If only we couldn't see the evidence for ourselves

Depends on what the meaning of "pushed" is.  Usually, all caps in a Tweet is considered shouting.




Released many what?

What this country needs is more corporate tax cuts

President Trump said in a television interview that a second round of tax cuts may include an additional reduction to the corporate tax rate, from 21 percent to 20 percent.

"One of the things we’re thinking about is bringing the 21 percent down to 20, and for the most part the rest of it will go right to the middle class," Trump told Maria Bartiromo in an interview that will air Sunday on Fox News Channel's "Sunday Morning Futures."

[...]

The 21 percent rate was higher than many Republicans had initially wanted, and Trump sought a 15 percent rate during his campaign. Earlier versions of the tax bill included a corporate rate of 20 percent.

  The Hill

Yeah, the Democrats got a great big 1% increase as a compromise deal. So much for deals with the GOP. If they didn't learn in 8 years of Obama's compromises, they're never going to learn.

While House Republicans intend to vote on a "phase two" of tax cuts this fall, it's unclear whether the Senate will follow suit. It's considered unlikely that the Senate would pass such a measure.

Trump said in the Fox News interview that action on the second phase would be "probably in October, maybe a little sooner."

Because when people go to the polls, they can only carry their most recent memories of what Congress and the President have done to them.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

The Supreme Court just got even more important

This case could possibly make Trump's pardons water tight. Criminal indemnity for Manafort, et al. Whomever he appoints to replace Kennedy will have his marching orders as to how to vote on this one.

The Supreme Court on Thursday agreed to hear a case in the fall to consider whether the double jeopardy clause of the Fifth Amendment bars states and the federal government from separately trying the same person for the same criminal offense.

[...]

"Current precedent allows such prosecutions by 'separate sovereigns.' If the court overrules its prior precedent, it could make it more difficult for a state to try someone who has been pardoned by the federal government if trial proceedings had already begun for the federal offense," said Stephen Vladeck, CNN's Supreme Court analyst and a law professor at the University of Texas School of Law.

[...]

The court's decision to consider the case comes a day after the end of the court's summer session.

  CNN

The stars are aligning in Satan's favor.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

About that oil production tweet

Aside from his usual outlandish exaggerating, w're to believe it was Trump's call this morning that got them to increase production, eh?

Saudi Arabia said on Saturday that it was substantially increasing oil production in an effort to cool down rising prices and head off potential future shortages.

Khalid al-Falih, the Saudi energy minister, told journalists at the headquarters of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries here that Saudi Aramco, the national oil company, was already in the process of ramping up production to increase exports from Saudi ports in July. “Ships have been scheduled, and it will be hitting the markets, I assume, in August,” he said.

  NYT

Hell, Trump probably didn't even make a phone call this morning, unless it was one to Sean Hannity who told him the Saudis were increasing oil output and he should claim responsibility.

While declining to give a specific number, Mr. Falih said the kingdom would be increasing output by “hundreds of thousands, not tens of thousands, of barrels” — a substantial amount.

Not two million?

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

Trump's October surprise

Barring an unexpected change, the Donald J. Trump Foundation will be defending itself in a New York courtroom shortly before this fall’s midterm elections. The proceedings seem unlikely to go well for the institution and its leadership; President Trump and his elder children, Ivanka, Donald, Jr., and Eric, are being sued by New York’s attorney general, Barbara Underwood, for using the charity to enrich and benefit the Trump family. On Tuesday, the judge in the case, Saliann Scarpulla, made a series of comments and rulings from the bench that hinted—well, all but screamed—that she believes the Trump family has done some very bad things.

[...]

At one point, she told a lawyer for the Trump children that they should just settle out of court and voluntarily agree to one of the sanctions: a demand by the Attorney General that they not serve on the boards of any nonprofits for one year. [...] Judge Scarpulla made clear that she felt the children should agree to the sanction now, and that, if they don’t, she will probably impose a similar restriction “with or without your agreement.”

[...]

As David Fahrenthold, of the Washington Post, exposed in a series of stories in 2016, the Foundation did virtually none of the charitable things it claimed to be doing.

[...]

The organization had been operating this way for years, but, according to Underwood, in 2016 the Trump Foundation became an arm of the Trump political campaign, cutting checks to Trump’s political allies in key states just before the election. If true, this would mean that the Trump Foundation evolved from a mere tax-avoidance scheme into an instrument for carrying out potential acts of campaign-finance fraud. The Attorney General made clear that her evidence could support criminal cases against the Trumps, but she has no jurisdiction to bring such charges, since tax and campaign fraud are federal matters. She referred the case to federal officials, though it seems unlikely that the I.R.S. or the Federal Election Commission would choose to prosecute a sitting President or his children.

  New Yorker

Is there a statute of limitations on it? Trump absolutely has to keep his office. Otherwise, there are too many issues now brought to light that he and his evil spawn can be prosecuted for after he gets turned out.

During Tuesday’s hearing, the Trump Foundation’s lawyer, Alan Futerfas, asked that the trial not commence in October, because it was so close to the midterms. Judge Scarpulla laughed in response, did not change the trial date, and hinted that she is likely to require the President to testify.

I hope she has good bodyguards.

A series of subpoenaed e-mails and a fascinating deposition offer a glimpse into the work of a mysterious figure, Allen Weisselberg, who has handled Donald Trump’s finances for as long as he’s had any. First hired by the President’s father, Fred Trump, Weisselberg has been the one steady presence in the Trump Organization for the entire period that Donald Trump has run the company. [...] While there are traditional titles, such as general counsel or senior vice-president of operations, there is no standard business hierarchy. Trump, before he became President, would tell people what they should do with no clear regard for consistency. [...] Trump, rather famously, rarely concerned himself with details and often forgot who had received which assignments and how different deals were structured.

[...]

[I]t is only Weisselberg who can recount the essence of the Trump Organization from the beginning of Donald Trump’s involvement: in the nineteen-seventies, when the company first discriminated against African-Americans; in the eighties, when Trump appears to have been in business with the New York mafia; in the nineties, when Trump’s casino was in violation of anti-money-laundering laws; and through the aughts, as Trump developed ties to many Russian and former-Soviet oligarchs and political figures.

