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Commencement ceremonies are joyous occasions, and Steve Carell made sure that was true this past weekend (mid-June) at Northwestern's commencement:
~~~ Carell's entire commencement speech was hilarious. The audio and video here isn't great, but I laughed till I cried.
CNN did a live telecast Saturday night (June 7) of the Broadway play "Good Night, and Good Luck," written by George Clooney and Grant Heslov, about legendary newsman Edward R. Murrow's effort to hold to account Sen. Joe McCarthy, "the junior senator from Wisconsin." Clooney plays Murrow. Here's Murrow himself with his famous take on McCarthy & McCarthyism, brief remarks that especially resonate today: ~~~
~~~ This article lists ways you still can watch the play.
New York Times: “The New York Times Company has agreed to license its editorial content to Amazon for use in the tech giant’s artificial intelligence platforms, the company said on Thursday. The multiyear agreement 'will bring Times editorial content to a variety of Amazon customer experiences,' the news organization said in a statement. Besides news articles, the agreement encompasses material from NYT Cooking, The Times’s food and recipe site, and The Athletic, which focuses on sports. This is The Times’s first licensing arrangement with a focus on generative A.I. technology. In 2023, The Times sued OpenAI and its partner, Microsoft, for copyright infringement, accusing the tech companies of using millions of articles published by The Times to train automated chatbots without any kind of compensation. OpenAI and Microsoft have rejected those accusations.” ~~~
~~~ Marie: I have no idea what this means for "the Amazon customer experience." Does it mean that if I don't have a NYT subscription but do have Amazon Prime I can read NYT content? And where, exactly, would I find that content? I don't know. I don't know.
Washington Post reporters asked three AI image generators what a beautiful woman looks like. "The Post found that they steer users toward a startlingly narrow vision of attractiveness. Prompted to show a 'beautiful woman,' all three tools generated thin women, without exception.... Her body looks like Barbie — slim hips, impossible waist, round breasts.... Just 2 percent of the images showed visible signs of aging. More than a third of the images had medium skin tones. But only nine percent had dark skin tones. Asked to show 'normal women,' the tools produced images that remained overwhelmingly thin.... However bias originates, The Post’s analysis found that popular image tools struggle to render realistic images of women outside the Western ideal." ~~~
~~~ Marie: The reporters seem to think they are calling out the AI programs for being unrealistic. But there's a lot about the "beautiful women" images they miss. I find these omissions remarkably sexist. For one thing, the reporters seem to think AI is a magical "thing" that self-generates. It isn't. It's programmed. It's programmed by boys, many of them incels who have little or no experience or insights beyond comic books and Internet porn of how to gauge female "beauty." As a result, the AI-generated women look like cartoons; that is, a lot like an air-brushed photo of Kristi Noem: globs of every kind of dark eye makeup, Scandinavian nose, Botox lips, slathered-on skin concealer/toner/etc. makeup, long dark hair and the aforementioned impossible Barbie body shape, including huge, round plastic breasts.
New York Times: “George Clooney’s Broadway debut, 'Good Night, and Good Luck,' has been one of the sensations of the 2024-25 theater season, breaking box office records and drawing packed houses of audiences eager to see the popular movie star in a timely drama about the importance of an independent press. Now the play will become much more widely available: CNN is planning a live broadcast of the penultimate performance, on June 7 at 7 p.m. Eastern. The performance will be preceded and followed by coverage of, and discussion about, the show and the state of journalism.”
No free man shall be seized or imprisoned, or stripped of his rights or possessions, or outlawed or exiled, or deprived of his standing in any other way, nor will we proceed with force against him, or send others to do so, except by the lawful judgment of his equals or by the law of the land. -- Magna Carta ~~~
~~~ New York Times: “Bought for $27.50 after World War II, the faint, water stained manuscript in the library of Harvard Law School had attracted relatively little attention since it arrived there in 1946. That is about to change. Two British academics, one of whom happened on the manuscript by chance, have discovered that it is an original 1300 version — not a copy, as long thought — of Magna Carta, the medieval document that helped establish some of the world’s most cherished liberties. It is one of just seven such documents from that date still in existence.... A 710-year-old version of Magna Carta was sold in 2007 for $21.3 million.... First issued in 1215, it put into writing a set of concessions won by rebellious barons from a recalcitrant King John of England — or Bad King John, as he became known in folklore. He later revoked the charter, but his son, Henry III, issued amended versions, the last one in 1225, and Henry’s son, Edward I, in turn confirmed the 1225 version in 1297 and again in 1300.”
NPR lists all of the 2025 Pulitzer Prize winners. Poynter lists the prizes awarded in journalism as well as the finalists in these categories.
Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.
Success is not final, failure is not fatal; it is the courage to continue that counts. — Anonymous
A nation of sheep will beget a government of wolves. — Edward R. Murrow
Publisher & Editor: Marie Burns
I have a Bluesky account now. The URL ishttps://bsky.app/profile/marie-burns.bsky.social . When Reality Chex goes down, check my Bluesky page for whatever info I am able to report on the status of Reality Chex. If you can't access the URL, I found that I could Google Bluesky and ask for Marie Burns. Google will include links to accounts for people whose names are, at least in part, Maria Burns, so you'll have to tell Google you looking only for Marie.
You may not remember me ha ha but I am your loving husband. I have been so busy traveling the world – which will be the last time ever because I am doing everything I can to like drown the whole planet. Remember when we were young & you said you wanted to climb the highest mountains in the world?? Well, we can do it now. In fact, we'll have no choice.
Speaking of when we were young, do you remember that time we did it in a phone booth? Those were the days!!! But you should see the phone booth I've got now. It cost $43,000! Don't worry, you don't have to get out the checkbook. Average Americans got together and paid for it. It's right in my office, believe it or not. And the office doors lock! A great place for fun and games, if you know what I mean hint hint. But knowing you, you'll probably want to kick out the security guards who stand around 24-7 to protect me from riff-raff like the office staff.
Anyhow, I'm in a place called Bologna now, but I can't stay long. Can you believe the Italians named a city after baloney? Either they have a great sense of humor or they're a very backward “civilization.” If the narrow streets here are any clue, I'd guess “backward.” But the restaurants are way good if you like Italian. No baloney! ha ha.
I don't know about this government job. I have to take military transports practically every time I go someplace.
Oops! Wrong picture. I mean this one.
Sometimes I take regular planes. I get to ride up front because I'm the boss & my guards and stuff have to ride in the back in these teensy little seats with their knees poking into the seats in front. You should come with me some time. First-class all the way of course. A guy I know named Dave Shulkin who has a job like mine – but not as important – took his wife on holiday to Europe & he said the government paid for their trip, too – no problem! He said he got an award for it.
Well, have to get to an important meeting with the President of the United States.*
Till next time – hopefully in a luxury phone booth,
Kaitlan Collins & Jeff Zeleny of CNN: "... Donald Trumpwas infuriated after it quickly leaked that he had been directly instructed by his national security advisers in briefing materials not to congratulate Russian President Vladimir Putin on his recent election victory during their call Tuesday morning, a source familiar with the President's thinking said. Trump was fuming Tuesday night, asking his allies and outside advisers who they thought had leaked the information, noting that only a small group of staffers have access to those materials and would have known what guidance was included for the Putin call, the source said. White House chief of staff John Kelly also is furious that a confidential presidential briefing became public knowledge, a White House official said, and intends to address the matter Wednesday as aides try to figure out who disclosed the warning. 'If this story is accurate, that means someone leaked the President's briefing papers. Leaking such information is a fireable offense and likely illegal, another senior White House official told CNN Wednesday." ...
... Aaron Blake of the Washington Post: "What if the leakers are trying to help rather than embarrassTrump?... Ignoring or disregarding key talking points while on a call with an antagonistic foreign leader like Putin has got to be cause for concern. We forget how bonkers that is because everything about this presidency has been so bonkers and unprecedented. But aides have to be worried Trump might repeat this behavior in more fraught situations — like, say, a meeting with North Korean leaderKim Jong Un.... The line between trying to save America from Trump and trying to save Trump from himself is a very thin one — as is the line between leaker and whistleblower. In this case, as in these others, it's worth Trump asking whether he's created an environment in which his advisers feel they have no choice but to leak their cries for help to the media. (Not that he will.)" ...
... Digby in Salon: "As always, the question when it comes toTrump's stubborn unwillingness to speak to or about Putin in anything but obsequious, sycophantic terms is: Why? This bizarre and uncharacteristic behavior remains the most compelling and convincing piece of evidence that Putin must be holding something over his head. Not even the narcissistic Trump would take on this much blatant risk or be willing to look this bad simply because a man once flattered him." ...
