely fuel criticism of Shulkin’s use of official department resources and could further erode his standing in the administration.
...
Multiple sources in and outside of the administration independently noted a significant uptick in Shulkin’s suspiciousness and anxiety of late and have described to him as acting “extremely paranoid.” Two people familiar with the situation said that Shulkin this week had even ordered an armed guard to stand outside his office on the 10th floor of the VA. According to these sources, the VA secretary also cut off 10th floor access earlier this week to multiple VA appointees who he apparently suspected of disloyalty.

This as various people, including his assistant secretary, keep trying to push Shulkin out, not because they give a damn about his use of government resources, but because he's standing in the way of their dreams of dismantling the VA along with all the other parts of the government the White House is stripping for parts.
posted by zachlipton at 1:46 PM on March 2, 2018 [10 favorites]

Very naive young person with no background in politics or crime who has always kept a journal, and it never occurred to her there was any reason not to.

I am thinking this. Hope Hicks is a young, attractive white woman from a privileged background; the type of person who really does get shielded from troubles that the less white or well-off can face. I read her as being naive as hell, and not having any idea of the trouble she might be in until recently. If she kept a journal, she probably had no idea there might be consequences.
posted by Rosie M. Banks at 1:50 PM on March 2, 2018 [5 favorites]

There is plenty of sexism in media descriptions of women to call out, but that Vox article criticizing coverage of Hope Hicks is a real stretch.

But in media coverage, her modeling “career” serves as an important backdrop to her current role, a signal of her inexperience at best. This isn’t the standard in journalism or the standard the same press corps has applied to this White House. In the long line of men who’ve also left the West Wing, no outlet has highlighted their part-time jobs or activities in high school.

That's just ... not true. Jack Kemp was always an ex-football player, even after 9 terms in the House, 4 years in the Cabinet, and two presidential campaigns. Ditto President Ford. Reagan and Schwarznegger were always former actors, Al Franken was described as a current comedian. Sonny Bono, Fred (Gopher) Thompson, Clint Eastwood, Jesse Ventura, Jerry Springer, etc. Show biz of any sort is big news in politics.

Attractive male politicians get comments on their looks all the time, and dumb ones (Dan Quayle) get it emphasized.

Modeling has particular importance in this administration because the president values it so much, running a modeling agency himself, taking over beauty pageants, and marrying 3 models. Daughter Ivanka Trump is herself a model who hired Hicks, used her as a model and brought her into the White House. That's kind of important in understanding why Donald Trump has been so drawn to Hicks.
posted by msalt at 1:54 PM on March 2, 2018 [29 favorites]

3. Extra juicy book deal
I didn't think you were allowed to profit from a crime, though

Depends on the details - there are laws against criminals getting rich by selling the story of their crimes, but exactly how those work varies. Federal version excerpt:

after conviction of a defendant for an offense under section 794 of this title or for an offense against the United States resulting in physical harm to an individual ... the court shall, if the court determines that the interest of justice or an order of restitution under this title so requires, order such defendant to forfeit all or any part of proceeds received or to be received by that defendant, or a transferee of that defendant, from a contract relating to a depiction of such crime in a movie, book... (etc.)

Invoking this law requires a conviction; she, of course, is not expecting to be convicted before she can land a juicy book and movie deal. And this seems to require the court get involved and make a decision - many state laws just outright say that money made from "I did it" crime stories gets seized.
posted by ErisLordFreedom at 1:56 PM on March 2, 2018

4. Very naive young person with no background in politics or crime who has always kept a journal, and it never occurred to her there was any reason not to.

I mean, she's 29. She's been working for the Trumps for somewhere between 5 and 6 years. They are actively criminal scumbags with zero filter on their bullshit. Naivete only stretches so far; I'm sure she just thought she would skate on account of her privileged status, which all these stories focused on her youth and attractiveness serve to reinforce. She's not a babe in the woods, which makes the sort of liberal fairytale fanfic that went around Twitter a month ago even more baffling.
posted by Existential Dread at 1:56 PM on March 2, 2018 [26 favorites]

There’s also the possibility that she took notes and edited them in real time to decrease her own liability for obvious criminal acts, but considering what we know already about her behavior, I’m gonna go with nah.

posted by schadenfrau at 1:10 PM on March 2 [3 favorites +] [!]

She assured herself that they would never come to light.
posted by Mental Wimp at 1:59 PM on March 2, 2018 [11 favorites]

Remember when Trump condemned the UCLA PoC basketball players for not being grateful enough for him securing their release, and later said that he should have left them in jail? Their gratitude was likely tempered by the fact that they were already released before Trump got involved.
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 2:02 PM on March 2, 2018 [35 favorites]

In the long line of men who’ve also left the West Wing, no outlet has highlighted their part-time jobs or activities in high school.

I’ve seen LBJ described as a former schoolteacher multiple times, but he actually only taught for about two years total before moving to DC and essentially running an entire congressional office at age 23.
posted by stopgap at 2:02 PM on March 2, 2018 [2 favorites]

Jeeeeezus can we please stop flooding the thread with theories on who might have done what when and why they did or didn't do it? There's enough actual information pouring in that we don't need continual speculation based on no evidence. We'll know what we know when we know it and not before then.
posted by runcibleshaw at 2:03 PM on March 2, 2018 [13 favorites]

If you’ve worked for the Trump family for years you absolutely have experience in crime.
posted by Artw at 2:07 PM on March 2, 2018 [22 favorites]

Evan McMullin just told Nicole Wallace that Trump isn’t doing anything about Russia because he wants the interference to continue. God, it was such a relief to see and hear it just explicitly spelled out like that. Not, “Trump is dumb/naive” or “Trump is a narcissist and can’t admit he won with help.” Just straight up that he wants Russian state actors to keep attacking America.
posted by xyzzy at 2:08 PM on March 2, 2018 [66 favorites]

AP, Questions surround Trump’s 1st wall contract

A tiny Nebraska startup awarded the first border wall construction project under President Donald Trump is the offshoot of a construction firm that was sued repeatedly for failing to pay subcontractors and accused in a 2016 government audit of shady billing practices.

SWF Constructors, which lists just one employee in its Omaha office, won the $11 million federal contract in November as part of a project to replace a little more than 2 miles (3.2 kilometers) of a current fence with post-style barriers 30 feet (9.1 meters) high in Calexico, California. The project represents a sliver of the president’s plan that was central to his presidential campaign promise for a wall at the border with Mexico.

SWF's parent company has a track record of being sued by the federal government for failure to pay its subcontractors and millions in questionable spending. SWF isn't registered with the State of Nebraska.

In other words, sounds like a Trump project.
posted by zachlipton at 2:12 PM on March 2, 2018 [45 favorites]

Not, “Trump is dumb/naive” or “Trump is a narcissist and can’t admit he won with help.” Just straight up that he wants Russian state actors to keep attacking America.

The latter being true doesn't lessen the likelihood of the other two.
posted by ErisLordFreedom at 2:13 PM on March 2, 2018 [3 favorites]

SWF Constructors

Oh great, they're going to build it in Flash.

Bienvenidos a Estados Unidos
skip intro >
posted by condour75 at 2:16 PM on March 2, 2018 [69 favorites]

I read her as being naive as hell, and not having any idea of the trouble she might be in until recently.

Charlotte Clymer

Hope Hicks is not a victim. She is not a child. She is not an innocent lamb being led to slaughter. She's a 29 year-old, college-educated, grown-ass adult who knowingly worked for years for a corrupt, racist, sexist, anti-LGBTQ, infantile sleazebag, even BEFORE his disgusting slate of dangerous and hateful rhetoric during the presidential campaign. And this is to say nothing of whatever (likely) complicity she's had in collusion with a foreign government to steal a presidential election.

Calling Hope Hicks a "victim" or feeling sorry for her is profoundly insulting to every young woman in this country who does the right thing on a daily basis and doesn't need your goddamn hand-holding or moral guidance to know that working for a white supremacist is wrong. Hope Hicks and Ivanka Trump are adults with full autonomy who have made their decisions in life, and they need to negotiate, by themselves and whatever legal representation they're afforded, the consequences of the path they've chosen.

But you know who wasn't an adult? Trayvon Martin, who had just turned 17 when he was shot and killed for being a black teenager in a predominantly white neighborhood. It was six years ago on Monday when he was murdered, and white adults across the country viciously slandered him as a "thug" and "gangster" for being a black child wearing a hoodie.

So, no, Hope Hicks does not get my sympathy for looking like an innocent white woman. And she should not get yours. And she should not get it from Mueller and whatever possible grand jury indictment may be coming her way.

posted by chris24 at 2:17 PM on March 2, 2018 [202 favorites]

SWF Constructors, which lists just one employee in its Omaha office

Is it the same person who was the only employee of Whitefish Energy when they were hired to fix Puerto Rico? Maybe they were moonlighting.
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 2:19 PM on March 2, 2018 [17 favorites]

From The New York Times' portrait of Hope Hicks:

Ms. Hicks had stopped monitoring news coverage of herself, restricting her television intake to Fox News, which she often watched on mute, assuming that the Trump-friendly network would rarely include her name on its chyrons.

Look... I'm not a Communications Director, but my working assumption is that some of it requires monitoring news coverage
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 2:38 PM on March 2, 2018 [84 favorites]

If Hicks had no idea of the trouble she’s in, it’s because of the same blinkered privilege that has allowed all of them, from Trump on down, to be so unfamiliar with the idea of consequences that they literally cannot conceive of the rule of law as applying to them, personally. That’s why Kushner hated Chris Christie so much — it was personal, because rules weren’t supposed to apply to the Kushners. Personal gain at the Kushners’ expense was the only possible explanation.

On preview, what chris24 posted. At that level, entitlement begins to look like stupidity. Or if you can’t possibly see a young, attractive white woman as having any agency, then I guess you call her naive.

They aren’t naive, though. They genuinely think they’re special. That’s not naïveté, that’s just evil.

Maximum sentences all around.
posted by schadenfrau at 2:38 PM on March 2, 2018 [29 favorites]

They aren’t naive, though. They genuinely think they’re special. That’s not naïveté, that’s just evil.

To modify Clarke: any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic, and any sufficiently advanced privilege is indistinguishable from sociopathy.
posted by Rust Moranis at 2:43 PM on March 2, 2018 [73 favorites]

The story is paywalled, but @Zachary: .@SenSchumer will oppose the bank deregulation bill on the Senate floor next week. It has 12 Dem co-sponsors, but progressives are rallying opposition

Aside from the many reasons why it's shameful for Democrats to be supporting this, the timing is really quite something. Republicans have done fuck all for Dreamers and are now saying they'll do fuck all on guns so they can move on to deregulating banks. Regardless of the merits of the bill, there's absolutely zero reason Democrats should be helping Republicans out with even a single vote right now.

We had a shutdown (I cannot believe that was barely more than a month ago) because Democrats wouldn't vote for a spending bill without a deal on DACA, and now Democrats are prepared to give up the votes on this in exchange for nothing?
posted by zachlipton at 2:50 PM on March 2, 2018 [42 favorites]

=== LEVITY BREAK ===

The Hill: A candidate in the race for a South Texas state House seat has reportedly received $87,500 in campaign donations — more than half of which is made up of deer semen.

The Dallas News reported Thursday that Ana Lisa Garza, a district court judge running a primary challenge against eight-term Democrat Ryan Guillen, has received $51,000 in in-kind donations to her campaign, listed as individual donations of frozen deer semen straws.

politicians will do anything to make a buck am I right

=== LEVITY OVER, THANK YOU ===
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 2:51 PM on March 2, 2018 [97 favorites]

We had a shutdown (I cannot believe that was barely more than a month ago) because Democrats wouldn't vote for a spending bill without a deal on DACA, and now Democrats are prepared to give up the votes on this in exchange for nothing?

See, this is the thing, the Democratic priority is deregulating Goldman Sachs and repealing Dodd-Frank. They really, truly (are paid to) believe in totally unregulated Wall Street. The other stuff, well, if it happens, great. But this is Tim Kaine and Chris Coon and Tom Carper's real passion. Delivering for their banking paymasters is why they ran, period.
posted by T.D. Strange at 2:56 PM on March 2, 2018 [20 favorites]

Something something thousands of bucks.
posted by kirkaracha at 3:08 PM on March 2, 2018 [12 favorites]

the Democratic priority is deregulating Goldman Sachs and repealing Dodd-Frank

Then why did they pass it in the first place?
posted by OnceUponATime at 3:08 PM on March 2, 2018 [12 favorites]

Remember, the republicans don't even need all those democratic senate votes to kill Dodd-Frank, those democrats WANT this so much they won't even try to horse trade for their vote. Good thing the invisible hand always gives us the best possible economy or we'd be F-ed!
posted by Anchorite_of_Palgrave at 3:09 PM on March 2, 2018

SWF Constructors, Omaha NE. Four bobcats, a trailer, a line truck, a grader, a non-potable water truck, and some sort of tanker. A sight that inspires trust in building a couple of miles of 30 foot tall concrete posts if ever there was one.

Not that I'm down with the wall, but if they wanted an Omaha firm (because, why?) then Kiewit would have been a much more competent move.
posted by Fezboy! at 3:13 PM on March 2, 2018 [4 favorites]

Reddit seems to be just now reacting to this [Russian manipulation of it], which for some reason is making me laughcry.

There are 250 million Reddit users and 11,000 subreddits, so it's pretty hard to say "Reddit is doing X" or not doing Y. I know people have been talking about Russian trolls since 2016.

The BBC article on Russian hackers on Reddit currently has more than 33,000 upvotes and 3,200 comments.

One of the most upvoted comments is a very detailed and well-researched screed detailing a lot of that manipulation. Worth a read if the subject interests you.
posted by msalt at 3:17 PM on March 2, 2018 [16 favorites]

Something something thousands of bucks.

Ya gotta spend money to make money and you need spent bucks to make doe.
posted by Freon at 3:37 PM on March 2, 2018 [13 favorites]

I am seeing the Dodd Frank bill described as easing rules on small to medium size banks. Like, it appears that it would leave all of the Dodd Frank provisions in place for the Goldman Sachses of the world, but would somewhat liberate local and regional banks. Is that not so?
posted by chrchr at 3:44 PM on March 2, 2018 [2 favorites]

That was my understanding, chrchr. I’ve never seen it interpreted as a repeal gift to Goldman-Sachs. I’d welcome nonpartisan analysis that explicitly points out how Goldman-Sachs come out to be big winners on these modifications.
posted by xyzzy at 3:53 PM on March 2, 2018 [4 favorites]

. . . one Republican close to the White House said yesterday. 'This is a sign the Mueller investigation is a lot more serious than any one of us thought.'"

*spit-takes Coke-and-rum*
Holy flurk, this Russia collusion thing is real?!

/curtainfalls
/smattered_applause
posted by petebest at 4:00 PM on March 2, 2018 [22 favorites]

I’d welcome nonpartisan analysis that explicitly points out how Goldman-Sachs come out to be big winners on these modifications.

David Dayen has an exhaustive review of why this bank de-regulation bill is terrible. It's not about community banks, there's all kinds of gifts to yes, Goldman Sachs and other big banks. The "community" banks are doing fine, and don't even need the loosened regulations anyway; and what's more by "loosening" regulations, what we're really talking about is freeing these poor community banks to start targeting minorities again for discriminatory loans.

Revenge of the Stadium Banks

Republicans and Democrats who pushed S.2155 through the Senate Banking Committee must have heard Citi’s call. (They changed the definition of a custodial bank in a subsequent version of the bill. It used to stipulate that only a bank with a high level of custodial assets would qualify, but now it defines a custodial bank as “any depository institution or holding company predominantly engaged in custody, safekeeping, and asset servicing activities.”) The change could allow virtually any big bank to take advantage of the new rule. ...

Aside from the gifts to Citigroup and other big banks, the bill undermines fair lending rules that work to counter racial discrimination and rolls back regulation and oversight on large regional banks that aren’t big enough to be global names, but have enough cash to get a stadium named after themselves. In the name of mild relief for community banks, these institutions — which have been christened “stadium banks” by congressional staff opposing the legislation — are punching a gaping hole through Wall Street reform. Twenty-five of the 38 biggest domestic banks in the country, and globally significant foreign banks that have engaged in rampant misconduct, would get freed from enhanced supervision. There are even goodies for dominant financial services firms, such as Promontory and a division of Warren Buffett’s conglomerate Berkshire Hathaway. The bill goes so far as to punish buyers of mobile homes, among the most vulnerable people in the country, whose oft-stated economic anxiety drives so much of the discourse in American politics (just not when there might be something to do about it).

Then why did they pass it in the first place?

2018 is not the immediate aftermath of 2008, and several of these moderate backstabbers were not in Congress for Dodd-Frank passage, and it's 10 years later, the others are now freed from the pressure spotlight and free to return to their natural passion, deregulating Wall Street at any cost. Back to Dayen:

Heitkamp, Tester, and Donnelly are all up for re-election in November, in states Trump carried by a wide margin. Democratic staffers believe they longed to show distance from the national party, whatever the topic. “They want to be able to say ‘bipartisan’ to constituents,” said one aide. “The ‘what’ doesn’t matter.”

posted by T.D. Strange at 4:12 PM on March 2, 2018 [15 favorites]

Scaramucci's interview yesterday where he called Kelly "General Jackass" didn't go so well. Bloomberg, Scaramucci Is on White House ‘Exclusion List’ Blocking Visits (he was on the list before, but they're acknowledging it now):

Scaramucci is among a group of former staffers who left “under adverse circumstances” placed on an "administrative exclusion list," the White House said in response to Bloomberg’s questions. Those former employees must have any appointments on the premises "evaluated on a case by case basis."
...
Another message shows that when the aide asked Block about access for Scaramucci, Block said only White House Chief of Staff John Kelly or Deputy Chief of Staff Joe Hagin could override Scaramucci’s exclusion.

An anonymous official insisted the Mooch wasn't banned yesterday.
posted by zachlipton at 4:25 PM on March 2, 2018 [9 favorites]

Well, it's from The Intercept

Jinx. But Dayen is not "The Intercept" for me, he's been writing about banking issues since long before The Intercept was a thing, and wrote the definitive book on the robosigning scandal, and how the Obama administration ignored and papered over said robosigning scandal. He also writes a ton of other places too, Salon, The Nation, American Prospect. I believe I first started reading him back when Firedoglake was a thing in like 2007. I hate that Greenwald's shittiness and useful idiocy has tainted the couple great writers he managed to hire before selling out to Putin.
posted by T.D. Strange at 4:31 PM on March 2, 2018 [8 favorites]

Has anybody else noticed, in recent days the leak-proof Mueller investigation has turned into a sieve? I have to assume it's on purpose but it makes me wonder why; who it is they want to spook, what reaction they want to provoke & why now?
posted by scalefree at 11:56 AM

I have noticed this, and maybe it's just wishful thinking but I don't feel like it's a coincidence that everything is seeming to unravel in the wake of the pushback that started from Parkland. I think everyone on both sides understands that things have been getting increasingly precarious for a long time, there's no way to turn this around anymore- it's accelerating, the jenga tower that got way taller than anyone could have imagined, and the taller it gets the worse the fallout is going to be. the end is near and this fresh outrage and shift in public opinion was the catalyst for people on the wrong side of things to finally start to be like "okay, we're ready for this to be over, too. time to get out."

nobody wanted to be the first to abandon ship, alone, but now that the wind has started to shift, maybe everyone with a shred of self-preservation and sanity is following. it makes a lot more sense for all the damning things to come out during a moment when people are more disgusted with the GOP than ever. the parkland outrage seems to be waking a certain amount of people out of a trance who are now going, "now that you mention it, things are pretty fucked up right now!" it makes it easier for people to be skeptical of "witch hunt" accusations and more likely to believe that all the bad shit is real and true. i like to think that all the leaks happening now are in the spirit of wanting to add to the snowball, now that someone else has done the enormous task of really starting it rolling.

I can confirm there's a strong, strange wind blowing through DC today, and it reminded me of a comment from a recent thread about Marco Rubio during the town hall, feeling which way the wind was blowing, or something to that effect. I feel like the direction of the wind has changed so hard this week it's literally smacking people in the face in DC right now. maybe I just love Harry Potter too much, but I love the thought that the beginning of the end, what finally brought these fuckers to their knees were some brave, angry kids. i'm just sorry that, also like HP, their catalyst had to be experiencing tragedy firsthand and being desperate to stop it at any cost.

of course, the part that makes me the most angry is that I'm certain in 5 or 15 or 25 years, when we have fully automated luxury gay space communism as a result of the enormous backlash against the trump years, and everyone is happy, trump will pat himself on the back and be like "See? I did this! My plan all along! I SAVED HUMANITY!"
posted by robotdevil at 4:35 PM on March 2, 2018 [19 favorites]

In 5 of 15 or 25 years, Trump will be dead. He is old and unwell.
posted by biogeo at 4:53 PM on March 2, 2018 [9 favorites]

WaPo, Mike DeBonis and Josh Dawsey, Trump pushes Republicans to oppose crucial New York-New Jersey tunnel project, in which Trump personally drops in on Ryan at Billy Graham's memorial to ask him not to fund the Gateway Tunnel project, which Republicans have been on the verge of including in an upcoming must-pass spending bill.
posted by zachlipton at 4:54 PM on March 2, 2018 [14 favorites]

See, this is the thing, the Democratic priority is deregulating Goldman Sachs and repealing Dodd-Frank.

It seems absurd on its face to me to call something a Democratic priority when maybe a quarter of Democratic senators will vote for it. By that logic a clean DACA bill is a Republican priority.
posted by Justinian at 5:04 PM on March 2, 2018 [35 favorites]

Unless and until the GOP is dead and buried, we fight with the army have, not the one we want. Hopefully at least some of these senators will get primaried from the left AND those challengers will show us all that if candidates would embrace and campaign on progressive values, progressives will come out of the woodwork to vote for them.

If they don't I'll still vote against the GOP every time and do what I can to drag these moderates left.
posted by VTX at 5:31 PM on March 2, 2018 [26 favorites]

Hey I'll just go to the gym surely there's no more news that's go—WaPo, Beth Reinhard, Frances Stead Sellers and Emma Brown, Days before the election, Stormy Daniels threatened to cancel deal to keep alleged affair with Trump secret. A bunch of this, including stuff the Post says they're reporting for the first time, we kind of already knew, such as the bit of the story where Cohen doesn't pay up on time and Daniels's lawyer threatened to cancel the deal, though they have it nailed down with dates and supporting details.

But there's an interesting detail near the bottom:

The payment was routed through a bank account controlled by Davidson [Daniels' lawer]. Eleven months later, in September of 2017, the bank, City National Bank in Beverly Hills, asked Davidson about the source of the payment, according to an email reviewed by The Post. The reason for the bank’s interest was not clear.

Bank officials declined to comment on whether the inquiry was provoked by a request or subpoena from law enforcement officials, was the result of a routine audit or came about for some other reason.

“As a matter of policy, we don’t confirm or comment on inquiries from regulatory agencies or law enforcement, including subpoenas,” read a statement from the bank.

So somebody was asking questions about the payment months before any of this was publicly reported. That's intriguing.

You can also read Talia Lavin's report for the Village Voice on Daniels' Long Island strip club appearance, Stormy, With a Chance of MAGA, in which you'll learn nothing of any potential use whatsoever, but:

A man showers her in dollar bills, and they adhere to her moistened skin, adorning her body like a capitalist quilt. I would like to be an Allen Ginsberg type and use these seamy surroundings to take the pulse of my country, but everything is too obvious to be a metaphor.

posted by zachlipton at 6:07 PM on March 2, 2018 [26 favorites]

In 5 of 15 or 25 years, Trump will be dead. He is old and unwell.

That's what we said about John McCain.
posted by Faint of Butt at 6:09 PM on March 2, 2018 [4 favorites]

Trump picks tough-on-crime crusader with history of racial remarks for criminal justice post (WaPo):

Before President Trump picked him to be part of a federal commission that sets policy on how to punish criminals, William Otis spent years staunchly advocating for harsher penalties and a larger prison population.

In several public testimonies and years of published commentary, Otis decried a criminal justice system that he says has favored criminals over victims. He hailed the tough-on-crime approach of the Reagan and Bush administrations — one that Trump, through his attorney general, is resurrecting. “Increased use of incarceration and reining in naive judges,” he once told NPR, “has worked” to curtail crime.

Otis’s appointment, which the White House announced Thursday, is another sign that the Trump administration is restoring the 1980s and 1990s war on drugs that incarcerated many minority defendants and overcrowded the country’s prisons.

Examples of his racist "crimeblog" writing are in the link.

He is nominated to be a commissioner of the U.S. Sentencing Commission which he called a failure and advocated abolishing in his 2011 congressional testimony (pdf).
posted by peeedro at 6:24 PM on March 2, 2018 [4 favorites]

I can’t tell if this is new or not...it seems to be new to the thread as far as I can tell...but WaPo has another drip drip drip of quid pro quo for Jared?

The Securities and Exchange Commission late last year dropped its inquiry into a financial company that a month earlier had given White House adviser Jared Kushner’s family real estate firm a $180 million loan.

posted by Brainy at 6:26 PM on March 2, 2018 [13 favorites]

Just because it's Friday night doesn't mean we're going to go 10 rounds on whether Democrats are sell-outs, etc. It's well-trodden ground here.
posted by Eyebrows McGee (staff) at 7:22 PM on March 2, 2018 [19 favorites]

Vote on bill to outlaw child marriage in Kentucky delayed after opposition from conservative Family Foundation
posted by Artw at 8:03 PM on March 2, 2018 [13 favorites]

Roy Moore is broke.

First good news in a while.
posted by Talez at 8:06 PM on March 2, 2018 [49 favorites]

He probably shouldn’t have spent that money on being the first Republican to lose statewide Alabama since he was into girls his own age
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 8:09 PM on March 2, 2018 [10 favorites]

Pruitt, who at the time was a state senator, also described the Second Amendment as divinely granted

I can’t understand this; God was perfectly capable of designing human beings with minigun turrets on their shoulders yet clearly that was not His divine plan
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 8:14 PM on March 2, 2018 [26 favorites]

Our new policy on trade is ‘bwkljkwljsdklfjafs.’ And it’s a jumbled mess. (Alexandra Petri, WaPo)

Here is how the news has felt this week and how I assume it will continue to be forever.

President Trump has just made an announcement that our new national policy on trade — in a stark departure from prior tradition — will be “get rid of it and then bwkljkwljsdklfjafs.” This is a nonsense string of consonants and one vowel but it was, unfortunately, the last thing said to the president on the subject. So it is what he is going with.

The president’s only previous idea about trade was entirely derived from misunderstanding an off-hand remark that a wealthy man made to him in the steam room of an exclusive golf course sometime in the 1980s, a remark he has doggedly repeated any time someone has brought the issue up — whether it made sense in context or not. For the entire past year, experts have sat down with him and tried to explain that his ideas on this subject are bad and will cause serious problems, not only for the country but for him personally, if he tries to put them into practice. But instead of listening to them, he made lip farts and pushed a golf ball around on his desk.

posted by Johnny Wallflower at 8:43 PM on March 2, 2018 [38 favorites]

ELECTIONS NEWS

** PA-18 special:

-- Dem Lamb outraising GOPer Saccone 5-1; Saccone has virtually no small dollar donations (i.e., may indicate lack of voter enthusiasm). Lots of pro-Saccone PAC money, though.

-- Saccone has stopped talking about the tax cuts and infrastructure proposals, presumably after finding they aren't getting traction.

-- In the district, NYT finds the great white whale: regretful Trump voters (who plan to vote Lamb).

-- Harry Enten: 5 reasons Lamb could win.

** 2018 House:

-- WV-03: The GOP may be getting nervous about this district...that went Trump 73-23.

-- Lots and lots of women running in Texas.

** 2018 Senate -- Tarrance Group poll has GOP challenger Cramer up 49-44 over incumbent Dem Sen Heitkamp. This was an NRSC poll, so a grain of salt may be wise. (I know a couple of people at Tarrance, AMA)

** Odds & ends:

-- Quinnipiac poll finds Florida voters support felon re-enfranchisement amendment 67-27. The amendment needs 60% to pass.

-- Planned Parenthood planning to dump at least $20M into targeted House/Senate races.

posted by Chrysostom at 8:57 PM on March 2, 2018 [32 favorites]

DoJ Justice News: Deputy Attorney General Rosenstein Delivers Remarks at the 32nd Annual ABA National Institute on White Collar Crime

I have served under nine Attorneys General. On every floor of the Main Justice Building, there are reminders of heroes, mentors and friends who have worked there. They taught me that the Department of Justice stands for the principle that every American deserves equal protection under the rule of law.

Our friends deserve it, and our enemies deserve it. They deserve it whether they are innocent or guilty. They deserve it whether they are rich or poor. They deserve it whether they are Republican or Democrat. That requires us to be faithful to the pursuit of truth.[...]

You will not always agree with our policy decisions, and you definitely won’t hear this on cable TV, but the Department leadership team appointed by President Trump is very strong on ethics and professionalism. History will reflect that the Department of Justice operated with integrity on our watch.

Interestingly, while he addresses the topic of the DoJ's current prosecution of white collar crime in detail, he also cites the "I'd give the Devil benefit of law" scene from A Man for All Seasons. But that won't catch Trump's attention like a public dinner with allies at a fancy restaurant...
posted by Doktor Zed at 9:02 PM on March 2, 2018 [10 favorites]

Go Ahead, Millennials, Destroy Us
posted by Artw at 9:26 PM on March 2, 2018 [10 favorites]

Go Ahead, Millenials, Destroy Us

I love Tim Kreider, and The Pain. Probably as much as anyone can without having met the man. And, as always, there's a lot of insight here. And a lot of wit. But:

I know that whenever you disapprove of young people, you’re in the wrong, because you’re going to die and they’ll get to write history, but I just can’t help noticing that the liberal side isn’t much fun to be on anymore.

Fuck you, Tim. This isn't the time for fun.
posted by snuffleupagus at 9:44 PM on March 2, 2018 [44 favorites]

Dan Drezner: If you’re a political science professor, respond to this tweet if you have had to adjust your course materials because of the Trump administration. Name the course and explain how you’ve changed it.

The replies are...extensive.
posted by T.D. Strange at 10:12 PM on March 2, 2018 [30 favorites]

The replies are...extensive.

David Leheny

@David_Leheny

Replying to @dandrezner

Changed all assigned readings to single pages personalized for each student by inserting his or her name every few lines.

posted by chappell, ambrose at 11:48 PM on March 2, 2018 [23 favorites]

[Dave] Dayen is not "The Intercept" for me, he's been writing about banking issues since long before The Intercept was a thing, and wrote the definitive book on the robosigning scandal

I remember seeing him as a standup comic at the San Francisco Punchline, a great club, in the late 1990s. He was very dry, and very smart.
posted by msalt at 1:31 AM on March 3, 2018

Boy, that "no comment" from the bank was pretty specific about the types of things it won't comment on, wasn't it? Maybe I'm misreading, but it seems as though they tipped their hand there.
posted by emelenjr at 4:37 AM on March 3, 2018 [3 favorites]

Another response from a professor in that twitter thread :

"Had to assign Federalist Papers 67-77. Students used to find them too boring, what with Publius warning against a bunch of stuff which would never happen."

That hit home :(

I still have much more faith in US gov than, say, the country where I was born. It's wild to live through these crises, though.
posted by Tarumba at 5:19 AM on March 3, 2018 [25 favorites]

That Tim Kreider piece linked upthread seems to be considerable more ambivalent than the quoted bit suggests. I wish it weren't a NYT piece, because it would be much better if he could work through a little more of the "I am both heartened and made anxious by youth; this seems to be the human condition, but here's how it plays out in my life". If you read to the end it gets a bit more sympathetic.

He's wrong in what he says about the young being PC thugs while "our" generation - he's older than me, but I'm a mid/late Gen X person - was all about liberation from the scolds. We too were denounced as PC thugs and feminazis, that was kind of the whole Culture War. If anything, in that respect we're very similar to kids today.

On the culture front, we won pretty big, so big that it's invisible now. For instance, it's normal rather than controversial to teach cautiously with books like Huck Finn and Heart of Darkness - it's widely recognized that these are charged books about racism, and that this is a heavy subject which must be taught carefully. People don't always do a good job and there are definitely still racist teachers, but when I was in high school it was intensely controversial at the national level to suggest that these books presented any kind of teaching challenge. It is normal rather than controversial to suggest that reading non-white non-men in class is important - again, people don't always do a good job or act sincere about it, but it is no longer a massive newspaper controversy when you say that an English syllabus should not be all white male writers.

The point isn't "oh, the world is great today!" because it's sure not. But some of the struggles that went the right way in the nineties get overlooked, possibly because they seem so stupid in retrospect.

Anyway - we too were called puritanical! We too baffled our elders with our morality. I remember baffling mine, in fact, and I actually read all that Harold Bloom blahblah.
posted by Frowner at 5:57 AM on March 3, 2018 [96 favorites]

Frowner, I just wanted to thank you for your posts. You often give a sense of perspective amid all of this chaos, and things don’t seem quite so dire.
posted by Fleebnork at 6:33 AM on March 3, 2018 [26 favorites]

The Sources of Putin’s Conduct
Moscow believes its security depends on the insecurity of its neighbors. When Putin described the collapse of the Soviet Union as a "major geopolitical disaster of the century," that is really what he meant. He can’t feel safe unless Moscow controls a ring of puppet states around its borders. And if that means cracking heads, he’s willing to do it.
posted by Artw at 6:33 AM on March 3, 2018 [7 favorites]

It’s still so bananas to me how these authoritarian dickheads are really just abusive dickheads, but on a geopolitical scale. Can’t feel safe unless he controls everyone around him? Are you kidding?

All of this could have been avoided with some fucking therapy?
posted by schadenfrau at 6:51 AM on March 3, 2018 [51 favorites]

Russia needing to subjugate it's surround states to be safe is the same analysis that Tankies have of the situation, but they believe it to be a good and reasonable thing.

All of this could have been avoided with some fucking therapy?

That or going back and reversing WWII.
posted by Artw at 7:02 AM on March 3, 2018 [1 favorite]

controls everyone around him
What do you think US foreign policy has been since the end of WWII?

Frowner, I'm not so sure the culture wars have been won because it's been a feature of the past few years that arguments thought to be completely settled have started to be disputed again. It's quite pretty bloody shocking to see the far right making political inroads, and hard core predatory capitalism disrupting the social democratic consensus, all over Europe. And disappointingly, mainstream media giving space to 'contrarian' rightwingers means the mere publicity gives their opinions unwarranted plausibility.
posted by glasseyes at 7:16 AM on March 3, 2018 [12 favorites]

i wouldn’t say that the culture wars have been won, per se, but an encouraging thought is that there has rarely been massive backlash against unsuccessful social movements
posted by murphy slaw at 7:23 AM on March 3, 2018 [10 favorites]

What do you think US foreign policy has been since the end of WWII?

Hmmm. The US stepped into a power vacuum amidst ruin and devastation after WW2, and did it in the context of the rise of the Soviet Union. I don’t think there are a lot of parallels to that. We’ve certainly grown into our abusive dickhead role, but I don’t think it’s accurate to say that we started out that way internationally. Domestically? Yes absolutely. Abusive dickheads all the way down. Slavery is quite the original sin, and it twisted much of our culture around it. Although I suppose if you’ve twisted your culture to justify and celebrate abuse and dehumanization in one context, it’s not suuuuuper difficult to apply it in a new context.

In any event, given that the US was* not an authoritarian state subject to the whims of a single abusive dickhead at a time, the comparison doesn’t really make much sense. Therapy for one asshole wouldn’t have helped. We are perhaps more frightening than that.

*past tense unfortunately deliberate, though I think we can still fix this
posted by schadenfrau at 7:33 AM on March 3, 2018 [5 favorites]

Domestically? Yes absolutely. Abusive dickheads all the way down. Slavery

Should have also included deliberate genocide against Native Americans with a generous side helping of trickery and gaslighting.

Concurrent original sins, really.

America’s online dating profile would be just like...a sea of red flags.
posted by schadenfrau at 7:37 AM on March 3, 2018 [19 favorites]

Sorry, didn;t mean to set off a storm of whataboutism.
posted by Artw at 7:41 AM on March 3, 2018

Yeah, let's rein it in rather than going further down the rabbit hole of the US's past sins -- they are numerous and grave -- or the dating-psychology metaphor. Trying to keep focused on current events.
posted by LobsterMitten (staff) at 7:44 AM on March 3, 2018 [7 favorites]

Zinke grifter asshole update: still Zinke, still grifter, still asshole.

Huffington Post: Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke Held Onto Undisclosed Shares In Gun Company

Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke is a shareholder in a private Montana company that manufactures and sells firearms and advanced weapons materials, a financial interest he did not disclose when nominated last year.[...]

But beyond the disclosure concerns, there is the matter of what access this relationship may grant the company at the Department of Interior. According to Zinke’s work calendar, he and his top aides met with a group of PROOF Research executives and a company lobbyist on April 11, 2017. The schedule entry was titled, “Brief Update of Proof Research.”

The company’s delegation included its president and founder K.K. Jense, CEO Larry Murphy, director of research and development John Clements, and Brian Kelly of BK Strategies, the company’s registered lobbyist in Washington, D.C. The calendar described Kelly as “Man About Town,” with an added side note: “Loves Whitefish, MT.” Proof Research’s most recent business filings with the state of Montana show that Kelly is also a director of the company.

UPDATE: "The Campaign Legal Center, a Washington, D.C.-based government ethics watchdog, announced that it has asked the Department of Interior’s Inspector General to open an investigation following HuffPost’s report on Zinke’s undisclosed shares in the Montana-based firearms company PROOF Research. The CLC wants the IG to determine whether Zinke violated conflicts of interest law in meeting with executives from the company while it sought government contracts. "
posted by Doktor Zed at 8:03 AM on March 3, 2018 [43 favorites]

Well, this is escalating nicely... get yer Beemer orders in quickly.

Trump Threatens to slap retaliatory tax on European cars as trade war heats up.

(Note to CNBC: Europe is not a country)
posted by Devonian at 10:20 AM on March 3, 2018 [6 favorites]

I'm sure Trump has thought through the ramifications of this.

21 cars, SUVs from foreign automakers that are manufactured in the U.S.
posted by chris24 at 10:28 AM on March 3, 2018 [11 favorites]

Also, the EU is the one economic power in the world that is bigger than the US. Good luck storming the castle!

EDIT. Oops, that was as of 2014. Now China is also bigger.
posted by chris24 at 10:31 AM on March 3, 2018 [7 favorites]

Also noteworthy are the two tweets immediately preceding the EU trade war escalation:

Mainstream Media in U.S. is being mocked all over the world. They’ve gone CRAZY!

The United States has an $800 Billion Dollar Yearly Trade Deficit because of our “very stupid” trade deals and policies. Our jobs and wealth are being given to other countries that have taken advantage of us for years. They laugh at what fools our leaders have been. No more!

They're mocking the media, they're laughing at our foolish leaders. The projection betrays his core motivation right now, which is really just a feedback loop of failure/ridicule > narcissistic injury > disinhibited rage > more failure/ridicule.
posted by Rust Moranis at 10:34 AM on March 3, 2018 [37 favorites]

Trump's Mirror is in full effect today.
posted by chris24 at 10:35 AM on March 3, 2018 [9 favorites]

Attractive male politicians get comments on their looks all the time

next time you're bored, do a search through the last few politics threads for references to the young, attractive, sheltered, naive Jared Kushner and compare their tone and number to the tone and number of references to the young, attractive, sheltered, naive Hope Hicks. if you're extra bored, compare the number of people who accuse these respective criminal idiots of deliberately trading on their looks or getting special pity passes from media critics because they're pretty.

homophobia discourages men from noting that Kushner is objectively good-looking by general mainstream standards, while it does nothing to deter women from noting the same about Hicks, though it is relevant to the stupidity and criminal behavior of neither of them. there is no balance here. women who apparently think they're feminist have no qualms about demeaning Hicks for her looks and incorrectly imagined age right here. because assessing her looks is fine if it's to show sexualized contempt, just as long as it's not to get her out of trouble? this is a guess, it's hard to imagine why anyone would do it, but they do. it is not a treatment equally applied to criminals of all genders, it all adds up to a massive Note from my Boner, and it is not more perceptive or more acceptable coming from other women, or other pretty women, or white women who want to show off enlightenment. it's the same sad sexist look no matter who's doing it. and it's stupid as hell, because Hicks is certainly not very bright but naive? women who work closely with many senior terrible men know more about the uses and abuses of power and the difference between public and private faces than anybody else does. even if they're dumb and evil themselves. dumb is different from naive.

criminal crimes are a big deal, and those who are more interested in how young and white and female she looked while committing them than in what she's done are part of the problem. they are not critiquing it; they are it.
posted by queenofbithynia at 10:40 AM on March 3, 2018 [64 favorites]

Secret Service confirms man shot himself outside White House. No additional details so far, except that the man is apparently dead.
posted by showbiz_liz at 10:41 AM on March 3, 2018 [1 favorite]

Grownups Are Not Running America’s Foreign Policy (Heather Hurlburt | NY Mag)

Americans have gotten at least a little bit used to the idea that the Trump White House is in a permanent state of chaos and crisis — or at least that cycles of crisis come regularly, every few Scaramuccis. But Washington and much of the media are still in the grip of a narrative that says shadowy, unelected adults are keeping a steady hand on the tiller overseas, and that because national security Cabinet members are so impressive our foreign policy is showing barely a ripple.

That hasn’t been true since the moment newly-inaugurated President Trump rolled out his first Muslim Ban, a piece of immigration policy with profound implications for U.S. relations with dozens of majority-Muslim countries. But this was the week it became clear to everyone, or should have, that the grownups are not in charge, and U.S. foreign policy is in the same painful state as everything else. These are some of the tell-tale signs:

1. Do we have a national security adviser?

2. Do we even have a Korea policy?

3. We don’t have a Syria policy, either — or we have too many.

4. Our trade policy is ¯\_(ツ)_/¯.

... This is the point in the column where the writer is supposed to use some clever analogy to explain what it all means. If this were Model United Nations, the U.S. team would lose and slink back to school in embarrassment. But even Model UN teams don’t mess up this badly. (You want to see how young people organize, check out the enormous climate marches of recent years — or the Florida high school kids.)

And this isn’t Model UN. Lives are already being lost. Tens of thousands of American soldiers would be victims, too, in a Korea war — even if the North’s missiles never got out of their silos. American soldiers are already dying in Syria — as ISIS remnants plot new ways to bring their attacks here. Does anyone believe the President analyzed how many steel jobs will be created for every assembly job lost to his tariffs?

Let’s be clear: not a single one of these problems is about ideology. They’re all about sheer incompetence. Any presidential administration should be able to pick a policy, any policy, and execute it competently and predictably. Not this one.

posted by Barack Spinoza at 10:55 AM on March 3, 2018 [51 favorites]

The point about Hope Hicks being an ex-model is that this is why Trump likes her. He runs modeling agencies and beauty pageants, and marries models. His daughter is a model who hired Hicks and used her as a model, and Trump reportedly relates to Hicks as "the true daughter."

Donald Trump is misogyny incarnate, and he has relied on Hicks precisely because she is young and conventionally attractive and deferential to him, catering to his whims, fulfilling in every way Trump's vision of the perfect woman. Where Clinton relied on Vernon Jordan as his confidant, and Obama on Rahm Emmanuel, Trump chose Hicks, and that tells you something very important about this president and this administration.

No one is suggesting she be excused from any crimes, but she is not a grizzled, experienced Washington fixer and the fact that Trump favors her over that type matters.
posted by msalt at 11:11 AM on March 3, 2018 [38 favorites]

> 4. Our trade policy is ¯\_(ツ)_/¯.

I'd say it's more like (╯°□°)╯︵ ┻━┻ followed by 🖕(ಠ_ಠ🖕)
posted by tonycpsu at 11:33 AM on March 3, 2018 [101 favorites]

I am in no way denying that Trump is an incredibly misogynistic man but remember that there were credible reports that he didn't hire John Bolton for Secretary of State because he didn't like his moustache and said he didn't look the part. Trump is just an extremely superficial man. It's probably true, however, that while he does have superficial appearance requirements for men once those are met he then looks at other things while he probably only sees women's appearance.

But the John Bolton moustache thing stuck in my mind because of how reminiscent it was of Don Mattingly's "sideburns" in the Homer at the Bat episode of The Simpsons. Yes, I'm Gen-X.
posted by Justinian at 12:21 PM on March 3, 2018 [17 favorites]

Public lands news round-up:

** Bears Ears and GSENM: Court orders release of emails after DOI denies NYT FOIA request. Released documents suggest that the Trump boundaries were motivated by oil and gas extraction.

-- Speaking of the FOIA, a BLM report proposes new legislation to roll back your FOIA rights.

-- Speaking of Bears Ears, a uranium mine expansion has been approved just outside the Bear’s Ears National Monument boundaries as declared by Obama. This is no surprise — Obama’s monument boundaries resulted in a smaller monument than proposed, and were drawn to allow this development, a good reminder that the last administration was not the land-grab boogeyman its critics make it out to be.

** Bottom-up local participation in a unique Wyoming public lands management project is stymied by Representative Liz Cheney’s top-down “stick in the spokes,” conservationists complain of being shut out of the process by rule changes.

** Remember that Commerce Department study from my last news round-up? Turns out outdoor recreation contributes more to the economy than mining! Thanks, Obama, for signing the legislation that required the study.

** Resistance at work: After protest from environmental and tribal groups, Secretary Zinke abruptly postpones oil and gas lease sale around Chaco Culture NHP.

** Some news for Oregon Mefites:

--Be advised that BLM is offering sage grouse tours in Eastern Oregon on March 10 and April 7. Sign up in advance if interested.

-- Opportunity to comment on proposed entrance fee increase at Crater Lake National Park. You may wish to encourage the National Park Service to be frank in communicating why the fee increase is needed: Congress refuses to fund the agency at levels that keep pace with either inflation or increased visitation.

posted by compartment at 12:22 PM on March 3, 2018 [38 favorites]

chris24: 21 cars, SUVs from foreign automakers that are manufactured in the U.S.

I could be mistaken but… if mercantilism were a video game, this kind of thing would be one of the more top-scoring achievements possible. Consumers in other countries are actually paying Americans to make their cars.

But I imagine the median Trumper (or at the very least, Trump himself, who is easily in the lower quartile of Trumpers when it comes to perceptiveness), would react with "If they want to make cars so badly, they should do it in their own country! We're shutting those foreign factories down!"
posted by InTheYear2017 at 12:25 PM on March 3, 2018 [2 favorites]

@mattyglesias:
If you want to know why Russia was so excited about making Trump president — we’re now facing a huge US/European rift on trade for no reason at all.
posted by chris24 at 12:29 PM on March 3, 2018 [116 favorites]

Sweden's Electrolux, Europe's largest home appliance maker, said on Friday it would delay a planned $250 million investment in Tennessee, after US President Donald Trump announced tariffs on imported aluminum and steel.
posted by octothorpe at 12:50 PM on March 3, 2018 [44 favorites]

Honestly, if I were the rest-of-the-world I would announce a collective boycott on US goods until we come to our fucking senses.
posted by tivalasvegas at 1:04 PM on March 3, 2018 [48 favorites]

Honestly, if I were the rest-of-the-world I would announce a collective boycott on US goods until we come to our fucking senses.

That's called "sanctions." And yes, it does seem like there's now suddenly a chance we will be on the receiving end of them for once. Great job, Trump.
posted by biogeo at 1:13 PM on March 3, 2018 [43 favorites]

We've had a lot of anti-Kushner stories lately, and perhaps in response to that, people are rightly starting to call Kelly on his crap too.

First up, CNN (not pulling punches here), Defiant John Kelly continues to misrepresent his handling of Rob Porter scandal, in which Kelly has yet another story for what happened, apparently doesn't consider "emotional abuse" to be so significant, and ignores direct allegations of physical abuse.

And then ESPN goes deep Inside the international incident that rocked UCLA's season. Most notably for this thread, Kelly and Trump made a big public spectacle out of how they were going to get the players released, but: the "charges were dropped, the bail refunded and the players' passports returned two days before White House chief of staff John Kelly called the players to inform them that President Donald Trump was working on their release."

It turns out that there was a handshake deal with the Chinese authorities where they'd drop the charges, UCLA would have the players hang out in the hotel and fly home a couple days later than the rest of the team, and everybody could get on with their lives. Then Trump and Kelly saw it on CNN, got involved and called up UCLA two days after the situation was already resolved. UCLA officials "encouraged" the students to thank Trump, after Trump demanded such acknowledgement on Twitter, and Trump and Kelly were happy to take the credit.
posted by zachlipton at 1:14 PM on March 3, 2018 [50 favorites]

I'm sure that sort of face-saving thing has always taken place but now it gets exposed by reporters from ESPN (!) because oh god, the stupidest timeline.
posted by tivalasvegas at 1:17 PM on March 3, 2018 [16 favorites]

Washington Post: ‘Pure Madness’: Dark Days Inside The White House As Trump Shocks and Rages

Inside the White House, aides over the past week have described an air of anxiety and volatility — with an uncontrollable commander in chief at its center.

These are the darkest days in at least half a year, they say, and they worry just how much farther President Trump and his administration may plunge into unrest and malaise before they start to recover. As one official put it: “We haven’t bottomed out.”[...]

Some of Trump’s advisers say the president is not all doom and gloom, however. He has been pleased with the news coverage of his role in the gun debate and lighthearted moments have leavened his days, such as a recent huddle with staff to prepare his comedic routine for the Gridiron, a Saturday night dinner with Washington officials and journalists.

Still, Trump’s friends are increasingly concerned about his well-being, worried that the president’s obsession with cable commentary and perceived slights is taking a toll on the 71-year-old. “Pure madness,” lamented one exasperated ally.

Retired four-star Army general Barry McCaffrey said the American people — and Congress especially — should be alarmed.

“I think the president is starting to wobble in his emotional stability and this is not going to end well,” McCaffrey said. “Trump’s judgment is fundamentally flawed, and the more pressure put on him and the more isolated he becomes, I think, his ability to do harm is going to increase.”

This portrait of Trump at a moment of crisis just over a year after taking office is based on interviews with 22 White House officials, friends and advisers to the president and other administration allies, most of whom spoke on the condition of anonymity to candidly discuss Trump’s state of mind.[...]

The details about this chaotic week that the aides and insiders leaked to the Post are too many to quote here, but overall they portray Trump as the Lord of Misrule:

Trump has been asking people close to him whether they think Kushner or his company has done anything wrong, according to a senior administration official. Two advisers said the president repeatedly tells aides that the Russia investigation will not ensnare him — even as it ensnares others around him — and that he thinks the American people are finally starting to conclude that the Democrats, as opposed to his campaign, colluded with the Russians.[...]

Trump is testing the patience of his own staff, some of whom think he is not listening to their advice. White House counsel Donald McGahn and national economic council director Gary Cohn have been especially frustrated, according to other advisers.[...]

“Morale is the worst it’s ever been,” said a Republican strategist in frequent contact with White House staff. “Nobody knows what to expect.”

Trump’s aides said his vacillation was a function of the controlled chaos the president likes to sow. Trump recently has come to favor opening his meetings to the media — “It’s like his own TV show,” said one adviser — where he often chews over outlandish ideas, plays to the assembled press and talks up bipartisan consensus, even if it never leads to actual policy.[...]

Earlier in the week, Cohn was telling people he was going to continue stalling Trump on tariffs. He described the tariffs as “obviously stupid,” in the recollection of one person who spoke to him.

“Gary said to him, you can’t do this, you can’t do that,” a senior administration official said. “The more you tell him that, the more he is going to do what he wants to do.”

And tonight Trump's going to attend the annual Gridiron Club dinner, which traditionally roasts the President. On the one hand, Trump will be the center of attention, which he loves, but on the other, we all know how he well he can take a joke when it's directed at him.
posted by Doktor Zed at 3:11 PM on March 3, 2018 [10 favorites]

based on interviews with 22 White House officials, friends and advisers to the president

I don't really know how to compare this to earlier scandal-rife administrations.... is twenty two sources... a lot?
posted by Xyanthilous P. Harrierstick at 3:15 PM on March 3, 2018 [7 favorites]

Defiant John Kelly continues to misrepresent his handling of Rob Porter scandal

The Dark Days in the White House article Doktor Zed just posted points out that Kelly was on his own thinking that was a good idea:

Last Friday, Kelly tried to explain anew the timeline of Porter’s dismissal with a group of reporters — an unprompted move that annoyed and confused some White House staffers, who thought they were finally moving past the controversy that had consumed much of February.

After the Stoneman Douglas shooting and gun control meeting, the $31k dining room tablegate, the multiple damaging Kushner stories, Hicks' departure, and the seat-of-the-pants tariff rollout, the White House Chief of Staff thought it'd be a good idea to circle back to remind us of his failure and lies without consulting anyone on the strategic wisdom of doing so.
posted by peeedro at 3:18 PM on March 3, 2018 [9 favorites]

Lavar Ball renews feud with Trump after the ESPN story.

Thank you for what again @realDonaldTrump ?#knowyourfacts #stayingyolane
posted by chris24 at 3:18 PM on March 3, 2018 [4 favorites]

Through Day 10 of Texas primary early voting, 15 largest counties:

Party: 2018 / 2016 / 2014

Dem: 365,321 / 341,936 / 181,036

GOP: 336,362 / 493,603 / 289,687

Today (Friday) was day 11, the final day.

This is really good information and I’m really enjoying watching these numbers every day. However (and I don’t know if this has been brought up already, these threads get so massive) we should keep in mind that these 15 largest counties are the majority of the Democratic votes, so extrapolation to the rest of the state is probably overstating Democratic turnout. I did a quick look at the county results for the 2014 governors race and those 15 counties were 56% of the Republican votes but 76% of the Democratic votes.

I’m very excited that the Dems are actually running someone in every race this year and hope that, along with anti-Trump sentiment (which does exist in decent numbers in Texas! Dems usually win around 40ish% in presidential elections) will bring out those hidden Democrats who don’t vote, which we are seeing with the high turnout of first time voters being Democratic.

I guess I’m saying you’re numbers give me hope but I’ve been so disappointed in the past, it’s definitely tempered hope.
posted by LizBoBiz at 3:19 PM on March 3, 2018 [4 favorites]

Washington Post: ‘Pure Madness’: Dark Days Inside The White House As Trump Shocks and Rages

Trump seethed with anger last Wednesday night over cable news coverage of a photo, obtained by Axios, showing Sessions at dinner with Deputy Attorney General Rod J. Rosenstein, who oversees the Russia investigation, and another top Justice Department prosecutor. The outing was described in news reports as amounting to an act of solidarity after Trump had attacked Sessions in a tweet that morning.

The next morning, Trump was still raging about the photo, venting to friends and allies about a dinner he viewed as an intentional show of disloyalty.

@ddale8
Why was Trump so mad Wednesday night, when he suddenly decided to announce tariffs? We still don't exactly know, but the WaPo gang reports he was raging about news coverage of the photo of Sessions having dinner with Rosenstein. In other words, there is a non-zero chance that @jonathanvswan changed the course of the global economy by posting a photo of a guy having dinner with another guy.
posted by chris24 at 3:24 PM on March 3, 2018 [81 favorites]

WaPo, Josh Dawsey, Inside Trump’s decision to block a crucial New York-New Jersey tunnel project is worth reading in full if you care about the Gateway program (and you should care about it), but this bit stands out:

There are also questions on how much Trump ever supported the project. For example at the Oval Office meeting, he said he would prefer to build runways over the tunnel because people could see them, people briefed on the meeting said.

RUNWAYS? In the middle of the Hudson? So people can see them? What the what?
posted by zachlipton at 3:29 PM on March 3, 2018 [26 favorites]

I’m very excited that the Dems are actually running someone in every race this year and hope that, along with anti-Trump sentiment (which does exist in decent numbers in Texas! Dems usually win around 40ish% in presidential elections) will bring out those hidden Democrats who don’t vote, which we are seeing with the high turnout of first time voters being Democratic.

I guess I’m saying you’re numbers give me hope but I’ve been so disappointed in the past, it’s definitely tempered hope.

I can understand tempering hope with caution and even a dash of skepticism, because euphoria often crashes into disappointment. The thing to remember is that this is a marathon, not a sprint, and many Democrats and potential Dem districts are starting from, if not scratch, at least very close to it. A big huge honking mistake that the various Democratic establishment have made since abandoning the 50-state strategy is neglecting local races, and we are just now starting to catch up.

So I think it's super-important to not get discouraged and go home with our tails between our legs if/when we lose some races. This is my big worry, more than "losing some races" is "Democrats give up and go back to their once-every-four-years voting patterns."

I say this as a lifelong Californian, who has seen her state turn from red to blue over the past 20 or so years. Jerry Brown was elected (or rather, re-elected) in 2011, before that we had a Republican governor (and, ashamedly, a celebrity, though in no way as bad as Trump). It's going to be a slow and patient process in many areas and my biggest wish is for Democrats to not get discouraged easily.
posted by Rosie M. Banks at 3:32 PM on March 3, 2018 [19 favorites]

RUNWAYS? In the middle of the Hudson? So people can see them? What the what?

He just watched Sully, didn't he? Someone tell me I'm wrong.
posted by Talez at 3:32 PM on March 3, 2018 [13 favorites]

he would prefer to build runways over the tunnel because people could see them

I think we've discovered Trump doesn't have object permanence.
posted by chris24 at 3:32 PM on March 3, 2018 [35 favorites]

I thought it meant "over the tunnel" as in "instead of." Presumably the runways would be at an airport. And it's just the normal thing where he only cares about the things that personally affect him. I guarantee you he hasn't driven through the damn Holland Tunnel in at least 20 years; if he had, he'd want a new one.

It's normal for other politicians too though Like, you know how whenever "we need better airports, just look at LaGuardia, it's horrible" comes up as an infrastructure talking point, you can tell they just flew into NYC for a tv interview. and presumably landed at LaGuardia.
posted by Rainbo Vagrant at 3:43 PM on March 3, 2018 [8 favorites]

So, uh, now that I think about it, I'm like 97.3% sure that sentence is trying to say that Trump wants to build runways instead of a tunnel, not literally building runways on top of a tunnel in the middle of the Hudson.

I do believe that the fact that my mind immediately came to the conclusion that the President of the United States sought to build runways in the middle of a river says far more about him than it does about me.
posted by zachlipton at 3:44 PM on March 3, 2018 [22 favorites]

“I don’t think there is a CEO who would not make the tunnel a top priority,” said Kathryn Wylde, who leads the influential big business group called the Partnership for New York City. “There’s not a chance given the president’s history in New York that he doesn’t understand that.”

Here's the thing . ... ... My understanding is that one of the things keeping Manhattan and Brooklyn real estate prices inflated is the fact that it's a righteous pain in the ass to cross the river. Whenever it becomes easier to cross the river, the New Jersey side becomes a little more appealing, and siphons off a little more of the demand. That's not the only thing inflating prices at all, of course. But I just mean to say that building the tunnel doesn't do anything good for a Manhattan real estate company. It does good things for retail, culture, tourism; it does good things for white-collar offices. But for real estate it just siphons off the cheap end of the market.
posted by Rainbo Vagrant at 3:54 PM on March 3, 2018 [11 favorites]

Oh god. CNN, Kevin Liptak, Trump on China's Xi consolidating power: 'Maybe we'll give that a shot some day

President Donald Trump bemoaned a decision not to investigate Hillary Clinton after the 2016 presidential election, decrying a "rigged system" that still doesn't have the "right people" in place to fix it, during a freewheeling speech to Republican donors in Florida on Saturday.

In the closed-door remarks, a recording of which was obtained by CNN, Trump also praised China's President Xi Jinping for recently consolidating power and extending his potential tenure, musing he wouldn't mind making such a maneuver himself.

"He's now president for life. President for life. And he's great," Trump said. "And look, he was able to do that. I think it's great. Maybe we'll give that a shot some day."
...
"Is Hillary a happy person? Do you think she's happy?" he said. "When she goes home at night, does she say, 'What a great life?' I don't think so. You never know. I hope she's happy."

posted by zachlipton at 4:18 PM on March 3, 2018 [76 favorites]

"He's now president for life. President for life. And he's great," Trump said. "And look, he was able to do that. I think it's great. Maybe we'll give that a shot some day."

Cool. If China's down with having Trump as their next president for life I think he should go for it.
posted by oneirodynia at 4:51 PM on March 3, 2018 [114 favorites]

"Is Hillary a happy person? Do you think she's happy?" he said. "When she goes home at night, does she say, 'What a great life?' I don't think so. You never know. I hope she's happy."

Trump's Mirror strikes again.
posted by saturday_morning at 5:29 PM on March 3, 2018 [59 favorites]

I'm guessing right now Sanders is thinking about how she's going to explain to these benighted halfwits what her boss really meant when he wondered aloud whether he could be president-for-life, all the while gleefully envisioning a day when she didn't have to put up with this shit anymore, and she can just flay and impale all the journalists on the White House grounds.
posted by J.K. Seazer at 5:30 PM on March 3, 2018 [8 favorites]

CNN posted the actual audio of the "President for life" comments.

The horrifying part to me isn't even that Trump says it; it's the wealthy donors who laugh and applaud and cheer. They don't even wait for Trump to propose it. He just says Xi is "now President for life," and the crowd thinks this is fantastic.
posted by zachlipton at 5:35 PM on March 3, 2018 [56 favorites]

a photo, obtained by Axios, showing Sessions at dinner with Deputy Attorney General Rod J. Rosenstein, who oversees the Russia investigation, and another top Justice Department prosecutor.

Trump's really following Nixon's path down into paranoia, isn't he? This is an unremarkable semi-social gathering of senior colleagues, but in Trump's mind it became further evidence of a plot. I hope these guys can conduct policy discussions via inter-office memo, because they're not going to be able to meet face-to-face anymore.
posted by Joe in Australia at 5:37 PM on March 3, 2018 [1 favorite]

The horrifying part to me isn't even that Trump says it; it's the wealthy donors who laugh and applaud and cheer

I think it's because that after the massive wealth consolidation of the past 35 years the oligarchs in any relatively industrialized country have much more in common with eachother than with the median citizen of their country, regardless of government. One of the Koch assholes can relate to Xi far more closely than they can relate to a waitress in Joliet or a mechanic in Jacksonville. They can combat this feeling if they care enough to try; it's no coincidence that Buffet calls for relatively sane economic policies and has lived in the same modest home in a relatively modest neighborhood since 1958. But the vast majority of these people don't do that.

That's why they clap for Xi and Trump.

On a completely unrelated topic, I keep spelling guillotine (sp?) wrong.
posted by Justinian at 5:49 PM on March 3, 2018 [58 favorites]

> "He's now president for life. President for life. And he's great," Trump said. "And look, he was able to do that. I think it's great. Maybe we'll give that a shot some day."

The next time US diplomats lecture a corrupt third-world country about democracy ...

(Who am I kidding, we won't have any more US diplomats left after Sleepy-T is done.)

Waiting to board a long flight to 10 time zones away - I don't think I'll be able to take a full week off from US politics, but I plan to go light, at least.
posted by RedOrGreen at 5:51 PM on March 3, 2018 [5 favorites]

After the Stoneman Douglas shooting and gun control meeting, the $31k dining room tablegate, the multiple damaging Kushner stories, Hicks' departure, and the seat-of-the-pants tariff rollout, the White House Chief of Staff thought it'd be a good idea to circle back to remind us of his failure and lies without consulting anyone on the strategic wisdom of doing so.

Who amongst us is not guilty to returning to our favourite comfortable old scandal when faced with an overwhelming array of new scandal choices?
posted by srboisvert at 5:51 PM on March 3, 2018 [18 favorites]

The New York Times: The special counsel inquiry appears to be widening its focus to whether an adviser to the United Arab Emirates has a role in U.S. policymaking.

George Nader, a Lebanese-American businessman, has hovered on the fringes of international diplomacy for three decades. He was a back-channel negotiator with Syria during the Clinton administration, reinvented himself as an adviser to the de facto ruler of the United Arab Emirates, and last year was a frequent visitor to President Trump’s White House.

Mr. Nader is now a focus of the investigation by Robert S. Mueller III, the special counsel. In recent weeks, Mr. Mueller’s investigators have questioned Mr. Nader and have pressed witnesses for information about any possible attempts by the Emiratis to buy political influence by directing money to support Mr. Trump during the presidential campaign, according to people with knowledge of the discussions.

Following the money. The Special Counsel’s remit keeps growing.
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 6:09 PM on March 3, 2018 [22 favorites]

Washington Post: ‘Pure Madness’: Dark Days Inside The White House As Trump Shocks and Rages

this is an extremely normal headline to appear at the top of a news article rather than on the editorial page and is in no way alarming

"He's now president for life. President for life. And he's great," Trump said. "And look, he was able to do that. I think it's great. Maybe we'll give that a shot some day."

i believe i shall retire to the Fucking Fuck MeTa thread for the remainder of this administration, however long that turns out to be.

you’ve all been very kind
posted by murphy slaw at 6:26 PM on March 3, 2018 [88 favorites]

I wasn't sure what, if anything, I should do with this link, but after "the wealthy donors laugh and applaud and cheer" for Trump's "President for Life" comments, it seems relevant to put here that the MIT Technology Review has reported on a computer model of wealth creation showing that "The most successful people are not the most talented, just the luckiest". "The wealthy donors" probably aren't particularly smart or talented, and I'm pretty sure that they're damn glad Trump isn't either, and they're all looking forward to being CEOs for Life.
posted by oneswellfoop at 6:43 PM on March 3, 2018 [37 favorites]

It turns out that there was a handshake deal with the Chinese authorities where they'd drop the charges, UCLA would have the players hang out in the hotel and fly home a couple days later than the rest of the team, and everybody could get on with their lives. Then Trump and Kelly saw it on CNN, got involved and called up UCLA two days after the situation was already resolved. UCLA officials "encouraged" the students to thank Trump, after Trump demanded such acknowledgement on Twitter, and Trump and Kelly were happy to take the credit.

So just a joint conspiracy between the US government, the Chinese government, the NCAA and UCLA to deceive the American people.
posted by srboisvert at 7:04 PM on March 3, 2018 [3 favorites]

The thing that really pisses me off about "president for life" is that if Hillary had said "president" "for" and "life" all within about eight words or so there would be armed insurrection in the streets. But in this timeline? It's just another LIVE FROM TRUMP'S TWITTER IT'S SATURDAY NIGHT! This isn't arguing about the finer points of what "is" is. This is like, holy fucking shit, can somebody do something already?
posted by Talez at 7:17 PM on March 3, 2018 [66 favorites]

Rainbo Vagrant: "t's normal for other politicians too though Like, you know how whenever "we need better airports, just look at LaGuardia, it's horrible" comes up as an infrastructure talking point, you can tell they just flew into NYC for a tv interview. and presumably landed at LaGuardia."

I was thinking this was a NY/Big Airport bias but LaGuardia is only the 20th busiest airport in the US; it's not even the busiest NYC airport (its 3rd).
posted by Mitheral at 7:24 PM on March 3, 2018

It's barely year 2 and he's floating "president for life" trial balloons. And getting ecstatic enthusiasm in response. Especially if the Democratic wave doesn't actually happen, after 3 more years of Republican excuses and coverup, and 3 years of further priming their already eager voters for a dictatorship, I don't think anyone can be confident in a peaceful transfer of power.
posted by T.D. Strange at 7:52 PM on March 3, 2018 [24 favorites]

Alex Jones is reporting that his YouTube channel will be deleted tomorrow. Buh-bye, Infowars. He’s trying to collect subscribers to a new account but we’ll see if that works — when your account is terminated on YouTube, you’re not allowed to make any Google accounts anymore. At all.
posted by Andrhia at 7:55 PM on March 3, 2018 [53 favorites]

It's pathetic that it's taken until now to get Jones banned from YouTube (that is if it's actually happening and not just another stunt).
posted by octothorpe at 8:04 PM on March 3, 2018 [9 favorites]

Final tally of Texas primary early voting, 15 largest counties:

Party: 2018 / 2016 / 2014

Dem: 465,245 / 448,859 / 226,730

GOP: 420,329 / 656,208 / 365,423

Dem vs 2016: +3.7%
GOP vs 2016: -35.9%

===

FWIW, I completely agree these don't necessarily translate into anything, you can't look at this and say Beto has it in the bag. I do think you can look at this as another confirmation of high Dem enthusiasm/low GOP enthusiasm. And that's a positive indicator for picking up some seats in TX, at all levels.
posted by Chrysostom at 8:27 PM on March 3, 2018 [27 favorites]

The New York Times: The special counsel inquiry appears to be widening its focus to whether an adviser to the United Arab Emirates has a role in U.S. policymaking.