[...]

The Trump Foundation case may have already revealed a potential rift between Weisselberg and the family. His deposition in the case is fascinating reading. Weisselberg makes it quite clear just how sloppy an operation the foundation was, with no meetings and no careful accounting. In a compelling exchange, Weisselberg describes how he flew to Iowa with a checkbook to give money to political allies of Trump, then a Presidential candidate, and he makes it clear that he did this because his boss told him to.

Canada's answer to steel tariffs

Aside from the retaliatory tariffs Canada is placing on varioius US imports, they're making up for the loss to Canadian steel and aluminum companies due to Trump's tariffs on them.



So, the tariffs on Canadian steel and aluminum will only harm US workers and consumers.  Well played, Trade-Wars-Are-EasyAsshat.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

He'll say anything - Part whatever

At least he corrected the part about having a friend.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

Tremendous respect

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

UPDATE 7/2:

The staff of the Annapolis, Md., newspaper released a letter on Sunday to thank those who have offered support in the aftermath of the shooting.

“We won’t forget being called an enemy of the people,” the staff wrote. “No, we won’t forget that. Because exposing evil, shining light on wrongs and fighting injustice is what we do.”

  The Hill

We don't need no steenkeen UN

The U.N.’s migration agency snubbed the Trump administration’s candidate to lead it on Friday, a major blow to U.S. leadership of a body addressing one of the world’s most pressing issues — and only the second time that it won’t be run by an American since 1951.

Portuguese Socialist and former European Union commissioner Antonio Vitorino won a race to be the next director-general of the International Organization for Migration.

[...]

Trump has also yanked the United States out of the Global Compact for Migration — a fact that several diplomats, who requested anonymity because they were not authorized to speak on the record about the balloting, cited as a worrying sign about U.S. policies on an issue that has vast implications around the world.

[...]

“This IOM election really was not about Ken Isaacs, for whom I have a lot of respect as a humanitarian,” [Mark Hetfield, a self-described friend of Isaacs who heads the humanitarian group HIAS] said. “The election was an international referendum rejecting President Trump and his xenophobic, Islamophobic and isolationist policies.”

  TPM

That goes without saying that it's about Trump, but it's also about the US candidate: Ken Isaacs.

Isaacs himself had been on the defensive over retweets and other social media comments that some critics viewed as anti-Muslim, so much so that he shut down his Twitter account. After that, he carefully stage-managed his media appearances and kept to script — with State Department handlers advising him or in tow.

Isaacs, a vice president at the evangelical Christian humanitarian group Samaritan’s Purse led by Pastor Franklin Graham, met with dozens of government officials during his months-long bid — working diligently to put to rest suspicions and pointing to his track record in the field and as a manager.

[...]

Playing in Isaacs’ favor, along with the legacy of U.S. leadership, was money: The United States is traditionally the single biggest donor to the IOM, followed closely by the European Union.

One diplomat said “the change is surprising,” before alluding to Trump: “Maybe he will get the message.”

The message he'll get is he has to hit back.

I'm waiting for the day Trump kicks the UN out of the US.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

Hard to believe its 2018

Sens. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.), Cory Booker (D-N.J.) and Tim Scott (R-S.C.) — the Senate's only African-American lawmakers — rolled out legislation on Friday to make lynching a federal crime.

The legislation would make lynching — "the willful act of murder by a collection of people assembled with the intention of committing an act of violence upon any person" — punishable as a hate crime.

“Lynching is a dark, despicable part of our history, and we must acknowledge that, lest we repeat it,” Harris said in a statement on Friday.

Booker added that Congress's inability to pass anti-lynching legislation is "a travesty."

In addition to Booker and Harris, who are both viewed as potential 2020 White House contenders, 18 other Democratic senators and Independent Sens. Bernie Sanders (Vt.) and Angus King (Maine) are supporting the legislation.

Scott, the Senate's only black GOP senator, is the only Republican who has signed on to the bill so far.

[...]

Congress has tried but failed to pass anti-lynching legislation roughly 200 times since 1918, according to Harris's office. In 2005, the Senate passed a resolution apologizing to lynching victims.

  The Hill

How do you apologize to dead people?

Who is voting against this?

Old Farts get arrested

A group of senior citizen protesters who have dubbed themselves the “Old Farts” were arrested while demonstrating outside of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) office in Philadelphia on Friday.

Six protesters were arrested for refusing to move from blocking the building, according to WHYY, Philadelphia's National Public Radio affiliate.

[...]

An ICE detention center in Portland, Ore., was closed for more than eight days after being swarmed by protesters. Demonstrators who had camped out at the facility were removed on Thursday by police wearing riot gear.

Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) was arrested, along with hundreds of women, at the Senate Hart Office Building in Washington, D.C., on Thursday as part of the #WomenDisobey sit-in.

Thousands are expected to demonstration on Saturday through the Families Belong Together marches planned in D.C. and in all 50 states.

  The Hill

Find yours.

Border policy protests: find one near you

Link

Stalin in the White House

Combining the best traits of Stalin and Hitler.



You will rue the day you made a fool of your president!

Backstory

NO COLLUSION!

The Friends of Russia money laundering group.

I'm waiting for His Lardship to say he never met Arron Banks.

Arron Banks, a British financier who bankrolled the campaign for Britain to leave the European Union, has long bragged about his “boozy six-hour lunch” with the Russian ambassador eight months before the vote.

Some also wondered about Mr. Banks’s Russian-born wife and their custom license plate, X MI5 SPY, after the British intelligence agency, MI5.

[...]

Now, a leaked record of some of Mr. Banks’s emails suggest that he and his closest adviser had a more engaged relationship with Russian diplomats than he has disclosed.

While Mr. Banks was spending more than eight million British pounds to promote a break with the European Union — an outcome the Russians eagerly hoped for — his contacts at the Russian Embassy in London were opening the door to at least three potentially lucrative investment opportunities in Russian-owned gold or diamond mines.

One of Mr. Banks’s business partners, and a fellow backer of Britain’s exit from the European Union, or Brexit, took the Russians up on at least one of the deals.