... Margaret Hartmanncomes up with eight reasonsTrump may have ignored his advisors' warnings about what-all to say to Putin. Mrs. McC: But she doesn't include my theory that he may kowtow to Putin to shore up his Putin-lovin' base, elaborated below. ...
The president is, as you know — you’ve seen his numbers among the Republican base — it’s very strong. It’s more than strong, it’s tribal in nature. People who tell me, who are out on trail, say, look, people don’t ask about issues anymore. They don’t care about issues. They want to know if you’re with Trump or not. -- Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn) on why Congressional Republicans don't protect the Mueller investigation
... ** Eric Levitz: "Donald Trumphas never been more dangerous than he is now. 1) The “adults” in the West Wing have never had less influence over the president.... 2) Trump’s path to a war with North Korea has never been easier to envision.... 3) Trump has never had a stronger incentive to undermine rule of law in the United States.... 4) It’s never been clearer that Congressional Republicans are unwilling to act as a check on Trump’s worst impulses." Read the details, where Levitz makes his case.
Ben Lefevbre of Politico: "Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke and his wife took security detail on their vacation to Greece and Turkey last year, official documents show, in what one watchdog group said could be a "questionable" use of taxpayer resources. Unlike Pruitt, Zinke was not conducting government business during his two-week vacation, which included stops in Istanbul and the Greek Isles. The documents do not reveal exactly how many security personnel accompanied the couple, who paid for them, how much they cost or whether they traveled with Zinke and his wife, Lola, for the entire trip.... Lola Zinke shared photos of their vacation on her Twitter page and wrote that the couple was celebrating 25 years of marriage. At the time of the trip, Interior would say only that Zinke was out of the country and provided no indication of when he left or would return." ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: These people really don't give a flying fuck, do they? Whatever Lola wants, Lola gets, I guess, including taxpayer-funded vacations.
Senate Race. Alex Isenstadt of Politico: "White House officials this week told Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant that ... Donald Trumpdid not plan to campaign for or endorse Republican Cindy Hyde-Smith if she was appointed to the state’s open Senate seat, saying they were worried that the former Democrat would lose. Bryant responded that he intended to go ahead and pick Hyde-Smith for the post, anyway. He’s expected to formally announce the selection of the state agriculture commissioner on Wednesday."
Matt Dixon of Politico: In Florida, "The Scott administration quickly worked to distance itself from the collapse of a Florida International University pedestrian bridge that left six dead, but documents from the state’stransportation department and the university paint a different picture. From the selection of the politically powerful firm that led the project to the days leading up to the collapse, the Florida Department of Transportation, overseen by Gov. Rick Scott, had direct involvement in a project whose collapse has rocked South Florida and sparked a federal investigation.... FDOT has oversight responsibility."
Oregon Closes the "Boyfriend Loophole." Melanie Sevcenko of the Guardian: "While Washington[, D.C.,] stalls over gun reform even as thousands prepare for the March for Our Lives rally for gun control, Oregon just passed [its] first gun control law since the attack in Parkland, Florida. The new measure makes it more difficult for people with domestic violence convictions to purchase or even possess a firearm.... Since 1996, federal law has largely prohibited people with domestic abuse misdemeanors from accessing guns. But what Oregon did was close a gap in the federal statute, by expanding the definition of domestic partner to 'intimate partner'. Under the new state law, someone who is convicted of a domestic abuse misdemeanor – who only dated their victim, never lived with them, and never had children together – cannot buy or own a gun."
*****
Trump Congratulates BFF on Big "Win." Anton Troianovskiof the Washington Post: "President Trump congratulated Russian PresidentVladimir Putin on his reelection victory in a phone call on Tuesday, the Kremlin said. The White House confirmed that the call took place but had no immediate comment on the Kremlin’s characterization of it. Some world leaders have hesitated to congratulate Putin, since his reelection occurred in an environment of state control of much of the news media and his most prominent opponent was barred from the ballot.... Beyond the congratulations, [the Kremlin] said, the two leaders discussed Syria, Ukraine, North Korea and arms control. The two also discussed a potential meeting, the Kremlin said." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
... Mrs. McC: Once again, the Trump White House lets Putin define the nature of the call. Is letting the Kremlin define their conversations one of the concessions Trump made to Putin on accounta the dirt Putin has on Trump? Or is it because White House staff aren't allowed to interrupt Trump during his extensive time, so they haven't been able to act out the call for his approval? Whatever, it's weird. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
... Update. Mark Landler of the New York Times: "President Trump on Tuesday congratulated PresidentVladimir V. Putin of Russia for his recent re-election victory and [told reporters] the two are likely to meet soon to discuss the arms race between the United States and Russia.... Republican lawmakers, even those who have resisted criticizing Mr. Trump, faulted him for congratulating Mr. Putin. 'When I look at a Russian election, what I see is a lack of credibility in tallying the results,' said ... Mitch McConnell.... 'Calling him wouldn’t have been high on my list.' Sen. John McCain, Republican of Arizona, who is chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, was quick to criticize Mr. Trump’s call to Mr. Putin. 'An American president does not lead the free world by congratulating dictators on winning sham elections,' Mr. McCain said in a statement issued by his office." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
... ** "DO NOT CONGRATULATE." Carol Leonnig, et al., of the Washington Post: "President Trump did not follow specific warnings from his national security advisers when he congratulated Russian President Vladimir Putin Tuesday on his reelection, including a section in his briefing materials in all-capital letters stating 'DO NOT CONGRATULATE,' according to officials familiar with the call. Trump also chose not to heed talking points from aides instructing him to condemn Putin about the recent poisoning of a former Russian spy in the United Kingdom with a powerful nerve agent, a case that both the British and U.S. governments have blamed on Moscow. The president’s conversation with Putin, which Trump called a 'very good call,' prompted fresh criticism of his muted tone toward one of the United States’s biggest geopolitical rivals amid the ongoing special counsel investigation into Russia’s election interference and the Trump campaign’s contacts with Russian officials.... Trump’s applause of Putin’s victory was in line with other congratulatory calls he has made, including to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan for winning a much-disputed referendum that increased his already autocratic powers and to China’s President Xi Jinping for his 'extraordinary elevation' after Xi last month engineered the Communist Party’s elimination of presidential term limits.... It was not clear whether Trump read the NSA's notes, administration officials said." ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: Oh, it's clear to me. He didn't. The note writers might have sent copies of their cheat sheets to "Fox & Friends," even if the notes contained top-secret info. The folks on the Fox couch are the only people who can get thru to Trump. ...
... Update: Carol Leonnig in a discussion with Rachel Maddow, said there was "an OMG moment" & a "kurfuffle" in the White House after Trump got off the phone with Putin, as staffers debated how to deal with Trump's foolish remarks, a decision that was shorted out by the Kremlin's readout. BUT it looks as if Trump's remarks were not a mistake; he said exactly what he wanted to: in later remarks to reporters, as Mark Landler reports (linked above) Trump repeated that he had congratulated Putin, & he didn't criticize Putin for the poisoning of Russian ex-pats living in the U.K. The POTUS* is digging into his role as Putin stooge. Remarkable.
Robert Costa & Carol Leonnig of the Washington Post: "President Trump’s legal team reached out in recent days toTheodore B. Olson, one of the country’s most high-profile and seasoned litigators, to join forces amid mounting challenges in the probe of Russian interference in the 2016 election, according to three people familiar with the discussions.... But after reviewing the offer and weighing potential conflicts with his clients at Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, where he is a partner, Olson is not planning to join Trump’s team, a top executive at the firm said Tuesday.... The talks with Olson are part of a broader disruption in the president’s legal circle." Mrs. McC: That's funny because just a couple of weeks ago, Trump assured us that "Everybody wants to work at the White House."