@nycsouthpaw
The story doesn’t mention it, but recall that Erik Prince’s meeting in the Seychelles with Kirill Dmitriev, the head of the Russia Direct Investment Fund, was brokered by the UAE.
Erik Prince tells House investigators he met with Kremlin-linked banker in Seychelles

Erik Prince, a supporter of the Trump presidential campaign and founder of the security firm Blackwater, confirmed to House investigators Thursday that he met with a close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin while in the Seychelles earlier this year, according to multiple people familiar with the interview.

Under questioning, Prince told members of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence that he had met Kirill Dmitriev, head of the Russian Direct Investment Fund, during a secret Jan. 11 meeting in the Seychelles brokered by the United Arab Emirates as part of an apparent attempt to set up backchannel communications between then-President-elect Donald Trump and Moscow.

posted by chris24 at 8:39 PM on March 3, 2018 [20 favorites]

Here's a link to a Late Show bit on YouTube:

Stephen Colbert grabs Capitol Hill by the memo

Colbert visits the Hill and interviews Schaffer and Warner and briefly speaks with Flake. No news, but perhaps some levity in a time of 'Instagram-induced tariffs' and 'President-for-life Puppet' talk.
posted by orange ball at 9:00 PM on March 3, 2018 [2 favorites]

This isn't arguing about the finer points of what "is" is. This is like, holy fucking shit, can somebody do something already?

Every time I see Adam Schiff on tv I try to send him telepathic signals that I know he wants to look reasonable and just and fair and normal but in 25 years he may be remembered as the guy who read a serious policy paper while Rome burned.
posted by xyzzy at 9:11 PM on March 3, 2018 [2 favorites]

The Hill: Trump jokes: I was late to Gridiron dinner because Kushner couldn't get through security

Get it, folks? My son-in-law is a compromised traitor who I allowed for an entire year to sell out and loot the country under a top-secret clearance! Ha ha ha!
posted by Rust Moranis at 9:30 PM on March 3, 2018 [58 favorites]

Deleting chatter, try to keep it substantive!
posted by Eyebrows McGee (staff) at 9:33 PM on March 3, 2018 [5 favorites]

Republicans are the best at humor! Remember the classic George W. Bush set loosely titled "Whoops, we invaded Iraq on false pretenses and falsified intelligence and cause millions of civilian deaths over the next two decades"

Man who said there's no good right wing comedians
posted by T.D. Strange at 9:37 PM on March 3, 2018 [11 favorites]

More from The Hill on the comedic stylings of the walking, breathing end of the American experiment:

"So many people have been leaving the White House. It’s invigorating since you want turnover. I like chaos. It really is good. Who’s going to be the next to leave? Steve Miller, or Melania?" Trump quipped, according to White House pool reports. [...] Trump later joked, saying Melania could also claim him as "an adult dependent," riffing off "Fire and Fury" author Michael Wolff who said White House aides told they view the president as child-like.

President Trump joked on Saturday that Vice President Pence begins each day by asking if Trump has been "impeached yet." [...]"Lately he’s showing a particularly keen interest in the news these days. He is asking has he been impeached yet? I don’t like that," Trump said at the annual Gridiron Dinner, according to Voice of America's Steve Herman.

Get it, folks? My inner circle is abandoning me, my wife hates my fucking guts, impeachment hangs over my head, and my aides treat me like a child! I'm killing this civilization! Ha ha ha!
posted by Rust Moranis at 9:40 PM on March 3, 2018 [60 favorites]

Alex Jones is not being kicked off YouTube. He's just a lying liar who lies.
posted by SecretAgentSockpuppet at 10:11 PM on March 3, 2018 [18 favorites]

Alex Jones is not being kicked off YouTube. He's just a lying liar who lies.
posted by SecretAgentSockpuppet at 1:11 AM on March 4 [3 favorites +] [!]

Yes, but search for "muslim" on his infowars channel and you can find a practically unlimited number of videos that could be reported under the "promoting hate" category. Have fun.
posted by runcibleshaw at 10:55 PM on March 3, 2018 [5 favorites]

Who’s going to be the next to leave? Steve Miller, or Melania?

Remember his pissy performance at the Al Smith dinner right before the election? His "jokes" included throwing Melania under the bus for her plagiarism of Michelle Obama -- in a speech that surely had to have been written for her by his people. She's ultimately responsible for her part in that, of course. She got up and gave the speech. But it's kinda hard to believe she's the one who actually put that together. He still decided to make her a punchline for it.

I don't have a lot of sympathy for her. As others have said, she fully enabled this nightmare, stood by the birtherism and all the other shit, she's a grown woman, etc. Like Hope Hicks and Ivanka, being pretty and white doesn't (or shouldn't) get you a free pass. And yet I feel like it's possible to hold her accountable for her role in this and still, at the same time, wish she'd just fucking leave his ass. It seems reasonable to simultaneously not think of her as a helpless victim in all this and also wish for one less abusive marriage in the world, particularly one on such public display.
posted by scaryblackdeath at 10:58 PM on March 3, 2018 [17 favorites]

I feel like it's possible to hold her accountable for her role in this and still, at the same time, wish she'd just fucking leave his ass.

Staying with him may actually protect her. Wives can't be forced to testify against their husbands. If she left him they could presumably be forced to testify against each other. Even if Melania isn't vulnerable to Donald's own testimony I'm sure he'd have many legal ways to hurt her. And other parties might retaliate against her too, both people who would blame her for testifying and people who would blame her for not doing so earlier.
posted by Joe in Australia at 12:03 AM on March 4, 2018 [5 favorites]

Melania is not going to prison for anything. She's not useful for Mueller to try the Enron tactic as Trump would happily let her go to prison for him, and if she knows anything -as if she wouldn't flip in a minute. She has a young son whose only other parent is Donald.
posted by chiquitita at 1:18 AM on March 4, 2018 [4 favorites]

Given the stories that are circulating about Jared Kushner, how closely is he tied to the President in the imagination of the US public?

I'm well aware of the Mefi stance but, as has been pointed out on numerous occasions, there is a gap between that stance and 538's averaged approval rating. As such I'd like to better guage the extent to which any charges filed against Kushner would damage Trump himself.

(BTW, I'm a UK citizen.)
posted by lovelyzoo at 2:07 AM on March 4, 2018 [1 favorite]

Re: Joe in Australia:

Spousal privilege lives on after divorce (or death), according to Wikipedia. TIL that this privilege means that a defendant spouse can actively prevent a witness-spouse from testifying in court; even in an acrimonious divorce, it looks like that testimony can be blocked.
posted by twooster at 3:26 AM on March 4, 2018 [3 favorites]

Jared Kushner, how closely is he tied to the President in the imagination of the US public?

Liberals generally feel about him the way MeFi does.

Low information voters don't know who he is. At the moment, these are the only "moderates." I think they are about the people who approve of Trump in polls, but it's hard to know.

Trump's anti-Semitic base (the other half of his approving demographic, maybe) sees Kushner as a (((globalist))). They would be happy to see him take the fall for all of the Trump administration's crimes. They think he is really a Democrat.
posted by OnceUponATime at 4:03 AM on March 4, 2018 [9 favorites]

They think he is really a Democrat.

It's easy to get confused when one of your business partners is George Soros and you're registered to vote as a Democrat and didn't meaningfully donate to anyone but Democrats until Mitt Romney's bid for POTUS.
posted by xyzzy at 5:07 AM on March 4, 2018 [2 favorites]

It's easy to get confused

I think, like Trump, Kushner really has no ideology except "looking out for number one."

Anyway, if Jared goes down, I think most of Trump's base will just say "Good riddance! Now that the swamp is drained, Trump can really start to MAGA."

Trump himself will be a puppet torn apart even more by quarreling puppeteers than he already is, though.

(Left out a word in my previous comment. It was supposed to say I was guessing that low info voters who don't really know who Kushner is are "about half" of Trump's approval rating. Presumably they are a significant fraction of his disapproval rating too, of course.)
posted by OnceUponATime at 5:17 AM on March 4, 2018 [5 favorites]

Devin Nunes is not happy with Colbert.

“This is the danger that we have in this country,” Nunes said when Fox News’ Neil Cavuto asked how he felt about the jokes.

“The left controls not only the universities in this country, but they also control Hollywood in this country, and the mainstream media, so conservatives in this country are under attack ... they attack people who are trying to get to the truth,” the head of the House Intelligence Committee added.

The memo must have been painted because Nunes has obviously been huffing it.
posted by Talez at 5:34 AM on March 4, 2018 [35 favorites]

I'm not calling Nunes a fascist, but is it non-controversial to say this is how a fascist would speak about dissent?
posted by Lentrohamsanin at 6:26 AM on March 4, 2018 [64 favorites]

twooster, you might want to reread that page. Rules vary depending on whether the case is federal or state, whether it's criminal or civil, and the type of spousal privilege. Federal courts differentiate between communications privilege and testimonial privilege. Testimonial privilege requires a valid marriage at the time privilege is asserted; also, the privilege is held by the witness-spouse, not the defendant-spouse.
posted by Sockin'inthefreeworld at 6:27 AM on March 4, 2018 [6 favorites]

SecretAgentSockpuppet: "Alex Jones is not being kicked off YouTube. He's just a lying liar who lies."

There's really no hope that any of the social media corporations will ever do the right thing, is there? They're just too addicted to the clicks that controversy brings to ever follow their own terms of service.
posted by octothorpe at 6:33 AM on March 4, 2018 [11 favorites]

I'm not calling Nunes a fascist

You should be.
posted by Rust Moranis at 6:41 AM on March 4, 2018 [25 favorites]

The Hill: Trump jokes: I was late to Gridiron dinner because Kushner couldn't get through security

AP takes a similar approach to reporting only the highlights of Trump's speech—Trump, Press Trade Good-Natured If Barbed Jokes At Gridiron. Out of context, some of his scripted one-liners do indeed sound funny—"Nobody does self-deprecating humor better than I do. It's not even close."—though without audio/video, we can't assess his actual delivery of them. To characterize Trump's jokes as "good-natured" simply doesn't stand up to scrutiny when the ones that didn't land are taken into account or when he's quoted at length.

Journalists Twitter are providing better examples of what Trump was really like last night:

VOA White House bureau chief Steve Herman ‏@W7VOA has examples of some very un-funny, belittling, and racist jokes:

As to #Twitter, @POTUS jokes it's an important form of communication, otherwise how could generals Kelly and McMaster know what they’re supposed to say that day.

More excerpts from @hunterw: @POTUS also mocked @Oprah and @SenWarren, again calling her “Pocahontas” and quipped she suggested he and Rex Tillerson should smoke a “peace pipe” with the Koreans. Trump accused @RepAdamSchiff of leaking to the press about the #Russia probe.

Yahoo News's Hunter Walker @hunterw has more:

The annual Gridiron Dinner was a bizarre spectacle. It’s traditionally unrecorded and here’s what President Trump had to say about the press when he joined them for a relatively private social function.

Here are Trump’s comments on Joe Biden and Oprah from Saturday night’s Gridiron dinner.
There's talk about Joe Biden, Sleepy Joe, getting into the race. You know what he said, 'I want to take him behind the barn.' … Just trust me, I would kick his ass. … Boy, would he be easy. Oh, would he be easy. … But Joe—give me a break. The guy who keeps making outrageous statements thinks he has a shit at being president? Guy makes outrageous statements. … He's going to be president? He doesn't have a shot.

And Oprah. Oh … here's my next one. Oprah, I don't think she's ever been verbally hit yet. Right? She's lived a charmed life. She's done a great job. … She used to love me … I was on one of her last shows, 'The Trump Family.' We're going to have to replay that for her. We're going to have to. … She says she'll run only if she gets the go ahread from the Almighty. All right Oprah, go ahead and run. …

Trump's familiar mean-spirited humorlessness and bullying vindictiveness were evident for anyone to report.

BONUS: Behind Trump's jokes about Kim Jong-un—"As far as dealing with a madman is concerned, that's his problem, not mine."—he apparently let slip that the US and North Korea would be holding talks of some kind—"But we will be meeting and we'll see if anything positive happens." (c.f. Yonhap News Agency @YonhapNews: (URGENT) Moon's special envoys to take two-day trip to Pyongyang from Monday: Cheong Wa Dae)
posted by Doktor Zed at 6:43 AM on March 4, 2018 [20 favorites]

I put off posting this last night, because we're not talking about the possibility of a nuclear first strike by Trump right now. But I realize this is Trump we're dealing with, so tweet roulette could very well land on North Korea within the next 24 1.5 hours, so this will actually look like a prescient guide to why this toddler cannot be allowed to run the country, nukes edition.

Virtual Roundtable on Presidential First Use of Nuclear Weapons, kind of an essay roundup based on presentations made at Harvard back in November by Bruce Ackerman, Kennette Benedict, Bruce Blair, Sissela Bok, Rosa Brooks, John Burroughs, Hugh Gusterson, Ed Markey, Jim McGovern, Zia Mian, and William Perry.

Spoiler: The idea of Trump having essentially a free hand over a nuclear first strike is still scary as shit, and these very smart people are here to scare you even more about it.
posted by Rykey at 6:49 AM on March 4, 2018 [10 favorites]

Re: embassy in Cuba

State Department Makes Permanent Staffing Reductions To Embassy In Cuba, Parth Shah, NPR

The U.S. Embassy in Havana will continue to operate with minimal staff and will become what is known as an unaccompanied post, with an indefinite ban on family members of embassy employees residing there, the State Department says.

NPR's Michele Kelemen reports that this status typically applies only to war zones or other dangerous cities.

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson temporarily pulled all nonessential State Department staff out of Cuba in September 2017 after numerous diplomats reported experiencing strange medical symptoms, ranging from dizziness to hearing loss.

The reduced staffing was set to expire this weekend. In a news release Friday, the State Department said the safety of personnel in Cuba was a critical factor in making the staffing reductions permanent.

Computer scientists may have solved the mystery behind the ‘sonic attacks’ in Cuba, Nora Gamez Torres, Miami Herald

Professor Kevin Fu and members of the Security and Privacy Research Group at the University of Michigan say they have an explanation for what could have happened in Havana: two sources of ultrasound — such as listening devices — placed too close together could generate interference and provoke the intense sounds described by the victims.

And this may not have been done intentionally to harm diplomats, the scientists concluded in their study, first reported by the Daily Beast. [...]

“This is a variation of what I have always thought,” James Cason, a former top U.S. diplomat in Havana, told el Nuevo Herald. “It explains the sonic part, that no one was spotted planting new devices inside the homes and doing it from the outside would require something huge.” [...]

University of Miami Dr. Michael Hoffer, who led the initial team of physicians who examined the victims, did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the Michigan report.

posted by Sockin'inthefreeworld at 6:52 AM on March 4, 2018 [23 favorites]

Annnnd in the time it took me to put my comment together, there it is in Doktor Zed's link. Fuck you, current timeline.
posted by Rykey at 6:54 AM on March 4, 2018 [2 favorites]

Wait. The current explanation for the sonic injuries (Jesus Christ) of our diplomats in Cuba is that their offices were so full of listening devices in such close proximity that they gave rise to previously unseen and unimagined sonic...death rays

Seriously

We had so many other countries infiltrate our embassy that together they formed a sort of sonic katamari that actually hurt people, and that’s the only reason we know about it

So it’s only the extremity of our own incompetence that revealed we’d been pwned

I just
posted by schadenfrau at 7:01 AM on March 4, 2018 [62 favorites]

VOA White House bureau chief Steve Herman ‏@W7VOA has examples of some very un-funny, belittling, and racist jokes:

The Pocahontas/peace pipe comments weren't the only racist ones.

@matthewamiller (MSNBC)
Trump made an incredibly racist crack about Maxine Waters needing to take an IQ test tonight at the Gridiron and it has barely even registered a mention in coverage of the event. An appalling moment that I can’t believe isn’t everyone’s lead takeaway.
- He had harsh words about a number of Democratic pols, as you would expect. But the only one he singled out for needing an IQ test was Waters. And people are so used to it that the room barely even noticed. Unreal moment.
posted by chris24 at 7:12 AM on March 4, 2018 [65 favorites]

Heh. Jared Kushner: Just The Facts
posted by Artw at 7:19 AM on March 4, 2018 [10 favorites]

Rules vary depending on whether the case is federal or state, whether it's criminal or civil, and the type of spousal privilege. Federal courts differentiate between communications privilege and testimonial privilege.

Yes, here's Federal Rule of Evidence 501: “[I]n a civil case, state law governs privilege regarding a claim or defense for which state law supplies the rule of decision.”

We're all mostly focused on potential Federal criminal charges now -- there a current marriage is important. For other potential suits against Trump (of the sort we talked about before the election) it would likely matter less.
posted by snuffleupagus at 7:30 AM on March 4, 2018

We had so many other countries infiltrate our embassy that together they formed a sort of sonic katamari that actually hurt people, and that’s the only reason we know about it

So it’s only the extremity of our own incompetence that revealed we’d been pwned

I always thought in that kind of environment that you leave the listening devices in place once you discover them. Better to leave them and know where you're under surveillance than to remove them and encourage new bugs you might not find. Of course the ultrasonic interference would seem to be an unexpected downside of that strategy.

I'm somewhat comforted by the idea that this was an accident rather than intentional. It suggests Cold War 2.0 isn't quite as far along yet.
posted by biogeo at 7:39 AM on March 4, 2018 [3 favorites]

And the crowd reaction at the Gridiron? Crickets? Applause?
posted by armacy at 7:40 AM on March 4, 2018 [2 favorites]

And the crowd reaction at the Gridiron? Crickets? Applause?

USA Today, in a generally anodyne piece, reported, "Trump spoke 32 minutes, longer than normal. At one point, a woman heckled Trump to 'stop,' and had to be shushed by tablemates."

NBC's Howard Fineman @howardfineman summed up last night: "#Trump wanted to be cool & accepted at #Gridiron tonight. I told him the crowd did not root for ANY president to fail. His speech started out fine, but then trashed #Melania, drilled #Sessions & blasted critics. Sentiment in the room was a #DC mix of fake geniality & pure dread."

Trump probably thinks he killed it. We'll see once he starts tweeting during his TV "executive time". Last night he "joked", "I have to be up early tomorrow morning to be listening to Fox & Friends."
posted by Doktor Zed at 8:11 AM on March 4, 2018 [19 favorites]

** Resistance at work: After protest from environmental and tribal groups, Secretary Zinke abruptly postpones oil and gas lease sale around Chaco Culture NHP.

I visited Chaco Canyon a few years ago with my brother and sister-in-law and two nephews while visiting them in NM. It's an amazing place.

Today the massive buildings of the ancestral Pueblo peoples still testify to the organizational and engineering abilities not seen anywhere else in the American Southwest. For a deeper contact with the canyon that was central to thousands of people between 850 and 1250 A.D., come and explore Chaco through guided tours, hiking & biking trails, evening campfire talks, and night sky programs.

posted by Mental Wimp at 8:17 AM on March 4, 2018 [21 favorites]

The problem with self-deprecating humor is that it's only funny if you're exaggerating real flaws but are otherwise doing okay. The thing you're mocking needs to be real, but it also needs to not actually be a serious problem. A cutesy sign about "I have mixed drinks about feelings" stops being funny on the wall of a barely-functioning alcoholic.

I mean, I want to give credit where credit is due; I am honestly impressed Trump is even able to make fun of himself, however mildly. I would not have thought it after his last attempt, where he just tried to make fun of Hillary and Melania and basically everyone around him and seemed to fundamentally not understand how to make jokes with himself.

But now... Trump making jokes about getting impeached or about his close associates being security risks and criminals is... just... not funny. It's not a great thing to joke about because if anything he's understating the problem.

This, so much this.

But the thing is, I think the trumpists actually think it is funny. These are the mean people from high school who have grown up. These days I think a lot about a boy in my daughter's class who was a bully and an idiot, and whenever someone tried to make him think of his future, he'd just say I don't care, I'm taking over my dad's business. (Dad was a plumber btw, and also a rude bully unless he thought you might need his services).
posted by mumimor at 8:37 AM on March 4, 2018 [12 favorites]

And Oprah. Oh … here's my next one. Oprah, I don't think she's ever been verbally hit yet. Right? She's lived a charmed life.

Charmed life: Winfrey was born into poverty in rural Mississippi to a teenage single mother and later raised in an inner-city Milwaukee neighborhood. She has stated that she was molested during her childhood and early teens and became pregnant at 14; her son died in infancy. While Emperor Douchefuck was off to boarding school and leeching his slumlord dad's millions. Trump's Fucking Mirror indeed.
posted by hangashore at 8:46 AM on March 4, 2018 [158 favorites]

One heckler, who got hushed by the people she was sitting with? “Let’s all just sit here in polite fear and disgust so the bully can save face, and maybe he won’t lash out. Wouldn’t want to cause a fuss!”
posted by The Card Cheat at 9:24 AM on March 4, 2018 [13 favorites]

Chris Christie coming around for the meatloaf again...

“If the president has absolutely no confidence in the attorney general, then the president has to act – not just criticize, but act, and he has the right to do that.”
posted by Cookiebastard at 9:26 AM on March 4, 2018 [2 favorites]

Sessions is the one that put the gang together. He's not getting fired.

Rarely is the question asked in this thread, though, has Sessions been fired for perjury yet?
posted by Yowser at 9:32 AM on March 4, 2018 [6 favorites]

Yes, Trump has an airtight history of following Chris Christie's suggestions.
posted by rhizome at 9:38 AM on March 4, 2018

Chris Christie coming around for the meatloaf again... “If the president has absolutely no confidence in the attorney general, then the president has to act – not just criticize, but act, and he has the right to do that.”

@SopanDeb (NYT)
I’m just saying. Friend to friend. And look, do I have any suggestions for a replacement? No. But it should be someone who maybeeee used to be a U.S attorney but not so recently that he’s a deep stater. And maybe someone who has executive experience. Just saying.
posted by chris24 at 9:51 AM on March 4, 2018 [15 favorites]

It’s Worse Than We Thought
(Josh Marshall | TPM)

... While I’ve been following the Trump era for going on three years and long been a pessimist about the depth of his corruption – both venal and otherwise – the last two weeks has made me think the situation is significantly worse than I’d imagined. Let me refer very briefly to two points.

First, we’ve had a flurry of stories over the last week about massive loans Jared Kushner’s family company has received from entities Jared Kushner was in some way working with or meeting with in his governmental capacity. Political types are accustomed to speaking of ‘creating conflicts of interest’ or ‘creating the appearance of a conflict’. Those don’t apply here. These look like straightforward efforts to use his vast governmental power to extract hundreds of millions of dollars in loans from people who need things from the US government – which is to say, most people who can easily part with a few hundred million dollars.

The most stunning revelation ties to Kushner’s already known role recklessly allying himself with the Gulf states trying to isolate and effectively blockade Qatar. The conflict between UAE and Saudi Arabia and Qatar is complicated and its particulars don’t concern us here. But it was a high-stakes, reckless gambit which could have and still might lead to a major war between various US-allied states in the Gulf. We don’t know enough to make any firm statements yet. But we’ve seen enough in the last week to make it seem plausible that Kushner’s aggressive, enabling behavior in that crisis was tied to his efforts to get money to bail out his family company. If that is true – and I suspect it is – it would amount to a level of corruption entirely unparalleled in American history.

We had good reason to believe Kushner was trying to pull something like this off during the transition, trying to secure a major loan from a Russian state bank or other concerns in China. But those deals foundered in the face of press scrutiny. I had assumed that Kushner had been forced to keep his hand at mainly away from the cookie jar at least for now. That doesn’t seem to have been the case at all.

Second point. We are back in a round of stories about Trump allies being “worried” about President Trump’s mental state, stories of his raging at various enemies, ‘frustrated’ that his 2016 campaign is being investigated while Hillary Clinton’s is not. The organizational chaos in the White House, we’re led to believe, is both being driven by the President’s moods and in turn pushing him further into anger or agitated depression. Out of the blue he launches a trade war with major US allies to sate his need to attack and lash out. There’s a simpler explanation for all of this. The legal noose is tightening around the President, his family and top advisors. He is scared and angry.

Commentators often say the President doesn’t like being questioned; he’s angry that his appointees don’t defend him; he lashes out at different staff members whom he’s ‘frustrated’ with. In other words, people look for process explanations. This is all seems like psychologizing and over-explaining to avoid the most obvious explanation: he’s scared and looking for a way out. But he can’t seem to find one. It’s all escalating. And we’ve learned over the last week that President Trump’s racket with Russia may be only one facet of his family’s political corruption. The level of apparent corruption, interlaced with numerous constitutional landmines, is beyond our national experience.

posted by Barack Spinoza at 10:49 AM on March 4, 2018 [80 favorites]

Meanwhile, Trump, obviously pleased with the inoffensive press coverage of Saturday's performance, tweeted, "The Gridiron Dinner last night was great fun. I am accomplishing a lot in Washington and have never had a better time doing something, and especially since this is for the American People!" Talking Points Memo has posted a complete transcript of his routine, which, as always with Trump, is more awful unexpurgated than any excerpt could indicate.
posted by Doktor Zed at 10:54 AM on March 4, 2018 [17 favorites]

From Trump's comedy routine: "As I’m sure you’ve seen, we’re now riding very high in the polls, which is hard to believe considering I never get good press. But I just hit 50 in the Rasmussen poll."

50% seems high even for Rasmussen, so I checked their most recent: The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll for Friday shows that 49% of Likely U.S. Voters approve of President Trump’s job performance. Fifty percent (50%) disapprove.

That's right, Trump is bragging about his disapproval numbers.
posted by peeedro at 11:11 AM on March 4, 2018 [3 favorites]

Everyone. Mueller is not stupid so I'm hopeful that the dnc and Clinton Campaign have been investigated/looked at as part of the overall process here. If there are wacky irregularities I want them looked at regardless of side.
posted by fluffy battle kitten at 11:27 AM on March 4, 2018 [6 favorites]

50% seems high even for Rasmussen, so I checked their most recent: The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll for Friday shows that 49% of Likely U.S. Voters approve of President Trump’s job performance. Fifty percent (50%) disapprove.

49% approve?!? What are these people thinking? (Don't answer, it's a rhetorical question). There's still a bit of a way to go here, so I'm posting this for Sunday prayers: The Right Can't Fight the Future, by Joy-Ann Reid/Daily Beast
posted by mumimor at 11:35 AM on March 4, 2018 [4 favorites]

That's right, Trump is bragging about his disapproval numbers.

Rasmussen had Trump's approval at 50 last week and the new numbers that had him at 49 had just been released. Of all the things to blame Trump for I'm not sure "didn't update his polling numbers in the 12 hours before his joke" is that big a deal.

Re: polls. We're seeing an even bigger divide in Trump's approval numbers and the generic ballot than we had previously seen depending on poll quality and methodology. 538s average is almost back up to Trump's high after giving back maybe half of his runup on the backs of two terrible high-quality polls for him. But Rasmussen and Zogby came in since then with their garbage and pulled him back up.

I wish Nate Silver would comment on what he sees. The modified polling average 538 uses has been very good but I don't know that it holds up if you basically have two sets of polls using different methodologies which give you very different results. Like, if you throw 10 darts at a dartboard and average the result that's usually much more accurate. But if you throw 5 at the dartboard with your dominant hand and 5 with your off-hand, averaging all 10 will be less accurate not more accurate.
posted by Justinian at 11:38 AM on March 4, 2018 [4 favorites]

Nate Silver does comment regularly on this kind of thing. The 538 average is more than just the average of polls. Polls are adjusted for house effects and weighted for methodology and accuracy. So, no, 538 does not see Rasmussen’s 49%. They see it as something more like 46%, based on Rasmussen’s historical lean.
posted by chrchr at 11:51 AM on March 4, 2018 [3 favorites]

I'm not talking about the special sauce they apply to polls to account for house effects. Sometimes they write bloggish posts commenting on trends and such they are seeing. I'm wishing for a blog post about the much larger divergence than normal that we're seeing based on methodology.
posted by Justinian at 12:02 PM on March 4, 2018 [2 favorites]

Mueller is not stupid so I'm hopeful that the dnc and Clinton Campaign have been investigated/looked at as part of the overall process here. If there are wacky irregularities I want them looked at regardless of side

What? There's literally no evidence of "collusion" by the Clinton campaign, the Uranium One thing is total bullshit made up by Alex Jones and the fever swamp. The DNC's conduct in 2016 was shitty, but for reasons totally unrelated to Russia, they're the victims here, along with John Podesta.

There's nothing to investigate on the Democratic side, at all.
posted by T.D. Strange at 12:11 PM on March 4, 2018 [47 favorites]

Okay well, I said wacky irregularities. I did not mention Russia or collusion. I meant following the money trail.
posted by fluffy battle kitten at 12:32 PM on March 4, 2018

Following the money trail... to what...from what? What conduct from the Clinton campaign, or anyone connected to the Democratic party, is supposed to be the crime is this vague scenario? "Wacky irregularities" isn't exactly a term of art, you're going to have to provide some sort of context, or better yet evidence, in support of that statement.
posted by T.D. Strange at 12:45 PM on March 4, 2018 [26 favorites]

MetaFilter Politics: It’s Worse Than We Thought
posted by schmod at 1:01 PM on March 4, 2018 [9 favorites]

There's nothing to investigate on the Democratic side, at all.

But...QAnon...the Oncoming Storm...WHAT ABOUT THE BREADCRUMBS?!
posted by scalefree at 1:10 PM on March 4, 2018 [3 favorites]

it’s not worse than i thought, but mostly because i expected a nuclear exchange or a land war in asia by this point
posted by murphy slaw at 1:12 PM on March 4, 2018 [14 favorites]

Rules vary depending on whether the case is federal or state, whether it's criminal or civil, and the type of spousal privilege. Federal courts differentiate between communications privilege and testimonial privilege.

Especially in an administration as leaky as Trump's, the cooperation of Melania would be invaluable even if she never testified. The main thing would be telling prosecutors what happened, what the schemes were, and who was involved. Where the bodies are buried, as we say.

They can find evidence elsewhere. The key right now is unraveling the schemes.
posted by msalt at 1:34 PM on March 4, 2018 [2 favorites]

There's nothing to investigate on the Democratic side, at all.

Actually, I’d like to know if Revolution Messaging or r/SandersforPresident or any of the others either had contact with known Russian state-backed entities or were otherwise manipulated by Russian state-backed entities.

We already know the IRA went after Hillary from the left. I’d like to know how organized it was.

Truth and reconciliation is the only way to go.
posted by schadenfrau at 1:36 PM on March 4, 2018 [36 favorites]

Either Melania is the honey pot or she knows nothing. Both are possible, neither really matter.
posted by mumimor at 1:39 PM on March 4, 2018 [2 favorites]

It would be great if Mueller has done a cursory look-see at the D's to make sure nothing super fucked went down during the current political hellscape/last presidential election campaign like has clearly happened on the R side with everyone in trumpville making deals, laundering money, stupid large questionable PAC donations, quid pro quoing, etc.,

I do not think it's silly to want to know whether or not that stuff has happened on the D side whether related to Russia or not.
posted by fluffy battle kitten at 1:46 PM on March 4, 2018 [4 favorites]

Guess Who's Not Coming To America? International Students
posted by Artw at 1:48 PM on March 4, 2018 [6 favorites]

"Trump spoke 32 minutes, longer than normal. At one point, a woman heckled Trump to 'stop,' and had to be shushed by tablemates."

Because whatever Trump said, of course, it's good that he said that. He's saying real good things.

It's a good life, and they're all good people. The best.
posted by Pinback at 2:01 PM on March 4, 2018 [11 favorites]

I do not think it's silly to want to know whether or not that stuff has happened on the D side whether related to Russia or not.

There have to be reasons for investigations. Cops don't get to just show up at your house and sift through your stuff to see if you've committed any crimes. While the order establishing the special council is fairly broad, it pertains to Trump, not democrats or Clinton. That's outside the scope of this investigation.
posted by oneirodynia at 2:04 PM on March 4, 2018 [24 favorites]

The closing of Trump's routine last night is as good a window as any into the raw, sadistic cruelty in Trump's heart and in the heart of the modern conservative movement. Take away the unquenchable thirst for liberal tears and all that's left is the looting and the calamitous-beyond-all-reckoning eventual outcome.

"I better wrap it up. I have to be up early tomorrow morning—six o’clock—to be listening to Fox and Friends. But I do want to say this is one of the best times I can ever remember having with the media. This might be the most fun I’ve had since watching your faces on election night. I apologize. Years, years, years taken off your life. Oh, John King, with that beautiful red map. His hand was shaking toward the end.[...] Look, whether you like me or not, you have to say that was good. That was exciting. Lot of tears were in this room. You’re not supposed to cry. Mike are they supposed to be crying?"
posted by Rust Moranis at 2:06 PM on March 4, 2018 [31 favorites]

There's nothing to investigate on the Democratic side, at all.

We have no idea what or where Mueller is going with this, so that statement is pure speculation.
posted by 922257033c4a0f3cecdbd819a46d626999d1af4a at 2:15 PM on March 4, 2018 [4 favorites]

This might be the most fun I’ve had since watching your faces on election night. Years, years, years taken off your life.

And thanks for the reminder about all the people who have died unnecessarily because of you in only one year.

Years, years, years taken off your life
Years, years, years taken off your life
Years, years, years taken off your life
Years, years, years taken off your life
Years, years, years taken off your life
posted by Rust Moranis at 2:20 PM on March 4, 2018 [50 favorites]

NYT, Gardiner Harris, State Dept. Was Granted $120 Million to Fight Russian Meddling. It Has Spent $0.

As Russia’s virtual war against the United States continues unabated with the midterm elections approaching, the State Department has yet to spend any of the $120 million it has been allocated since late 2016 to counter foreign efforts to meddle in elections or sow distrust in democracy.

As a result, not one of the 23 analysts working in the department’s Global Engagement Center — which has been tasked with countering Moscow’s disinformation campaign — speaks Russian, and a department hiring freeze has hindered efforts to recruit the computer experts needed to track the Russian efforts.

The delay is just one symptom of the largely passive response to the Russian interference by President Trump, who has made little if any public effort to rally the nation to confront Moscow and defend democratic institutions. More broadly, the funding lag reflects a deep lack of confidence by Secretary of State Rex W. Tillerson in his department’s ability to execute its historically wide-ranging mission and spend its money wisely.

Mr. Tillerson has voiced skepticism that the United States is even capable of doing anything to counter the Russian threat.

“If it’s their intention to interfere, they’re going to find ways to do that,” Mr. Tillerson said in an interview last month with Fox News. “And we can take steps we can take, but this is something that once they decide they are going to do it, it’s very difficult to pre-empt it.”

posted by zachlipton at 2:30 PM on March 4, 2018 [50 favorites]

“This might be the most fun I’ve had since watching your faces on election night. I apologize. Years, years, years taken off your life.”

For Donald Trump, life, and every aspect of life, is a zero-sum game. For Donald to win, others must suffer. If Donald makes others suffer, he is winning. Donald Trump thinks Macbeth is a play about a really smart guy who gets to be king because he is so very great; and that’s a happy ending, believe me.
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 2:33 PM on March 4, 2018 [35 favorites]

Cognitive dissonance is a pain, but it’s dispiriting to see that people are *still* circulating discredited talking points about the DNC and emails or whatever. You don’t have to be doing it wittingly, or even maliciously. You just need to keep repeating the discredited talking points until it’s “common knowledge” and “butwhatabout [x]?!” ad nauseam
posted by Barack Spinoza at 2:34 PM on March 4, 2018 [92 favorites]

I’m sure Mueller would be happy to indict Democrats or non-Republicans; it would have the side effect of enhancing the credibility of his investigation.
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 2:38 PM on March 4, 2018

Maybe we can table this conversation about Mueller investigating the Clinton campaign until such time as there is any evidence at all that Mueller is investigating the Clinton campaign?
posted by saturday_morning at 2:39 PM on March 4, 2018 [72 favorites]

Mueller’s remit is to investigate interference in the 2016 election and any evidence of criminal activity discovered during that investigation.

Please don't make statements based on nothing. The actual language of the actual order reads:

The Special Counsel is authorized to conduct the investigation confinned by then-FBI
Director James 8. Corney in testimony before the House Permanent Select Committee on
Intelligence on March 20, 2017, including:
(i) any links and/or coordination between the Russian government and individuals
associated with the campaign of President Donald Trump; and
(ii) any matters that arose or may arise directly from the investigation; and
(iii) any other matters within the scope of 28 C.F.R. § 600.4(a).

So no. He can't just investigate "interference in the 2016 election" unless it "arose or may arise directly from" the investigation into "coordination between the Russian government and individuals associated with the campaign of President Donald Trump". Mueller can only investigate Democrats if he's somehow led there through the investigation into Trump.

Words matter. Not on the internet, maybe. But in reality that's based in actual legal documents.
posted by T.D. Strange at 2:41 PM on March 4, 2018 [43 favorites]

I regret I have but one favorite to give to Barack Spinoza's comment.
posted by StrawberryPie at 2:45 PM on March 4, 2018 [9 favorites]

But I will say, if I were Robert Mueller and I wanted Trump not to fire me, spreading some rumours that I was actually hot on the trail of the Clintons would not be the world's worst idea
posted by saturday_morning at 2:49 PM on March 4, 2018 [6 favorites]

Pinback said it best: It's A Good Life, and they're all good people. And they don't get fired; they get sent to the cornfield. And I'm sure 64 year old Bill Mumy not happy that a role he played on TV at age 7 is the model for the conduct of a 71 year U.S. President.
posted by oneswellfoop at 2:51 PM on March 4, 2018 [3 favorites]

Maybe we can table this conversation about Mueller investigating the Clinton campaign until such time as there is any evidence at all that Mueller is investigating the Clinton campaign?

[Pretty much this, folks. Please let it drop.]
posted by cortex at 2:59 PM on March 4, 2018 [25 favorites]

Martin Cizmar, Raw Story (3/3): Fox News can’t pretend all is well anymore, breaks down White House dysfunction in an amazing 7-point list

So it’s a little jarring to watch Chris Wallace and Shepard Smith pierce the bubble. And yet that’s exactly what happened when Wallace appeared on Smith’s show to break the whole mess down.

“Let’s just go through it,” Wallace said, before laying out a shockingly lucid analysis of Trump’s troubles.

1. “Hope Hicks has quit. She’s the person closest to the president in the White House.”
2. “The president hates his attorney general.”
3. The deputy attorney general now has to defend the hated attorney general “from the attack by the president.”
4. Trump’s top economic advisor is threatening to quit because of proposed tariffs, which he wasn’t consulted about.
5. “The president reportedly wants to oust his national security advisor,” the respected H.R. McMaster.
6. “Somebody is trying to get Jared Kushner.”
7. Trump wants to be rid of Kushner, his son-in-law, but doesn’t want to do it himself and so he’s also asked his Chief of Staff, John Kelly, to “help me Kushner and Ivanka out of here.”

“Other than that, it’s sweetness, light, puppies and unicorns here in D.C.,” Wallace said, wryly.

“Wow—that’s a nice clip for whoever picks up clips,” Smith said.

posted by ZeusHumms at 3:22 PM on March 4, 2018 [48 favorites]

Please forgive me for this screed if it's beating a dead horse, but this argument reminded me that one of the most infuriating aspects of the 2016 election were the voters and pundits who equated the possible corruption of a Trump and a Clinton administration. For example, my boss viewed them as equally duplicitous and voted for Johnson (I think.)

Let's consider presidential corruption and venality on a scale of 1 to 10, with 10 being Nixon and Harding and 1 being, I dunno, Lincoln. Eisenhower, Carter, and Obama are modern examples of relatively uncorrupt admins in the 2-4 range. Reagan and W were definitely in the 6-8 range. Even if you view Bill and Hillary quite uncharitably, I don't see how you put them outside that 6-8 range. Do they have any credible accusations against them that are worse than W and Cheney drumming up a disastrous war that happened to line their pockets? Worse than Iran-Contra? Please.

What are the range of realistic corruption scores one could assign to Trump in 2016? Hmmm, he didn't release his tax returns. Hmmm, he has worldwide business interests, some of them sketchy, and he's obviously too lazy and/or too greedy to divest himself. I think the 8-10 range is the very best imaginable score for Trump, and there was an obvious danger he'd shatter all presidential records for corruption and venality.

The idea that ur-Eagle Scout Robert Mueller would investigate Clinton corruption now, when the Trump admin has likely committed dozens of actions that would make Nixon blush, is preposterous. If he actually opened such a case, I'd probably head for the hills.
posted by johnny jenga at 3:24 PM on March 4, 2018 [48 favorites]

David Atkins, Washington Monthly: At What Point Does Trump Simply Resign? Grifters like Trump don’t stick it out. They run and find a new con.
posted by ZeusHumms at 3:29 PM on March 4, 2018 [18 favorites]

The depth, tenor and duration of coverage of Trump has paled in comparison to his issues. Nate Silver had a good tweetstorm yesterday that covered it. Basically, if a "mitt" is a unit of measurement of scandalousness, then Romney and Obama are probably one mitt candidates. Clinton is probably a 5 mitt candidate and covered thusly. But Trump is being covered like a 7 mitt candidate, but he's really a 50 mitt candidate. Despite covering him more than others, it's nowhere near the coverage necessary given his corruption and issues.

posted by chris24 at 3:32 PM on March 4, 2018 [58 favorites]

That's exactly it. There simply weren't enough hours in the day in the runup to the election to cover everything going on. And journalists and news outlets made the decision to cover Clinton like a real candidate and Trump like a novelty... even when he was the GOP nominee. If they covered him like a real candidate it would be like what we're getting now; probably 95% of the news most days would be about Trump bullshit and Clinton's email papercut of an issue would get a one sentence update. There are undoubtedly a lot of reasons for doing that. Mental inertia (you say CLINTON I say SCANDAL), $$$, misogyny, you name it.

But a big one is, I believe, the same institutional failure that happened everywhere from Obama, to Comey, to the media, to the voters. That is, nobody except apparently Nate Silver actually managed to come to grips with the idea that hey people DONALD TRUMP IS CLOSE TO BECOMING PRESIDENT. Everyone thought Clinton had it. Obama thought so and didn't tell McConnell to go fuck himself over the Russian meddling and hold a massive press conference flanked by his intelligence chiefs. Comey thought so and torpedoed Clinton's campaign in order to supposedly preserve the nonpartisan look of the FBI and hey if in the process it reinforces the Cult of Honor and Justice Above All Comey well, all the better. The media failed by failing to cover Trump as a person who might soon have his finger on the nuclear button. The voters failed though the proof of the breadth and scope of their failure will not fit in the margins of this page.

Some of the people above have probably come to grips with their failures. I suspect both Obama and Comey have, though Obama probably still sleeps better as the motives behind his choices were more pure. Some voters have though many are still in denial. But the media? As far as I can tell they have swept their abject failure into the memory dumpster and have always been at war with ~~Eurasia~~ TrumpCo.
posted by Justinian at 3:52 PM on March 4, 2018 [146 favorites]

Justinian can you turn that comment into a Medium post or something so I can share it all over the fricking place?
posted by OnceUponATime at 3:58 PM on March 4, 2018 [11 favorites]

An Axios scoop from Jonathan Swan: Mueller's Hit List

Axios has reviewed a Grand Jury subpoena that Robert Mueller's team sent to a witness last month.

What Mueller is asking for: Mueller is subpoenaing all communications — meaning emails, texts, handwritten notes, etc. — that this witness sent and received regarding the following people:

Carter Page, Corey Lewandowski, Donald J. Trump, Hope Hicks, Keith Schiller, Michael Cohen, Paul Manafort, Rick Gates, Roger Stone, Steve Bannon

The subpoena asks for all communications from November 1, 2015, to the present. Notably, Trump announced his campaign for president five months earlier — on June 16, 2015.

This indicates only so much about Mueller's line of investigation, of course. Swan's Axios colleague Mike Allen cautioned yesterday, "All we know is what yappy witnesses tell reporters they were asked about. [...] And expect plenty more 'scoops' about what Mueller is asking gabby witnesses."
posted by Doktor Zed at 4:00 PM on March 4, 2018 [10 favorites]

Mr. Tillerson has voiced skepticism that the United States is even capable of doing anything to counter the Russian threat.

“If it’s their intention to interfere, they’re going to find ways to do that,” Mr. Tillerson said in an interview last month with Fox News. “And we can take steps we can take, but this is something that once they decide they are going to do it, it’s very difficult to pre-empt it.”

Holy shit. I had held out hope for a while that Tillerson maybe had a sliver of integrity, that he might try to act in good faith, that he might not be compromised.

He's compromised. Someone has tied his hands, or someone is shoving cash into his hands, or both.
posted by Vic Morrow's Personal Vietnam at 4:01 PM on March 4, 2018 [19 favorites]

The voters failed, though the proof of the breadth and scope of their failure will not fit in the margins of this page.

The voters didn't fail; they elected Clinton. The voters were failed by the system again, and it's proof of that systemic failure that has the marginbusting breadth and scope.
posted by Don Pepino at 4:03 PM on March 4, 2018 [53 favorites]

Why wouldn't Mueller subpoena communications from the beginning of the campaign?
posted by kirkaracha at 4:05 PM on March 4, 2018

He's compromised. Someone has tied his hands, or someone is shoving cash into his hands, or both.

Are you implying that a man who Putin decorated with the Order of Friendship for his cooperation with Rosneft might be compromised?
posted by Rust Moranis at 4:09 PM on March 4, 2018 [46 favorites]

I would absolutely include our archaic electoral system as one of the things that failed as an institution, Don Pepino, but it didn't really fit into the theme of my comment since electoral systems can't have motives and thought processes about whether Trump has a chance to become President. Secondly, Trump is so manifestly unfit to be a human being let alone President that receiving 63,000,000 votes is a massive failure on the part of those voters. Plus the Aleppo and RussiaGreens voters. Plus the ones who stayed home for no good reason (not blaming disenfranchised voters here). Like I said, it was a failure from top to bottom.
posted by Justinian at 4:09 PM on March 4, 2018 [19 favorites]

“If it’s their intention to interfere, they’re going to find ways to do that,” Mr. Tillerson said in an interview last month with Fox News. “And we can take steps we can take, but this is something that once they decide they are going to do it, it’s very difficult to pre-empt it.”

Attaboy, Tillerson! That's the Can't-Do attitude that first made this country great, and is making it great again!
posted by perspicio at 4:10 PM on March 4, 2018 [26 favorites]

Why wouldn't Mueller subpoena communications from the beginning of the campaign?

Caveat Lector: This Axios leak is just a single subpoena from one witness from last month. Now I'm trying to remember everyone who was interviewed at that time—Steve Bannon, Mark Corallo, Sam Nunberg, who am I missing? In any case, Mueller's almost certainly not using a boilerplate.
posted by Doktor Zed at 4:16 PM on March 4, 2018 [3 favorites]

> "The left controls not only the universities in this country, but they also control Hollywood in this country, and the mainstream media, so conservatives in this country are under attack ... they attack people who are trying to get to the truth," the head of the House Intelligence Committee added.

It's funny: I keep misreading "Intelligence" as "Un-American Activities" here. Probably all those references to Cold War 2.0 going to my head or something.
posted by Westringia F. at 4:16 PM on March 4, 2018 [6 favorites]

And going beyond that, Clinton's tenure at State was examined quite closely and nothing came out of that worth pursuing, so there's a higher bar than usual to clear (in a public-opinion sense) for justifying this. What's the justification?

Clinton is in fact a 2 on the corruption / scandal scale. She is not 6-8- but hey, she is a woman who ran for a man's job, which adds at least 3, I guess, and then there's both-sides which is good for another 2, is that how the math goes? Does sending email count?
posted by Dashy at 4:21 PM on March 4, 2018 [50 favorites]

That is, nobody except apparently Nate Silver actually managed to come to grips with the idea that hey people DONALD TRUMP IS CLOSE TO BECOMING PRESIDENT.

Michael Moore
posted by thelonius at 4:22 PM on March 4, 2018 [14 favorites]

At What Point Does Trump Simply Resign?

at no point - he's in too deep and any power he has to starve off the process or distract from it is from the office of the presidency - without that office, he will be at the utter mercy of others, even more than he is now

this isn't nth dimension chess, it's nth dimension texas hold em with a large amount of hole cards and flops to be seen - (and it might be possible to bolster a bad set of hole cards by drawing more, as this is nth dimensional)

first, he's got a bad set of hole cards and the odds are against him drawing better or winning with all the flop cards once they're turned over

second, it's a long, long, long game and he can drag it out by eliminating some of the players

third, he can bluff

fourth and most important - no one ever, ever won a hand of poker by dropping
posted by pyramid termite at 4:22 PM on March 4, 2018 [6 favorites]

It seems we were just talking about Rudy Giuliani laying low...

On Friday night, President Trump entertained around 250 Republican donors in his Mar-a-Lago ballroom. Spotted in the audience: Trump's lawyer Michael Cohen, who recently admitted to paying $130,000 to porn star Stormy Daniels.

The most shocking moment of the evening came when Trump brought his old pal Rudy Giuliani onto the stage. Giuliani told the crowd he had been down there for Trump's wedding.

"Hillary was also here," he said, according to two sources in the room, "and she actually fit through the door.”

The crowd gasped. I'm told Giuliani's wife gave him a "most foul look." Trump later told the audience: "I'm just glad I didn't say it."

posted by chris24 at 4:26 PM on March 4, 2018 [16 favorites]

David Atkins, Washington Monthly: At What Point Does Trump Simply Resign? Grifters like Trump don’t stick it out. They run and find a new con.

I still think that if he's out of power, Republican powers that be will ensure that he and his go to prison to shut his damn mouth. Or just have him whacked. And that he knows this.
posted by GCU Sweet and Full of Grace at 4:43 PM on March 4, 2018 [3 favorites]

I think more important, Trump is stupid but not so stupid he's unaware of how vulnerable he'd be if he did quit. He burned a lot of money and time to become President, the sunk cost fallacy affects everyone. He hasn't had a chance yet to grift all he can from being President, and he probably has some debts that won't be serviced unless he holds the office for as long as he can.

More personally, Trump hates looking weak, and quitting would look very weak.

Plus, of course, quitting would up his chances of added polonium in his diet significantly and he's got to be aware of that no matter how dumb and senile he is.
posted by sotonohito at 4:48 PM on March 4, 2018 [2 favorites]

"electoral systems can't have motives"

Well, it was designed to give slavers a continued seat at the table, so there is a bit of a motive, surely?
posted by pdoege at 4:53 PM on March 4, 2018 [62 favorites]

And to follow up on the "Mitts". I'm not aware of any scandal that Hillary was actually involved in. Her IT guy set up a server, her husband got a blow job and lied about it, she stood by her idiot chief of staff, Obama didn't have the stones to stand up to McConnell, etc. .... Seems like a 1 Mitter to me.
posted by pdoege at 4:58 PM on March 4, 2018 [14 favorites]

That cattle futures trading thing was a little suspicious. Forty years and god knows how many shady Romney financial deals ago.
posted by LarsC at 5:04 PM on March 4, 2018 [3 favorites]

On the scale of Arkansas good-old-boy crony politics, that’s a 2 for Hillary. Bill might get a 3 (though he gained more points over the years). Here in the Natural State, we grade that shit on a curve.
posted by box at 5:13 PM on March 4, 2018 [4 favorites]

I… can't tell what Rudy intended with that joke on Hillary, a joke even Donald thought went too far. The usual thing they like to imply about her is frailty. So he swapped that schtick for… a fat joke? Which doesn't make sense? Or is it like, her pockets are full of Clinton Cash or something?
posted by InTheYear2017 at 5:19 PM on March 4, 2018 [5 favorites]

So he swapped that schtick for… a fat joke? Which doesn't make sense? Or is it like, her pockets are full of Clinton Cash or something?

Like the rest of the creaking remnants of Giuliani's brain, his Republican misogyny is stuck in the late 80s-early 90s. The "Hillary Special" KFC joke is still in use and dates at least as far back as 1993.
posted by Rust Moranis at 5:33 PM on March 4, 2018 [4 favorites]

If Trump resigns, he loses that precious pardon power.
posted by octothorpe at 5:34 PM on March 4, 2018 [5 favorites]

Democrats apparently can't find a candidate to run against Republican David Valadao, who's sitting in a Clinton +16 district (PVI D+5). Emilio Huerta, the only candidate running after his mother, labor rights icon Dolores Huerta, reportedly threatened other candidates to stay away, just dropped out. There's one other potential candidate, local engineer TJ Cox who may be running but hasn't yet filed candidacy papers in the district, with only 300k cash on hand, and who's website says he's running for a different district. The filing deadline is in 5 days, on March 9.
posted by T.D. Strange at 6:07 PM on March 4, 2018 [18 favorites]

Why wouldn't Mueller subpoena communications from the beginning of the campaign?

The implication would seem to be that Mueller has information, which we don't know about, that Trump became compromised in November 2015. Like, Russia confronted him and gave him marching orders in a meeting then, or they'd reveal the pee tape.

OTOH, it could just be that the witness who shared their subpoena wasn't in a position to have anything before that date.
posted by msalt at 6:08 PM on March 4, 2018 [3 favorites]

Either Melania is the honey pot or she knows nothing. Both are possible, neither really matter.

She could also be the translator, as she speaks 5 languages. Russian is not listed as one of them, but her parents were communist party officials and Slovenian is also a Slavic language, so it's not hard at all to imagine she has at least some fluency in Russian, or could translate in third language such as German.

Translators know all the things.
posted by msalt at 6:12 PM on March 4, 2018 [14 favorites]

Is the "how many Mitts = a Clinton" discussion useful? I mean, whats the metrics? accusations, investigstions, convictions, maximum legal penalties, head count on evidence. This is just relitigating whether our gut memory of various headlines was "this is trumped up bs" or "where there's smoke there's fire." we have no new information, do we ? lets focus on the raging scandal that has nukes and conspired with a foriegn adversary.
posted by Anchorite_of_Palgrave at 7:05 PM on March 4, 2018 [12 favorites]

ZeusHumms: "David Atkins, Washington Monthly: At What Point Does Trump Simply Resign? Grifters like Trump don’t stick it out. They run and find a new con."

Between ego, pardons and Putin, Trump can't quit.
posted by Mitheral at 7:38 PM on March 4, 2018 [3 favorites]

Speaking of Katy Tur and Mueller: JUST IN: Mueller subpoenas documents from Trump, numerous campaign associates
posted by runcibleshaw at 8:13 PM on March 4, 2018 [24 favorites]

The NBC story seems to be the same as the Axios one, no?. As I read it, it's subpoenaing documents from a witness that include communications with Trump, not documents from Turmp directly.
posted by zachlipton at 8:18 PM on March 4, 2018 [5 favorites]

T.D. Strange: "Democrats apparently can't find a candidate to run against Republican David Valadao, who's sitting in a Clinton +16 district (PVI D+5). Emilio Huerta, the only candidate running after his mother, labor rights icon Dolores Huerta, reportedly threatened other candidates to stay away, just dropped out."

He was considered a very weak candidate. I'm not going to freak out just yet - with Dolores Huerta out of the picture, you may get a number of people interested.
posted by Chrysostom at 8:32 PM on March 4, 2018 [7 favorites]

PA-18 special updates:

* Gravis has a poll out in the field, numbers back Tuesday. Gravis is an ehh pollster, but these are likely the last numbers we'll get (election is next Tuesday).

* National Journal: GOP Panic Spreads to Pennsylvania [missed opportunity to title it, "Panic On The Streets of Mt. Lebanon", if you ask me]

* Final Lamb ad is out. I think a) this is a very effective ad for his district, and b) makes clear why progressives in the new PA-17 are not super thrilled about Lamb possibly being the nominee here in the general).
posted by Chrysostom at 8:50 PM on March 4, 2018 [13 favorites]

Let's hope so, but someone credible needs to file to run like, tomorrow. It'd be the most Democrat thing ever to somehow be unable to even run a canidate in a Democratic leaning district when every single seat matters for retaking control of the House.
posted by T.D. Strange at 8:51 PM on March 4, 2018 [12 favorites]

Sure. But the vibe I've gotten is that there were a number of interested folks who got scared off by Huerta. They have a couple of days to take the plunge.
posted by Chrysostom at 8:55 PM on March 4, 2018

Further TX primary early vote breakdown. Comparing 2014 to 2018 voter shares:

* Women: 51% => 56%
* Black: 5.6% => 9.1%
* Hispanic: 16% => 21%
* White men: 38% => 30%
posted by Chrysostom at 8:56 PM on March 4, 2018 [106 favorites]

Chrysostom, those numbers are what the Alt-Right fears and lashes out against, may it be their ruin.

Also thank you for all you post here.
posted by Anchorite_of_Palgrave at 9:08 PM on March 4, 2018 [37 favorites]

Guess Who's Not Coming To America? International Students

That is probably all for the best under the circumstances.

At What Point Does Trump Simply Resign? Grifters like Trump don’t stick it out. They run and find a new con.

I wish, but that would be "losing." He will seriously declare himself president for life. He's even said it now.
posted by jenfullmoon at 9:31 PM on March 4, 2018 [4 favorites]

Guess Who's Not Coming To America? International Students

That is probably all for the best under the circumstances.

I mean, for THEM, maybe. But not if you work at a university, or live in a university town, or depend on a business that depends on students...
posted by threeturtles at 9:51 PM on March 4, 2018 [24 favorites]

AP, DACA deadline arrives with diminished urgency. As a court ruling gives Congress an excuse to continue to do fuck all, there's another shutdown looming on March 23rd if there's no spending deal.

WaPo, Trump says American workers are hurt by immigration. But after ICE raided this Texas town, they never showed up. In which a meat processor finds refugees to do the job following a massive immigration raid.
posted by zachlipton at 9:56 PM on March 4, 2018 [26 favorites]

I'm very well aware of that lack of cash cow issues if international students don't come here. But for their own safety in America, I can't say I'd recommend coming to the US to anyone any more. Not for school, not for tourism.
posted by jenfullmoon at 9:58 PM on March 4, 2018 [10 favorites]

WaPo, Trump says American workers are hurt by immigration. But after ICE raided this Texas town, they never showed up

"Corbin voted for Trump, but he does not agree with the president when he says the country needs a merit-based immigration system favoring those with advanced skills."

They buried it at the end this time, but it's always there. Every. Single. Time.
posted by T.D. Strange at 10:18 PM on March 4, 2018 [36 favorites]

Speaking of Katy Tur and Mueller: JUST IN: Mueller subpoenas documents from Trump, numerous campaign associates

That tweet was deleted and the story was updated:

1) The headline on an earlier version of this article misstated the recipient of Mueller's subpoena. The subpoena seeking all documents involving President Trump and a host of his closest advisers was given to a witness, not to the president himself. The story itself was correct.

2) [Corrected headline] Special counsel wants documents involving President Trump and numerous campaign associates http://nbcnews.to/2FfDaxU

So, yeah, it looks like NBC news got their own copy of that same subpoena.
posted by msalt at 11:08 PM on March 4, 2018 [17 favorites]

from the ICE article

Many of the industry’s processing plants are located in remote, rural areas of Midwestern states where employers in nearly every industry are struggling to find qualified workers, especially job candidates who will not test “hot” for drugs.

part of the problem of not being able to find american workers is there's only so many in a rural location and few are going to want to relocate there to try to get a job

they'd have better luck if they built the plants in the cities - but less control over the workforce
posted by pyramid termite at 2:38 AM on March 5, 2018 [9 favorites]

Texas Democrat's Underdog Bid To Unseat Ted Cruz Picks Up Momentum

In any other year, I'd be sceptical of his chances but so far this year seems very different.
posted by octothorpe at 4:39 AM on March 5, 2018 [32 favorites]

The 4 most likely outcomes of Robert Mueller's investigation
posted by Jacqueline at 5:09 AM on March 5, 2018 [14 favorites]

The New Yorker's profile of Christopher Steele, the Man Behind the Trump Dossier has its share of bombshells, this scoop about Steele's last memo is devastating:

One subject that Steele is believed to have discussed with Mueller’s investigators is a memo that he wrote in late November, 2016, after his contract with Fusion had ended. This memo, which did not surface publicly with the others, is shorter than the rest, and is based on one source, described as “a senior Russian official.” The official said that he was merely relaying talk circulating in the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, but what he’d heard was astonishing: people were saying that the Kremlin had intervened to block Trump’s initial choice for Secretary of State, Mitt Romney. (During Romney’s run for the White House in 2012, he was notably hawkish on Russia, calling it the single greatest threat to the U.S.) The memo said that the Kremlin, through unspecified channels, had asked Trump to appoint someone who would be prepared to lift Ukraine-related sanctions, and who would coöperate on security issues of interest to Russia, such as the conflict in Syria. If what the source heard was true, then a foreign power was exercising pivotal influence over U.S. foreign policy—and an incoming President.

As fantastical as the memo sounds, subsequent events could be said to support it. In a humiliating public spectacle, Trump dangled the post before Romney until early December, then rejected him. [...] In any case, on December 13, 2016, Trump gave Rex Tillerson, the C.E.O. of ExxonMobil, the job. The choice was a surprise to most, and a happy one in Moscow, because Tillerson’s business ties with the Kremlin were long-standing and warm. (In 2011, he brokered a historic partnership between ExxonMobil and Rosneft.) After the election, Congress imposed additional sanctions on Russia, in retaliation for its interference, but Trump and Tillerson have resisted enacting them.

The article glosses over some of Steele's errors, such as the Guccifer 2.0 release timeline, but more and more, Steele's coming out ahead of his critics.
posted by Doktor Zed at 6:50 AM on March 5, 2018 [98 favorites]

pyramid termite they'd have better luck if they built the plants in the cities - but less control over the workforce

That's the big thing.

Every headline about how employers can't find qualified employees needs to have the words "at the wages and conditions offered" inserted.

There's no labor shortage. There's a shortage of people willing to do really horrible shitty jobs for really low shitty wages. If they'd either make the job less horrible or pay a premium "this job sucks" fee they'd be able to find employees.

But they want to be located in the middle of nowhere, so employees have no other options and have to stick with the job no matter how horrible it is or how low the wages are, and so employees are isolated, can't see better jobs or better working conditions, and won't agitate for change.

That's why they're increasingly turning to prison labor or bogus "drug treatment programs" that really just funnel them what amounts to slave labor.
posted by sotonohito at 6:51 AM on March 5, 2018 [109 favorites]

The memo said that the Kremlin, through unspecified channels, had asked Trump to appoint someone who would be prepared to lift Ukraine-related sanctions, and who would coöperate on security issues of interest to Russia, such as the conflict in Syria.

According to Sarah Kendzior before they settled on Tillerson as Secretary of State Dana Rohrbacher was in the running.
posted by PenDevil at 7:02 AM on March 5, 2018 [16 favorites]

If Trump supplied information that somehow got an agent or asset killed, is that manslaughter? Or even actual constitutional treason?
posted by lumnar at 7:04 AM on March 5, 2018 [1 favorite]

More Democratic names linked to supporting the Banking Lobbyist Act to repeal Dodd-Frank:

Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.)
Maggie Hassan (D-N.H.)
Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.)
Bill Nelson (D-Fla.)
Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.)

That would be 17 Democratic votes to deregulate Wall Street again on the 10th anniversary of causing the worst financial crisis since 1929.
posted by T.D. Strange at 7:06 AM on March 5, 2018 [30 favorites]

Democrats apparently can't find a candidate to run against Republican David Valadao ... There's one other potential candidate, local engineer TJ Cox who may be running but hasn't yet filed candidacy papers in the district...

More on TJ's hopping from one race to another: Cox Upends CA-10, Switches to CA-21. The move was prompted not only by Huerta's withdrawal, but also by the late entry into the CD-10 race by Michael Eggman, who was beaten by the Republican incumbent in the last two cycles. Ballotpedia has details on the district's recent electoral history and the current crowd of candidates.
posted by ogooglebar at 7:08 AM on March 5, 2018

Here's a WaPo explainer on the elements of treason -- it's reasonably narrow. In short, it requires some kind of declared or open and active war.

Note that misprison of treason (knowing failure to report it) is also a crime, although misprison is one of those sort of vestigial crimes that's hardly ever charged.
posted by snuffleupagus at 7:14 AM on March 5, 2018 [4 favorites]

NYT: Audio Recordings Prove Russian Meddling in U.S. Election, Escort Says

A Belarusian escort with close ties to a powerful Russian oligarch said from behind bars in Bangkok on Monday that she had more than 16 hours of audio recordings that could help shed light on Russian meddling in United States elections. The escort, Anastasia Vashukevich, said she would hand over the recordings [lordy] if the United States granted her asylum. [...] “If America gives me protection, I will tell everything I know,” Ms. Vashukevich said on Monday. “I am afraid to go back to Russia. Some strange things can happen.”

They sure can.
posted by Rust Moranis at 7:15 AM on March 5, 2018 [25 favorites]

Affirmative asylum applications are made to the DHS. So....good luck with that.
posted by snuffleupagus at 7:19 AM on March 5, 2018 [9 favorites]

Priebus and Christie were on This Week with George Stephanopolis yesterday, heavily hinting that Jared and Ivanka should get out of the White House:

STEPHANOPOULOS: This is following, most heavily now, Christ Christie, on Jared Kushner. What a week he had. Loses his top secret clearance, series of stories about these meetings with the bankers, his vulnerability to foreign blackmail. At the end of the week, this report about one month after his father met with the finance minister of Qatar was refused some financing, Jared Kushner organizing actions -- diplomatic actions against Qatar.

Does he have to go? Is he still well serving the president?

CHRISTIE: Well listen, the president’s going to have to make that judgment. And this is most particularly sensitive because it’s a family member. And this is why lots of --

STEPHANOPOULOS: That’s part of the problem.

CHRISTIE: Well, of course. And that’s what I was going to say, George, that -- that the situation is made much worse by the fact that we have family members in the White House. It makes it much more difficult. And there were (ph) many of us who counseled the president -- and not just about Jared, but about any other members of his family having official positions. Not because they weren’t competent or qualified or that the president didn’t trust them, but because when circumstances come up that the president couldn’t have been aware of -- and in a normal situation, you might terminate a staff member for that reason. Becomes a lot more difficult if you’re going to be sitting at Thanksgiving dinner with that person. And so for Jared and for Ivanka and for all the other members of the family we were involved in one way or the other, I think everybody’s got to focus on what’s best for the president.

The withered stump of establishment republicans has the knives out.
posted by murphy slaw at 7:23 AM on March 5, 2018 [21 favorites]

The housing crisis was in 2007, not 2008.

(pedant)
posted by Yowser at 7:26 AM on March 5, 2018

> Why wouldn't Mueller subpoena communications from the beginning of the campaign?

Caveat Lector: This Axios leak is just a single subpoena from one witness from last month. Now I'm trying to remember everyone who was interviewed at that time—Steve Bannon, Mark Corallo, Sam Nunberg, who am I missing? In any case, Mueller's almost certainly not using a boilerplate.

Sarah Kendzior ID's Mark Corallo on the Mueller subpoena: "In terms of a timeline, it matches Michael Caputo, who joined the Trump campaign in Nov 2015 and has contacts with everyone on that list." And "Caputo left the campaign before Pence was picked, so this kind of backs up my theory. But I'm of course only guessing about Caputo; there are a couple others I think it could be too. As for Pence, he had better be on another list..."

According to Sarah Kendzior before they settled on Tillerson as Secretary of State Dana Rohrbacher was in the running.

