Month: May 2016

Sorry your honor, the dog ate my Senate Torture Report

by digby

Seriously:

The CIA inspector general’s office — the spy agency’s internal watchdog — has acknowledged it “mistakenly” destroyed its only copy of a mammoth Senate torture report at the same time lawyers for the Justice Department were assuring a federal judge that copies of the document were being preserved, Yahoo News has learned.

There are other copies and Senator Feinstein sent one over to replace it. But this is becoming some kind of macabre comedy.  Now the agency which blatantly destroyed the tapes of torture sessions to keep anyone from holding them accountable says it also accidentally destroyed their copy of the full Senate Report.

I’m sure these people will all be even more scrupulous about upholding the law if Donald “I love waterboarding” Trump becomes president.

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Kochs out

by digby

National Review has a big scoop today saying that the Koch brothers are pulling out of national politics. This is big, if true. According to the article, there’s been tension between the “corporate” side of the Koch empire and the political side. Apparently, the corporate side feels that bankrolling the national GOP is bad for their image. Go figure.

Many people inside the Koch political operation know now what the brothers’ inner circle recognized many months ago: Charles and David have commenced what allies describe as a “realignment” of resources, steering their money and focus away from elections and toward a slew of the more intellectual, policy-oriented projects on which they have historically lavished their fortune.

Holden says the Kochs “have always understood that relying on politicians and elections to change the trajectory of the country is never going to be sufficient or effective in the long-term.” But he disputes the notion that they are disengaging from politics. Instead, he says their activity has slowed because 2016 has not presented “the same opportunities for us to be impactful in a principled way at the federal level” as in previous years — something that could change in future election cycles. The Kochs are known for their data-driven operation, one in which assessments and reassessments are routine. They commissioned a painstaking after-action report on the 2012 election, concluding they hadn’t properly understood the factors at play, and its findings sparked change inside the network.

Some allies continue to hold out hope that eventually — perhaps at their next donor seminar in August, after the party conventions — the brothers will have a change of heart. It’s understood that liberal Supreme Court appointments could gut the campaign-finance precedents that allow the Koch network to function; with enough pressure from their peers, sources say, they could yet be persuaded to get off the sidelines and mobilize their forces against Hillary Clinton. The brothers have already built an unrivaled political machine — complete with cutting-edge data analytics and voter-contact programs — capable of reengaging at a moment’s notice. And as two of wealthiest men alive, they could instantaneously bankroll a campaign against Clinton on their own.

As of now, however, Koch insiders say that’s unlikely to happen. They describe a “pullback” from electoral politics – particularly on the federal level – and a “return to their roots” in advocacy and education. If they are right, Republicans will go into this fall’s elections without the full support of their biggest benefactors, creating a void that could have lasting consequences for the GOP on the national stage.

Read the whole thing, it’s fascinating.

They will still be involved on the state and local level, however, so it’s not all good news. That’s where they’ve wreaked the most havoc in any case so their wrecking ball is still in operation. It’s just more precisely targeted. And just as destructive.

The problem for the party is that they have developed many important electoral and public relations tools that may or may not be available to GOP candidates going forward and the party itself is lagging behind. In an already bad year for the Republicans this just adds another layer of misery.

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Madman theory

by digby

I wrote about The Donald’s very bad week-end for Salon this morning:

Back in the day liberals used to always wonder why Warren Beatty didn’t run for president. Nowadays you’ll hear the same thing about George Clooney. After all, these are people with one hundred percent name recognition, fabulous good looks, brains, charisma, money and political contacts. They have an obvious knowledge and interest in government and achieved the very highest pinnacle of success as actors, directors and producers. The reason they won’t do it is simple. As world class movie stars they understand fame in a way that a mediocre tabloid star cannot and they know that the glare of the press is unrelenting and brutal when you reach a certain level. They opted to pursue politics as private citizens because they were smart enough to know that every detail of their lives would be seen through a different prism if they ran for office and that many things people accept in a celebrity will look different in a politician. (Just ask Arnold Schwarzenneger who would probably be a US Senator right now if not for his sex scandals catching up to him.)