Much as in Washington, where investigations are underway into the possibility that Donald J. Trump’s campaign may have cooperated with the Russians, Britain is now grappling with whether Moscow tried to use its close ties with any British citizens to promote Brexit.

In Washington, the investigators for the special prosecutor, Robert S. Mueller III, and Democrats on the House Intelligence Committee have also obtained records of Mr. Banks’s communications, including some with Russian diplomats and about Russian business deals.

And they have taken a special interest in close ties Mr. Banks and other Brexit leaders built to the Trump campaign.

On Nov. 12, 2016, Mr. Banks met President-elect Trump in Trump Tower. Upon his return to London, Mr. Banks had another lunch with the Russian ambassador where they discussed the Trump visit.

  NYT

Mr. Mueller's team has a viper's nest to unravel.

The first contacts between Mr. Banks and the Russian Embassy came in September 2015, during a conference for the pro-Brexit United Kingdom Independent Party, or UKIP.

He and [his media advisor, Andrew] Wigmore met a Russian diplomat, Alexander Udod, who was later among a list of 23 suspected spies expelled from Britain after the recent poisoning of a former Russia spy, Sergei V. Skripal, on British soil.

In the interview, Mr. Banks said he and Mr. Wigmore had asked Mr. Udod if they could meet the ambassador, “because we thought it would be interesting.”

"Interesting."

At the first meeting with the ambassador, over lunch, Mr. Banks recalled in his memoir, the ambassador served him a special bottle of vodka that he claimed was made for Stalin.

And Banks believed him. "Easy mark, here, Vladimir."

In August, Mr. Banks had lunch with the Russian ambassador and discussed the Trump campaign. At their lunch after Mr. Trump’s victory in November, the two men discussed what role Jeff Sessions, then a senator, might play in the cabinet, according to people who have reviewed the records of his emails.

Mr. Banks, though, said he doubted that the Russians had cultivated him for reasons other than routine trade promotion.

"Very easy."

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

Eradicating

Another Nazi tweet about eradicating elements.

Yes, it's very brave to jail unarmed men and women and take their children away.  So brave.

I wasn't before, but now that I see Ivanka and Pompeo talking about her "advocacy on behalf of the victims of #humantrafficking," I am wondering if those missing children being torn from their parents at the border are being funneled into sex trade.  Ever since Karl Rove wrote the playbook, it's been a given that whenever GOP are accusing their rivals of something the citizens wouldn't like, the truth is that's what the GOP are doing.  You can bet on it.







And what was your end of the Devil's bargain?

UPDATE:

Whatever his end of it was, it was too much to pay:






Drezner is right.  And Trump was lying - of course.

Activist judges: losing faith in the US Constitution

First Citizens United, now the Muslim ban.  It turns out the US Constitution wasn't bullet proof. 

Listen to Mehdi Hasan's interview of Rep. Keith Ellison and activist Debbie Almontaser regarding the consequences of the Supreme Court's decision to uphold Donald Trump's Muslim ban.  This, together with the child internment policy at the border, make up the Constitutional crisis people keep warning about, and don't seem to recognize when it hits.

It's hard not to give up on this country; maybe they can help us.

Deconstructed:  The White Supremacy Court Upholds the Muslim Ban

Abolish ICE

And then address REAL prison reform.  We are not rehabilitating ANYbody in prison.  We're making them more broken, and thus more dangerous to society.

He just wants to be in good with whomever wins

I guess he figured the Dems are probably going to win the House.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

No! There couldn't possibly be any white supremacists at DHS

The actual white supremacist 14 words are: "We must secure the existence of our people and a future for white children."  

Did they not address the 88?

Yeah, yeah, all lefties are conspiracy theorists.  Nothing to see here.

Have to agree.  That 88 is awkward, at best.  And the 14 words could be a little suspect. I'm not saying the whole of DHS is a hive of Nazis - although it could be.  But, whoever is writing their propaganda seems to know the jargon.

The Department of Homeland Security has prepared new guidance for immigration agents aimed at speeding up deportations by denying asylum claims earlier in the process.

The new guidelines, contained in a draft memo dated February 17 but not yet sent to field offices, directs agents to only pass applicants who have a good chance of ultimately getting asylum, but does not give specific criteria for establishing credible fear of persecution if sent home.

[...]

The administration's plan is to leave wide discretion to asylum officers by allowing them to determine which applications have a "significant possibility" of being approved by an immigration court, the sources said.

[...]

In 2015, just 18 percent of asylum applicants whose cases were ruled on by immigration judges were granted asylum, according to the Justice Department.

  Reuters

So, it was already pretty darned low.

Asylum seekers who fail the credible fear test can be quickly deported unless they file an appeal. Currently, those who pass the test are eventually released and allowed to remain in the United States awaiting hearings, which are often scheduled years into the future because of a backlog of more than 500,000 cases in immigration courts.

But Trump says we don't need more judges. We just need ICE and the border patrol.

A congressional aide familiar with the administration’s plans said DHS is considering expanding its contracts with private prison companies like GEO Group and CoreCivic , which currently hold most immigrant detainees.

  Reuters

But not more judges. That would be silly.






Last report I saw, there were now 334 judges with the hopes of adding 100 more.

Pentagon change in mission statement

For at least two decades, the Department of Defense has explicitly defined its mission on its website as providing “the military forces needed to deter war and to protect the security of our country.” But earlier this year, it quietly changed that statement, perhaps suggesting a more ominous approach to national security.

The Pentagon’s official website now defines its mission this way: “The mission of the Department of Defense is to provide a lethal Joint Force to defend the security of our country and sustain American influence abroad.”

  Task and Purpose

To me, this reflects one of the most obvious changes since Trump took office: the gloves are off. America is now free to say out loud what it has always pretended it was too noble and high minded to do, which all along, it was actually doing it.

"Perhaps suggesting," is just more weasel reporting.  If modern journalism were what it should be, we might not have had to suffer the disconnect from reality that has led us into a deep decay of democracy and responsibility.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

This is why I discount the scare over abortion rights after Justice Kennedy

The Iowa Supreme Court on Friday blocked a law requiring a 72-hour waiting period before a woman can get an abortion.