The President & the Playboy Model. Jim Rutenberg of the New York Times: "A former Playboy model who claimed she had an affair with Donald J. Trumpsued on Tuesday to be released from a 2016 legal agreement requiring her silence, becoming the second woman this month to challenge Trump allies’ efforts during the presidential campaign to bury stories about extramarital relationships. The model, Karen McDougal, is suing the company that owns The National Enquirer, American Media Inc., which paid her $150,000 and whose chief executive is a friend of President Trump’s.... Ms. McDougal, in a lawsuit filed in Los Angeles Superior Court, claims that [Trump's personal attorney Michael] Cohen was secretly involved in her talks with A.M.I., and that the media company and her lawyer at the time misled her about the deal." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
... Mark Berman & Frances Sellers of the Washington Post: "A New York judge said Tuesday that a defamation lawsuit against President Trump related to an allegation that he sexually harassed a former 'Apprentice' contestant may go forward. Summer Zervos filed the suit last year after Trump said publicly that she and other women making similar claims made them up. Trump sought to block the legal action, but New York Supreme Court Judge Jennifer G. Schecter, citing court precedent that led to the impeachment of President Bill Clinton in 1998, said that 'a sitting president is not immune from being sued in federal court for unofficial acts.' Trump has repeatedly said that all of the women who accused him of touching them inappropriately were lying — a sentiment his White House reiterated as questions resurfaced about the allegations.” (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
Katie Rogers of the New York Times: "With a particular focus on social media, Melania Trump, the first lady, has long said she wants to curb online bullying and harassment as part of a nascent effort to improve the lives of American children. There’s one problem: Mrs. Trump’s efforts often clash with the president’s longtime habit of using social media to insult people. Despite the criticism, she has continued to develop an agenda around cybersafety. On Tuesday, Mrs. Trump invited representatives from Facebook, Snap, Google, Amazon and Twitter to the White House for a round-table discussion on the topic. 'I am well aware that people are skeptical of me discussing this topic,' Mrs. Trump said on Tuesday." Rogers points out numerous instances in while Mrs. Trump has addressed cyberbullying at about the same time Mr. Trump has been cyberbullying his perceived enemies. Mrs. McC: Melania's campaign, IMO, is definitely a shot at her husband. I think she dislikes him more than I do, which is a lot. The news linked immediately above the link to Rogers' report is likely part of her incentive to continue pressing an issue that highlights one of Donaldo's many faults.
Trump Goes to New Hampshire. Benjamin Wallace-Wells of the New Yorker: President Trump made a speech in Manchester about the state's opioid crisis & outlined some thing his administration would do -- some cribbed from Obama administration policies -- to reduce the problem. "Even so, the President’s focus strayed. 'Toughness is what they most fear,' Trump said, when he got to the part of his speech about drug dealers. Among his policy proposals, he wanted the death penalty extended to apply to drug dealers.... Trump needs familiar villains. He blamed the city of Lawrence, Massachusetts, whose population is nearly three-quarters Hispanic, for supplying Fentanyl to New Hampshire, and then segued into a discussion of the street gang MS-13.... Often, with Trump, there is a wincing feeling that he is quoting from old episodes of our collective history."
Paul Lewis of the Guardian: "Hundreds of millions of Facebook users are likely to have had their private information harvested by companies that exploited the same terms as the firm that collected data and passed it on to Cambridge Analytica, according to a new whistleblower. Sandy Parakilas, the platform operations manager at Facebook responsible for policing data breaches by third-party software developers between 2011 and 2012, told the Guardian he warned senior executives at the company that its lax approach to data protection risked a major breach.... Asked what kind of control Facebook had over the data given to outside developers, he replied: 'Zero. Absolutely none. Once the data left Facebook servers there was not any control, and there was no insight into what was going on.'” (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
... Zuckerberg Still MIA. Spencer Ackerman of the Daily Beast: "Facebook CEO and co-founder Mark Zuckerbergdeclined to face his employees on Tuesday ... for an internal briefing and question-and-answer session ... to explain the company’s role in a widening international scandal over the 2016 election.... Nor ... did chief operating officer Sheryl Sandberg attend the internal town hall.... Zuckerberg has been publicly silent since the Observer and the New York Timesreported on Saturday that Facebook has for years been aware that a third-party app, billing itself as collecting user data for research purposes, exploited sufficiently weak privacy settings on unsuspecting user accounts to accumulate 50 million profiles." ...
... Mike Allen of Axios: "Axios is told that Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerbergplans to speak out in the next 24 hours on the data-harvesting revelations that have hammered his stock price, inflamed lawmakers in D.C. and Europe, and trapped his social network in a crisis of trust." ...
... Sarah Frier of Bloomberg: "Facebook Inc. tried to get ahead of its latest media firestorm. Instead, it helped create one. 'Open in private window.] The company knew ahead of time that on Saturday, the New York Times and The Guardian’s Observer would issue bombshell reports that the data firm that helped Donald Trump win the presidency had accessed and retained information on 50 million Facebook users without their permission. Facebook did two things to protect itself: it sent letters to the media firms laying out its legal case for why this data leak didn’t constitute a 'breach.' And then it scooped the reports using their information, with a Friday blog post on why it was suspending the ad firm, Cambridge Analytica, from its site.... The statement gave the impression that Facebook had looked into the matter [though it had not]... [Then Facebook tried to intimidate the newspapers.] 'Yesterday Facebook threatened to sue us. Today we publish this,' Carole Cadwalladr, the Observer reporter, wrote as she linked her story to Twitter, in a post shared almost 15,000 times.... Silence on the part of Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg and Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg didn’t help." ...
... Craig Timberg, et al., of the Washington Post: "Conservative strategist Stephen K. Bannonoversaw Cambridge Analytica’s early efforts to collect troves of Facebook data as part of an ambitious program to build detailed profiles of millions of American voters, a former employee of the data-science firm said Tuesday. The 2014 effort was part of a high-tech form of voter persuasion touted by the company, which under Bannon identified and tested the power of anti-establishment messages that later would emerge as central themes in President Trump’s campaign speeches, according to Chris Wylie, who left the company at the end of that year. Among the messages tested were 'drain the swamp' and 'deep state,' he said.... In an interview Tuesday with The Washington Post at his lawyer’s London office, Wylie said that Bannon — while he was a top executive at Cambridge Analytica and head of Breitbart News — was deeply involved in the company’s strategy and approved spending nearly $1 million to acquire data, including Facebook profiles, in 2014." ...
... AND there's this: "Cambridge Analytica’s parent company, SCL Group, has an ongoing contract with the State Department’s Global Engagement Center. The company was paid almost $500,000 to interview people overseas to understand the mind-set of Islamist militants as part of an effort to counter their online propaganda and block recruits. Heather Nauert, the acting undersecretary for public diplomacy [Mrs. McC: and former 'Fox & Friends' co-host], said Tuesday that the contract was signed in November 2016, under the Obama administration, and has not expired yet. In public records, the contract is dated in February 2017.'... Nauert said that the State Department had signed other contracts with SCL Group in the past." ...
... There's this, too: "The firm also tested views of Russian President Vladimir Putin. 'The only foreign thing we tested was Putin,' [Chris Wylie] said. 'It turns out, there’s a lot of Americans who really like this idea of a really strong authoritarian leader and people were quite defensive in focus groups of Putin’s invasion of Crimea.'” Mrs. McC: I hate to say it, but this looks like exculpatory evidence in the Trump "collusion" case. Maybe Trump's affinity for Putin & other authoritarian leaders is just a means of catering to his base.
... Matthew Rosenberg of the New York Times: "Cambridge Analytica, the political data firm with ties to President Trump’s 2016 campaign, suspended its chief executive, Alexander Nix, on Tuesday, amid the furor over the access it gained to private information on more than 50 million Facebook users. The decision came after a television broadcast in which Mr. Nix was recorded suggesting that the company had used seduction and bribery to entrap politicians and influence foreign elections." ...
... Cecilia Kang of the New York Times: "The Federal Trade Commission has opened an investigation into whether Facebook violated an agreement with the agency on data privacy, after reports that information on 50 million users was improperly obtained by the political consulting firm Cambridge Analytica, according to a person with knowledge of the inquiry. The investigation, started in recent days, adds to the mounting pressure against Facebook in the United States and in the United Kingdom about its handling of the data. Cambridge Analytica used the information to help President Trump’s presidential campaign profile voters during the 2016 election." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
... Not much new here, except Nix claims he has met with Donald Trump "many times":
... Well, for Sure Nix Has Met Some Big Shots.Mother Jones: "The footage [in the Channel 4 undercover videos] was a bit grainy. [Mother Jones publishes] ... a clearer shot of Nix, snapped during a polo match ... on July 28, 2016. He happens to be posing withAlexander Yakovenko, the Russian ambassador to the United Kingdom. The photo was taken days after Democratic National Committee files and emails hacked by Russian intelligence were dumped online by WikiLeaks at the start of the Democratic Party’s convention. The previous month, the Trump campaign had hired Nix’s company, and by this point, it had been widely reported that Russian intelligence was behind the DNC hack."
