Month: January 2017

Last night’s moments

by digby

For those of you who didn’t watch, here is the Meryl Streep speech. I think people who have a platform should speak out. And she did, very powerfully:

The portion of that Meryl Streep speech that stunned and silenced the Golden Globes. pic.twitter.com/QIcQfTqDqB

— Dave Itzkoff (@ditzkoff) January 9, 2017

Viola Davis spoke out backstage:

.@ViolaDavis was just asked about Donald Trump’s presidency backstage. Watch her response #GoldenGlobes pic.twitter.com/Yrj9Rv8So0

— Variety (@Variety) January 9, 2017

Trump, of course, made an ass of himself:

Meryl Streep, one of the most over-rated actresses in Hollywood, doesn’t know me but attacked last night at the Golden Globes. She is a…..

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 9, 2017

Hillary flunky who lost big. For the 100th time, I never “mocked” a disabled reporter (would never do that) but simply showed him…….

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 9, 2017

“groveling” when he totally changed a 16 year old story that he had written in order to make me look bad. Just more very dishonest media!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 9, 2017

Update: Streep’s speech:

Thank you. I love you all. You’ll have to forgive me. I’ve lost my voice in screaming and lamentation this weekend. And I have lost my mind sometime earlier this year, so I have to read.

Thank you, Hollywood Foreign Press. Just to pick up on what Hugh Laurie said, you and all of us in this room, really, belong to the most vilified segments in American society right now. Think about it. Hollywood, foreigners and the press. But who are we? And, you know, what is Hollywood anyway? It’s just a bunch of people from other places.

I was born and raised and created in the public schools of New Jersey. Viola was born in a sharecropper’s cabin in South Carolina, grew up in Central Falls, Rhode Island. Sarah Paulson was raised by a single mom in Brooklyn. Sarah Jessica Parker was one of seven or eight kids from Ohio. Amy Adams was born in Italy. Natalie Portman was born in Jerusalem. Where are their birth certificates? And the beautiful Ruth Negga was born in Ethiopia, raised in — no, in Ireland, I do believe — and she’s here nominated for playing a small-town girl from Virginia. Ryan Gosling, like all the nicest people, is Canadian. And Dev Patel was born in Kenya, raised in London, is here for playing an Indian raised in Tasmania.

Hollywood is crawling with outsiders and foreigners. If you kick ’em all out, you’ll have nothing to watch but football and mixed martial arts, which are not the arts. They gave me three seconds to say this. An actor’s only job is to enter the lives of people who are different from us and let you feel what that feels like. And there were many, many, many powerful performances this year that did exactly that, breathtaking, passionate work.

There was one performance this year that stunned me. It sank its hooks in my heart. Not because it was good. There was nothing good about it. But it was effective and it did its job. It made its intended audience laugh and show their teeth. It was that moment when the person asking to sit in the most respected seat in our country imitated a disabled reporter, someone he outranked in privilege, power, and the capacity to fight back. It kind of broke my heart when I saw it. I still can’t get it out of my head because it wasn’t in a movie. It was real life. And this instinct to humiliate, when it’s modeled by someone in the public platform, by someone powerful, it filters down into everybody’s life, because it kind of gives permission for other people to do the same thing. Disrespect invites disrespect.
Violence incites violence. And the powerful use their position to bully others, we all lose. Okay. Go on with that thing.

This brings me to the press. We need the principled press to hold power to account, to call them on the carpet for every outrage. That’s why our founders enshrined the press and its freedoms in our constitution.

So I only ask the famously well-heeled Hollywood Foreign Press and all of us in our community to join me in supporting the committee to protect journalists, because we’re going to need them going forward. And they’ll need us to safeguard the truth.

One more thing: Once when I was standing around on the set one day whining about something, we were going to work through supper, or the long hours or whatever, Tommy Lee Jones said to me, ‘Isn’t it such a privilege, Meryl, just to be an actor?’ Yeah, it is. And we have to remind each other of the privilege and the responsibility of the act of empathy.

We should all be very proud of the work Hollywood honors here tonight. As my friend the dear, departed Princess Leia said to me once, ‘Take your broken heart, make it into art.’ Thank you.

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Welcome to Trumpistan
Tom Sullivan

This note was left on my car this morning in Rockville, MD because I'm Jewish and I support #blacklivesmatter. Yes, that's a yellow star. pic.twitter.com/5Jd4gZfvG8— Mikey Franklin (@mikeyfranklin) January 7, 2017

Buzzfeed has this:

Jewish couple Sonya and Mikey Franklin also told BuzzFeed News their Rockville home was vandalized with toilet paper thrown around their trees and eggs thrown at the side of their car.