The court ruled that the law violates the Iowa Constitution, siding with a lawsuit filed by Planned Parenthood of Iowa and the American Civil Liberties Union of Iowa. The organizations sued the state over the law approved by lawmakers last year.

[...]

Planned Parenthood argued that the court “should join the high courts in numerous other states that have found that the right to choose abortion warrants greater protection than has been afforded under the federal Constitution.” The organization said supreme courts in 12 states had made such rulings.

  TPM

Iowa, people. Iowa doesn't want to further restrict a woman's right to an abortion.

I'm pretty sure these conservative states don't want to ban abortion because their men don't want to pay child support, but whatever the reason, I don't think the right to abortion is going to be seriously curtailed in this country.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

Here's another surprise

The accused Capital Gazette murderer was a misogynist.  How many of the mass shooters have turned out to have a past of abuse of women?  It seems to be a very common thread.

In July 2011, an article in a Maryland newspaper titled "Jarrod wants to be your friend" told of how a man had befriended a former female high school classmate on Facebook and began a "yearlong nightmare" of harassing her over the Internet.

The article published in the Capital Gazette identified the man as Jarrod Warren Ramos -- the suspect in Thursday's deadly shooting at the Maryland paper's newsroom.

Nearly seven years ago, Ramos pleaded guilty to a harassment charge in the District Court of Maryland, according to court documents.

After connecting on Facebook, Ramos sent the woman messages asking for help, calling her vulgar names, and telling her to kill herself, according to the Gazette article, written by former staffer Eric Thomas Hartley.

[...]

Court records show that a year later, in July 2012, Ramos filed a complaint against Hartley and the newspaper, alleging he was defamed by the story.

Months later, Ramos filed another complaint and added a charge of invasion of privacy. The case was eventually dismissed.

[...]

Threats against the paper had been made as recently as the day of the shooting, Anne Arundel County Deputy Police Chief Bill Krampf said. The threats were general in nature but indicated violence, Krampf said.

  CNN

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

UPDATE 7/2:

The staff of the Annapolis, Md., newspaper released a letter on Sunday to thank those who have offered support in the aftermath of the shooting.

“We won’t forget being called an enemy of the people,” the staff wrote. “No, we won’t forget that. Because exposing evil, shining light on wrongs and fighting injustice is what we do.”

  The Hill

What's that you say about the great economic growth?

Economic growth in the first quarter was slower than initially reported, well below the Trump administration's expectations.

The economy expanded at an annual rate of 2 percent in the January to March quarter, down from the previous estimate of 2.2 percent, the Commerce Department reported in its third and final estimate on Thursday.

[...]

President Trump has been riding high on solid jobs numbers, arguing that his economic strategy of lower taxes and fewer regulations is driving better results.

But there is growing anxiety that Trump's tit-for-tat tariffs with key allies and China could risk any gains from the new tax law implemented earlier this year.

Economists are expecting stronger growth in the April to June quarter, with estimates around 4 percent.

  The Hill

So, the expectations were not met, but we're still expecting big numbers.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

Put the pressure on every one of them

Perhaps especially the feckless cunt, who proudly announces she doesn't really care.

A group of protesters waited for the first lady to arrive at the facility with a balloon depicting President Trump in a Ku Klux Klan outfit across the street from the Southwest Key migrant holding facility, according to local reporters.

Southwest Key is a nonprofit that runs 26 immigrant shelter facilities for children across Texas, Arizona and California.

The first lady, who arrived in Tucson, Ariz., earlier Tuesday morning for her second visit to an immigrant holding facility in a week, made the stop at the Phoenix shelter for migrant children shortly after.

  The Hill

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

We don't need no steenkeen international law

The Mexican government’s human rights arm, along with its counterparts from Colombia, Ecuador, Guatemala and Honduras, launched a formal complaint against the Trump administration at the Organization of American States.

[...]

In appealing to the OAS, the five agencies are invoking a little-known tool in international law. Since the 1948 launch of the OAS, the United States has been bound by the terms of the Inter-American Declaration of the Rights and Duties of Man, known as the Bogotá Declaration. The most significant human rights document up to that time (the United Nations Declaration on Human Rights came shortly thereafter), it obliged the states of the Americas to protect “the right to life, liberty and the security” of every human being, to give protection to families and to grant “all children … the right to special protection, care and aid.

[...]

After Wednesday’s executive order, the Mexican human rights agency reiterated its complaint, sent monitors to the northern border and called on governments around the world to “form a united front” against Trump’s migration policies and the ongoing detentions and separations.

  Politico

Good luck with that. No other country has yet managed to put the brakes on any US policy. Maybe the tariff situation will be different, but human rights? That's ours to abuse and has been ever since the first Brits set foot on the continent.  Hey, we even usurped the very name America from all other countries on both North and South American continents.

Mexico’s complaint now goes to the OAS’ Inter-American Commission of Human Rights. This is a panel of seven human rights experts (currently all non-U.S. nationals) empowered to ask member states to change their policies or make other types of reparations for human rights abuses.

Anybody can ask. The answer is always going to be: butt out. (See, eg, Nikki Haley's response to the UN report on poverty in America.)

In urgent situations in which there is a risk of irreversible damage, the commission can also order what are called “precautionary measures” to safeguard rights—something Mexico specifically asked for on the separation policy, which represented in its view a “total contempt for the rights of children” that posed “irreparable harm” to them.

If the commission orders precautionary measures or ultimately finds the U.S. in violation of the Bogotá Declaration, there’s an open question about what happens next.

Wait. I think I know. We tell them to butt out.

There’s no enforcement mechanism that applies to the United States; most Latin American countries signed up for the more enforceable obligations of a 1978 convention, which includes the ability to order monetary penalties against states that violate human rights, but the Carter administration was unable to persuade Congress to ratify it.

Oooh, color me surprised.

The most the other signatories to the Bogatá conventions can do is kick us out. Pretty sure we don't care.