Stephanie Petit of People: "In a 'hare'-raising turn of events for Mike Pence, John Oliver‘s parody children’s book about the vice president’s pet falling in love with an another male rabbit is outselling its inspiration.... In addition, Oliver’s book has earned a five-star rating on the site with over 3,000 reviews. The Pences’ competing story has been reviewed only 60 times and holds a four-and-a-half-star rating.... The TV host added that all proceeds from the book, written by Jill Twiss and illustrated by Indiana artist E.G. Keller, will go to The Trevor Project and AIDS United." Thanks to MAG for the lead. MAG heard on the teevee that Oliver's parody has pushed Jim Comey's book -- to be published next month -- down to No. 2 on Amazon's list. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Jordan Fabian of the Hill: "The White House said Tuesday that a string of deadly bombings in Texas has 'no apparent nexus to terrorism' and vowed to bring the bomber to justice [according to a tweet by Sarah Sanders].... Police said the bombing [early Tuesday] was related to four others in the Austin area that have killed two people and injured four others over the course of three weeks." See also Tuesday's & Wednesday's News Ledes. ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: Texans, according to Fabian's report are "fearful," which is fairly sensible. I would call these Texans "terrified" & the perp or perpss "terrorists," whatever the races & religious beliefs of said bombers. So would Rep. Brian Babin (R), according to Fabian. But I guess Sanders thinks these bombers are white Christian-seeming people. So they can't be "terrorists."
Emily Holden, et al., of Politico: "EPA Administrator Scott Pruittspent more than $105,000 on first-class flights in his first year on the job, according to records EPA provided to the House Oversight Committee and obtained by Politico on Tuesday.... That $105,000 figure doesn't include an additional $58,000 Pruitt rang up on charter flights and a military jet to carry him and his staff from an event with President Donald Trump in Cincinnati to catch a connecting flight to Europe out of New York, according to previously released records." ...
... Brady Dennis & Juliet Eilperin of the Washington Post: "The Environmental Protection Agency turned over documents to Congress late Tuesday detailing nearly $68,000 in newly disclosed travel costs for Administrator Scott Pruitt during the past seven months. The records, which came at the request of House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Trey Gowdy (R-S.C.) and were obtained by The Washington Post [Mrs. McC: because Gowdy is a primo leaker], show dozens of first-class domestic and overseas flights for Pruitt and other trip expenses between August and last month. That figure, which includes stays at high-priced hotels in New York City and Paris, does not include the travel expenditures of the personal security detail and aides who typically accompany him. EPA officials attribute the elevated costs of Pruitt’s travels to the security precautions they have undertaken because of the number of threats he has received...." Mrs. McC: Because when it comes to "security precautions," only the Ritz (or a similar "high-priced hotel") will do. ...
... A Few Hours in Bologna. Michael Biesecker of the AP: "... Scott Pruittspent more than $120,000 in public funds last summer for a trip to Italy that included a meeting of G-7 ministers and a private tour of the Vatican. The known cost of Pruitt’s previously reported trip grew this week after the agency disclosed a heavily censored document showing expenses for Pruitt’s security detail cost more than $30,500. That’s on top of nearly $90,000 spent for food, hotels, commercial airfare and a military jet used by Pruitt and nine EPA staff. Last June, Pruitt flew to Bologna, Italy, for a meeting of environmental ministers from the world’s top seven economies. Pruitt attended only the first few hours of the summit before leaving early to jet back to Washington for a Cabinet meeting at the White House." ...
... It's Candy's Fault. Glenn Thrush of the New York Times: "Ben Carson, the secretary of housing and urban development, told a House committee on Tuesday that he had 'dismissed' himself from the decision to buy a $31,000 dining room set for his office last year, leaving the details to his wife and staff.... 'I invited my wife to come and help,' he said. 'I left it to my wife, you know, to choose something. I dismissed myself from the issues.' And it was Mrs. Carson, he said, who 'selected the color and style' of the furniture, 'with the caveat that we were both not happy about the price.'... But emails released under a Freedom of Information Act request last week seemed to contradict that account.... 'Setting aside the issue of whether it is appropriate for Secretary Carson to delegate decisions regarding the use of taxpayer funds to his wife, this is now at least the third version of Carson’s story about the furniture, said Clark Pettig, [of American Oversight].... Democrats on the committee argued that Mr. Carson’s timeline suggested that he was simultaneously outraged by the high cost of the set — and ignorant of the price tag.”
Heidi Przybyla of NBC News: "The Trump administration’s abrupt cancellation of a federal program to prevent teen pregnancy last year was directed by political appointees over the objections of career experts in the Department of Health and Human Services, which administers the program, according to internal notes and emails obtained by NBC News. The trove shows three appointees with strict pro-abstinence beliefs — including Valerie Huber, the then-chief of staff for the department's Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health — guided the process to end a program many medical professionals credit with helping to bring the nation’s teen pregnancy rate to an all-time low.... Last month, Democracy Forward, a nonprofit law firm and advocacy group, sued the administration for unlawfully terminating the program after the agency took months to respond to its Freedom of Information Act request.... It is also part of a broader narrative about programs benefiting women and children becoming political targets under a president who insists he is an advocate for women’s rights and health." Read on. ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: Yeah, well, the teen pregnancy program is largely educational. And the entire Trump administration is sworn to oppose any type of education:
... Catherine Rampell of the Washington Post: "President Trump is obsessed with trade surpluses. In his zero-sum view of the world, if we don’t sell more than we buy in a given industry, we must be losing. Yet he seems hellbent on destroying one of our winningest exports: higher education. Unlike with toys or televisions, the United States sells much more higher education to the rest of the world than we buy from it.... We have an educational trade surplus of nearly $32 billion.... [BUT] Multiple reports show the spigot of international students has been turned off.... There are a lot of things government, at all levels, can do to make sure one of our most successful export industries continues to succeed. Instead, at virtually all levels, our political leaders are doing the opposite of those things."
Read more here: http://www.kansascity.com/news/politics-government/article206025749.html#storylink=cpy
Read more here: http://www.kansascity.com/news/politics-government/article206025749.html#storylink=cpy
Read more here: http://www.kansascity.com/news/politics-government/article206025749.html#storylink=cpy
Illinois Primary Races
Gubernatorial Race. Julie Bosman & Jonathan Martin of the New York Times: "The race for Illinois governor has come down to this: the multimillionaire versus the billionaire. Gov. Bruce Rauner, a private-equity executive seeking a second term in office, prevailed in a tough battle for the Republican nomination on Tuesday, while J.B. Pritzker, a billionaire philanthropist and venture capitalist from a prominent Chicago family, won the Democratic nomination for governor, according to the Associated Press. Their victories promise a contest that will be fiercely fought and dominated by big money, with each candidate controlling tremendous sums of personal wealth to spend on his campaign. The two men have already raised more than $150 million, on track to become one of the most expensive governor’s races in history.... Mr. Rauner, 61, survived a challenge from Jeanne Ives, a Republican legislator and Army veteran who took a hard-right stance on social issues and attacked him for being insufficiently conservative.... Mr. Pritzker, who has donated close to $70 million to his own campaign, fell short of 50 percent of the Democratic vote, but still outpaced Chris Kennedy, a businessman and a son of Robert F. Kennedy, and Daniel Biss, a suburban state senator. In an acceptance speech before a crowd of supporters here on Tuesday night, Mr. Pritzker, 53, called for universal health care, fair wages, protections for labor unions and the legalization of marijuana."
Congressional Race. AP: "Rep. Dan Lipinski of Illinois, one of the most conservative Democrats in Congress, narrowly won a primary Tuesday over a progressive newcomer who argued the congressman's views no longer reflect the Chicago-area district he has represented for seven terms. Marie Newman, who was little-known when she decided to challenge Lipinski for the seat he inherited from his father, had backing from progressive groups as well as Sen. Bernie Sanders, who won Illinois' 3rd Congressional District by 9 points over Hillary Clinton in the 2016 Democratic primary. With 97 percent of precincts reporting votes, Lipinski's margin over Newman was less than 2 percentage points." Lipinski will face this guy in November:
... Nazi Wins GOP Primary in Illinois. Liam Stack of the New York Times: "Arthur Jones, a Holocaust denier described as a Nazi by the Illinois Republican Party, won the Republican primary on Tuesday in the state’s Third Congressional District, a heavily Democratic district that includes part of Chicago and its suburbs, according to The Associated Press. Mr. Jones, 70, unsuccessfully sought the nomination five times before, and his victory on Tuesday was a foregone conclusion after the Republican Party failed to draft another candidate to enter the race against him."
Annals of "Journalism," Ctd. Tom Namako of BuzzFeed: "A retired United States Army lieutenant colonel and Fox News contributor quit Tuesday and denounced the network and ... Donald Trump in an email to colleagues. 'Fox has degenerated from providing a legitimate and much-needed outlet for conservative voices to a mere propaganda machine for a destructive and ethically ruinous administration,' wrote Ralph Peters, a Fox News 'strategic analyst.' 'Over my decade with Fox, I long was proud of the association. Now I am ashamed,' he wrote." ...