“The purpose was to scare us, and they succeeded because we’re scared,” Mikey Franklin told BuzzFeed News. “Not that people will harm us, but that there are people that would do this in our very diverse area.”

The handwritten note, scribbled in a block-type handwriting, also included a yellow star of David and the word “Jude” (German for Jew), similar to the badges Nazis made Jewish people wear during the Holocaust.

[…]

Franklin said the note and the vandalism came just two days after they took down a Black Lives Matter flag they hung from their kitchen window, which faces the public street.

It begins online. But it never ends there. The next 4 years will require unceasing resistance to Trump and the hatred that he offers.— Mikey Franklin (@mikeyfranklin) January 7, 2017

This is not just distant and random anymore. Mikey is someone I’ve met.

The hate is just out now…

by digby

From today’s LA Times:

Aisha Shafi stuffed pens and notebooks into her sons’ backpacks and buzzed around her San Marcos home as she made sure the boys were ready for the new school year.

When she stepped through the door, her husband offered a suggestion: “Maybe you shouldn’t wear your hijab today,” he said.

Shafi was the mom carpooling the neighborhood kids to school that morning. She slid the scarf off her head and threw on a baseball cap from her husband’s alma mater, the University of Kansas.

She loaded her boys, 9 and 12, into the car and then, as she passed the first stoplight, draped her hijab back over her hair, angry at herself for being scared.

As the days crawl toward the inauguration of Donald Trump, many Muslims across the U.S. anxiously wonder how much the president-elect’s tough-talking rhetoric will be matched by legislative actions.

Even in liberal California, home to about 500,000 Muslims in its southern regions alone, there is a lingering worry that Trump has conjured something through his words that as president he won’t be able to control.

“I’m really concerned that Trump has brought out something that was maybe hidden before,” said Shafi’s husband, Majid Mahmood. “The hate is just out now, especially when you see an increased rate of hate crimes against Muslims.”

Yes. As bad as Bush and Cheney were they worked to keep a lid on this stuff. Trump does the opposite. Demagogues need to gin up the passions of their followers and he’s an expert at it.

If nothing else we shouldn’t ever have to hear their lectures about “religious liberty” ever again. Of course, that won’t stop them. Rational consistency is old-fashioned. We live in a world of post-truth relativism. Also known as: “whatever works in the moment.”

Since a large faction of the American population has once again embraced indecency, racism and hatred (apparently they feel very oppressed when they can’t do this) I think it’s entirely possible that things will get out of hand. These folks are not being paranoid.

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by digby

And they called Clinton “crooked”:

March 06, 2015 

WASHINGTON, DC – The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) today imposed a $10 million civil money penalty against Trump Taj Mahal Casino Resort (Trump Taj Mahal), for willful and repeated violations of the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA). In addition to the civil money penalty, the casino is required to conduct periodic external audits to examine its anti-money laundering (AML) BSA compliance program and provide those audit reports to FinCEN and the casino’s Board of Directors. 

Trump Taj Mahal, a casino in Atlantic City, New Jersey, admitted to several willful BSA violations, including violations of AML program requirements, reporting obligations, and recordkeeping requirements. Trump Taj Mahal has a long history of prior, repeated BSA violations cited by examiners dating back to 2003. Additionally, in 1998, FinCEN assessed a $477,700 civil money penalty against Trump Taj Mahal for currency transaction reporting violations. 

“Trump Taj Mahal received many warnings about its deficiencies,” said FinCEN Director Jennifer Shasky Calvery. “Like all casinos in this country, Trump Taj Mahal has a duty to help protect our financial system from being exploited by criminals, terrorists, and other bad actors. Far from meeting these expectations, poor compliance practices, over many years, left the casino and our financial system unacceptably exposed.” 

Trump Taj Mahal admitted that it failed to implement and maintain an effective AML program; failed to report suspicious transactions; failed to properly file required currency transaction reports; and failed to keep appropriate records as required by the BSA. Notably, Trump Taj Mahal had ample notice of these deficiencies as many of the violations from 2012 and 2010 were discovered in previous examinations. 