In a landmark 2011 decision, the first of its kind, the commission ruled that the United States had failed to protect the human rights of Jessica Gonzales. In that case, Castle Rock, Colorado, police had failed to enforce a restraining order against her estranged husband, who then abducted and killed her three kids. The U.S. Supreme Court heard her case, and found her constitutional rights had not been violated as a matter of U.S. law. Undeterred, Gonzales then took her case to the commission, which sided with her and confirmed U.S. obligations to fight gender bias in law enforcement. Far from objecting to these proceedings, the George W. Bush administration, and then the Obama administration acknowledged the gravity of the situation, showed up and argued their case—moves that gave the process the implicit if not explicit U.S. seal of approval. The commission’s decision gave Gonzales a tool to push for domestic policy change, which ultimately culminated in a new Justice Department policy on gender bias in 2015.

And how's that going?

This legally binding quality sets the OAS’ decisions apart from interventions in other multinational venues. The various trade and investment tribunals around the world lack subject matter jurisdiction over migrants. The U.S. has opted out of compulsory jurisdiction of the global International Court of Justice, and the Trump administration withdrew from the U.N. Human Rights Council on Tuesday—echoing an earlier decision by George W. Bush not to join during his term. The U.S. can leave the council without leaving the U.N., whereas the U.S. would have to leave the OAS entirely to avoid being bound by commission decisions.

In the words of Dick Cheney, "So what?"

Trump actually does need the OAS. The OAS is the main organ through which the United States puts pressure on Venezuela and Cuba—a major priority among Florida voters Trump needs to keep in his column heading into the next election. The OAS has regional legitimacy that the administration lacks, and to give this up would be geopolitically and electorally risky.

Has there been any indication at all in Trump's presidency that he cares about geopolitical risk? Electoral risk, perhaps, but the people he's counting on voting for him don't give any more fucks than he does about human rights.

While most of the isolationists and hawks at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. may not care about such signals, members of Congress may care more if a body with legitimacy throughout the Americas weighs in—not just on an individual rights violation like Gonzales’, but against an overall policy stance of the U.S. government.

Not the Republicans. Time to join the reality based world and recognize that none of the past moral - or, indeed, legal - restraints on this country are functional.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

Behind the scenes on Justice Kennedy's retirement

President Trump singled him out for praise even while attacking other members of the Supreme Court. The White House nominated people close to him to important judicial posts. And members of the Trump family forged personal connections.

[...]

Allies of the White House [warned] the 81-year-old justice that time was of the essence. There was no telling, they said, what would happen if Democrats gained control of the Senate after the November elections and had the power to block the president’s choice as his successor.

There were no direct efforts to pressure or lobby Justice Kennedy to announce his resignation on Wednesday.

  NYT

Says who?

But in subtle and not so subtle ways, the White House waged a quiet campaign to ensure that Mr. Trump had a second opportunity in his administration’s first 18 months to fulfill one of his most important campaign promises to his conservative followers — that he would change the complexion and direction of the Supreme Court.

[...]

In the meantime, as the White House turned to stocking the lower courts, it did not overlook Justice Kennedy’s clerks. Mr. Trump nominated three of them to federal appeals courts: Judges Stephanos Bibas and Michael Scudder, both of whom have been confirmed, and Eric Murphy, the Ohio solicitor general, whom Mr. Trump nominated to the Sixth Circuit this month.

One person who knows both men remarked on the affinity between Mr. Trump and Justice Kennedy, which is not obvious at first glance.

[...]

Mr. Trump was quick to note in the moments after his first address to Congress in February 2017. As he made his way out of the chamber, Mr. Trump paused to chat with the justice.

“Say hello to your boy,” Mr. Trump said. “Special guy.”

Mr. Trump was apparently referring to Justice Kennedy’s son, Justin. The younger Mr. Kennedy spent more than a decade at Deutsche Bank, eventually rising to become the bank’s global head of real estate capital markets, and he worked closely with Mr. Trump when he was a real estate developer, according to two people with knowledge of his role.

Deutsche Bank, the mob money launderer where Trump got his loans when no other bank was willing to take the risk.

About a week before the presidential address, Ivanka Trump had paid a visit to the Supreme Court as a guest of Justice Kennedy. The two had met at a lunch after the inauguration, and Ms. Trump brought along her daughter, Arabella Kushner. Occupying seats reserved for special guests, they saw the justices announce several decisions and hear an oral argument.

[...]

If the overtures to Justice Kennedy from the White House were subtle, the warnings from its allies were blunt. Last month, Senator Charles E. Grassley of Iowa, the Republican chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, went on Hugh Hewitt’s radio program to issue an urgent plea.

“My message to any one of the nine Supreme Court justices,” he said, was, “‘If you’re thinking about quitting this year, do it yesterday.’”

[...]

There is nothing particularly unusual in urging older justices to retire for partisan reasons. During the Obama administration, prominent liberals called for Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg to retire so that Mr. Obama could name her successor.

But she didn't, did she?

Justice Kennedy waited until the last day of the term to announce his retirement. The move disappointed liberals who had hoped that he would not want Mr. Trump to name his successor. But the justice, saying he wanted to spend more time with his family, betrayed no hesitation.

[...]

Justice Kennedy visited the White House on Wednesday to tell Mr. Trump of his retirement and to deliver a letter setting out the details. Its warm opening words — “My dear Mr. President” — acknowledged a cordial relationship between the two men, as well as the success of the White House’s strategy.

Spend more time with his family. That's the code all politicians and officials have used for "I'm about to be outed for something illegal or immoral."

I still think the Trumps have something on Kennedy. You don't get close to that family and come out clean.

UPDATE:

Well, I think it is.

Speaking of America's poor...

“It is patently ridiculous for the United Nations to examine poverty in America,” [US ambassador to the UN Nikki] Haley said in a letter to Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.).

“The Special Rapporteur wasted the UN’s time and resources, deflecting attention from the world’s worst human rights abusers and focusing instead on the wealthiest and freest country in the world.”

  The Hill

What is "patently ridiculous" is Nikki Haley. Just because the Trump administration is delusional, doesn't mean the rest of us can't see straight. America being the wealthtiest country, maybe. The freest? Hardly. The deflecting is being done by Haley when she implies "the world's worst human rights abusers" are countries other than the US. An interesting claim to make when the treatment of asylum seekers at the border is top news.