... Kevin Drum calls Peters "a warmonger’s warmonger": "... after a decade of taking their money, he finally pretends to have just noticed that Fox News is a lunatic propaganda machine, not a news outlet."
Mrs. McCrabbie: I made a snide, politically-incorrect remark in yesterday's Comments suggesting that mike pence's fan base was too ignorant to read "real books." Turns out I was kinda right. (BTW, I don't really think that college degrees are necessarily evidence of superior intelligence [but depending upon the course of study, a college education may increase a person's analytical skills]):
... Pew Research Center: "As the 2018 midterm elections approach, women and especially college graduates have moved toward the Democratic Party. By contrast, the Republican Party’s advantage in leaned party identification among white voters without a college degree has never been greater, dating back more than two decades. While partisanship among voters usually does not change much on a yearly basis, some differences have widened over time, especially by educational attainment, gender and age. And these gaps are even larger when categories are combined, such as education, race and gender." Mrs. McC: So one good reason Donald Trump says, "I love the poorly-educated.")
Beyond the Beltway
Bryan Lowry of the Kansas City Star: "Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobachcould be facing a contempt order from a federal court after a judge on Tuesday tore into the Kansas Republican about repeatedly skirting her orders. U.S. District Judge Julie Robinson chastised Kobach, a candidate for governor, at a contempt hearing for suggesting that her previous orders have left any room for ambiguity. 'I've had to police this over and over and over again,' Robinson said with frustration during the hearing in Kansas City, Kan. Robinson in 2016 ordered Kobach to fully register thousands of Kansas voters who had registered at the DMV but had failed to provide proof of citizenship, such as a birth certificate or passport, as required by a Kansas law that Kobach crafted. 'The real question is why has the secretary of state not complied with it until he's called on it. ... There's been no change of rules. There's been no ambiguity,' Robinson said. The contempt hearing capped two weeks of courtroom battles between Kobach and the American Civil Liberties Union as Robinson weighs whether federal law allows Kansas to impose the requirement."
Reid Wilson of the Hill: "A Pennsylvania state representative has introduced resolutions to impeach four of the five state Supreme Court justices who voted to override congressional district maps they said were unfairly gerrymandered on partisan lines. The resolutions, introduced by state Rep. Cris Dush (R), accuse Justices Kevin Dougherty, Christine Donohue, Debra McClosky Todd and David Wecht of misbehavior in office. A fifth resolution to impeach Supreme Court Justice Max Baer is pending introduction. In a memo to fellow House members, Dush said the ruling overriding Pennsylvania’s U.S. House district lines amounted to an overstep of judicial authority under the state Constitution, which lays out the path by which a bill becomes a law — in this case, a bill to delineate the district lines after the decennial Census and reapportionment process."
Scott Travis & Tonya Alanez of the (Florida) Sun-Sentinel: "Two students were arrested Tuesday for bringing knives to the Parkland school where 17 were killed by a gunman on Feb. 14 and a third is being mentally evaluated for making online threats. Compounding the anxiety and tension emanating from the campus, a Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School deputy was suspended for sleeping on the job after being caught by a student on Monday evening, according to the Broward Sheriff's Office. The student notified a sergeant patrolling the school that Deputy Moises Carotti was asleep in his patrol car, said Veda Coleman-Wright, a spokeswoman for the sheriff’s office. The sergeant knocked on Carotti’s window to wake him up, she said. Carotti was suspended with pay while an internal affairs investigation is launched."
News Ledes
Washington Post on how law enforcement officials zeroed in on Mark Anthony Conditt, the man who planted & detonated bombs in the Austin, Texas, area. "Conditt made a 25-minute video recording on his cellphone describing how he built seven explosive devices, [Austin Police Chief Brian] Manley said. He said the video, which was made between 9 and 11 p.m. Tuesday, seemed to be created because Conditt 'felt like we were getting very close to him.' 'He does not at all mention anything about terrorism, nor does he mention anything about hate, but instead it is the outcry of a very challenged young man talking about challenges in his personal life that led him to this point,' he said, adding, 'there was no reason given for why he selected' the victims.” ...
... NBC News: "The suspect in a spate of bombings across Austin, Texas, has been killed following a confrontation with police early Wednesday, two law enforcement sources told NBC News. The police, FBI, and personnel with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives have been deployed on the section of I-35 where the incident happened, the ATF said in a tweet.... The Austin Police Department described the incident as an 'officer involved shooting' on a section of highway in Round Rock area, a city in the Austin metropolitan area." ...
... New York TimesUpdate: "A suspect in the series of bombings that have terrorized the city of Austin, Tex., died early Wednesday after he blew himself up in his car as he was being chased by the police, the authorities said. The Austin Police Department reported in the early morning that an officer had been involved in a shooting on Interstate 35 in Round Rock, just north of Austin, and people in the area reported hearing an explosion. The scene was quickly swarming with law enforcement officers.... The suspect, who has not been identified, was believed to be involved in the case of at least five bombs that have detonated this month in Austin and San Antonio, killing at least two people and wounding five. It was not immediately clear whether the suspect was acting on his own or working in concert with others." ...
... Austin American-Statesman: "5:50 am update:... The name of the suspect, described only as a 24-year-old white man, has not been released, pending notification of his family, [Austin Police Chief Brian] Manley said. Although police are still investigating the possibility of accomplices, he said, 'we believe this individual is responsible for all of the incidents in Austin.'”
Paul Lewis of the Guardian: "Hundreds of millions of Facebook users are likely to have had their private information harvested by companies that exploited the same terms as the firm that collected data and passed it on to Cambridge Analytica, according to a new whistleblower. Sandy Parakilas, the platform operations manager at Facebook responsible for policing data breaches by third-party software developers between 2011 and 2012, told the Guardian he warned senior executives at the company that its lax approach to data protection risked a major breach.... Asked what kind of control Facebook had over the data given to outside developers, he replied: 'Zero. Absolutely none. Once the data left Facebook servers there was not any control, and there was no insight into what was going on.'"
Jim Rutenberg of the New York Times: "A former Playboy model who claimed she had an affair with Donald J. Trumpsued on Tuesday to be released from a 2016 legal agreement requiring her silence, becoming the second woman this month to challenge Trump allies' efforts during the presidential campaign to bury stories about extramarital relationships. The model, Karen McDougal, is suing the company that owns The National Enquirer, American Media Inc., which paid her $150,000 and whose chief executive is a friend of President Trump's.... Ms. McDougal, in a lawsuit filed in Los Angeles Superior Court, claims that [Trump's attorney Michael] Cohen was secretly involved in her talks with A.M.I., and that the media company and her lawyer at the time misled her about the deal." ...
... Mark Berman & Frances Sellers of the Washington Post: "A New York judge said Tuesday that a defamation lawsuit against President Trump related to an allegation that he sexually harassed a former 'Apprentice' contestant may go forward. Summer Zervos filed the suit last year after Trump said publicly that she and other women making similar claims made them up. Trump sought to block the legal action, but New York Supreme Court Judge Jennifer G. Schecter, citing court precedent that led to the impeachment of President Bill Clinton in 1998, said that 'a sitting president is not immune from being sued in federal court for unofficial acts.' Trump has repeatedly said that all of the women who accused him of touching them inappropriately were lying -- a sentiment his White House reiterated as questions resurfaced about the allegations."
Stephanie Petit of People: "In a 'hare'-raising turn of events for Mike Pence, John Oliver's parody children's book about the vice president's pet falling in love with an another male rabbit is outselling its inspiration.... In addition, Oliver's book has earned a five-star rating on the site with over 3,000 reviews. The Pences' competing story has been reviewed only 60 times and holds a four-and-a-half-star rating.... The TV host added that all proceeds from the book, written by Jill Twiss and illustrated by Indiana artist E.G. Keller, will go to The Trevor Project and AIDS United." Thanks to MAG for the lead. MAG heard on the teevee that Oliver's parody has pushed Jim Comey's book -- to be published next month -- down to No. 2 on Amazon's list.
Cecilia Kang of the New York Times: "The Federal Trade Commission has opened an investigation into whether Facebook violated an agreement with the agency on data privacy, after reports that information on 50 million users was improperly obtained by the political consulting firm Cambridge Analytica, according to a person with knowledge of the inquiry. The investigation, started in recent days, adds to the mounting pressure against Facebook in the United States and in the United Kingdom about its handling of the data. Cambridge Analytica used the information to help President Trump's presidential campaign profile voters during the 2016 election."