Donald Trump clearly isn’t that smart.

Over the week-end we had a storm of Trump tabloid news from fallout from the revelations that he had been a sock-puppet public relations man back in the 90s who pimped his own sexual exploits to reporters and tabloids under the pseudonym “John Miller” to his white supremacist butler, to a front page story in the New York Times about his years of sexually harassing women to using the same pseudonyms to cheat illegal immigrants out of their wages. This was on top of his continued refusal to show his tax returns amidst rumors that it’s because his fortune is vastly over stated.

It was quite a run of personal news about the The Donald and he seemed uncharacteristically off-balance. He snapped at George Stephanopoulos for pressing him about his taxes. He blatantly lied when confronted with a recording of him pretending to be his own PR person even though he’d previously admitted doing it. He hung up on reporters when they brought it up later. He wasn’t even his usual swashbuckling self on twitter over the week-end merely taking a few flaccid swipes at the New York Times and retweeting a couple of women who say they like him. As he himself would put it, he “had a tough week-end.”

There has been some talk that this sock-puppet charge could be one that sticks to him more than others because it denotes someone who is mentally unstable. Personally, I think it’s been fairly obvious from the beginning that the man has some serious issues of temperament and judgment that make him unfit for the job. Indeed, after hearing his  alter go on tape going on about Trump’s prowess with the opposite sex the first thing that came to mind was the letter his physician allegedly dictated but suspiciously seems to have been written by a very grandiose layman instead. 

To Whom My [sic] Concern: 

I have been the personal physician of Mr. Donald J. Trump since 1980. His previous physician was my father Dr. Jacob Bornstein. Over the past 39 years, I am pleased to report that Mr. trump has had no significant medical problems. Mr Trump has had a recent complete medical examination that showed only positive results. Actually, his blood pressure, 110/65 and laboratory test results were astonishingly excellent.

Over the past twelve months he has lost at least fifteen pounds. Mr Trump takes 81 mg of aspirin daily and a low dose of a statin. His PSA test score is 0.15 (very low). His physical strength and stamina are extraordinary.Mr Trump has suffered no form of cancer, has never had a hip, knee or shoulder replacement or any other orthopedic surgery. His only surgery was an appendectomy at age ten. His cardiovascular status is excellent. He has no history of ever using alcohol or tobacco products.

If elected, Mr Trump, I can state unequivocally, will be the healthiest individual ever elected to the presidency. 

Dr. Bornstein does exist, unlike Trump alter ego “John Miller”. But his style certainly bears more than a passing resemblance to his patient’s.

Whether his “issues” are of a clinical nature or are a matter of character is unknown but it really doesn’t matter. He’s got issues. And if he thought he wouldn’t be under a much more intense spotlight as a presidential candidate than he ever was as a mediocre TV celebrity and rich playboy he was extremely naive.  In fact,  in some ways he’s almost childlike about it which makes RNC chairman Reince Priebus’s statement to the AP on Friday even weirder than it seems at first glance:

He’s been trying very hard to be presidential and gracious and I think he’s actually done a nice job of that lately. I expect him to continue working at it an getting the job done.

That’s not the kind of comment you expect to hear about someone who is running for the most important job on the planet. It’s the comment you see on a third grader’s report card.

On Face the Nation yesterday, former Bush official Michael Gerson tried to grapple with this problem. After listening to various GOP officials twist themselves into pretzels trying to explain what it is Trump has to do to gain their favor he wonders if he can properly represent the United States at all:

I think politicians are used to dealing with splitting differences on issues. They’re used to their best of, you know, two bad alternatives. But the question is here whether the Republican candidate for president is fit to be president. Whether he has pursued a division, a nativism at the center of American politics that could really change our public life in destructive ways, fundamental and destructive ways? And under those circumstances, you’re not talking about this issue or that issue. You’re talking about fitness. You’re talking about, can this man represent America in the world? Can he represent all our citizens in — in — in this process. And those are open questions right now given the way that he has gotten to this point.