Director Shasky Calvery expressed her appreciation to the Internal Revenue Service, Small Business/Self-Employed Division, which performed the examinations of Trump Taj Mahal, for their contributions to the investigation and for their strong partnership with FinCEN. She also thanked the Commercial Litigation Branch of the U.S. Department of Justice for their assistance with this enforcement action. 

Trump Taj Mahal petitioned for bankruptcy in September 2014. That bankruptcy remains pending. The Bankruptcy Court approved of Trump Taj Mahal’s settlement on March 4, 2015. 

FinCEN seeks to protect the U.S. financial system from being exploited by illicit actors. Its efforts are focused on compromised financial institutions; third-party money launderers; transnational organized crime; terrorist and other security threats; significant fraud; and threats to cyber security. FinCEN has a broad array of enforcement authorities to target both domestic and foreign actors affecting the U.S. financial system.

That happened in 2015, just a couple of months before Trump announced he was running.

His casino was fined $10 million for evading the bank secrecy act. They’d been doing it since 1998.

I have no idea who might have been laundering money through his business but the list of possibilities is endless.

I still find it hard to believe that we elected a casino owner president. A casino owner who repeatedly broke the law and ended up going bankrupt. Four times. Who refused to release his tax returns.

Imagine if … anyone before Donald Trump had done such a thing.

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Politics and Reality Radio with Joshua Holland: The Resistance Begins

The Resistance Against Trumpism Begins; Why a Mild-Mannered College Prof Is Considering Civil Disobedience

It’s our first show since the holidays, and we want to wish everyone a happy New Year! Hopefully 2017 will suck less than last year.

This week, we’ll be joined by progressive organizer extraordinaire Billy Wimsatt to talk about the emerging resistance to the Trump regime, and the white nationalist movement that put it into office.

Then we’ll be joined by Harold Pollack, a moderate, temperate scholar at the University of Chicago who’s been thinking about the need for civil disobedience to counter Trump’s attempt to trample on the kinds of norms that have long been central to keeping our pluralistic society together.

They all like strong men. And they all hate liberals.



by digby

The New York Times asked some Trump voters in Louisiana and Indiana what they think of the intelligence community consensus that the Russians hacked the presidential campaign in hopes of swaying the election:

“Sour grapes,” explained Bob Marino, 79, weighing in on the recent spycraft bombshell from the corner table of a local McDonald’s.

“Sour grapes,” agreed Roger Noel, 65, sitting next to him.

“Bunch of crybabies,” Reed Guidry, 64, offered from across the table.
[…]

“From the parts of the report I’ve seen,” said Rob Maness, a retired Air Force colonel who twice ran for Senate here as Tea Party favorite, “it seems silly.” …

Of the comments he had seen from fellow Trump supporters on Facebook and in emails, he added, “90 percent of them are like, ‘What’s the big deal?’”
[…]

“I don’t think the Russians posed as big a problem to the Clintons as the Clintons posed to themselves,” said Paul Emenes, 49, while he sold ribs, shoulders and chops at a frigid outdoor farmers’ market in Covington. Russian hacking was concerning, sure, Mr. Emenes said. He added that, as long as Mr. Trump was not involved himself, “it doesn’t change the way I view him.”

Tina Gunaldo, 44, taking blankets off the citrus trees in her Mandeville, La., front yard after the previous night’s frost, had a similar attitude.

“Trump is Trump,” she said. “Do I think he’s going to become more of a friend to Russia because of this? No I don’t. I think — I hope — his focus will be on making America great again.”

Ms. Gunaldo would not reveal whom she voted for, but she did say Mr. Trump’s slogan resonated with her. It apparently resonated quite widely in this parish, which he won by more than 50 points. But it was a quiet support, she said. She knew of only one yard in the whole subdivision with a sign.

That yard belonged to Thurston Yates Sr.

“I don’t believe it,” Mr. Yates, 78, said flatly of the intelligence report. He was standing in the yard under his “Make America Great Again” flag, which he bought at a gun show several months ago. “Why would Putin even want Trump?”

Mr. Yates, who is retired from a career in pharmaceutical sales, was not concerned about what Mr. Trump might do in office, but said he was deeply alarmed about what President Obama might do before he leaves office.

It was Mr. Obama who was too soft on Russia, who let Mr. Putin get away with things, Mr. Yates continued. Mr. Trump would be much tougher.

But Mr. Yates then added: “Why is everybody so afraid of Russia? I’m not against Putin.”