Trump Congratulates BFF. Anton Troianovski of the Washington Post: "President Trump congratulated Russian PresidentVladimir Putin on his reelection victory in a phone call on Tuesday, the Kremlin said. The White House confirmed that the call took place but had no immediate comment on the Kremlin's characterization of it. Some world leaders have hesitated to congratulate Putin, since his reelection occurred in an environment of state control of much of the news media and his most prominent opponent was barred from the ballot.... Beyond the congratulations, [the Kremlin] said, the two leaders discussed Syria, Ukraine, North Korea and arms control. The two also discussed a potential meeting, the Kremlin said." ...
... Mrs. McC: Once again, the Trump White House lets Putin define the nature of the call. Is letting the Kremlin define their conversations one of the concessions Trump made to Putin on accounta the dirt Putin has on Trump? Or is it because White House staff aren't allowed to interrupt Trump during his extensive time, so they haven't been able to act out the call for his approval? Whatever, it's weird. ...
... Update. Mark Landler of the New York Times: "President Trump on Tuesday congratulated PresidentVladimir V. Putin of Russia for his recent re-election victory and said the two are likely to meet soon to discuss the arms race between the United States and Russia.... Sen. John McCain, Republican of Arizona, who is chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, was quick to criticize Mr. Trump's call to Mr. Putin. 'An American president does not lead the free world by congratulating dictators on winning sham elections,' Mr. McCain said in a statement issued by his office."
*****
This Russia Thing, Ctd.
Lawyers Try to Protect Trump from Himself. Carol Leonnig of the Washington Post: "President Trump's attorneys have provided the special counsel's office with written descriptions that chronicle key moments under investigation.... Trump's lawyers hope the evidence eliminates the need to ask the president about some episodes.... Trump' legal team recently shared the documents in an effort to limit any session between the president and special counsel Robert S. Mueller III to a few select topics, the people said. The lawyers are worried that Trump, who has a penchant for making erroneous claims, would be vulnerable in an hours-long interview.... The written materials provided to Mueller's office include summarie of internal White House memos and contemporaneous correspondence about events Mueller is investigating, including the ousters of national security adviser Michael Flynn and FBI Director James B. Comey. The documents describe the White House players involved and the president's actions. Special counsel investigators have told Trump's lawyers that their main questions about the president fall into two simple categories, the two people said: 'What did he do?' and 'What was he thinking when he did it?' Trump's lawyers expect Mueller's team to ask whether Trump knew about Flynn's communications with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak during the presidential transition, for example, and what instructions, if any, the president gave Flynn about the contact, according to two advisers." ...
... Pamela Brown, et al., of CNN: "... attorneys on both sides sat down last week in a rare face-to-face discussion about the topics investigators could inquire of the President.... This time around..., the prosecutors said they would ask about Attorney General Jeff Sessions' involvement in the Comey dismissal and what Trump knew about national security adviser Michael Flynn's phone calls with then-Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak in late December 2016.... The meeting and its revelations also have unleashed a new level of Trump's public hostility toward Mueller.... The meeting last week made it clear to Trump that Mueller won't wrap up soon." ...
... Mike Allen of Axios: "Axios has learned that special counsel Robert Muellerhas focused on events since the election [[ not during the campaign -- in his conversations with President Trump's lawyers. The top two topics that Mueller has expressed interest in so far: the firings of FBI director James Comey and national security adviser Michael Flynn That suggests a focus on obstruction of justice while in office, rather than collusion with Russia during the campaign. But both sagas are interwoven with Russia: Trump himself has linked Comey's firing to Russia, and Flynn pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI about conversations with the Russian ambassador during the transition." (Also linked yesterday.)
Trump Sees Winger Lawyer on Fox "News," Hires Him. Maggie Haberman & Michael Schmidt of the New York Times: "President Trump has decided to hire the longtime Washington lawyerJoseph E. diGenova ... to bolster his legal team, according to three people told of the decision.... Mr. diGenova has endorsed the notion that a secretive group of F.B.I. agents concocted the Russia investigation as a way to keep Mr. Trump from becoming president. 'There was a brazen plot to illegally exonerate Hillary Clinton and, if she didn't win the election, to then frame Donald Trump with a falsely created crime,' he said on Fox News in January.... Little evidence has emerged to support that theory.... On Saturday, Mr. Trump's personal lawyer, John Dowd, called on the Justice Department to end the special counsel investigation. Mr. Dowd said at the time that he was speaking for the president but later backtracked. According to two people briefed on the matter, he was in fact acting at the president's urging to call for an end to the inquiry." (Also linked yesterday.) ...
... Trump Way Last Week: The Failing New York Times purposely wrote a false story stating that I am unhappy with my legal team on the Russia case and am going to add another lawyer to help out. Wrong. I am VERY happy with my lawyers, John Dowd, Ty Cobb and Jay Sekulow. They are doing a great job and..... -- Donald Trump, in a tweet March 11
... Mrs. Bea McCrabbie: If, BTW, you're wondering why Joe had to come up with such a cockamamie conspiracy theory in support of President* Trump, maybe it's because he remembered this. Tessa Berenson of Time: "his prior comments during investigations into President Bill Clinton in a 1997 editorial in the Wall Street Journal also drew attention. 'Nobody should underestimate the upheaval that a prosecution of the president would cause,' he wrote in a March 6, 1997 piece published when independent counsel Kenneth Starr was only investigating financial irregularities in the Whitewater scandal and Clinton's affair with a White House intern had not yet come to light. 'But we went through it once before, in Watergate, and survived. The nation, in fact, could conceivably benefit from the indictment of a president. It would teach the valuable civics lesson that no one is above the law.'" Since he had already argued that impeaching a president would be good for the country, in order to be consistent, diGenova had to find a way to assert that Trump could not possibly be guilty of anything. Ergo, there's a vast left-wing conspiracy inside the generally right-leaning federal justice system. ...
... Joe, however, is quite comfortable with conspiracy theories, whether or not they cover his ass. Steve Benenreports. Rachel Maddow, on her show last night, pointed out another strange "coincidence." The Washington Post reported last week that George Nader, now a cooperating witness in the Mueller investigation, "was convicted of transporting child pornography 27 years ago." The Post learned this bit of Nader's past because of "newly unsealed court documents." How did those documents just happen to be unsealed right when news reports revealed Nader was cooperating with Mueller? Well, we don't know. But we do know, thanks to Maddow, that the prosecutor in that case was ... new Trump attorney Joe diGenova.
... The Hits Just Keep on Coming. Michael Schmidt & Maggie Haberman: "President Trump’s legal team was poised for a shake-up on Monday, according to two people briefed on the matter, as he openly discussed firing one of his lawyers, another considered resigning and a third -- who pushed theories on television that Mr. Trump was framed by the F.B.I. -- joined the roster. Mr. Trump has weighed aloud in recent days to close associates whether to dismiss his lawyer Ty Cobb, who had pushed most strongly a strategy of cooperating fully with the special counsel investigation. The president reassured Mr. Cobb that he had no plans to fire him, according to a person who spoke with the president late Monday, in part to prevent a narrative that his team was in disarray after The New York Times began making inquiries. Mr. Trump's lead lawyer, John Dowd, has contemplated leaving his post because he has concluded that he has no control over the behavior of the president.... Mr. Dowd said he had no plans to leave the team." ...
"Pop Goes the Weasel."TM Akhilleus Louis Nelson of Politico: "... Donald Trump on Monday appeared to renew his attacks against the ongoing investigations into allegations that his campaign colluded with the Russian government's efforts to interfere in the 2016 election, labeling them collectively as 'a total WITCH HUNT with massive conflicts of interest!'" (Also linked yesterday.) ...
... Katie Rogers of the New York Times: "Usually, top intelligence and law enforcement officials withdraw to lives of tight-lipped relative anonymity after their careers end. (Suffice it to say, they are not exactly known for viral Twitter battles.) But as President Trump has voiced his grievances against the F.B.I. with a series of insult-laden tweets, his targets have responded nearly in kind, turning a conflict that would in the past have stayed behind closed doors into a brawl for all to see." ...
... James Bamford writes a longish piece for the New Republic on Trump's war against the intelligence community. He makes a quite a number of points that had not occurred to me, Mrs. Bea McCrabbie, but they're worth considering. Here's a sample graf: "Trump's enormous self-regard and disinterest in hearing outside opinions -- particularly any that diverge from his own -- has sparked fear that he could dispense with perhaps the spy world's most sacred rule: unbiased reporting. The Bush administration's decision to cast aside that norm helped lead to the disastrous war in Iraq. Unhappy with the CIA's more cautious reporting on possible weapons of mass destruction in that country, the White House set up a separate, secret unit inside the Pentagon to cherry-pick the intelligence the White House wanted to see. Today, Trump -- a man of endless conspiracy theories -- may now be following a similar path with regard to Iran and North Korea, potentially leading to an even more calamitous war." Bamford is critical of the super-powers President Obama allowed the intelligence community to develop & use. "What Obama apparently never considered was that the Orwellian surveillance tools he created, and the precedents he set of killing and jailing Americans, could one day fall into the hands of a mountebank, demagogic president unrestrained by norms and perhaps even untethered from reality." Bamford also points out that the media (and others) have fallen down on "probing the workings of the darkest elements of government." ...