That’s not an open question. Of course he is unfit. He is an authoritarian demagogue who lies as a matter of course. The day he becomes president the world will see the United States as a rogue superpower bound by no rules or norms or law. He seems to sincerely believe that “unpredictability” is a positive attribute in an American leader.

He isn’t the first, of course. Richard Nixon famously told his lieutenant Bob Haldeman:

I call it the Madman Theory, Bob. I want the North Vietnamese to believe I’ve reached the point where I might do anything to stop the war. We’ll just slip the word to them that, “for God’s sake, you know Nixon is obsessed about communism. We can’t restrain him when he’s angry—and he has his hand on the nuclear button” and Ho Chi Minh himself will be in Paris in two days begging for peace.

As it turned out, Nixon may not have technically been a “madman” but he was a pathological liar with a whole bundle of issues that made him take some extremely destructive actions.  It would be a tragic mistake to elect another one.

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What the hell is he talking about?

by digby

Is he on something?

Asked on the National Border Patrol Council’s Green Line radio show if he thought it would take another terrorist attack the size of the Sept. 11 attacks to make people “wake up about border security,” Trump answered, “I do, I actually do.”

“Bad things will happen – a lot of bad things will happen,” continued Trump. “There will be attacks that you wouldn’t believe. There will be attacks by the people that are right now that are coming into our country, because, I have no doubt in my mind.”

Trump said refugees coming into the U.S. had cellphones with ISIS flags on them, and questioned how refugees could afford cell phones, suggesting ISIS paid the monthly fees.

“I mean you look at it, they have cell phones,” said Trump. “So they don’t have money, they don’t have anything. They have cell phones. Who pays their monthly charges, right? They have cell phones with the flags, the ISIS flags on them. And then we’re supposed to say, ‘isn’t this wonderful that we’re taking them in?’ We’re led by people that are either incompetent or they don’t have the best interest of our country at heart.”

This ISIS phone business is some conspiracy theory pimped by Alex Jones. Of course.

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Capitalism offense
by Tom Sullivan

Charlie Pierce:

If there is one element that cannot be turned over to whatever people believe market forces to be, it’s water. It should never be commodified or sold off to make some investor wealthy far from the people who need it. That this ever needs to be argued is a measure of how far we’ve allowed corporate power to change us as a nation.

Pierce was commenting on an effort by Nestle to get its corporate mitts on 200,000 gallons of water per day drawn from Kunkletown, PA:

Kunkletown residents organized against Nestle’s attempts to move in. They formed an informal community group and five residents retained a lawyer. Last December, a group of five filed a lawsuit against the Eldred Township Board of Supervisors alleging the area’s zoning rules were unfair.

Earlier this year, the Eldred Township Planning Commission held a public meeting with Nestle representatives and attorneys in attendance to present on the project and answer questions. During the meeting, residents challenged Nestle and their actions.

In March of this year, the planning commission voted unanimously to recommend that the township zoning board deny Nestle’s application.

Like the Terminator, they’ll be back.

As mentioned earlier, the North Carolina legislature’s forced transfer of Asheville’s water system to a regional authority goes before the state Supreme Court tomorrow. Over 50 cities and towns across the state and the N.C. League of Municipalities condemned the state’s legislative appropriation of the system fearing theirs could be next. According to the city’s brief, 360 municipalities in the state run their water systems. The health and safety issues raised by the lead contamination of the Flint, Michigan water system after the state took control in Flint will play a part in the city’s arguments tomorrow.