Rohrbacher openly declared, on Twitter, of course, that Trump was considering him for Secretary of State. It's horrible to contemplate that Trump could have picked a more obvious Putin stooge than Tillerson, but there it is.
posted by Doktor Zed at 7:45 AM on March 5, 2018 [12 favorites]

Trump Org Ordered Golf Course Markers With The Presidential Seal

Walter Shaub:
“Whoever knowingly displays any printed...likeness of the...seals of the President...in...any advertisement...or on any building... in a manner reasonably calculated to convey...approval by the Government...shall be fined...or imprisoned not more than six months” 18 U.S.C. § 713
posted by T.D. Strange at 8:05 AM on March 5, 2018 [96 favorites]

"In terms of a timeline, it matches Michael Caputo, who joined the Trump campaign in Nov 2015 and has contacts with everyone on that list."
And who moved to Russia in 94, assisted Yeltsin's successful campaign, worked for Gazprom, and has advised political campaigns in both the Ukraine, and NY (Paladino).
Schiff wants Caputo's House Intel testimony released.
posted by rc3spencer at 8:07 AM on March 5, 2018 [9 favorites]

Juicy tidbit from that golf course marker story - Even Trumps Coat of Arms is stolen from someone else. Of course the Integrity was the one thing he didn't take.
posted by achrise at 8:12 AM on March 5, 2018 [10 favorites]

Here's a WaPo explainer on the elements of treason -- it's reasonably narrow. In short, it requires some kind of declared or open and active war.

Yeah. We've been over this about 1000 times since these POTUS45 threads started, but once more with feeling: even if they found a contract titled "An Agreement between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin to Collude in the 2016 election in order to exchange mutual benefits to each other" (half in english, half in squiqqly), that was signed and counter signed and witnessed and also we had a video of the meeting where they signed the contract, and recordings of conversations where they talked about how well their collusion was going (just great collusion. fantastic. the best), none of this would amount to a charge of treason, because we're not at war with Russia.
posted by dis_integration at 8:23 AM on March 5, 2018 [6 favorites]

Big wins for Russia in the Italian Elections.
posted by Artw at 8:27 AM on March 5, 2018 [5 favorites]

trump's mirror in full effect this morning:

Why did the Obama Administration start an investigation into the Trump Campaign (with zero proof of wrongdoing) long before the Election in November? Wanted to discredit so Crooked H would win. Unprecedented. Bigger than Watergate! Plus, Obama did NOTHING about Russian meddling.

something is bigger than watergate…
posted by murphy slaw at 8:28 AM on March 5, 2018 [37 favorites]

also, isn't an investigation the thing you do to obtain proof of wrongdoing?
posted by murphy slaw at 8:32 AM on March 5, 2018 [22 favorites]

none of this would amount to a charge of treason

So fucking what?

“Treason” has meaning beyond the legal definition, and it’s obtuse and disingenuous to suggest otherwise. It means betrayal. It means, in a fundamental sense, that you have allied with a foreign power against your own countrymen, because you have already decided that your own countrymen are your enemy.

The Trump campaign, and the Republican Party, have betrayed us all. They are treasonous, even if we can’t prosecute them for the crime because the statute was written at a time when people still did things like formally declare war according to the Marquess of Dueling rules or whatever the fuck.

They have still betrayed their country to a foreign power in pursuit of power. They are traitors.
posted by schadenfrau at 8:33 AM on March 5, 2018 [71 favorites]

Plus, Obama did NOTHING about Russian meddling.

But I heard somewhere that he started an investigation into the Trump Campaign
posted by theodolite at 8:34 AM on March 5, 2018 [51 favorites]

Plus, Obama did NOTHING about Russian meddling.

I heard that he imposed more sanctions and also directly told Putin: we know what you are doing, cut it out.
posted by thelonius at 8:37 AM on March 5, 2018 [34 favorites]

also, isn't an investigation the thing you do to obtain proof of wrongdoing?

Originally, yes. But in modern republican parlance it's something that allows you to schedule televised hearings where you make sinister-sounding but never specific insinuations about political opponents in order to convince your base that "where there's smoke there's fire."

Trump is, in my opinion, trying to consciously confuse two different meanings here but it should be obvious to anyone but rabid partisans that there is a huge and salient difference between an "investigation" that was so discreet we never heard confirmation of it before the election (when it might actually have accomplished the purpose Trump claims was its raison d'etre) and the highly-public Benghazi circus pursued by Congressional republicans to successfully tar the presumptive presidential nominee of their opposing party with whatever taint of scandal they could manage, even if nobody can explain exactly what the malfeasance was supposed to have been.

It's really galling to me that, having debased the very concept of investigating, that they are now attempting to use that in Trump's defense.
posted by Nerd of the North at 8:43 AM on March 5, 2018 [12 favorites]

Regarding the work that others don't want to do, there's also home health care -- U.S. Immigration Policy Threatens Shake-Up In Home Health Business (NPR, March 5, 2018)

It's a workforce of about 3 million people who help older adults remain in their homes. They assist these clients with things like bathing, dressing, and taking medication on time.

About a quarter of these workers are immigrants. But as Congress and the White House consider changes to immigration policy, some people in the home care industry worry that there won't be enough people to care for the nation's growing number of elders.

This story focuses on a class in Albuquerque (New Mexico, represent!), taught entirely in Spanish. All of the students are immigrants, mostly from Mexico, and not all are here legally.

That's not just a theoretical concern for Sherwin Sheik. He's the founder and CEO of a company called CARELINX, which he describes as a cross between Uber and Match.com for connecting home care workers with clients.

"It takes a very special person to want to do these jobs," Sheik says. "They tend to be immigrants. If we have tighter policies, it's going to impact the industry, without a doubt."

The nation's rapidly aging population has made personal care assistants and home health aides (who have more specialized training around health issues) the fastest growing low-skilled occupations in the U.S.

But Steven Camerota isn't worried about a shortage in home care workers. He's the director of research at the Center for Immigration Studies, which advocates for restrictions on immigration. He points out that, despite the growing immigrant workforce, three-quarters of the people currently providing home care were born in the U.S.

There's no mystery to what it would take to increase that percentage, says Camerota. "Raise wages. Treat workers better."

Hahahahahaha ... ohohohoho ...

Home care workers sometimes make as little as $10 an hour. At the same time, he says, "we have an enormous supply of less-educated [American citizens] currently not working who could easily fill these jobs if employers treat them reasonably well."

Ohohohoho ... hahahaha ... sorry. You were saying? Oh right, immigration hawks say "just pay people better and you'd get more applicant!" Good luck with that one. Say, have you met the techbro who wants to drive down worker wages? His 2015 championing of a $15 minimum wage still sounds like a steal for home health care, and not enough to entice less-educated American citizens to a really physically, mentally demanding job. And it doesn't look like CareLinx is leading the charge in higher wages, according to Glassdoor's record of salaries.
posted by filthy light thief at 8:43 AM on March 5, 2018 [27 favorites]

The (early) blue wave in Texas is getting some (more) national attention: Ahead Of Texas Primary, Early Signs Of A 2018 Democratic Surge (NPR, March 4, 2018)

Texas's primary brings the first actual voting in the 2018 midterm cycle, giving both parties a chance for a more concrete measure ahead of November's elections. Early signs of such a swell in a bulwark red state could be an even more ominous sign for Republicans nationally this fall if it's borne out by Tuesday's results.
...
After the last day of early voting on Friday, the Cook Political Report's David Wasserman found that in the top 15 counties in the state, the Democratic early vote had spiked 105 percent over 2014 numbers. On the Republican side, there had been only a 15 percent uptick.
...
It's not just an uptick in Democratic voters happening in Texas, but an increase in candidates putting their names on the ballot, too. Democrats are fielding a modern-day record number of candidates across the state. There are 111 U.S. House candidates running for the minority party, and they are spread across all 36 Texas congressional districts — the first time that's happened in 25 years, and a departure from two years ago when Democrats didn't run candidates in eight seats.

On a state legislative level, Democrats have candidates in 132 of the 150 state House districts and in 14 of the 15 state Senate districts up for election this year. That includes four Senate districts where Democrats didn't field candidates in 2014 or 2012, and 20 new House districts where they didn't have candidates in either 2016, 2014 or 2012.

I'm sad that Dems aren't running in all the races, but this is still great.
posted by filthy light thief at 8:48 AM on March 5, 2018 [17 favorites]

thelonius: MI heard that he imposed more sanctions and also directly told Putin: we know what you are doing, cut it out.

Sanctions that were excessive because Russia did NOTHING wrong! Coulda been China or someone in a basement! It's a witch hunt! Also, speaking of Russia and NOTHING: Obama did NOTHING to stop Russia! Putin (who is innocent because I asked him and he said so) is laughing at us all now, for not stopping his evil scheme! His laughter sounds incredible because he's a wonderful person and America's best friend! Electoral college! Watergate!
posted by InTheYear2017 at 8:52 AM on March 5, 2018 [15 favorites]

Junior, Kushner, and Manafort meeting with Russian Criminals was not treason, the crime, but it was certainly treasonous , the adjective .
posted by mikelieman at 8:52 AM on March 5, 2018 [11 favorites]

And looping back to tariffs and possible/likely trade wars: Economist Ned Hill Looks At Potential Impacts Of Tariffs On Steel-Producing States (NPR, March 2, 2018)

SHAPIRO: We're talking about manufacturers of steel and aluminum. But there are other big manufacturing plants that use steel and aluminum, whether it's GE or car companies. What's this going to do to them?

HILL: For Ohio, it will be devastating. One of the largest manufacturing employers in the state is GE jet engines down in Evendale. So what that will do - it will increase the cost of their jet engine compared to Rolls-Royce, and you'll see the market shift. The backwash effects will be huge.

SHAPIRO: You're an economist who studies manufacturing. You spend all day every day thinking about these issues. For some of the blue-collar workers in these plants, do you think there is an appropriate level of skepticism, or are they celebrating that this is going to mean a return of American steel and aluminum, whether or not that's what it actually turns out to be?

HILL: It depends how close they are to their retirements. If they're going to retire in the next two to three years, they should be doing high fives and dancing in the streets. If they're part of the new, young group of workers who are coming into the plants because the plants have been hiring for the past two and a half years, their life just got a lot dicier because if you look 30 years out, you can look forward to recession and look forward to a trade war.

SHAPIRO: Tell me more about the potential trade war here. We're talking specifically about aluminum and steel, but Ohio exports a lot of other things, agricultural products. Do you think other countries might retaliate in ways that would harm those exports?

HILL: Oh, I think it's inevitable. Agriculture is still a very important part of Ohio. Corn exports and soybean exports are critical. And if we put a large tariff on Canadian or Mexican steel, and they retaliate with a tariff on agricultural products knowing that Argentina and Brazil, our competitor, can fill the hole, all of a sudden you blow a hole in the inner important part of the economy of the state. I think of this as the president doing a cannonball into the low end of a swimming pool. The water's going to go everywhere, and you just don't know where it's going to hit.

The question is how fast will this all hit US economies, and how quickly can it be fixed, post Trump or with a blue wave in 2018?
posted by filthy light thief at 8:53 AM on March 5, 2018 [15 favorites]

Big wins for Russia in the Italian Elections.

While this grim news definitely warrants its own FPP, it's worth keeping in mind that Bannon is a big fan of the far-right Forza Italia, and Matteo Salvini, Forza Italia's leader, is a big fan of Trump.
posted by Doktor Zed at 8:56 AM on March 5, 2018 [2 favorites]

I read through Jane Mayer's New Yorker profile of Christopher Steele (linked above by Doktor Zed). It is long but very good. In addition to the big scoop regarding the new, late-Nov-2016, Steele memo about Romney, there were a few other things I hadn't heard before (or had forgotten):

Steele made first contact with the FBI agents in London on July 5, 2016 and shared his dossier memo (according to dates on the Dossier, this would have just been the first memo). An ongoing theme of the profile is Steele wondering why nothing was done over the summer and fall, and then finding other ways to get it out (first to the government, then the public). Steele met again with the FBI in late October, in Rome.
The Clinton Campaign wasn't notified of Steele's contact with the FBI by Fusion GPS --- as Glenn Simpson noted in his testimony to the Senate: "This was not considered by me to be part of the work we were doing. This was like you’re driving to work and you see something happen and you call 911". They only learned of the FBI investigation after Steele made contact with Mother Jones in late October.
Steele's raw intelligence memos were passed from his firm Orbis to Fusion GPS, which then orally briefed Marc Elias, of the DNC/Clinton law firm Perkins Coie. Information seemed to be getting through quickly, however, since almost immediately after Steele's late-July memo¹, Robby Mooks was on CNN (July 24, 2016) saying: "experts [CrowdStrike?] are telling us Russian state actors broke into the DNC, stole these emails, and other experts [Steele?] are now saying that the Russians are releasing these emails for the purpose of actually of helping Donald Trump"
Steele claims to have never provided the Dossier to journalists (some journalists who met with Steele in September and October 2016 confirm this). The most likely chain by which the Dossier became public is through a former aide to John McCain, David Kramer, who was sent to London by McCain after Steele requested a meeting with McCain in mid-November 2016. Kramer met with Steele in London and was then given a copy of the Dossier when he returned to Washington, after promising to share it only with McCain. "A lawyer for Kramer maintains that Kramer ... never promised to show the dossier only to McCain."
David Kramer reportedly had hoped McCain would confront Trump with the Dossier and force him to resign (Kramer denies this). Instead McCain met briefly with James Comey in early December 2016 and delivered the Dossier to him, which, of course, he already had.
The murder of Oleg Erovinkin on December 26, 2016 has been widely claimed to be connected to the Steele Dossier, but Mayer claims "Special Counsel Mueller is believed to be investigating a different death that is possibly related to the dossier."
Although Steele had been providing his dossier memos to the FBI since July 2016, Obama and Biden were not told about him or the Dossier until January 5, 2017, when the FBI and intelligence heads briefed them on the upcoming report on Russia meddling. Biden responded “If this is true, this is huge!”. Comey's briefing of Trump was the next day.

1 --- This memo, #95, was undated in the Steele dossier, but appeared between entries dated 19Jul and 30Jul. The New Yorker article claims a date of 26Jul, but that would place it after Mook's appearance on CNN.
posted by pjenks at 8:57 AM on March 5, 2018 [37 favorites]

Say, have you met the techbro who wants to drive down worker wages? His 2015 championing of a $15 minimum wage still sounds like a steal for home health care, and not enough to entice less-educated American citizens to a really physically, mentally demanding job.

I'm confused, it looks to me like that article is supporting a SEIU effort calling for home health care workers wages to increase, from the current average of $11/hr to $15/hr, so that the industry norm is to pay it's workers fairly and have labor costs reflected in the market prices, rather than having the health care providers competing with each other to cut prices by slashing worker pay.
posted by Reverend John at 8:59 AM on March 5, 2018 [1 favorite]

Doktor Zed, what did you mean by this:

... some of Steele's errors, such as the Guccifer 2.0 release timeline

I'm not familiar with the timeline error.
posted by pjenks at 9:01 AM on March 5, 2018 [4 favorites]

some of Steele's errors, such as the Guccifer 2.0 release timeline

This is one of Marcy Wheeler's criticisms of the Steele Dossier:

One reason all this matters is because of the way Mayer ignores the same thing every other Steele booster did: the release of Democratic documents by Guccifer 2.0 on June 15. Mayer, like all the other boosters, jumps immediately from the (erroneous) WaPo reporting on the DNC hack to the WikiLeaks release.[...]

As I’ve noted, repeatedly, the first Steele report, dated June 20 and so completed on the same day Guccifer 2.0 promised to release a “dossier” of his own on Clinton, describes the dirt Russians were peddling as old FSB intercepts, not recent hacked emails. The Steele report remained way behind public contemporaneous reporting on the hack-and-leak, and by jumping right to Wikileaks, boosters avoid dealing with several more reports that conflicted with known public facts.

So Guccifer 2.0 not only proves Steele’s sources were at best misinformed about the operation against Clinton and possibly even peddling disinformation, but — particularly given Simpson’s assertion that the Democrats were using the dossier to “understand what the heck was going on” it might have led Democrats to be complacent as they considered how to respond to the DNC hack.

The Steele Dossier remains raw intelligence, which the FBI was obliged to both investigate and interrogate, especially because of the possibility Russian intelligence services could have fed him disinformation to distract from his genuine discoveries about the Trump-Russia connections.
posted by Doktor Zed at 9:16 AM on March 5, 2018 [7 favorites]

Regarding the 4 most likely outcomes piece linked above... it says that the presidency is effectively over if Trump and/or his closest advisors are charged with felonies.

Is it though? Republicans will just shrug this off. What happens next?

I think it's a little too easy too say the Republicans (by which I mean GOP politicians) will just "shrug it off." It won't be business as usual if the sitting President is charged with crimes that carry a penalty of imprisonment.

If nothing else they'd have to take the position that the President can't be indicted, which is a viewpoint the previously opposed.
posted by snuffleupagus at 9:21 AM on March 5, 2018 [2 favorites]

If nothing else they'd have to take the position that the President can't be indicted, which is a viewpoint the previously opposed.

But we've already seen countless times that exactly this sort of hypocrisy is something the GOP is completely comfortable with. The Republican leadership does not act in good faith, and believes in the power of their party over the laws of the nation. They absolutely might just decide that it's in their political interest to shrug it off.
posted by biogeo at 9:29 AM on March 5, 2018 [33 favorites]

"Mueller has made his recommendation, now let him enforce it"
posted by sotonohito at 9:35 AM on March 5, 2018 [16 favorites]

Again, it may not be that easy to just "shrug it off."

What happens if Mueller just indicts Trump anyway and, eventually, the SCOTUS says the President can in fact be indicted?

At some point the Nixon-style resignation and pardon parade starts looking a lot more palatable to everyone. That's a much more realistic "shrugging off" -- the party doesn't really have to face the music, everyone moves on. Even Trump, whose ignominy will be limited by seclusion in Mar-o-Lago for however long he has left when the pardons he receives from his successor are wide enough to encompass his business dealings.
posted by snuffleupagus at 9:39 AM on March 5, 2018

: " it will increase the cost of their jet engine compared to Rolls-Royce, and you'll see the market shift. The backwash effects will be huge.
"

filthy light thief: "The question is how fast will this all hit US economies, and how quickly can it be fixed, post Trump or with a blue wave in 2018?"

Like the Climate Change pull out a trade war like this can have effects one never recovers from. Once a customer has inccured the cost of moving to a different engine because of price (and batshitcraziness) you can't win them back by going to the status quo; you have to give them reason that you are better rather than just as good.

snuffleupagus: "If nothing else they'd have to take the position that the President can't be indicted, which is a viewpoint the previously opposed."

Or they could just ignore it like they've been ignoring the emoluments clause violations. Trump should have been out the minute he didn't blind trust his assets.
posted by Mitheral at 9:40 AM on March 5, 2018 [23 favorites]

Guess Who's Not Coming To America? International Students

That is probably all for the best under the circumstances.

Best for them. Damaging to already devastated public universities.

Now mind you the headline is misleading - it is a 5% drop in undergrads and a 12% drop in graduate students. Still financially bad when schools are already facing a demographic slump and a shrinking middle class slump on top of the Republican state leaderships underfunding them. If the trend continues a lot of universities are going to end up closing up shop or radically paring back things like graduate education funding.
posted by srboisvert at 9:42 AM on March 5, 2018 [7 favorites]

Doktor Zed: Marcy Wheeler's criticisms of the Steele Dossier

Aha, thanks! Yes, I completely agree with her main point that the (particularly, left-leaning) media often muddles the timeline to make it look like the Steele Dossier predicted the hacking or the Wikileaks dump (NBC and Rachel Maddow made a particularly egregious error on this front about six months ago).

But, I don't necessarily agree that this is a weakness/error on Steele's part. The fact that he didn't catch the contemporaneous hack and dissemination as it happened just means that he wasn't plugged in at that level. But it doesn't discredit the information he does provide, just makes it complementary.

One small note, I think the "July 26th" error I mentioned in the footnote above stems from a typo on one of the Steele memos. He labeled memo #086 as July 26, 2016, but it is likely that this should be dated June 26, since it appears between 080 and 094, dated June 20th and July 19th, respectively. Marcy Wheeler uses this in one of the sub-linked articles to argue that Steele is only following the news reports; I agree, but he's doing it in response to the mid-June events, not the mid-July events.
posted by pjenks at 9:42 AM on March 5, 2018 [6 favorites]

“Whoever knowingly displays any printed...likeness of the...seals of the President...in...any advertisement...or on any building... in a manner reasonably calculated to convey...approval by the Government...shall be fined...or imprisoned not more than six months” 18 U.S.C. § 713

[Solon] was already engaged in public affairs and compiling his laws. Anacharsis, accordingly, on learning what Solon was about, laughed at him for thinking that he could check the injustice and rapacity of the citizens by written laws, which were just like spiders' webs; they would hold the weak and delicate who might be caught in their meshes, but would be torn in pieces by the rich and powerful. To this Solon is said to have answered that men keep their agreements with each other when neither party profits by the breaking of them, and he was adapting his laws to the citizens in such a manner as to make it clear to all that the practice of justice was more advantageous than the transgression of the laws. But the results justified the conjecture of Anacharsis rather than the hopes of Solon.

-Plutarch, Parallel Lives
posted by Iridic at 9:43 AM on March 5, 2018 [27 favorites]

Or they could just ignore it like they've been ignoring the emoluments clause violations. Trump should have been out the minute he didn't blind trust his assets.

We're not talking about impeachment. For all we know, emoluments-related charges could arise from Mueller's investigation.

Yes, in theory an indictment of Trump might not be an all-consuming news story that every Republican politician would have to respond to. And in theory Mike Pence might become a Hindu tomorrow.
posted by snuffleupagus at 9:45 AM on March 5, 2018

Doktor Zed: "While this grim news definitely warrants its own FPP"

There's an open post right now about the Italian election, if you want to discuss it.
posted by Chrysostom at 9:49 AM on March 5, 2018 [4 favorites]

Don't underestimate how quickly the political winds can change in response to an investigation like this. Once charges are laid down, they cut right through the ever-swirling bullshit and establish new parameters for the national conversation. Look at how Mueller's charges against the Russian IRA employees almost completely ended all calls to fire the special counsel. At that point, the basis for the investigation became widely accepted reality, and the investigation became much less vulnerable to political retribution.
posted by One Second Before Awakening at 9:51 AM on March 5, 2018 [17 favorites]

Historic meeting lauds lifetime power for Xi

Well this one sounds familiar

Hua Po, a Beijing-based political commentator, said Xi was handed "a mess" when he took office five years ago and needs more time to finish the job.

I can definitely see Trump echoing all the same rationales mentioned.

When the nightly news on the Singaporean television network the above link goes to relayed the initial announcement about the end of term limits a few days ago, they mentioned that the announcement was initially put out in English-language media before it showed up in Chinese. Dunno if that means anything, but I haven't seen it mentioned elsewhere.
posted by XMLicious at 9:52 AM on March 5, 2018 [1 favorite]

Emerson poll in PA-18 special has Dem Lamb up 48-45 on GOPer Saccone.

Special election polling is difficult, and Emerson didn't do particularly well in the VA governor or AL specials. This does seem in line with what we've been hearing anecdotally, though.

Election is a week from tomorrow.
posted by Chrysostom at 9:53 AM on March 5, 2018 [12 favorites]

But, I don't necessarily agree that this is a weakness/error on Steele's part. The fact that he didn't catch the contemporaneous hack and dissemination as it happened just means that he wasn't plugged in at that level. But it doesn't discredit the information he does provide, just makes it complementary.

Precisely. The Steele Dossier, for better or worse, remains the best overall map we have of Putin's operation, even though we've since learned much more about it since it was first brought to public attention way, way back at the end of October in 2016. ("The map is not the territory", as the old adage goes.)

The problem with this error/potential disinformation in Steele's account was a contemporary one. If the FSB got wind of his inquiries, as it almost certainly would have, they couldn't have prevented him from reporting the accurate information he had found to the Clinton campaign. What they could have done, however, would be to give him some chickenfeed, say, old information about FSB intercepts, that would distract the Clinton campaign from the newer, ongoing operation under Guccifer 2.0/Wikileaks.
posted by Doktor Zed at 9:57 AM on March 5, 2018 [6 favorites]

WaPo, The Trump Panama hotel showdown appears to end, and the Trump name is coming down. The Trump Organization must be too busy ordering illegal Presidential Seal tee markers to notice they're being run out of another country. And the majority owner's piano playing has gotten a bit on the nose:

Now, for the first time, Fintiklis seemed in control.

“And now, as you guessed it, I will play the piano,” Fintiklis told a crowd of reporters. He then began to play a tune on the piano in the hotel lobby, repeating a ritual that he had used to mark previous victories in the case. This time, he played what he said was a traditional Greek song, “Accordeon,” an anti-fascist anthem, and he sang along in Greek.

posted by zachlipton at 10:11 AM on March 5, 2018 [86 favorites]

White supremacist trust fund baby Richard Spencer is due to speak at Michigan State University this afternoon at 4:30 pm under the terms of a successful lawsuit against MSU. Both the Detroit Free Press and Lansing State Journal have been denied press access. Local attorney Kyle Bristow led the successful lawsuit against MSU, but has since resigned from his participation in various alt-right hate groups after being profiled in the press.

Various counterprotest activities are underway, and it appears that Spencer has been reduced to handing out tickets in the parking lot of a local Macy's.
posted by Existential Dread at 10:14 AM on March 5, 2018 [12 favorites]

I think there's a lot of merit in assuming that Republicans contain an infinite supply of cynical shrugging. "Yeah, maybe he laundered mob money, but Americans did elect a businessman", etc.

But there was also merit in "If gun laws don't change after Sandy Hook, they'll never change." This, too, was absolutely true -- until it wasn't. (It's at least apparent that the winds are changing.)

One key factor is if Trump continues to make life increasingly miserable, politically and otherwise, for Republicans. Gun control itself is a good example, given those outlandish comments about due process. Another area of misery, especially for corporate donors, is the proposed tariffs. And Donald's own personality is effective at accelerating the timeline (to both bad and good ends), because he's incapable of ceasing these weird personal grievances against even the people who serve as his best allies, like Sessions and Ryan. There's not even any straightforward way for them to address that problem, because of his hatred at being told what to do.

Don't fall into the trap of thinking that (a) the only things that can theoretically hurt Trump are legal and (b) his political teflon will permanently shield him from legal consequences. The man's ineptitude, narcissism, and general toxicity are nontrivial factors in the situation. He does have a solid floor of support in this country that will basically never waver, but their currently-extremely-outsized power is not unlimited.
posted by InTheYear2017 at 10:15 AM on March 5, 2018 [22 favorites]

Vladimir's cleaning up the loose ends

Critically ill man 'former Russian spy'
A man who is critically ill after being exposed to an unknown substance in Wiltshire is a Russian national convicted of spying for Britain, the BBC understands.
Sergei Skripal, who is 66, was granted refuge in the UK following a "spy swap" between the US and Russia in 2010.
Police declared a major incident on Sunday after a man and a woman were reported ill at a shopping centre in Salisbury.
The substance is still unknown.
posted by PenDevil at 10:21 AM on March 5, 2018 [30 favorites]

So from the New Yorker's Steele story:

Robert Hannigan, then the head of the U.K.’s intelligence service the G.C.H.Q., had recently flown to Washington and briefed the C.I.A.’s director, John Brennan, on a stream of illicit communications between Trump’s team and Moscow that had been intercepted. (The content of these intercepts has not become public.)

I am so damn tired of the secrecy here. At some point, sources and methods be damned, we need to know what actually happened.
posted by zachlipton at 10:22 AM on March 5, 2018 [16 favorites]

InTheYear2017: "I think there's a lot of merit in assuming that Republicans contain an infinite supply of cynical shrugging. "Yeah, maybe he laundered mob money, but Americans did elect a businessman", etc.

But there was also merit in "If gun laws don't change after Sandy Hook, they'll never change." This, too, was absolutely true -- until it wasn't. (It's at least apparent that the winds are changing.)"

Yeah. Not to be flip, but everything is true until it isn't. Or, as Herb Stein put it, "If something cannot go on, it will stop." The only strategy is to keep trying, otherwise you guarantee failure.
posted by Chrysostom at 10:24 AM on March 5, 2018 [25 favorites]

WSJ, Trump Lawyer’s Payment to Porn Star Was Reported as Suspicious by Bank

Mr. Cohen said he missed two deadlines earlier that month to make the $130,000 payment to Ms. Clifford because he couldn’t reach Mr. Trump in the hectic final days of the presidential campaign, the person said.

Ms. Clifford was owed the money in return for signing an agreement that bars her from discussing an alleged sexual encounter with Mr. Trump in 2006, people familiar the matter said.

After Mr. Trump’s victory, Mr. Cohen complained to friends that he had yet to be reimbursed for the payment to Ms. Clifford, the people said.

Well that's all extremely on-brand. The other interesting thing here is that Daniels' laweyer's bank opened an investigation into the transaction a year later, which is a good indication someone (Mueller?) was looking into it then.
posted by zachlipton at 10:28 AM on March 5, 2018 [23 favorites]

A man who is critically ill after being exposed to an unknown substance in Wiltshire is a Russian national convicted of spying for Britain, the BBC understands.

Another obvious assassination (attempt, so far) on UK soil. It looks like Skripal's been out of the game for a long time, so you'd think he'd be a low priority for something so bold. Unless a message is being sent that we will kill you no matter where you are or how old the beef is.

(cough)manafort(cough)
posted by Rust Moranis at 10:28 AM on March 5, 2018 [31 favorites]

srboisvert: Still financially bad when schools are already facing a demographic slump and a shrinking middle class slump on top of the Republican state leaderships underfunding them. If the trend continues a lot of universities are going to end up closing up shop or radically paring back things like graduate education funding.

Universities are getting hit with a LOT of negative factors at once: xenophobic visa policies that kill the interest of foreign students; shrinking high school class sizes; and a reduction in government financial aid because the Perkins loan program wasn't renewed last fall: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal_Perkins_Loan

I work in .edu and we really, really aren't spending the tuition money on scotch and jacuzzis and company cars. We are installing software that our accrediting body requires, and updating grotty old dorms, and putting wifi access points in every conceivable cranny of every building. (Shit, my employer has wifi in a horse barn.)
posted by wenestvedt at 10:47 AM on March 5, 2018 [26 favorites]

We've been over this about 1000 times since these POTUS45 threads started, but once more with feeling... none of this would amount to a charge of treason, because we're not at war with Russia.

Yeah people keep confidently and flatly making these statements about declared or ongoing war being somehow necessary for treason, to which I've been replying that Aaron Burr was charged with treason in 1807 but the first time the U.S. declared war was in 1812.

But besides that, petebest pointed out in a previous POTUS45 thread

RUSSIA COMMITTED ACT OF WAR WITH ELECTION INTERFERENCE, NIKKI HALEY SAYS (John Haltiwanger, Newsweek, October 19, 2017)

She added: "When a country can come interfere in another country’s elections, that is warfare. It really is, because you're making sure that the democracy shifts from what the people want. This is [Russia's] weapon of choice and we have to make sure we get in front of it."

And as chris24 said in the same previous thread,

By this standard a candidate who aided and abetted Japan in planning or executing Pearl Harbor wouldn't be guilty of treason since we didn't declare war until December 8th.

So even by the Constitutional definition of treason and according to his own administration, when Trump publicly called for a Russian cyberattack in his "Russia if you're listening..." message, he committed treason by levying war against the United States with slightly more than two witnesses.

He'll never be charged that way, hell may never even face any consequences for any of it, but as long as we're specific I see no reason why Trumpian Treason should ever be forgot. Especially since the Russian-Republican Axis and their propaganda machines aren't going to mince words over definitions or even pay lip service to reality in any way for that matter.
posted by XMLicious at 10:49 AM on March 5, 2018 [62 favorites]

He'll never be charged that way, hell may never even face any consequences for any of it, but as long as we're specific I see no reason why Trumpian Treason should ever be forgot. Especially since the Russian-Republican Axis and their propaganda machines aren't going to mince words over definitions or even pay lip service to reality in any way for that matter.

I couldn't agree any harder with this. Imagine what FOX News would look like if Clinton had taken any one of the meetings we know occurred between Trump associates and Russian intelligence. You think they would be quibbling over whether it meets the strict constitutional definition of a charge of treason? Of fucking course not, they'd be shouting treason from every single platform 24/7 for 4 years. They already said that and worse over Benghazi, for years.

Regardless of whether Mueller can bring the actual charge, the underlying intent was treason. The spirit of the act was treason. Democrats should be calling it treason everywhere from your personal Thanksgiving table to elected officials on every cable appearance. Use the appropriate political rhetoric, because it's warranted here, and let Mueller decide whether the legal definition is met.
posted by T.D. Strange at 10:56 AM on March 5, 2018 [66 favorites]

Schadenfreude of the day: In DC, no one wants to date Republicans.
posted by emjaybee at 11:04 AM on March 5, 2018 [47 favorites]

wenestvedt I work in .edu and we really, really aren't spending the tuition money on scotch and jacuzzis and company cars. We are installing software that our accrediting body requires, and updating grotty old dorms, and putting wifi access points in every conceivable cranny of every building. (Shit, my employer has wifi in a horse barn.)

Correct me if I'm wrong, but doesn't the lion's share of university money go into administrative costs? Especially insanely high salaries for executives?

Professors damn sure aren't getting any of the firehose of money pointed at education in the USA, tuition has increased at around three times the inflation rate over the past 70 years. And there's increasingly fewer professors as colleges turn instead to the indentured servitude of part time instructor for poverty wages.

Something has to change.
posted by sotonohito at 11:06 AM on March 5, 2018 [13 favorites]

Republicans 'extremely worried' by Trump's metal tariffs plan

leopards, faces
posted by Jacqueline at 11:10 AM on March 5, 2018 [34 favorites]

About the treason, during the NATO meeting not long ago, I heard several leaders saying to radio reporters that what Russia was doing now was de facto war. I guess they tried to pitch that as a method of changing the agenda re. Trump but were unsuccessful. I googled but couldn't find documentation, sorry.
Another thing I heard while driving was David Frum pitching his new book. I'm not sure I'm going to read it, but he sounded almost sane, and one thing that surprised me because he is American was that he said the lack of universal welfare (social security, healthcare) was a huge systemic mistake, because it led population groups to fight among each other and lose sight of the overall values. In Europe that is a normal conservative policy point, after all, it was conservative Bismarck who invented universal welfare. But I don't see it much coming from American conservatives.
posted by mumimor at 11:10 AM on March 5, 2018 [7 favorites]

Treason, fascism, white supremacy, incompetency, corruption. No problem.

Steel tariff. Hell no!

You be you GOP.
posted by chris24 at 11:12 AM on March 5, 2018 [48 favorites]

About the treason, during the NATO meeting not long ago, I heard several leaders saying to radio reporters that what Russia was doing now was de facto war.

I'm in agreement with historian Tim Snyder's opinion that the current situation is no longer an unofficial state of war between Putin's Russia and the USA, as we have lost that war: we are now, he argues, in a state of defeat and incipient colonization, this colonization being different than others in that it is ideological and technological, not physical.

The "treason," in this sense, is akin to collaboration with an occupying empire. Vichy/occupation-government officials might not technically be committing treason, there being no literal on-paper state of war, but I think most of us would say they are traitors in the deepest and most important sense.
posted by Rust Moranis at 11:23 AM on March 5, 2018 [27 favorites]

one thing that surprised me because he is American

Frum is Canadian.
posted by Lentrohamsanin at 11:24 AM on March 5, 2018 [7 favorites]

Still financially bad when schools are already facing a demographic slump and a shrinking middle class slump on top of the Republican state leaderships underfunding them. If the trend continues a lot of universities are going to end up closing up shop or radically paring back things like graduate education funding.

Anecdata only, but in my experience, international students have been propping up US higher education for years now, staving off collapse, and I fully expect that collapse to become un-stave-offable thanks to the current climate here. I hesitate to compare the situation to subprime loans, but an R1 state school which previously employed me absolutely designed a special admissions program to enroll students who were not yet prepared to pass the TOEFL or take coursework in English and then dumped them into regular gen-ed classes with zero preparation or support. Students said their advisors pushed them to take their gen-ed coursework first and reassured them that they'd get up to proficiency by the time they started taking classes in their major. It... often did not work out that way. There were no tutoring resources. Kids often struggled or failed outright; some had to rely on other students with whom they shared a language for basics like navigating campus or reading bus schedules; I had to help a few kids figure out their own course schedules, and some struggled to read the syllabus, let alone any of our assigned texts. But hey, they were paying full fare, so the university decided it was fine. That program did an absolute disservice to the students, and I'm happy if those students are no longer being used so cynically as revenue sources, but budgets were barely balancing even with that added revenue, and with other less-exploitative-but-still-very-active forms of international student recruitment at both the undergraduate and the MA level.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but doesn't the lion's share of university money go into administrative costs? Especially insanely high salaries for executives?

This is absolutely definitely A Thing, and administrative roles have been proliferating like mad -- I'm not even sure how many Vice Assistant Provosts of Something Or Other my old employer had by the time I left. (Somehow, money for that remained, even as entire departments were being shuttered.) But as wenestvedt says, infrastructure upkeep and improvement costs are considerable, given that many campuses were built decades ago and are now reaching the end of their designed lifespans, and that many campus buildings don't have the wiring or design to support the requirements of modern teaching. And there are increased demands / expectations for student support as well, including counselling and related services. And, of course, sports.
posted by halation at 11:24 AM on March 5, 2018 [28 favorites]

he sounded almost sane, and one thing that surprised me because he is American was that he said the lack of universal welfare (social security, healthcare) was a huge systemic mistake, because it led population groups to fight among each other and lose sight of the overall values.

I see that W's speechwriter implies it wasn't planned that way.
posted by rhizome at 11:25 AM on March 5, 2018 [4 favorites]

At some point, sources and methods be damned

What might "sources... be damned" look like when we're dealing with Russia? I think it could look like this:

A man who is critically ill after being exposed to an unknown substance in Wiltshire is a Russian national convicted of spying for Britain
posted by a snickering nuthatch at 11:27 AM on March 5, 2018 [9 favorites]

WaPo, Former Trump aide Sam Nunberg called before grand jury, says he will refuse to go

Nunberg said he does not plan to comply with the subpoena, including either testimony or providing documents.

“Let him arrest me,” Nunberg said. “Mr. Mueller should understand I am not going in on Friday.”

Nunberg said he was planning to go on Bloomberg TV and tear up the subpoena.
...
“The Russians and Trump did not collude,” Nunberg said. “Putin is too smart to collude with Donald Trump.”

“I’m not spending 80 hours going over my emails with Roger Stone and Stephen K. Bannon and producing them,” Nunberg said. “Donald Trump won this election on his own. He campaigned his ass off. And there is nobody who hates him more than me.”

Well that answers the question of who yesterday's subpoena reported by Axios and NBC belongs to.

Anyway, I don't think Nunberg would flourish in a prison environment.
posted by zachlipton at 11:38 AM on March 5, 2018 [74 favorites]

Anyway, please consider the image of Nunberg being held in contempt as you enjoy this delightful footage of the Trump name being ripped off the ~~Trump~~ International Hotel in Panama with a crowbar
posted by zachlipton at 11:40 AM on March 5, 2018 [67 favorites]

Anyway, please consider the image of Nunberg being held in contempt as you enjoy this delightful footage of the Trump name being ripped off the Trump International Hotel in Panama with a crowbar

Dangit, no way to get a screenshot of RUMP without the guy in the way but that guy is still my hero of the day
posted by Existential Dread at 11:42 AM on March 5, 2018 [12 favorites]

Congressional Republicans Lobby Trump To Back Down On Tariffs (NPR, March 5, 2018)

Fears of economic and political backlash are motivating senior congressional Republicans to move forward this week with public and private lobbying efforts aimed at getting President Trump to change his mind about tariffs he intends to levy on steel and aluminium imports.

"We are extremely worried about the consequences of a trade war and are urging the White House to not advance with this plan," AshLee Strong, a spokeswoman for House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., said in a statement. "The new tax reform law has boosted the economy and we certainly don't want to jeopardize those gains."

President Trump downplayed congressional GOP concerns. "I don't think you're going to have a trade war," he said Monday at the White House, where he defended his decision to crack down on imports. "People have to understand, our country on trade, has been ripped off by virtually every country in the world whether it's friend or enemy. Everybody."

The president noted that his efforts to renegotiate NAFTA continue as well. "We are renegotiating NAFTA as I said I would, and if we don't make a deal I will terminate NAFTA," he warned.

Congress is not ruling out possible legislative action to counter Trump's actions, although party leaders have no immediate plans to act if the president moves forward this week as stated with imposing tariffs of 25 percent on steel imports and 10 percent on aluminum imports.

Here's a crazy one: Trump applies a 25 percent tariff on steel? Invoke the 25th amendment. I know, that means getting Pence involved, and Pence has publicly promoted these tariffs, so we're back to impeachment.
posted by filthy light thief at 11:42 AM on March 5, 2018 [13 favorites]

Anecdata only, but in my experience, international students have been propping up US higher education for years now, staving off collapse, and

My former employer, a polytechnic turned global symbol for high tech, relied heavily on the former Soviet Union's mathematics education pipeline for graduate student teaching assistants. It's not quite like how a certain neighboring school recruited undergrads from the scions of the world's kleptocratic elite, but a ramen-eating grad student costs a lot less than a tenured math professor.

Lots of ways for this shit to whack America's academic prowess.
posted by ocschwar at 11:43 AM on March 5, 2018 [9 favorites]

a screenshot of RUMP

Don't worry, photographers had this covered from all sides.
posted by zachlipton at 11:45 AM on March 5, 2018 [27 favorites]

Congress is not ruling out possible legislative action to counter Trump's actions, although party leaders have no immediate plans to act if the president moves forward this week as stated with imposing tariffs of 25 percent on steel imports and 10 percent on aluminum imports.

As somebody upthread noted, THIS is what gets you fuckers energized against the fascist toddler, huh? Impressive, those principles of yours.
posted by Rykey at 11:47 AM on March 5, 2018 [4 favorites]

More from that NPR summary:

Ways and Means Committee Chairman Kevin Brady, R-Texas, and the panel's trade subcommittee chairman, David Reichert, R-Wash., have also drafted a letter to the president outlining concerns about new tariffs. They are seeking additional signatures from House Republicans. Aides said lawmakers were hoping to avoid a confrontation with the administration and rather work with the president to enact trade policies the broader GOP can get behind.

Guys, letters? To get his attention, you gotta shell out some money for a FOX News ad. If you're going on the cheap, did you at least include his name in every sentence of the letters? And praise him a lot?

He's your monster, surely you know how to manage him. What, you don't want a leopard any more? You should have thought of that back in 2016.
posted by filthy light thief at 11:48 AM on March 5, 2018 [13 favorites]

I'm in agreement with historian Tim Snyder's opinion that the current situation is no longer an unofficial state of war between Putin's Russia and the USA, as we have lost that war: we are now, he argues, in a state of defeat and incipient colonization yt , this colonization being different than others in that it is ideological and technological, not physical.

I think we have enough reason to fear/loathe Trump and Putin without inventing new meanings of old words.
posted by MisantropicPainforest at 11:48 AM on March 5, 2018 [1 favorite]

It surprised me how easy it was to tear off the letters of the Trump name... isn't there another set on the top of the building?
posted by oneswellfoop at 11:51 AM on March 5, 2018 [1 favorite]

Nunberg called into MSNBC to rant. He's there doing it right now.
posted by Ray Walston, Luck Dragon at 11:52 AM on March 5, 2018 [5 favorites]

Oh my god. This dude is manafucked.

He says that it's fine if Russia hacked Clinton's emails, and it's fine if Trump wanted them to get them out because Clinton should have protected her emails. I guess this guy feels Mueller's breath on the back of his neck.
posted by Justinian at 11:54 AM on March 5, 2018 [31 favorites]

tuition has increased at around three times the inflation rate over the past 70 years.

State aid to colleges had been drastically cut back due to the artifical budget shortages created by repeated Republican tax cuts. This has always been part of the plan. The attack on universities for administrative bloat has been eagerly embraced by conservatives who don't like universities -- it's important to check who is behind various studies.
Another factor is the diversion of students and financial aid to worthless and predatory for-profit colleges (DeVos, Trump).
A third is the need to have up to date technology, which is by no means just wifi. Science is the name of the game, and obviously technology gets outdated very quickly. When you discuss "administrative jobs," are you counting librarians, programmers and the IT support staff?
A fourth is that common applications have made colleges more nationally competitive, with students often applying at 25-30 colleges instead of five to ten as they would have 25 years ago. One result is both more marketing staff, and a race to provide more amenities in dorm housing, gyms, etc.

Here are some solid baseline data:
Who's Worth More: the Administrator or the Professor? by Dian Schaffhauser, CampusTechnology.com
Discusses the study "How Much is Too Much? Controlling Administrative Costs through Effective Oversight"

How Many Administrators Are Too Many? by Jenny Rogers, Chronicle of Higher Education
Drills down on one state university (of Nebraska) and goes very in depth.
posted by msalt at 11:55 AM on March 5, 2018 [28 favorites]

@Ed_Demaria: "I think it would be funny if they arrested me" - Sam Nunberg, on the phone with @KatyTurNBC

This was soon followed by "By the way, I think my lawyer's gonna dump me."

Sam...get ready to do some comedy.
posted by zachlipton at 11:55 AM on March 5, 2018 [50 favorites]

Tax nerds: Marty Sullivan discusses the "chaos" surrounding implementation of the tax bill's business provisions on CSPAN (27 min). Warning: they take questions from callers.
posted by melissasaurus at 11:55 AM on March 5, 2018 [4 favorites]

zachlipton: “The Russians and Trump did not collude,” Nunberg said. “Putin is too smart to collude with Donald Trump.”

“I’m not spending 80 hours going over my emails with Roger Stone and Stephen K. Bannon and producing them,” Nunberg said. “Donald Trump won this election on his own. He campaigned his ass off. And there is nobody who hates him more than me.”

Those are three very interesting statements:

1) Putin is the smart one here (and who would he collude with instead? Would Trump's associates be enough of a distinction here? Maybe Putin's associates and Trump's associates, you know, for plausible deniability?)

2) Donald won the election, on his own, through his own hard work, and/but

3) I hate him the most, I'm totally not a shill. I was an advisor of his because of ... the money? Or because no one would hire a racist idiot who posts racist shit on Facebook (with a gnarly Punisher icon, natch)? Or do you hate him because he fired you for posting racist shit?
posted by filthy light thief at 11:56 AM on March 5, 2018 [5 favorites]

manafucked

Genuinely can't tell if this is a portmanteau on Manafort or a Magic: The Gathering reference.
posted by cortex at 11:57 AM on March 5, 2018 [52 favorites]

Nunberg is now talking about Bill Clinton's illegitimate black children
posted by Ray Walston, Luck Dragon at 11:57 AM on March 5, 2018 [9 favorites]

Genuinely can't tell if this is a portmanteau on Manafort or a Magic: The Gathering reference.

TAP THE SWAMP
posted by halation at 11:58 AM on March 5, 2018 [104 favorites]

But hey, they were paying full fare, so the university decided it was fine. That program did an absolute disservice to the students, and I'm happy if those students are no longer being used so cynically as revenue sources,

Not to mention the infamous "your graduation rate isn't high enough" if they're not passed, or ah...dealing with people who don't exactly seem prepared and yet somehow are graduating anyway.

This is absolutely definitely A Thing, and administrative roles have been proliferating like mad -- I'm not even sure how many Vice Assistant Provosts of Something Or Other my old employer had by the time I left. (Somehow, money for that remained, even as entire departments were being shuttered.)

"But...but...if we don't have high enough salaries for our executives, we can't get the absolute cream of the crop!" Uh, maybe you can't *afford* the best of the best to take large amounts of money, go to meetings, and not get all that much done then? Not that I'm cynical....
posted by jenfullmoon at 12:00 PM on March 5, 2018 [4 favorites]

Nunberg is now talking about Bill Clinton's illegitimate black children

Is this dude just drunken stupor remembering the time he watched "Primary Colors" 8 years ago?
posted by PenDevil at 12:01 PM on March 5, 2018 [1 favorite]

TAP THE SWAMP

Build that wall and give it flying.
posted by Rust Moranis at 12:02 PM on March 5, 2018 [25 favorites]

@chrisgeidner: Nunberg, on a discussion he had with Bannon after talking to the special counsel's office: "We both feel like Trump may have done something during the campaign."

Nunberg's position seems to be: Trump might be guilty, and he won't cooperate with the investigation. Oh, and he was asking Katy Tur for legal advice, asking what Mueller might do.
posted by zachlipton at 12:04 PM on March 5, 2018 [23 favorites]

Nunberg's position seems to be: Trump might be guilty, and he won't cooperate with the investigation.
so:

• i was a participant in a campaign that is probably guilty of espionage with a foreign power to subvert the election
• there is one man in the entire united states that can probably disentangle my complicity in said campaign
• lol, that guy can fuck right off

if i was his lawyer, i'd fire his ass too.
posted by murphy slaw at 12:09 PM on March 5, 2018 [63 favorites]

At the risk of liveblogging, Nunberg also waveringly asked Katy Tur what she though Mueller might do to him

You should seek this out and watch if you can
posted by Ray Walston, Luck Dragon at 12:12 PM on March 5, 2018 [4 favorites]

I want an Odd Couple reboot with Nunberg and Scaramucci like yesterday.
posted by rc3spencer at 12:14 PM on March 5, 2018 [10 favorites]

You should seek this out and watch if you can

Found it!
posted by Jacqueline at 12:14 PM on March 5, 2018 [11 favorites]

Found it!

Alas, it cuts off. Anyone got a complete video?
posted by Jacqueline at 12:16 PM on March 5, 2018

Here's another segment later in the call.
posted by Jacqueline at 12:22 PM on March 5, 2018 [10 favorites]

Maybe it's cut off, but it's crazy!
posted by mumimor at 12:22 PM on March 5, 2018 [1 favorite]

Omg Nunberg. It's total gaslighting. "I have to go through emails and provide them? WHAT! WHAT?! INAPPROPRIATE! OVER THE LINE!" Nthing try to watch those clips. IT'S ALL IMPLODING
posted by robotdevil at 12:29 PM on March 5, 2018 [5 favorites]

Yeah, one minute in and I'm like, "Right, yes, they do want that stuff. Why does what you think about it matter?"
posted by rhizome at 12:29 PM on March 5, 2018 [1 favorite]

🚨🚨🚨 He... he's just called in to CNN as well. Oh my god.

It's just as good as the MSNBC call.
posted by Justinian at 12:30 PM on March 5, 2018 [19 favorites]

Why is he calling into these "fake news" outlets and not the safe harbour that is Fox news?
posted by PenDevil at 12:32 PM on March 5, 2018 [14 favorites]

I am eager for this new Moon Law theory that you don't have to respond to a federal subpoena if you find it ridiculous to get a thorough hearing in court.

Anyone want to place odds that someone involved in the Trump campaign will refuse to appear because they are a Freeman on the Land?
posted by murphy slaw at 12:34 PM on March 5, 2018 [6 favorites]

BTW did y'all notice that there was a spy whose real name was Sipher in that New Yorker article about Steele. This timeline, the writers etc.
posted by mumimor at 12:34 PM on March 5, 2018 [8 favorites]

Why do all of these people keep talking to whoever will listen without their lawyer present? It's like none of them have ever watched a police procedural. When the law comes for you, you're supposed to shut the hell up. Don't talk to cops, don't talk to media, don't talk to your spouse or kids or business associates unless you're certain nobody else is listening. Talk to your lawyer and only your lawyer. If you must communicate to somebody else, have your lawyer write the statement, or, if it's necessary to do it in person, have your lawyer sitting next to you.
posted by jackbishop at 12:35 PM on March 5, 2018 [29 favorites]

Nunberg on CNN say he thinks the reason he is being called back is his testimony on Miss Universe 2013 in Moscow. Seth Abramson is gonna have a coronary.
posted by Justinian at 12:37 PM on March 5, 2018 [24 favorites]

The bit where Nunberg says that Trump was probably going to endorse Clinton if he lost the primary is something else.

He's now telling CNN that Trump is "too smart to have women come up to his room," but that Schiller told him Emin offered to send women to his hotel room in Moscow.

And, you know, "Trump may have very well done something during the election with the Russians"
posted by zachlipton at 12:38 PM on March 5, 2018 [8 favorites]

After Nunberg rattles off the list of emails he's expected to supply, like the subpoena is just some out-of-nowhere demand, Katy Tur strikes a spot-on tone of subtle, confused exasperation: "Um, this is the special counsel. He's investigating Donald Trump?" Also her reply to "I'm not a fan of Donald Trump, did you know that?", a deadpan "You've... said it."

It's the kind of voice I've been hearing from reporters a lot lately, for example when Jake Tapper had to inform a Roy Moore lawyer (during his Alabama race against Doug Jones approximately thirty years ago in Trump Time) that there's no legal requirement for a US Senator to swear on a Christian Bible.
posted by InTheYear2017 at 12:38 PM on March 5, 2018 [26 favorites]

He's dropping names left and right to support djt but he's just dragging more people into this! This is the best thing ever.
posted by numaner at 12:39 PM on March 5, 2018 [38 favorites]

Shep Smith is covering Nunberg on Fox News right now and it's already glorious. Think he'll call in there next?
posted by Rust Moranis at 12:39 PM on March 5, 2018 [6 favorites]

Omg Nunberg. It's total gaslighting.

Yep, that would explain why I've found myself, at different points on this bizarro timeline, saying things to myself like "If I were as wealthy and powerful as these people, I guess I *would not* tweet, write, or say criminally actionable things, especially if there was no conceivable reason it would benefit me to do so. But... is that the *correct* take? If I were smarter, would I understand why it would be a *good idea* to own-goal myself at every turn?"
posted by Rykey at 12:41 PM on March 5, 2018 [4 favorites]

Nunberg honestly sounds drunk.
posted by Ray Walston, Luck Dragon at 12:41 PM on March 5, 2018 [4 favorites]

Sam just got another call and asked if he could put CNN on hold for a sec
posted by theodolite at 12:41 PM on March 5, 2018 [36 favorites]

"I think it would be funny if they arrested me" - Sam Nunberg

Hey me too!
posted by saturday_morning at 12:42 PM on March 5, 2018 [73 favorites]

From that second Katy Tur interview link:

Nunberg: "Why should I produce for them my communications...?"

Tur: "Are you ready to go to jail?"

That single question triggers a rant for the ages. And Katy Tur just keeps needling him at just the right time to keep him ranting, and keeps silent when the good stuff is flowing.
posted by vverse23 at 12:43 PM on March 5, 2018 [46 favorites]

Why do all of these people keep talking to whoever will listen without their lawyer present? It's like none of them have ever watched a police procedural.

Sam Nunberg IS a lawyer. Which is incredible.

Or at least he went to law school, he doesn't seem to be barred in New York or have ever held a JD required job.
posted by T.D. Strange at 12:44 PM on March 5, 2018 [11 favorites]

I'm gonna second the drunk thing.
posted by parm=serial at 12:45 PM on March 5, 2018 [1 favorite]

From that second Katy Tur interview link: "Sam, did you find an email in the last 24 hours that made you worried? An email you didn't want to hand over? A text message?"

Damn fine questioning there, Katy. And you came up with that one off the top of your head!
posted by hanov3r at 12:45 PM on March 5, 2018 [27 favorites]

Let us all please take a moment to recognize that this is real life.

The journalists on the teevee are kinda shellshocked. They've never seen anything like the last week either.
posted by Justinian at 12:46 PM on March 5, 2018 [54 favorites]

Sam Nunberg IS a lawyer. Which is incredible.

Or at least he went to law school, he doesn't seem to be barred in New York or have ever held a JD required job.

Going to law school teaches you tremendously little about the actual practice of being a lawyer. You learn about case law and how precedents work and that sort of thing, and there's usually a small class on lawyer responsibilities. You don't learn anything about actual practice.
posted by mightygodking at 12:46 PM on March 5, 2018 [7 favorites]

Sam just got another call and asked if he could put CNN on hold for a sec

I'm guessing that's his lawyer calling to scream SHUT UP SHUT UP SHUT UP
posted by Jacqueline at 12:47 PM on March 5, 2018 [88 favorites]

The journalists on the teevee are kinda shellshocked. They've never seen anything like the last week either.

Pretty sure that applies to every one of the last sixty consecutive weeks as well.
posted by FelliniBlank at 12:47 PM on March 5, 2018 [21 favorites]

The specific objections to emails by Nunberg is magically, hilariously tragic. He admits that a bunch of emails between him and Bannon and Stone are them looking at crazy fucking shitpost videos and giggling with each other and saying terrible, terrible things. This is not an uncommon practice in those circles, and so, so much of these ideas and memes are email forwards. So much so that official campaign material looks like email forwards. Everything that my spam-inbox fields from RNC and donaldtrump.com fundraising emails is designed to look like an email forward, down to the repeated message and header info as you scroll down.

Such a perfect mirror in which to stare at those buttery males.
posted by carsonb at 12:50 PM on March 5, 2018 [8 favorites]

What's hilarious about this is that every time Nunberg complains about how much time he'd have to spend putting together documents to comply with the subpoena, he uses a different number. He told MSNBC it would take him 50 hours, then 80 hours. He told Haberman it would take 30 hours. He told Dawsey 80 hours.

And for someone who has such strong feelings about having his time wasted, he has a lot of time to call into TV networks.

If he wants to just give me his email password, we can take care of this with no additional time spent on his part.
posted by zachlipton at 12:51 PM on March 5, 2018 [47 favorites]

Meanwhile, in Michigan:
- Matthew Heimbach of the violent fascist group Traditionalist Workers' Party has been spotted.
- One fascist supporter of Spencer was arrested in Pittsfield Township for pointing a gun at counterprotesters
- Strong antifascist turnout, including witches!
posted by Existential Dread at 12:52 PM on March 5, 2018 [23 favorites]

Going to law school teaches you tremendously little about the actual practice of being a lawyer.

Trust me I remember. I'm going to go out on a limb and say given his resume, plus this performance today and Touro Law Center's abysmal bar passage rate, Mr. Nunberg probably never passed the bar.
posted by T.D. Strange at 12:55 PM on March 5, 2018 [10 favorites]

He told MSNBC it would take him 50 hours, then 80 hours. He told Haberman it would take 30 hours. He told Dawsey 80 hours.

I was all up in Nunberg's time estimations for providing the emails, but then I realized he's talking about how long it would take to go in before the grand jury and discuss the emails not how long it would take to actually archive them and submit them for review. Well, that's the reasonable explanation, which in this case might actually not be right. If he's actually talking about how long it would take him to generate a list and then archive all of his emails to a few different people then that's just a particularly nasty gish gallop. Plus, if (IF!!!) he agrees to submit his emails it's going to take at least a few days (2 weeks?) to get them listed and archived and faxed in to Mueller.
posted by carsonb at 12:55 PM on March 5, 2018 [1 favorite]

Donald J. Trump @realDonaldTrump
It’s March 5th and the Democrats are nowhere to be found on DACA. Gave them 6 months, they just don’t care. Where are they? We are ready to make a deal!
12:37 PM - 5 Mar 2018

IHBT. IHL. HAND.
posted by Talez at 12:57 PM on March 5, 2018 [8 favorites]

Something people may be wondering about; Nunberg could try to invoke his 5th amendment privilege to avoid answering questions once he appeared at the grand jury but it is important to note that there is (mostly) no 5th amendment privilege to avoid providing documents. So he cannot get around supplying whatever it is that obviously has him so rattled.
posted by Justinian at 12:57 PM on March 5, 2018 [9 favorites]

After all the shit Katy Tur had to endure during the election season, I'm ecstatic she's finally getting to do this.
posted by JoeZydeco at 12:57 PM on March 5, 2018 [38 favorites]

Every time they throw up a Sam Nunberg file photo I'm expecting something like this
posted by theodolite at 1:00 PM on March 5, 2018 [12 favorites]

hees baaack.... (on jake tapper)
posted by pjenks at 1:02 PM on March 5, 2018 [3 favorites]

So do they have to wait until Nunberg no-shows on Friday to arrest him or can they go pick him up now based on his stated intention to not comply?
posted by Jacqueline at 1:04 PM on March 5, 2018

Holy crap, Nunberg was in my dorm in undergrad!
posted by Grither at 1:04 PM on March 5, 2018 [22 favorites]

Shannon Pettypiece (Bloomberg): This is the OJ White Bronco chase of the Mueller investigation
posted by T.D. Strange at 1:05 PM on March 5, 2018 [79 favorites]

This wouldn't be happening if Trump had waited the extra five minutes for Nunberg's fucking burger.
posted by Rust Moranis at 1:07 PM on March 5, 2018 [25 favorites]

TFW you spend a few moments researching the anti-fascist song sung by the guy reclaiming the hotel in Panama that Trump (mostly Ivanka) had been using to launder drug cartel money and suddenly a week of politics and posts has passed.

Also, you just know that the "Nunberg Trials" headline is coming.
posted by Buntix at 1:07 PM on March 5, 2018 [19 favorites]

Bunch of stuff nixed here and there the last little while. I know this Nunberg thing is nutty but please try to keep the spit-takes at least halfway contextualized and substantial, y'all.
posted by cortex (staff) at 1:08 PM on March 5, 2018 [9 favorites]

@PreetBharara
I'm prepared to bet Special Counsel Mueller's team already has Sam Nunberg's emails. Even if you have someone's emails from other parties to them or from the service provider, you ask for them anyway. Among other things you learn a lot when people selectively disclose.

---

@chrisgeidner (Buzzfeed)
Nunberg, now on CNN, about Carter Page: "Gimme a break, do you think I would ever talk to that moron?"

---

Yeah, why would I think you were a similar moron.
posted by chris24 at 1:08 PM on March 5, 2018 [44 favorites]

After all the shit Katy Tur had to endure during the election season, I'm ecstatic she's finally getting to do this.

Omg dude I never knew, Katy Tur. I usually don't watch videos because reading's a lot faster, but this was worth every second of watching. Especially at the end:

Nunberg: ". . . Trump very well may have done something during the election . . . I don't know what it is. I could be wrong, by the way."

("OMG did that really just happen" pause)

Katy Tur: "Sam Nunberg . . . (sigh) . . . Remarkable." (around 16:00)

YAS
posted by robotdevil at 1:09 PM on March 5, 2018 [25 favorites]

Currently underrated tweet (found by a simple Twitter search for "Nunberg" so I have no idea who the account is)

Sam Nunberg playing the role of Carter Page this week
posted by InTheYear2017 at 1:11 PM on March 5, 2018 [7 favorites]

Nunberg: "Carter Page was colluding with the Russians."
posted by Ray Walston, Luck Dragon at 1:13 PM on March 5, 2018 [11 favorites]

Are there loud thumping sounds in the background of the call as if a number of burly Republicans were trying to open Nunberg's door with a battering ram
posted by murphy slaw at 1:14 PM on March 5, 2018 [12 favorites]

Maybe I've read too many spy thrillers and crime thrillers, but what I'm reading in between the lines of Nunberg's statements is: "I know I'm not long for this world. I can't tell you exactly where to look and what to look for because then 'They' will destroy the evidence. But I am pointing you in the right direction to find out what Trump did. Please tell my family I love them and I am so, so sorry."

Just how many novels, term papers, and theses are going to be written about all of this by the time all is said and done? Actually, at this rate, will there even ever be a time when all is said and done?
posted by lord_wolf at 1:15 PM on March 5, 2018 [26 favorites]

Are there loud thumping sounds in the background of the call as if a number of burly Republicans were trying to open Nunberg's door with a battering ram

There actually are occasional thumps and thuds and I am maddening myself trying to figure out what he's bumping into or futzing with.
posted by Rust Moranis at 1:17 PM on March 5, 2018 [3 favorites]

Frankly the thought that Nunberg was aping Page was the first thing I thought of, before I even saw the video. Chaos from this crowd has always been meaningless. How do I know? Because when Trump or his administration wants to do anything real, it takes days-if-not-weeks of convincing the nation that they're actually going to try to do a thing.

Their natural state is sloth, so as to drown the baby of government in the bathtub, so they have to simulate activity, and this (similar to Trump's tweets) is what that looks like. Put it this way: which of Carter Page's words have ever amounted to anything?
posted by rhizome at 1:18 PM on March 5, 2018 [2 favorites]

Speaking on behalf of lower-level academic-support type jobs (coordinators etc), those have also been downsized and squeezed in dozens of ways. IME universities offer low salaries but good benefits for those types of jobs, which tends to keep the jobs semi-desirable... but if unis start cutting benefits for them, expect your or your kids' academic departments to be run by mostly student workers.
posted by nakedmolerats at 1:19 PM on March 5, 2018 [6 favorites]

Put it this way: which of Carter Page's words have ever amounted to anything?

I don't think we'll have a full accounting of that until Mueller prosecutes the last person in relation to this investigation.
posted by murphy slaw at 1:19 PM on March 5, 2018 [4 favorites]

If Nunberg needed to get a message to Trump, this would be the way to do it.
posted by peeedro at 1:20 PM on March 5, 2018 [20 favorites]

@NatashaBertrand: ! Tapper: Do you think Donald Trump knew nothing about that [Trump Tower] meeting?
Nunberg: "No. You know he knew about it. He was talking about it a week before...I don't know why he went around trying to hide it."

I wish there were more follow-ups on exactly what Trump said about the meeting.

Nunberg seems obsessed with wanting confirmation that "I'm the first person to ever do this, not cooperating." Which...dude you're not the first person to consider ignoring a subpoena. Courts know how to deal with you.

Anyway, if this keeps up, he's going to be calling into the Hallmark Channel by this evening.
posted by zachlipton at 1:20 PM on March 5, 2018 [38 favorites]

Nunberg's not licensed to practice in New York. He did direct a few legal non-profits, but he may not have needed a license to do those jobs.

Nunberg to Tur: "They wanted every email I had with Roger Stone and Steve Bannon. Why should I hand them emails from Nov. 1, 2015? I was thinking about this today, Katy, I was preparing it....should I spend fifty hours going over all my emails with Roger and Steve Bannon. And then they wanted emails that I had with Hope Hicks. With Corey Lewandowski. Are you giving me a break? It's ridiculous."

What's ridiculous is the smile that short list put on my face. Huzzah!
posted by snuffleupagus at 1:22 PM on March 5, 2018 [3 favorites]

CNN's Kaitlan Collins @kaitlancollins:

Roger Stone's statement in response to whatever that was that Sam Nunberg just did:
STONE: "I was briefly part of the Trump campaign and have been the President's friend and adviser for decades; and would expect that Mueller's team would at some point ask for any documentats or emails sent or written by me. But let me reiterate, I have no knowledge or involvement in Russian Collusion or any other inappropriate act."

Nunberg repeatedly referred to Stone in his NBC call as his friend and mentor. (OK, he was drunk enough to refer to him at one point as "Roger Stump", but we all know what he meant.)
posted by Doktor Zed at 1:22 PM on March 5, 2018 [12 favorites]

If Nunberg needed to get a message to Trump, this would be the way to do it..

Bingo. I try to always remember that as gleeful as I’d like to get, so many of these thingns aren’t as dumb, or as good for us as they seem.
posted by cashman at 1:24 PM on March 5, 2018 [8 favorites]

@NatashaBertrand
Nunberg: "Mueller has enough on Trump. He doesn't need me giving him information on Steve Bannon and Roger Stone."

@joshtpm
Of the gazillion things that interest me abt this is that when Nunberg keeps saying he won't turn over emails he KEEPS TALKING ABOUT BANNON. But he left the campaign maybe a year before Bannon joined the campaign. What's up with that?

@swin24 (Daily Beast)
Nunberg is on CNN now talking about Corey Lewandowski and Hope Hicks’s “affair.”

@MikeDelMoro (ABC)
"Donald Trump caused this because he's an idiot" - Former aide to Trump, Sam Nunberg, to @jaketapper

@chrislhayes
Is Nunberg...just drunk dialing cable news control rooms now?