Sanders, along with several Democratic lawmakers in both chambers, earlier this month sent a letter to Haley asking her to show President Trump the conclusions of the report published by the United Nations Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights.

[...]

The report said American democracy "is being steadily undermined" and provided several suggestions for how to alleviate poverty in the U.S. The recommendations said American citizens must realize taxes "are in their interest" and that the U.S. "must recognize a right to health care."

[...]

The report blamed poverty in the United States on politics.

“At the end of the day, however, particularly in a rich country like the United States, the persistence of extreme poverty is a political choice made by those in power,” the report reads. “With political will, it could readily be eliminated.”

[...]

Sanders quickly responded to Haley, saying he believes “it is totally appropriate” for the United Nations to publish a report on poverty in America.

“I hope you will agree that in a nation in which the top three people own more wealth than the bottom half, we can and must do much better than that,” Sanders wrote in his reply.

[...]

Sanders and the other Democrats called upon the Trump administration to provide Congress with a strategy to act on suggestions made in the United Nations report.

Yeah, maybe they could call upon Democratic presidents when they're in office, too.

 ...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

San Diego's outrageous law against the poor

San Diego County’s Project 100% requires anyone applying for California’s welfare program, CalWORKs, to agree to an unscheduled home inspection as part of the application process. Investigators look for evidence that verifies eligibility, like children’s clothing for someone claiming to be a single mom, or signs that the applicant’s been untruthful — like men’s clothing in the single-mom applicant’s home.

On Tuesday the ACLU of San Diego and Imperial Counties filed a lawsuit arguing the program disproportionately targets women and people of color, who make up a majority of CalWORKs applicants, and violates California’s anti-discrimination laws.

“The bottom line is that (Project 100%) forces only the poor to open their doors to county investigators,” said ACLU staff attorney Jonathan Markovitz. “It does this to people who are not suspected of any wrongdoing whatsoever.”

Project 100%, which has been around for three decades, is unique to San Diego County. Los Angeles County tried a similar program, but ended it after finding it ineffective.

[...]

In the past, to counter that criticism, the county touted the program’s success, repeatedly claiming home inspections saved taxpayer millions of dollars and that a quarter of all CalWORKs applicants who’d received preliminary approval were actually ineligible for benefits.

But a little-known 2014 study found serious flaws with the way the county was coding its data. The study, written by Hilda Chan, who at the time was an attorney and advocate working with San Diego-based Supportive Parents Information Network, found actual fraud was much lower.

[...]

“They were totally inflating their numbers,” Chan said in an interview. “They were counting all denials as fraud. They were counting all [application] withdrawals as fraud.”

[...]

The ACLU argues the home inspections also place an undue burden on applicants, who aren’t told when an investigator will show up.

“Applicants miss doctors appointments, cancel job interviews. It’s really a perverse irony of the program,” Markovitz said. “They feel incredible levels of stress and anxiety. They feel like they’re under house arrest.”

  Voice of San Diego

Which, of course, in effect, they are.  Surely this amounts to unreasonable search and is unconstitutional.

Voter fraud

Contrary to what the GOP would have us believe, voter fraud in the form of citizen deceit is negligible, but in the form of rigging the system to control election outcomes, it's rampant.  Here's another "legal" way to thwart democracy:

 ...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

Where's your coat, honey?

Somewhere I watched a video clip of her asking somebody at the last center she visited how long the kids were kept there, and upon being told that the average was 45 days, she said, "That's great."

Feckless cunt.

Excuse me??

What world did we quantum leap into?

As the White House faces court orders to reunite families separated at the border, immigrant children as young as 3 are being ordered into court for their own deportation proceedings, according to attorneys in Texas, California and Washington, D.C.

[...]

“We were representing a 3-year-old in court recently who had been separated from the parents. And the child — in the middle of the hearing — started climbing up on the table,” said Lindsay Toczylowski, executive director of Immigrant Defenders Law Center in Los Angeles. “It really highlighted the absurdity of what we’re doing with these kids.”

  NBC

What fucking jackoff of a judge would allow such a thing????

Toczylowski said parents typically have been tried along with young children and have explained the often-violent circumstances that led them to seek asylum in the U.S.

Yeah, what's the toddler telling the judge? How does the toddler work with his attorney to present his case?

“The parent might be the only one who knows why they fled from the home country, and the child is in a disadvantageous position to defend themselves,” Toczylowski said.

Dear god! What the fuck is wrong with these people???

Steve Lee, a UCLA child psychology professor, said expecting the children to advocate for themselves in court is an “incredibly misaligned expectation.”

What the fuck is wrong with YOU, Steve Lee? Misaligned expectation, my ass. It's ridiculous, an outrage, a travesty, and an unbelievable atrocity.

I told you this story was going to just keep getting worse.

Another case of whistleblower intimidation

ICE spokesman James Schwab resigned after his bosses instructed him to lie to the public.  While being interviewed by a reporter about it, DHS agents showed up at his door.

Read about it here at CBS.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

Got him with a taste of his own medicine

Oooh, nice one, Marcelo.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

Rosenstein has had it up to here

I bet he'd like to kick Jim Jordan in the nuts.  I know I would.



...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

UPDATE:

Extended version:



And, speaking of Jim Jordan...

He's in the hot seat on charges that he ignored sexual abuse when he was an assistant wrestling coach.  Complicit?

Trump should not even be permitted to nominate a justice

Here's why...

Recuse.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

Lock him up!

And, another mass shooting...

Five people have died and several others are "gravely injured" after a shooting Thursday at the Capital Gazette newspaper building in Annapolis, Maryland, local and federal officials say. The suspected shooter is in custody, and authorities are interrogating him, officials said at a news conference.

  NBC 4

Build that wall!  NO CRIME!  This killer surely came across the Mexican border, right?

THE ASSHAT CRIMINAL IN CHIEF IS RESPONSIBLE FOR THIS SHOOTING.  His constant ranting about journalists being the enemy of the people was bound to encourage some nutjob to kill some.  LOCK HIM UP!