Matt Apuzzo of the New York Timeshas quite a good summary of what is publicly known about Andrew McCabe's firing. Apuzzo provides context.
Manu Raju, et al., of CNN: "Republican Senate leaders threw cold water Monday on passing a bill to protect [Robert] Mueller [from being dismissed], calling it unnecessary despite Trump's increasingly scathing attacks against the special counsel and his team. But the Republican who chairs the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Bob Corker of Tennessee, told CNN that lawmakers should include legislation to protect Mueller on a must-pass bill to keep the government open past Friday. He warned there would be 'total upheaval' in the Senate if Trump were to fire Mueller." ...
... Greg Sargent sounds the alarm about Maggie Haberman's report (linked yesterday), one of several we've read about "Trump unleashed." Sargent highlights Republicans' failure to take seriously Trump's attacks on Mueller. For instance, "Earlier this year, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) declared that there was no need for legislation to protect Mueller, because (he said) there is no effort 'on the part of the White House to undermine the special counsel,' so Mueller 'seems to need no protection.' Now that Trump himself has declared the Mueller probe illegitimate, there is no indication that McConnell's thinking has changed." (Also linked yesterday.) ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: Sorry, but I don't know why anyone would think Mitch would object to a power grab by a president in his own party. Justice Scalia's body had not reached room temperature when Mitch announced he would be stealing the nomination of a replacement appointment from President Obama. Mitch has pulled a lot of dirty stunts, but so far even Trump has not pulled one quite as egregious as denying a duly-elected president a fair shot at even getting a hearing (although I learned recently that it was Andy Card, Dubya's chief-of-staff, who demanded Harriet Meirs withdraw her nomination to the Court). Mitch & Don Donaldo use quite different tactics, but they're equally corrupt. ...
... Jonathan Chait: "... the largest faction of the [Republican] party has taken the position that Donald Trump is a fantastically successful president whose main error is undisciplined tweeting. What is most notable about this approach is what it omits: the idea that Trump possesses authoritarian instincts or might be deeply implicated in the Russia scandal. It focuses entirely on the most superficial critique of his job performance and ignores evidence of his fundamental unfitness for office.... The mainstream Republican response to these provocations has focused on the style of Trump's actions, rather than the substance." ...
... Gene Robinson: "If Trump does try to fire Mueller, House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.) and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) should get much of the blame. They have given Trump no reason to believe they will ever stand up to him." ...
... March of the Lemmings. A Conspiracy of Many. Matt Ford of the New Republic adds, "... most Republicans said nothing. House Speaker Paul Ryan issued a tepid statement asserting that 'Mr. Mueller and his team should be able to do their job,' without mentioning Trump, while Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell made no public comment. Steve Scalise, the House Republicans' third-in-command, instead suggested that there are 'credibility concerns the Mueller investigation needs to address so they can dispel the fears that this is becoming a partisan witch hunt.'... Trump would bear ultimate responsibility for shutting down or curtailing the Russia investigation, of course. But if it happens, no one can say he acted alone." (Also linked yesterday.)
... The undercover tape begins about 4:25 min. in. The undercover Alexander Nix part begins about 12:15 minutes in. Beautiful Ukrainian girls! The entire tape is fascinating. Those Ukrainian sex workers remind me that Paul Manafort was chairman of the Trump campaign when the campaign made the deal with Cambridge Analytica. BTW, Channel 4 will air a segment later today (Tuesday) on Cambridge Analytica's U.S. operations. ...
... Matthew Rosenberg of the New York Times: "Sitting in a hotel bar, Alexander Nix, who runs the political data firm Cambridge Analytica, had a few ideas for a prospective client looking for help in a foreign election. The firm could send an attractive woman to seduce a rival candidate and secretly videotape the encounter, Mr. Nix said, or send someone posing as a wealthy land developer to pass a bribe. 'We have a long history of working behind the scenes,' Mr. Nix said.... The prospective client, though, was actually a reporter from Channel 4 News in Britain, and the encounter was secretly filmed as part of a monthslong investigation into Cambridge Analytica, the data firm with ties to President Trump's 2016 campaign.... The footage broadcast by Channel 4, Mr. Nix offered services that go far beyond data harvesting.... 'Many of our clients don't want to be seen to be working with a foreign company,' he told the Channel 4 reporter.... 'We can set up fake IDs and websites, we can be students doing research projects attached to a university, we can be tourists. There's so many options we can look at.'... Now, the Channel 4 broadcast appears likely to cast an even harsher spotlight on the company, which was founded by Stephen K. Bannon and Robert Mercer, a wealthy Republican donor...." ...
... Betsy Woodruff of the Daily Beast: "Billionaire heiress Rebekah Merceris standing by embattled data firm Cambridge Analytica -- at least for now. A person close to Mercer, who sits on the firm's board, told The Daily Beast she has no immediate plans to leave her post there, despite a bombshell report alleging the company used Ukrainian sex workers to try to get compromising material about its clients' political opponents." ...
... Michelle Goldberg: "After days of revelations, there's still a lot we don't know about Cambridge Analytica. But we've learned that an operation at the heart of Trump's campaign was ethically nihilistic and quite possibly criminal in ways that even its harshest critics hadn't suspected.... In weighing the credibility of various accusations made against the president, it's good to know the depths to which the people around him are willing to sink.... Cambridge Analytica shared office space with Trump's San Antonio-based digital operation, and took substantial credit for its success.... We already know that Cambridge Analytica reached out to Julian Assange about finding and disseminating Hillary Clinton's deleted emails.... With each day..., it's clearer that the secret of Trump's success is cheating. He, and those around him, don't have to be better than their opponents because they're willing to be so much worse." ...
... Kevin Drum: "This is quite an organization: honey traps, bribery offers, hidden identities, and, of course, massive amounts of misused Facebook data. It sounds like a company right after Trump's heart, doesn't it? Amusingly, CA's defense is that they were entrapping the fake reporter in order to make sure they weren't dealing with anyone corrupt." ...
... Steve M.: Data manipulation is what these guys put in the shop window, but if want the real goods, you have to slip into a back room and get ... the same kinds of dirty tricks that political operatives and other unsavory creatures have used for generations. If we're to believe their sales pitch, these guys are basically Roger Stone or more adroit versions of Jared Kushner's dad: 'Charles Kushner pleaded guilty to 18 counts of making illegal campaign contributions, tax evasion and witness tampering. The last charge involved a particularly nasty incident where Charles Kushner send his sister Esther a tape showing her husband William Schulder with a prostitute hired by Kushner to discredit his brother-in-law, who was cooperating with federal authorities.' Everything sucks the same way it always did, except for the stuff that sucks more." ...
... So, in light of this new evidence that the Mercer-Bannon firm is corrupt to its core, Facebook -- which "accidentally" allowed the enterprise to misuse the personal data of millions of unsuspecting users -- has decided to take action! ...
... Nicole Perlroth, et al., of the New York Times: "Facebook's chief information security officer, Alex Stamos, will leave the company after internal disagreements over how the social network should deal with its role in spreading disinformation, according to current and former employees briefed on the matter. Mr. Stamos had been a strong advocate inside the company for investigating and disclosing Russian activity on Facebook, often to the consternation of other top executives, including Sheryl Sandberg, the social network's chief operating officer, according to the current and former employees, who asked not to be identified discussing internal matters." Mrs. McC: Yeah, I can see where Stamos' integrity & patriotism would be a big problem for the Zuckerberg team. ...
... Julia Wong of the Guardian: "The chief executive of Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg, has remained silent over the more than 48 hours since the Observer revealed the harvesting of 50 million users’ personal data, even as his company is buffeted by mounting calls for investigation and regulation, falling stock prices, and a social media campaign to #DeleteFacebook.... 'It's time for Mark Zuckerberg to stop hiding behind his Facebook page,' said the Conservative MP Damian Collins, chair of the digital, culture, media and sport select committee.... Referencing the government's request for Facebook's auditors to leave Cambridge Analytica's offices, Collins tweeted: 'These investigations need to be undertaken by the proper authorities.'" ...