When it’s not obsessing over its citizens’ bathroom habits, North Carolina’s GOP-led legislature is ogling any public infrastructure that generates revenue for state cities. Take it away and you cripple the economic base of those centers of blue-leaning voters. Which happens to coincide with the interests of international corporations in getting control of “their water” out of the hands of not-for-profit public agencies.

Things we all used to agree on: “Ignorance is not a virtue”

He works hard for his money

by digby

Watch this exchange with Trump senior adviser Paul Manafort to see the slickest of the slick squirm:

John Amato quips:

We need a new acronym to account for Trump’s presidential run. How about instead of “IOKIYAR,” [it’s ok if you’re a Republican] we’ll change it to “IOKIYDT”

Tapper said, “Here you have a man in his forties, allegedly, acting as his own public relations agent – bragging about his exploits with women, while he’s married to Ivana Trump, the mother of his three children, and speaks to a certain type of character issue, don’t you think?”

Here’s where Manafort earns his cash.

“But the tape has not proven that it’s him. The justification for the tape is, words that are on that tape are words Donald Trump uses. I’ve been working for Donald Trump for six weeks, I’m using words he’s using. I’m not the person on that tape.”

Yeah, that’s convincing. But what can he do? He’s working for a lunatic. But then, that’s pretty much what he does for a living.

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Racial disparities in toddler shootings too?

by digby

I wrote about the epidemic of toddlers getting their hands on guns and shooting themselves and others yesterday. This adds an even more depressing dimension to it:

Two young boys — ages 2 and 3 years old — died within a week of one another last month after finding a parent’s gun stashed in a bag and then accidentally shooting themselves.

Kiyan Shelton Enoch, 2, fatally shot himself April 20 with his mother’s gun, which he found in her purse. Holston Cole, 3, found a gun in his father’s backpack and fatally shot himself April 26.

Their cases attracted national attention, because the two boys were among four toddlers who shot and killed themselves that week — and among 23 toddlers who’d fatally shot themselves or someone else since Jan. 1.

If that seems like a lot, that’s because it is.

The two boys’ deaths were tragically similar — but the outcome for their parents was very different.

You can probably guess what the difference is:

White parents appear more likely to escape charges than black parents.

Demarqo Smith, who is black, was charged with involuntary manslaughter and reckless conduct after his 6-year-old daughter, Ja’Mecca, found a loaded gun between two sofa cushions in her family’s Atlanta apartment.

Christopher Ashkins, who is also black, was charged in November with second-degree child cruelty, possession of a gun by a convicted felon and drug possession after his girlfriend’s 2-year-old son found his handgun and fatally shot himself.

The 37-year-old Ashkins, who was on parole for cocaine-related charges, was not home when Jayden Clay accidentally shot himself in the face at his family’s Atlanta apartment.

Grant Dennington, who is white, was not charged after his 2-year-old son found the handgun he’d placed on the bed Oct. 27 while using the restroom and fatally shot himself in an Atlanta suburb.

“We’re talking a minute or two,” said Acworth Police Chief Wayne Dennard, who described the father as a responsible gun owner. “We spent a lot of time talking to the dad, interviewing other family members. This was not routine on his part. He always took the necessary precautions.”

The NRA thinks such parents have suffered enough. Apparently the police agree. As long as the parent’s aren’t black. There can never be enough suffering for them.

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They can’t really be this nuts, can they?

by digby

First of all, the idea that Carson is involved at anything close to a high level in the Republican nominee’s campaign is frightening. Reports do indicate that he’s not really an official player but rather some kind of pal who may be injecting himself into the campaign. But if that’s true, he doesn’t know it.

Ben Carson, the neurosurgeon turned presidential candidate turned unfiltered pitchman for Donald Trump and now part of the presumptive nominee’s vice presidential search committee, sat in the back of a Town Car with his wife, Candy, on his way to a televised interview. He had just explained to the reporter riding along that he wanted no role in a Trump administration when news arrived of a new poll naming him as the best liked of a list of potential running mates.