Threats against journalists have been on the rise in recent years. Press freedom groups have also reported an uptick in physical assaults on journalists, particularly at campaign events and other political venues.

  CNN

I wonder why. And no, it's not "particularly at campaign events."  It's "particularly at Trump campaign events."

This son-of-a-bitch is an accessory.

Am I getting ahead of the facts here?



So, is a verbal attack on innocent journalists doing their job a verbal attack on every American?

UPDATE:

The attack may have been a personal grudge.

UPDATE:

Conservative provocateur Milo Yiannopoulos on Thursday insisted that he "wasn't being serious" when he recently told two reporters that he “can’t wait for the vigilante squads to start gunning journalists.”

  The Hill

"Conservative provocateur" must be the new euphemism for Nazi.

Also...

Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) has canceled a pair of public events after she received a “very serious death threat,” CNN reported Thursday.

[...]

"As the President has continued to lie and falsely claim that I encouraged people to assault his supporters, while also offering a veiled threat that I should 'be careful', even more individuals are leaving (threatening) messages and sending hostile mail to my office," Waters said in the statement, according to CNN.

She said there was "one very serious death threat" made against her on Monday from a person in Texas, "which is why my planned speaking engagements in Texas and Alabama were cancelled this weekend."

"This is just one in several very serious threats the United States Capitol Police are investigating in which individuals threatened to shoot, lynch, or cause me serious bodily harm," Waters said.

  The Hill

At least we have the richest defense contractors in the world

That's gotta count for something.



...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

Worrying about RBG now

She knows the stakes, though.



h/t Sheila

Fox CEO attempts to rein in Fox hosts

That should tell you how bad they're getting.

Amid growing backlash against inflammatory statements by Fox News commentators, network CEO Suzanne Scott summoned top show producers to a meeting last week and delivered a clear message: They need to be in control of their hosts and panelists.

Scott told the producers that they would be held accountable for anything said on their air, and that it was their job to head off any inappropriate remarks, according to two people with knowledge of the meeting. Appearing via video conference from Washington, D.C., to the group in New York, which also included programming executives, Scott read from a prepared script, explaining that she wanted to make sure she communicated her message precisely.

[...]

At the meeting, Scott emphasized to producers that, if something incendiary is said on their show, it is their job to get in the host’s ear and make sure they push back in the moment, according to the people familiar with the meeting.

[...]

The decision by Scott, who is in her second month as CEO, to gather the executives and producers last Wednesday and read them prepared remarks was unusual, said the people familiar with the meeting, and not something they were aware had ever happened before. With several national advertisers having dropped Fox News shows in recent months and an increasing number of prominent voices speaking out against the network, the top-rated channel finds itself at a delicate moment.

  Politico

Being the top-rated channel, you'd think the CEO would be happy with the output. It's a bit of a conundrum. Top-rated, but losing advertisers.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

O Canada

(He loves their anthem.  But he likes ours better.  He said so.)

Ottawa Mayor Jim Watson is skipping the U.S. ambassador's annual party in protest over U.S. attacks on Canadian industries.

The U.S. ambassador to Canada traditionally throws a large party on July 4, Independence Day, a national holiday south of the border, at the ambassador's official residence in Ottawa.

The event, hosted this year by Ambassador Kelly Knight Craft, often attracts thousands of people from Ottawa's political circles.

Watson said with the current U.S. administration he didn't think it was right to attend.

"I've politely declined because I'm not happy with the direction of the American government and their constant attacks on our country," he said.

[...]

Coun. Mathieu Fleury is also declining his invitation. He said he has no problem with the local embassy staff, but has been disappointed with both the U.S. trade policy and their stance on refugees and migrants.

"For me it would be hypocritical to be critical of the Trump administration and then attend this event."

  CBC

It's going to be a small party this year.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

Megamouth in North Dakota

At a rally in North Dakota on Wednesday, President Donald Trump made the baseless claim that the “very special guy” (Kennedy) chose to retire during his presidency because Kennedy thinks Trump will pick the “right” replacement.

“I’m very honored that he chose to do it during my term in office because he felt confident for me to make the right choice and carry on his great legacy,” he said in remarks met with shouts and applause from supporters. “That’s why he did it.”

  TPM

If Kennedy was worried about a Democrat naming his replacement, is he worried that Trump won't serve out his first term? Is whoever is pulling Kennedy's strings worried about that? I'm still very curious as to why Kennedy retired now.

Never one to shy away from kicking someone while he’s down, Trump took aim at the recently-dethroned Rep. Joe Crowley (D-NY) Wednesday night at a rally in Fargo.

“One of my biggest critics, a slovenly man named Joe Crowley, got his ass kicked,” he said.

  TPM

By a bigger critic of yours, you dumbass. Ocasio-Cortez is calling for your impeachment.

Okay, take it away, Daniel Dale...

We would, but it's our duty to know just how unhinged he is.

Trump begins by noting that the crowd is very big and that, he says, there is a bigger crowd outside.

Exact same thing he said at every other rally.

Trump is thanking various people, including, at length, pillow entrepreneur Mike Lindell. "You ever see this guy with the pillows on Fox? My pillow guy, Mike Lindell...he does make a great product, great pillows. I actually use them, believe it or not."

Trump on Democrats: "Now they have a new leader. Who's the new leader? Maxine Waters is their new leader...I think she's taking over."

Another feud he's decided to start.

Trump begins to attack North Dakota candidate Heidi Heitkamp for her vote against Obamacare repeal, then quickly forgets about her and starts criticizing Republican non-candidate John McCain for his vote against Obamacare repeal.

"Obamacare is essentially dead," Trump falsely claims for the 28th time.

Yes, Dale is actually keeping track of the lies.

"Obamacare is essentially dead," Trump falsely claims for the 28th time.

A vote for Heitkamp, Trump says, is "a vote for Schumer, Pelosi and Maxine. Maxine, she's a beauty."

"I mean she practically was telling people the other day to assault."

[...]

Trump briefly touts the Supreme Court ruling upholding the travel ban. There is a U-S-A chant. Then he starts mocking the media and Hillary Clinton's crowds. Then he says NFL ratings are down because people are watching him instead.