This last sentiment was not uncommon. Even among those who were troubled by the hacks, few felt that Russia was a serious threat. The country was “a basket case,” and not the powerful foe it once was, said Mr. Marino, from his seat at McDonald’s. Others said that North Korea, the Islamic State and China were the real threats. Russia could even be a potential ally in some fights, suggested Valarie Kubacki, 54, a real estate broker in Valparaiso, Ind.

Ms. Kubacki said she perceived Russia as “somewhere in the middle” between friend and enemy, but agreed with Mr. Trump that the United States could work with them to defeat the Islamic State, also known as ISIS or ISIL. “We may have to line up with people who may not be our ‘friend’ to make that happen,” she said.
[…]
In Louisiana, David Gubert, 56, chain-smoked Eagle 20 cigarettes in the cab of his pickup, with stacks of firewood for sale behind him in the bed. Like the Willises, he ruminated on what it would mean if the Russians had gotten involved, and possibly even swung the election.

But Mr. Gubert came to a different conclusion.

“If that’s what it took,” he said, “I’m glad they did it.”

The Putin cult has been growing on the right for some time. Mainstream Republicans have probably come to see him as a benign figure because of that. It’s not ideological for most, although they are certainly in favor of authoritarian measures against anything they don’t like. It’s emotional. He hates Obama and Clinton almost as much as they do. Enemy of my enemy and all that rot. I think this is a common feeling among a lot of Americans right now — and not just Republicans.

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by digby

The word according to Reince:

Reince Priebus, chief of staff to Donald Trump, argued on Sunday that there was “no reason” to complete background checks on the president-elect’s cabinet appointments. 

The Office of Government Ethics warned last week that background checks for Trump’s nominees would not be completed in time for confirmation hearing next week because the nominees have refused to provide financial disclosures. 

Fox News host Chris Wallace asked Priebus on Sunday if the Trump administration would consider delaying the hearings until the background checks were complete. 

“No,” Priebus replied. “They have to get moving. I mean, they have to move faster. And they have all the information. These are people that have been highly successful in their lives. They need to move quicker.” 

“The fact is there’s no reason,” he continued. “I mean, it’s the first week of January, they have all the details that they need, they have all the information that they need. It’s no different from any other new administration coming in and the American people demand it.” 

“Change was voted for and change we will get.”

I think this says it all:

Once money became speech, it was only a matter of time before money became ethics: https://t.co/SXIQK5DwFp

— Hillman Foundation (@SidneyHillman) January 8, 2017

That’s exactly what’s happened. That was the beginning of the march toward unbridled corruption. Once money got the same value as free speech, it was inevitable that the personal pursuit of it in office would be seen as constitutionally protected instead of constitutionally prohibited.

The Trump administration and the Republican party are drunk with power. And they aren’t even trying to hide their avarice. It turns out that “drain the swamp” is more of a cultural revolution thing, where they’re exiling the educated experts to the hinterlands. (No re-education camps …. yet.) But it’s not ideological. It’s just sheer greed. They’ve decided they want it all, every last dime.

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The nastiest campaign of all time


by digby

It was horrifying. And yet he won. It kind of shakes your faith in the decency of the American people.

Trump says the Wikileaks data dumps had no effect on the election and the whole thing is a waste of time and it’s time to move on. Maybe he’s right. But he sure seemed to think it was relevant at the time. Just look at some of the reveling self-projection in this sampling of comments from the last week of the campaign compiled by Think Progress:

Trump talked extensively about Wikileaks in the final days of a campaign that was ultimately decided by just 100,000 votes in Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania combined…

Trump mentioned Wikileaks in each presidential debate, which were watched by tens of millions of people.

Trump described the contents of the emails released by Wikileaks as disqualifying Hillary Clinton from the presidency. Trump used Wikileaks as proof to his claims that she was corrupt and the system was corrupt — both the political system and the media. (The media, Trump insisted, would not cover Wikileaks.)

Trump encouraged his supporters to read Wikileaks. He delighted in each new release. He marveled at the damage Wikileaks was doing to her campaign.

Wikileaks, in short, was a core part of Trump’s closing argument against Hillary Clinton.

Trump spoke about the Wikileaks emails at least 164 times from October 10 to election day, saying the word Wikileaks 124 times. That means, on average, Trump discussed Wikileaks more than five times per day.