“Who else was on the list?” he asked quietly, maintaining his usual inscrutable calm. The most favorably regarded contenders after himself, he was told, were John Kasich, Marco Rubio, Ted Cruz, Sarah Palin and Chris Christie.

“Those are all people on our list,” he said.

“Well, not you,” Candy reminded him sharply.

We were told that Carson’s not actually doing the vetting but rather gave the campaign a list of names and that was that. Corey Lewandowski, the thuggish campaign manager, is now said to be leading the VP search and doing the vetting. Political veterans were surprised because that’s a job that’s usually done by someone with experience, often a lawyer, because they handle very sensitive confidential information.

But maybe that’s not true either:

Discredited “reporter” @costareports knows his story on Loserdowski heading VP search is FALSE- retract NOW!

— Roger Stone (@RogerJStoneJr) May 15, 2016

Trump sure runs a tight operation…

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Don and Vlad, a love story

by digby

This piece by Michael Crowley in Politico about Trump’s Miss Universe pageant in Russia in 2013 is a must read. Trump apparently used the pageant to make contacts for some possible real estate deals (or, more likely, some brand licensing deals) and had a great desire to meet Vladimir Putin on whom he clearly has a major crush. He got involved with some oligarchs, one of whom has a son who sees himself as a popstar and … just read it.

An excerpt:

But as the big event neared, Trump seemed particularly excited about his proximity to Putin — even as the Russian’s image in the U.S. was growing more nefarious. Two weeks after Trump revealed his pageant was headed to Moscow, Putin signed a harsh new law that banned pro-gay “propaganda” and criminalized public expressions of gay pride. Around the same time, Edward Snowden landed in Moscow, fleeing U.S. authorities after leaking some of America’s most sensitive intelligence secrets.

Although Trump suggested that Snowden should be executed — “you know what we used to do to traitors, right?” he asked a Fox News host last July — the anti-gay law cast the darker shadow over the pageant. The event’s openly gay host, actor Andy Cohen, backed out, saying he “didn’t feel right as a gay man stepping foot into Russia.” More than 30,000 people signed a Change.org petition urging that the pageant pull out of Moscow. One person who spoke to Trump at the time told POLITICO that he advised the mogul to relocate the pageant, but Trump wasn’t interested.

Trump argued that the “many [gay] people” who work for the pageant urged him to carry on, saying that while he didn’t like the anti-gay law, “we can go over there and maybe make a difference.” He even found another openly gay host in MSNBC anchor Thomas Roberts.

Whether Trump also considered Putin’s potential reaction isn’t known. But he clearly sought the Russian president’s favor. A few weeks before departing for Moscow, Trump made clear he still hoped to see the Russian leader at his November 9 gala.

“I know for a fact that he wants very much to come, but we’ll have to see. We haven’t heard yet, but we have invited him,” Trump told an interviewer that October.

Snowden, not so much. “Message to Edward Snowden, you’re banned from [Miss Universe]. Unless you want me to take you back home to face justice!” Trump tweeted.

Hours before the pageant, Trump tweeted that he’d just been given a tour of Moscow: “fantastic, hard-working people. CITY IS REALLY ENERGIZED.”

Trump arrived that evening on a red carpet, delighting onlookers with trademark declarations of “You’re fired!” before posing for photos with the Agalarovs. A Moscow Times reporter noted that Trump “had to dodge some uncomfortable questions” about whether Emin, who performed at the event in a lineup that included bigger acts like Aerosmith’s Steven Tyler, had earned his place on merit.

Putin never showed up although Trump likes to hint that he’s met with him secretly. He’s head over heels:

As for Putin, Trump isn’t saying whether he met with the Russian leader. But he does claim some understanding of how the Russians he met around the Miss Universe pageant feel about their president.

Putin “has a tremendous popularity in Russia,” Trump told Fox News last July. “They love what he’s doing. They love what he represents.”

So does Trump.

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