@jimgeraghty (National Review)
Right now Carter Page is watching CNN and saying, "Man, that guy Nunberg's got problems."
posted by chris24 at 1:25 PM on March 5, 2018 [67 favorites]

Is there some public knowledge that corresponds to "He [Trump] was talking about it [the meeting with Veselnitskaya] a week before"? Right now, the official (obviously bogus) story is that Don Sr simply didn't know about it at the time (despite officially being in the building then) and maybe not until Don Jr tweeted it out. Or did I miss something?
posted by InTheYear2017 at 1:25 PM on March 5, 2018 [2 favorites]

Meanwhile John O. Brennan (CIA Director '13 - '17) tweets out this in response to Trump asking why Obama started the investigation:

This tweet is a great example of your paranoia, constant misrepresentation of the facts, and increased anxiety and panic (rightly so) about the Mueller investigation. When will those in Congress and the 30 percent of Americans who still support you realize you are a charlatan?

That's a spicy meatball
posted by PenDevil at 1:25 PM on March 5, 2018 [93 favorites]

Bingo. I try to always remember that as gleeful as I’d like to get, so many of these thingns aren’t as dumb, or as good for us as they seem.

but nothing could possibly be as dumb as this seems
posted by murphy slaw at 1:27 PM on March 5, 2018 [26 favorites]

A view from the other world: the chyron for Fox News's hot breaking story right now is "Former Dick's Sporting Goods employee on why he quit to protest retailer's new gun policies."
posted by Rust Moranis at 1:28 PM on March 5, 2018 [42 favorites]

Ugh, don't make me cheer for D/CIAs.

"Donald Trump caused this because he's an idiot" - Former aide to Trump, Sam Nunberg, to @jaketapper

Huh, I wonder if this is a signal, "Dude, you're going to need to keep playing dumb."
posted by rhizome at 1:28 PM on March 5, 2018 [1 favorite]

CNN: Former Trump Aide Refusing Mueller Subpoena: 'Screw That'

And more from Kaitlan Collins @kaitlancollins:

Regarding the 2013 Miss Universe pageant, Sam Nunberg tells @GloriaBorger that he was told by Keith Schiller that Emin Agalarov offered to send women up to Trump’s room but that Trump refused. “He’s too smart for that.”

Sam Nunberg to @jaketapper: “I think Mueller has enough on Trump. He doesn’t need me to start giving information on Roger Stone and Steve Bannon.”

It wasn’t just us watching those interviews — multiple officials in the West Wing were listening to Sam Nunberg with rapt attention. They said they were stunned by his freewheeling interviews. “Bizarre and nuts.”

posted by Doktor Zed at 1:30 PM on March 5, 2018 [10 favorites]

This tweet is a great example of your paranoia, constant misrepresentation of the facts, and increased anxiety and panic (rightly so) about the Mueller investigation. When will those in Congress and the 30 percent of Americans who still support you realize you are a charlatan?

That's a spicy meatball

That is maybe the understatement of the century, and also the past century.
It's happening.
But I think we all have to breathe and get that even if it is happening, it will still happen too slowly for our damaged hearts.
posted by mumimor at 1:33 PM on March 5, 2018 [14 favorites]

They said they were stunned by his freewheeling interviews. “Bizarre and nuts.”

Eh, the thing about this is that it legitimizes Kremlinology, which I think is a cliff we are all walking along.
posted by rhizome at 1:33 PM on March 5, 2018 [1 favorite]

streets need a sam nunberg x quincy jones interview tho
posted by numaner at 1:34 PM on March 5, 2018 [9 favorites]

Is there some public knowledge that corresponds to "He [Trump] was talking about it [the meeting with Veselnitskaya] a week before"

If I were trying to defend Nunberg, I would point to Trump's pre-publicized press conference on Hillary dirt, which sort of fizzled.
posted by pjenks at 1:35 PM on March 5, 2018 [4 favorites]

I'm not joking about Nunberg checking into rehab. Not only does he seem drunk and/or high right now, but checking into rehab would also give him an excuse to not show up on Friday and to delay going through his emails and texts. Plus then he can pull the whole "I may have done some bad things but that was then and now I'm sober" thing.
posted by Jacqueline at 1:35 PM on March 5, 2018 [7 favorites]

I don't want to get too celebratory because I'm worried what the manufactured headline-grabbing counter-outrage will be here.
posted by snuffleupagus at 1:36 PM on March 5, 2018

Tim Mak confirms Sam Nunberg is licensed to practice law in New York in good standing. I checked myself, SAMUEL DAN NUNBERG of Touro Law Center was admitted in 2013, registration number 5133699.

So why the hell is he asking news anchors what will happen to him for ignoring a subpoena?
posted by zachlipton at 1:39 PM on March 5, 2018 [26 favorites]

He is? Didn't come up when I searched....being that cavalier about ignoring a subpoena is pretty nuts.
posted by snuffleupagus at 1:40 PM on March 5, 2018

So why the hell is he asking news anchors what will happen to him for ignoring a subpoena?

It's rhetorical. Or at least he believes it is. He thinks they won't come for him.
posted by Bovine Love at 1:41 PM on March 5, 2018 [1 favorite]

OK, here's his registration. He's a lawyer....for now.
posted by snuffleupagus at 1:42 PM on March 5, 2018 [1 favorite]

@AP: BREAKING: Sen. Thad Cochran, a Republican from Mississippi, says he will resign April 1.
posted by zachlipton at 1:43 PM on March 5, 2018 [77 favorites]

Uh, maybe you can't *afford* the best of the best to take large amounts of money, go to meetings, and not get all that much done then?

I think that is interesting how the Republican narrative on higher education is so dominant, that is pretty much unthinkingly repeated by both sides.

I mean the main point of the Republican "Too many administrators! Paid too much! WHAAARGLEBARGLE!" line is to justify slashing university budgets into non-existence. And instead of actually questioning it, instead of maybe doing a dialog about the complexity of school administration and infrastructure, liberals and leftists nod their heads and say" Oh yeah. Too much administration. Whaaarglebargle."

Locally, we've opened a new center specifically to help international students, we've upgraded our computer systems to modern standards, and we've had to increase our scurry presence, including" Run Hide Fight" training. But you don't hear any of that, just stories about how international students are being screwed over and overpaid administrators.

When both Republicans and Democrats parrot the same lines, it's obvious the fight is lost.
posted by happyroach at 1:44 PM on March 5, 2018 [23 favorites]

Hmm.

I wonder how they'll find someone worse.
posted by Artw at 1:46 PM on March 5, 2018 [2 favorites]

After a freak-out like this, Nunberg's emails are 100% incriminating somehow. The only question is whether it's about collusion, financial crimes, or some gross unrelated horror that would still destroy his life.

I didn't know of Katy Tur before 2016, but the election sure trained me to look up and listen whenever I hear her name. I watched the beginning of that clip and kept wanting them to get rid of the picture montage while Nunberg talked so I could see her face. She had to know the camera wasn't on her, though, so in light of that I'm dying to see her facial reactions while he talked.
posted by scaryblackdeath at 1:47 PM on March 5, 2018 [15 favorites]

He's just going to slap on a goatee and come back as "Chad Thocran".
posted by Lentrohamsanin at 1:47 PM on March 5, 2018 [15 favorites]

Then again I suppose if Nunberg saw her jaw hit the desk he might've shut up. Probably smart of her and/or the producers not to show her while he babbled.
posted by scaryblackdeath at 1:48 PM on March 5, 2018 [2 favorites]

It's true that Trump himself would obviously angrily refuse to help anyone with such harsh words about him. But does that rule out the possibility of Nunberg trying to send a message to somebody? And if so, who?

Earlier today it occurred to me that the heavy rate of turnover means Trump seems to lack any kind of dependable, consistent member of his inner circle who would serve as a main Russia liaison. Like, Manafort is the one who recommended Pence for VP, but who recommended Manafort? That New Yorker article says the Kremlin wanted Romney to not be secretary of state -- who specifically in the Trump camp was told this?
posted by InTheYear2017 at 1:54 PM on March 5, 2018 [4 favorites]

The thing I took most from Nunberg's interviews was the underlying and overweening sense of white male privilege. The laws of the land don't apply to him, he is used to doing pretty much whatever he wants, when he wants and woe betide anyone who should challenge his unfettered right to go about his business without impediment. I'll show them, I am not gonna actually spend any time on this, because, well, fuck it, I shouldn't have to. You wanna make me do something I don't want to? Well, I show you... Eric Cartman has nothing on this dude.
posted by vac2003 at 1:55 PM on March 5, 2018 [27 favorites]

Locally, we've opened a new center specifically to help international students, we've upgraded our computer systems to modern standards

I mean, I am glad to hear that, but in my system, that's not the case, and I do not think my system is an outlier. My system's reaction to insufficient university budgets and stalling enrollment has involved levying endless fees on the undergrads, foregoing needed maintenance on classroom buildings while opening a new sports complex, adding surcharges to dining hall food (leaving a not-inconsiderable number of students food-insecure, leading some of the undergrads to literally start a campus food pantry), and going on upper-end admin hiring sprees while closing departments and firing the support staff of remaining departments (sure, make five departments share a single office manager, we really need to pay an External Engagement Provost a $200K salary, and the money has to come from somewhere, that's totally reasonable). I hope this isn't too much of a derail, and I understand if it is... but I'm in this system, have been for years, and I think it's incorrect to categorise criticism of that system as simplistic 'WHARRGARBL ADMIN BAD.'
posted by halation at 1:56 PM on March 5, 2018 [21 favorites]

Or at least [Nunberg] went to law school, he doesn't seem to be barred in New York or have ever held a JD required job.

Yeah he is, in NY and DC.
posted by ryanrs at 1:58 PM on March 5, 2018 [1 favorite]

@jeremyherb: Just asked Devin Nunes if he or his staff leaked the Warner texts. His answer: "You guys never give up do you? They just come out here and they give it to you, and then you run with it. You guys are geniuses. You are great, great reporters."

That's a lot of words, but none of them are "no."
posted by zachlipton at 2:00 PM on March 5, 2018 [69 favorites]

Daily Beast White House reporter Asawin Suebsaeng @swin24: "…. I’m positive I’m not the only WH reporter who got preemptive texts from Trump WH officials being like what in the fucking hell is going on rn"

The NYT's Maggie Haberman @maggieNYT heard from Nunberg, too, of course:

Nunberg says Trump often sounds "like a moron" but that the Mueller probe is "a witch hunt"

Sam Nunberg, Ex-Trump Aide, Says He Will Refuse Order to Appear Before Grand Jury
“They have requested a ridiculous amount of documents,” Mr. Nunberg said. “Should I spend 30 hours producing these? I don’t know what they have. They may very well have something on the president. But they are unfairly targeting Roger Stone.”[...]

“I was fired within six weeks” of the campaign’s start, Mr. Nunberg said, despite having “saved” Mr. Trump during a fight with Senator John McCain, Republican of Arizona, that summer after Mr. Trump’s remark that Mr. McCain was not a war hero because he was captured during Vietnam. Mr. McCain was shot down during the war and imprisoned for more than five years in Hanoi, refusing early release even after being beaten repeatedly.

If Nunberg's public meltdown is a rat-fucking operation he dreamed up with Roger Stone, then I would have to hand it to them. That's the closest thing to sense that I can make out of this situation except for the obvious.
posted by Doktor Zed at 2:00 PM on March 5, 2018 [12 favorites]

oh my god. jake tapper trying to let him go and he hangs on for 20 more seconds to ask Jake to tell him "i'm the first, right? i'm the first to do this right?" is both the funniest and the saddest thing i will hear all week and it's only mondya
posted by numaner at 2:01 PM on March 5, 2018 [18 favorites]

today reminds me of that Denis Leary bit where he goes "My generation watched Lee Harvey Oswald get shot on live TV and was scared to change the channel for the next 20 f$&@ing years!"

i need to run some errands but i'm afraid to stop refreshing all the news sites in my browser
posted by murphy slaw at 2:04 PM on March 5, 2018 [19 favorites]

But does that rule out the possibility of Nunberg trying to send a message to somebody? And if so, who?

Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity.
posted by chris24 at 2:04 PM on March 5, 2018 [17 favorites]

Hahahahahaha!

@ReutersPolitics
JUST IN: U.S. No. 2 Senate Republican Cornyn says seeking senate finance committee hearings on possible steel and aluminum tariffs
posted by chris24 at 2:09 PM on March 5, 2018 [32 favorites]

If Nunberg needed to get a message to Trump, this would be the way to do it..

The hilarious part is he's apparently talking to everyone BUT Fox, the direct hotline to Trump.
posted by FelliniBlank at 2:11 PM on March 5, 2018 [4 favorites]

> chris24:
"JUST IN: U.S. No. 2 Senate Republican Cornyn says seeking senate finance committee hearings on possible steel and aluminum tariffs"

Huzzah, Article I makes its appearance.
posted by rhizome at 2:11 PM on March 5, 2018 [11 favorites]

Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity.

I've read that saying many, many times over the past two years, but never acknowledging that these people are clearly both malicious and stupid. As I recall, the classical attribution of that quote is to Napoleon, who was referring to a blunder caused by one of his own men, i.e. someone ostensibly on his side. It does not mean that we should rule out malice in all cases. Feigning madness has an ancient pedigree in the history of war.
posted by J.K. Seazer at 2:13 PM on March 5, 2018 [11 favorites]

I mean the main point of the Republican "Too many administrators! Paid too much! WHAAARGLEBARGLE!" line is to justify slashing university budgets into non-existence. And instead of actually questioning it, instead of maybe doing a dialog about the complexity of school administration and infrastructure, liberals and leftists nod their heads and say" Oh yeah. Too much administration. Whaaarglebargle."

Go talk to some department heads and faculty. Be sure and say their concerns are all Whaaarglebargle and that they are betraying the liberal cause by echoing Republican talking points.

(I'm assuming you have good medical insurance otherwise do not do this.)
posted by srboisvert at 2:14 PM on March 5, 2018 [7 favorites]

re: university administrators (halation, etc.)

What I don't understand is, how does the narrative about hiring so many administrators make any sense (except as an anti-university talking point)?

Why would college presidents cut literally everything useful to hire more unnecessary provosts, causing their schools to decline and collapse? Because that's the narrative. What's in it for them?
posted by msalt at 2:15 PM on March 5, 2018 [3 favorites]

So, Mississippi. Best case scenario we make the GOP spend a fuckton of money defending a Senate seat they never thought they’d have to defend? In this fucking crazy year, I will take it.
posted by lydhre at 2:15 PM on March 5, 2018 [7 favorites]

Four Alarm Fire In Trumpland?
(Josh Marshall | TPM)

We just had some very stunning, bizarre developments in the last hour or so having to do with one-time Trump aide Sam Nunberg.

For months, really more than a year, Nunberg has been out there, remaining loyal to the President but also taking pot shots at others in the Trump inner circle he seems to have grudges against. The news today, first broken by The Washington Post, is that Nunberg has received a subpoena to appear before the Mueller grand jury and produce emails from his time with the Trump campaign. But he is refusing to do either.

Of course, you can’t do that. You can plead the 5th amendment. But you can’t just not show up. You also can’t refuse to produce emails based on the 5th amendment, except under quite limited circumstances. And Nunberg long predates the presidency so there’s zero executive privilege claims.

Nunberg then went on MSNBC and gave what I would call a emotional, sometimes defiant interview in which he repeated his refusal, dared Mueller to arrest him and said that he had heard things from the Mueller investigators that made him think President Trump ‘may have done something during the election.’ We will have a full write up and video shortly. But it was a meltdown kind of interview.

More to come.

posted by Barack Spinoza at 2:17 PM on March 5, 2018 [16 favorites]

There's no doubt these fools have malice in their hearts. It's also clear they're not playing 12th dimensional chess. Sometimes stepping on a rake is stepping on a rake, not some clever ploy.
posted by chris24 at 2:19 PM on March 5, 2018 [13 favorites]

It's not infinite-dimensional chess, Trump &co modus operandi: lie, cheat, steal in plain sight, and swagger. They think they can own-goal their way to the finish line by sheer shamelessnes. Its the Audacity of Dopes!
posted by Anchorite_of_Palgrave at 2:20 PM on March 5, 2018 [18 favorites]

I've read that saying many, many times over the past two years, but never acknowledging that these people are clearly both malicious and stupid. As I recall, the classical attribution of that quote is to Napoleon, who was referring to a blunder caused by one of his own men, i.e. someone ostensibly on his side. It does not mean that we should rule out malice in all cases. Feigning madness has an ancient pedigree in the history of war.

I think the danger is in seeing subtle eleventh-dimensional chess moves under every tree and bush. Yes, I think that the current administration is malicious stupidity all the way down. No, I don't think Sam Nunberg's public meltdown is some kind of "there's more to this than meets the eye" ratfucking. Nunberg's freakout is what it is - he didn't think he'd get caught, now he did, and he's shitting his pants.

It's brown pants all the way down for this administration right now. Let's hope it turns out more like Watergate and not Iran-Contra.
posted by Rosie M. Banks at 2:20 PM on March 5, 2018 [15 favorites]

So, Mississippi. Best case scenario we make the GOP spend a fuckton of money defending a Senate seat they never thought they’d have to defend? In this fucking crazy year, I will take it.

i mean, we shouldn't assume the primary process doesn't turn up another paedophile until it's done, I guess.
posted by Artw at 2:21 PM on March 5, 2018 [3 favorites]

So, Mississippi. Best case scenario we make the GOP spend a fuckton of money defending a Senate seat they never thought they’d have to defend? In this fucking crazy year, I will take it.

Black voters were 29% of the electorate in Alabama's special Senate election. Mississippi is 37% percent black.
posted by chris24 at 2:23 PM on March 5, 2018 [28 favorites]

Universities aren't really run by Provosts and Presidents, or they are but they are in turn controlled by Boards of Trustees, and those Trustees are mostly corporate stooges, even at nominally 'public' universities. Wherever corporatism runs rampant, pointless administrative middle management sprouts up like a cancer.
posted by aiglet at 2:25 PM on March 5, 2018 [17 favorites]

numaner: jake tapper trying to let him go and he hangs on for 20 more seconds to ask Jake to tell him "i'm the first, right? i'm the first to do this right?"

Without seeing that segment, I was guessing that he meant the first person to talk about Mueller's contacts today, but here's a longer quote: "Jake, I'm definitely the first person to ever do this right? Flat out say I'm not cooperating."

Was he trying to swagger and bluff on TV? It sounds like no one was impressed, and everyone was concerned for him. Was he in search of a supportive person? Trying to drum up public support? So many questions.
posted by filthy light thief at 2:27 PM on March 5, 2018 [4 favorites]

Hey, remember this from upthread? BONUS: Behind Trump's jokes about Kim Jong-un—"As far as dealing with a madman is concerned, that's his problem, not mine."—he apparently let slip that the US and North Korea would be holding talks of some kind—"But we will be meeting and we'll see if anything positive happens." (c.f. Yonhap News Agency @YonhapNews: (URGENT) Moon's special envoys to take two-day trip to Pyongyang from Monday: Cheong Wa Dae)

lol jk: You know how Trump said the North Koreans “called up a couple of days ago” and asked for talks? Turns out he was talking about his phone call with South Korea’s president Moon, according to Yonhap (Twitter link to the Washington Post's Anna Fifield)
posted by yasaman at 2:28 PM on March 5, 2018 [19 favorites]

Adam Serwer (Atlantic): Among other things Sam Nunberg's TV appearance may have given Mueller probable cause to get a warrant seize his emails
posted by chris24 at 2:30 PM on March 5, 2018 [47 favorites]

So, fun fact, Katy Tur's parents covered the OJ White Bronco chase from a helicopter.
posted by zachlipton at 2:30 PM on March 5, 2018 [96 favorites]

Not entirely sure what was intended to be a joke there, but Nunberg really is doing Melber's show. At one point, he promised to rip up his subpoena there, though he also promised that honor to Bloomberg TV.
posted by zachlipton at 2:33 PM on March 5, 2018 [8 favorites]

Was he trying to swagger and bluff on TV? It sounds like no one was impressed, and everyone was concerned for him. Was he in search of a supportive person? Trying to drum up public support? So many questions.

It really strikes me as him hoping to start up a stonewalling effort against Mueller to stop the insanity. By a drunk. And naturally he wants credit for such an effort before it even begins.

So, fun fact, Katy Tur's parents covered the OJ White Bronco chase from a helicopter.

They say when you stare into the abyss, the abyss stares back. But Katy Tur just got drunk-dialed by the abyss on live TV and she just let it roll.
posted by scaryblackdeath at 2:33 PM on March 5, 2018 [50 favorites]

I got the impression that Nunberg would like literally die if he stops talking. He’s the human equivalent of the bus from Speed.
posted by Barack Spinoza at 2:34 PM on March 5, 2018 [45 favorites]

Why would college presidents cut literally everything useful to hire more unnecessary provosts, causing their schools to decline and collapse? Because that's the narrative. What's in it for them?

Why do corporations hire expensive C-suite people to (figuratively) strip all the copper out of the buildings and run them into the ground? Same game, slightly different pieces. The same 'we need to run it like a business!' nonsense that has ruined American democracy has also infected education in America, because usually the people who sit on the boards of these institutions are expensive C-suite people who run hedge funds and whatnot. Sometimes, the college presidents actively try to stop the board from this nonsense, or at least plead the case, but they don't have much power and can be ignored or replaced. There is a focus on the 'bottom line' that ignores the system as a whole; 'profitable' majors are well-funded while the 'useless' humanities departments get axed. This is shortsighted, of course -- not just in the philosophical 'what is an education?' sense but also in an economic sense. Many 'profitable' schools within a university are profitable because they outsource a lot of their majors' gen-ed requirements to humanities departments, meaning they need to offer fewer courses and therefore can get away with hiring fewer adjuncts. The people on the board don't necessarily have any experience in education, either from a teaching or an administrative perspective; they crunch the numbers and they treat it like a business. (Even treating a business 'like a business' can be a terrible idea, when profitability is your major metric of success.)

Couple these basic misunderstandings with a misplaced faith in the value of 'optics.' The provosts are all supposed to do things like network with private industry to attract grant money, and leverage their connections to raise the profile of the school, and provide 'strategy' and 'vision' and various other expensive buzzwords. Some of them, at my old institution, were brought in to address genuine needs: improving diversity, for example. Others are there to do stuff like 'improve social media engagement,' which was supposed to *something something* ~enrollment and alum donations!!!!~
posted by halation at 2:34 PM on March 5, 2018 [12 favorites]

chris24: Among other things Sam Nunberg's TV appearance may have given Mueller probable cause to get a warrant seize his emails

How do we know he hasn't already received the request for emails? After reading Rosie M. Banks' comment: No, I don't think Sam Nunberg's public meltdown is some kind of "there's more to this than meets the eye" ratfucking. Nunberg's freakout is what it is - he didn't think he'd get caught, now he did, and he's shitting his pants.

I see this as what's happening - he's been requested to review his emails, and somewhere he heard that other people spent 80 hours going through their emails, and like a kid who forgot he had a big report due tomorrow, freaked out. Except he decided to freak and/or bluster on TV.

odinsdream: Has anyone put together a link to all of today's Nunberg interviews? I keep seeing references to stuff, but don't really have a clue where they're coming from. I can't even figure out *how many* interviews he did today.

CNN said he did 3 interviews (including an auto-playing video segment), then there's his call to Jake Tapper (two embedded videos that seem to cut off the end of his segment), and I don't know what the 3rd was, and how many more there actually were.
posted by filthy light thief at 2:35 PM on March 5, 2018 [5 favorites]

How do we know he hasn't already received the request for emails?

He's received a subpoena requiring him to produce the emails. A warrant would allow Mueller to seize them from Nunberg or his provider. IANAL, but a subpoena is typically a requirement for you to perform an act. A warrant allows others to take those things.
posted by chris24 at 2:38 PM on March 5, 2018 [4 favorites]

"Jake, I'm definitely the first person to ever do this right? Flat out say I'm not cooperating."

He's not, by the way. Susan McDougal refused to speak to Special Prosecutor Ken Starr. She served 18 months in prison as a result, and was one of very few people to do any time as a result of the Whitewater => Lewinsky multiyear investigation.
posted by msalt at 2:38 PM on March 5, 2018 [28 favorites]

Can we please adjourn the university derail at a time like this? It's a derail where we're really busy.
posted by stonepharisee at 2:38 PM on March 5, 2018 [23 favorites]

McConnell urges Mississippi governor to consider Cochran Senate seat (WaPo)

The idea, which McConnell (R-Ky.) discussed directly with GOP Gov. Phil Bryant this week, would give Republicans a formidable candidate in advance of a possible special election in the state later this fall.

[...]

McConnell is determined not only to protect his majority but add to it in November’s midterm elections, and the behind-the-scenes maneuvering over Mississippi reflects his attempt to avoid the calamity of the Alabama Senate race.

[...]

A self-appointment by Bryant would complicate the ambitions of state senator and attorney Chris McDaniel, a foe of McConnell, who ran a failed primary campaign against Cochran in 2014, and has been preparing for another run.

There's a whiff of desperation to this maneuver. Historically, voters tend to resent self-appointments as power grabs. Of the nine governors who have tried, only one (Kentucky's Albert "Happy" Chandler) managed to survive the subsequent primary and election.
posted by Iridic at 2:39 PM on March 5, 2018 [6 favorites]

why would college presidents cut literally everything useful to hire more unnecessary provosts, causing their schools to decline and collapse? Because that's the narrative. What's in it for them?
This is a huge derail but I really hope someone will put together a post about it. It's not just universities, it's a lot of institutions who feel pressured to serve a growing demand for documentation in a very narrow economic sense of that word. And while the understanding of "documentation" is narrow in the sense that it is singularly economic, it is all encompassing in the sense that there is no end to the demands on this documentation. (because of what halation said, there is this sick idea that you can run a public institution like a business, with a board composed of business leaders). How many articles have the professors published? How many weeks are the alumni jobless before finding a job? How much is their lifetime earning? How many citations do the articles the professors publicize get (regardless of their subject or validity)? How many hours have the staff spent on servicing a research project or a sick student?
You can apply all of this to hospitals and to public schools, and to police districts, and it corrupts the entire system.
For a lot of institutions, the answer is to focus on management and communication rather than quality. I just changed jobs because my old workplace completely lost any idea of what their mission is in their effort to please their political sponsors and board members, which in my view is a suicide approach.
posted by mumimor at 2:42 PM on March 5, 2018 [10 favorites]

I'm gonna bite my tongue on the university derail because I am staff at a university, and we work damned hard to provide service to the whole university community. I'll just post this sad and hilarious denouement to the Nazi drama at MSU:

@DavidHarns: Sad man in a suit speaking to a teeny tiny audience in the Livestock Pavilion.

Salutes to all the protestors there!
posted by Existential Dread at 2:45 PM on March 5, 2018 [16 favorites]

Folks, the college thing is indeed getting to be a conspicuous derail. If someone makes a post, great, but in the mean time please let it drop in here.
posted by cortex (staff) at 2:47 PM on March 5, 2018 [9 favorites]

Panoramic shot of the entire audience for Fucking Nazi Asshole Spencer's "talk" at MSU.

God knows how much the university sank into security, when the public univs. of Michigan are on the brink of impending kazillion-dollar state budget cuts (plus MSU's other $$ issues).
posted by FelliniBlank at 2:47 PM on March 5, 2018 [31 favorites]

Nunberg has moved on to regional cable channels, calling into NY1 to call Sarah Huckabee Sanders "a joke" and "a flat slob," saying he doesn't care if she attacks him because she works for someone with a 30% approval rating.
posted by zachlipton at 2:52 PM on March 5, 2018 [42 favorites]

Nunberg must be driving around in a Bronco. If he was at home his attorney would've broken the door down and wrestled the phone away from him.

Consciousness of guilt is a helluva thing.
posted by chris24 at 2:53 PM on March 5, 2018 [23 favorites]

Sam Nunberg's genius plan appears to be:

1. Call up anyone in the media who will listen and say the most damaging things I can think up.
2. ?
3. ?
posted by notyou at 2:56 PM on March 5, 2018 [22 favorites]

Nunberg has moved on to regional cable channels, calling into NY1 to call Sarah Huckabee Sanders "a joke" and "a flat slob," saying he doesn't care if she attacks him because she works for someone with a 30% approval rating.

General request for the thread: bring back the [real] and [fake] tags, because today is surreal.
posted by Mister Fabulous at 2:57 PM on March 5, 2018 [41 favorites]

The regional thing is real. Someone else tweeted he just called the Weather Channel and it tells you where we're at that I am only 80% sure thats fake.

Also: Nunberg is now live in person on Ari Melber. He's really doing this. This is happening. So tune in if you can.
posted by Justinian at 3:01 PM on March 5, 2018 [17 favorites]

Nunberg is live with Ari Melber on msnbc right now. If you want to watch another self-immolation.
posted by Barack Spinoza at 3:02 PM on March 5, 2018 [3 favorites]

Trump to consider elephant trophy imports on 'case-by-case' basis

Because there is no bottom.
posted by Rust Moranis at 3:02 PM on March 5, 2018 [50 favorites]

Nunberg is back on MSNBC, actually in the studio this time. He's holding the subpoena.

@Olivianuzzi: I just accidentally called Sam Nunberg's mom, who told me he's not available because "he's not doing well." She's very nice!

The Daily Beast gang report his friends are concerned he's drinking:

One associate urged Nunberg, a witness in Mueller’s probe, not to do anything stupid and to go to his parents’ house immediately. According to this source, Nunberg promptly hung up. Minutes later, the former Trump campaign aide was on MSNBC via phone, starting a mid-Monday media blitz that would include several different shows on CNN and MSNBC.
...
“What the fuck is this guy doing,” one senior Trump aide asked The Daily Beast, mid-Nunberg-rant. Another source said they saw another White House official “facepalm” as they reacted to a Nunberg interview in real-time this afternoon.

posted by zachlipton at 3:04 PM on March 5, 2018 [31 favorites]

General request for the thread: bring back the [real] and [fake] tags, because today is surreal.

[real]
posted by T.D. Strange at 3:05 PM on March 5, 2018 [2 favorites]

Nunberg, paraphrased:

I know where bodies are buried. If anything illegal had happened, that is, which it didn't. But I am so loyal. So completely loyal to the people who will totally have me shot if I testify honestly. But if I don't, I'm going away for a while for perjury. So I am announcing that I am SO LOYAL and SO DEFIANT and SO NOT going to share any hard drives full of emails that have nothing incriminating in them. Nope. Mueller will never ever ever see caches of emails on hard drives. Especially not on this particular hard drive. This one here. This one. This shiny, candy-coated one. oh god _somebody save me and I don't care who_
posted by delfin at 3:06 PM on March 5, 2018 [25 favorites]

Ari just tried to be nice and say people are worried about him. His response was to say Sarah Huckabee should shut up. He said he's warning her to shut up. And again that she works for someone with 35% approval.
posted by chris24 at 3:06 PM on March 5, 2018 [11 favorites]

He just said Trump is responsible for this for being so stupid. Because he fired Comey and blabbed with the Russians in the Oval Office.
posted by chris24 at 3:07 PM on March 5, 2018 [12 favorites]

I need beta blockers just to watch this shit
posted by theodolite at 3:10 PM on March 5, 2018 [11 favorites]

He just said they asked questions about Roger Stone that they would only know if they already had Stone's emails.

You also said he'd beat up Corey Lewondowski in an alley if he had the chance.
posted by chris24 at 3:10 PM on March 5, 2018 [11 favorites]

This is really compelling trainwreck viewing. You can tell that Ari is a gifted lawyer. But there’s a mix of almost paternal concern for Numberg’s well-being, too. I’ve never seen anything like this.
posted by Barack Spinoza at 3:11 PM on March 5, 2018 [3 favorites]

Damn.

I don't know this guy, I don't like what I've seen of him, and I'm pretty sure he bears more than a little responsibility for where we are right now, but at this point what I truly and sincerely want for him is to be surrounded by people who love him, who will take away all of his electronic devices, and who will take turns sitting in a watchful vigil over him until he comes down off of whatever he's on and/or makes it back to a more stable emotional state.

Good God.
posted by lord_wolf at 3:12 PM on March 5, 2018 [8 favorites]

God, I've never wished I had cable news at my house as much as I do right now.
posted by One Second Before Awakening at 3:12 PM on March 5, 2018 [26 favorites]

Does anyone know who is currently representing Nunberg? Apparently he was previously represented by... his mom?
posted by halation at 3:12 PM on March 5, 2018 [1 favorite]

Sam thinks it's a funny and daring and smart idea to play chicken with Bobby Three Sticks Mueller. I think he is going to learn differently about that. Perhaps he's unaware that Mueller is the guy who, when his own criminal defense clients would describe their situations, would reply, "Well, it sounds like you should go to jail then."
posted by FelliniBlank at 3:12 PM on March 5, 2018 [11 favorites]

One Second Before Awakening, MSNBC Streams audio live
posted by Brainy at 3:13 PM on March 5, 2018 [3 favorites]

If Nunberg needed to get a message to Trump, this would be the way to do it..

Anybody who's spent any time at all in Trump's orbit knows he's a narcissist who responds well to flattery & very poorly to anything else. You might not want to admit it out loud but they all know it. So there's no way he'd try influencing him while calling him an idiot & saying he hates him. If there's a message in there, it's not for Trump.
posted by scalefree at 3:13 PM on March 5, 2018 [3 favorites]

Carter Page comes off as a freak. Him being super weird/too talkative is uncomfortable but understandable.

This is more of a regular guy having a psychotic break.
posted by chris24 at 3:13 PM on March 5, 2018 [4 favorites]

God, I've never wished I had cable news at my house as much as I do right now.

You can listen to the audio here
posted by robotdevil at 3:14 PM on March 5, 2018

Whether he’s drunk or unwell or what have you, I think he’s making it pretty clear that he’s falling on his sword to protect Roger Stone, his mentor, from a perjury charge.

Aaaaand there’s the first coke-sniff. Good lord.
posted by Barack Spinoza at 3:14 PM on March 5, 2018 [10 favorites]

Yeah, Carter Page is an egg-hatched curiosity but what we're looking at now was once a man born of woman and it's a sorry sight. There's definitely a chemical element to this, probably an organic one too.
posted by Rust Moranis at 3:16 PM on March 5, 2018 [11 favorites]

I'm with Spinoza. Nunberg may be spinning out but he's spinning out in order to protect Roger Stone who is a truly despicable human being. I have no sympathy for him. This is exactly how a high pressure investigation works. You want these guys to crack. This shows it's working.

Nunberg should have known that when you lie down with dogs you get up with fleas.
posted by Justinian at 3:16 PM on March 5, 2018 [26 favorites]

Earlier Preet Bharara: Sam Nunberg, do you do podcasts?

And just now on MSNBC they chyron-ed this Preet tweet, Nunberg "I like his podcast"
posted by T.D. Strange at 3:20 PM on March 5, 2018 [15 favorites]

Ari Melber now has legal expert Maya Wiley on basically exposing the utter weirdness of Nunberg’s behavior and Nunberg looks 30 seconds away from shouting: “You’re damn right I ordered the Code Red!”

(no more livebloggish updates from me. I just can’t believe my eyes, is all.)
posted by Barack Spinoza at 3:22 PM on March 5, 2018 [10 favorites]

you can watch live here on their site but you need a cable subscription. time to phone a friend!

he looks a lot less drunk than he sounds. the coke thing might true.

"trump is the most disloyal person you're ever gonna meet"

Ari Melber is focusing on how this is about Nunberg defying the subpoena which is so not the thing to focus on. Nunberg keeps talking about wanting to defend Stone.

Maya Wiley is on now and she is making the point that if he wants to defend Stone so much just obey the subpoena and let the emails prove Stone is innocent.
posted by numaner at 3:23 PM on March 5, 2018 [2 favorites]

She's basically saying "uhh, you know you're not above the law, right, dummy?"

And he's still arguing.
posted by robotdevil at 3:24 PM on March 5, 2018

Nunberg: "Why don't they indict Podesta?"

We're about 20 minutes away from Pizzagate references here, people.
posted by Rust Moranis at 3:24 PM on March 5, 2018 [3 favorites]

BUT HER EMAILS

mark your bingos folks!
posted by numaner at 3:25 PM on March 5, 2018 [8 favorites]

Ok, last comment on this. I swear.

Ari: We’ll be bringing in a federal prosecutor...
Nunberg: *looks in a panic over his left shoulder*
Ari: ... to comment on this.

[100% REAL]
posted by Barack Spinoza at 3:27 PM on March 5, 2018 [132 favorites]

BUT HER EMAILS

The only comeback is "Right now, this is about your emails. What's in them that's making you think you should ignore the subpoena?"
posted by nubs at 3:27 PM on March 5, 2018 [6 favorites]

She sounds like she’s talking to a man on a ledge. “We want you home for Thanksgiving, Sam.”
posted by Countess Elena at 3:28 PM on March 5, 2018 [13 favorites]

It seems clear to me that Stone lied to investigators about his contacts with Wikileaks and Nurnberg knows it, and he strongly suspects that Mueller wants him to testify in front of the grand jury in order to indict Stone on 18 U.S.C.§ 1001
posted by Justinian at 3:29 PM on March 5, 2018 [32 favorites]

Chris Hayes with Carter Page, Ari and guests with Nunberg. All basically trying to help someone who is damaging themselves. The difference in humanity between this and what Fox hosts do and say about people on the other side is really the difference between good and evil.
posted by chris24 at 3:31 PM on March 5, 2018 [44 favorites]

This is so bizarre. They are parsing his erratic and irrational behavior while he's still sitting right there.
posted by diogenes at 3:31 PM on March 5, 2018 [9 favorites]

There are now three concerned professionals on MSNBC doing their darnedest to help a clearly distressed and increasingly pink person.
posted by Rust Moranis at 3:31 PM on March 5, 2018 [29 favorites]

We want you home for Thanksgiving, Sam.

Sam referenced how his father feels about the situation, and she said "Your family wants you home for Thanksgiving, and I hope you testify".
posted by cashman at 3:31 PM on March 5, 2018 [5 favorites]

Imagine having Roger Stone as your surrogate father figure and being willing to go to jail to protect him.
posted by T.D. Strange at 3:32 PM on March 5, 2018 [21 favorites]

At the mention of the woman who refused to testify in the Clinton investigation and was jailed for 18 mos, Nunberg visibly shat himself.
posted by prefpara at 3:32 PM on March 5, 2018 [31 favorites]

Sam referenced how his father feels about the situation, and she said "Your family wants you home for Thanksgiving, and I hope you testify"

Apparently his father is also his co-counsel, which I imagine also has some bearing on how Nunberg Sr feels about Nunberg Jr's current behaviour
posted by halation at 3:33 PM on March 5, 2018 [2 favorites]

Behold the wreckage of a man who threw his lot in with Donald Trump.
posted by The Card Cheat at 3:34 PM on March 5, 2018 [44 favorites]

Ari: I appreciate you sharing with us your thinking; it is certainly newsworthy.
posted by FelliniBlank at 3:35 PM on March 5, 2018 [6 favorites]

Apparently his father is also his co-counsel

They're "co-counsel" because it makes their communications privileged.

And now Melber is encouraging him to walk it back too.
posted by snuffleupagus at 3:35 PM on March 5, 2018 [2 favorites]

Any thoughts this was some 12th dimension Roger Stone ratfuckery ended with Nunberg lighting up the big PERJURY neon sign over Roger Stone.
posted by chris24 at 3:35 PM on March 5, 2018 [12 favorites]

Roger Stone has got to be absolutely crapping his pants right now. Total Streisand effect happening.
posted by Talez at 3:35 PM on March 5, 2018 [23 favorites]

Ari Melber and the his contributors is literally trying to help him lay out his case to not go to jail

"You'd rather spend possibly a year in jail than 80 hours?"
posted by numaner at 3:36 PM on March 5, 2018 [16 favorites]

Is there any possible way they don't arrest this jackanapes? Does he have any reason whatsoever to think he can refuse a subpoena, or is this just the coke talking?
posted by aspersioncast at 3:36 PM on March 5, 2018 [4 favorites]

god they were all trying so hard at the end to protect him from himself; this is going from flat-out weird to weirdly touching?

like i kind of feel that now he's off-mike they're going to get him some cocoa and ask if they should call him a cab
posted by halation at 3:37 PM on March 5, 2018 [13 favorites]

Nunberg's insistence he's been offered immunity is fascinating to me, though there's a high probability that he's making it up. It really feels to me like Mueller is making a hell of a case against Roger Stone, and Nunberg's public instance on going to prison over having anything to do with that is unbelievable.

I do hope they wrap him in a nice comfortable blanket and put him in a car home to his parents now.
posted by zachlipton at 3:38 PM on March 5, 2018 [4 favorites]

At this point folks, please ease off with the one-liner reactionblogging, hold it for a few minutes and make a longer comment.
posted by LobsterMitten (staff) at 3:39 PM on March 5, 2018 [3 favorites]

Did MSNBC do that entire 35 minute segment sans commercials?

I've been extremely impressed with them today. Their sheer competence doesn't always come across in the typical cable news format but it does shine through when something big and unexpected happens.
posted by Justinian at 3:39 PM on March 5, 2018 [9 favorites]

Every time he says "I'm not going to jail!" he follows it with a dejected "Do you think I'm going to jail?"
posted by diogenes at 3:40 PM on March 5, 2018 [22 favorites]

god they were all trying so hard at the end to protect him from himself; this is going from flat-out weird to weirdly touching?

I haven't seen any of it, just following along here, and I'm concerned for the man's well being. He sounds very upset and disturbed, and I don't think he should be left alone; something happened with him today, and while at times this has felt like a farce, it can turn to tragedy pretty quickly.
posted by nubs at 3:41 PM on March 5, 2018 [3 favorites]

@NatashaBertrand: ! Tapper: Do you think Donald Trump knew nothing about that [Trump Tower] meeting?
Nunberg: "No. You know he knew about it. He was talking about it a week before...I don't know why he went around trying to hide it."

In between his many interviews, Nunberg spoke to Zack Beauchamp of Vox: Sam Nunberg to Vox: “I have no special knowledge” about the Trump Tower meeting

He's claiming the above quote was not based on any actual knowledge about what Trump knew about the Trump Tower meeting, but rather on Trump's public statement two days before the meeting: "I am going to give a major speech on probably Monday of next week, and we’re going to be discussing all of the things that have taken place with the Clintons":

This, he emphasized during our conversation, is only his interpretation of Trump’s comments. He has no special inside knowledge that Trump was informed of the meeting before it happened, as many have taken his CNN comments to imply, or that Trump was referencing it in that speech. Nunberg thinks that’s what Trump meant, but he never heard any proof.

“I never heard about the Trump Tower [meeting],” he insisted during our call.

posted by zachlipton at 3:43 PM on March 5, 2018 [3 favorites]

He actually does not seem disturbed to me, just swathed in the ignorant self-involved entitlement of someone who has gotten away with every venal thing forever, and having an acute attack of white male fragility. "Roger Stone didn't do anything" "I'm not going to spend 80 hours digging through emails." "It's not fair." "Roger's my friend and mentor."

The guy went to law school and, somehow, managed to pass the bar. And this is his understanding of the grand jury process?
posted by FelliniBlank at 3:46 PM on March 5, 2018 [37 favorites]

I think his mentality was to grind through his weekend, resigning himself to go on TV and talk his way out of this. "Don't these dummies know what's what?" That he would fail to do so likely doesn't occur to him.
posted by rhizome at 3:58 PM on March 5, 2018

What kind of email client is this guy using where it would take 80 hours to dig this up? Even with outlook I think this would take me about 10 minutes. "From/To: Roger", ctrl-a, create archive, email to mueller.

I'm genuinely curious - is there some additional level of annotation thats required?
posted by H. Roark at 4:00 PM on March 5, 2018 [5 favorites]

What kind of email client is this guy using where it would take 80 hours to dig this up? Even with outlook I think this would take me about 10 minutes. "From/To: Roger", ctrl-a, create archive, email to mueller.

I'm genuinely curious - is there some additional level of annotation thats required?

You're not accounting for the time it takes to read each one and doctor anything incriminating.
posted by scarylarry at 4:02 PM on March 5, 2018 [47 favorites]

Holy fuck, now he's going on Erin Burnett's Out Front on CNN.

He'll be there in a couple minutes.

EDIT: Now live in person.
posted by chris24 at 4:02 PM on March 5, 2018 [17 favorites]

CNN interview off to a great start! "SHS should shut her fat mouth!"
posted by diogenes at 4:05 PM on March 5, 2018 [9 favorites]

Erin Burnett took a moment to call him out for attacking Sanders' physical appearance (he talked about her "fat mouth"), which was soon followed by him being seemingly unsure how many interviews he's done today.

Nunberg has cited Trump's approval rating at 30%, 35%, and now 38%.

This man is not well.
posted by zachlipton at 4:07 PM on March 5, 2018 [4 favorites]

he also switches back and forth between 8 and 15 for numbers of emails he exchanges with Stone every day in the period of time that Mueller wants the emails for. citing that as why it's so hard to get all the emails ready.

he also threw out 80, then 50, then 80 again in separate interviews as the hours he would need to spend to put together these emails.

he might be unwell, he might be losing his marbles, but this is all an act of a non-innocent man, or someone trying to protect a non-innocent man. so yeah i hope he gets a warrant to the face or just straight to jail. at least one of these bastards will serve time.
posted by numaner at 4:13 PM on March 5, 2018 [5 favorites]

CNN interview off to a great start! "SHS should shut her fat mouth!"

People in glass houses...
posted by Talez at 4:14 PM on March 5, 2018 [1 favorite]

he's also been going back and forth about whether he read any of these emails. initially (MSNBC maybe?) he said "no, i haven't started going through ANY emails." then in later interviews the story goes "once I started going through emails THEN I decided this was bullshit because I realized how long it was gonna take."

it's also unnerving how he keeps asking, come on, do you really think Mueller's going to send me to jail? come on! (everyone around him clearly thinking: um, YES . . . ?)
posted by robotdevil at 4:17 PM on March 5, 2018 [2 favorites]

I still don't get why he hasn't gone on Fox. Is it because he's angry at Trump, and they would do their best to make him look bad and make Trump look good?

I don't think this guy is unwell at all. He's animated, sure, but he's dressed well, looks put together, and he's able to focus and be quiet and express his ideas completely. I wouldn't have been able to tell you his name yesterday so what do I know, but to me he just seems like he's in love with Roger Stone as a father figure and he feels like he's protecting that guy. Add into that a big fat dose of white privilege as acted out by Chappelle in the "very special episode of Law & Order", and it just seems like he's out there saying and doing what he wants. He's not worried about whatever he says, because he knows he can have a high powered lawyer if he wants. A black guy could look at an officer wrong, like literally, and get arrested and taken to jail. This guy can go on national television and defy law enforcement at the highest levels while simultaneously calling the President an idiot and telling SHS to shut her fat mouth, without breaking a sweat.

Like the man is at this moment literally on his second studio appearance and has been talking for hours now about this, and there isn't a single drop of sweat on his head. He's talking on national television like he's at home on the couch ranting to a buddy about a missed call in the Packers/Seahawks game. It's "great" viewing but if he's high on anything, to me it's privilege.
posted by cashman at 4:17 PM on March 5, 2018 [29 favorites]

"Maybe I'll just give them my password..."

OMG ALL OF THIS BECAUSE HE DIDN'T WANT TO DO HIS HOMEWORK

Sorry edit to add this is Nunberg on Erin Burnett
posted by Freon at 4:20 PM on March 5, 2018 [13 favorites]

The sense of entitlement in this guy is astounding. He's stupid but entitled and is melting down because he's being forced to reckon with the fact that he isn't special and the people he's latched himself too aren't actually as special as he thinks they are.
posted by Jalliah at 4:20 PM on March 5, 2018 [31 favorites]

Remember Broward County Florida Sheriff Scott Israel, blamed for mishandling school shooter Nikolas Cruz? He’s a Democrat, so it’s not terribly surprising that Roger Stone wasn’t a fan. Initially.

South Florida Sun Sentinel: Israel has also been scrutinized for his relationship with political operative Roger Stone. A Fort Lauderdale resident who built his career on smearing political enemies, Stone had a hand in the political campaigns of Richard Nixon, John McCain and Donald Trump. While backing then sheriff Al Lamberti in 2011, Stone told the Sun-Sentinel that "Scott Israel is an unqualified punk, a racist and a thief."

One year later, Stone switched sides, helping Israel defeat Lamberti in the 2012 sheriff’s race. Since then, Israel “added to BSO’s payroll Stone's book-writing partner, Stone's book publicist and Stone's long-time executive assistant,” and even had “Stone's stepson transferred to detective.”
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 4:21 PM on March 5, 2018 [9 favorites]

WTF...Nunberg just said he shouldn't have to honor the subpoena because collecting the evidence would be "paralegal work."

Then hire a paralegal, you buffoon.
He has to know he's not making any real legal sense. Not even a drop.
posted by snuffleupagus at 4:23 PM on March 5, 2018 [14 favorites]

This honestly feels like liveblogging Fox News. I had to stop watching because I felt like my folks for a moment.
posted by Donald Trump Sex Nightmare at 4:24 PM on March 5, 2018 [6 favorites]

I still don't get why he hasn't gone on Fox. Is it because he's angry at Trump, and they would do their best to make him look bad and make Trump look good?

Even simpler -- because this whole business hurts Trump, and they want no part of it, no matter how high their ratings would be. Fox will cover this with as little video as possible and spin it maximally as "Aide refuses fake supboena to give fake testimony to hurt Dear Leader, Mueller is humiliated."
posted by msalt at 4:25 PM on March 5, 2018 [16 favorites]

Nunberg claimed that Trump told him he'd "keep quiet" during the campaign about his racist Facebook posts before he turned around and fired him.

And now he just said "people like Sean Hannity, Lou Dobbs, Jeanine Pirro" are going to be "very embarrassed" when all the facts about what happened come out. They went to commercial, but I'd like some follow-up there please.
posted by zachlipton at 4:27 PM on March 5, 2018 [29 favorites]

In addition to the emails, he's claiming he's been subpoenaed to appear in front of the grand jury this Friday.
posted by chris24 at 4:28 PM on March 5, 2018

And now he just said "people like Sean Hannity, Lou Dobbs, Jeanine Pirro" are going to be "very embarrassed" when all the facts about what happened come out.

He also said that Erin wouldn't be bothered by it. Whaaaat.
posted by Rust Moranis at 4:28 PM on March 5, 2018 [4 favorites]

Then hire a paralegal, you buffoon.

This is literally what you pay your lawyer for. They not only have paralegals, they have special software just for e-discovery. It's, like, a whole thing.
posted by soren_lorensen at 4:30 PM on March 5, 2018 [29 favorites]

There are a couple more significant nuggets from that Daily Beast article about Nunberg being drunk, besides this great bit of advice from a friend before he first went on TV: "not to do anything stupid and to go to his parents’ house immediately."

1) He apparently had a serious drinking problem known to his friends.

Starting Monday morning, Nunberg began calling several close associates that he was flatly refusing, at this time, to cooperate with Mueller’s investigation into alleged Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election. Three Nunberg friends said they walked away from those conversations fearful that he was “drinking again” and was about to embark on a personal tailspin. They didn’t know it would play out on daytime TV.

2) Sounds like Trump was really rough on him.

According to two sources with direct knowledge, when Nunberg worked for Trump as a political adviser, the future president would regularly berate Nunberg in private. Trump would call him a “jackass” and a “shithead,” among other derogatory terms, and make fun of him, and swear at him loudly. Trump has twice fired Nunberg, and subsequently sued him for ten million dollars.
posted by msalt at 4:32 PM on March 5, 2018 [29 favorites]

Javanka further pissing off the WH people knifing them in the back. I'm sure no more damaging leaks will come of this.

@GeraldoRivera
Spent a nice afternoon with #Ivanka & #JaredKushner two accomplished young people who only want the best for @realDonaldTrump & the country, but they work in a nest of snitches, vipers & rats AKA the #WestWing. My story exclusively on @seanhannity live at 9pm et
SELFIE OF THEM
posted by chris24 at 4:33 PM on March 5, 2018 [11 favorites]

Heyo, Nunberg just said that Assange was Putin's connection. I don't think Roger will be too happy about that.
posted by Rust Moranis at 4:34 PM on March 5, 2018 [55 favorites]

NPR subtweeting at 7:16pm:

Dumpster fire (noun, US informal): "an utterly calamitous or mismanaged situation or occurrence: disaster."

posted by Jacqueline at 4:34 PM on March 5, 2018 [53 favorites]

Bullies often wail and cry when they get caught.

How many people out there need help but can't get it because of all the damage the Trump regime has done? How many lives are in ongoing danger because of this whole shitshow? I'll consider feeling bad for this dude when he apologizes for the harm he helped commit.
posted by scaryblackdeath at 4:36 PM on March 5, 2018 [27 favorites]

Sam Nunberg may not have the cash on hand to pay competent legal help, thus today's meltdown/cry for help. ("You guys need to get me a lawyer -- or something! look I can be a team player aren't I the first to stonewall? -- because this is getting serious!" But it's like back at the burger stand; "leave him.") This weekend's subpoena leak may have been the quieter version of the same message.
posted by notyou at 4:36 PM on March 5, 2018

zachlipton, 3:51 PM: If he wants to just give me his email password, we can take care of this with no additional time spent on his part. [JOKE]

Freon, quoting Nunberg, 7:20 PM: "Maybe I'll just give them my password..." [REAL]

Commenters are reminded to only use powers for good
posted by InTheYear2017 at 4:40 PM on March 5, 2018 [59 favorites]

Bullies often wail and cry when they get caught.

Yes, let's recap why Nunberg was shitcanned from the campaign:

In one [2007 Facebook] post, Nunberg allegedly called the Rev. Al Sharpton’s daughter a “n-----.” In another, he allegedly called President Obama a "Socialist Marxist Islamo Fascist Nazi Appeaser" and mocked Obama's proposal for "Kenyan" health-care reform, Business Insider reported. (WaPo)

posted by FelliniBlank at 4:41 PM on March 5, 2018 [44 favorites]

Woah. Erin Burnett just implied he's drunk, smells like booze.
posted by snuffleupagus at 4:41 PM on March 5, 2018 [19 favorites]

OMG "I have to ask . . . i can smell alcohol on your breath"
posted by robotdevil at 4:41 PM on March 5, 2018 [34 favorites]

Nunberg just admitted to taking antidepressants.
posted by sammyo at 4:42 PM on March 5, 2018 [2 favorites]

Nunberg just admitted to taking antidepressants

Can we not say that like it's a bad thing, please?
posted by jammer at 4:43 PM on March 5, 2018 [88 favorites]

What kind of antidepressant could make you flat-out erratic like that? Unless, of course, you washed it down with booze -
posted by Countess Elena at 4:44 PM on March 5, 2018 [3 favorites]

@petridishes: this is just sad and unpleasant

Also, did he just insinuate on his way out that someone stole from the campaign? Because I'd like more details on that too please.
posted by zachlipton at 4:48 PM on March 5, 2018 [18 favorites]

It occurs to me that he’s not going on Fox because he doesn’t need to convince Fox viewers that he’s in the right. They’ll believe whatever hogwash Fox comes up with. He needs to convince us. Well, that ain’t gonna happen, bub.

Also, I emphatically believe that this is a classic case of “I thought I could get away with anything because I’m a Republican, turns out I can’t” that we’ve seen many times before, but prior to this, we always had a WH that knew how to control the narrative and keep a lid on things, and now we have a WH filled with people who have absolutely no idea what they’re doing, or even how government is supposed to work.
posted by Autumnheart at 4:53 PM on March 5, 2018 [8 favorites]

What kind of antidepressant could make you flat-out erratic like that?

If he's bipolar, antidepressants could trigger a manic episode. Which would look a lot like this.

As much as I've been enjoying the dumpster fire, I hope that someone from one of the networks does the humane thing and takes him to the hospital after one of these appearances. I have a bad feeling about what might happen if he is allowed to go off by himself tonight.

If nothing else, we need him to survive long enough to come down and give lucid answers to all the questions raised by his rantings tonight.
posted by Jacqueline at 4:53 PM on March 5, 2018 [22 favorites]

Part of me wonders how much this guy really has to tell when he wasn't with the campaign all that long.
The other part of me figures this might be appropriate for a short tenure with the campaign and it only gets worse for the people who were there longer.
But I'm really starting to wonder how important this guy is in the grand scheme of it all. Riveting TV, maybe, but what's the split between substance versus spectacle?
posted by scaryblackdeath at 4:55 PM on March 5, 2018 [1 favorite]

I first thought Nunberg was generating publicity for some reason perhaps some paranoid idea that he's trying to move into the public eye. But I bet he said something, got an interview and then it just spun out of control. He'll probably wake up tomorrow with but biggest "ohhhhh sheeeet" what did I do headache.
posted by sammyo at 4:58 PM on March 5, 2018 [3 favorites]

But I'm really starting to wonder how important this guy is in the grand scheme of it all.

TPM: A Few Takeaways From An Insane Afternoon – Nunberg Edition

To me the big thing here was him saying he got an immunity offer, if that's true (and who the fuck knows with this dude) Mueller thinks he really does have something on presumably Stone. You wouldn't make that offer just to get emails, which Mueller almost certainly already has, and you wouldn't make it to a low level buffoon only there a couple months. We know Stone was in communication with Wikileaks, and if Nunberg was still in constant contact with Stone as he seemed to say at one point, he might really have the full picture of the extent of those contacts.

And if he did get that offer and turned it down in favor of whatever the fuck he thinks he's doing today, my god man, what are you doing.
posted by T.D. Strange at 5:00 PM on March 5, 2018 [30 favorites]

"Maybe I'll just give them my password..."

OMG ALL OF THIS BECAUSE HE DIDN'T WANT TO DO HIS HOMEWORK

OK, reading between the lines this is what I thought his main complaint was since the first call-in with Katy Tur. I am an attorney who responds to lots of subpoenas and I can tell you this is a very common initial reaction to a subpoena, but it's an especially common reaction among extremely naive witnesses who lack any familiarity with the legal process. This common reaction, like a combination of "OMG this is so much busy work" and "they can't make me give up all this stuff, it's ridiculous" manifests a total ignorance of the subpoena process by which, yes, they can legally compel you to give up exactly that stuff even if it is a hassle.

What you're supposed to do is vent about it to your lawyer for an hour or two, slowly start circling around the questions of whether you actually have the stuff, exactly how much work it would be to gather it, and what exact harm you're afraid of if you have to disclose it. Then your lawyer goes and negotiates with the subpoenaing party about these issues and the parties generally meet somewhere in the middle. Timing and scope are always negotiable if you have any good arguments at all.

Basically every person who's ever gotten subpoenaed thought it was burdensome, yet subpoenas extract documents and testimony every day. Moreover, a goodly number of those witnesses have taken up this complaint with various courts to the point where they are... very unsympathetic to this argument. You'd better be able to show a real damn burden if you are going to say it's "too hard" to comply with a subpoena. Like, "I haven't seen that stuff in 10 years and it's probably in an unlabeled box in the back of a warehouse" (and even then you might have to spend a few hours trying).

So, bottom line, his excuse is not only miserably pathetic, but an exact kind of pathetic that courts are very familiar with and intolerant towards. He is not going to get any sympathy this way from any judge, and he is really cruising for a finding of contempt and his house getting tossed pursuant to a warrant. Refusing to comply and tearing up the subpoena simply is not how these things are handled.

Oh, also, I don't have any special insight into his alcohol consumption, but when he called in to Katy Tur he sounded to me exactly like a beligerant asshole at the bar 5 minutes before he gets hauled out by the bouncer.
posted by Joey Buttafoucault at 5:03 PM on March 5, 2018 [97 favorites]

art of me wonders how much this guy really has to tell when he wasn't with the campaign all that long.
The other part of me figures this might be appropriate for a short tenure with the campaign and it only gets worse for the people who were there longer.

My thinking that it's not just about what he specifically did in the campaign. Nunberg kept bringing up how much he talked with Bannon and Stone and how he communicated with them mulitple times a day in email and how the supeona is asking for all of those emails from 2015 until now. He kept saying how unfair asking for it was and whining about how much work it would take. If it's indeed true that he did communicate with them that much then I expect it's more about what those two have been talking about and what they knew/know/did/are doing.
posted by Jalliah at 5:04 PM on March 5, 2018 [3 favorites]

He could also be having a garden-variety episode of snapping under the pressure. I only say this because one doesn’t have to have a chronic, pre-existing mental illness to engage in an extinction burst and blow up all their metaphorical bridges. People do that stuff all the time. I’m not articulating this very well, but I’m trying to say that you don’t have to have a history of illness before suddenly developing a problem.

Of course, if he’s an alcoholic, well, that would certainly contribute too.
posted by Autumnheart at 5:04 PM on March 5, 2018 [5 favorites]

The Washington Post has a video summary of the afternoon's madness, which is mostly notable because their headline writers have run out of fucks and titled it:

Sam Nunberg Goes Full Nunberg
posted by murphy slaw at 5:04 PM on March 5, 2018 [31 favorites]

Maybe Mueller would take him into protective custody.

You know, honestly, it’s hard not to see the sympathy as part of his privilege. He’s in a situation very much of his own making. There’s no systemic pressure forcing him to be a white supremacist or commit treason. He didn’t end up on the streets offering to help out Russia because his parents kicked him out of the house.

He chose to do really bad things, and he’s having a breakdown because he can’t accept there might be consequences for doing bad things, because there never have been before.

It’s white fragility in action. I’m hoping he doesn’t hurt himself or anyone else (and if that’s a real possibility, why not protective custody), but Jesus Christ.
posted by schadenfrau at 5:06 PM on March 5, 2018 [72 favorites]

He hasn’t gone to fox because he is purely toxic to them and their message. And as a sick man, even in the depths of sickness, he knows better than to go to a fake doctor. And fox is the fakest of fake that there is. Well, except for Brietbart. And infowars. But all three really are of a kind, aren’t they? But if you were in trouble, would you trust any of those three? Intelligent criminals know not to trust their own kind.
posted by valkane at 5:06 PM on March 5, 2018 [2 favorites]

He chose to do really bad things, and he’s having a breakdown because he can’t accept there might be consequences for doing bad things, because there never have been before.

No kidding. It’s like feeling bad for Hitler and Goebbels because the Allies are closing in and they’re all stuck in this shitty bunker. Okay, that’s an overwrought analogy, but nobody made these guys try to undermine American democracy in order to form a white nationalist government.
posted by Autumnheart at 5:10 PM on March 5, 2018 [24 favorites]

Are we having sympathy for these people? I am against that.
posted by Artw at 5:14 PM on March 5, 2018 [47 favorites]

The point in the story where the villain realizes he's fucked is always my favorite.
posted by scaryblackdeath at 5:15 PM on March 5, 2018 [73 favorites]

Ah, I do know “white fragility” refers specifically to how white people flip out like toddlers when confronted with anything that makes them feel bad about race or racism, but after reading about it in that paper that was in a previously somewhere...omg I see it everywhere. It maps really well to jscalzi’s easy “easy mode” in my brain. Still, though, probably should use it correctly.
posted by schadenfrau at 5:16 PM on March 5, 2018 [4 favorites]

This is absolutely the logical endpoint of unthinking white male privilege run completely amok. He's never been held accountable for anything before; he can't get his head around the fact that he might be now, and that rules might apply to him, and that consequences might happen to him.

I'd also add that white collar criminals are always totally convinced judges can't do anything to them, and once it starts to dawn on them that they might actually be in trouble, they're totally convinced that since they had GOOD REASONS for committing their crimes, once they explain those good reasons, it'll all just go away. (Witness Larry Nassar, who pled guilty, and then was in court disclaiming the guilty plea and was totally incapable of accepting any responsibility for his crimes, claiming the girls wanted it, claiming they were accusing him because he wouldn't date them, claiming he only pled guilty because he was forced to ... in the moment where he was going to jail for the rest of his life regardless, and accepting responsibility might have gotten him some leniency in the form of a better prison placement or something, he still couldn't do it.) They have never faced consequences, and all of their actions are justified in their own minds, so they expect the world to keep on working that way right up until the cell door clangs shut. And then they spend the next several years constantly claiming they were railroaded (*coughRodBlagojevichcough*).
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 5:17 PM on March 5, 2018 [82 favorites]

I would say that it would still apply in this case, considering their agenda has been emphatic on the point of legislating discrimination on the basis of race and religion.
posted by Autumnheart at 5:18 PM on March 5, 2018 [3 favorites]

I listened to some of Nunberg's Katy Tur appearance and I was struck by the way he spoke to her. Did he speak to male journalists this way too? Because he was so condescending -- at one point asking her if she came up with a "smart" question herself or if it was given to her through her earpiece. And the way he kept saying "Katy" as if he were talking to a particularly dense child made my skin crawl. (Of course this isn't the main issue with today's events but it made me appreciate even more the job that Tur and other female journalists do every day.)
posted by mcduff at 5:19 PM on March 5, 2018 [66 favorites]

I assume that in about 45 minutes, Hannity will go on a tear about how the mainstream media is so desperate and so corrupt that they got a nobody, someone Trump hadn't seen in years and certainly knew nothing about anything, rotten stinking drunk and then grilled him for hours on multiple networks to get him to say salacious lies and terrible falsehoods.

*holds up sock monkey* Look at the funny monkey! It's full of uranium!
posted by delfin at 5:20 PM on March 5, 2018 [7 favorites]

Are we having sympathy for these people? I am against that.

We are hoping that he doesn't OD, suicide, or die in a reckless accident before he gives up everything to Mueller.
posted by Jacqueline at 5:21 PM on March 5, 2018 [34 favorites]

And the way he kept saying "Katy" as if he were talking to a particularly dense child made my skin crawl.

I almost posted this exact same thing, in these exact words. It made my skin crawl too. So patronizing and creepy. Also made it sound even more like he was lying, if that's possible.
posted by robotdevil at 5:23 PM on March 5, 2018 [9 favorites]

What kind of antidepressant could make you flat-out erratic like that?

Some antidepressants and most anti-anxiety meds interact really, really badly with alcohol. If he's been washing fistfuls of Wellbutrin down with bourbon, well, then, I wouldn't want to be him in the morning. (I wouldn't want to be him in the morning no matter what, but you know what I mean.)
posted by jackbishop at 5:24 PM on March 5, 2018 [10 favorites]

I'm seeing this as a short preview of the mega-marathon of irrationality we'll get from The Donald when he is finally cornered with the camera lights on him and no 280 character limit.

It's like the warm-up act for The Aristocrats. It's a geek show, which is repulsive and degrading for audience and performer alike, but it's orders of magnitude less grotesque and horrifying than the main event.
posted by murphy slaw at 5:28 PM on March 5, 2018 [14 favorites]

I am reminded of the Malfoy family in Harry Potter - rich, arrogant, privileged people who got away with so much because of their wealth and family name, but found out the hard way that they were in waaaay over their heads with Voldemort and couldn't handle being in that deep with the Dark Lord. They wound up huddling in a corner, helpless, as the final battle raged around them.

Sam Nunberg, Hope Hicks, etc. are all Malfoys - complicit, and unsympathetic, to be sure, and also completely unprepared to face the day of reckoning when they are going to face Big Consequences. It's an Oh Crap played out in public.
posted by Rosie M. Banks at 5:32 PM on March 5, 2018 [16 favorites]

Program note: Ari Melber will be on The Last Word with Lawrence O'Donnell at 10:00 tonight to discuss that gobsmacking interview.
posted by FelliniBlank at 5:32 PM on March 5, 2018

One deleted; let's not speculate about grisly fates that Nunberg might meet/ways he might hurt himself, please.
posted by LobsterMitten (staff) at 5:33 PM on March 5, 2018 [8 favorites]

> Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity.

From this follows something I like to call the Hanlon-Clark Corollary:

Any sufficiently advanced stupidity is indistinguishable from malice.

I've been thinking about this a lot lately.
posted by Westringia F. at 5:38 PM on March 5, 2018 [63 favorites]

I went over to Wikipedia to see where this Sam Nunberg character came from and was slightly amused to observe that his Wikipedia page was only created today.