Trump is doing the thing about how the TV stations don't show the crowds. This crowds-related segment is lasting much longer than the travel ban segment.

"The late, great Cecil B. DeMille would not have set it up this way," the president says of his rally, then returns to the travel ban, then notes Anthony Kennedy's retirement.

I can't even imagine all the disorganized debris whirling around in his head.  It's a big, empty space, though, so there's room for plenty.

"We really have to take our hats off to Justice Kennedy. Thank you very much," Trump says. He adds "we have to pick one" who's on the court "for 40 years, 45 years."

So mark off all the justices on his short list that are over the age 40.

Trump says Kennedy's retirement makes the issue of Senate control one of the most essential issues of our time.

So maybe that's why they told him to retire now? To excite the base to get out and vote?

Trump guarantees that Heitkamp will vote against his Supreme Court pick. She voted for Gorsuch.

Trump says Democrats want judges who will "throw open the jailhouse doors and destroy your freedoms."

Trump hails ICE agents: "They're mean. But they have heart."

Hmmmm. How does that work?

"We're sending MS-13 out by the thousands. By the thousands," Trump says. This is an exaggeration. ICE says it arrested 405 MS-13 members in the first quarter of fiscal 2018.

[...]

Trump is repeating his usual graphic remarks about MS-13 chopping up innocent girls: "They cut people up in small pieces. Beautiful young women walking home from school."

They take babies out of incubators and throw them on the floor, too, I bet.

"We've already started it...it's already begun, and it's beautiful," Trump falsely says of a border wall that has not begun.

Trump claims that San Diego is very happy about how the wall is there, though all that is there is prototypes of the wall and though even the Republican mayor is opposed to the actual wall.

"We're respected again," Trump says to applause. "All over the world we're respected again." Respect is subjective, but public approval of the U.S. has plummeted in almost every country except Russia and Israel during Trump's tenure.

Trump again threatens tariffs on imported Mercedes and BMW cars. He boasts of his steel and aluminum tariffs.

"United States Steel is opening up six plants," Trump says, though the company has only announced it is restarting furnaces at the Granite City, Illinois plant. The company didn't respond to my five requests to tell me if Trump's repeated "six plants" claim has any truth.

And the American Institute for International Steel is suing Trump because of the tariffs.

Trump is giving his usual fictional description of the previous and current state of the solar industry. This time he adds a complete lie that a formerly struggling solar firm is now thinking of opening "10, 11 or 12" plants. All of this is completely invented by Trump.

Some people say, the world's greatest inventor.

Trump now makes it "7" new U.S. Steel plants, claiming the CEO called him to say, "We haven't opened up a new plant in 32 years, and now we're opening up 7 of them - six of them (expansions), and we're going to build a new one."

The company will not tell me if any call happened.

Steel, solar, steel. Keep up, people.  Never mind the lies.  You've got to keep up with the topics.

Trump gleefully recounts his "what the hell do you have to lose" campaign question to African-Americans, explaining he used to read "the horrible statistics on crime and education" and such. He says his aides told him this was a "horrible" thing to say but he didn't care.

For the 22nd time, Trump falsely claims wages have just started to rise: "For the first time in 22 years, wages are rising again." Wages started rising in 2014. The pace last month was the same as the pace in Obama's last full month in office.

President Donald Trump on how he felt after his VA reform: "I am the smartest person. My uncle was a great professor at MIT for 40 years...but I'm smarter than him, I'm smarter than anybody."

Dear god.

President Donald Trump, in 2018, brings up Hillary Clinton, and then says, this is a direct quote: "When is she going to get over it? When does she get over it?"

There is a brief "lock her up" chant. Trump says Clinton is "guilty, guilty, guilty," complaining that he is subjected to a Russia "hoax" but nobody "looks at her."

Trump says he was the first Republican to win Wisconsin since Dwight Eisenhower in 1952. He was the first Republican to win Wisconsin since Ronald Reagan in 1984.

Trump says he used to be considered "an interloper" but now a poll "came out" that said, he says, "He's the most powerful, most popular Republican in the history of the party."

Trump on his trade battles: "A game of poker: a game that we can't lose...Just play the game for a little while. It's a game we can't lose."

For the 41st and 42nd time, Trump falsely says the U.S. is "down $500 billion" with China. It has never once had a $500 billion trade deficit with China. It was $337 billion last year. He says that you can't lose if you're down $500 billion.

Trump chides critics who criticzed him for boasting about his chemistry with Kim Jong Un: "No no, it's a good thing."

The president on people criticizing him on trade: "It's like rushing the turkey out of the stove. The women can tell me. And some of the men...have to be politically correct...in the old days...but it's true, some of the men can tell me."

Nuts. Pure, unadulterated nuts. And, keep up, people: trade, Kim Jong Un, trade, come one, you can do it.  Like a tennis match where you watch the ball going back and forth across the net.  Easy.

Trump criticizes Canada's dairy tariffs, then falsely says Canada just raised those tariffs a few months ago.

Trump says he'll let rich guys do their own rocket stuff and space exploration, but then, if they make accomplishments, he will seize the glory and "give them no credit."

He said that last time. I wonder if he thinks taking advantage of rich people plays well with the base. But then, he brags about how rich he is.

Trump falsely says people are saying, "Any time Trump gets a poll, add 12 to it." Nobody says this.

He does.

Trump scoffs at the "elite," calling them "stone-cold losers." This time he boasts about his base as "the super-elite" instead of just himself: "We got more money, we got more brains, we got better houses, apartments, we got nicer boats...we're the elite."

What. The. Fuck.

Surely these people know they don't have more money, better houses and nicer boats. And, weren't we just dissing the rich guys? Okay, people, if you aren't able to keep up here, it's completely understandable. Rest yourselves. You're going to need your strength.

Trump reads a note he says he was given about how Canada is unfair to American wheat growers, then says, "Do you know what that means? I don't know what the hell it means...what the hell does that mean?" He dismissively tosses away the card on which this was written for him.

Whaaaaaat? Did he read the wrong card?

Trump: "We will make America loving again. Loving. Loving."

Well, that's a lie they don't want to hear.

 ...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.