... Graeme Wearden & Nick Fletcher of the Guardian: "Around $36bn has been wiped off Facebook's market capitalisation, after its worst day's trading in several years. Shares slumped by 6.7% after a whistleblower revealed a vast data breach that affected tens of millions of people." This is a liveblog of developments regarding Facebook & Cambridge Analytica. ...
... Zeynep Tufekci in a New York Times op-ed: "The problem here goes beyond Cambridge Analytica and what it may have done. What other apps were allowed to siphon data from millions of Facebook users?... A business model based on vast data surveillance and charging clients to opaquely target users based on this kind of extensive profiling will inevitably be misused. The real problem is that billions of dollars are being made at the expense of the health of our public sphere and our politics, and crucial decisions are being made unilaterally, and without recourse or accountability." ...
... Todd Gillman & Katie Leslie of the Dallas Morning News: "Sen. Ted Cruzis under fire for his connections with a voter targeting firm that used data taken from 50 million Facebook users without their knowledge. The Cruz presidential campaign touted its collaboration with Cambridge Analytica as a sign of a cutting edge run for the White House, allowing the Texan to carefully identify likely supporters. The firm shifted allegiance to Donald Trump once the Texan dropped out of the GOP primaries. Both campaigns pumped millions into the company, controlled by billionaire Robert Mercer -- a key patron first of Cruz and then Trump in 2016. Cruz continued work with Cambridge Analytica for six months after allegations surfaced in December 2015 that the firm was using Facebook data it had received illicitly.... Texas Democrats blasted Cruz on Monday for benefiting from a 'massive invasion of privacy' and demanded that Cruz explain when he knew the company had engaged in 'deceitful activity.'... Cruz faces a Senate challenge in the fall from Rep. Beto O'Rourke, an El Paso Democrat." ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: Yo, Beto, maybe you won't want to post your objections to Ted's shady campaign practices on your Facebook page. Just sayin'.
Erik Prince, Skunkworks Mercenary, Ctd. Jeremy Scahill & Matthew Cole of the Intercept: "As a private attorney in 2016, FBI director Chris Wray supervised a team of lawyers that informed the Justice Department that Blackwater founder Erik Princehad likely violated U.S. law while trying to sell secretly modified paramilitary attack aircraft to Azerbaijan's military. Wray and Robert Hur, now a senior Justice Department official, were both partners at the powerhouse law firm King & Spalding in 2015 when officials at Prince's Hong Kong-based logistics company, Frontier Services Group, discovered suspicious activity by Prince over the proposed sale of the planes. Hur is currently the top lieutenant to Rod Rosenstein, the deputy attorney general.... A close associate of Prince's previously told The Intercept that, at the time of the Wray-led investigation, Prince was operating a 'secret skunkworks program' using his role as FSG's founder and chairman to cover his shadowy activities. 'Erik wants to be a real, no-shit mercenary,' said the associate. 'Erik hides in the shadows ... and uses [FSG] for legitimacy.'" It's unclear what, if anything, the DOJ has done with the info Wray & Hur provided to the Department. But as we know, Erik is still skulking around the globe. And lying about his nefarious activities.
AND in News Not Necessarily Related to Trump's Corruption:
A Diversion from The Tale of the Weasel & the Lemmings. Maybe you've forgotten this guy:
... Thanks to MAG for the lead. You can buy a copy of A Day in the Life of Marlon Bundo at BetterBundoBook.com, if only to annoy mike pence. ...
... Also to annoy mike pence & the Horse's Ass he rode in on, Jim Comey's book -- even tho it won't come out for a month -- is at the top of Amazon's best-seller list (thanks in large part to this weekend's Trumpertantrums). And mike pence's bunny book is not.
Helene Cooper, et al., of the New York Times: "The leader of an ill-fated team of American soldiers in Niger last fall warned before the mission that his troops did not have the equipment or intelligence necessary to carry out a kill-or-capture raid against a local militant, according to preliminary findings of a continuing Defense Department investigation. In a departure from normal lines of authority, the report concludes, the Oct. 4 mission was not approved by senior military officials up the chain of command in West Africa and Germany. Instead, it was ordered by a junior officer, according to two Defense Department officials. Four American soldiers and five Nigeriens were killed when the unit was ambushed. The two officials said Defense Secretary Jim Mattis and Gen. Joseph F. Dunford Jr., the Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman, are troubled that low-level officers are being blamed for the botched mission instead of senior commanders who should be aware when American troops are undertaking a high-risk raid."
Sarah Ferris, et al., of Politico: "Congressional leaders and top White House officials are clearing the way for a massive $1.3 trillion spending bill, scrapping several last-minute attempts to tack on controversial policy riders ahead of a Friday deadline to fund the government. The president also asked GOP leaders over the weekend to include a short-term patch shielding Dreamers from deportation for 2.5 years in return for $25 billion in wall funding. But Democrats -- whose votes are needed for passage -- balked at the idea, and Republicans appear ready to drop it. Roughly $900 million in transportation funding for a massive New York-New Jersey infrastructure project is also expected to get sidelined because of Trump's veto threat.... Gone too are conservative demands to defund Planned Parenthood or cut off money to sanctuary cities that protect undocumented immigrants.... Lawmakers have just four days until funding runs dry." Read on for more details.
Burgess Everett of Politico: "The Koch network has a rare message for ... Donald Trump: Take the Democrats' immigration deal. A trio of organizations supported by Charles and David Koch is urging Trump to accept congressional Democrats' weekend offer, which would deliver $25 billion for a border wall and security in exchange for a pathway to citizenship for 1.8 million young immigrants, according to officials in the Koch network. The White House was unwilling to accept the deal, instead offering Democrats a two-and-a-half-year extension of protections for so-called Dreamers facing deportation in return for wall money and dropping their demands for cuts to legal immigration..., but Democrats were unwilling to strike a permanent deal on wall funding in exchange for a temporary solution for Dreamers."
** Robert Barnes of the Washington Post: "The Supreme Court on Monday turned down a request from Republican legislative leaders in Pennsylvania to block a redrawn congressional map that creates more parity between the political parties in the state. The practical impact is the 2018 elections are likely to be held under a map much more favorable to Democrats, who scored an apparent victory last week in a special election in a strongly Republican congressional district. The 2011 map that has been used this decade has resulted in Republicans consistently winning 13 of the state's 18 congressional seats.... The U.S. Supreme Court deliberated nearly two weeks before turning down the request to stop the map from being used in this fall's elections. Generally the justices stay out of the way when a state's highest court is interpreting its own state constitution."
Richard Wolf of USA Today: "The Supreme Court refused again Monday to decide whether the death penalty is unconstitutional. The action came in a case from Arizona in which lawyers asked the court to strike down both the state's capital punishment system and the nation's. The court's four liberal justices said Arizona's system, under which most defendants convicted of first-degree murder are eligible for the death penalty, may be unconstitutional. But they said the case was not ready for the high court's review." (Also linked yesterday.)
News Ledes
CNN: "Authorities responded to a shooting at Great Mills High School in Maryland on Tuesday morning, the St. Mary's County Sheriff's Office said. The event has been contained, the sheriff's office said. The school was on lockdown for a brief time but students are now being evacuated from Great Mills High School to a reunification center at a nearby high school, the school district said." ...
... Washington PostUpdate: "A student opened fire at Great Mills High School in Southern Maryland Tuesday morning, critically injuring a female student before he was confronted by a school resource officer, according to the St. Mary's County Sheriff's Office. The officer and gunman both fired nearly simultaneously in a school hallway, authorities said. They said the gunman, identified as 17-year-old Austin Wyatt Rollins, was mortally wounded, but it was not clear whether he was shot by the officer or hit by his own round at the school 70 miles south of Washington, D.C. A third student was shot in the incident but it not immediately clear by whom. Sheriff Timothy K. Cameron said at an afternoon press conference the shooter and two students, ages 16 and 14, were rushed to the hospital. The school resource officer, St. Mary's County Sheriff's Deputy Blaine Gaskill, was not injured, the sheriff said."
New York Times: "A package that exploded early Tuesday at a FedEx center near San Antonio was being looked at by officials involved in the investigation into a series of deadly explosions in Austin, Tex." ...
... New Detail: "On Tuesday, a sixth bomb, this one unexploded, forced the shutdown of a FedEx facility near Austin's airport. Officials have launched a sweeping manhunt, both forensic and physical, for the bomber, whose identity and motive remain unknown." ...
... AP Update: "Austin authorities say emergency personnel are responding to another reported explosion, this one at a Goodwill store in the southern part of the city. Austin-Travis County EMS tweeted Thursday evening that at least one person was injured but that details about the severity of those injuries and the explosion itself were unknown. It would mark the sixth explosion in the Austin area since March 2. So far, two people have been killed and four others seriously wounded."
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