Meanwhile, I have to constantly keep reminding myself that this is Sam Nunberg, a low-level hack and Roger Stone acolyte and not Sam Nunn, former Democratic senator from Georgia.
posted by mhum at 5:44 PM on March 5, 2018 [3 favorites]

I'm not going to be the guy who says "surely this", but this afternoon really feels like The Organizing Principle of All Reality just hocked a giant loogie in front of the media and giggled "Let's see these sumbitches normalize this".

How do you pretend that nothing changed on election day 2016 when the world now has such Nunbergs in it?

also if the internet has not already cranked out a million Nunberg/Zoidberg mashup memes then America is truly over
posted by murphy slaw at 5:45 PM on March 5, 2018 [8 favorites]

"Let's see these sumbitches normalize this".

The sumbitches don't have to: on Fox News, outside of Shep, Nunberg does not and will not exist. On Tucker now and Hannity later it's all gun grievance and race grievance and FISA memos. Nunperson = Unperson.
posted by Rust Moranis at 5:50 PM on March 5, 2018 [9 favorites]

He's still talking apparently. He moved onto other reporters. This is the latest one that has come across my feed. I've seen several others talking about speaking with him.

Jill Covin (WH corrospondent for AP
Sam now seems to be rethinking his bluster, tells me he'll likely end up cooperating with Mueller's team, but would like to see the subpoena's scope narrowed
posted by Jalliah at 5:52 PM on March 5, 2018 [9 favorites]

He’s going to be on Space Ghost in about 4 hours
posted by T.D. Strange at 5:58 PM on March 5, 2018 [136 favorites]

Sam now seems to be rethinking his bluster

Sort of knew this was coming... it was really the only end to today. Everybody have fun at the amusement park?
posted by pjenks at 5:58 PM on March 5, 2018 [2 favorites]

but this afternoon really feels like The Organizing Principle of All Reality just hocked a giant loogie in front of the media and giggled "Let's see these sumbitches normalize this".

What makes this instance different than every other time they've spit chaos to take control of the news cycle?
posted by rhizome at 5:58 PM on March 5, 2018 [2 favorites]

Jill Covin (WH corrospondent for AP
Sam now seems to be rethinking his bluster, tells me he'll likely end up cooperating with Mueller's team, but would like to see the subpoena's scope narrowed

To only the parts where he is a viking.
posted by srboisvert at 6:00 PM on March 5, 2018 [15 favorites]

ShareBlue: Scott Walker is scared Democrats will pick off seats in Wisconsin. So he's refusing to allow special elections at all

"Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker’s strategy to stop the long string of Republican losses in special elections is simply to stop calling special elections.

But Democrats are fighting back.

According to Reuters, the National Democratic Redistricting Committee (NDRC) is suing to force Walker to hold special elections in state legislative districts vacated by Republicans appointed to the governor’s administration."

Spineless PoS.
posted by bz at 6:17 PM on March 5, 2018 [58 favorites]

Carter Page on Hannity right now. I repeat, Carter Page on Hannity right now.
posted by Rust Moranis at 6:19 PM on March 5, 2018 [7 favorites]

News from the Fox side: Hannity and Greg Jarret have been reduced to mocking Mueller for his tardiness in seeking emails from the key players.

Jarrett: This is something you do when you are starting an investigation.
Hannity: A little late, right?
Jarrett: A little late.

Then Jarrett says "It's about time that Mueller wrap this hoax up."
posted by pjenks at 6:29 PM on March 5, 2018 [1 favorite]

May I also very gently request y'all not jump all over armchair theories about his mental illnesses or medication related to mental illness or even, honestly, alcoholism?

Not to mention it's LITERALLY impossible to evaluate someone's mental health if it's suspected they might be on substances. One interviewer straight up said she smelled alcohol on his breath, and I consider her more likely to be telling the truth than Nunberg, frankly. So if he's drunk, nothing about his behavior can be seen as indicative of a mental disorder.
posted by threeturtles at 6:29 PM on March 5, 2018 [14 favorites]

Carter Page on Hannity right now. I repeat, Carter Page on Hannity right now.

Of course he is. There's no other way for this day to end than with a midnight joint press conference where the two of them take on all comers in between snorting rails off each others' bare chests.
posted by contraption at 6:30 PM on March 5, 2018 [11 favorites]

"I am not a crook." -Nixon

"There was no collusion." -Sanders

Er, yeah.

I believe them both. 100%.
posted by flug at 6:41 PM on March 5, 2018 [2 favorites]

Jane Mayer on Maddow right now saying that Obama, Biden, and Hillary didn't know about the Steele dossier until January 2017.

James Comey hid the entire Trump investigation from the President of the United States while he was attacking Clinton for months.
posted by T.D. Strange at 6:42 PM on March 5, 2018 [31 favorites]

Hannity: "Mr. Page, I predict that you will be a very rich man when this is all over."

I fully expect Carter to emerge from the rubble as a new Crassus. Proud marble statues in every Forum, the sun gleaming off the polished Page heads, the weird stone Page eyes gazing down for centuries to come.
posted by Rust Moranis at 6:45 PM on March 5, 2018 [7 favorites]

Jane Mayer on Maddow right now saying that Obama, Biden, and Hillary didn't know about the Steele dossier until January 2017.

That doesn't make any sense. I knew about the Steele dossier in October 2016 from David Corn at Mother Jones.
posted by diogenes at 6:45 PM on March 5, 2018 [46 favorites]

More free legal help for Nunberg, from The Daily Beast: Defense Attorneys Have Some Legal Advice for Sam Nunberg: ‘Pack Your Toothbrush—Prepare for Jail’

Sam Nunberg, stop your mouth from moving.

That’s the legal consensus among some of the country’s top criminal defense attorneys when asked how they would counsel the onetime Trump campaign adviser, whose Triangle Shirtwaist-scale flameout on Monday led confidants—and one anchor—to worry if he was drunk-dialing cable news hosts.

“I would tell him that he’s had his fun, now put on your big-boy pants, shut up and hire a lawyer,” said Charles Clayman, founding partner and chair of Clayman & Rosenberg LLP. . . . “Hell hath no fury like a prosecutor scorned,” Clayman continued.

posted by FelliniBlank at 6:52 PM on March 5, 2018 [6 favorites]

Part of what Mayer writes about is the second Steele dossier, about how Russia had approval rights over the Secretary of State and other cabinet picks. Maybe that's the one nobody knew about until January 2017?
posted by FelliniBlank at 6:55 PM on March 5, 2018 [6 favorites]

Wait, I'm trying to remember what they were saying on Maddow. It wasn't that they didn't know about the dossier, but that they were in the dark about the ongoing FBI investigation into the Trump campaign. At least, I think that's what Mayer was saying.

Mayer had a comment from a Clinton campaign person about how if they knew that Trump's campaign was under investigation, they would have been screaming it from the rooftops before the election.
posted by Salieri at 6:57 PM on March 5, 2018 [1 favorite]

Here's the relevant part from the article:

On January 5, 2017, it became clear that at least two Washingtonians remained in the dark about the dossier: the President and the Vice-President. That day, in a top-secret Oval Office meeting, the chiefs of the nation’s top intelligence agencies briefed Obama and Biden and some national-security officials for the first time about the dossier’s allegation that Trump’s campaign team may have colluded with the Russians. As one person present later told me, “No one understands that at the White House we weren’t briefed about the F.B.I.’s investigations. We had no information on collusion. All we saw was what the Russians were doing. The F.B.I. puts anything about Americans in a lockbox.” ...

Obama stayed silent. All through the campaign, he and others in his Administration had insisted on playing by the rules, and not interfering unduly in the election, to the point that, after Trump’s victory, some critics accused them of political negligence. The Democrats, far from being engaged in a political conspiracy with Steele, had been politically paralyzed by their high-mindedness.

Biden asked, “How seriously should we take this?” Comey responded that the F.B.I. had not corroborated the details in the dossier, but he said that portions of it were “consistent” with what the U.S. intelligence community had obtained from other channels. He also said that the F.B.I. had “confidence” in the dossier’s author—a careful but definite endorsement—because it had worked not only with him but with many of his sources and sub-sources, whose identities the Bureau knew. “He’s proven credible in the past, and so has his network,” Comey said.
“If this is true, this is huge!” Biden exclaimed.

Part of what Mayer writes about is the second Steele dossier, about how Russia had approval rights over the Secretary of State and other cabinet picks. Maybe that's the one nobody knew about until January 2017?

She mentions the pee tape as part of the January 2017 briefing in the same section, she's clearly referring to the first dossier.
posted by T.D. Strange at 6:59 PM on March 5, 2018 [10 favorites]

Not to abuse the edit window, but I think the key is that the Clinton campaign (and Obama) knew about the dossier, but didn't know that Steele had already gone directly to the FBI with it and the FBI was taking some kind of action.
posted by Salieri at 6:59 PM on March 5, 2018 [4 favorites]

Right, so Comey hid that the FBI had opened a counter intel investigation into Trump, and hid that they considered the dossier credible. Not just hid from the public as he was breaking the law to denounce Hilary, but hid the entire thing from Obama.
posted by T.D. Strange at 7:02 PM on March 5, 2018 [13 favorites]

Meanwhile, let's check in on another one of Trump's best people. NYT, Glenn Thrush (*ugh*—this is his beat now), Ben Carson on His Vexing Reign at HUD: Brain Surgery Was Easier Than This

Mr. Carson, people close to him said, has been whipsawed by a job he has found puzzling and frustrating — so much so that he considered quitting during recent wrangling over the department’s budget.

“There are more complexities here than in brain surgery,” Mr. Carson said in an interview last week. “Doing this job is going to be a very intricate process.”

I mean yes, running a department of 8,500 people where you're responsible for whether millions of people have a roof over their head tonight or not is more complicated than brain surgery. What's with "is going to be" here? You've been doing the damn job for a year. And whatever the fuck this means:

While Mr. Trump treats him with respect, he views him as a beta “winner,” not as a “killer,” the alpha in his organizational taxonomy, according to several White House officials.

We're told that Carson, who ran a Presidential campaign that was essentially a scam (he had a business manager instead of a campaign manager) "hates asking anybody for money," so he's had a hard time asking Trump not to cut his budget. You can read on for his plan to open 3,000+ "EnVision Centers" across the country, without any funding. It's not going well:

In response, Mr. Carson has turned to charitable foundations for funding. But he has not proved to be the best pitchman, according to a dozen attendees at a January meeting with potential donors at HUD headquarters. He began with a libertarian lecture, extolling the genius of the 19th-century robber barons who created the country’s philanthropic charities. They had spared the country from “European socialism,” he said.

One skeptical foundation officer countered by asking the secretary where “the public” part of the public-private partnership was coming from. Another asked, “What does this have to do with public housing?”

posted by zachlipton at 7:04 PM on March 5, 2018 [26 favorites]

>"The F.B.I. puts anything about Americans in a lockbox."

With one exception.
posted by chortly at 7:07 PM on March 5, 2018 [41 favorites]

I think the key is that the Clinton campaign (and Obama) knew about the dossier, but didn't know that Steele had already gone directly to the FBI with it and the FBI was taking some kind of action.

The Jane Mayer article in the New Yorker says this about the Clinton campaign:

Inside the Clinton campaign, John Podesta, the chairman, was stunned by the news that the F.B.I. had launched a full-blown investigation into Trump, especially one that was informed by research underwritten by the Clinton campaign. Podesta had authorized Robby Mook, the campaign manager, to handle budget matters, and Mook had approved Perkins Coie’s budget request for opposition research without knowing who was producing it. Podesta and Mook have maintained that they had no idea a former foreign intelligence officer was on the Democrats’ payroll until the Mother Jones article appeared, and that they didn’t read the dossier until BuzzFeed posted it online. Far from a secret campaign weapon, Steele turned out to be a secret kept from the campaign.

posted by peeedro at 7:09 PM on March 5, 2018 [9 favorites]

Sam's still talking.

@AriMelber: Latest - Nunberg tells me right now 9:51pm: "I want the investigators to explain to me what they want me to testify in the grand jury. I'm not interested in facilitating a circumstantial case against Roger Stone." He adds he doesn't plan to go testify Friday: "I'm not going."

But he told AP he won't show up to testify because he won't incriminate Stone, but he might produce documents if the scope is narrowed: "'I’m happy if the scope changes and if they send me a subpoena that doesn’t include Carter Page,' he said, insisting the two had never spoken."

Which...if you've never communicated with Page, it takes precisely 0 seconds to produce all your communications with Page, so this strikes me as a large neon sign to something someone should look into.

What the hell does Stone have on this guy anyway?
posted by zachlipton at 7:09 PM on March 5, 2018 [42 favorites]

"I want the investigators to explain to me what they want me to testify in the grand jury. I'm not interested in facilitating a circumstantial case against Roger Stone."

Historically, the answer to this question has been "either you agree to testify against this other person, or you go to jail along with them".

What the hell does Stone have on this guy anyway?

Well, it all started when he was five...
posted by Merus at 7:16 PM on March 5, 2018 [17 favorites]

Nunberg is telling Mueller, “Hey, when you get my records, don’t look at Carter Page stuff. Nothing there. No siree.”
posted by azpenguin at 7:21 PM on March 5, 2018 [4 favorites]

The point with Obama, Biden and the Steele dossier seems to be that they knew exactly as much as the average Mefite until January 5, 2017. They had heard of it, but had no access to a copy. They had no idea how reliable it was, and did not know it had traction inside the FBI and was in fact the roadmap they were using for their investigation (or at least, one roadmap).

And because they were honorable men, they did not press the FBI for information on their Russia investigations before then. Which makes Trump's wild allegations of persecution by Obama and his (and his allies) attempts to trash the FBI and intelligence community all the more f*ed up
posted by msalt at 7:28 PM on March 5, 2018 [45 favorites]

They might even have thought it worthwhile to get briefings from experts than just reacting to whatever they happened to have seen on television.

I miss adults.
posted by Artw at 7:38 PM on March 5, 2018 [11 favorites]

Merus: Well, it all started when he was five...

I was assuming that would link to a video of some popularly-quoted clip from a TV show or movie. But no, Nunberg literally met Trump around age 5, at Wrestlemania. (He's 36 now, arguably younger than he looks).
posted by InTheYear2017 at 7:39 PM on March 5, 2018 [13 favorites]

Delfin called it: I assume that in about 45 minutes, Hannity will go on a tear about how the mainstream media is so desperate and so corrupt that they got a nobody, someone Trump hadn't seen in years and certainly knew nothing about anything, rotten stinking drunk and then grilled him for hours on multiple networks to get him to say salacious lies and terrible falsehoods.

That messaging has already begun. However, Jack Posobiec and Josh Caplan (of Gateway Pundit) are perhaps not the best messengers for accusing CNN of "journalistic malfeasance."
posted by msalt at 7:50 PM on March 5, 2018 [3 favorites]

Carter Page is the one campaign person I could totally see going off and palling around with Russian spies and promising them the moon with nobody else on the campaign the wiser just so he could play big important dealmaker in his own mind. Even with other, separate campaign collusion going on at the same time by the inner circle, I just totally picture Carter Page bumbling his way around the weird world of Russian oligarchs and intelligence into the periphery of other people's actual purposeful and planned collusion. Like Manafort gets down to some shady business only to find out Carter Page tagged along unwanted like Spritle and Chim Chim in the trunk of the Mach 5. If it turns out Nunberg and others actually aided and encouraged Carter Page's whole wackadoo thing and trusted the guy and there's a damn email trail showing it, yeesh. New levels of stupidity, even for these idiots.
posted by jason_steakums at 7:50 PM on March 5, 2018 [10 favorites]

Jared Yates Sexton @JYSexton comments on Nunberg's media flame-out, "For the record, this is how most Trump campaign staff talk about collusion. The difference is most of them aren’t hopping from network to network." He then offers a worms'-eye view of the Russian collusion issue from within Trumpland:

Something to remember about the collusion stories: Trump’s campaign had distinct teams that all view the scandal differently based on their tenure in the structure. 1/
Nunberg was with the Roger Stone group, which accepts that collusion happened but don’t accept that it was illegal or wrong, which is the old Nixon philosophy: if the boss does it, and you win, it’s fine. 2/
The Lewandowkski team has always been skeptical of Manafort and Russia. These are a lot of the whistleblowers who have an axe to grind and saw the trend. 3/
The Manafort crew? Well. You can guess how they feel about Russia. 4/
The Bannon crew took an ask no questions approach and were more worried about stoking white nationalism and allowing the apparatus to work. They suspected things, but were kept isolated. 5/
The team after the election were largely ignorant. I assume they were in denial that anything had happened, but there certainly aren’t many of them left. 6/6

The real question, of course, is what Mueller's investigating: What did Trump's inner circle know/do and when did they know/do it?

Meanwhile, I'm just going to leave this here as a placeholder:
Kyle Griffin @kylegriffin1: ".@murphymike said on The Last Word tonight that an international business source told him that a friend who got pulled in by Mueller was asked about a memorandum of understanding 'for a deal that Trump had with Russian financial interests during the 2016 campaign.'"
posted by Doktor Zed at 7:58 PM on March 5, 2018 [36 favorites]

Someone should ask the Crim Pro and Remedies faculty at Touro Law (NY) if they cover civil and criminal contempt.
posted by snuffleupagus at 8:03 PM on March 5, 2018 [3 favorites]

asked about a memorandum of understanding 'for a deal that Trump had with Russian financial interests during the 2016 campaign.'"

Flashback to August's Trump’s business sought deal on a Trump Tower in Moscow while he ran for president, maybe? Felix Sater was trying to broker a Moscow deal in late 2015, and the story says they signed a letter of intent. That's the deal where Sater mixed business talk and politics in emails to Michael Cohen.
posted by zachlipton at 8:05 PM on March 5, 2018 [7 favorites]

“There are more complexities here than in brain surgery,” Mr. Carson said in an interview last week. “Doing this job is going to be a very intricate process.”

I talked to a good friend who is a seasoned professional HUD employee of many years, a couple of days after Carson was appointed HUD Director and had given his first welcome speech to employees (full speech).

My friend's eyes were rolling around in his head so fast whenever he mentioned Carson that he coul barely stay standing upright.

The thing is, if you are a highly trained brain surgeon who is at the top of his game, then brain surgery is (relatively) simple and straightforward.

Whereas if you are just a generally smart person who decided "Hey, I'm just as smart as those guys who do brain surgery every day and have 20 years of training and daily practice. I mean, I don't have ANY of the training or practice or experience or even interest in the subject, but so what--I'm JUST AS SMART. That's what counts. Plus, I have a brain of my own. So I MUST BE qualified. So bring me in a brain or two and I'll just get started. I'll catch on fast, I promise!"

Well then, you're going to kill a few brains before you catch on. Even if you're really, really smart.

And you're going to kill even more brains before you catch on if you happen to be dumb as a post.

So Carson is going to kill a few HUDs before he finally catches on. Even if he is really, really smart. Which--maybe he is and maybe he isn't, in terms of the type of skills and interests it takes to run an agency like HUD.

And unfortunately for us, we have but one HUD to give . . .
posted by flug at 8:07 PM on March 5, 2018 [30 favorites]

whose Triangle Shirtwaist-scale flameout on Monday

What a bizarre choice of description.

Seen on Twitter: "Listen, Sam chose going to jail over having to go through his old emails. I'm sure lots of us can relate."
posted by jokeefe at 8:23 PM on March 5, 2018 [9 favorites]

Four Alarm Fire in Trumpland and A Few Takeaways from an Insane Afternoon, both from TPM re: today's Nunberg Affair.

Mueller cast his net wide, but it's very, very fine-meshed. And now he's gradually, gradually tightening it down.

This sort of freak-out and the recent Trump meltdown, very clearly related to the same pressure Mueller is bringing to bear on the situation, are both pretty clear indications of how much the noose really is tightening. A few rats are trying to desert the sinking ship, and others are getting more and more panicked as the remaining rats are forced closer and closer together.

Altogether, this does not bode well at all for the few rats remaining inside the net.

It's really strongly reminding me of the last days of the Watergate affair.

On a personal note I'm spending a few days in DC at a conference this week and happened to be standing around on a sidewalk this afternoon when the Trump motorcade came screaming by. And even worse, our conference is being held in the very room where Trump gave his Gridiron Club speech just last weekend. The stench of Trump is everywhere . . .
posted by flug at 8:25 PM on March 5, 2018 [13 favorites]

Makes me think of a rat king: a bunch of rats with their tails tied together, clamoring all over each other in a craze.
posted by gucci mane at 8:26 PM on March 5, 2018 [10 favorites]

Great: I just googled "rat king," and now I have yet more nightmare fodder associated with this administration. I really can't thank you; enough.

ps. Phlegmco(tm), I beseech you to make something of this!
posted by Westringia F. at 8:38 PM on March 5, 2018 [7 favorites]

flug: go to the National Portrait Gallery for an antidote!
posted by Westringia F. at 8:46 PM on March 5, 2018 [8 favorites]

The real question, of course, is what Mueller's investigating: What did Trump's inner circle know/do and when did they know/do it?

The alleged real estate cash sales at inflated prices look a lot like illicit money transfers. Accounts of "normal" spies talk about them getting tens, maybe hundreds of thousands over their entire career. If Trump and his associates were getting tens of millions of dollars then it must have been because this was a unique, extraordinary opportunity for the Russians to get everything they ever wanted.
posted by Joe in Australia at 8:47 PM on March 5, 2018 [2 favorites]

ELECTIONS NEWS

** PA-18 special -- Noted earlier, Suffolk poll has Dem Lamb up 48-45 over GOPer Saccone. There are some concerns about this poll; it will be interesting to see the Gravis one that's coming out tomorrow.

** 2018 Senate:

-- MS: As noted earlier, Sen Cochran is resigning effective April 1 due to "health issues" (i.e., he's basically pretty far into dementia). This sets up a pretty wild ride to a special election in November - same day as the general. Stuff to consider:

Note that Mississippi specials are a) open primaries of all candidates, with a runoff if no one pulls a majority, and b) are run without party labels.

State Sen McDaniel previously declared he was running in the *other* Senate race, against incumbent Sen Wicker. Will he switch over? (very likely, he's got a much better shot in the special)

Who will the Dems run? AG Hood seems to want to stick with the governor race next year. House Minority Leader Baria, who is currently running in the Wicker race, seems disinclined to switch over. Public Service Commissioner Presley is probably the dream candidate here; he earlier declined to run in the Wicker race, but carefully worded his statement to exclude that race only.

Can the Democrats win? Yes, but it will be challenging. MS has more African-Americans and fewer non-college whites than Alabama. Both Romney and Trump did ten points worse in MS than in AL. The best case scenario for Dems (barring an unlikely outright first round win) would be a runoff with McDaniel. His views are extreme even for Mississippi, and he made a lot of enemies in an attempt to primary Cochran in 2014. My personal estimate might be a 15-20% shot against someone other than McDaniel, maybe 35-40% against McDaniel.

-- MO: PAC backing incumbent Dem McCaskill out with a big ad buy, tying scandal plagued gov Greitens to likely GOP nominee, AG Hawley. Seems like a good tactic - Greitens is currently polling at 29/53 favorable.

-- VA: CNU poll has incumbent Dem Kaine with a 53/35 favorability, and a mid-20s lead over any of the declared GOP candidates. This is the kind of lead that could really hurt downballot GOP candidates.

** 2018 House:

-- TX-07: New Yorker look in at the controversial Dem primary.

-- IL-03: And a NYT look at another big primary fracas.

-- Inflammatory headline on this Axios article, but some good points on what the Dems have going for them this year.

-- Weekly check-in on the 538 average of generic ballot polling: D+8.8 (46.6/37.8)

** Odds and ends:

-- RWU poll shows the RI governor's race unexpectedly tight, with incumbent Dem Raimondo up only 39-36 over possible GOP challenger (and 2014 opponent) Fung.

-- Maine will be using ranked choice voting in the June primaries, which could make the governor's race, with crowded primaries on both sides, very interesting.

-- MU Law poll has WI gov Scott Walker approval at 47/47, about where it's been for a year. Dems have a reasonable shot here, but need to solidify around a good candidate - it's currently wide open on that side.

-- John Barrow is now running as a Dem for Georgia SOS, which is a good get - he had good electoral success getting elected in red areas. The Georgia SOS office has been...not good, so a win here would be big.

-- A second civil rights lawyer has filed to run for Michigan Supreme Court. Getting progressives on the court could be big, especially with redistricting looming.

====

Big day tomorrow, with one contested special election (OK HD-51) and the Texas primaries. Several House races of interest, the gubernatorial race, some DA stuff, and, of course, overall voting totals (will the Dem lead in the early vote continue?). Here's some races to keep an eye on (and here's some more)

(also I hope to have April special elections info up Wed, sorry for the delay)
posted by Chrysostom at 8:48 PM on March 5, 2018 [50 favorites]

I went over to Wikipedia to see where this Sam Nunberg character came from and was slightly amused to observe that his Wikipedia page was only created today.

Some context for people on Sam Nunberg. He's the guy who drew the short straw on who's stuck explaining the Constitution to the Idiot.
posted by scalefree at 8:49 PM on March 5, 2018 [10 favorites]

There’s speculation that Nunberg is acting like this as some sort of a ratfuck, either orchestrated by Stone on just by himself. That’s entirely possible. But it doesn’t quite survive a shave with Occam’s Razor. (What does, anymore, though?) My own thought is that this is just a matter of numbers. You get enough people squeezed during an investigation, particularly an investigation of people who are defiant and who believe they’re above all of it, and sooner or later someone is going to crack pretty hard.
posted by azpenguin at 8:59 PM on March 5, 2018 [4 favorites]

Program helping ICE crack down on immigrants thrives in Texas
Counties partner with ICE, giving officers the right to determine the immigration status and detain suspects for potential deportation

It could hardly have a more prosaic name. But the measure known as 287(g) – which allows the federal deportation force to deputize local police officers – has emerged as one of the Trump administration’s most potent tools in the crackdown on undocumented immigrants.

The number of participating forces has fluctuated since 287(g) was introduced in 1996. But the scheme is now enjoying a resurgence boosted by the White House’s hostility towards so-called “sanctuary cities” that refuse to help Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

[...]

At the end of February, ICE had agreements in 20 states with 75 law enforcement agencies, 24 of them in Texas – and almost all of them confirmed since last year. In the past two months, 17 memorandums of agreement have been signed across the country.

posted by XMLicious at 9:02 PM on March 5, 2018 [5 favorites]

Buzzfeed: More Bad News For Immigrant Military Recruits Who Were Promised US Citizenship

The federal agency in charge of processing citizenship has shuttered all of its offices at US Army basic training locations, putting up another roadblock for immigrant recruits who were promised a fast track to citizenship in return for their service.

...The document cited “changes in Department of Defense requirements for certifying honorable service for US service members applying for naturalization.”

Those changes, announced last October, require active duty recruits to serve for at least 180 consecutive days and complete extra background and security checks before they can be granted citizenship. That delay forces many of the immigrant recruits to violate the visas that allowed them into the United States in the first place, subjecting them to immigration detention. It also denied them privileges that require citizenship, like applying for a drivers license in some states or seeking US residency for their to spouses and children.

posted by scaryblackdeath at 9:22 PM on March 5, 2018 [25 favorites]

Hunter Walker, Yahoo, Sam Nunberg: ‘I’m not having a meltdown’

Yahoo News asked Nunberg whether he or his lawyer tried to get an extension on the document request before he decided not to cooperate. Nunberg indicated he did not pursue an extension. “My lawyer is so pissed,” he said.

For someone who is so eager to go to prison for Roger Stone, he's sure fond of the guy:

Yahoo News asked Nunberg to characterize his relationship with Stone.

“He always treats me like shit and he hates me,” Nunberg said of Stone.

But he thinks this is going great:

Yahoo News could overhear Nunberg speaking to another man whose voice was muffled.

“How awesome was this? You ever see anything like this?” Nunberg asked.

Nunberg left the phone on for several minutes, transmitting scraps of his conversation. Shortly before he hung up, he proclaimed his status as a trending topic on social media.

“Number one on Twitter!” Nunberg yelled.

I will say, he did manage to captivate multiple news cycles while providing almost no information whatsoever.
posted by zachlipton at 9:22 PM on March 5, 2018 [29 favorites]

And while Nunberg took over the news, HHS approved Arkansas's waiver to add Medicaid work requirements, the third state to impose such requirements, though they delayed a decision on the state's effort to roll back the Medicaid expansion. Those who cannot or do not comply will not just have their insurance cut off; they'll be locked out of health insurance coverage until the next year.

And Dylan Scott has an important piece that's trying to start asking questions about what's happening with health insurance in Idaho, and the rule of law in general: Idaho is about way more than Obamacare. The state is essentially trying to ignore Obamacare's laws and bring back limits on preexisting conditions and other horrors we thought we left behind. As Congress continues to ignore every important issue they're presented with, there are more and more efforts to just start creating or ignoring law without them, with real questions about how far we're moving away from the rule of law.
posted by zachlipton at 9:37 PM on March 5, 2018 [33 favorites]

I will say, he did manage to captivate multiple news cycles while providing almost no information whatsoever.

To be sure, it's all one news cycle that he's a part of today.
posted by rhizome at 9:39 PM on March 5, 2018

schadenfrau: Do we know what subreddits the Russian state targeted yet, as per the Daily Beast article? Reddit seems to be just now reacting to this, which for some reason is making me laughcry.

April Glaser at Slate—Reddit Is Finally Reckoning With How It Helped Spread Russian Propaganda in 2016:

On Monday, Reddit admitted that it too has found evidence of Russian meddling on its platform, including “a few hundred” suspicious accounts the company has removed that either are Russian in origin or have links to known Russian troll campaigns. It was a multi-faceted infestation, with propagandistic ads making up just a tiny part of it, CEO Steve Huffman said in a Reddit post: Although the company found some ads on Reddit potentially bought by Russians engaged in disinformation efforts, there weren’t many of them either before or after the election, he said, adding that “ads from Russia are blocked entirely, and all ads on Reddit are reviewed by humans.” Huffman also noted most of the suspicious accounts were removed in 2015 and 2016 during previous attempts to purge abusive uses from the site.

Reddit didn’t specify whether these accounts are linked to the Internet Research Agency, the St. Petersburg troll farm that special counsel Robert Mueller and the congressional Russian inquiries have focused on as they’ve probed how the Russian efforts in 2016 used social media. But the admission comes just days after a Daily Beast report on a leak of internal data from the Internet Research Agency that included information on how the troll operation instrumentalized Reddit to promote its fake U.S. activist websites and social media groups. One of the known Russian troll efforts, BlackMatters.Us, which Slate first found was hosting an active PayPal account, had links from its site up-voted on Reddit, sometimes thousands of times. And posters from the Internet Research Agency involved in the Black Matters campaign even stated that they would host an Ask Me Anything session on Reddit in last fall, but it never happened.

According to Huffman, the most troubling activity on Reddit from known and suspected Russian operatives wasn’t in the form of ads or accounts run by trolls, but rather from actual Reddit users who were amplifying troll-made content of their own volition. One known Internet Research Agecny account on Twitter, @TEN_GOP, which posed as the account for the Republican Party of Tennessee, had its tweets “amplified by thousands of Reddit users,” according to Huffman, adding, “sadly, from everything we can tell, these users are mostly American, and appear to be unwittingly promoting Russian propaganda.”

posted by XMLicious at 9:42 PM on March 5, 2018 [19 favorites]

I was just assuming a normal 2018 news cycle runs about 20 minutes these days. The President paying hush money to a porn star barely rates an hour of attention.
posted by zachlipton at 9:43 PM on March 5, 2018 [22 favorites]

Sorry, sorry. I thought I was done for the night, but I dropped the best quote from the Yahoo interview:

Commentators made the obvious point that in the context of a serious criminal investigation, giving interviews without checking with a lawyer seemed self-defeating at least. CNN editor at large Chris Cillizza skewered Nunberg as a “D list” political talent who is not “sophisticated.”

“My response is Chris Cillizza can go f**k himself and he dresses like s**t,” Nunberg told Yahoo News. “I’m not having a meltdown. In fact, I’m the first person ever standing up for themselves.”

posted by zachlipton at 9:52 PM on March 5, 2018 [30 favorites]

> it's all one news cycle that he's a part of today.

Der Ring des Nunbergen
posted by Westringia F. at 9:55 PM on March 5, 2018 [36 favorites]

The President paying hush money to a porn star would have ended any normal presidency.
posted by gucci mane at 10:11 PM on March 5, 2018 [57 favorites]

Going to be real funny that Nunberg is putting himself out there to cover for Stone, when I imagine Stone wouldn't think twice about throwing this dude under a bus.
posted by PenDevil at 10:33 PM on March 5, 2018 [6 favorites]

I imagine Stone wouldn't think twice about throwing this dude under a bus.

That's what Nunberg himself thinks.

Yahoo News asked Nunberg to characterize his relationship with Stone.
“He always treats me like s**t and he hates me,” Nunberg said of Stone.

posted by msalt at 10:38 PM on March 5, 2018 [3 favorites]

He always treats me like s**t and he hates me,” Nunberg said of Stone.

And yet, Stone is like a father to him, right?

I hate how much I now know of the inner neuroses of these losers. Please go away and get a hundred years of therapy and stop torturing the rest of the country.
posted by Salieri at 10:42 PM on March 5, 2018 [78 favorites]

And yet, Stone is like a father to him, right?

Well, here is how Stone described meeting Nunberg back in 2010, when dude was 30:

“He comes on a bit strong, as you know,” Stone said of Nunberg. “I mean, within a week of my meeting him he was going around telling people I was his mentor. He’s got chutzpah, as they say.”

posted by msalt at 10:48 PM on March 5, 2018 [2 favorites]

It kills me that there are so many smart, capable people who have devoted their lives to public service, but it's vicious, flatulent morons like this that have risen to the top.
posted by Joe in Australia at 10:56 PM on March 5, 2018 [64 favorites]

“He comes on a bit strong, as you know,” Stone said of Nunberg. “I mean, within a week of my meeting him he was going around telling people I was his mentor. He’s got chutzpah, as they say.”

Stone is smart enough to reverse the affect of the relationship, and also because he's not trustworthy, that's why he's Roger cotdang Stone.
posted by rhizome at 11:15 PM on March 5, 2018 [1 favorite]

Great: I just googled "rat king," and now I have yet more nightmare fodder associated with this administration. I really can't thank you; enough.

ps. Phlegmco(tm), I beseech you to make something of this!

I think I might give this a try, though it may take some time, and it will probably also have elements of The Thing(1982) in it.
posted by Phlegmco(tm) at 11:19 PM on March 5, 2018 [21 favorites]

A Reddit user posts an interesting question to the Reddit admins:
Can you clarify your relationship with the Kushners?
Thrive capital was one of your first investors, putting up $50m series B funding in Sept 2014.
Thrive capital is also a Kushner company, and is run by Joshua Kushner, Jared Kushner’s brother.
posted by ryanrs at 12:21 AM on March 6, 2018 [90 favorites]

Heh. One of Kushner's partners at Thrive, Jared Weinstein, was Dubya's body man for 3 years. What an amazing career trajectory; working for peanuts to carry the President's purse 18 hours a day to partnering with a Kushner at a tech investment firm.
posted by xyzzy at 12:32 AM on March 6, 2018 [2 favorites]

Peanuts? Reggie Love, Obama's body man, made $102,000 annually. Not too shabby for having a front row seat to history.
posted by ltl at 12:58 AM on March 6, 2018 [1 favorite]

Reggie Love worked 18 hours a day. That's not a stellar hourly wage.
posted by xyzzy at 1:12 AM on March 6, 2018 [11 favorites]

Dang, I finally watched that half-hour segment of Nunberg on Ari Melber's show. Of the whole spectacular mess, I'm most struck by the petulance of his whining that the subpoena "wasn't fair." Unbelievable. Just unbelievable. Excuse me: every. single.fucking.thing that the Republican party does these days is unfair. Jesus fucking Christ. Gerrymandering, voter suppression, trying to reverse advances in gay rights and prevent advances in trans rights, denying womens' health, trying to gut Title 9, gutting the EPA so businesses can freely poison the communities in which they work--not to mention white motherfucking supremacy. Repealing consumer protections so businesses can legally fuck over their customers again. Taking public lands that belong to ALL Americans and selling them to the highest bidder. Doing their damndest to make sure that sick people can't get medical care. Prisons for goddamn profit. Donald fucking Trump campaigning to head the US government and proudly proclaiming that he doesn't pay any taxes because he's "smart".

Lying, cheating, stealing and freeloading is the official Republican creed, and this oily manbaby sits up there crying because the tiniest shred of accountability "isn't fair"??
posted by Sublimity at 3:21 AM on March 6, 2018 [103 favorites]

So... do we think yesterday was the episode 9 of this season of Game of ~~Thrones~~ Trump, or is that still coming?

Nunberg's meltdown and all the lines of inquiry it raised, new revelations about the Stormy Daniels hush money, the former CIA Director publicly dragging the President of the United States on Twitter (what a time to be alive), Steele revealing Putin vetoed Romney as Secretary of State, the GOP *finally* rebelling against Trump over tariffs, and I'm pretty sure I'm forgetting a few things that would normally be the top headline on most other days.

I think I'm going to have to edit my hosts file on my work computer and leave my phone in my car if I want to get anything done today.
posted by Jacqueline at 3:25 AM on March 6, 2018 [10 favorites]

Excuse me: every. single.fucking.thing that the Republican party does these days is unfair.

I'm a Libertarian, so traditionally I'd consider Democrats right about half the things and Republicans right about half the things. But the GOP has gone so far off the rails now that I find them utterly irredeemable.

The Republican Party must be destroyed.
posted by Jacqueline at 3:32 AM on March 6, 2018 [23 favorites]

So... do we think yesterday was the episode 9 of this season of Game of Thrones Trump, or is that still coming?

I don't watch that show, but having only got online around 11 EST and thus having watched like 2 hours of his interviews in a row, today reminds me of a bottle episode, like the fly in the lab on Breaking Bad. It feels like the budget was running low, so they threw this feeb out there to suck the air out of the day.
posted by bootlegpop at 3:35 AM on March 6, 2018 [14 favorites]

The Republican Party must be destroyed.

They seem to be doing a pretty good job of imploding on their own.
posted by octothorpe at 4:29 AM on March 6, 2018 [3 favorites]

Motorbikes, whiskey and T-shirts are among the US goods that could be hit by EU taxes if the US imposes import tariffs on steel and aluminium.

The EU list includes:

- Bourbon whiskey, orange juice
- Jeans, T-shirts
- Corn and other agricultural products
- Steel and industrial products
- Cosmetics, consumer goods, motorbikes and pleasure boats

Many of the products the EU has in its sights are specifically chosen to have maximum political effect. Bourbon whiskey is produced in Kentucky, the state of Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell.
posted by Pendragon at 4:44 AM on March 6, 2018 [37 favorites]

Thrive capital was one of your first investors, putting up $50m series B funding in Sept 2014.
Thrive capital is also a Kushner company, and is run by Joshua Kushner, Jared Kushner’s brother.

A Reddit user researches the claim and finds that the $50m came from multiple sources, including the politically complicated Thrive Capital.

Until now, Josh has stayed quiet when it comes to the contrast, giving only a few flavorless quotes to Forbes such as, “It is no secret that liberal values have guided my life and that I have supported political leaders that share similar values.” But on Friday, he and his Oscar co-founder, C.E.O. Mario Schlosser, published a clear, if characteristically equivocal, rebuke of Trump’s A.C.A. repeal push, in an op-ed for Axios.

Also, I've learned my lesson, not every Forbes.com/sites link is bad.
posted by persona at 4:47 AM on March 6, 2018 [2 favorites]

‘It’s almost nasty’: Dems seek crackdown on sleeping in the Capitol

The practice reaches the highest levels of Congress. Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) and Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) are among the dozens of members who sleep in their offices overnight. Estimates of how many do it range from 40-plus to more than 100. And while the list skews heavily Republican and male, some women and Democrats do it, too.

Maybe they should build some dorms.
posted by Jacqueline at 4:48 AM on March 6, 2018 [12 favorites]

The BBC has a story about UAE trying to get Tillerson fired:

The BBC has obtained leaked emails that show a lobbying effort to get US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson sacked for failing to support the United Arab Emirates against regional rival Qatar. Major Trump fundraiser and UAE-linked businessman Elliott Broidy met US President Donald Trump in October 2017 and urged him to sack Mr Tillerson, the emails reveal. In other emails, he calls the top US diplomat "a tower of Jello", "weak" and says he "needs to be slammed".

The same story appears on Al Jazeera with a Qatari perspective:

The emails appear to confirm earlier reports of the existence of a memo by Broidy, allegedly confirming attempts to implement US policies in favour of the UAE.

Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Egypt and Bahrain severed diplomatic and transport ties with Qatar on June 5, accusing it of supporting "terrorism". Qatar has repeatedly rejected the allegations as "baseless".
posted by stonepharisee at 4:55 AM on March 6, 2018 [16 favorites]

Nunberg seems to be trying to use Trump’s behavior as a model to bluster past his own consequences. Be confrontational, act outlandishly so that people are too shocked to respond, insist that you did nothing wrong, simply refuse to cooperate. Yeah, it ain’t gonna work for either of you, pal.
posted by Autumnheart at 4:58 AM on March 6, 2018 [5 favorites]

The BBC has a story about UAE trying to get Tillerson fired

And gosh, I'm sure it wasn't Kushner leaking all those "Trump is thinking of firing Tillerson any minute now" rumors over the past year.
posted by jason_steakums at 5:56 AM on March 6, 2018 [5 favorites]

The practice reaches the highest levels of Congress. Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) and Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) are among the dozens of members who sleep in their offices overnight. Estimates of how many do it range from 40-plus to more than 100. And while the list skews heavily Republican and male, some women and Democrats do it, too.

It never occurred to me before but it is a pretty selfish move. If every member of Congress slept in their offices it would be unbearable for anyone to do so. Just the wait for a shower at the gym in the morning would be too much. As far as free loading goes, I’m not convinced that it increases facilities costs beyond the use of the plumbing, but it is a comically cheap move. And also: what about their sex lives? Either they’re celibate during sessions or they’re fouling up their offices with desk sex, office chair jerk offs and who knows what else. On second thought these fools are nasty
posted by dis_integration at 6:08 AM on March 6, 2018 [15 favorites]

At least a few office-sleepers, Paul Ryan among them, have used it as a photo op and point of pride, to convey a "working hard for YOU" image. (And depressingly, a fair number of Americans may identify with that, because their own work situations basically require the same. Some life situations involve uncertainty/multiple-jobs/unlivable-housing, so work becomes a second home. Other people are higher-paying but stressful careers, e.g in finance or tech or some creative stuff, where it's just expected to spend a couple nights a week at work.)

Regardless, Democrats who object are totally right to point out that it's freeloading, just as if (to borrow an argument from the article) they kept their cars in a parking lot outside of normal hours. And now I wonder, apart from the ever-increasing Republican extremism, how much of congressional dysfunction can be attributed to simple sleep deprivation?
posted by InTheYear2017 at 6:26 AM on March 6, 2018 [16 favorites]

@Olivianuzzi: I just accidentally called Sam Nunberg's mom, who told me he's not available because "he's not doing well." She's very nice!

Unbelievably, Nunberg was still calling up journalists late last night. At 11:30 PM, he phoned New York Magazine's Olivia Nuzzi, though by that time, he'd changed his tune about cooperation repeatedly:

“I’m not going to cooperate!” he insisted during a nearly 20-minute on-air talk with MSNBC’s Katy Tur, reiterating those sentiments in interviews with Bloomberg News, CNN, NY1, Vox, and Yahoo News. But close to midnight, he seemed to have a change of heart. He told New York, “Of course, I’m going to cooperate!”

Here's the transcript of their call—which was interrupted and then resumed at 12:55 AM—with this caveat: "His conversation with New York has been condensed for clarity, though you may still be confused at times, as I am." It reads like he's having a manic episode, frankly. While he reiterates his protestations of loyalty to Roger Stone as his mentor and indifference to Mueller taking down Trump, it's all a bit too much at this point. If anything, the strategy seems to be to erect a line of defense of the former to ultimately protect the latter. He also insists, unprompted, that he "didn’t coordinate this with Roger", which may be his biggest tell.

After this one-man media circus, I keep coming back to what Steve Bannon told Michael Lewis in his Bloomberg article Has Anyone Seen the President? last month: "Bannon seems to view the Democrats less as the opposition party than figures of fun. 'The Democrats donʼt matter,' he had said to me over our lunch. 'The real opposition is the media. And the way to deal with them is to flood the zone with shit.'"
posted by Doktor Zed at 6:28 AM on March 6, 2018 [16 favorites]

Axios very upset about the whole Nunberg thing

(I always think there's something creepy about Axios just turning up fully formed out of nowhere as the voice of centrist moderation. Also they totally have a villain name.)
posted by Artw at 6:39 AM on March 6, 2018 [51 favorites]

HHS approved Arkansas's waiver to add Medicaid work requirements,

I hope someone denied Medicaid sues HHS and Arkansas. The whole point of the Medicaid expansion law in Obamacare was to remove all the arbitrary hoops that states put in place to deny medical coverage. The agreement was that the feds would give free money to the states if they would agree to cover everyone based solely on low income. Arkansas wants to take the money but go back to the bad old days of limited coverage so they can keep the cash for their own slush funds.
posted by JackFlash at 6:44 AM on March 6, 2018 [31 favorites]

They seem to be doing a pretty good job of imploding on their own.

If controlling the House, the Senate, the White House, 33 state governorships, 32 state legislatures and 26 state governments en toto is pretty good implosion, I'd hate to see the full blast zone.

(This is not meant to pick on you specifically, but as a general reminder to keep our collective hand on the throttle, our outrage loud and our memes dank. When your enemy is imploding, never stop throwing in more nitroglycerin. Way way way too much work left to be done.)
posted by delfin at 7:20 AM on March 6, 2018 [70 favorites]

If controlling the House, the Senate, the White House, 33 state governorships, 32 state legislatures and 26 state governments en toto is pretty good implosion, I'd hate to see the full blast zone.

never forget, republicans are mostly mediocre white men, so the party fails upward
posted by murphy slaw at 7:22 AM on March 6, 2018 [28 favorites]

The DoD has released the latest Nuclear Posture Review.

They've printed it upside-down..

We are in an actual Gary Larson cartoon.
posted by Devonian at 7:27 AM on March 6, 2018 [57 favorites]

They've printed it upside-down..

A clear distress signal.
posted by MonkeyToes at 7:34 AM on March 6, 2018 [21 favorites]

Donald Trump at the Gridiron Dinner on Saturday: "So many people have been leaving the White House. It’s actually been really exciting and invigorating. … I like turnover. I like chaos. It really is good."

Donald Trump on Twitter this morning: "The new Fake News narrative is that there is CHAOS in the White House. Wrong! People will always come & go, and I want strong dialogue before making a final decision. I still have some people that I want to change (always seeking perfection). There is no Chaos, only great Energy!"
posted by Doktor Zed at 7:35 AM on March 6, 2018 [28 favorites]

There is no Chaos, only great Energy!

okay this is a line of dialogue spoken by a Chaos Marine of Khorne in a Warhammer 40k fan film
posted by murphy slaw at 7:39 AM on March 6, 2018 [63 favorites]

“I get up very early in the morning. I work out. I work until about 11:30 at night. I go to bed. And I do the same thing the next day,” Ryan said in 2015 when asked whether he would continue sleeping in his office after becoming speaker. “It actually makes me more efficient. I can actually get more work done by sleeping on a cot in my office.”

This is exactly the sort of performative thrift I'd expect from these Calvinist ghouls. Chaffetz was another one of these. It's all virtue-signalling to the Protestant Work Ethic from millionaire misers who want nothing more than to dismantle government assistance for anyone save themselves and a few select corporate sponsors. Plus it serves as lovely neoliberal propaganda against work-life balance. We plebs better not take a break while there's profitable disruption to be done. I wonder how many unpaid hours of overtime Ryan manages to extract by lurking around the office 24/7.
posted by Kitty Stardust at 7:39 AM on March 6, 2018 [65 favorites]

The DoD has released the latest Nuclear Posture Review.

Why does that cover look like it was designed by L. Ron Hubbard and distributed through Scientology publishing.
posted by Twain Device at 7:40 AM on March 6, 2018 [6 favorites]

45 was doing well at that Gridiron Dinner. He dropped a non-sequitur into a speech about a conversation he'd had with North Korea, which completely bamboozled those actually involved in the NK situation until it became clear that he was mixing up North and South Korea.
posted by Devonian at 7:43 AM on March 6, 2018 [10 favorites]

I'd like to see how many nights these congresspeople actually spend in their offices, as opposed to how many they spend off doing sleep-overs at wealthy donors' conveniently-vacant plush DC apartments, mysteriously-comped hotel rooms, and of course, at the domiciles of sexual partners.

It seems like a neat way to freeload on the lobbyists without having to maintain your address.
posted by MrVisible at 7:47 AM on March 6, 2018 [4 favorites]

murphy slaw:

There is no Chaos, only great Energy!
okay this is a line of dialogue spoken by a Chaos Marine of Khorne in a Warhammer 40k fan film

I'm not super familiar with Warhammer, so my immediate reaction was "Time Cube"
posted by InTheYear2017 at 7:49 AM on March 6, 2018 [5 favorites]

There is no Chaos. Only Zuul.
posted by delfin at 7:50 AM on March 6, 2018 [23 favorites]

also i fucked it up, it should have been Tzeentch, not Khorne :(
posted by murphy slaw at 7:51 AM on March 6, 2018 [6 favorites]

And also: what about their sex lives? Either they’re celibate during sessions or they’re fouling up their offices with desk sex, office chair jerk offs and who knows what else.

Well thanks a lot for putting that previously-unthought image in my head. Argh.

I had to take my husband's car today, and he doesn't have satellite radio, which meant me attempting to listen to Republicans on NPR dancing around whether they supported tariffs or not.

Conspicuously missing from the conversation: any Democrats whatsoever. Or anyone daring to say "the President clearly has no grasp of how markets, tariffs, the economy, or trade agreements work."

Not much about Nunberg that I heard, but then I did get frustrated and turn it off halfway to work in favor of music.
posted by emjaybee at 7:51 AM on March 6, 2018 [6 favorites]

There is no Chaos, only great Energy

The word you're looking for is "entropy," Donnie. The thing the White House is currently producing by the truckload is entropy.
posted by Mayor West at 7:54 AM on March 6, 2018 [14 favorites]

They printed it upside down.
Want to bet the printing contract went to a one-worker Oklahoman printing advising company who donated heavily to the Trump campaign?
posted by dances_with_sneetches at 7:54 AM on March 6, 2018 [16 favorites]

WaPo's Daily 202: Peter Navarro gets his 15 minutes of fame as the salesman for the Trump tariffs

... After being marginalized inside the White House over the past year, Peter K. Navarro has been taking a public victory lap to celebrate his success at persuading President Trump to announce tariffs on steel and aluminum imports.
...
Conservative economists, business executives and Republican elites who support free trade hate him for that, and they now speak of Navarro like he is a boogeyman.
...
Navarro’s reemergence is a testament to the value of longevity and staying power in Trump’s orbit. The survivors who can stick it out long enough often wind up near the top of the pile.
...
[Most] of his peers in the economics field do not take him seriously. “Navarro’s views on trade and China are so radical … that, even with his assistance, I was unable to find another economist who fully agrees with them,” the New Yorker’s Adam Davidson wrote in a 2016 profile.

posted by ZeusHumms at 7:57 AM on March 6, 2018 [8 favorites]

Navarro’s reemergence is a testament to the value of longevity and staying power in Trump’s orbit. The survivors who can stick it out long enough often wind up near the top of the pile.

you could almost say that executive policy is being decided by

(•_•)
( •_•)>⌐■-■
(⌐■_■)

russian roulette
posted by murphy slaw at 8:01 AM on March 6, 2018 [65 favorites]

I'd like to see how many nights these congresspeople actually spend in their offices, as opposed to how many they spend off doing sleep-overs at wealthy donors' conveniently-vacant plush DC apartments

Don't shed any tears for the hard working congress. They only worked 131 days last year, 2.5 days per week.
posted by JackFlash at 8:07 AM on March 6, 2018 [5 favorites]

Flynn selling house to pay legal bills in Trump probe
posted by J.K. Seazer at 8:10 AM on March 6, 2018 [35 favorites]

Reading between the lines, this is a house in NoVa that he presumably occupied when he worked in DC and he still has a residence in Rhode Island.
posted by murphy slaw at 8:12 AM on March 6, 2018 [2 favorites]

The other, more substantive, issue with the NPR is that it's not very substantive.

It really is a terrible document, but you at once run into the buffers when you argue against it because in some way, that's what it's intended to be. The actual creation and use of policy has been so downgraded by this administration that you can't effectively critique the policy documents, as there's no assurance that they'll actually be used as policy documents. I dare say there are plenty of policy documents concerning international trade, and not one of them proposes the sort of policy that encompasses a 25 percent steel tariff. Doesn't matter if they do, doesn't matter if they don't.

One of the basic tenets of good governance - that you frame policies that you then use to inform planning and action - is no longer in effect. Policies are promises to the people, and who gives a shit about them? It is a criminal abdication of responsibility, it is highly dangerous, and there is no reason on God's earth why these people shouldn't be run out of town and left to starve in the wilderness and be eaten by beasts.
posted by Devonian at 8:18 AM on March 6, 2018 [29 favorites]

Meh, wake me when Flynn's selling plasma.
posted by Lentrohamsanin at 8:20 AM on March 6, 2018 [11 favorites]

I hope we can find him suitable housing.
posted by LarsC at 8:22 AM on March 6, 2018 [26 favorites]

Something that occurred to me this morning - and it's possible somebody has brought this up before - but is Jeff Sessions' refusal to leave a tell that he's cooperating with Mueller's investigation? Obviously he's in the catbird seat with regard to his lifelong dream of imprisoning and disenfranchising people of color, but the humiliation he's dealing with is pretty crazy. For normal people, they would have been out the door long ago.

Sure, it's possible that he loves tearing down civil rights that much, but isn't it also possible that Mueller has him snared? It wouldn't be the first secret indictment of the case, and he did very obviously perjure himself to Congress. Not a huge leap to think he left conspiracy and collusion fingerprints everywhere, and now he's just collecting information to get himself a more lenient sentence.

Is that so crazy a possibility?
posted by rocketman at 8:25 AM on March 6, 2018 [4 favorites]

Nashville's progressive and highly lauded Democratic mayor, Megan Barry, is resigning amid a scandal revolving around an affair with her security detail and possibly inappropriate use of public funds.

God dammit Megan, we were counting on you.
posted by WidgetAlley at 8:35 AM on March 6, 2018 [8 favorites]

In this stupidest of all worlds, nothing is too crazy a possibility, but I think the simpler explanation is that Jefferson Beauregard Sessions is just living his best life for as long as he can until the sirens come for him.
posted by saturday_morning at 8:37 AM on March 6, 2018 [10 favorites]

Something that occurred to me this morning - and it's possible somebody has brought this up before - but is Jeff Sessions' refusal to leave a tell that he's cooperating with Mueller's investigation?

it's possible, but from the outside of the mueller investigation it's basically impossible to know until someone targeted by that investigation leaks.

on the other hand, this is the question that mueller wants everybody involved in the russia scheme to be asking:

has someone else already broken rank? should i start cooperating now to avoid being left without a chair when the music stops?
posted by murphy slaw at 8:38 AM on March 6, 2018 [10 favorites]

zachlipton: Mr. Carson, people close to him said, has been whipsawed by a job he has found puzzling and frustrating — so much so that he considered quitting during recent wrangling over the department’s budget.

There was no "wrangling" over the department's budget - HE WAS CALLED OUT FOR ABUSING TAX PAYER FUNDS.

Sorry, where were we?
posted by filthy light thief at 8:41 AM on March 6, 2018 [44 favorites]

Of course Sam Nunberg can’t keep his mouth shut. He worked for Trump. (Alexandra Petri, WaPo)

To badly misquote Oscar Wilde, when ONE former staffer telephones reporters and cable news stations in order to go on a prolonged, alarming, defiant rant, it seems like a misfortune. But when it happens MULTIPLE times, it starts to look like carelessness. It starts to look like President’s Trump’s idea of assembling a great team of “the best people” was, specifically, “the best people at going on cable news in moments of crisis, sticking their feet in their mouths, choking on those feet, suggesting that the feet definitely did something with the Russians during the campaign, and making everyone even more alarmed than they were previously.”

Sam Nunberg (a man who, by his own admission, has not spoken to Trump since before he took office, and who left the campaign in 2015) spent all of Monday ranting — to MSNBC’s Katy Tur, to CNN’s Jake Tapper, in print to The Post’s Josh Dawsey, to Politico, back on MSNBC to Ari Melber, and on CNN to Erin Burnett — that he is not going to comply with the subpoena he has received from Robert S. Mueller III, on the grounds that his time is valuable and he does not want to have to go through all his emails with Roger Stone because it would take 80 hours, and he values his time, but also because Roger Stone is like a father to him, and he will DIE for Roger Stone before he shares those emails, although maybe he will share the emails, but he won’t be arrested, probably, because do you think Mueller will really do that? Mueller had better come and get him if that’s the case, but he won’t really do that, would he? Did they ask Hillary Clinton this when they were talking about her emails? What was that? No, he has not been drinking. He doesn’t care. Screw this investigation — it is a witch hunt, and he does not feel like cooperating. Anyway, Trump didn’t collude. He couldn’t collude. How could he? Trump can’t keep his expletiving mouth shut, Nunberg told Politico.

It seems to be an affliction the two of them share.

posted by Johnny Wallflower at 8:43 AM on March 6, 2018 [17 favorites]

I'd like to see how many nights these congresspeople actually spend in their offices, as opposed to how many they spend off doing sleep-overs at wealthy donors' conveniently-vacant plush DC apartments

Alpha House on Amazon Video dealt with the housing challenges faced by some House members. It's not like a lot of middle class people ever get into Congress in the first place, but maintaining two residences across the country can be a strain for those who aren't wealthy.

Although, like the West Wing, the conceits of Alpha House are already quaint at best in the Trump era. Alpha House's core characters were Republicans. It was created by Gary Trudeau, so the show focused much of its attention and its comedy on Republican ridiculousness. But interspersed with all the barbs there were still angles of humanizing and sympathy for them as individuals, if not for their politics. Republican racism was portrayed largely as cluelessness rather than deliberate. There's a great "what has become of us?" sort of monologue by John Goodman about Republican political positions, but it's exactly the sort of thing that we'd have seen by now if Republicans had that sort of thing in them. Republicans who would think like that don't get elected anymore.

It's the sort of thing that was more enjoyable before reality outstripped parody.
posted by scaryblackdeath at 8:57 AM on March 6, 2018 [16 favorites]

Donald Trump’s wealth has fallen for second year running

Donald Trump has tumbled more than 200 places in the world ranking of billionaires as a result of his fortune shrinking by more than $400m (£287m) to $3.1bn over the past year.

+1 to the Guardian for the accompanying photo.
posted by The Card Cheat at 8:57 AM on March 6, 2018 [21 favorites]

I wish that article had more info about how Forbes arrived at Trump's net worth. His businesses are set up to deliberately obscure his actual holdings.
posted by murphy slaw at 9:11 AM on March 6, 2018 [10 favorites]

The Trump NPR argues that this new capability would provide the option to rapidly strike a target with a lower nuclear yield than current options, hoping to communicate limited intentions or limit collateral damage.

Trump desperately wants to drop a nuke. He's likely been fantasizing about it since he was a kid. I truly believe that he will if allowed to serve out a full term.
posted by Gaz Errant at 9:14 AM on March 6, 2018 [12 favorites]

I actually fully support a dorm for members of Congress. I don't know why there already isn't one. Because scaryblackdeath is right, for people who aren't already wealthy, it's a difficult situation to manage, and I am all for anything that will make it easier for MOCs to be made up of a cross-section of society, and also make it easier for them to refuse cushy trips and fancy dinners. If I was living in my office and someone offered me 3 days on a private island with my own room and all meals provided, that's a lot more tempting than if I had a commodious living arrangement with all my creature comforts.
posted by soren_lorensen at 9:16 AM on March 6, 2018 [34 favorites]

Nunberg Watch: He failed to appear for a 7am interview booked with CNN this morning.

Rather than jump to dark conclusions, I assume that the fact that he was still on the phone to reporters at 1AM this morning and was visibly drunk most of yesterday is sufficient to account for his absenteeism.
posted by murphy slaw at 9:16 AM on March 6, 2018 [30 favorites]

Nashville's progressive and highly lauded Democratic mayor, Megan Barry, is resigning amid a scandal revolving around an affair with her security detail and possibly inappropriate use of public funds.

Meanwhile, admitted serial adulterer Donald Trump pays hush money to a porn star and it's barely a ripple in the ongoing tide of chaos.

Republicans have no shame. Only Democrats even bother to act like they do.
posted by Gelatin at 9:16 AM on March 6, 2018 [44 favorites]

Adding to the tomes of anecdotes and stories that are already more than ample record not to work with or trust Russia: Russia suspected of using 'dumb' bombs to shift blame for Syria war crimes -- UN sources say Moscow’s use of weapons similar to those used by Syrian regime could be attempt to mask involvement in airstrikes (Kareem Shaheen for The Guardian, March 6, 2018)

The Russian air force has used unguided “dumb” bombs in Syria, in what UN sources say could be an effort to shift responsibility for possible war crimes and civilian deaths to their ally, the Syrian regime of Bashar al-Assad.

UN sources told the Guardian that Moscow’s use of less accurate bombs, which are closer in their capability to the Syrian air force’s weapons stockpiles, could be intended to make it more difficult for war crimes investigators to identify those responsible for civilian deaths from airstrikes in Syria.

And smaller scale tragedies in the US: A Deadly Connection: Neo-Nazi Group Tied To 5 Killings (NPR, March 6, 2018)

At first glance, five killings in three states since last May appeared to be unrelated, isolated cases.

But a common thread is emerging. Three young men have been charged, and all appear to have links to the same white supremacist group: the Atomwaffen Division.

Trump isn't mentioned once in the article, but there's a quote at the end of the article that alludes to some sort of recent change:

"I've been doing this work for 17 years, and not to be hyperbolic in any way, but we've never been as busy as we are today," said [Joanna Mendelson, who follows extremist groups for the Anti-Defamation League in Los Angeles]. "The white supremacists are much more emboldened."

What has emboldened them, and how can we reverse this trend?
posted by filthy light thief at 9:17 AM on March 6, 2018 [23 favorites]

Big Wall Street Banks See Chance to Weaken Post-Crisis Rule by Emily Flitter, Kenneth P. Vogel, and Alan Rappeport

But a little-noticed provision, which creates a small exemption to a capital requirement meant to prevent banks from running into the same type of financial crunch that helped tip the economy into the Great Recession, is being seized on by major banks including Citigroup and JPMorgan Chase. They are pushing to expand the exemption in a way that analysts and former government regulators say would undermine a central pillar of the Dodd-Frank law...

“This is not a tweak,” said Sheila C. Bair, former chairwoman of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. “This could be a very significant weakening of bank capital rules.”

Why Are Democrats Helping Trump Dismantle Dodd-Frank? by Mike Konczal:

The Crapo bill is unusual in today’s hyperpartisan environment: It has over 10 Democratic co-sponsors, many from swing or red states and up for re-election this year — like Joe Donnelly of Indiana, Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota, Jon Tester of Montana and Claire McCaskill of Missouri — making its passage possible...

What do Democrats get in return? Nothing substantive that they should want. They could demand better funding for regulators or an appointment to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau — or a vote on gun control... Instead of signing a bill that is well targeted to community banks or strengthens other parts of Dodd-Frank, Democrats got an agreement that consumers can freeze their credit scores once a year.

posted by crazy with stars at 9:22 AM on March 6, 2018 [12 favorites]

Providing relief for housing costs is important if we want to see more non-wealthy people run for, and stay in, Congress.

I'm in favor of anything that not only promotes a broader economic and demographic cross-section of representation in Congress, but also disincentivizes cashing in one's knowledge and connections as the logical next step beyond serving.
posted by rocketman at 9:23 AM on March 6, 2018 [9 favorites]

Hey, let's couple housing "relief" for rich members of Congress with actually funding the HUD Supportive Housing Program or Rural Housing Stability Assistance Program at more than a token level.

Otherwise these fucks can pay sticker price for their lifestyles like everyone else. And that includes banning this office sleeping crap that wouldn't fly in any other office in the country. If they can't afford two full households, rent a shared room in a house with 7 other people like I did in DC for years and like all their staffers do. 174k is plenty.
posted by T.D. Strange at 9:27 AM on March 6, 2018 [16 favorites]

Incompetence.
posted by Melismata at 9:28 AM on March 6, 2018 [3 favorites]

The Hill: Kellyanne Conway found to have violated Hatch Act

Appearing in her official capacity, Conway endorsed and advocated against political candidates, the watchdog said, referring its findings to President Trump "for appropriate disciplinary action."

The violations occurred during two television appearances in 2017, one on Fox News's "Fox and Friends," and one on CNN's "New Day."

“While the Hatch Act allows federal employees to express their views about candidates and political issues as private citizens, it restricts employees from using their official government positions for partisan political purposes, including by trying to influence partisan elections,” OSC says in its report.

“Ms. Conway’s statements during the "Fox & Friends" and "New Day" interviews impermissibly mixed official government business with political views about candidates in the Alabama special election for U.S. Senate."

referring its findings to President Trump "for appropriate disciplinary action."

don't hold your breath.
posted by murphy slaw at 9:30 AM on March 6, 2018 [55 favorites]

Also, the Conway investigation was completed by the Office of the Special Counsel.

EDIT: Excuse my ignorance and implication. From Wikipedia: "The OSC is a permanent independent federal investigative and prosecutorial agency whose basic legislative authority comes from four federal statutes..." i.e., it's not Robert Mueller.
posted by pjenks at 9:33 AM on March 6, 2018

referring its findings to President Trump "for appropriate disciplinary action."

This, of all things, just broke me a little. The system is defenseless against these people.
posted by saturday_morning at 9:37 AM on March 6, 2018 [26 favorites]

It's worth clarifying that the United States Office of Special Counsel is an independent watchdog agency, and is different from the DOJ Office of Special Counsel (i.e. the Mueller investigation).
posted by stopgap at 9:40 AM on March 6, 2018 [5 favorites]

In season 6, episode 5 of Veep, Jonah Ryan has a hookup in his office. They wake up the next morning, and he reveals that he sleeps in his office, because rents are outrageous.

I can’t find video.
posted by Huffy Puffy at 9:41 AM on March 6, 2018 [1 favorite]

David Roberts, Vox.com: Trump White House quietly issues report vindicating Obama regulations

As it happens, though, we know something about the costs and benefits of federal regulations. In fact, Trump’s own administration, specifically the (nonpartisan, at least for now) White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB), just released its annual report on that very subject. (Hat tip to E&E.)

The report was released late on a Friday, with Congress out of session and multiple Trump scandals dominating the headlines. A cynical observer might conclude that the administration wanted the report to go unnoticed.

Why might that be? Well, in a nutshell, it shows that the GOP is wrong about regulations as a general matter and wrong about Obama’s regulations specifically. Those regulations had benefits far in excess of their costs, and they had no discernible effect on jobs or economic growth.

posted by ZeusHumms at 9:50 AM on March 6, 2018 [85 favorites]

The Senators (and Reps too) living in their offices are almost certainly claiming tax deductions for lodging and meals under "Trade or business expenses".
posted by ArgentCorvid at 9:52 AM on March 6, 2018 [3 favorites]

From the Vox.com article on the OMB report:

In short, air quality rules secure enormous health benefits for the American public, but they also ask a great deal of industry.

To frame the same point another way: Air quality regulations serve as a downward redistribution of wealth, out of the pockets of industrialists and into the pockets of ordinary Americans, particularly the poor and vulnerable Americans (African Americans and Hispanics in particular) who tend to live closest to pollution sources. They shift costs, from the much higher health and social costs of pollution remediation to the comparatively smaller costs of pollution abatement.

And therein lies the source of industry and GOP rage toward EPA. It’s why EPA delayed and delayed air rules under Bush. It’s why the GOP Congress worked so furiously to block air rules under Obama. And it’s why EPA is weakening or repealing air rules as fast as possible under Trump.

The GOP is opposed to downward redistribution of wealth. If one policy goal has unified the right above all else, it is upward redistribution. Even as its base drifts further into a fog of xenophobic, reactionary resentment, its moneyed interests and policy leaders remain laser-focused on reducing taxes and regulatory burdens on the wealthy. Upward redistribution is what unites GOP health care policy, tax policy, financial sector policy, and environmental policy.

That is why Republicans hate EPA and its rules: They are a burden to industry, but worse, they are a burden to industry that is very obviously worth it. Industry makes a small sacrifice, public health improves, and economic growth continues apace. EPA rules are a living demonstration of the good that government can do.

posted by ZeusHumms at 9:53 AM on March 6, 2018 [111 favorites]

I could see any of those arguments for increasing Congressional salaries, building them a dorm, whatever, that'd all be fine.

But not while at the same time they're cutting every public benefit program for regular people and raiding the public treasury to hand over to the rich.

In fact at this current moment I'd prefer we cap their pay and assets at only the eligibility threshold for Medicaid and SSI. That's countable resources of $2000 for an individual and 3000 for a couple. $750 or $1125 per month in salary. Members of Congress should be forced to live like the poorest among us as long as they're working to increase the number of citizens that are forced to live like that.

If they want anything more, they can pass laws to improve life for everyone else at the same time.
posted by T.D. Strange at 9:58 AM on March 6, 2018 [32 favorites]

Air quality regulations serve as a downward redistribution of wealth, out of the pockets of industrialists and into the pockets of ordinary Americans

I don't quite agree with this framing either, though. Air quality regulations aren't so much a downward redistribution of wealth, as a means of preventing the wealthy from stealing the wealth and damaging the health of the poor. Clean air is something we all enjoy as a natural right, and when people generate air pollution, they are, without permission, inflicting harm on everyone in the affected area (which for some pollutants is everywhere). The economic costs of pollution remediation borne by the poor are created by the industrialists' activities. It is they who are redistributing wealth by exploiting a common resource at the expense of others, not EPA. Air quality regulations halt this upward redistribution of wealth, they don't reverse it.
posted by biogeo at 10:07 AM on March 6, 2018 [33 favorites]

TPM is live-blogging the Kobach voting rights trial today. Out of the gate, Kobach and crew were handed a setback when the judge refused to allow one of their exhibits which was submitted after a court-mandated deadline.

Judge Julie Robinson barred Kobach from submitting an exhibit showing the latest numbers of Kansans whose voter registrations have been suspended or canceled due to the proof-of-citizenship requirement that’s on trial this week.

The ACLU objected to the submission exhibit, because Kobach only turned over the latest numbers at 10:43 p.m. last night. Judge Robinson had set a deadline for such exhibits to be turned over to the opposing party of at least 24 hours before the trial started.

posted by murphy slaw at 10:13 AM on March 6, 2018 [10 favorites]

Md. Senate Passes Bill Requiring Presidential Candidates to Release Tax Returns

"We think people should have that information," said state Sen. Paul Pinsky, one of the Democrats sponsoring the bill, The Associated Press reports. "We should know if a president could potentially be compromised or manipulated."

But not everyone was happy about the proposal.

"This is the most childish bill that I've ever seen and I'm embarrassed that it's on the floor," Minority Whip Stephen Hershey said, The Baltimore Sun reports.

Sen. James Brochin is one of the four Democrats who opposed the bill.

"Show me in the Constitution where it says that's a qualification for being president of the United States," Brochin told the Sun. "We can't go along and make up rules when we don't like the president of the United States."

[...]

Governors elsewhere have vetoed similar legislation. California Gov. Jerry Brown was one, expressing concern that such a measure set a "slippery slope" precedent and might not be constitutional. Then-New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie was another, calling his state's bill unconstitutional and a "transparent political stunt."

posted by biogeo at 10:16 AM on March 6, 2018 [20 favorites]

So, if by some (terrible) turn of events that Trump is running for re-election in 2020, he could have to release his tax returns to run in certain states? Sounds good to me.

As for the "childish" nature of this "transparent political stunt," I applaud anyone who makes our "childish" leader play by the same rules as everyone else, particularly after he swore he'd release his tax returns but didn't do it because "people didn't care."

We still care, you terrible orange sham. Transparency is good for a healthy democracy, and we're still suffering under this particular political stunt.
posted by filthy light thief at 10:23 AM on March 6, 2018 [23 favorites]

Governors elsewhere have vetoed similar legislation. California Gov. Jerry Brown was one

What

I didn't know this. Supremely disappointed in him.

Are there any states other than MD where these laws are heading toward happening?
posted by saturday_morning at 10:23 AM on March 6, 2018 [1 favorite]

I'm home sick today and watching Get Me Roger Stone. While this has done nothing positive for my constitution, it does give a lot of insight into Nunberg's antics.
posted by robocop is bleeding at 10:23 AM on March 6, 2018 [6 favorites]

I was home sick yesterday and watching Nunberg on Katy Tur in real time. I was gobsmacked.
posted by Sophie1 at 10:29 AM on March 6, 2018 [3 favorites]

Being POTUS is not a right. The American people have a compelling national interest to know that a candidate is not involved in crooked business dealings or, worse, in massive debt to foreign nationals, giving them leverage over national policy. Releasing tax returns is a gesture of good faith, showing a candidate has nothing incriminating or disqualifying to hide.

And until Trump -- who obviously had plenty of things to hide -- that position was totally uncontriversial, because presidential candidates released their returns as a matter of course. This "childish" legislation is an impediment only to those who would game the system, or who would seek high democratic office while preferring not to disclose their financial entanglements.
posted by Gelatin at 10:29 AM on March 6, 2018 [51 favorites]

Stone will be live with Chuck Todd on MSNBC at 5pm. For your popcorn buying needs.
posted by chris24 at 10:30 AM on March 6, 2018 [5 favorites]

White House response to the Office of Special Counsel's referral of Kellyanne Conway's violation of the Hatch Act: No she didn't.
posted by pjenks at 10:31 AM on March 6, 2018 [3 favorites]

Drat! Foiled by the dreaded "nuh-uh" defense.
posted by murphy slaw at 10:33 AM on March 6, 2018 [45 favorites]

Maryland went for Clinton in '16, so he would still win even if he hadn't been on the ballot there.
posted by rhizome at 10:33 AM on March 6, 2018 [1 favorite]

So, if by some (terrible) turn of events that Trump is running for re-election in 2020

Regret to inform that terrible turn of events has already occurred. Trump filed for re-election five hours after he was sworn in.
"...unusually early for an incumbent President of the United States." Make America Great Again Again!
posted by kirkaracha at 10:34 AM on March 6, 2018 [5 favorites]

Drat! Foiled by the dreaded "nuh-uh" defense.

Won't Mueller be surprised when whatever bounces off Trump sticks to him.
posted by kirkaracha at 10:35 AM on March 6, 2018 [36 favorites]

I didn't know this. Supremely disappointed in him.

I wonder how much of that desire to avoid inevitable lawsuits, etc that might drain state resources to defend/implement a law that would not have a practical effect in reliably blue California.
posted by C'est la D.C. at 10:35 AM on March 6, 2018 [5 favorites]

Imagine the downballot effect if the Republican candidate for president isn’t even on the ballot in blue states.
posted by chrchr at 10:39 AM on March 6, 2018 [17 favorites]

Governors elsewhere have vetoed similar legislation. California Gov. Jerry Brown was one

Here is his reasoning on that, if anyone's interested:

“While I recognize the political attractiveness – even the merits – of getting President Trump’s tax returns, I worry about the political perils of individual states seeking to regulate presidential elections in this manner,” Brown wrote in a veto message. “First, it may not be constitutional. Second, it sets a ‘slippery slope’ precedent. Today we require tax returns, but what would be next? Five years of health records? A certified birth certificate? High school report cards? And will these requirements vary depending on which political party is in power?”

You can disagree of course, but those are not ridiculous concerns. In particular, to me, it's a bad idea to let one or a few large states (or "swing" states) effectively torpedo a candidate by keeping them off the ballot, especially in light of hinky, extremely partisan nature of many state governments. Realistically, a given state's refusal to allow a candidate on the ballot can affect other states profoundly. What if they are making this decision based on radical politics not shared widely outside the state?
posted by Joey Buttafoucault at 10:39 AM on March 6, 2018 [15 favorites]

The slippery slope is known as a logical fallacy for a reason.
posted by T.D. Strange at 10:42 AM on March 6, 2018 [22 favorites]

Stone will be live with Chuck Todd on MSNBC at 5pm. For your popcorn buying needs.

Before tuning in, let's review some of Roger Stone's Rules for political operatives:

The Three Corollaries: "Admit nothing, deny everything, launch counterattack."
"Hit it from every angle. Open multiple fronts on your enemy. He must be confused, and feel besieged on every side."
"Always praise 'em before you hit 'em."
"Avoid obviousness."
"Never do anything till you're ready to do it."
"Always keep the advantage."
"Nothing is on the level."
"Use a cutout."
"Attack, attack, attack—never defend."

And also he confessed, "Politics with me isn't theater. It's performance art. Sometimes, for its own sake."
posted by Doktor Zed at 10:44 AM on March 6, 2018 [27 favorites]

Can states really not impose any additional requirements whatsoever? I feel like, for example, a convicted felon would be barred from running for president in numerous states, even though the Constitution has nothing to say about that.
posted by InTheYear2017 at 10:45 AM on March 6, 2018

I feel like, for example, a convicted felon would be barred from running for president in numerous states, even though the Constitution has nothing to say about that.

Convicted felon Eugene Debs pulled a substantial number of votes as Socialist candidate for president back in the day. He was at 3.4% of the electorate while serving his sentence in 1920.
posted by Quindar Beep at 10:48 AM on March 6, 2018 [18 favorites]

Maryland went for Clinton in '16, so he would still win even if he hadn't been on the ballot there.

Of course, but Trump's refusal to make his returns public would them have been a bigger issue than it was -- what is SO BAD about them that he's willing to forego appearing on the ballot in all 50 states?

Today we require tax returns, but what would be next? Five years of health records? A certified birth certificate? High school report cards?

I don't think this is a great argument because, like T.D. Strange said, it's a full on slippery slope fallacy. Presidential candidates disclose tax returns. They don't disclose report cards. If there was a moment to impose nontraditional requirements, like the AZ "birther bill", that would be a different situation and worth discussing at that time.

Article 2 sets the qualifications that one must meet in order to have the privilege of running; it is probably unconstitutional for a state to require a candidate for president to turn over tax returns as a precondition of eligibility.

This is a fair point, and I have no idea if SCOTUS would approve of these laws, but 1) desperate times call for desperate measures and 2) surely there are other ways states could effectively require tax returns other than restricting being listed on the ballot: eg. forbidding political advertising by a candidate who won't disclose, denying state tax benefits to their campaign, I dunno, let's get creative!
posted by saturday_morning at 10:54 AM on March 6, 2018 [2 favorites]

Today we require tax returns, but what would be next? Five years of health records? A certified birth certificate? High school report cards?

Birther bills requiring presidential candidates to release copies of their birth certificate were introduced in 19 states in response to Obama's election. Arizona got the closest to passing it before it was vetoed by Jan Brewer.
posted by peeedro at 10:56 AM on March 6, 2018 [21 favorites]

I'm of the belief that Article 2 prevents States from adding additional eligibility requirements. But what it does not prevent is State Parties from adding additional eligibility requirements. If a single State Republican Party organization were to require tax returns, for example, then any candidate who wanted those electoral votes would either need to release their returns or obtain the necessary signatures to get on the ballot without the help of the state party.

This will, of course, never, ever, ever happen while Trump is President, but it could be the sort of course correction we see in the aftermath of this dismal chapter in our nation's history.
posted by Uncle Ira at 11:01 AM on March 6, 2018 [4 favorites]

And if Arizona had passed that stupid birther bill, Obama would have...submitted his birth certificate. Because it's real, and non-incriminating, unlike Trump's tax returns.
posted by saturday_morning at 11:02 AM on March 6, 2018 [28 favorites]

Can states really not impose any additional requirements whatsoever?

That's pretty much the SC's decision in Thornton, yeah, with the exception of legitimate election-management concerns about getting onto the ballot. If you want to add to the de-jure or de-facto requirements for a federal office, the way to do that is constitutional amendment.
posted by GCU Sweet and Full of Grace at 11:03 AM on March 6, 2018 [6 favorites]

No, states placing requirements on candidates for federal office would be madness.
posted by xyzzy at 11:04 AM on March 6, 2018 [4 favorites]

IANAL, but just weighing in here to say that being on the ballot in a particular state and being able to run for President are two different things. For example, I otherwise qualify to run for President, but I'm pretty sure if I went to each state and asked that my name be on the ballot, they'd turn me down. Ergo, there must be other requirements to be on the ballot than simply meeting the Constitutional requirements for running.
posted by Mental Wimp at 11:05 AM on March 6, 2018 [14 favorites]

How a Russian-Linked Shell Company Hired An Ex-Trump Aide to Boost Albania’s Right-Wing Party in DC
posted by Artw at 11:09 AM on March 6, 2018 [4 favorites]

California Gov. Jerry Brown was one, expressing concern that such a measure set a "slippery slope" precedent and might not be constitutional.

Trump drew criticism from Democrats and open-government advocates when he became the first president in years to take office without releasing his tax returns. But Brown, a fourth-term Democrat, has resisted similar disclosures. Breaking with a tradition of gubernatorial candidates in California, he did not release his tax returns during his 2010 or 2014 campaigns.

Slippery slope to a glass house . . . .
posted by jointhedance at 11:13 AM on March 6, 2018 [19 favorites]

NYT op-ed, Sarah Jaffe, The Rising Ghosts of Labor in the West Virginia Teacher Strike

Strikes as broad as the one in West Virginia are vanishingly rare. But when they do happen, they prove that our labor history is not that deeply buried. If workers are pushed hard enough, those ghosts will rise.

West Virginia’s teachers, along with the rest of the state’s government workers, never got the legal right to collective bargaining, yet even without that right, teachers and school service workers have united across a largely rural state. The state capital, Charleston, has been a sea of red, as the teachers evoked the mine wars with red bandannas. By rising up against austerity, they have set an example for the rest of the labor movement and made it clear that they fight for the rights of all workers rather than special treatment for a few.

The WV House and Senate today finally passed the 5% pay raise, and it's headed to Gov. Justice for signature, but the deal still hasn't really addressed the health insurance situation, and the Senate included cuts to the state's Medicaid budget to help pay for it. There's talk the strike could be over tomorrow if this is signed.

And teachers in Oklahoma, the lowest-paid in the nation, are seriously talking about a walkout, though there are questions around timing around high-stakes standardized testing, which starts at the beginning of April (taking the tests is essential for districts to get paid).
posted by zachlipton at 11:13 AM on March 6, 2018 [35 favorites]

Before tuning in, let's review some of Roger Stone's Rules for political operatives:

Yuck. If he had to condense that into one line, it would be "It's ok to lie."
posted by diogenes at 11:15 AM on March 6, 2018 [3 favorites]

White House response to the Office of Special Counsel's referral of Kellyanne Conway's violation of the Hatch Act: No she didn't.

Without seeing the tweet, I have to ask - which violation? Probably her more recent comments made on CNN and Fox News (Variety, March 6, 2018). Before that, she endorsed Roy Moore (Washington Post opinion, November 27, 2017), but before that violation, there was her "one-time mistake" of her on-air endorsement of Ivanka Trump’s fashion line (Government Executive, March 2017) -- that's right, the White House officially acknowledged that ethics violation as a one-off event. And of course there was no word of a punishment or reprimand for using her official office to shill Ivanka's crap.
posted by filthy light thief at 11:17 AM on March 6, 2018 [7 favorites]

The American electorate had a chance to sanction Trump for not releasing his tax returns and, well, didn't. Sixty-odd million of them didn't think it important anyway.

But if you make it a statutory necessity to do X or Y, you know it's going to be turned into a legal bludgeon to narrow the number of minorities and/or women running for President before the ink is dry. Better to keep it as an informal agreement and trust to the voters to judge, even with this big failure staring the USAians in the face.
posted by Quindar Beep at 11:18 AM on March 6, 2018 [6 favorites]

Yuck. If he had to condense that into one line, it would be "It's ok to lie."

this is Roger Stone's axiom, it's unstated because it's obvious.
posted by murphy slaw at 11:18 AM on March 6, 2018 [3 favorites]

Daily Beast, Woodruff/Ackerman, Trump Lawyer Michael Cohen Received Inside Info From Russia Probe, in which testimony from the House Intelligence Committee is leaking to Michael Cohn's lawyer, who tried to keep this fact a secret.
posted by zachlipton at 11:26 AM on March 6, 2018 [40 favorites]

zachlipton: And teachers in Oklahoma, the lowest-paid in the nation, are seriously talking about a walkout, though there are questions around timing around high-stakes standardized testing, which starts at the beginning of April (taking the tests is essential for districts to get paid).

Back in 2014, it was reported that the percent change per pupil spending in Oklahoma(FY08-FY15) was -23.6% -- that's right, almost down a quarter in less than a decade.

Spending on education in Oklahoma has fallen by 23.6% since fiscal 2008, by far the largest decrease nationwide. The state's education general funding formula allocated just $2,769 per student as of the current fiscal year, lower than all but two states. Like most states slashing education spending, Oklahoma students performed worse on standardized math and reading tests than their peers in most other states. And while nearly 30% of adult Americans had completed at least a bachelor's degree, less than 24% of Oklahoma adults had done so as of last year, one of the lower rates nationwide. While most states increased funding for schools over the past year, per pupil expenditure fell 0.8% in Oklahoma.

That's fucking criminal. And then there's the standardized tests, which were a source of controversy in 2013 based on a technical failure of the private servers, housed by McGraw-Hill in New Jersey, that booted students from their tests and caused chaos on the test scores for that year.

Tying school funding to test scores is itself worth a strike.
posted by filthy light thief at 11:29 AM on March 6, 2018 [41 favorites]

I'm not sure how I forgot about this yesterday (and how most reporting is still forgetting about it today) but Sam "I'm Not Going To Jail, Am I" Nunberg is the same Sam Nunberg we last saw getting sued for $10M by Trump for violation of the campaign's NDA (settled in August of 2016; and in which Nunberg was represented by Andrew Miltenberg, who spends the rest of his time suing colleges over their sexual assault policies).

Thats Nunberg to Mattress Girl in four steps for those playing our home edition of Five Degrees of What Is This Even Anymore
posted by snuffleupagus at 11:29 AM on March 6, 2018 [39 favorites]

Closed-door testimony before the House Russia probe is supposed to stay behind closed doors. Somehow, it got into the hands of another witness—and key Trump confidante—instead.

i suspect that the mechanism of action here rhymes with "Bevin Tunas"
posted by murphy slaw at 11:29 AM on March 6, 2018 [33 favorites]

I feel like, for example, a convicted felon would be barred from running for president in numerous states, even though the Constitution has nothing to say about that.

I'm not and wasn't a Bernie Sanders supporter, but it's not hard to imagine a scenario where he had been convicted of a felony in connection with his arrest for protesting in 1963, and I wouldn't want him disqualified from running for President based on that.

Or someone like John Lewis, especially given that he has lived a lifetime of being unjustly targeted in ways that Sanders has not.
posted by mosst at 11:34 AM on March 6, 2018 [35 favorites]

Better to keep it as an informal agreement and trust to the voters to judge, even with this big failure staring the USAians in the face.

Given that people voted for Trump, and Roy Moore, and a host of other cretins pretty much solely because they have an (R) after their name makes me exceedingly unlikely to trust their judgment. It's beyond obvious that Republicans are prepared to overlook infractions that they'd never shut up about over a Democrat. When Republicans show they are willing to operate in good faith, they may once again show themselves to be trustworthy, but not before, and they are not now.
posted by Gelatin at 11:38 AM on March 6, 2018 [7 favorites]

IIRC, I believe that was Thomas's dissent in Thornton and, well, the majority of the Supreme Court disagreed then (and rightfully so); this is already substantially a settled point.

Again, not a lawyer, so this part confuses me.

In our view, Amendment 73 is an indirect attempt to accomplish what the Constitution prohibits Arkansas from accomplishing directly. As the plurality opinion of the Arkansas Supreme Court recognized, Amendment 73 is an "effort to dress eligibility to stand for Congress in ballot access clothing," because the "intent and the effect of Amendment 73 are to disqualify congressional incumbents from further service."... We must, of course, accept the state court's view of the purpose of its own law: We are thus authoritatively informed that the sole purpose of § 3 of Amendment 73 was to attempt to achieve a result that is forbidden by the Federal Constitution.

On the other hand, each state has a variety of methods of limiting ballot access through petition requirements (which affect independent party candidates the most; clearly this is an extra-Constitutional limitation). So do I understand SCOTUS saying that the reason they negated this requirement was because it was explicitly an attempt to achieve extra-Constitutional exclusion? If so, would the requirement have stood if it was cast as a ballot management issue? And how are petition signatures not viewed as extra-Constitutional requirements?

This is getting very derailly, mods, so if this should be taken to another venue, let me know.
posted by Mental Wimp at 11:39 AM on March 6, 2018 [1 favorite]

Washington enacts net neutrality legislation:

Washington became the first state in the country on Monday to pass its own net neutrality law in the wake of the Federal Communications Commission's (FCC) repeal of the popular Obama-era rules.

Gov. Jay Inslee (D) signed a bill Monday afternoon forbidding internet service providers from blocking or throttling web content, or from charging websites for higher delivery speeds. During a ceremony for the bill signing, he called the legislation a "free speech bill."

Man, the Washington state government is kicking ass lately.
posted by Chrysostom at 11:43 AM on March 6, 2018 [73 favorites]

Man, the Washington state government is kicking ass lately.

Stunning what unified control of government by Democrats/progressives can do for a state. It's so great.
posted by Existential Dread at 11:44 AM on March 6, 2018 [45 favorites]

Or someone like John Lewis, especially given that he has lived a lifetime of being unjustly targeted in ways that Sanders has not.

Right, this. Using criminal history as a means to disqualify someone (from anything: office, housing, jobs, whatever) unfairly targets people of color.
posted by rabbitrabbit at 11:49 AM on March 6, 2018 [12 favorites]

I am all for excluding persistent white collar criminals from situations where recidivist behavior is likely to occur.
posted by Artw at 11:51 AM on March 6, 2018 [6 favorites]

Washington became the first state in the country on Monday to pass its own net neutrality law in the wake of the Federal Communications Commission's (FCC) repeal of the popular Obama-era rules.

First to pass and sign a law, though their approach -- a direct imposition of net neutrality by fiat -- faces legal challenge by federal preemption, which the Trump administration has claimed.

Oregon passed a law last week, which awaits the governor's almost certain signature, that uses the legally fortified indirect approach of blocking the state government from contracting with any ISP that does NOT provide net neutrality, and several states have used executive orders to the same effect: New York, Montana, New Jersey, Vermont, California and Hawaii.
posted by msalt at 11:55 AM on March 6, 2018 [15 favorites]

174k is plenty.

$174K will barely qualify you to rent the median one-bedroom apartment in Manhattan ($3350) in a place where landlords routinely require that your salary be ~45x your monthly rent. I'm sure other expensive areas are similar.

I definitely see your point (and feel your anger), but do I want all our representatives (especially from urban areas, which tend to be more expensive) to be either independently wealthy or not mind living with 4 other people at home and in DC? I don't know. Perhaps this is the kind of thing that could be means-tested or indexed to cost-of-living.

You may be right about Manhattan (I've never lived there), but $174,000 per year is several times the most money I have ever made in a year. I lived both in San Francisco and just outside of DC. If I made that much money I could have kept both places and bought a brand new car.
posted by runcibleshaw at 11:57 AM on March 6, 2018 [12 favorites]

Nunberg Watch: from the "that escalated quickly" dept.:

Fox's Gasparino says Nunberg will seek treatment after Friday grand jury appearance

Former Trump campaign aide Sam Nunberg told Fox Business Network's Charlie Gasparino that he intends to get treatment following a scheduled grand jury appearance on Friday.

Nunberg added he will now fully cooperate with special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into possible collusion between Trump campaign associates and Russian officials.
…
When asked by Daily Beast national editor Justin Miller what specifically Nunberg was being treated for, Gasparino referred to a Monday report he provided on Fox Business.

"When I interviewed [Nunberg], and I interviewed him early, he admitted to me he was drinking," Gasparino reported.

"He’s also going to seek treatment for what ails him," he continued. "There’s something. Drinking I believe is a big part of it and that’s what happened yesterday."

posted by murphy slaw at 12:03 PM on March 6, 2018 [31 favorites]

$174K will barely qualify you to rent the median one-bedroom apartment in Manhattan ($3350) in a place where landlords routinely require that your salary be ~45x your monthly rent.

Median household income in Manhattan is $67K. Any one of those median persons would make a better congress member than most. The only people inhibited by a $174K salary would be those used to a $500K salary and I say good riddance.
posted by JackFlash at 12:06 PM on March 6, 2018 [6 favorites]

Washington Post: Special counsel has examined episodes involving Michael Cohen, Trump’s longtime lawyer

Hope he didn't have to watch the Michael Cohen bottle and clip episodes, I hated those.
posted by Rust Moranis at 12:06 PM on March 6, 2018 [12 favorites]

I always thought the best way to take on a local approach to Net Neutrality would be to write laws granting use of public right of way to run lines in a way that you must abide by NN principles to get and keep that use. But I do like what Washington and Oregon are doing. Dare them to sue you. It's not gonna be a good look.
posted by azpenguin at 12:06 PM on March 6, 2018 [3 favorites]

a place where landlords routinely require that your salary be ~45x your monthly rent. I'm sure other expensive areas are similar.

At $174K/year estimated monthly take-home pay is around $9770. If the median 1BR is $3550 it represents around 30% of income. Which is the traditional rule for "responsible" housing costs, despite criticism as "arbitrary and almost meaningless" today.
posted by snuffleupagus at 12:10 PM on March 6, 2018 [2 favorites]

Well, I'm impressed:

Paul Ryan Challenger Randy Bryce Arrested at DACA Demonstration [Teen Vogue]
posted by marshmallow peep at 12:13 PM on March 6, 2018 [32 favorites]

Enough on the housing costs/dorms for Congress thing; if there's more substance to talk about there it can get its own thread, and if not, let's call it good for now.
posted by LobsterMitten (staff) at 12:14 PM on March 6, 2018 [4 favorites]

So, yeah. Nunberg is going into treatment according to Mediaite.

Everybody called it.
posted by Sophie1 at 12:17 PM on March 6, 2018 [4 favorites]

Paul Ryan Challenger Randy Bryce Arrested at DACA Demonstration

Iron 'Stache! It would be hilarious if the GOP not only lost the house but its Speaker in November.
posted by Slap*Happy at 12:25 PM on March 6, 2018 [14 favorites]

Randy Bryce puts his money where his mustache is.
posted by Faint of Butt at 12:28 PM on March 6, 2018 [11 favorites]

From the Iron Stache article: Another Paul Ryan opponent, @CathyMyersWI, was also arrested at the protest demanding a fair DREAM law
posted by Emmy Rae at 12:28 PM on March 6, 2018 [24 favorites]

Re: Steel and aluminum tariffs, City AM had this headline: "Hit the Chevy with the levy, tax your whiskey & rye"
posted by numaner at 12:34 PM on March 6, 2018 [109 favorites]

So, yeah. Nunberg is going into treatment

Importantly, he's going AFTER he testifies Friday. Hopefully his lawyers/family took his phone and keep it till then.
posted by T.D. Strange at 1:03 PM on March 6, 2018 [5 favorites]

Trump just gave a question to the Daily Caller, which used it to ask the Swedish Prime Minster if immigrants cause crime. He was not pleased.

Now, Trump is all "certainly there was meddling" in the election but quickly rushes to say it was "other countries."

"The Russians had no impact on our vote. Certainly there was meddling. Probably there was meddling from other countries."

Every single time this subject comes up, he always inserts this weird "other countries" thing. And nobody has ever once demanded to know who.
posted by zachlipton at 1:10 PM on March 6, 2018 [44 favorites]

The full magnificence of 45's reply, per Katy Tur on Twitter.

Trump asked what advice he'd give Sweden on Russian meddling.

Trump: There was meddling from probably other countries and other individuals...
Also there's going to be a deep study And we have great judges
And black unemployment is down
And we need paper back up.
posted by Devonian at 1:13 PM on March 6, 2018 [35 favorites]

In Sanctuary Case, Judge Lets Trump Administration Withhold Funding, for Now, From California

"The amount of money at issue — $1 million — was relatively small and was at this point only delayed, not denied, U.S. District Judge William Orrick said. While he rejected the state's request for a preliminary injunction to turn over the money, he also rejected a request by the U.S. Department of Justice to dismiss California's lawsuit.

The judge said the suit raised 'weighty and novel constitutional issues' that would benefit from additional argument."
posted by bz at 1:15 PM on March 6, 2018 [1 favorite]

Emmy Rae: "From the Iron Stache article: Another Paul Ryan opponent, @CathyMyersWI, was also arrested at the protest demanding a fair DREAM law"

Right, reminder that the Dems have an active primary here. Cathy Myers looks pretty good, too.
posted by Chrysostom at 1:17 PM on March 6, 2018 [13 favorites]

Won't Mueller be surprised when whatever bounces off Trump sticks to him.

That'd all be really childish if we were not living in an era that is pretty much defined by "no erasies".
posted by srboisvert at 1:17 PM on March 6, 2018 [1 favorite]

McConnell dismisses accusation he ‘dramatically watered down’ warnings about Russian election interference

“This is the same old thing they’ve been saying for weeks,” he told reporters at a weekly media availability. “I’ve issued a statement on that a couple of weeks ago and I’d be happy to send it to you again.” There is no specific statement from a couple of weeks ago, according to McConnell’s top spokesman, Don Stewart.

Blatant and flagrant lies are no biggie when you're already up to your carapace in era-defining treason.
posted by Rust Moranis at 1:25 PM on March 6, 2018 [87 favorites]

"Every single time this subject comes up, he always inserts this weird "other countries" thing."

Your President never grew out of the "It wasn't them! Everyone was doing it!" stage like normal children do…

"And nobody has ever once demanded to know who."

Makes you appreciate your mother even more, doesn't it?
posted by Pinback at 1:41 PM on March 6, 2018 [5 favorites]

McConnell dismisses accusation he ‘dramatically watered down’ warnings about Russian election interference.

Related: The Biggest Threat to Democracy and Governance Is Mitch McConnell - Nancy Letourneau, Washington Monthly

As I recount this history [of obstructionism], what stands out is that in every area, McConnell has been successful in achieving his goals. He kept us from knowing the full extent of Russia’s interference on behalf of Trump in the 2016 election, he defeated any attempt to put limits on big money in politics, he successfully obstructed Obama (except for the few months when Democrats had 60 votes in the Senate), and he preserved a seat on the Supreme Court for a Republican president. The only failure McConnell experienced was that he didn’t make Obama a one-term president.

That is troubling because the majority leader’s successes stem from the most cynical place imaginable. His positions have nothing to do with effective governing or protecting our democracy and everything to do with partisan political advantage while maintaining his own power. As Lofgren pointed out, his strategies rest on the cynical premise of sabotaging the reputation of Congress among the American public. Perhaps even more than the presidency of Donald Trump, McConnell represents everything that is wrong with our politics today. And yet, he pretty much remains in the shadows and out of the spotlight of accountability.

That is why, several months ago, I suggested that Democrats should treat McConnell the same way Republicans have treated Nancy Pelosi. In doing so, they could be clear about what is wrong in Washington (i.e. big money and power games) and who is responsible.

posted by ZeusHumms at 1:50 PM on March 6, 2018 [103 favorites]

CNN: McConnell on 2016 meddling response: 'I'm perfectly comfortable with the steps that were taken'

You're perfectly comfortable with them because they allow you to stay in perfect power, you traitorous scumbag.
posted by Rust Moranis at 1:51 PM on March 6, 2018 [68 favorites]

Daniel Dale keeps zeroing in on the alleged "national security" justification for the tariffs. Now, Trump is offering no tariffs to countries that make trade deals on unrelated matters. As usual, Trump's legal argument (these tariffs are legal because of his section 232 national security authority) is undercut by the nonsense that comes out of his mouth (there's no national security problem if these countries give us other trade concessions).
posted by zachlipton at 2:15 PM on March 6, 2018 [8 favorites]

Trump dismisses question about Russian meddling, touts ‘surprise’ outcome of 2018 election

Trump then pivoted, somewhat alarmingly, to a bullish prediction of Republican performance in the midterms.

“I think we will do very well in the ’18 election,” Trump said, referring to the Republican Party. “Historically, those in the White House have a little bit of a dip… I think it will be a tremendous surprise to people.“

posted by Atom Eyes at 2:16 PM on March 6, 2018 [20 favorites]

i realized that time travel was impossible when i discovered that there are no historical accounts of people in silver jumpsuits with laser guns trying to kill mitch mcconnell's grandfather
posted by murphy slaw at 2:19 PM on March 6, 2018 [27 favorites]

While we're on Wisconsin primaries, I'd like to ask a question if that's all right. The gubernatorial primary is still wide wide open, which seems crazy late to me. I'm getting alarmed about it but I haven't been able to find much analysis, so I don't know if I'm freaking out unnecessarily. Thoughts?

(Also, video of that Racine DACA protest has been all over my facebook, and I'm just so proud of these kids)
posted by gerstle at 2:26 PM on March 6, 2018 [3 favorites]

McConnell will have to stand for re-election in 2020. Are there any Democrats in Kentucky who might have a chance against him?
posted by Iridic at 2:29 PM on March 6, 2018 [1 favorite]

NYT, Gary Cohn to Resign as Trump’s Top Economic Adviser. He was conspicuously absent at today's press conference. Expected in "the coming weeks." Hilariously, the article ends by saying that Trump had conversations with Cohn about replacing Kelly and making him Chief of Staff.

Not at all hilariously, this is a guy who merely considered resigning after Trump's Charlottesville comments, but stayed on, yet tariffs were the last straw for him. Courage.
posted by zachlipton at 2:34 PM on March 6, 2018 [38 favorites]

Are there any Democrats in Kentucky who might have a chance against him?

No. Not really. At least not anyone currently in Democratic politics. The Kentucky Democratic party has been decimated by running the same losing campaign with the same losing set of party advisers since 2006 when they lost to Rand Paul. And the state just flipped to full Republican control in the culmination of continuous Democratic losses in the legislature.

There are a couple interesting outsider efforts going on like The New Kentucky Project led by the former state auditor and the most popular sports radio show host in the state. One of them could end up running an unconventional campaign, which would be the best shot.

If the institutional KY Democratic party has any say though, no. They will never beat Mitch McConnell.
posted by T.D. Strange at 2:35 PM on March 6, 2018 [5 favorites]

McConnell will have to stand for re-election in 2020. Are there any Democrats in Kentucky who might have a chance against him?

Alison Lundegan Grimes did it before (at 35) and seems likely to do it again.
posted by Exceptional_Hubris at 2:35 PM on March 6, 2018 [1 favorite]

Lundegan Grimes got demolished by McConnell in 2014 while his approval rating in the state was 50/50. She ran one of the worst campaigns in history, refusing to even say she voted for Obama. Her father is one of the perennial losing institutional Democrats I was talking about.
posted by T.D. Strange at 2:38 PM on March 6, 2018 [10 favorites]

gerstle: "While we're on Wisconsin primaries, I'd like to ask a question if that's all right. The gubernatorial primary is still wide wide open, which seems crazy late to me. I'm getting alarmed about it but I haven't been able to find much analysis, so I don't know if I'm freaking out unnecessarily. Thoughts?"

I'm not sure I follow your question. Are you concerned because the party hasn't consolidated behind a single candidate for governor yet?
posted by Chrysostom at 2:39 PM on March 6, 2018 [1 favorite]

By the end of this bloodbath, Mick Mulvaney is going to have more jobs than a working-class immigrant family.
posted by FelliniBlank at 2:40 PM on March 6, 2018 [13 favorites]

Trump then pivoted, somewhat alarmingly, to a bullish prediction of Republican performance in the midterms.

“I think we will do very well in the ’18 election,” Trump said, referring to the Republican Party. “Historically, those in the White House have a little bit of a dip… I think it will be a tremendous surprise to people.“

What the FUCK? This sounds exactly like last summer when he said, "Don't panic, we're going to win." Because he fucking knew Russia was going to make it happen! Are we in for a repeat? Fucking hell.
posted by yoga at 2:44 PM on March 6, 2018 [51 favorites]

Not at all hilariously, this is a guy who merely considered resigning after Trump's Charlottesville comments, but stayed on, yet tariffs were the last straw for him. Courage.

I don't particularly care what species of grass provides the last straw, provided the camel's back is broken. If protectionism is it, then sure, it's a horrible indictment of the gross inhumanity, greed and mendacity of the GOP. Such facts are not in doubt. But if it provokes all-out war between the GOP and 45, then bring it on. He cannot win that; they're his only firewall. And they'll come out of it covered in camel entrails.
posted by Devonian at 2:49 PM on March 6, 2018 [6 favorites]

@jonathanvswan: Another text from another WH official:
🔥🔥🔥
🔥🌎🔥
🔥🔥🔥

This place is really just filled with the worst damn people.
posted by zachlipton at 2:49 PM on March 6, 2018 [15 favorites]

Gotta give the WH/Cohn a couple of troll points for releasing this news immediately after Trump's "everybody wants a piece of the Oval Office" [ugh] remark, though.
posted by FelliniBlank at 2:51 PM on March 6, 2018

WTF is that text supposed to mean?
posted by yoga at 2:53 PM on March 6, 2018 [8 favorites]

And not only is Cohn gone, Trump cancelled the last-ditch meeting Cohn arranged with the execs of companies that use steel and aluminum, who were presumably going to explain that it's bad if their materials cost more.
posted by zachlipton at 2:54 PM on March 6, 2018 [16 favorites]

WTF is that text supposed to mean?

Cohn's nickname, courtesy of Bannon, is Globalist Gary. Classy bunch.
posted by FelliniBlank at 2:55 PM on March 6, 2018 [10 favorites]

WTF is that text supposed to mean?

World on fire.
posted by scalefree at 2:56 PM on March 6, 2018 [4 favorites]

Judging by Jonathan Swan's previous two tweets, it appears to be a knock against "globalist" (read: Jew) Gary Cohn:

Among other things, Gary Cohn had the best nickname (coined by Bannonites) in WH history. He wore the 🌍 proudly.

A text from a WH official: “RIP 🌎”
posted by Atom Eyes at 2:57 PM on March 6, 2018 [14 favorites]

We're famous out here in AZ!

I'm a little annoyed that the WSJ reporter referred to our February legislative district meeting as "precinct meeting" in the photo caption, but psyched that they included a photo. The woman wearing the flag vest is one of our six candidates for two state representative seats (safely blue). Our chair did not hold back in his comments about Sinema, but at least he made clear that he'll vote for her in the general.
I'm guessing she's not too pleased with that article.

We have an uphill battle here, yes. And there is plenty of disagreement, yes. But we are also working hard to make this happen.
posted by Superplin at 2:58 PM on March 6, 2018 [8 favorites]

(clarification: the "globalist" smear was coming from WH officials, not Jonathan Swan, who was simply reporting)
posted by Atom Eyes at 2:59 PM on March 6, 2018 [2 favorites]

It's good that Nunberg is going to "get treatment" though it should still be remembered that this entire situation is of his own making. Nobody forced him to be a racist scumbag.

That said does anyone else get the impression that Mueller could get his complete and utter devotion if he just bought the guy an ice cream cone, took him outside for a game of catch, then put his arm around Nunberg's shoulders and said, "I'm proud of you, champ!".
posted by Justinian at 3:02 PM on March 6, 2018 [31 favorites]

I wouldn't panic about Trump's remark that incumbents usually lose in midterms, but this time there will be a "surprise" outcome. It's precisely what he would say regardless of whether any interference was afoot: bombastic narcissism coupled with a fallback excuse. Not that interference won't be happening just like in 2016! Just that there's no reason to assume Trump knows about some kind of secret Russian guarantee.
posted by InTheYear2017 at 3:03 PM on March 6, 2018 [3 favorites]

Are you concerned because the party hasn't consolidated behind a single candidate for governor yet?

Sorry, yes. I believe we had front-runners by this point in the last two races. (Of course, we lost those, so.) I've been trying to figure out whether this means trouble for the general election and haven't been able to find much discussion of it online.
posted by gerstle at 3:06 PM on March 6, 2018

And, just like before, it serves as a setup for "If I/we don't win big it means the whole thing was rigged by millions of invisible Mexicans."
posted by contraption at 3:06 PM on March 6, 2018 [4 favorites]

Just that there's no reason to assume Trump knows about some kind of secret Russian guarantee.

The last person you want to entrust with critical secrets is Donald J Trump, even if he's at the center of them.
posted by scalefree at 3:07 PM on March 6, 2018 [7 favorites]

I've been trying to figure out whether this means trouble for the general election and haven't been able to find much discussion of it online.

Hard to say really. I think the research on whether wide open primaries indicate much of anything in the general is pretty unclear. As long as the Dems come around to whomever the nominee is - Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Evers is the leader currently, and I believe he's considered a solid candidate - then they're fine. If they DON'T - as we saw for the GOP in Virginia - they're in trouble.

Walker's favorables are in the "not great but not deadly" zone right now, I'd probably call it a tossup, if the Dems coalesce.
posted by Chrysostom at 3:21 PM on March 6, 2018 [2 favorites]

@jonathanvswan: Another text from another WH official:

Why are they still giving Stephen Miller background anonymity?
posted by T.D. Strange at 3:23 PM on March 6, 2018 [16 favorites]

Stephen Miller isn't the first person in the White House I'd expect to be using an antisemitic nickname for a colleague.
posted by mbrubeck at 3:27 PM on March 6, 2018 [2 favorites]

Yeah, um, he wouldn't be not on the list either.
posted by Artw at 3:28 PM on March 6, 2018 [20 favorites]

Remember that Stephen Miller and Richard Spencer were the far-right Beavis and Butthead of Duke university.
posted by Ray Walston, Luck Dragon at 3:35 PM on March 6, 2018 [9 favorites]

Gary Cohn Resigns In Protest Of Trump’s Bigoted Comments Towards Aluminum [Onion]
posted by T.D. Strange at 3:48 PM on March 6, 2018 [65 favorites]

I think this one rates a Boom. NYT, Adviser to Emirates With Ties to Trump Aides Is Cooperating With Special Counsel

An adviser to the United Arab Emirates with ties to current and former aides to President Trump is cooperating with the special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III, and gave testimony last week to a grand jury, according to two people familiar with the matter.

Mr. Mueller appears to be examining the influence of foreign money on Mr. Trump’s political activities and has asked witnesses about the possibility that the adviser, George Nader, funneled money from the Emirates to the president’s political efforts. It is illegal for foreign entities to contribute to campaigns or for Americans to knowingly accept foreign money for political races.

Mr. Nader, a Lebanese-American businessman who advises Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed Al-Nahyan, the effective ruler of the Emirates, also attended a January 2017 meeting in the Seychelles that Mr. Mueller’s investigators have examined. The meeting, convened by the crown prince, brought together a Russian investor close to President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia with Erik Prince, the founder of Blackwater and an informal adviser to Mr. Trump’s team during the presidential transition, according to three people familiar with the meeting.

posted by zachlipton at 3:55 PM on March 6, 2018 [54 favorites]

Remember that Stephen Miller and Richard Spencer were the far-right Beavis and Butthead of Duke university.

Remember also that Miller is Jewish. His family belonged to the same temple mine did.
posted by snuffleupagus at 4:00 PM on March 6, 2018 [4 favorites]

The meeting, convened by the crown prince, brought together a Russian investor close to President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia with Erik Prince, the founder of Blackwater and an informal adviser to Mr. Trump’s team during the presidential transition, according to three people familiar with the meeting.

gods, i had nearly forgotten about that bizarre unexplained meeting in the Seychelles in the fog of the ineluctable omnishambles of the last two years.

an indictment for erik prince would be a piquant relish for my easter ham indeed
posted by murphy slaw at 4:08 PM on March 6, 2018 [37 favorites]

I think this one rates a Boom. NYT, Adviser to Emirates With Ties to Trump Aides Is Cooperating With Special Counsel

Indeed. There were some stories about Nader ... last week? (it seems like so long ago). But lots of what's here is brand new, AFAIK. Witness:

Mr. Nader was first served with search warrants and a grand jury subpoena on Jan. 17, shortly after landing at Washington Dulles International Airport, according to two people familiar with the episode. He had intended to travel on to Mar-a-Lago, Mr. Trump’s Florida estate, to celebrate the president’s first year in office, but the F.B.I. had other plans, questioning him for more than two hours and seizing his electronics.

The snare really does seem to be tightening. Glad all the shit about Erik Prince and the Seychelles is getting real investigation. It was so shady it made me feel crazy reading about it.
posted by cudzoo at 4:08 PM on March 6, 2018 [38 favorites]

Erik Prince is one breadcrumb on a trail that leads directly to Jared Kushner's wingtips.
posted by FelliniBlank at 4:11 PM on March 6, 2018 [7 favorites]

I think this is also the first time we learned that Nader was actually at the Seychelles meeting (the one Prince was all 'yeah, it was maybe one beer and I don't even remember the name of whoever I met with'). If he can recount to Mueller what was said there, that's going to be a big piece of the puzzle.

Remember that the meeting was reported last year as "part of an apparent effort to establish a back-channel line of communication between Moscow and President-elect Donald Trump."
posted by zachlipton at 4:17 PM on March 6, 2018 [11 favorites]

I think this one rates a Boom

It would certainly seem to lower it a few more notches!

Because it's hard to keep track of all the entanglements -- reminder that aside from Blackwater and related mercenary shenanigans [previously] Erik Prince is Betsy DeVos' brother, which the article omits.
posted by snuffleupagus at 4:18 PM on March 6, 2018 [8 favorites]

The Problem Isn’t Just Trump. It’s Our Ignorant Electorate.
posted by Jacqueline at 4:21 PM on March 6, 2018 [10 favorites]

Spinning Cohn's departure has begun: Trump Confronted Cohn on Trade Hours Before Resignation, Sources Say:

Trump, during the trade policy meeting in the Oval Office Tuesday, asked for an update on the legal paperwork that will make the tariffs official and discussed the timing of the signing of the tariffs order. He then sought confirmation that everyone -- and especially Cohn -- was willing to stand behind him.

According to one source with knowledge of the exchange, Trump specifically asked Cohn: We’re all on the same team, right? He then asked if Cohn was going to support the president on the issue.

Cohn didn’t answer, the people said.

Just hours later, the White House announced Cohn was gone, the latest in a string of staff departures from the White House in recent weeks.

Following up on the tee markers (which have been removed, though the club seems to be lying about where they came from), it turns out the Trump Tower gift shop is selling mugs and such bearing the presidential seal, which is also illegal.

Oh, and Trump met with John Bolton today, so we're all screwed.
posted by zachlipton at 4:28 PM on March 6, 2018 [42 favorites]

It appears that the Ignorant Electorate essay was written by Ron Reagan, son of the former president.
posted by Sublimity at 4:33 PM on March 6, 2018 [1 favorite]

I ask this with all seriousness: is there a chart somewhere on the internet that shows all this shit?

I wish Mark Lombardi were still alive.
posted by orange ball at 4:33 PM on March 6, 2018 [6 favorites]

I hope this triangulates with Alfa Bank which was feeding some sort of info to a healthcare company owned by the Prince family.

I’m listening to Slate’s pretty great Watergate podcast, Slow Burn, right now, and I will cackle for a year straight if somehow that mysterious Trump server pinging Alfa Bank turns out to be the Nixon tapes of this whole sordid thing.
posted by cudzoo at 4:38 PM on March 6, 2018 [9 favorites]

I ask this with all seriousness: is there a chart somewhere on the internet that shows all this shit?

I'm semi-seriously considering getting a giant corkboard, a bunch of index cards, and some red string.

Maybe we can use the GOT/ASOIAF fan wikis as a model for organizing all the background information, new developments, and theories?
posted by Jacqueline at 4:39 PM on March 6, 2018 [3 favorites]

This is the usual Pepe-centric model favored by the interwebz.
it even predicts the return of Berlusconi
posted by snuffleupagus at 4:46 PM on March 6, 2018 [1 favorite]

I'm semi-seriously considering getting a giant corkboard, a bunch of index cards, and some red string.

Plus points:
* You get to say "We're gonna need a bigger board...", every time a new layer of the shit-onion that is the Trump "administration" explodes.

Minus points:
* That's only going to be funny the first ten times at most, so till about mid-day Saturday.
posted by Buntix at 4:56 PM on March 6, 2018 [11 favorites]

Sara Fitzpatrick (NBC): Stormy Daniels sues Donald Trump, claiming he never signed the non-disclosure/hush agreement

The suit alleges that her agreement not to disclose her "intimate" relationship with Trump is not valid because while both Daniels and Trump's attorney Michael Cohen signed it, Trump never did.

Stephanie Clifford, known professionally as Stormy Daniels, signed both the agreement and a side letter agreement using her professional name on October 28, 2016, just days before the 2016 presidential election. Cohen signed the document the same day. Both agreements are appended to the lawsuit as Exhibit 1 and Exhibit 2.

The "hush agreement," as it's called in the suit, refers to Trump throughout as David Dennison, and Clifford as Peggy Peterson. The side letter agreement reveals the true identities of the parties as Clifford and Trump.

Each document includes a blank where "DD" is supposed to sign, but neither blank is signed.

posted by pjenks at 4:58 PM on March 6, 2018 [62 favorites]

Republicans really don't want young people voting: Texas attorney general targets schools' get-out-the-vote drives
posted by Jacqueline at 5:03 PM on March 6, 2018 [13 favorites]

Heh. "PP"
posted by pjenks at 5:03 PM on March 6, 2018 [35 favorites]

The side letter agreement reveals the true identities of the parties as Clifford and Trump

It's pretty amazing that I'm not sure whether or not the president is currently denying having paid a pornstar hush money. Is the current argument still that Cohen did all this by himself? If so, this puts Trump in a bit of a pickle, right? Either he signed it, and therefore knew about it, or he didn't sign it, and it's void.
posted by diogenes at 5:11 PM on March 6, 2018 [11 favorites]

Either he signed it, and therefore knew about it, or he didn't sign it, and it's void.

Or he signed it without knowing what it was because his lawyer told him to sign it and he never reads anything. This probably happens a lot.
posted by Faint of Butt at 5:15 PM on March 6, 2018 [3 favorites]

I can't believe it's only Tuesday.
posted by rc3spencer at 5:16 PM on March 6, 2018 [25 favorites]

Unless I am badly mistaken in my understanding if he signed the document then legally speaking he knew about it regardless of whether he actually read the thing.
posted by Justinian at 5:21 PM on March 6, 2018 [3 favorites]

Why are they still giving Stephen Miller background anonymity?

It's hard to feel like I'm having an original thought when we're umpteen-million words into these threads, but it's at least new to me:

They're using anonymous sourcing exactly the way the edgelord jackasses use anonymous posting on 4chan. It's the Penny Arcade shitcock theory being written all over the national media.
posted by range at 5:29 PM on March 6, 2018 [4 favorites]

Unless I am badly mistaken in my understanding if he signed the document then legally speaking he knew about it regardless of whether he actually read the thing.

That's more or less how it usually works, putting aside oddball situations like alleged page switches. But if you're denying knowledge for political rather than legal purposes then "I sign a lot of stuff my lawyer puts in front of me" may work in some instances where the subject matter is suitably bland and forgettable. This isn't that.

I mean, maybe he's had to pay off so many accusers that he can't tell them apart anymore, but I don't think that's the angle they're going for.
posted by snuffleupagus at 5:31 PM on March 6, 2018 [3 favorites]

So uhh, if Daniels believes the NDA was invalid...she's not bound by it. It's just an unexecuted contract. What is she suing for? She can say whatever she wants, and he would have to sue her saying SHE violated the agreement.

IA very much NAL, but maybe she wants reassurance from a court decision before she spills the beans, rather than banking on a court backing her in the future? Seems like a safer route.
posted by saturday_morning at 5:33 PM on March 6, 2018 [3 favorites]

On the other hand, for all we know it's the tenth one he signed that year.
posted by ryanrs at 5:34 PM on March 6, 2018 [2 favorites]

Ahh this might be the real reason for the suit: While he’s not a named defendant, this complaint is aimed squarely at Michael Cohen’s license.

Didn't even think about that.
posted by T.D. Strange at 5:38 PM on March 6, 2018 [25 favorites]

What is she suing for? She can say whatever she wants, and he would have to sue her saying SHE violated the agreement.

IA very much NAL, but maybe she wants reassurance from a court decision before she spills the beans, rather than banking on a court backing her in the future? Seems like a safer route.

Correct, she's suing for declaratory relief.
posted by snuffleupagus at 5:39 PM on March 6, 2018 [13 favorites]

WaPo, Mike DeBonis and Josh Dawsey, Trump pushes Republicans to oppose crucial New York-New Jersey tunnel project, in which Trump personally drops in on Ryan at Billy Graham's memorial to ask him not to fund the Gateway Tunnel project, which Republicans have been on the verge of including in an upcoming must-pass spending bill.

New York Magazine: Elaine Chao Confesses Trump Personally Pushed to Kill Major NYC Project

In a scene just faintly reminiscent of the ending of A Few Good Men — but with a different sort of killing involved — Congressman Sean Patrick Maloney got Secretary of Transportation Elaine Chao to admit that President Trump personally asked House Speaker Paul Ryan to block funding for New York City’s badly needed Gateway project.[...]

Maloney, a New York Democrat, asked Chao if a recent Washington Post report that the president had personally lobbied Ryan on the issue was accurate.

“I read it in the newspapers, just like you did,” a clearly displeased Chao responded.

“Right — my question was if it’s true,” Maloney parried back.

Chao allowed that it probably was, but that Maloney would have to check with the White House, an answer that did not satisfy him.

After some tense back and forth, Maloney asked again: “Is the president of the United States personally intervening with the Speaker to kill this project?”

Chao then backed down. “Yes!” she said. “The president is concerned about the viability of this project and the fact that New York and New Jersey have no skin in the game.”

posted by Doktor Zed at 5:39 PM on March 6, 2018 [36 favorites]

WaPo, Damian Paletta and Josh Dawsey, How the Washington establishment is losing out to little-known Trump advisers on trade

Defense Secretary Jim Mattis and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson privately warned senior trade officials on Tuesday that President Trump’s proposed tariffs on steel and aluminum could endanger the U.S. national security relationship with allies, according to five people familiar with the meeting.

The morning meeting came as Republican lawmakers grasped for a strategy to convince Trump to change his mind, with House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (Wis.), who had loudly criticized the plan on Monday, telling members in a closed-door meeting not to bully Trump on the decision. He said it could backfire and make things even worse.
...
Navarro is slight and wiry, a distance runner who often patrolled the West Wing in a suit and sneakers with white headphones in his ears. He would linger outside the Oval Office, advisers said, looking for a reason to get his views in with Trump while not getting caught. He was sometimes followed inside and chastised by Rob Porter, the former staff secretary who led the trade process but resigned after spousal abuse allegations emerged from his ex-wives.
...
Tuesday, after another meeting with Cohn, Trump reiterated at a news conference that the tariffs would be installed “lovingly.” Hours later, Cohn resigned.

Trump promised a DACA "bill of love" too, and look how that's turned out. But this is yet another point that undermines the "national security" justification for the tariffs: your national security advisors warning that it will endanger national security instead of improving it.

The WSJ reports that Andy Puzder is up for Cohn's job. He wasn't allowed to be Secretary of Labor because of domestic violence allegations, but since this position doesn't require Senate confirmation, apparently anything goes.

----
The Stormy Daniels complaint is worth looking at. There's new stuff in there, such as Cohen "surreptitiously initiated a bogus arbitration proceeding against Ms. Clifford in Los Angeles" last week, without providing her notice. A large part of this is based around the theory that either Trump knew what Cohen was up to or Cohen has a problem with the state bar.

It's pretty amazing that I'm not sure whether or not the president is currently denying having paid a pornstar hush money.

It's pretty amazing this story has been going on for months and nobody has actually directly asked him.
posted by zachlipton at 5:41 PM on March 6, 2018 [53 favorites]

This sort of freak-out and the recent Trump meltdown, very clearly related to the same pressure Mueller is bringing to bear on the situation, are both pretty clear indications of how much the noose really is tightening. A few rats are trying to desert the sinking ship, and others are getting more and more panicked as the remaining rats are forced closer and closer together.

Altogether, this does not bode well at all for the few rats remaining inside the net.

I really don't think the 'rats fleeing a sinking ship' mixed with a fish net metaphor is appropriate. Because the people who quit do not escape the consequences of their association and participation by leaving. It will still follow them even once they are off the ship.

The only way they escape the consequences by fleeing is if they then fire shots back at the ship in the form of testimony bartered for leniency but they are still caught in the net. And they had better be among the first to do it because the value of the testimony drops with each person trades it.
posted by srboisvert at 5:44 PM on March 6, 2018 [2 favorites]

Procedurally, what makes me wonder is why this isn't being filed as a direct challenge to the arbitration, maybe with a SLAPP motion too (although SLAPP may not apply to an invalid attempt to drag someone into binding arb, hmm...)

The prayer for relief doesn't ask for an injunction on the arb...I'm scratching my head but I'd imagine there's some reasoning for doing it this way.
posted by snuffleupagus at 5:45 PM on March 6, 2018 [1 favorite]

RE: Stormy Daniels lawsuit. The thing about the bungalow matches what Summer Zervos says, and I really want to see where the money for "Essential Consultants" who wrote the check came from, and I'd like to know if the woman who withdrew her lawsuit alleging Donald Trump raped her in 1994 when she was 13 got a check from them.
posted by mikelieman at 5:48 PM on March 6, 2018 [16 favorites]

It's pretty amazing [the Stormy Daniels] story has been going on for months and nobody has actually directly asked him [if it's true].

That may be a comment on how much (or little) people believe the president's word on anything.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 5:53 PM on March 6, 2018 [10 favorites]

Hmm. Looking at the exhibits -- the agreement pages are initialed 'EC' where it should be 'DD.' This could wind up being a pretty famous example of how not to get overly clever with contract technicalities.
posted by snuffleupagus at 5:54 PM on March 6, 2018 [9 favorites]

While Washington state is enacting net-neutrality laws, a state senator in Rhode Island wants porn-based un-neutrality. For the children, of course. He's a Democrat.
posted by adamg at 5:55 PM on March 6, 2018 [1 favorite]

I can't believe it's only Tuesday.

If you want a vision of the future, imagine Liz Lemon saying "What a week!" on Wednesday - forever.
posted by murphy slaw at 5:56 PM on March 6, 2018 [9 favorites]

I saw rumors something like this was coming, though apparently was was embargoed until precisely now: The Justice Department Will Sue California Over Its Sanctuary Laws. Jeff Sessions is coming to Sacramento tomorrow, and he's bringing his lawsuit with him.

The lawsuit will accuse the state of violating the Supremacy Clause of the US Constitution, according to DOJ officials. The Supremacy Clause, broadly speaking, dictates that when state law conflicts with federal law, federal law prevails. The Justice Department will argue that the California laws at issue conflict with federal immigration laws and frustrate Congress’ goals in adopting them.

“The Department of Justice and the Trump administration are going to fight these unjust, unfair, and unconstitutional policies that have been imposed on you,” Sessions is expected to say in his prepared remarks Wednesday to law enforcement officers. “We are fighting to make your jobs safer and to help you reduce crime in America.”

posted by zachlipton at 6:04 PM on March 6, 2018 [7 favorites]

murphy slaw: "TPM is live-blogging the Kobach voting rights trial today. Out of the gate, Kobach and crew were handed a setback when the judge refused to allow one of their exhibits which was submitted after a court-mandated deadline."

It sounds like things did not go very well for Kobach in general today.
posted by Chrysostom at 6:07 PM on March 6, 2018 [7 favorites]

Politico, HHS official who spread conspiracy theories allowed back on job. This is Jon Cordova, who was put on leave after KFILE found he spread false stories online and "called for a boycott on Budweiser because he said it supported 'jihadis.'" He was supposedly on leave, but the story says he was still seen hanging around the building anyway. Because nothing matters.

NYT, In Battle Over Future of Veterans’ Care, Moderation Wins, for Now. Lots in here on the battle for the VA, but this is astonishing:

There were other examples. In recent months Dr. Shulkin began to use a new, more inclusive motto for the department, changing the phrase “To care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow, and his orphan” so that it included female veterans, a former department official said.

Mr. Ullyot, carrying out orders from the White House, reversed the decision, and Dr. Shulkin relented.

I want to know who the hell at the White House blocked making the motto gender netural.
posted by zachlipton at 6:11 PM on March 6, 2018 [24 favorites]

ELECTION RESULT

GOP HOLD in Oklahoma House 51:

Boles [R] 72.1%
Murdock [D] 27.9%

Margin changes compared to previous races:

vs 2016 presidential result margin: Dem improvement of about 21 points.
vs 2016 HD-51 result margin: Dem improvement of about 12 points.

GOP lead in the Oklahoma House is extended to 73-28.
posted by Chrysostom at 6:11 PM on March 6, 2018 [7 favorites]

I would caution people not to get too excited about Daniels' lawsuit -- she did sign the agreement, and she took the payment. This could have a kinda odd result by which only the arb clause is void. Trump would then have to choose between tolerating the tell-all media tour, or suing her in open court.
posted by snuffleupagus at 6:11 PM on March 6, 2018 [1 favorite]

Much more Texas later on, but so far, mostly expected results. Dem turnout looks to be very strong.
posted by Chrysostom at 6:15 PM on March 6, 2018 [3 favorites]

The Clifford suit is so weird since, just by filing the suit, she's effectively said everything that the NDA was supposed to block? If the court doesn't find in her favor, could she be sued for violating the NDA by filing this suit? If not, doesn't that imply a pretty big loophole for this kind of NDA?
posted by heathkit at 6:19 PM on March 6, 2018 [3 favorites]

If Sessions is going that route on immigration you can bet he'll do the same for states legalizing cannabis

I don’t know about that. They’re happily terrorizing immigrants and brown people, but they aren’t, so far, really messing with the businesses who depend on immigrant labor. And terrorizing brown people is what they were elected to do. It’s their whole thing. While it remains deeply unpopular with anyone with a soul, it is, nonetheless, quite popular with their racist base.

Cannabis, otoh, is very popular with almost everyone. The money that cannabis makes is even more popular. Cannabis has defenders among the racists and the wealthy.

I don’t see these evil fucks diverting a single resource away from terrorizing brown people to do something that would piss off part of their base.

God I hate them so much.
posted by schadenfrau at 6:24 PM on March 6, 2018 [5 favorites]

The Daniels complaint has the NDA attached. It makes reference to "Confidential Information pertaining to DD...which includes, but is not limited to information, certain still images and/or text messages which were authored by or related to DD." It also contains representations in which PP agrees that all "any and all existing copies of the Images, Text Messags and any Property" have been turned over.

So really, just how many pee tapes are there?
posted by zachlipton at 6:25 PM on March 6, 2018 [12 favorites]

If not, doesn't that imply a pretty big loophole for this kind of NDA?

Yes, that's why they tend to co-occur with arbitration agreements.

Still, it only defeats one purpose of a NDA -- to deter disclosure. It triggers the other purpose -- to more easily recover damages for the disclosure.

There are also mechanisms for sensitive information to be protected in litigation. Even from the parties.
posted by snuffleupagus at 6:27 PM on March 6, 2018

Still, it only defeats one purpose of a NDA -- to deter disclosure. It triggers the other purpose -- to more easily recover damages for the disclosure.

I guess that was my question - is she violating the NDA by filing this suit in open court. I guess the answer is "yes", but if she wins than the NDA is invalid. So this is a brave move on her part - she could be liable for damages if it doesn't work.

Honestly, she should just send whatever pictures or text messages she has to the press and open a gofundme to cover the damages. I'm pretty sure she'd be covered.
posted by heathkit at 6:31 PM on March 6, 2018 [3 favorites]

"includes, but is not limited to information, certain still images and/or text messages which were authored by or related to DD." ...

So really, just how many pee tapes are there?

The frightening thing is it's probably another kind of "p" pix.
posted by chris24 at 6:38 PM on March 6, 2018

I guess the answer is "yes", but if she wins than the NDA is invalid.

The answer is closer to "maybe" and getting into it would further derail, but it's exactly right that if she wins that the NDA is invalid. That's precisely what she's asking the court to find.
posted by snuffleupagus at 6:38 PM on March 6, 2018

TX result - Nico LaHood, the very bad DA of Bexar County (San Antonio) has conceded defeat in the Dem primary.
posted by Chrysostom at 6:45 PM on March 6, 2018 [33 favorites]

IANAL either, but I do a lot of contract work. It's been my understanding that a signature by all (or in some circumstances any) parties isn't necessary for a court to uphold a contract. If she signed the paper and then accepted payment, that's likely good enough in the eyes of the law, so long as the other party held up the other substantive terms of the agreement. I don't know how California law looks at it, but the suit's primary claims are that all parties' signatures are affirmatively required by the agreement (I can't find such a clause), and that "as is customary", if all parties don't sign, the agreement is null and void in its entirety (I doubt this).

So this probably can't go anywhere from the perspective of releasing Daniels from the NDA, but as mentioned above, it could put a whole lot of pressure on Cohen to basically (formally) admit DD is Donald and that Donald knew about the NDA.
posted by Room 101 at 6:47 PM on March 6, 2018

Nick Mulvaney's official statement on Cohn's departure straight-up calls him a "globalist" (in, you know, a friendly way), in case you somehow thought they were still pretending to be decent people.
posted by zachlipton at 6:49 PM on March 6, 2018 [17 favorites]

Nick Mulvaney's official statement on Cohn's departure straight-up calls him a "globalist" (in, you know, a friendly way), in case you somehow thought they were still pretending to be decent people.

All it's missing is the parentheses echos and it's basically a tweet from the lunatic asylum.
posted by Talez at 6:52 PM on March 6, 2018 [5 favorites]

Wasn't the NDA invalidated when Cohen started talking about it, which is why Stormy Daniels has been talking about it recently?
posted by gucci mane at 6:55 PM on March 6, 2018 [1 favorite]

So this probably can't go anywhere from the perspective of releasing Daniels from the NDA, but as mentioned above, it could put a whole lot of pressure on Cohen to basically (formally) admit DD is Donald and that Donald knew about the NDA.

I don't know how much the mods want us to beanplate the lawsuit without further developments... unsigned contracts can be enforceable in CA -- as evidence of the terms of an oral agreement if nothing else, as long as a written agreement isn't required (as one is for some kinds of contracts).

Technical defects could be a problem for the arb clause if they cause the court to find an oral agreement whose terms are explained by the documents -- I've never had to contest one but the arb statutes do refer to a written agreement.

But what if the Daniels lawsuit isn’t dismissed and actually makes it to discovery? Wouldn’t that make Trump and Cohen’s life a (further) legal/public nightmare, no matter who wins the suit?

Records can be sealed, proceedings can be closed, documents can be "attorney eyes only" (that language is in the supporting agreement, for example) and reviewed in chambers, etc.
posted by snuffleupagus at 6:56 PM on March 6, 2018

In Sanctuary Case, Judge Lets Trump Administration Withhold Funding, for Now, From California

I'm so old I can remember when Justice Roberts ruled that withholding Medicaid funds from a state was a violation of states rights if they refused to implement Obamacare's Medicaid expansion.
posted by JackFlash at 6:57 PM on March 6, 2018 [45 favorites]

The well has been so poisoned, so thoroughly.

Every Trump appointment comes pre-loaded with a cavalcade of unexplored actual malfeasance.

It's almost as if someone had been collecting bits and pieces of evidence. For perhaps decades.

And then, somehow, influenced a President to put exactly those compromised people into positions of power.

SO THAT every question about those acts of malfeasance, becomes a fricking "witch hunt."

Seriously.

How do you combat this?

He insulated himself with a wall of mirrors.

Everything is true so nothing is real? God I hate this timeline.
posted by yesster at 7:09 PM on March 6, 2018 [12 favorites]

They’re happily terrorizing immigrants and brown people, but they aren’t, so far, really messing with the businesses who depend on immigrant labor.

I beg to differ.
posted by CheeseDigestsAll at 7:16 PM on March 6, 2018 [2 favorites]

@Redistrict
Hard to believe, but TX has never elected a Latina to Congress. That's ending in 2018: #TX16 Veronica Escobar (D) and #TX29 Sylvia Garcia (D) both look like they'll avoid runoffs, assuring them safe Dem seats in El Paso & Houston.
posted by chris24 at 7:44 PM on March 6, 2018 [36 favorites]

> Oh, and Trump met with John Bolton today, so we're all screwed.

Okay so I didn't know who John Bolton was so I skimmed his Wikipedia page. Relating to a possible position with the Trump administration back in 2016, was not disappointed to learn the following:

"Several Trump associates claim Bolton was not chosen, in part, due to Trump's disdain for Bolton's signature mustache."

The best people.
posted by robotdevil at 7:44 PM on March 6, 2018 [5 favorites]

TX Dem governor is going to a runoff, with former Dallas County Sheriff Lupe Valdez up 42-29 over Andrew White.
posted by Chrysostom at 7:46 PM on March 6, 2018 [6 favorites]

Terry Gross did a pretty long interview with the New Yorker writer, I don't think Nunberg is going to be able to erase that story. The interview was pretty fascinating.
posted by emjaybee at 7:48 PM on March 6, 2018 [5 favorites]

The meeting, convened by the crown prince, brought together a Russian investor close to President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia with Erik Prince, the founder of Blackwater and an informal adviser to Mr. Trump’s team during the presidential transition, according to three people familiar with the meeting.

Well that's kind of a kick in the energy supply. What do you do about the Crown Prince meddling in the US election?
posted by srboisvert at 7:49 PM on March 6, 2018 [1 favorite]

"Several Trump associates claim Bolton was not chosen, in part, due to Trump's disdain for Bolton's signature mustache."

From Gabe Sherman at Vanity Fare, mustaches, they grow on you:

Two sources told me that Trump has instructed the White House personnel office to begin vetting possible candidates. One name on the list is John Bolton, the hawkish former U.N. ambassador under George W. Bush. Trump had initially been averse to Bolton because he didn’t like the look of Bolton’s Wilford Brimley–esque mustache. “Now he’s over the mustache. He’s fine with it,” a Republican close to Trump told me.

posted by peeedro at 7:51 PM on March 6, 2018 [3 favorites]

Texas result - There was some talk that George P. Bush (Jeb's kid) might be pushed to a runoff in the Land Commissioner race, but he ended up winning outright, 58-30.
posted by Chrysostom at 8:18 PM on March 6, 2018 [2 favorites]

The other thing about the Stormy Daniels lawsuit, win or lose, is that she is now the aggressor, forcing the time of the battle by taking the initiative. The #MeToo moment is at its peak, if not already starting to fade, so this seems much better than letting Trump and Cohen hang that sword over her head going forward.
posted by msalt at 8:20 PM on March 6, 2018 [7 favorites]

Contra Cyndi Lauper, money does not always change everything:

Right now the biggest story in the Texas primaries is that the top fundraisers in Dems' three most targeted seats (#TX07, #TX23 and #TX32) are all in danger of missing their runoffs.

posted by Chrysostom at 8:20 PM on March 6, 2018 [5 favorites]

If Bolton is given a position in the White House there is a 100% chance Trump will order him to shave the mustache at some point, and he will comply and be fired shortly after.
posted by contraption at 8:22 PM on March 6, 2018 [21 favorites]

At this point, it seems like every adult in America should file a lawsuit against Trump. Or maybe a class action lawsuit. Would that be possible?
posted by perhapses at 8:22 PM on March 6, 2018 [7 favorites]

On the GOP side, another bad DA is out, as incumbent Abel Reyna in McClennan County (Waco) loses to challenger Barry Johnson. He'll face defense attorney Seth Sutton in the general.
posted by Chrysostom at 8:31 PM on March 6, 2018 [5 favorites]

Gary Cohn’s revised letter of resignation (Alexandra Petri, WaPo)

Dear Mr. President,

I must tender my resignation at once after ~~hearing your absurd, mealy-mouthed remark that there was blame “on both sides,” after the white supremacist rally in Charlottesville at which a protester was killed~~ you did not agree to meet with the people from the companies that use steel and aluminum, as I arranged, to learn why your tariffs were bad.

~~This administration can and must do better in consistently and unequivocally condemning these groups.~~ Tariffs are a bad idea!

~~Citizens standing up for equality and freedom can never be equated with white supremacists, neo-Nazis, and the KKK.~~ The Dow is down.

I feel deep empathy for all who have been targeted by these ~~hate groups.~~ tariffs. We must all unite together against them. I cannot in good conscience sit here and watch ~~people be harmed~~ wealth be diminished in pursuit of an unsound trade policy.

Shame on this administration for its equivocation on this point. I can no longer in good conscience work for someone who would describe a crowd of neo-Nazis chanting “Jews will not replace us” as “fine people.” Anyway, we got the tax plan through, somehow, and I am going now.

posted by Johnny Wallflower at 8:45 PM on March 6, 2018 [36 favorites]

Tonight was caucus in Colorado, and it was lightly attended up in the northern end of Colorado Springs, so I'll get to continue as precinct chair and attend the county assembly in a few weeks as a delegate for Cary Kennedy.
posted by danielleh at 8:49 PM on March 6, 2018 [17 favorites]

If you remove the dogwhistle from Mulvaney's statement, the result is very weird and hard to complete in one's mind: "I never imagined that the coworker I would work closest, and best, with at the White House would be a ___________. Gary Cohn is one of the smartest people I've ever worked with. Having the chance to collaborate with him will remain one of the highlights in my career of public service."

No matter what word you possibly put in, the implication is: "one of THEM". It would be creepy and fascistic even without the administration's specific history of flirting with antisemitism.
posted by InTheYear2017 at 9:02 PM on March 6, 2018 [28 favorites]

TX-07 runoff will be Fletcher and Moser (roughly 30 and 24 points, respectively). This is the race where the DCCC tried to torpedo Moser.
posted by Chrysostom at 9:07 PM on March 6, 2018 [1 favorite]

flirting? I mean there are dog whistles and there are bullhorns- I'd argue this is one of the later at this point.
posted by Homo neanderthalensis at 9:08 PM on March 6, 2018 [6 favorites]

In Mulvaney's statement he says "globalist" with quotes like that but I think it's an encoding error because whatever software he was using couldn't parse (((globalist))).
posted by Justinian at 9:13 PM on March 6, 2018 [11 favorites]

We're like four hours into counting, and there's still about 1/3 of precincts out. This is no way to run a railroad.
posted by Chrysostom at 9:19 PM on March 6, 2018 [1 favorite]

Josh Marshall: Best part of the Trump/Stormy "hush agreement" is the part where Trump holds out right to produce future "derivative works" and adaptations of the dick pics and text messages TPM link
posted by T.D. Strange at 9:29 PM on March 6, 2018 [13 favorites]

CNBC's editors not sugarcoating it with the headline: Cohn quit almost immediately after Trump said 'everybody wants to work' for him

Given Trump's previous statements on grabbing, I'm deeply uncomfortable with him saying "they all want a piece of that Oval Office" too.
posted by zachlipton at 9:41 PM on March 6, 2018 [3 favorites]

is there a chart somewhere on the internet that shows all this shit?

Not a chart, but MeFi's own OnceUponATime has done a bang-up job of compiling information about Russiagate at 2016ActiveMeasures.org.
posted by Johnny Wallflower at 9:48 PM on March 6, 2018 [28 favorites]

If Daniels violates the agreement, not only does she have to pay back the $130,000 and whatever money she made from breaching the contract but pay Trump “the sum of One-Million Dollars”

if i was lorne michaels right now i would be on the phone with mike myers trying to talk him into putting on the doctor evil makeup and reading selections from the daniels contract in the cold open for this week's SNL
posted by murphy slaw at 9:51 PM on March 6, 2018 [22 favorites]

Who's the most Dr. Evil character in the Adminsitration? McMaster? Might be able to get away with Kelly. Most of the baldies I can think there of are military.
posted by rhizome at 10:04 PM on March 6, 2018

Trump had initially been averse to Bolton because he didn’t like the look of Bolton’s Wilford Brimley–esque mustache. “Now he’s over the mustache. He’s fine with it,” a Republican close to Trump told me.

I'm not fine with Bolton belonging to the Project for the New American Century and having said things like, "The [UN] Secretariat Building in New York has 38 stories. If you lost ten stories today, it wouldn't make a bit of difference" and

There is no United Nations. There is an international community that occasionally can be led by the only real power left in the world, and that's the United States, when it suits our interests and when we can get others to go along.

He said those things in 1994. President George W. Bush named him UN Ambassador in 2005.

I think his mustache is more Loraxian than Brimlovian.
posted by kirkaracha at 10:23 PM on March 6, 2018 [8 favorites]

We're joking around but John Bolton getting the nod as National Security Adviser would be an ominous sign that the dangerous crazy is about to be ratcheted up another big notch. This guy wrote on op-ed in the WSJ like a week ago making a "legal" case for launching a first strike on North Korea. His big issue with the invasion of Iraq was that we shouldn't have stopped until we got to Tehran.

The rest of the world better buckle up and figure out how they're gonna respond because so far TrumpCo has mostly managed to damage only the United States (the Paris Accords are more symbolic than practical). Bolton in as NSA would signal we're done with Chapter 1 and Chapter 2 is all about fucking up the rest of the world as well. Buckle up.
posted by Justinian at 10:31 PM on March 6, 2018 [59 favorites]

At this point, it seems like every adult in America should file a lawsuit against Trump. Or maybe a class action lawsuit. Would that be possible?

You jest, but Peter Thiel established the fact that third parties can fund lawsuits, when he paid for the suit that took down Gawker.

How about a big GoFundMe to pay legal fees for every woman that Trump sexually abused and, if there's money left over, every small business he screwed over on their invoice? I would send it money in a second.
posted by msalt at 10:44 PM on March 6, 2018 [15 favorites]

ELECTIONS NEWS

** 2018 House:

-- WA-05: GOP worried Cathy McMorris Rodgers may be in trouble.

-- IL-03: PPP poll of Dem primary has incumbent Lipinski up only 43-41 on progressive challenger Newman. IL primary is in two weeks.

-- FL-27: Former U of Miami president and Clinton HHS Sec Donna Shalala has filed to run.

** 2018 Senate:

-- TX: Enten: Cruz loss not impossible, but a steep hill to climb for Dems.

-- MS: Gov Bryant still resisting pressure to name himself interim senator to the Cochran seat. Meanwhile, former Congressman and Clinton Ag Sec Mike Espy is planning to run.

** Odds & ends:

-- 538 looks at where Dems are under and overperforming in special elections (tl;dr: they are doing best in red states)

-- Dem voting in the Texas primaries was up considerably over 2014, though it still trailed GOP voting a good bit. Does this tell us anything about the general? Maybe a little, but probably not much.

-- Mentioned earlier, TPM has a liveblog of the Fish vs Kobach trial over the Kansas voter ID law. IANAL, but Day 1 did not seem to go real well for the defendant.

-- This is a very nifty map.

posted by Chrysostom at 10:49 PM on March 6, 2018 [33 favorites]

Surely tonight nothing stupider could possibly happ—Inbox: James Comey will be a guest on ‘The Late Show with Stephen Colbert’ Tuesday, April 17.
posted by zachlipton at 12:01 AM on March 7, 2018 [12 favorites]

Given I just finished the New Yorker report about how badly the FBI mismanaged the Steele dossier, I'm kind of hoping Colbert knocks Comey's block off.
posted by Merus at 1:35 AM on March 7, 2018 [10 favorites]

I'm waiting for the paper issue on that. I'm pretty pissed at Comey over the Hillary grandstanding also. I would like to fanfic Mueller and Comey as being like Gordon Cole and Dale Cooper, but more earthbound. I'm sure that they are not, but at the very least I would really like to see Comey as competent and fair because, if he isn't, the fact that him and Mueller have been so close makes me doubt Mueller, and I don't want to doubt Mueller.
posted by bootlegpop at 2:10 AM on March 7, 2018 [3 favorites]

-- TX: Enten: Cruz loss not impossible, but a steep hill to climb for Dems.

Cruz picked up twice as many votes as Beto in the primaries. It's a hell of a steep hill.

Also, "both parties are the same" is full of shit. Look at the differences in party platforms the respective voters approved.
posted by Talez at 3:16 AM on March 7, 2018 [6 favorites]

Gregory Korte is WH correspondent for USA Today. He has written on Obama's use of the presidential pardon, for which he received an award from the Gerald Ford foundation. One of his sources is P. S. Ruckman Jr., who had the twitter handle of @pardonpower, and who seems to be the main person behind http://www.pardonpower.com/. Ruckman was a political science prof at Rock Valley College.

6 days ago Ruckman emailed Korte a mass of data on presidential pardons, data that Korte had previously asked for, but Ruckman had been unwilling to release, as he was working on a third book on the topic. Since then he committed murder/suicide, killing also his two sons, aged 12 & 14. Local news report here.

Twitter thread from Korte describing the whole affair here. Sample tweet:

Last year, when President Trump pardoned Joe Arpaio and people argued that it was unprecedented to pardon someone for contempt of court, Ruckman sent me a list of dozens of people pardoned for contempt back to President John Adams.
posted by stonepharisee at 3:21 AM on March 7, 2018 [17 favorites]

Fortunately, Trump doesn't like mustaches.
posted by octothorpe at 5:11 AM on March 7, 2018 [1 favorite]

That Korte/Ruckman story is horrifying.
posted by yoga at 5:20 AM on March 7, 2018 [12 favorites]

like lines from a Delores Umbridge detention quill

What does this mean? (Not that I disagree re: Bolton.)
posted by adamgreenfield at 5:44 AM on March 7, 2018

What does this mean? (Not that I disagree re: Bolton.)

Delores Umbridge detention quill
posted by soren_lorensen at 5:48 AM on March 7, 2018

adamgreenfield: "What does this mean?"

Umbridge is a character from Harry Potter. If you wrote lines with her quill it cut the words you were writing into your hand.
posted by Mitheral at 5:50 AM on March 7, 2018 [1 favorite]

He'll overlook a moustache if the evil is sufficient. See Gorka, S.
posted by apparently at 5:54 AM on March 7, 2018

Pretty sure that Trump found the mustache that helped him to open his heart to facial hair on the front of his lawyer, Ty Cobb.

Can we end the mustache derail now, please?
posted by wenestvedt at 5:54 AM on March 7, 2018 [2 favorites]

Schumer with the left hook:

Democrats to unveil $1 trillion infrastructure plan financed by rolling back the GOP tax cuts.
posted by schadenfrau at 5:57 AM on March 7, 2018 [126 favorites]

Obviously it’s not going anywhere, but it is a very fine looking club with which to beat GOP candidates ahead of the midterms. A fine looking club.
posted by schadenfrau at 5:59 AM on March 7, 2018 [26 favorites]

Obviously it’s not going anywhere, but it is a very fine looking club with which to beat GOP candidates ahead of the midterms. A fine looking club.

My only question is why it took them so damned long. This should have been queued up before the inauguration last year, and it should have been driving all the talking points in the special elections that have happened since then.

The Dems have one chance at winning, and it's to beat the drum that they have an actual plan to actually fix things, while the GOP has nothing more than vague assurances that they're using to fund tax breaks for billionaires.
posted by Mayor West at 6:23 AM on March 7, 2018 [16 favorites]

Democrats to unveil $1 trillion infrastructure plan financed by rolling back the GOP tax cuts.

More like this please. The party should draw up and publicize what they will enact when given a chance. Immigration, climate, taxes, health care, government transparency - their positions are generally popular with a large majorities of the US public, and this should be highlighted.
posted by jetsetsc at 6:24 AM on March 7, 2018 [40 favorites]

Putin praises Trump as great communicator, says U.S. political system ‘eating itself up’

Putin added in Wednesday’s remarks he was disappointed in the U.S. political system, which he said has “demonstrated its inefficiency and has been eating itself up.”

The messaging being introduced here is; wouldn't it be simpler and more efficient if you Americans just had one guy running things, the way we do here?
posted by The Card Cheat at 6:24 AM on March 7, 2018 [23 favorites]

I'm thinking a showy infrastructure plan meant to make noise is just timely cover for neutralizing Dodd-Frank. But hey, call me cynical.
posted by rc3spencer at 6:29 AM on March 7, 2018 [3 favorites]

> The party should draw up and publicize what they will enact when given a chance. Immigration, climate, taxes, health care, government transparency - their positions are generally popular with a large majorities of the US public, and this should be highlighted.

That sounds like a great plan to me. On the other hand it also sounds more or less like Hillary's strategy, and millions of Americans were like "FUCK YOUR PLAN" and voted for the sexual predator they knew from that TV show instead.
posted by The Card Cheat at 6:32 AM on March 7, 2018 [50 favorites]

On the other other hand, millions more voted for Hillary and her Plan, and now millions more than that have the benefit of seeing what happens when you actually elect the sexual predator from that TV show.
posted by mrgoat at 6:35 AM on March 7, 2018 [24 favorites]

and now millions more than that have the benefit of seeing what happens when you actually elect the sexual predator from that TV show.

You place outsize confidence, I think, in the electorate's understanding of causality. If people truly bothered to weigh the relationship of cause and effect, they'd never vote for Republicans.
posted by adamgreenfield at 6:40 AM on March 7, 2018 [15 favorites]

My only question is why it took them so damned long

Because messages lose effectiveness over time. That’s why it’s an October Surprise and not a Whenever We Found Out What You Did Surprise.

I have to imagine this isn’t the only thing they’ll be rolling out. Plus, you don’t want to get in the way of your enemy self-immolating. Like you don’t steal screen time from a Republican who’s hurting himself on national television. And there’s been a lot of that.
posted by schadenfrau at 6:40 AM on March 7, 2018 [12 favorites]

Yeah, I think the timing is good enough. Better to go into 2018 with the Democratic message being 'you've seen this fucking guy right, well vote for us this year and we are going to spending money in your state fixing your shit'. This is probably not something they were sure of because, hey, they actually had a progressive policy suite and they fucking lost. To Trump. It takes a while to determine that a) people didn't like the salesperson, not the policies and b) they got fucked by the Russians and the FBI.
posted by Merus at 6:52 AM on March 7, 2018 [2 favorites]

Democratic message, please. "Democrat message" is no good.
posted by kirkaracha at 6:54 AM on March 7, 2018 [21 favorites]

So. Rant that got longer than I'd originally intended...

Every time that key Democrats do something good or smart, there's a natural impulse among some of us to minimize it. (Including me! I'm not immune, and I'm not singling out anyone here.) Narrative, thy name is "Democrats suck". Blessed be the narrative, and may no real-world contradiction cross thy path.

Not only is this a self-fulfilling prophecy (in that a demoralized progressive base is less likely to vote in successful progressive directions), it's kind of self-confirming. That's because it gets repeated not only when there's good reason to feel disappointment (which definitely happens a lot), but also every time there's evidence in the other direction. I'm honestly sort of reminded of a pattern I see in the Russia-Lago denialism of the right (and sometimes left). First, circa mid-2016, they declare that the evidence is thin to nonexistent. "Trump had no arrangement with Putin; so-and-so says there's no evidence and I believe them." Then, whenever new damning facts come to life, in late 2016 and early 2017 and mid-2017 and so on, they say "We've been over this -- there's nothing! Why do they desperately cling to something already established as bogus? How can there be 'new evidence' of something for which no evidence exists?" (Message has been exaggerated to demonstrate contradiction, of course.)

The most charitable interpretation of those denialists, (if we pretend they're honest and not disingenuous) is that they've screwed up the relative importance of data sources, as though the old evidence were stronger than it really is. Like, if someone says they have evidence the Earth is flat, you absolutely can (and should) dismiss them, and you can go on dismissing them the next dozen or hundred times they claim evidence. But neither "Trump never ever colluded/conspired" nor "The Democrats are perpetually pathetic in every way" has anything like the prior evidential weight of "the Earth is round" or "Apollo 11 landed on the moon". Yes, there's an urge for a ~clever~ reply about how you can set your dang watch to Democratic screw-ups. But in reality, Democrats don't lose so goddamned always. That's no more fundamental to the party's nature than, say, waving Confederate flags was (back when that was the party's base).

And finally -- if you're a registered Democrat, you are the Democratic party! We don't cut Republicans slack when they try distancing themselves from the deplorables (unless they're really working on the problem by pushing back hard, I guess?). So we shouldn't act like the DNC (or related organizations) is somehow apart from us and beyond our control. (Or conversely like "the Democrats" necessarily means "the DNC", with all its issues. If you want to ignore party structure and focus on the ground races, do that instead! Reclaim "Democrats" from whichever particular leaders you have a problem with. It's too late for Republicans to try and equivalent, but very obviously not for us. #BlueWave)

If you have pet dogs, and they do something good, you reinforce the behavior with praise and treats. You don't bemoan how they should just do the right thing for its own sake, by God, but they never will, they'll just keep chewing on furniture and peeing on the carpet now and forevermore, ugh, dogs, amirite
posted by InTheYear2017 at 7:14 AM on March 7, 2018 [85 favorites]

Chris Cillizza, CNN: Donald Trump is producing the greatest reality show ever

Soledad O'Brien, formerly of CNN, currently of Chris Cillizza's nightmares:

@soledadobrien: @CillizzaCNN This terrible analysis by @CillizzaCNN is in part why people hate the media.

@CillizzaCNN: Hey Soledad! Thanks as always for reading.

[...]

@soledadobrien: It's not accurate. It's not funny. It's not clever. It's not analysis. It's facile. It shows an actual lack of understanding of reality tv (can't believe I'm typing that). It's mediocre. It's a time when viewers need to understand what's going on at the highest levels of govt.

posted by tonycpsu at 7:15 AM on March 7, 2018 [113 favorites]

A brief round-up of local results from New Mexico: Rio Rancho, the 3rd biggest city in the state, stuck with its Republican mayor, Gregg Hull, while Santa Fe, 4th biggest city and the state capitol, elected Democrat Alan Webber in the state's first ranked-choice vote. Webber, co-founder of Fast Company ran for NM Governor back in 2014, but lost in the primaries.

Hull didn't do anyone any benefits by getting Rio Rancho folks to know where to vote. For close to 100,000 people, there were only 10,067 votes for mayor, possibly because there were only 4 polling places. There was an official PSA reminding people when to vote, but if there's only 4 places to vote on March 6, you think they'd mention that in the spot. Or say you could vote early at other locations. Nope.
posted by filthy light thief at 7:30 AM on March 7, 2018 [4 favorites]

It's facile. It shows an actual lack of understanding of reality tv (can't believe I'm typing that).

I love Soledad O'Brien.
posted by wenestvedt at 7:31 AM on March 7, 2018 [6 favorites]

Real Texas men don't have nicknames, says Rafael Edward "Ted" Cruz.
posted by Faint of Butt at 7:32 AM on March 7, 2018 [34 favorites]

I'm thinking a showy infrastructure plan meant to make noise is just timely cover for neutralizing Dodd-Frank. But hey, call me cynical.

As you wish- you're cynical. Schumer introduced the bill and he isn't one of the (actually very few) Democrats voting for the bill affecting Dodd-Frank. I think this sort of misunderstanding is one casualty of the consistent use of hyperbole in demonizing Democrats as a whole for the actions of a small group of them.
posted by a snickering nuthatch at 7:34 AM on March 7, 2018 [16 favorites]

Seriously, Lyin' Ted Cruz? You really want to dig up the nickname debacle from the primaries? Interesting, please proceed.
posted by Rykey at 7:39 AM on March 7, 2018 [4 favorites]

Not sure how widespread this is, but I imagine this is not the only instance: "... noticed on my precinct door it says REPUBLICAN in RED and only the Republican ballot sample is shown. It didn’t stop me, but I wonder how many Dems walked away?"

It probably WAS just a Republican election.

I worked as an election clerk yesterday as favor to some people I've worked with before, and it was just the Republican primary. (My soul died a bit, FYI. When I'd said yes, I'd forgotten the primaries were held in different places. And I got to stare at the posted Republican propositions on the ballot, which were absolutely horrifying.) Anyway, the two primaries are held at different locations, which can be confusing to people who usually only vote in general elections. For our precinct, the "regular" polling location was the Republican primary site, and the Democratic primary location was a few miles away at a different school. This was true for all of Harris county (and, I'm assuming, the state).

We had a sign posted on the door about where the Democratic primary for our precinct was being held, but the only sample ballot was the Republican one. We had the list of all the voting locations for both parties for voters wandering in from the wrong party (one or two) or the wrong precinct entirely (a whole bunch), so we did our best to get everyone to the right place.

Incidentally, it was interesting to me how many people aren't familiar with primary voting. We had a few people coming in saying, "I'm usually an X but I have a friend running as a judge for party Y, can I do both?" And even though they were registered voters in the state of Texas, they didn't realize that they weren't registered to a party, and that yes, they could pick a primary to vote in even if that wasn't their "usual" party.
posted by Salieri at 7:42 AM on March 7, 2018 [8 favorites]

For another dose of "holy shit, Republicans really want people to die for higher corporate earnings" -- After Decades Of Air Pollution, A Louisiana Town Rebels Against A Chemical Giant (NPR, March 6, 2018)

Robert Taylor isn't sure why he's alive.

"My mother succumbed to bone cancer. My brother had lung cancer," he ticks them off on his fingers. "My sister, I think it was cervical cancer. My nephew lung cancer." A favorite cousin. That cousin's son. Both neighbors on one side, one neighbor on the other. "And here I am. I don't understand how it decides who to take."

Taylor is 77. He was born in St. John the Baptist Parish, La., when the area was still covered in sugar cane fields, before the petrochemical industry came to that part of the Gulf Coast. Taylor grew up in a house built by his father. After Taylor got married, he built a house for his family right around the corner.

"I was born here, raised here. My children were born here, my grandchildren and my great grandchildren," he says. "This is ours."

But the area was changing. Easy access to the Mississippi River, growing domestic oil production and cheap land made the strip between Baton Rouge and New Orleans attractive to petrochemical companies. Today, the region's clusters of cancer cases have earned it an infamous nickname: cancer alley.

In St. John the Baptist Parish, the main sugar refinery closed. The chemical giant DuPont opened a plant in 1969 that manufactured the chemical chloroprene. Chloroprene is the main ingredient in neoprene, the rubbery material in wet suits, computer sleeves and many other consumer products.

The Louisiana facility is the only neoprene manufacturer in the U.S. And, according to an analysis by the EPA's National Air Toxics Assessment, the five census tracts around the plant have the highest cancer risk in the country — more than 700 times the national average in one tract.
...
For years, the IRIS program had been analyzing chloroprene.

In 2010, the EPA announced that the long-term exposure limit for breathing the chemical was 0.2 micrograms per cubic meter, and classified chloroprene as a "likely human carcinogen." Shortly after that, federal and state authorities started monitoring the air in the neighborhoods around the Louisiana plant, and found radically elevated levels of chloroprene.

So local residents sued the Japanese chemical company Denka, who bought the plant in 2015. The company installed technology it promised would reduce chloroprene emissions by 85 percent. So far, public air monitors [PDF] suggest chloroprene levels in the surrounding area are still trending upward — as of early February multiple air monitors showed concentrations more than 1,500 times higher than the IRIS value.

Lawyers handling the case are pushing the state government to shut down the plant, at least temporarily.
...
The company twice petitioned the EPA to change the safety threshold, arguing the IRIS analysis was faulty. The EPA declined both requests.

And the fight over the chloroprene plant has become a flashpoint in a larger fight playing out in Washington, D.C. Critics see the IRIS program as a poster child for ineffective government bureaucracy, and are pushing for it to be dismantled, or even killed.

IRIS isn't fast to produce information, due in part to the rigorous studies. The cited case is that it took 25 years to finish analyzing formaldehyde.

Under the Obama administration, there was a push to reform the IRIS program after the Government Accountability Office concluded in 2008 that, "the IRIS database is at serious risk of becoming obsolete because EPA has not been able to routinely complete timely, credible assessments or decrease its backlog of 70 ongoing assessments." In 2014, Congress requested that the program make a handful of changes to the way it analyzes chemicals, and in 2017 the GAO again questioned IRIS's efficiency.

Even Fenner-Crisp, who helped launch IRIS, believes the program needs to be overhauled. "It's internal incompetence and external pressures that all weigh on the program," she says. "They don't get anything done in a very timely manner, and they're aided and abetted in that by the regulated industry." Chemical companies use delaying tactics, she says, to slow down the process further, in order to delay regulations that might come from an IRIS value being published.

And, under the Trump administration, some lawmakers have been pushing to kill the IRIS program altogether. "The program has long suffered from a lack of scientific transparency and an inability to produce work in a timely fashion," said Arizona Rep. Andy Biggs, a Republican, at one of many congressional hearings in recent years about reforming or eliminating IRIS. "The program is failing and is in danger of irrevocably subverting its mission." Biggs and others point to the chloroprene plant in Louisiana as an example of IRIS being used to unjustly regulate the chemical industry. Because the plant is already complying with state pollution permits, they argue, company shouldn't be forced to reduce chloroprene emissions further.

"Look, maybe those people would start to be too healthy if this brave and productive company reduced its toxic emissions." [fake, but not too fake, given Robert Phalen, an air pollution researcher at the Irvine campus of the University of California, said in 2012 that “modern air is a little too clean for optimum health”, who Trump had nominated to be on the Environmental Protection Agency’s Scientific Advisory Board, which helps develop environmental policy. Other nominees included scientists from the oil industry, a chemical industry trade association and various universities and consulting groups. (Nov. 11, 2017)
posted by filthy light thief at 7:46 AM on March 7, 2018 [57 favorites]

Chris Cillizza is quite literally the worst journalist working today, and possibly the worst in the past 25 years. It is utterly beyond me why he continues not only to be employed anywhere, but also to be hired at higher profile jobs and presumably higher salaries. I mean, is there anyone on the planet who doesn't think he's at the very least a complete moron, and at the worst, actively malign? I don't get it.
posted by holborne at 7:50 AM on March 7, 2018 [11 favorites]

"The program has long suffered from a lack of scientific transparency"

"Transparency" in this context is certain to mean requiring that any patients whose medical cases are part of a study on a pollutant, make their entire medical history a public record.
posted by ocschwar at 7:50 AM on March 7, 2018 [1 favorite]

Brian Buetler: Democrats Are Helping Trump Deregulate Wall Street

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau remains in the hands of Trump’s reactionary, and possibly corrupt budget director, Mick Mulvaney, who earlier in his career had committed himself to the agency’s destruction.

As Vox’s Matthew Yglesias noted, there are myriad other regulatory vacancies that Trump could in theory fill with people who are committed to protecting the public from another financial crisis.

If this bill can’t pass without Democratic support, the Democrats who support it could condition their votes on concessions in any one of these areas. But they aren’t even bothering.

This isn’t even a “bipartisan deal”. The block of bankloving Democrats have leverage they could use to save the CFPB, or get really anything else in exchange for gutting Dodd-Frank. But instead they’re doing a total sell out without even attempting to get anything in return.
posted by T.D. Strange at 7:54 AM on March 7, 2018 [28 favorites]

Mike Maciag, Governing: Trump's Tariffs Could Hurt More Local Economies Than They Help

Only a small number of regions employ many steel and aluminum workers, and economically depressed areas the proposal aims to benefit could experience hardship in other industries.

posted by ZeusHumms at 8:01 AM on March 7, 2018 [1 favorite]

ACLU: The Trial Against Kobach Kicks Off: Here’s What You Should Know
posted by Artw at 8:31 AM on March 7, 2018 [3 favorites]

A few comments deleted. Sorry, I fully get where it's coming from and I'm not disagreeing with the predictions, but it's not psychologically workable for these threads to spiral into future-dystopian-doom prediction stuff.
posted by LobsterMitten (staff) at 8:31 AM on March 7, 2018 [13 favorites]

Axios has more White House leaks about the tariff chaos today: Trump Wants to Start His Trade War Tomorrow

President Trump wants to sign a presidential proclamation tomorrow to set his steel and aluminum tariffs in motion, according to two senior administration officials.[...]

Yes, but: Keep in mind that this is what Trump has been telling staff he wants. These days — and in this White House — nothing is set in stone. Besides, the White House lawyers have been working overtime on these tariffs and sources tell me nothing is certain when it comes to timing.[...]

The backdrop: Next Tuesday's looming Pennsylvania election could be pushing Trump to act quickly, given that the race is taking place in industrial steel and coal strongholds in the southwestern corner of the state. Trump's preferred candidate Rick Saccone is struggling against Democrat Conor Lamb. Senior Republicans on the Hill and inside the administration are nervous and pessimistic about this race in a district they really ought to win.

Earlier this week, Donald Trump's trade war will cause 'deep' global recession, says WTO Director (Newsweek)

The world is at risk of a trade war and deep recession because of President Trump’s announced tariffs of 25 percent on steel on 10 percent on aluminum, World Trade Organization director-general Roberto Azevêdo said on Monday.

“It is clear that we now see a much higher and real risk of triggering an escalation of trade barriers across the globe," he said at a meeting of the whole WTO membership. “We cannot ignore this risk and I urge all parties to consider and reflect on this situation very carefully.

"Once we start down this path, it will be very difficult to reverse direction. An eye for an eye will leave us all blind and the world in deep recession. We must make every effort to avoid the fall of the first dominoes."

And EU leader responds to Trump’s tariff plan: ‘We can also do stupid’ (Marketwatch) "This is basically a stupid process, the fact that we have to do this. But we have to do it," said European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker.
posted by Doktor Zed at 8:50 AM on March 7, 2018 [19 favorites]

The Dems have one chance at winning, and it's to beat the drum that they have an actual plan to actually fix things, while the GOP has nothing more than vague assurances that they're using to fund tax breaks for billionaires.

Republicans are counting on the media -- the ones they routinely criticize as "liberal" and "fake news" -- to cover for them with "balanced" reporting. In that assumption, they probably aren't wrong.
posted by Gelatin at 8:57 AM on March 7, 2018 [14 favorites]

EU leader responds to Trump’s tariff plan: ‘We can also do stupid’ (Marketwatch) "This is basically a stupid process, the fact that we have to do this. But we have to do it."

You know this is exactly what all the European leaders said in the run up to World War I. Everyone thought it was a stupid idea, but everyone thought they just had to do it anyway. And they did. And millions died.
posted by JackFlash at 8:58 AM on March 7, 2018 [20 favorites]

Gravis poll in PA-18 special has Saccone [R] up, 45-42 on Lamb [D]. Lamb leads indy voters, 46-27.

Gravis trend:

1/3-1/5: Saccone +12
2/13-2/15: Saccone +6
3/1-3/5: Saccone +3
posted by Chrysostom at 8:59 AM on March 7, 2018 [7 favorites]

The WV House and Senate today finally passed the 5% pay raise, and it's headed to Gov. Justice for signature, but the deal still hasn't really addressed the health insurance situation, and the Senate included cuts to the state's Medicaid budget to help pay for it. There's talk the strike could be over tomorrow if this is signed.

I don't know how accurate it is, but this tweet (the future is wild, huh?) says that the pay raise isn't tied to any cuts in the bill despite the WV congress saying it will lead to more cuts.
posted by runcibleshaw at 9:02 AM on March 7, 2018 [1 favorite]

Per Rewire, Elijah Cummings, the top Democrat on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, is asking Republican Chair Trey Gowdy to issue a subpoena to:

compel the Trump Administration to produce documents it is withholding relating to its secret collaboration with an extreme rightwing anti-choice group in rescinding an Obama Administration letter to state Medicaid directors that protected individuals seeking to exercise their statutory rights to obtain family planning or other health care services from a provider of their choice.

Per the article, Cummings had obtained documents about the matter from a whistleblower within Trump’s health department.
posted by emjaybee at 9:04 AM on March 7, 2018 [49 favorites]

I feel like the "Ted mocks Beto" thing has to be somehow deliberate. It's not conventional hypocrisy but
highly specific. But I can't imagine the endgame. Bait his opponents into mocking his name, then call them out for being so petty?

Conversely, perhaps it was dreamt up by a campaign associate who literally didn't know that Cruz's birthname isn't Ted. That kind of ineptitude seems about right for that crowd.
posted by InTheYear2017 at 9:04 AM on March 7, 2018 [3 favorites]

If this isn't just rank stupidity, I have to imagine it comes from thinking that it's worth any amount of blatant hypocrisy to point out to Texas' large Hispanic population that O'Rourke is a white guy using a Spanish-sounding nickname (never mind the fact that he's been called "Beto" since before he could walk).
posted by Holy Zarquon's Singing Fish at 9:14 AM on March 7, 2018 [1 favorite]

Democratic message, please. "Democrat message" is no good.

Not so no-good that NPR wasn't willing to air a quote yesterday, I think it was by Mulvaney, that used it twice in as many sentences.

I doubt NPR would allow routine use of slurs in its broadcasts, but for some reason they constantly let that one "slip by." Their editorial policy should be never to air tape in which a politician stoops to such an insult, unless the story is about the insult itself. Fat chance.

Chris Cillizza is quite literally the worst journalist working today, and possibly the worst in the past 25 years. ... I mean, is there anyone on the planet who doesn't think he's at the very least a complete moron, and at the worst, actively malign?

I don't know, but I'd bet the ones who keep hiring him are also mediocre white men.
posted by Gelatin at 9:27 AM on March 7, 2018 [5 favorites]

So I went to an O'Rourke event and the guy has serious charisma, and it doesn't hurt that he looks like a lost Kennedy cousin. While Cruz continues to look like Grima Wormtongue.

Of course, that may not matter next to the entrenched might of a Texas GOP, backed up by Kochs, oil money, gerrymandering and various other kinds of vote suppression.

It's hard to have hope as a Texas Democrat, because while you need hope for there to be any chance of change, we've been defeated a lot and I think lots of us are afraid to get our hopes up and get hurt again. Our state is dominated by a bunch of rich, white, racist, sexist, ignorant, powerful assholes and has been for a long time.
posted by emjaybee at 9:29 AM on March 7, 2018 [30 favorites]

> Betsy Devos is visiting Marjory Stoneman today. Poor kids.

From everything I've read and heard from those kids since the shooting it's probably more accurate to say "Poor Betsy."

I was just listening to something on the radio about the Parkland kids, and learned that many of them had just been studying gun control in an A/P US Government class, debating Constitutional law, special interest groups, lobbying, etc.. One girl had even done a 50-page report on the issue.

I really wish I could be a fly on that wall.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 9:29 AM on March 7, 2018 [32 favorites]

5 weeks ago Beto instagrammed a childhood pic wearing a sweater with BETO on it when it looks like he was around three years old.

So clearly the conspiracy goes way back.
posted by chris24 at 9:30 AM on March 7, 2018 [23 favorites]

If they wanna go after O'Rourke on his name, I'm sure he'll be happy to remind the voters which candidate was born in Texas, and America as well.
posted by azpenguin at 9:31 AM on March 7, 2018 [11 favorites]

It's hard to have hope as a Texas Democrat, because while you need hope for there to be any chance of change, we've been defeated a lot and I think lots of us are afraid to get our hopes up and get hurt again.

Texas is also the state that gave us Sam Rayburn and Ann Richards (among others). Chin up!

(We should start a Mefites for Beto group. I'll be the Dallas coordinator!)
posted by orrnyereg at 9:33 AM on March 7, 2018 [17 favorites]

Larry Ellison and Peter Thiel are investing millions - in Ellison's case, nearly half a billion - in life extension research. They really believe they can bribe death to go away - and yes, I believe this sort of thinking absolutely informs their political stance and actions, and I strongly suspect that an investigation on the cult of immortality among the ultra-rich will reveal many interesting things about the current political currents. It's certainly profoundly anti-social.

Agreed completely. For a peek at where some of these tendencies may lead us, both in terms of individual psyches and of the collective manias that may grip polities comprised of such individuals, have a look back at Norman Spinrad's classic novel BUG JACK BARRON. It's dated terribly in a few different dimensions — in particular, its treatment of gender and race from a "hip" white male liberal perspective c. 1970 will make you cringe so hard you'll become a tiny little scrunched-up ball — but Spinrad sure did understand the dark hold life extension could take on the mind of people so wealthy they'd never been denied anything but by mortality itself.

Thiel seems hellbent on acting it out.
posted by adamgreenfield at 9:33 AM on March 7, 2018 [6 favorites]

Texas primary takeaways:

* Dem turnout was up considerably - about 84% vs 2014 midterms. GOP turnout was up about 15% vs 2014. * That said, the GOP still had the clear lead, it was just less than in the past. This year was about 60/40 GOP; it was about 70/30 in both 2010 and 2014.

* The increased turnout was very heterogeneous as well, concentrated in the major metros. So - to the extent that primary turnout tells us anything - we might say that this doesn't do much for Dem chances on statewide races, but could mean a lot for suburban House races like TX-07, TX-23, TX-32 (as well as legislature races in those areas).

* Dem turnout was near GOP turnout in 7 and 32, actually exceeded it in 23. I'd be nervous if I were Republicans in these districts.

* Beto O'Rourke won the Dem nod for Senate, but less handily than he would have liked, with only 62% of the vote.

* Texas is almost certain to get its first two Latina reps, as Veronica Escobar [16th] and Sylvia Garcia [29th] won the Dem nods in heavily blue seats.

* Also, of about 50 women candidates, more than half won or are going to the runoff. Every Emily's List-endorsed candidate advanced.

* Some heavily funded folks did poorly (I already made the Cyndi Lauper joke last night). Particularly amusing was GOP mega-donor Kathaleen Wall, who spent over $6M out of pocket, but failed to make the runoff in the 2nd.
posted by Chrysostom at 9:35 AM on March 7, 2018 [40 favorites]

Buzzfeed shared some Stoneman Douglas student reactions to the DeVos visit.
posted by galvanized unicorn at 9:37 AM on March 7, 2018 [5 favorites]

As far as Beto - he's a great candidate, I give him credit for giving up a safe House seat to run, but Texas Senate is a very challenging race. Maybe 10-15% chance of winning. Even if he doesn't win, though, he can still have positive impact on downballot races and laying groundwork for future races.

Losing sucks, but there's a difference between a constructive loss and a loss that gets you nothing.
posted by Chrysostom at 9:38 AM on March 7, 2018 [21 favorites]

Well, it sounds like DeVos' visit was the constructive and thoughtful encounter we all expected it to be.
posted by The Card Cheat at 9:51 AM on March 7, 2018 [15 favorites]

Good New York Times article on Trump’s various BS claims about trade.

Bonus - contains the best editing correction ever: March 6, 2018
Because of an editing error involving a satirical text-swapping web browser extension, an earlier version of this article misquoted a passage from an article by the Times reporter Jim Tankersley. The sentence referred to America’s narrowing trade deficit during “the Great Recession,” not during “the Time of Shedding and Cold Rocks.” (Pro tip: Disable your “Millennials to Snake People” extension when copying and pasting.)
posted by skycrashesdown at 9:59 AM on March 7, 2018 [82 favorites]

Donald Trump’s infedlities and the cartoonish lack of consequences

Also, Cynthia Nixon gives a speech calling out Dem leadership fixation on big money donors and abaonding thier base.
posted by The Whelk at 10:00 AM on March 7, 2018 [11 favorites]

Regarding the Parkman students and their portrayal on the right:
OH , DAVID HINES , NO!
😞
posted by snuffleupagus at 10:01 AM on March 7, 2018

I'm not following that link. David Hines is a smart guy and a really good writer, but he's absolutely a gun fan.
posted by suelac at 10:09 AM on March 7, 2018 [1 favorite]

Russian spy: Nerve agent 'used to try to kill' Sergei Skripal

A police officer who was the first to attend the scene is now in a serious condition in hospital, Assistant Commissioner Mark Rowley, head of Counter Terrorism Policing, said.

Cynthia Nixon gives a speech calling out Dem leadership fixation on big money donors and abaonding thier base.

Definitely my favorite co-star of Baby's Day Out to be exploring a run for governor.
posted by Chrysostom at 10:18 AM on March 7, 2018 [4 favorites]

David Hines is a smart guy and a really good writer, but he's absolutely a gun fan.

Not just guns, he seems to be rebranding himself as some kind of pan "Righty" movement thinker stealing pages from "Leftist" organizers. And whose expressed annoyances with 'actualfa' are a little too affectionate for my taste.
posted by snuffleupagus at 10:18 AM on March 7, 2018 [1 favorite]

And whose expressed annoyances with 'actualfa' are a little too affectionate for my taste.

Oh, ew. Oh David Hines No, indeed.
posted by suelac at 10:24 AM on March 7, 2018

galvanized unicorn: Buzzfeed shared some Stoneman Douglas student reactions to the DeVos visit.

Comments from kids (?) on Twitter in the article:

- Betsy Devos came to my school, talked to three people, and pet a dog. This is incase the press tries to say something else later

- Do something unexpected: answer our questions. You came to our school just for publicity and avoided our questions for the 90 minutes you were actually here. How about you actually do your job? #neveragain #DoYourJob

- I thought she would at least give us her "thoughts and prayers," but she refused to even meet/speak with students. I don't understand the point of her being here

And a summary from Buzzfeed:

Some students at Stoneman Douglas, under the banner of a group called "Never Again," have been specifically advocating for a ban on assault rifles, among other gun reform policies. Asked whether she supports any of the measures the students have proposed, such as a ban on assault rifles, DeVos said, "The president has advanced a number of issues that Congress will have to consider.”

"There is an opportunity to take practical steps that many people agree on that have support at the federal level,” she said. "I think it's important to take a robust inventory of what states and communities are doing" and to encourage others to adopt those that have been successful."

Reporters asked if she had any specific examples in mind.

"We'll have more on that in the future,” she said.

One final jab via Twitter (from a student?)

- @BetsyDeVos leaves a press conference when pushed for specifics on what gun legislation she'd support. A reporter is overheard saying, "5 questions? That's it? Are you kidding me?"

As to the reason for her visit, DeVos said, "I was just there to be there — to be with them."

Good on you, Cora Lewis and Buzzfeed News.
posted by filthy light thief at 10:25 AM on March 7, 2018 [39 favorites]

Guessing that's the Kremlin blatantly signing their work rather than using something more ambiguous to make it clear to anyone wanting to turn over evidence that they are comfortable assassinating people anywhere.

That it was a rare nerve agent specifically administered via powder makes it almost certainly a Novichok Agent, produced only in a few facilities in the late (/post) Soviet sphere. That's about as close as you can get to Putin leaving a calling card. No way in hell this isn't a message.
posted by Rust Moranis at 10:32 AM on March 7, 2018 [26 favorites]

Apparently DeVos didn't learn from Marco Rubio. Those kids have very good bullshit detectors and they will roast the hell out of you. They'll keep her on the grill for a while.
posted by azpenguin at 10:36 AM on March 7, 2018 [10 favorites]

A police officer who was the first to attend the scene is now in a serious condition in hospital, Assistant Commissioner Mark Rowley, head of Counter Terrorism Policing, said.

That's rather sloppy work. Does the fact that a UK police officer is affected mean this becomes a state authorized terrorist attack?
posted by JackFlash at 10:43 AM on March 7, 2018 [10 favorites]

Does the fact that a UK police officer is affected mean this becomes a state authorized terrorist attack?

Only if the UK government is willing to say as much. They won't. Their inaction itself will be another message from Putin.
posted by Rust Moranis at 10:44 AM on March 7, 2018 [28 favorites]

to point out to Texas' large Hispanic population that O'Rourke is a white guy using a Spanish-sounding nickname

Doesn't this risk reminding Ted Cruz's racist supporters that Ted Cruz is, in fact, Hispanic?

Beto is a "white" guy who doesn't mind being mistaken for a Hispanic guy. I don't think that would necessarily bother Hispanic people? (Note - I realize white and Hispanic are not mutually exclusive, but you know what I mean, right? Beto's got full access to white privilege, but doesn't mind being mistaken on paper for someone who dohesn't.)

Meanwhile Ted is a Hispanic guy who wants to be read as "white." He is trying to claim some white privileges for himself. I feel like this would bother me if I were a Hispanic person who really didn't have that option AND if I were a white racist interested in protecting my own privileges and gatekeeping whiteness.

This really seems like an issue that will backfire on Cruz if it gets much attention.

That's about as close as you can get to Putin leaving a calling card. No way in hell this isn't a message.

How is the British government going to take that message?
posted by OnceUponATime at 10:45 AM on March 7, 2018 [3 favorites]

How is the British government going to take that message?

They may have turned a blind eye to it before.
posted by a snickering nuthatch at 10:50 AM on March 7, 2018 [10 favorites]

10 UK citizens died on Malaysia Airlines flight 17. Nothing happened then.
posted by Rust Moranis at 10:52 AM on March 7, 2018 [8 favorites]

Chris Cillizza is quite literally the worst journalist working today, and possibly the worst in the past 25 years. ... I mean, is there anyone on the planet who doesn't think he's at the very least a complete moron, and at the worst, actively malign?

Let's check with a Washington insider, Sam Numberg, from a taxi late Monday:

“My response is Chris Cillizza can go fuck himself and he dresses like shit,” Nunberg told Yahoo News. “I’m not having a meltdown. In fact, I’m the first person ever standing up for themselves.”

posted by msalt at 10:53 AM on March 7, 2018 [19 favorites]

How is the British government going to take that message?

Boris Johnson suggests UK could boycott the World Cup if Russia is behind the Sergei Skripal poisoning (Business Insider) But only English officials, not the football team itself, a spokesperson later clarified.

Only if the UK government is willing to say as much. They won't. Their inaction itself will be another message from Putin.

And Skripal's daughter was either targeted herself or wound up as collateral damage. Another message from Putin.
posted by Doktor Zed at 10:56 AM on March 7, 2018 [11 favorites]

I celebrate the courage of the England soccer team in their determination to bravely leave Russia early this summer.
posted by Huffy Puffy at 11:02 AM on March 7, 2018 [21 favorites]

And Skripal's daughter was either targeted herself or wound up as collateral damage. Another message from Putin.

To quote his long-time friend and business/crime partner Roger Stone: "Manafort's no snitch."

I guess someone thought he could use a reminder.
posted by Rust Moranis at 11:03 AM on March 7, 2018 [1 favorite]

Honestly they are in no position to do anything but pretend to ignore it or surrender,and absolutely in no circumstances do anything that might risk Russian anger. The UK has crippled itself and isolated itself from it's allies, and is weak prey now.

It's also worth considering that these investigations might have become something other than a police matter along the way. And that if persons of interest were apprehended, it wasn't made public.
posted by snuffleupagus at 11:03 AM on March 7, 2018 [1 favorite]

Manafort probably didn't need a reminder. Rick Gates might have. Sam Nunberg, too.
posted by notyou at 11:04 AM on March 7, 2018 [1 favorite]

I'm just not sure why anyone in the Russian government would give two shits if Manafort et al. talked. They haven't exactly been subtle with ANY of their interference so far, the more chaos the better.

What are we gonna do anyway, wait for the next administration to sanction them? Hah.
posted by lydhre at 11:12 AM on March 7, 2018 [9 favorites]

I'm just not sure why anyone in the Russian government would give two shits if Manafort et al. talked. They haven't exactly been subtle with ANY of their interference so far, the more chaos the better.

I think the Kremlin's more interested in Manafort's silence out of concern for its own internal situation: there's a good chance that Manafort has some knowledge of Putin's weaknesses within his sphere. It's absolutely in Putin's interest to avoid embarrassment (and, worse, reduced power) in his own house, even if he does effectively run most of the world.
posted by Rust Moranis at 11:21 AM on March 7, 2018 [3 favorites]

I'm no more a fan of Russia than anyone else here, but there's a huge difference between "Russia can sometimes interfere in Western countries without retaliation" (understatement as it is) and "Russia runs the world".
posted by J.K. Seazer at 11:24 AM on March 7, 2018 [16 favorites]

Russia may be sowing the seeds of chaos, but Trump is doing a lot more to create division and disruption than Putin is, just by virtue of sheer ignorance and mental instability.
posted by Autumnheart at 11:28 AM on March 7, 2018 [3 favorites]

Indeed, Russia's GDP was 1.283 trillion USD in 2016 -- around $8,750 per capita.

The UK's was 2.619 trillion -- around $39,900 per capita. And the UK has the US military to backstop it. Russia is its own enforcer and has no protector.

Russia's inherited post-Soviet geopolitical position is at odds with its economic weakness and that goes a long way towards explaining its tactics. Information war is relatively cheap.
posted by snuffleupagus at 11:29 AM on March 7, 2018 [34 favorites]

Russia flies nuclear bombers through UK airspace on the regs now. They are not going to do shit.
posted by Artw at 11:31 AM on March 7, 2018 [5 favorites]

Russia emphatically does not run anything. Their mediocre economy is trying to climbing out of a recent recession and remains primarily dependent on oil and gas. Putin's campaigning for president to maintain his popularity as an autocrat, among the populace and oligarchs, which is why he's boasting about cloak-and-dagger ops and making Cold War 2.0 weapons speeches. He's a ruthless and manipulative opportunist, a bully whom the world needs to stand up to.
posted by Doktor Zed at 11:35 AM on March 7, 2018 [14 favorites]

but there's a huge difference between "Russia can sometimes interfere in Western countries without retaliation" (understatement as it is) and "Russia runs the world".

Well, they also pick US cabinet nominees and de facto control US foreign policy, so.
posted by T.D. Strange at 11:35 AM on March 7, 2018 [24 favorites]

Re: Ted Cruz's campaign slapping at Beto O'Rourke for his nickname

Cruz's response during his appearance on CNN -- obviously a planned response to his own manufactured controversy-- makes it clear that Cruz is trying to hug his Cuban heritage as a campaign strategy, to pre-empt a LatinX vote against him.

Then again, the contrast between his response and O'Rourke's (also in this clip) makes it clear why Beto is a clearly superior campaigner. (Aside: Cruz's skin looks so weirdly pale and blotchy. Does anyone else think he might be using skin lighteners?)

I'm not ready to bet on Cruz losing, but if has any major scandal or blunder, Beto is in a strong position to take advantage. It wouldn't take perving on teenage girls to swing this election.
posted by msalt at 11:35 AM on March 7, 2018 [2 favorites]

Well, they also pick US cabinet nominees and de facto control US foreign policy, so.

yeah, this. The UK's ability to "go it aline" from the rest of Europe was always predicated on the US being an ally, and the US is nobody's ally right now, either because its policies are directly set by Russia or because the populist that Russia has installed leans towards isolationist policies o is simply too ineffectual and confused to do anything.

Honestly the way the rest of Europe has been standing up is better than Id expected, I was fearing we;d see Russian tanks rolling Westwards by now. Possibly a few more destructive populist takeovers by Russian candidates will bring that about.

Russia is still a shithole on the verge of collapse but its chances of taking the rest of the world down with it are way, way up these days.
posted by Artw at 11:41 AM on March 7, 2018 [14 favorites]

I think it's a mistake to frame things as "Russia controls" anything in the US. The interests of Russian oligarchs align with the interests of American oligarchs because they are all rich authoritarians. Trump isn't "controlled" by Russia; Trump and Manafort and all those people are standard rich people enmeshed in a web of corrupt rich-people dealings. Putin isn't "against" the United States, he's for the oligarchs - that's why he's good buddies with all these various important rich people in the US and the UK. If there were some kind of overt military conflict between the US and Russia, these people would still all be buddies behind the scenes - probably cutting all kinds of backroom deals while soldiers on both sides died.

If wealthy Americans didn't find it convenient to cozy up to Putin, they wouldn't. Never think that they're being "controlled" - they're doing just what they always do, serving their own interests.
posted by Frowner at 11:41 AM on March 7, 2018 [73 favorites]

There's no official confirmation of the name or nature of the nerve agent, and the UK's counter-terrorism police are running the investigation, so I'd hold off on speculation about how the incident will end up being treated.

Another theory, which may have some validity, is that Putin is worried about turn-out in the forthcoming election and is indulging in some strongman posturing to boost his popularity. He's going to win, of course, but with the main opposition disqualified there's a chance that the numbers will be uncomfortably low. No reason that this thinking couldn't run alongside a 'message from uncle' to potential squealers in the US, of course, as well as a general insult to the UK - and I doubt we'll learn soon, if at all, what motivated the operation.

About the only good thing with 45's tariff madness is that it's making the going-as-badly-as-we-all-said Brexit process look even more disastrous, but we're ramping up to American levels of constant bad news about new terrible things on that front so it's not moving the needle much by itself.
posted by Devonian at 11:46 AM on March 7, 2018 [11 favorites]

Putin isn't "against" the United States, he's for the oligarchs

Which is also his weakness, and why he may not be wild on too much light* being shone on their money laundering and overseas investments/stashes. Information Vichy Americans like Manafort may know where's buried.

If the political/economic powers of the U.S. and E.U. were to find their mettle and go after their (mostly) illegal dealings that oligarchy would pretty quickly lose power (who knows, perhaps even refranchising the actual people of Russia).

Not that that's going to happen as there's plenty of western oligarchs with their money hidden and laundered by the same havens and systems.

* Like with the Panama Papers potentially having been a big trigger for the current Kremlin cyber-war.
posted by Buntix at 11:55 AM on March 7, 2018 [8 favorites]

There's no official confirmation of the name or nature of the nerve agent

I would wager that's because all the police have right now is knowledge that the signs shown by the 2 intended victims and the 3 police officers are in line with exposure to an acetylccholine antagonist, and the reasonable deduction that 3 police officers were exposed by skin to skin contact.

Since these agents decay quickly, I am willing to wager this is the only forensic evidence the police are going to find.
posted by ocschwar at 11:56 AM on March 7, 2018 [8 favorites]

Politico, Jennifer Haberkorn and Sarah Ferris, Planned Parenthood defunding threatens government spending package

House Republicans are demanding a series of controversial abortion and health care policies in the annual health spending bill, setting up a showdown with Democrats and threatening passage of an omnibus spending package to keep the government open.

Democrats are vowing to block the slew of long-sought conservative priorities. The riders would cut off federal funding to Planned Parenthood, eliminate a federal family planning program and ax the Teen Pregnancy Prevention Program, according to sources on Capitol Hill. Republicans also want to insert a new prohibition on funding research that uses human fetal tissue obtained after an abortion.

The dispute has stalled negotiations on such other health issues as how much to spend on the opioid epidemic and prompted discussions about buying negotiators more time, with short-term government funding set to expire on March 23 and many of Congress’ other spending panels nearly finished with their bills.

Democrats say an agreement was near on overall funding levels for the fiscal 2018 Labor-HHS funding bill, typically one of the most contentious spending bills. But when top appropriators met to finalize the numbers, the Democrats said Republicans reneged on women’s health issues, according to Democratic sources familiar with the talks.

Of course, even if Democrats block these riders, the administration will continue to try to do much the same thing through regulations.
posted by zachlipton at 12:00 PM on March 7, 2018 [23 favorites]

More movie-plot like: I bet they decided to take a risk on the 2 mildly affected cops and inject them with atropine, and then when they responded well to it, try it on the other 3.
posted by ocschwar at 12:01 PM on March 7, 2018 [2 favorites]

TIME: Steve Bannon Takes Trumpism to Europe and Gets a Rock Star's Welcome
posted by snuffleupagus at 12:05 PM on March 7, 2018 [1 favorite]

James Hohmann, The Daily 202: Peter Navarro gets his 15 minutes of fame as the salesman for the Trump tariffs

Navarro wound up in this spot partly because of serendipity. “At one point during the campaign, when Trump wanted to speak more substantively about China, he gave [Jared] Kushner a summary of his views and then asked him to do some research,” Washington Post reporter Sarah Ellison wrote for Vanity Fair last year. “Kushner simply went on Amazon, where he was struck by the title of one book, ‘Death by China,’ co-authored by Peter Navarro. He cold-called Navarro … who agreed to join the team as an economic adviser. (When he joined, Navarro was in fact the campaign’s only economic adviser.)”

That's the White House hiring process? Jared searches for overly dramatic book titles on Amazon? Stupidest. Damn. Timeline.
posted by zachlipton at 12:05 PM on March 7, 2018 [61 favorites]

The biggest thing Ted Cruz has going against him is nobody likes Ted Cruz.

Also he can't really count on the Latino vote, at least in the SW part of Texas. Norteños don't necessarily feel a ton of consanguinity with lily-white second-gen Cubano-Canadians like Lyin' Ted.
posted by aspersioncast at 12:09 PM on March 7, 2018 [9 favorites]

According to Stephanie Ruhle (whose bona fides include VP at Credit Suisse First Boston and Deutche Bank managing director in Global Markets), Navarro couldn't get a job in the mailroom at Goldman Sachs, but the White House...no problem.
posted by Sophie1 at 12:12 PM on March 7, 2018 [9 favorites]

@kaitlancollins
Sarah Sanders said the situation with the payment to Stormy Daniels has "already been won in arbitration." Asked who won and when, she said, "The arbitration was won in the president’s favor."

In which Sanders confirms Trump prevailed on an agreement she insisted he didn't make....

that's their story and they're sticking to it:

@markknoller: Pressed on Stormy Daniels matter, @PressSec said "the case has already been won in arbitration." Says he has spoken to the president and he had no knowledge of any payments to Daniels. Sanders declined to comment on "ongoing litigation."
posted by snuffleupagus at 12:15 PM on March 7, 2018 [23 favorites]

That's the White House hiring process? Jared searches for overly dramatic book titles on Amazon? Stupidest. Damn. Timeline.

amazon's search algorithm is determining trade policy.

this is fine.
posted by murphy slaw at 12:17 PM on March 7, 2018 [28 favorites]

U.S. loses bid to halt children's climate change lawsuit [Reuters]

A federal appeals court on Wednesday rejected the U.S. government’s bid to halt a lawsuit by a group of Oregon teenagers claiming that the Trump administration has violated their constitutional rights by refusing to address the harms caused by climate change.

By a 3-0 vote, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said the administration had not met the “high bar” under federal law to dismiss the case brought by 21 young people.

Teenagers Defeat Trump’s Move to Kill Climate Change Lawsuit [Bloomberg]

The group of mostly teenagers in Oregon alleged in a 2015 complaint that government policies have exacerbated global warming in violation of their rights -- and those of future generations -- under the U.S. Constitution.

They claim that for more than 50 years, the office of the president and eight federal agencies promoted regulations to support the U.S. energy industry’s proliferation of fossil fuels, accounting for a quarter of the world’s carbon emissions. They asked the court to force the government to formulate a formal plan to change course.

The Trump administration argued the case is based on “utterly unprecedented legal theories” and that it’s unreasonable to delve into “unbounded” research into the executive branch dating back to the Lyndon Johnson presidency.

PDF of the opinion.
posted by melissasaurus at 12:18 PM on March 7, 2018 [75 favorites]

Previous speculation had suggested a nerve agent was unlikely, but also focused on the proximity of the attack to Porton Down -- with one expert saying "If you were going to be poisoned anywhere in the world you would want to be near Porton Down."

I half wonder if that wasn't the point of the choice, since more recent suspicious deaths of people Putin probably rather disliked have generally been of the kind that the UK can overlook with the excuse of plausible deniability (at times less-than-plausible) when it comes to the inquests. Despite that history of the UK doing them the favour, as it were, they've decided to escalate in more than one direction: hitting a player who, under the old rules, would have been considered off-the-board, along with a family member who also, traditionally, would have been considered-off-the-board. And various pro-Kremlin spokespeople decided to bait the UK by saying 'oh it was probably something he ate, this is just Russophobia to blame us.' And they administered the hit in a way which showed little regard for possible collateral damage. And they did it with a nerve agent, in the shadow of Porton Down.
posted by halation at 12:20 PM on March 7, 2018 [8 favorites]

The biggest thing Ted Cruz has going against him is nobody likes Ted Cruz.

Cruz was a clerk for William Rehnquist; at Antonin Scalia's funeral he asked to sit with Scalia's clerks and they said no. So did the GOP leadership. You know no one likes you when you get snubbed at a funeral.
posted by kirkaracha at 12:24 PM on March 7, 2018 [31 favorites]

The biggest thing Ted Cruz has going against him is nobody likes Ted Cruz.
Republicans in Texas like Ted Cruz. Like 1.2m of them voted for him.
posted by The_Vegetables at 12:29 PM on March 7, 2018 [4 favorites]

You can vote for someone you don't like.
posted by Chrysostom at 12:31 PM on March 7, 2018 [8 favorites]

I don't know that they voted for him, so much as against whatever gun-grabbing, immigrant-loving, healthcare-maximizing socialist he was running against.
posted by Ducks or monkeys at 12:32 PM on March 7, 2018 [7 favorites]

My state is the one where people thought Jade Helm was a bonafide government takeover attempt, so yeah, there are lots of dumbasses who will vote for a dead-eyed slime-golem so long as he's Not a Democrat.

There are also lots of people who didn't vote for Cruz, or at all, and not all of them were prevented from voting. Those are the ones we are trying to reach, the ones who can vote and have Democratic values but have given up on trying and think there's nothing that can be done.

Despair is hard to fight ya'll.
posted by emjaybee at 12:36 PM on March 7, 2018 [20 favorites]

“Dig Once” rule requiring fiber deployment is finally set to become US law -- Dig Once mandates fiber conduit installation in government-funded road projects. (Jon Brodkin for Ars Technica, March 7, 2018)

A simple policy that could speed up fiber Internet deployment throughout the US is finally on track to become US law. A "Dig Once" measure that requires fiber conduit installation during many federally funded road projects was passed yesterday by the US House of Representatives and is expected to pass the Senate.

US Rep. Anna Eshoo (D-Calif.) first submitted Dig Once legislation in 2009 and has periodically resubmitted [PDF] the legislation in the years since, she said during yesterday's floor debate [PDF].

The Dig Once policy "mandates the inclusion of broadband conduit—plastic pipes which house fiber-optic communications cable—during the construction of any road receiving federal funding," an announcement from Eshoo said.

"This will reduce costs drastically and increase access for communities across the country," making it "easier for states and broadband providers to enter new and underserved markets," Eshoo said. Conduit would be installed during road projects in cases "where there's a demonstrated need for broadband access," she said.

This is huge, if it's passed into law. Why? By requiring conduit and cabling is included in "the construction of any road receiving federal funding," that's including a ton of non-urban miles. Unless a state has allocated a significant amount of money to build roads with state funds, states rely on federal allocations (PDF with a big table of figures for all states).

The questions are then:

Will the Senate pass this, modify it, or kill it?
If the Senate and House agree on it, will Trump sign it?
What is the threshold for "construction"? Are they only talking about brand new roads? If so, that's pretty rare now that the national network is pretty well built out. Or including complete reconstruction? Or do they mean some moderate threshold for roadway maintenance?

There are numerous considerations for the type of road repair to choose, most of them not getting below the road, so this might only apply to full reconstructions and new constructions. Taking a moment to reflect, I hope this is the case, because otherwise we'd have to dig up more roadways to install buried conduits and fiber.

And I'm just hoping now, because as I actually read the content of H. R. 4986 RAY BAUM'S Act of 2018 (PDF), the language does not reflect Rep. Eshoo's "mandate" under SEC. 707. BROADBAND INFRASTRUCTURE DEPLOYMENT (starting on PDF page 77, for reference), which can be summarized as states will annually (or more frequently, if necessary) share lists of projects with "broadband infrastructure entities" and shall "coordinate initiatives ... including strategies to minimize repeated excavations that involve the installation of broadband infrastructure in a right-of-way."

But the kicker is this part:

Nothing in this section establishes a mandate or requirement that a State install or allow the installation of broadband infrastructure in a highway right-of-way. Nothing in this section authorizes the Secretary of Transportation to withhold or reserve funds or approval of a project under title 23, United States Code.

In short: it is, as it currently appears, purely optional to do anything about installing broadband. But you still have to do additional work to coordinate with interested, valid "broadband infrastructure entities."
posted by filthy light thief at 12:36 PM on March 7, 2018 [48 favorites]

I didn't realize people 'won' arbitration.
posted by rc3spencer at 12:36 PM on March 7, 2018 [11 favorites]

amazon's search algorithm is determining trade policy.

Eh, it's more like "clickbait book title is determining trade policy."

At which point I'm surprised Chuck Tingle hasn't been cold-called yet. Or maybe the only reason he hasn't been tapped by this administration (harhar) is that he writes under a pseudonym, and Jared didn't have the patience to contact the publisher and ask them to get him in contact with Chuck.

Actually, I can see that Navarro was just the first person to answer, and if he hadn't, Jared would have gone down the list of most provocative titles and kept cold-calling authors until someone picked up. That's my estimation of his patience and his care about who he's actually calling.
posted by filthy light thief at 12:42 PM on March 7, 2018 [8 favorites]

@jimrutenberg: Stormy Daniels lawyer, @MichaelAvenatti responds to me re Sanders' statement Trump won at arbitration: “yeah and he also won the popular vote.”

I can't believe the official White House position is to deny the affair, kinda-sorta-not-really deny the payment, yet claim Trump has won in arbitration. It's like Sanders was so determined to show how vindicated Trump is that she jumped right to "he won" without considering the implications of that.
posted by zachlipton at 12:44 PM on March 7, 2018 [55 favorites]

I didn't realize people 'won' arbitration.

That's actually the whole point of arbitration. People don't win mediation, or at least they're not supposed to. But facts or truth have never stopped Sanders from saying anything, so.
posted by holborne at 12:45 PM on March 7, 2018 [3 favorites]

filthy light thief: In short: it is, as it currently appears, purely optional to do anything about installing broadband. But you still have to do additional work to coordinate with interested, valid "broadband infrastructure entities."

And on another moment of reflection, this is the worst of pointless Federal requirements - they can say "look at what I'm doing to move [thing] forward" while increasing state and local agency workloads yet not actually requiring that the states and locals do anything. "Yes, I want you to form a committee and talk once a year, if not more. No, you don't actually have to do anything afterwords, just have a meeting. And set up a database or something. Yup, that's the whole of it. Why? You know, so I can look like I made you lazy government employees do something."
posted by filthy light thief at 12:46 PM on March 7, 2018 [1 favorite]

I didn't realize people 'won' arbitration.

Abritration of this sort is a private trial with summary procedures, and one side basically wins. Mediation results in settlement. (If it works.)
posted by snuffleupagus at 12:46 PM on March 7, 2018 [4 favorites]

I used to work for a law firm that was, basically, The Man. One of their main jobs was winning at forced binding arbitration between injured workers and their employers.

They also supplied lawyers to be arbitrators for other companies, and I overheard one of them having a chuckle with a college over the idea that when acting as arbitrators they'd ever rule against the company that hired them and for the claimant. This, to the lawyers involved, was viewed as a literally laughable display of naivete on the part of the claimant.

Contracts which forbid people from suing in a real court and instead force them into binding arbitration are basically there to assure that no one will ever, ever, win against the company.

In theory binding arbitration could be a cheaper way to settle disputes between parties of roughly equal power who agree on a genuinely neutral arbitrator. But between corporations and individuals they're nothing but a way to assure that the individual will never win. And I know from personal experience that the arbitrators literally laugh about the idea that they might be truly neutral.
posted by sotonohito at 12:58 PM on March 7, 2018 [71 favorites]

James Dator, SBNation: Dwyane Wade surprised the students at Marjory Stoneman Douglas with a lunchtime visit. Same day as DeVos, go figure. Definitely not the same response from students.
posted by ZeusHumms at 1:11 PM on March 7, 2018 [20 favorites]

DeVos got dunked on.
posted by snuffleupagus at 1:12 PM on March 7, 2018 [33 favorites]

One of the students killed at the school was buried in Dwyane Wade's jersey because he was so excited about Wade returning to the Miami Heat.
posted by gucci mane at 1:19 PM on March 7, 2018 [16 favorites]

Daily Beast, Trump’s VA Consumed By Infighting, Backstabbing, And Talk of a Leadership Overhaul. I've talked a bunch about the VA drama, Shulkin in, Shulkin out, his deputy trying to get him fired, overruling a gender-neutral mission statement, etc..., but here's a new detail, in which the President is being advised by a TV host who keeps trying to talk about veterans issues, but Trump just wants to chat about TV:

The president is also being advised on the matter, directly and through TV appearances, by Fox & Friends weekend co-host Pete Hegseth, an Iraq War veteran and the former chief executive of the conservative Concerned Veterans for America. Hegseth, who was seriously considered for VA secretary during the presidential transition, favors a larger role for the private health industry in veterans’ care and has been increasingly critical of Shulkin on-air.

Two sources with knowledge of their conversations told The Daily Beast that President Trump will often call Hegseth after the Fox personality is done hosting to chat with him about the episode that had just aired. When the two talk, Hegseth will sometimes try to inject VA and veterans issues into the conversation and steer the discussion in a more policy-oriented direction. According to these sources, Trump will typically acknowledge Hegseth’s points before quickly steering the phone conversation back in the direction of what he just saw on Fox & Friends.

posted by zachlipton at 1:23 PM on March 7, 2018 [10 favorites]

ProPublica announces their new project, Trump Town: Tracking White House Staffers, Cabinet Members and Political Appointees Across the Government.

The Trump administration has appointed hundreds of staffers to powerful positions across the federal government. Some are old policy hands from conservative D.C. think tanks. Others have little-to-no government experience and come straight from the industries they are now tasked to regulate and oversee. We've collected personnel records for thousands of these appointees. Use this database to search for them by name, former employer and agency.

Also: Methodology: How We Created this Database
Also also: What We Found in Trump’s Drained Swamp: Hundreds of Ex-Lobbyists and D.C. Insiders
posted by scalefree at 1:40 PM on March 7, 2018 [42 favorites]

(Not to abuse the window)
In this database: 2475 appointees
187 former lobbyists
125 worked at conservative think tanks
254 worked for Trump campaign groups
posted by scalefree at 1:46 PM on March 7, 2018 [9 favorites]

I don't know that they voted for him, so much as against whatever gun-grabbing, immigrant-loving, healthcare-maximizing socialist he was running against.

It was a primary election. He was running against four other Republicans.
posted by The_Vegetables at 1:50 PM on March 7, 2018 [2 favorites]

Shelby Holliday and Rob Barry for the Wall Street Journal: "Russian Influence Campaign Extracted Americans’ Personal Data"

The fake directory is one example of the elaborate schemes that Russian “trolls” have pursued to try to collect personal and business information from Americans, the Journal has found. Leveraging social media, Russians have collected data by peddling niche business directories, convincing activists to sign petitions and bankrolling self-defense training classes in return for student information.

It isn’t clear for what purpose the data were collected, but intelligence and cybersecurity experts say it could be used for identity theft or leveraged as part of a wider political-influence effort that didn’t end with the 2016 election. That operation is a focus of special counsel Robert Mueller’s wide-ranging probe, which has returned more than a dozen indictments of Russians as well as several American associates of now-President Donald Trump.
...
A group claiming to be an activist organization, using the Instagram account BlackFist, paid Mr. Bright to teach self-defense lessons in his community. In exchange, it wanted information about the people who showed up for classes, including phone numbers, email addresses and even videos.

“They were really adamant about getting names,” Mr. Bright said.

He gave BlackFist videos and photos but said he stopped short of sending attendees’ contact information. He quit working with the group after it asked him to provide more “aggressive” lessons, including training in offensive combat.

In all, he said he made roughly $700 teaching 12 classes in a local park. BlackFist paid him using a PayPal account connected to the Russia-backed BlackMattersUS, the Journal found. The same account, which PayPal has shut down, is listed as fraudulent in the special counsel’s indictment.

posted by OnceUponATime at 1:51 PM on March 7, 2018 [41 favorites]

Speaking of DeVos, man she is just preternaturally talented at sticking her perfectly pedicured foot in it. This tweet did not go the way she intended at all, but the replies are just really wonderful and inspiring.
posted by soren_lorensen at 1:52 PM on March 7, 2018 [40 favorites]

It was a primary election. He was running against four other Republicans.

Okay, 4,440,137 people voted for him in the 2012 general.
posted by Chrysostom at 1:53 PM on March 7, 2018 [1 favorite]

Ben Collins, Spencer Ackerman | Exclusive: Reddit Says It’s Cooperating With Russia Investigations. They’ve Handed Over Zero Documents.

Reddit representatives indicated they were still having trouble differentiating between real and inauthentic users and material on its platform.

I dunno why, but that makes me laugh out loud.
posted by xyzzy at 1:54 PM on March 7, 2018 [17 favorites]

Trump’s meeting with the video game industry to talk gun violence could get ugly

Trump has invited video game executives like Robert Altman, the CEO of ZeniMax, the parent company for games like Fallout; Strauss Zelnick, the chief executive of Take Two Interactive, which is known for Grand Theft Auto; and Michael Gallagher, the leader of the Entertainment Software Association, a Washington D.C.-focused lobbying organization for the industry.
...
Opposite of them are expected to be some of the video-game industry's toughest critics, including Brent Bozell, the founder of the Parents Television Council, and Rep. Vicky Hartzler, a Republican from Missouri, the three people said. After another shooting — the 2012 massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn. — they each called on government to focus its attention on violent media rather than just pursuing new gun restrictions.

Yeah, this isn't going to go well. But it will give Trump what he really wants: a fight on cable news about games rather than any action on guns.
posted by zachlipton at 1:59 PM on March 7, 2018 [36 favorites]

@maddow has put a list of 45's administration departures of two weeks on the side of a skyscraper. Most of the side of a skyscraper. And it's not in huge type, neither.
posted by Devonian at 2:08 PM on March 7, 2018 [9 favorites]

If this leads to a ban on Love Nikki Dress Up Queen to PROTECT OUR CHILDREN I will be very put out.
posted by delfin at 2:09 PM on March 7, 2018 [4 favorites]

NBC, Hope Hicks told House Intelligence Committee she was hacked, sources say

Hope Hicks told the House Intelligence Committee last week that one of her email accounts was hacked, according to people who were present for the former White House communications director's testimony in the panel's Russia probe.

Under relatively routine questioning from Rep. Jim Himes, D-Conn., about her correspondence, Hicks indicated that she could no longer access two accounts: One she used as a member of President Donald Trump's campaign team and a personal account, according to four people who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the closed meeting of the Intelligence Committee was supposed to remain private.

Hicks, who portrayed herself as not savvy in matters of technology, told lawmakers that one of the accounts was hacked, according to two sources who were in the room. It is unclear if Hicks was referring to a campaign or personal account.

posted by zachlipton at 2:11 PM on March 7, 2018 [30 favorites]

i have SO MANY QUESTIONS about this hope hicks email situation
posted by halation at 2:14 PM on March 7, 2018 [48 favorites]

So there really was an arbitration. NBC, Trump lawyer Michael Cohen tries to silence adult-film star Stormy Daniels

President Donald Trump's lawyer is trying to silence adult-film star Stormy Daniels, obtaining a secret restraining order in a private arbitration proceeding and warning that she will face penalties if she publicly discusses a relationship with the president, NBC News has learned.
...
On [February 27th], Cohen obtained a temporary restraining order against Clifford from the private arbitrator, a retired judge, which bars her from disclosing "confidential information" related to the nondisclosure agreement signed in October 2016, according to a copy of the document obtained by NBC News.

On Feb. 28, Cohen emailed the restraining order to Clifford's former attorney, Keith Davidson. "The document itself is to remain confidential and not to be disclosed to anyone as per the terms of the judge's order," the email, obtained by NBC News, said.

Reached for comment late Wednesday afternoon, Clifford's current attorney, Michael Avenatti, said Cohen, through his own attorney Lawrence Rosen, has made further attempts to enforce the order and caution Clifford that she is subject to damages if she talks about Trump.

"Earlier today, Mr. Cohen through his attorney, Mr. Rosen, further threatened my client in an effort to prevent her from telling the truth about what really happened," Avenatti said. "We do not take kindly to these threats, nor we will be intimidated."

Clifford's lawyer says that Trump obviously wasn't a party to the arbitration (as he never signed the agreement) and asks how he could have "won" anything, as Sanders claimed. So the official White House position is that the President won an arbitration he wasn't part of.
posted by zachlipton at 2:14 PM on March 7, 2018 [32 favorites]

NBC, Hope Hicks told House Intelligence Committee she was hacked, sources say

"My dog ate my emails" should not be an acceptable way to avoid Congressional oversight, but then again, Paul Ryan is Speaker.
posted by dis_integration at 2:15 PM on March 7, 2018 [36 favorites]

@maddow has put a list of 45's administration departures of two weeks on the side of a skyscraper. Most of the side of a skyscraper. And it's not in huge type, neither.

Ummm... that's a joke from the Daily Show riffing on her actual list of Trump administration departures.
posted by peeedro at 2:17 PM on March 7, 2018 [7 favorites]

Uh, did Hicks lose her security clearance when her accounts where hacked?
posted by PenDevil at 2:25 PM on March 7, 2018 [10 favorites]

Speaking of security clearances, ABC reports several White House staffers terminated or reassigned for security clearance issues.

Several White House staffers have been terminated or reassigned for issues related to their security clearances — with at least one individual employed in the Office of the First Lady relieved of duty, sources with direct knowledge tell ABC News.

There is a list of several other individuals with security clearance issues that are under consideration for possible termination or reassignment in the coming days, sources also tell ABC News. These individuals are likely lower level and could include people who work in the complex but not necessarily in the small confines of the West Wing.

The full break down on the list of possible individuals that action could be taken against was not readily available on Wednesday.[...]

ABC News also learned late last week, [Chief of Staff John] Kelly wanted a list of remaining White House staffers with security clearance issues presented to him. That list, per a source, followed standard procedures which included such options as considering whether the individual should be relieved of duty or could be reassigned to another administration post.

The. Best. People.
posted by Doktor Zed at 2:28 PM on March 7, 2018 [28 favorites]

must… resist…

fighting… overwhelming… schadenfreude…

can't… hold… out…

BUT HER EMAILS
posted by murphy slaw at 2:41 PM on March 7, 2018 [108 favorites]

107 House Republicans signed a letter telling Trump to knock it off with these broad tariffs, which...gosh imagine if there was some kind of co-equal legislative branch of government that was given constitutional authority over this matter that could take some kind of action beyond signing a letter. That would be a really interesting system of government.

The leaders in a government with a system like that would probably fetishize its founding document while maintaining public ignorance of the powers it grants them, so as to avoid taking any action.
posted by zachlipton at 2:46 PM on March 7, 2018 [78 favorites]

fluttering hellfire: Hope Hicks is dumb af. Does she really think that you get to access your work email after being fired?

Ordinarily, you wouldn't. But with these folks, locking out fired people would suggest unprecedented tech savvy.
posted by InTheYear2017 at 2:53 PM on March 7, 2018 [8 favorites]

Here's a good thread from a lawyer trying to unpack the Stormy Daniels contract/arbitration situation. It raises a lot more questions than it answers, but the questions get really weird:

The result is a contract that feels less like a contract, and more like a legal version of some kind of bullshit Ship of Theseus thought experiment. Who are "the parties" to this contract? What does it even mean to be "a party"? Does one have to know who one is contracting with?

posted by zachlipton at 3:02 PM on March 7, 2018 [14 favorites]

I might be confused about the facts or missing the joke, but Hicks said she could no longer access two email accounts during her testimony before the House committee and that testimony occurred prior to her leaving her position at the White House. By one day. As far as I know.
posted by orange ball at 3:05 PM on March 7, 2018 [2 favorites]

kris kobach, representing himself in the Kansas voting rights trial, keeps providing evidence that he has a fool for a client:

Judge Keeps Correcting Kobach Lawyers On Trial Procedure

On multiple occasions, U.S. District Judge Julie Robinson has interrupted questioning to walk Kobach and his crew of lawyers through the intricacies of moves such as admitting evidence and asking witnesses about previous depositions. Robinson, an appointee of President George W. Bush, has even instructed Kansas’ attorneys on the correct ways to phrase their questions.

posted by murphy slaw at 3:08 PM on March 7, 2018 [35 favorites]

Here's a quick round-up of other Russia-related news, besides that "Russians paid trainers to teach people combat skills and give them lists of the names of the people trained" story... which is still blowing my mind.

Kailani Koenig for NBC News: "Denis McDonough: McConnell ‘watered down’ Russia warning in 2016"

“The president asked the four leaders in a bipartisan meeting in the Oval Office to join him in asking the states to work with us on this question,” McDonough said. “It took over three weeks to get that statement worked out. It was dramatically watered down."

Asked if it was watered down at the insistence of McConnell and only McConnell, McDonough responded, “yes.”

The New York Times reported last year that McConnell had questioned the intelligence on election interference and agreed to a softer version of the letter that spoke of “malefactors” to be aware of but did not specifically mention Russia.

Christopher Brennan for the New York Daily News: "Russian banker said he met Trump through NRA"

Responding to a tweet from a Russian journalist about Larry David saying Trump is racist, Torshin said “comics should make people laugh! Right? There he is trying! I know D. Trump (through NRA). A decent person.”

Torshin had said earlier that year that he saw Trump, who denies meeting Torshin, in Nashville, where the NRA convention was held in 2015, and that he has “traditional family values.”

Other tweets show Torshin, a lifetime member of the NRA who met with Donald Trump Jr. in 2016, talking about meeting top officials in the group including during the late 2015 Moscow trip that included Trump-supporter Sheriff David Clarke.

(emphasis mine)

Sonam Sheth for Business Insider: "'The Russian bear came out of hibernation': The US's top intelligence official issues an ominous warning to Congress"

Russia is continuing its military and cyber aggression toward countries like neighboring Ukraine, which it has been using as a cyberweapon "testing ground" since at least 2015. Russia is also thought to be behind the massive "NotPetya" cyberattack that crippled countries and organizations across the globe last June, the hack of the 2018 Winter Olympic Games, and the attempted infiltration of elections across Europe in recent years.

"Thanks to Vladimir Putin, we've gotten a wake-up call," Coats said Tuesday. "The Russian bear came out of hibernation and was hungry ... so NATO's now back in business."

Coats added that although it was "disappointing" that Germany, "the country most capable of providing strength and resources to NATO," was not contributing as much as the US would like, other member states have stepped up to combat Russia and provide "significant coordination and integration to intelligence that NATO hadn't had before."

posted by OnceUponATime at 3:24 PM on March 7, 2018 [27 favorites]

Well, it sounds like DeVos' visit was the constructive and thoughtful encounter we all expected it to be.

Update, 5:20 p.m.: While Novell said DeVos didn’t take questions from any students during her visit, the student paper’s writeup of the event later reported that the secretary “answered a couple questions from student journalists” during the hour-long visit and introduced herself to other students in the school’s auditorium. One student who spoke to DeVos, however, complained to the student paper that she “wasn’t informative or helpful”in her response and “didn’t come to inform us or talk about how we are going to fix this issue.” Another wrote on Twitter that the secretary spoke to only a “handful” of students and “did not properly answer my only question.” [...]

posted by XMLicious at 3:30 PM on March 7, 2018 [8 favorites]

@AgCI3Cu2 [Alanna, MSD student]: Betsy Devos came to my school, talked to three people, and pet a dog. This is incase the press tries to say something else later.

3 people & a dog. No students.
posted by scalefree at 3:43 PM on March 7, 2018 [16 favorites]

NYT, Trump Spoke to Witnesses About Matters They Discussed With Special Counsel

The special counsel in the Russia investigation has learned of two conversations in recent months in which President Trump asked key witnesses about matters they discussed with investigators, according to three people familiar with the encounters.

In one episode, the president told an aide that the White House counsel, Donald F. McGahn II, should issue a statement denying a New York Times article in January. The article said Mr. McGahn told investigators that the president once asked him to fire the special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III. Mr. McGahn never released a statement and later had to remind the president that he had indeed asked Mr. McGahn to see that Mr. Mueller was dismissed, the people said.

In the other episode, Mr. Trump asked his former chief of staff, Reince Priebus, how his interview had gone with the special counsel’s investigators and whether they had been “nice,” according to two people familiar with the discussion.
...
The president said he had never ordered Mr. McGahn to fire the special counsel. Mr. McGahn replied that the president was wrong and that he had in fact asked Mr. McGahn in June to call the deputy attorney general, Rod J. Rosenstein, to tell him that the special counsel had a series of conflicts that disqualified him for overseeing the investigation and that he had to be dismissed. The president told Mr. McGahn that he did not remember the discussion that way.

The man is an idiot.
posted by zachlipton at 3:46 PM on March 7, 2018 [70 favorites]

I mean at this point what's one more count of obstruction?
posted by T.D. Strange at 3:52 PM on March 7, 2018 [22 favorites]

The New York Times reported last year that McConnell had questioned the intelligence on election interference and agreed to a softer version of the letter that spoke of “malefactors” to be aware of but did not specifically mention Russia.

McConnell knew exactly what was going on, and he should be indicted for his crimes against the United States of America.
posted by valkane at 3:58 PM on March 7, 2018 [93 favorites]

This was true for all of Harris county (and, I'm assuming, the state).

Not so. In my rural/small town area the primaries have always been at the same location. Not our regular general election location, but they group several precincts together at a larger location for both Dems and GOP. It was easy to tell the party tables apart because all the people staffing the Dem table were black and all the GOP were white. That's literally always the case around here.

In other TX primary blather I'm sad my House candidate of choice (Dale Mantey TX-17) only got 40%. He was the progressive, millennial candidate and I actually can't really find out anything about the guy who beat him, other than his name is Kennedy and he's originally from Massachusetts.
posted by threeturtles at 4:02 PM on March 7, 2018 [2 favorites]

Sarah Huckabee Sanders and the art of the ‘junk food’ press briefing.
posted by Catblack at 4:06 PM on March 7, 2018 [1 favorite]

Trump’s meeting with the video game industry to talk gun violence could get ugly

Update: Marco Rubio chickened out, presumably realizing what a shitshow this is going to be, and isn't coming to the video game meeting.
posted by zachlipton at 4:09 PM on March 7, 2018 [15 favorites]

The result is a contract that feels less like a contract, and more like a legal version of some kind of bullshit Ship of Theseus thought experiment. Who are "the parties" to this contract? What does it even mean to be "a party"? Does one have to know who one is contracting with?

I think this is a bit much. The parties are Donald Trump aka DD, Stormy Daniels aka PP, and the special purpose funding entity. There appear to be technical defects -- that the failure of a writing or the invalidity of some components of an contract may not prevent the finding of a binding agreement is 1L stuff. This agreement isn't under the Statute of Frauds, if they had wanted to do it entirely orally they could have. Except for maybe the arb clause.

As far as I know the arbitrator on this case is well respected. She was a sex crimes prosecutor from the mid Seventies to the mid Eighties before she became a judge. She was a criminal judge in downtown LA for 13 years, and then a civil judge in Santa Monica for 11 before retiring from the bench to do alternative dispute resolution. She's not coming out of the corporate or civil defense bar.

I don't have any personal experience of her as a judge or neutral, but she's not the kind of person who'd I'd expect to get this completely wrong.
posted by snuffleupagus at 4:12 PM on March 7, 2018 [1 favorite]

Who's afraid of Trump's racist Elf on the Shelf? Not Governor Brown. Nor State Senator Kevin De Léon. Nor AG Xavier Becerra.

Funny how "state's rights" is only for some states and some rights.
posted by Rosie M. Banks at 4:22 PM on March 7, 2018 [33 favorites]

Daily Telegraph: Poisoned Russian Spy Sergei Skripal Was Close to Consultant Who Was Linked to the Trump Dossier

A security consultant who has worked for the company that compiled the controversial dossier on Donald Trump was close to the Russian double agent poisoned last weekend, it has been claimed.

The consultant, who The Telegraph is declining to identify, lived close to Col Skripal and is understood to have known him for some time.

Col Skripal, who is in intensive care and fighting for his life after an assassination attempt on Sunday, was recruited by MI6 when he worked for the British embassy in Estonia, according to the FSB, the Russian intelligence agency.

The Telegraph understands that Col Skripal moved to Salisbury in 2010 in a spy swap and became close to a security consultant employed by Christopher Steele, who compiled the Trump dossier.

The British security consultant, according to a LinkedIn social network account that was removed from the internet in the past few days, is also based in Salisbury.

On the same LinkedIn account, the man listed consultancy work with Orbis Business Intelligence, according to reports.

Orbis is run by Mr Steele, a former MI6 agent, who compiled the notorious dossier on President Trump that detailed his allegedly corrupt dealings with Vladimir Putin.[...]

Valery Morozov, a former construction magnate who fled Russia after revealing corruption, claimed last night that Col Skripal, 66, was still working, and remained in regular contact with military intelligence officers at the Russian embassy. That would raise the possibility that he was still feeding intelligence to people in this country.

Mr Morozov said that, as a result, he had decided to steer clear of Col Skripal for his own safety. He told Channel 4 News: “If you have a military intelligence officer working in the Russian diplomatic service, living after retirement in the UK, working in cyber-security and every month going to the embassy to meet military intelligence officers – for me, being a political refugee, it is either a certain danger or, frankly speaking, I thought that this contact might not be very good for me because it can bring some questions from British officials.”

Neither Orbis nor the security consultant commented tonight. The consultant’s wife told the Telegraph, when asked if her husband had worked for Orbis and knew Col Skripal: “He won’t be talking.”

posted by Doktor Zed at 4:29 PM on March 7, 2018 [25 favorites]

On the other hand, maybe I'm going to be disappointed. Again.

@markknoller
Attorney for Stormy Daniels disputes @PressSec saying "this case has already been won in arbitration." Michael Avenatti calls that "completely false” and “bogus.” Says there was no hearing, no due process and neither he nor he client were even informed of the arbitration.

If Sanders is wrong or dissembling, and all that has issued so far is some kind of emergency gag order, this would make more sense.
posted by snuffleupagus at 4:37 PM on March 7, 2018 [1 favorite]

Holy crap boom. WaPo, Sari Horwitz and Devlin Barrett, Mueller gathers evidence that 2016 Seychelles meeting was effort to establish back channel to Kremlin

Special counsel Robert S. Mueller III has gathered evidence that a secret meeting in the Seychelles just before the inauguration of Donald Trump was an effort to establish a back-channel between the incoming administration and the Kremlin — apparently contradicting statements made to lawmakers by one of its participants, according to people familiar with the matter.

In January, 2016, Erik Prince, the founder of the private military company Blackwater, met with a Russian official close to President Vladimir Putin, and later described the meeting to congressional investigators as a chance encounter that was not a planned discussion of U.S.-Russia relations.

A witness cooperating with Mueller has told investigators the meeting was set up in advance so that a representative of the Trump transition could meet with an emissary from Moscow to discuss future relations between the two countries, according to the people familiar with the matter, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive matters.
...
The UAE agreed to broker the meeting in part to explore whether Russia could be persuaded to curtail its relationship with Iran, including in Syria, a Trump administration objective. Such a concession by Moscow would likely require the easing of U.S. sanctions on Russia, which were imposed for its intervention in Ukraine in 2014, those officials said.

Erik Prince being charged with perjury is hardly the main objective here, but it would be a delightful side-quest to this whole affair.
posted by zachlipton at 4:42 PM on March 7, 2018 [108 favorites]

Funny how "state's rights" is only for some states and some rights.

I watched Brown and Becerra's rebuttal live because there's nothing I like more than their tag team act on matters like this. You get angry, fiery Jerry Brown clearly not messing around. And then you get Xavier Becerra playing essentially the straight man, laying out the legal argument and being painfully measured and rational. Every time they do a press conference like this, I watch it.

So later (after watching de Léon's press conference featuring Eric Holder on the phone!), I decided to listen to Sessions' speech. After getting over the fact he did it at the California Peace Officers Association headquarters, which explains the very long preamble about how much he loves cops, I had to pause when he touched upon states rights:

Immigration law is the province of the federal government. This Administration and this Justice Department are determined to make it work effectively for the people.

I understand that we have a wide variety of political opinions out there on immigration. But the law is in the books and its purpose is clear.

There is no nullification. There is no secession. Federal law is “the supreme law of the land.” I would invite any doubters to Gettysburg, and to the graves of John C. Calhoun and Abraham Lincoln.

So yeah, now that they don't like how states are determining laws they are going to say federal law overrides everything. That's not really surprising and it's hypocrisy we're used to. The thing that got me was mentioning John C. Calhoun (before Lincoln). I mean, it was a useful reminder that Sessions is still fond of the Confederacy. I mean, of course he is. That's why Brown described this as "red meat for the base".
posted by kendrak at 4:49 PM on March 7, 2018 [18 favorites]

This is an important bit too: "After the Seychelles meeting, Nader visited the White House several times, and met at least once there with Bannon and Kushner, these people said."

Yeah, nothing suspicious at all about the guy who setup the secret Seychelles meeting dropping in to meet with the guy who wanted to setup a secret communications channel with the Kremlin.
posted by zachlipton at 4:51 PM on March 7, 2018 [36 favorites]

Erik Prince, also brother of Betsy Devos.
posted by OHenryPacey at 4:54 PM on March 7, 2018 [25 favorites]

Perfect tweet?
@nycsouthpaw: Xe sells sea shells in the Seychelles
posted by Atom Eyes at 4:56 PM on March 7, 2018 [46 favorites]

If you read Prince's testimony before the Comittee, it seems like he's pretty transparently petulant that the governments of the world decided not to let him build his dumbass private mercenary airforce.
posted by snuffleupagus at 4:56 PM on March 7, 2018 [22 favorites]

The parties are Donald Trump aka DD, Stormy Daniels aka PP, and the special purpose funding entity.

Well, not everybody agrees that it's so cut and dried. Michael Cohen, for one, insists that Trump was not involved.

Well, more precisely, per WaPo, "Neither the Trump Organization nor the Trump campaign was a party to the transaction with Ms. Clifford, and neither reimbursed me for the payment, either directly or indirectly.” But I think Trump's direct involvement gets him in the same hot water with the FEC.

So what happens if Cohen won't go on the record stipulating that DD is Trump?
posted by dirge at 4:57 PM on March 7, 2018 [2 favorites]

TX gov Abbott and a Tea Party group tried to knock off 16 more moderate Republicans in the primaries. 14 of them survived.
posted by Chrysostom at 4:58 PM on March 7, 2018 [26 favorites]

Peter Navaro is running around saying that Canada and Mexico will be excluded from the tariffs so we have an opportunity to negotiate trade deals with them. This makes no sense.

@Alex_Panetta: White House position, in summary: -This is a national security matter. National security is the legal justification for these tariffs. -Canada and Mexico get a nat-sec exemption. -But we’ll use this as NAFTA leverage, and if there’s no deal 🇨🇦 and 🇲🇽 go on the security list

The tariffs can be justified on national security grounds, except not for Canada and Mexico, but yes if they don't do what we want on NAFTA. Our official position here is that it's bad for national security to not not have enough domestic steel and aluminum capacity, but it won't be bad if we can export more dairy? Is the end goal here just to lose the inevitable dispute proceeding so as to make Trump mad and have him want to withdraw us from the WTO entirely?
posted by zachlipton at 5:00 PM on March 7, 2018 [19 favorites]

more precisely, per WaPo, "Neither the Trump Organization nor the Trump campaign was a party to the transaction with Ms. Clifford, and neither reimbursed me for the payment, either directly or indirectly.”

That wording would seem to attempt to split being a party to the transaction from being a party to the agreement. Journalists muddle the waters sometimes, trying for more natural language. Or maybe the muddling is upstream and is more about such FEC concerns.

So what happens if Cohen won't go on the record stipulating that DD is Trump?

Whose record? This isn't going to be resolved on MSNBC.

If Cohen was smart he'd stop personally handling this and stop doing media appearances, but that's obviously hard for him to stick to.
posted by snuffleupagus at 5:02 PM on March 7, 2018 [3 favorites]

If the political/economic powers of the U.S. and E.U. were to find their mettle and go after their (mostly) illegal dealings that oligarchy would pretty quickly lose power (who knows, perhaps even refranchising the actual people of Russia).

Not that that's going to happen as there's plenty of western oligarchs with their money hidden and laundered by the same havens and systems.'

I missed this earlier, but this is exactly right. If Democrats retake power in 2020, there's a great case for turning Seal Team Six loose not on compounds in Pakistan, but on law offices in Panama, Monocao, the Cayman Islands and Cyprus in the name of tax enforcement. It won't ever happen because too many Democratic donors currently bankrolling the Democratic support of the Banking Lobbyist Act this week would be caught up at the same time, but that's how to break Russia's ruling oligarchy. Cold War 2.0 could be won in a day seizing a few trillion in blood money and locking half of Russia out of the international banking system.
posted by T.D. Strange at 5:07 PM on March 7, 2018 [53 favorites]

I think the big outlets are still updating their stories, but it does look like Sanders overstated things earlier (shocking) and what's been obtained so far is some kind of temporary order.
posted by snuffleupagus at 5:09 PM on March 7, 2018 [1 favorite]

The Mitch McConnell of old, excoriating fellow Republican Bob Packwood in 1995 (bolding mine):

"These were not merely stolen kisses, as Senator Packwood has claimed," Senator Mitch McConnell, chairman of the Ethics Committee, said in describing Mr. Packwood's "physical coercion" of toward women. "There was a habitual pattern of aggressive, blatantly sexual advances, mostly directed at members of his own staff or others whose livelihoods were connected in some way to his power and authority as a Senator."

Most disturbing to Senator McConnell, a Kentucky Republican whose committee had been investigating the case for 33 months, was what he called Mr. Packwood's "cover-up" of his criminal activities.

He said that Senator Packwood's "deliberately altering and destroying relevant portions of his diary" -- portions that Mr. Packwood described in the diary itself as "very incriminating information" -- would earn him 10 to 16 months in prison if he were tried in criminal court.

The Ethics Committee said today that it would refer the charges to the Justice Department, where they might prompt an inquiry. "This is a gravely serious offense," Mr. McConnell said.

The Senator whom Mr. McConnell described this morning as guilty of "gross and persistent misconduct" was markedly different from the Senator who was eulogized this afternoon on the floor as his colleagues endured the spectacle of one of their own cut down at the height of his power.

"The victimizer is now claiming the mantle of the victim," Senator McConnell said. "The one who deliberately abused the process now wants to manipulate it to his advantage. That won't wash.

"The committee has heard enough, the Senate has heard enough, the public has heard enough," Mr. McConnell concluded at a news conference extraordinary for its expressions of blanket disgust with a colleague.

After conducting a nearly three-year investigation, McConnell thought that altering a personal diary to conceal sexual harassment warranted a prison sentence.

Here's McConnell's closed-door Clinton impeachment statement, from 1999; highlight:

Let me also make a political point, here. We Republicans were aware during the Packwood debate that we would likely lose that Senate seat if Senator Packwood was removed from office. So, we had a choice: Retain the Senate seat or retain our honor. We chose honor, and never looked back.

Seems he's been hit with an incurable case of politician's whiplash since then...
posted by Iris Gambol at 5:10 PM on March 7, 2018 [38 favorites]

Whose record?

The court's record, or the arbitrator's for that matter. It would seem to me that Cohen's in a bit of a bind, in that he can't very well tell the judge in this suit one thing and the FEC another about how Trump is involved in this agreement. Either he's got an illegal campaign contribution problem, or this contract has pretty serious defects.
posted by dirge at 5:12 PM on March 7, 2018 [10 favorites]

I will say, I'm a bit skeptical of the motives on the leaks about the Seychelles meeting. We already know that Mueller's office doesn't leak. So why is this coming to light? The simplest explanation is that the leaks are coming from the FBI/DOJ side: we know the FBI picked up Nader and interviewed him; and the reporters on this story mainly cover law enforcement stories, rather than the reporters who normally do the "leaks from Trumpland about what we told Mueller" genre of stories we're used to. But if this is coming from Nader's side, that's pretty suspicious in light of all the "UAE manipulating Jared" stories.

Either way, this is a very different type of story than the standard defense-side leaks we've been getting about the Meueller investigation.
posted by zachlipton at 5:16 PM on March 7, 2018 [9 favorites]

February 19, 2017 *daydream-memory-harp*
A Back-Channel Plan for Ukraine and Russia, Courtesy of Trump Associates (Meghan Twohey and Scott Shane, NYT)

Today's WaPo is that ka-chunk sound of another link of chain being rolled up inside Meuller's Cat-In-the-Hat-Collusion-Vacuum.

Spoiler alert: These treasonous fuckwits sold us out for a few bucks and a golden shower. And now, Ladies and Gentlemen . . . Lee Greenwood!
posted by petebest at 5:17 PM on March 7, 2018 [8 favorites]

WaPo, Republicans flee the storm over Stormy Daniels and President Trump

Sen. John Neely Kennedy (R-La.), whose pithy comments have made him a favorite among congressional reporters, was tight-lipped Wednesday when asked how Republicans would have reacted if President Barack Obama was accused of having had an affair with a porn star.

“I don’t know,” Kennedy said, before offering up a blanket condemnation of sexual harassment. “That’s the way I feel about it. This is no country for creepy old men.”

After starting to walk away, Kennedy made a beeline back to a reporter with an urgent clarification: His comments were not intended to reflect poorly on President Trump.

Such courage here. Of course, there is only one member of Congress who is really qualified to speak on this matter, and he happens to be one of the few willing to do so:

Among the few Republicans willing to engage on the issue Wednesday was Rep. Mark Sanford (R-S.C.), who was at the center of a scandalous affair himself in 2009, disappearing for days with his mistress while he was his state’s governor.

“I think we all ought to call it for what it is, which is it’s deeply troubling,” Sanford said of the allegations aimed at Trump.

“If it was a Democratic president and hush money had been paid in the campaign, would there be a series of hearings going on?” Sanford asked. “I think you could probably point to a fair number of indicators that suggest there would be.”

Thanks for you insight, Mark "legally prohibited from flying airplanes at his children" Sanford!
posted by zachlipton at 5:20 PM on March 7, 2018 [26 favorites]

Norteños don't necessarily feel a ton of consanguinity with lily-white second-gen Cubano-Canadians like Lyin' Ted.

I think there's a real advantage to having a Latinx last name in Texas, but mostly when you're UNKNOWN. There are a lot of uninformed voters out there who will choose a name that sounds like it comes from their own community when they don't know the candidates. I think Cruz owes a significant amount of his success to that.

The problem he has now is that people actually know him, unlike when he won his seat. And NOBODY LIKES HIM. Now, he still has a tremendous advantage due to being GOP in Texas. But with him and the very unpopular State GOP heading the ballot, I can see a real enthusiasm problem on the GOP side. While the Dems have Beto getting people genuinely excited. It will at least be interesting.

Plus if Lupe Valdez wins the runoff, as she should, you'll have a Latina daughter of migrant farm workers, former Army Captain, and openly lesbian law enforcement officer running for Governor.
posted by threeturtles at 5:35 PM on March 7, 2018 [15 favorites]

Notably, Erik Prince's testimony before House intel is public, and at no point does he bother to mention Nader, someone he reportedly knew for years, was present during the meeting he claimed was so irrelevant.

For people who all insist they've done nothing wrong, they sure spend their time on a lot of cover-ups.
posted by zachlipton at 5:39 PM on March 7, 2018 [40 favorites]

Cohen, who appears to be somewhat less than cautious from time to time, is being extremely cautious in his language here, and is doing so in order to avoid technically lying.

Agreed. To clarify, I don't see how you support the validity of the contract without de-obfuscating Trump's role, and I don't see how you de-obfuscate Trump's role without implicating campaign finance laws. Perhaps there's a way to thread that needle.

Just saying I think this puts Cohen in a very uncomfortable position, probably intentionally.

I'll let it drop now.
posted by dirge at 5:40 PM on March 7, 2018 [3 favorites]

Just saying I think this puts Cohen in a very uncomfortable position, probably intentionally.

like the backseat of a volkswagen?
posted by murphy slaw at 5:46 PM on March 7, 2018 [20 favorites]

Republicans in Texas like Ted Cruz. Like 1.2m of them voted for him.

There are 15 million registered voters in Texas.
posted by threeturtles at 5:50 PM on March 7, 2018 [12 favorites]

Either he's got an illegal campaign contribution problem, or this contract has pretty serious defects.

This does feel like the crux of it, given what we know so far. Ari Melber is doing a deep dive on the arb tonight.
posted by snuffleupagus at 5:51 PM on March 7, 2018 [1 favorite]

Notably, Erik Prince's testimony before House intel is public, and at no point does he bother to mention Nader

It's also interesting that Prince's testimony about the meeting to the House Intel Cmte was actually him reading a prepared statement.
posted by pjenks at 5:53 PM on March 7, 2018 [14 favorites]

HuffPost, Ben Carson Removes Anti-Discrimination Language From HUD Mission Statement. The new mission statement omits the language that they will build "inclusive" communities "free from discrimination," but it emphasizes "self-sufficiency."

Between this, the VA, and USCIS, there seems to be some kind of competition to make the most cartoonishly evil changes to department mission statements.
posted by zachlipton at 6:54 PM on March 7, 2018 [38 favorites]

Why We Like WaPo, Episode 97: The Headlines:

Rafael ‘Ted’ Cruz Accuses His Democratic Opponent of Changing His Name to Appeal to Voters

posted by FelliniBlank at 7:12 PM on March 7, 2018 [61 favorites]

Holy shit.

Susan Simpson: Something I'd love to see a reporter ask Trump Org about:

1) Cohen formed EC LLC on Oct 17 2016
2) The contract provided for EC LLC to pay Stormy $130K by Oct 27 2016
3) Between Oct 17 & Oct 25, the Trump campaign made payments to Trump Org properties that add up to $129,999.72.
[image]

posted by pjenks at 7:18 PM on March 7, 2018 [114 favorites]

Holy crap boom. WaPo, Sari Horwitz and Devlin Barrett, Mueller gathers evidence that 2016 Seychelles meeting was effort to establish back channel to Kremlin

So what’s the speculation on who is leaking this?
posted by C'est la D.C. at 7:20 PM on March 7, 2018

Wow, the FEC filing list for 2016 Trump Campaign disbursements to "Trump" organizations is just maddening.
posted by pjenks at 7:33 PM on March 7, 2018 [17 favorites]

About the Prince - Seychelles meeting, the intent clearly was to establish a line of communication directly with the Kremlin away from the eyes of US intelligence services. We know about two attempts, Kushner walking into the Russian embassy and asking to use their secure channel, and the Seychelles meeting. We don't know that either of those were unsuccessful. We don't know if any other meetings took place. Presumably if Nader is cooperating, Mueller knows or will learn the result of the Seychelles meeting, but how many other efforts were going on during the transition? Were there more attempts made through Flynn or any number of other characters in this treason LARP once Trump gained control over the NSA and CIA? How many Trump loyalists in those organizations would have helped him or did?, because that number is certainly above 0 judging from what we already know went on in the FBI.

We're never going to undo the damage a president guilty of treason has already inflicted, no part of the US intel community will ever again be above suspicion.
posted by T.D. Strange at 7:59 PM on March 7, 2018 [15 favorites]

I didn't know that presidential candidates can take salaries from their campaigns (up to the lesser of their prior year salary or that of the office they seek).

Adding up a column in the above-noted disbursements it looks like DJT took $403,935.16 in "payroll" between 2Jul2015 and 17Nov2016. Not a bad gig.

That's, of course, on top of the $4 Million collected by his various businesses during those years (another way of saying it is: Trump himself pocketed 10% of the payments from Trump Campaign to Trump Org). And I'm probably not catching everything in my 10 minutes of playing on the FEC website.

I'm sure this is well-trod territory, but ugh.
posted by pjenks at 8:08 PM on March 7, 2018 [8 favorites]

Looking at the timeline of Trump's affair with Ms. Daniels, it occurs to me that it overlaps with season 6 of The Apprentice, which implies that any outtakes from then may show him talking about her.
posted by ZeusHumms at 8:10 PM on March 7, 2018 [5 favorites]

Oh, man, scrolling through the disbursements, is like... Where is the dirty money mixed in? Why is there a payroll disbursement from the campaign TO Donald J. Trump marked 'in-kind' and ANOTHER disbursement to Trump Payroll, Inc for the same amount? Using invoices twice this baldly?
posted by mikelieman at 8:12 PM on March 7, 2018 [2 favorites]

Oh, sorry, I missed that Trump himself was paid another $216,000 for "Rent". This is separate from rent paid to Trump Org properties.Who knows what that is.
posted by pjenks at 8:15 PM on March 7, 2018 [3 favorites]

I also checked out Hillary Clinton

Yeah, I refrained. But, in her defense, she was actually working during that period.
posted by pjenks at 8:16 PM on March 7, 2018 [2 favorites]

Trump himself pocketed 10% of the payments from Trump Campaign to Trump Org

Shhh nobody tell pjenks about how much Trump has profited from the Secret Service having to rent rooms in Trump properties during the eleventybillion golf vacations he's taken since becoming President.
posted by Jacqueline at 8:18 PM on March 7, 2018 [6 favorites]

Politico: Republicans trash their candidate in Pa. special election - The GOP is bracing for an embarrassing defeat next week in a district Donald Trump won by 20 points.

Tuesday’s special election, which is being held in a district President Donald Trump won by 20 percentage points, has emerged as the latest testing ground of whether Republicans are headed for a midterm bloodbath. A loss would be wholly embarrassing, many Republicans privately acknowledge, given that it would take place in a state that Trump made a cornerstone of his 2016 victory. And the themes that the GOP has highlighted in the special election — namely tax cuts and opposition to House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi — are the centerpieces of the party’s 2018 campaign plan.

But as election day grows closer, the national GOP is increasingly pinning the blame on Saccone. In interviews with nearly two dozen administration officials, senior House Republicans and top party strategists, Saccone was nearly universally panned as a deeply underwhelming candidate who leaned excessively on the national party to execute a massive, multimillion-dollar rescue effort. It was complete with visits from the president, vice president and several Cabinet members.

posted by octothorpe at 8:20 PM on March 7, 2018 [18 favorites]

zachlipton: "Peter Navaro is running around saying that Canada and Mexico will be excluded from the tariffs so we have an opportunity to negotiate trade deals with them. This makes no sense."

And if the US is going to flake on NAFTA why would we (Canada) strike a new, more USA advantageous, bargain? I realize that the Cheeto is a shitty deal maker when he can't just take what he wants without paying for it but; Wow, I'd hate to be on the US negotiating team.
posted by Mitheral at 8:46 PM on March 7, 2018 [2 favorites]

NYT, Kushner Meets With Mexican President, Underscoring Shift in U.S. Diplomacy

Not invited to the meeting: Roberta S. Jacobson, the US Ambassador to Mexico, who has more than 30 years of experience in the region. She's set to leave in May. Andrea Mitchell notes that this is part of why so many veteran diplomats are leaving: they're routinely denied access to policy meetings.
posted by zachlipton at 8:57 PM on March 7, 2018 [57 favorites]

How the fuck is Kushner taking head of state meetings without a security clearance, they can't talk about anything outside of the public photo op.
posted by T.D. Strange at 9:06 PM on March 7, 2018 [47 favorites]

@colvinj: An update on the Nunberg will-he, won’t-he drama: He says he’s now compiled all the docs Mueller asked for, tells me, “It ended up not being as onerous as I thought it would be.”

Ah, the ol "hey, it turns out searching my email is a lot less trouble than going to prison" revelation. Thanks for ruining our Monday, Sam.
posted by zachlipton at 9:08 PM on March 7, 2018 [45 favorites]

Thanks for ruining our Monday, Sam.

I don't know about ruining, the entertainment value alone coming home after a long day of classes and refreshing the thread and reading through the madness was quite entertaining.
posted by Homo neanderthalensis at 9:10 PM on March 7, 2018 [6 favorites]

Despite the apparent reprieve, Ottawa is leaving nothing to chance, preparing a plan to hit the United States with retaliatory duties on strategic products just in case it doesn't get an exemption for the looming global trade war.

Rumor around town is that Canada is looking at targeting manufacturers and industries in swing states for counter-veiling duties.
posted by bonehead at 9:10 PM on March 7, 2018 [30 favorites]

Mr. Mueller gave us SOOOO MUCH HOMEWORK and the new Turok JUST CAME OUT and I want to PLAAAY IIIIT
posted by theodolite at 9:13 PM on March 7, 2018 [11 favorites]

Here’s a copy of the restraining order. It mostly just restates the agreement, but i’s captioned as EC, LLC v. Peggy Peterson. No sign of DD at all.

So if Sanders wants to continue to insist Trump "won" an arbitration, she's acknowledging Trump is behind EC, and that leads to some weird questions about who the heck is a party to this agreement and who can enforce it, since the agreement (section 5.1.3) says "DD" is supposed to seek relief.
posted by zachlipton at 9:20 PM on March 7, 2018 [13 favorites]

Hand relief?
posted by awfurby at 9:26 PM on March 7, 2018 [3 favorites]

Yeah, so it's the aribitration equivalent of a TRO -- in fact, no one has "won" anything yet. This may not even be the arbitrator who winds up handling it. Sanders already flubbed it and is just going to refuse to discuss ongoing matters.

I'm back to wondering why the declaratory action didn't seek to stay the arbitration. Suppose that might come via their own petition, shortly.
posted by snuffleupagus at 9:27 PM on March 7, 2018

@qjurecic: I feel like we have not adequately connected this story with the role of nondisclosure agreements/private arbitration in enforcing silence around sexual harassment/assault

Yes please. All of this is the exact same process that keeps victims silent and trapped in secret legal proceedings, not to mention the horror that is mandatory binding arbitration in employment contracts.

Three other women have publicly stated that Trump made advances during that year in Beverly Hills, some consensual and some not. How many others are there? How many more EC, LLCs are out there getting restraining orders on behalf of men like Trump?
posted by zachlipton at 9:37 PM on March 7, 2018 [49 favorites]

@qjurecic: I feel like we have not adequately connected this story with the role of nondisclosure agreements/private arbitration in enforcing silence around sexual harassment/assault

Quoted for truth.
It would be great if every headline didn't include the words "porn star" when that's the absolute least relevant detail in this whole story.
posted by scaryblackdeath at 9:40 PM on March 7, 2018 [27 favorites]

How the fuck is Kushner taking head of state meetings without a security clearance, they can't talk about anything outside of the public photo op.

Remember when Comey excoriated Clinton for carelessness because she had received an email from an aide reminding her that she had a meeting the next morning with an ambassador that was later classified "confidential".
posted by JackFlash at 9:43 PM on March 7, 2018 [98 favorites]

Elizabeth de la Vega: Stormy Daniels' Non-Disclosure Agreement, in Par. 4.2(a)-(d) names 4 people who had, before the NDA's date, received confidential information protected by the NDA. There are, in other words, four more witnesses to the Trump/Daniels affair! Have they also been paid to sign NDAs?
posted by Johnny Wallflower at 9:49 PM on March 7, 2018 [13 favorites]

But as election day grows closer, the national GOP is increasingly pinning the blame on Saccone. In interviews with nearly two dozen administration officials, senior House Republicans and top party strategists, Saccone was nearly universally panned as a deeply underwhelming candidate who leaned excessively on the national party to execute a massive, multimillion-dollar rescue effort. It was complete with visits from the president, vice president and several Cabinet members.

what the hell is the GOP doing? it’s a tight race but not at all a foregone conclusion. why the hell would you preemptively trash your guy at a time when you need to rally your voters’ morale?

far be it from me to interrupt my enemies when they’re making a mistake, but goddamn
posted by murphy slaw at 10:02 PM on March 7, 2018 [3 favorites]

Nathan Lane’s exegesis of Trump’s hair in the wind:

“It’s as if Mother Nature herself — or, if you believe in God, God — had a hand in this. As Trump’s walking up, the wind is fiercely blowing” — and here his hands become the wind over the tablecloth before shooting out to emphasize Trump’s hair — “this Frankenstein concoction of Just for Men hair spray and Zero Mostel hairstyling! It blows it all away, this façade of hair, and it’s revealed that there’s absolutely nothing there. I couldn’t think of a more perfect metaphor for what’s happening than that.”

posted by kirkaracha at 10:14 PM on March 7, 2018 [13 favorites]

Here’s a copy of the restraining order. It mostly just restates the agreement, but i’s captioned as EC, LLC v. Peggy Peterson. No sign of DD at all.

I know the rules of arbitration are different but how far can they take this fictional name thing?
posted by scalefree at 11:28 PM on March 7, 2018 [5 favorites]

The real fun will be from (hopefully) unsealing the attachment that reveals the true names of the parties -- and even more so if the court unseals Exhibit 1, which is the precise texts and photos that the agreement was designed to keep secret.
posted by msalt at 12:07 AM on March 8, 2018 [1 favorite]

murphy slaw: "what the hell is the GOP doing? it’s a tight race but not at all a foregone conclusion. why the hell would you preemptively trash your guy at a time when you need to rally your voters’ morale?"

Presumably they have internals that tell them it's already lost, and they're making sure the blame all attaches to Saccone.
posted by Chrysostom at 12:18 AM on March 8, 2018 [8 favorites]

Sabato moves ratings for *26* races, all towards the Dems:

AZ-01 O'Halleran: Leans Dem => Likely Dem
CA-07 Bera: Leans Dem => Likely Dem
FL-07 Murphy: Leans Dem => Likely Dem
FL-16 Buchanan: Safe GOP => Likely GOP
IA-01 Blum: Leans GOP => Toss-up
IA-02 Loebsack: Likely Dem => Safe Dem
IL-12 Bost: Leans GOP => Toss-up
MI-01 Bergman: Safe GOP => Likely GOP
MI-06 Upton: Safe GOP => Likely GOP
MI-07 Walberg: Safe GOP => Likely GOP
MI-08 Bishop: Likely GOP => Leans GOP
MN-03 Paulsen: Leans GOP => Toss-up
NC-09 Pittenger: Likely GOP => Leans GOP
NC-13 Budd: Likely GOP => Leans GOP
NH-01 (Shea-Porter): Toss-up => Leans Dem
NH-02 Kuster: => Likely Dem => Safe Dem
NY-01 Zeldin: Likely GOP => Leans GOP
NY-03 Suozzi: Likely Dem => Safe Dem
NY-18 Maloney: Likely Dem => Safe Dem
OH-01 Chabot: Likely GOP => Leans GOP
OK-05 Russell: Safe GOP => Likely GOP
PA-17 Rothfus: Leans GOP => Toss-up
TX-32 Sessions: Likely GOP => Leans GOP
WI-01 Ryan: Safe GOP => Likely GOP
WI-03 Kind: Likely Dem => Safe Dem

PA-18 special: Leans GOP => Toss-up

Worth reading the full write-up.
posted by Chrysostom at 12:37 AM on March 8, 2018 [62 favorites]

Sabato moves ratings for *26* races, all towards the Dems:

"After these ratings changes, for the first time this cycle we have fewer than 218 seats (the number needed for a majority) at least leaning to the Republicans."

I also love seeing Paul Ryan's district get moved from Safe GOP to likely GOP. Steep hill to climb, but I want that fucker to have to worry and work for it.
posted by chris24 at 4:12 AM on March 8, 2018 [31 favorites]

and it seems to me you lived your life,
like a combover in the wind
never knowing to stop grifting
when subpoenas came in

Yes, Virginia, there will be much dancing and singing when this is over, but remember that underneath it all, it's really fucking ugly. Like CGI-Lord-Snoke cartoon ugly, but for realsies.
posted by petebest at 5:24 AM on March 8, 2018 [4 favorites]

Via twitter and unconfirmed, but it appears Betsy DeVos' 156ft private yacht has left West Palm Beach and is headed to the Bahamas. Is she on board? Did taxpayers pay for her flight to Florida to not meet with Parkland students before kicking off on a long weekend?
posted by bluecore at 5:36 AM on March 8, 2018 [68 favorites]

David Corn and Mike Isikoff for Mother Jones: What Happened in Moscow: The Inside Story of How Trump’s Obsession With Putin Began—first serial from their book Russian Roulette: The Inside Story of Putin’s War on America and the Election of Donald Trump.

While their article doesn't contain any new bombshells, they provide a solid account of everything we currently know about Trump's 2013 visit to Moscow and its significance for his political ambitions and relationships with Putin. Their book ought to make for essential reading alongside Luke Harding's Collusion: Secret Meetings, Dirty Money, and How Russia Helped Donald Trump Win.
posted by Doktor Zed at 5:56 AM on March 8, 2018 [21 favorites]

in all the weirdness, i kind of missed a small detail: it’s really weird that trump expected the russian head of state to show up for a beauty pageant, right?
posted by murphy slaw at 6:30 AM on March 8, 2018 [26 favorites]

As of yesterday the Social Security Administration has no valid Acting Comissioner under the Vacancies Reform Act. SSA hasn’t had a Senate confirmed Comissioner in over 5 years. This has serious implications for the agency’s ability to propose new regulations, take positions in legal litigation, and possibly even basic functions of the agency like personnel actions and adjudicating benefits cases.
posted by T.D. Strange at 6:36 AM on March 8, 2018 [19 favorites]

It seems likely the arbitrator had no idea who any of the parties in the matter she was hearing even were, let alone that one of them is the President of the United States. Of course, the order applies to Peggy Peterson, so there's the fun question as to whether Stephanie Clifford is at all bound by it.

This was my reaction on reading the order as well. At which point I gave up and prepared a beverage.

In other political-legal news, Matt Furie is suing Inforwars for infringing use of Pepe the Frog which is making me wish I knew how to do cartwheels.
posted by snuffleupagus at 6:43 AM on March 8, 2018 [35 favorites]

Yes, it's completely weird, but (a) Trump's a raving narcissist used to American celebrity culture and (b) Putin expertly plays him like a fish. He teases Trump with the possibility of a meet-up, then says nothing further to let him stew, and finally extendes his hopes by sending an intermediary for more tantalizing. Finally, Trump receives a consolation prize of a promised gift—"It was a crushing disappointment for Trump. But he quickly thought of how to spin it, suggesting to an associate that after the telecast they could spread the word that Putin had dropped by. 'No one will know for sure if he came or not,' he said." (Trump, true to form, later lies repeatedly to the media about having met Putin.)

In the end, Trump does receive a present from Putin: "And shortly after the Miss Universe event, Agalarov’s daughter showed up at the Miss Universe office in New York City bearing a gift for Trump from Putin. It was a black lacquered box. Inside was a sealed letter from the Russian autocrat. What the letter said has never been revealed."
posted by Doktor Zed at 6:45 AM on March 8, 2018 [16 favorites]

I'm wondering why it was so important for Trump to build a tower i Moscow. Doesn't that point towards an earlier date of engagement?
posted by mumimor at 6:46 AM on March 8, 2018

Also worth noting that Trump has not nominated anyone to any Senate confirmed posititon within the Social Security Administration, and the authority for who is currently leading the agency in the absence of both a Comissioner and Acting Comissioner was developed after 9/11 as a contingency for a terrorist attack and loss of executive leadership, not political inaction.
posted by T.D. Strange at 6:47 AM on March 8, 2018 [11 favorites]

In the end, Trump does receive a present from Putin: "And shortly after the Miss Universe event, Agalarov’s daughter showed up at the Miss Universe office in New York City bearing a gift for Trump from Putin. It was a black lacquered box. Inside was a sealed letter from the Russian autocrat. What the letter said has never been revealed."

What the fuck, is this international relations or Phantom of the Opera?
posted by snuffleupagus at 6:52 AM on March 8, 2018 [63 favorites]

Another red thread for Mueller's pinboard, from Al Jazeera.

Trump donor Elliott Broidy named in Ukraine criminal probe

The Prosecutor General of Ukraine has launched an investigation into claims surrounding an alleged multi-million dollar lobbying contract that names one of US President Donald Trump's most influential fundraisers, Elliott Broidy.

The 12-page document, which appears to have been signed by Broidy, outlines his role as providing "political advocacy" on behalf of a now sanctioned Russian bank, VTB.
posted by Devonian at 6:55 AM on March 8, 2018 [18 favorites]

Hi, folks, it's your friendly neighborhood field organizer reporting from TX32. I had to share and I figured this was as good a place as any. Lillian Salerno made the runoffs, and Tuesday was the longest day of my entire life. (Can we call her Mefi's Own if I'm working for her?)

I think we might be able to pull off this district in November, if we can get Lillian past the runoffs. I like Colin Allred an awful lot-- I stood next to the guy at 6:30pm outside a polling location, trying to get people to vote for Lillian. I just don't like his odds against Sessions.

Y'all, I really don't know how I keep getting so lucky. We were all really tense, watching returns come in at 12:30 at night, and every tiny gain we got left me shaking. When my boss finally called it, I broke entirely. I called my mom, and Lillian took the phone from me and thanked her for letting me come to Texas and work for her. I would follow Lillian Salerno into the jaws of hell.
posted by dogheart at 6:58 AM on March 8, 2018 [107 favorites]

this mother jones piece is a motherlode:

Trump was treated with much reverence. He gave a brief welcoming talk. “Ask me a question,” he told the crowd. The first query was about the European debt crisis and the impact that the financial woes of Greece would have on it. “Interesting,” Trump replied. “Have any of you ever seen The Apprentice?” Trump spoke at length about his hit television show, repeatedly noting what a tremendous success it was. He said not a word about Greece or debt.

ladies and gentlemen, the future president of the united states
posted by murphy slaw at 7:01 AM on March 8, 2018 [45 favorites]

The Prosecutor General of Ukraine has launched an investigation into claims surrounding an alleged multi-million dollar lobbying contract that names one of US President Donald Trump's most influential fundraisers, Elliott Broidy.

Dont stop there!

"Last week a group calling itself LA Confidential leaked emails that appeared to show Broidy and his wife Robin Rosenzweig, deputy finance chair of the Republican National Committee, asking for more than $75m to quash an investigation in the US into a multibillion-dollar fraud in Malaysia."

Speaking of 'LA Confidential,'... I've also been wondering who leaked the arb order.
posted by snuffleupagus at 7:19 AM on March 8, 2018 [35 favorites]

ladies and gentlemen, the future president of the united states

Please. Americans may have a deeply flawed election system and a dysfunctional corporatized monopoly on thought trends, but we're certainly not that stupid.
posted by petebest at 7:24 AM on March 8, 2018 [11 favorites]

CNN: Amid renewed scrutiny, Erik Prince to host fundraiser for Russia-friendly congressman

Blackwater founder Erik Prince will host a fundraiser this month for [you guessed it] Russia-friendly Republican Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, as Prince faces new questions over a 2017 meeting currently being investigated by special counsel Robert Mueller. [...] The fundraising event, slated for March 18 at Prince's Middleburg, Virginia residence, is expected to be attended by GOP Reps. Tom Garrett Jr. and Dave Brat, and Lt. Colonel Oliver North, according to an invitation obtained by CNN. Tickets start at $1,000 for the general reception, although donors paying $2,700 will also be invited to attend a VIP event beforehand.

Prince and D.Rohr go way back: little Erik interned for him at age 20, when thoughts of running death squads and developing fascist private intelligence networks were only gross, sticky, Pinochet-failson fantasies and, not, you know...[gestures at world].
posted by Rust Moranis at 7:34 AM on March 8, 2018 [36 favorites]

from "the kids are all right dept.", an interview with Parkland survivor and activist David Hogg:

But, he clarified, he doesn’t feel like he’s the one who should be calling for this. “I shouldn't have to! I’m 17,” he said, but he and his classmates feel that adults — both voters and policymakers — have failed them. “When your old-ass parent is like, ‘I don’t know how to send an iMessage,’ and you’re just like, ‘Give me the fucking phone and let me handle it.’ Sadly, that’s what we have to do with our government; our parents don’t know how to use a fucking democracy, so we have to.”

posted by murphy slaw at 7:35 AM on March 8, 2018 [179 favorites]

Blackwater founder Erik Prince will host a fundraiser this month for [you guessed it] Russia-friendly Republican Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, as Prince faces new questions over a 2017 meeting currently being investigated by special counsel Robert Mueller.

The Hill: Rohrabacher Under Fire Over Russia Ties "'He’s always been the odd man out. Now people have a reason to care [about Russia] and they have a direct way to tie Rohrabacher to it,' Fred Brown, a former Republican National Committee (RNC) official, told The Hill. [...] 'Every time there is a story about Russia, it’s just going to remind people who this guy is and why he’s the perfect stand-in for Trump'[.]"
posted by Doktor Zed at 7:42 AM on March 8, 2018 [7 favorites]

(new thread coming soon? It's almost 1900 comments and I haven't been able to load this on mobile for 2 days)
posted by agregoli at 7:43 AM on March 8, 2018 [2 favorites]

Last week a group calling itself LA Confidential leaked emails that appeared to show Broidy and his wife Robin Rosenzweig, deputy finance chair of the Republican National Committee, asking for more than $75m to quash an investigation in the US into a multibillion-dollar fraud in Malaysia."

Oh hah! That involves the Malaysian Sovereign Wealth Fund, which, unlike most other sovereign wealth funds, is made of debt, and some of which somehow* found its way to Hollywood where it produced Dumb and Dumber To and the Wolf of Wall Street, among others.

———————
*Somehow = the production company was co-founded by the prime minister of Malaysia’s stepson.
posted by notyou at 7:53 AM on March 8, 2018 [9 favorites]

He said not a word about Greece or debt.

He said, "Interesting."
posted by dances_with_sneetches at 7:57 AM on March 8, 2018 [6 favorites]

dogheart, you may have a future as a lucky charm for Democrats.
posted by Johnny Wallflower at 7:57 AM on March 8, 2018 [9 favorites]

Daily Beast: Report: Trump Vetoed Dark-Skinned Women If There Were ‘Too Many’ at Miss Universe Pageants

“If there were too many women of color, he would make changes,” said the anonymous staffer. Another added: “He had a particular type of woman he thought was a winner. Others were too ethnic,” and said "Trump would also veto women “who had snubbed his advances.”

I have to admit it: sometimes I question his character.
posted by Rust Moranis at 7:58 AM on March 8, 2018 [92 favorites]

working on a new thread
posted by murphy slaw at 8:01 AM on March 8, 2018 [7 favorites]

PSA that anyone can make a politics thread. It's so easy because hardly anyone reads TFA you include. Thank you, murphy slaw for making two in a row!
posted by Emmy Rae at 8:04 AM on March 8, 2018 [9 favorites]

NEW THREAD
posted by murphy slaw at 8:06 AM on March 8, 2018 [23 favorites]

New Quinnipiac poll out yesterday [pdf]:
>Do you approve or disapprove of the Republican tax plan?
--All: 36-50% approve-disapprove (up slightly from Jan #s, down slightly from Feb #s)
--Net negative among Democrats, independents, women, white w/ college degree, all age groups, all women, white women, all races.
--Net positive only among Republicans, white w/out college, and white men; break-even with all men.
posted by melissasaurus at 8:10 AM on March 8, 2018 [15 favorites]

I know we're in the new thread but:

That involves the Malaysian Sovereign Wealth Fund

correction: A sovereign wealth fund. we have... spares.
posted by cendawanita at 8:15 AM on March 8, 2018 [12 favorites]

🍪🍪🍶
posted by petebest at 8:30 AM on March 8, 2018 [3 favorites]

T.D. Strange: "How the fuck is Kushner taking head of state meetings without a security clearance, they can't talk about anything outside of the public photo op."

The ohoto op is all they care about.
posted by Mitheral at 1:04 PM on March 8, 2018 [4 favorites]

It's so easy because hardly anyone reads TFA you include.

I would sneak stealth puns into my politics threads that people would not notice for a week.
posted by Merus at 4:13 PM on March 8, 2018 [5 favorites]

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