Here is a sampling: 

Trump to Bill O’Reilly: “Wikileaks is amazing” 

The problem is, Bill, I would hammer it, but the press doesn’t pick it up. The press is hardly even talking about WikiLeaks. You now that. WikiLeaks is amazing. The stuff that’s coming out, it shows she’s a real liar. She said, well, you have to say to the public and you have to say to your donors different things. Okay? The press doesn’t even pick this stuff up. You look at, where are you seeing it? [10/11/16] 

Trump: “Wikileaks, some new stuff, some brutal stuff” 

We have all of these new charges did you see it just came down today. Wikileaks, some new stuff, some brutal stuff. I mean I’d read it to you but to hell with it trust me it’s real bad stuff. The speech transcripts contain scandalous revelations about hillary clinton that disqualify her from seeking public office. And she is. [10/10/16] 

Trump says Wikileaks proves Clinton should not “be able to run for president” 

No one who supports open borders should be able to run for president because we won’t have a country. And buy the way weeks ago I called out HRC for supporting open borders and the media said I was wrong. Now I’ve been proven right. Where is the media rushing to correct these false stories? Because in the Wikileaks it was all about open borders. [10/10/16] 

Trump: “Wikileaks. I love Wikileaks” 

Wikileaks, I love Wikileaks. And I said write a couple of them down. Let’s see. During a speech crooked Hillary Clinton, oh she’s crooked folks. She’s crooked as a 3 dollar bill. Okay here’s one. Just came out – lock her up is right. [10/10/16] 

Trump: “You see so much from these Wikileaks. You see so much. There’s so much.” 

It’s just the latest evidence of the hatred that the Clinton campaign really for everyday Americans and you see, and you see so much from these Wikileaks. You see so much. There’s so much. [10/11/16] 

Trump: “I’ll tell you this Wikileaks stuff is unbelievable…you gotta read it.” 

I’ll tell you this Wikileaks stuff is unbelievable. It tells you the inner heart you gotta read it and you gotta maybe get it because they’re not putting it out. They want to put it out but they can’t do that because without the media and without the press Hillary Clinton would be nothing. She’d be nothing. Zero. [10/12/16] 

Trump: “One of the big advantages of me having a rather large microphone… is that I can talk about Wikileaks” 

And one of the big advantages of me having a rather large microphone. And meaning a lot of people are listening is that I can talk about Wikileaks and we are live it’s amazing. Boom. boom boom. I think they are just turning them all off. Watch you go home they’ll say why did it end so abruptly. [10/12/16] 

Trump: “You hear this? Wikileaks. Big stuff but the press does not report it” 

You hear this? Wikileaks. Big stuff but the press does not report it because honestly without the press without the media Hillary Clinton is nothing she’s nothing okay she’s nothing. [10/12/16] 

Trump: Wikileaks reveals Clinton would be “the most corrupt person ever elected to high office” 

She would be the most dishonest and the most corrupt person ever elected to high office. The Wikileaks emails show the Department of Justice fed information to Clinton, now think of this. She is under investigation [10/12/16] 

Trump: Wikileaks reveals “the massive international corruption of the Clinton machine” 

And so now we address the slander and libels that was just last night thrown at me by the Clinton machine and “New York Times” and other media outlets as part of a concerted coordinated and vicious attack. It’s not coincidence that these attacks come at the exact same moment and altogether at the same time as wikileaks releases documents exposing the massive international corruption of the Clinton machine, including 2000 more emails just this morning. [10/13/16] 

Trump: “The sad part is we don’t talk about Wikileaks because it’s incredible.” 

The sad part is we don’t talk about Wikileaks because it’s incredible. But Wikileaks just came out with a lot of new ones. And it would be wonderful if these very dishonest people back there would talk about it. It would be wonderful. It would be wonderful. [10/13/16] 

Trump: “Wikileaks unveils horrible, horrible things about Hillary Clinton” 

It’s a total setup. Now suddenly after many, many years phony accusers come out less than a month before one of the most important elections in the history of our country. It also comes at a time as wikileaks unveils horrible, horrible things about Hillary Clinton but they’d rather talk about this. [10/14/16] 

Trump on Wikileaks: “There’s bad, bad stuff [the media is] not covering” 

The Hillary Clinton documents released by WikiLeaks make more clear than ever, and they don’t cover them the way they’re supposed to be covering. There’s bad, bad stuff they’re not covering. [10/15/16]
Trump: “WikiLeaks came out with lots of really unbelievable things”
And by the way, WikiLeaks came out with lots of really unbelievable things. Just minutes ago. In fact, I almost delayed this speech by about two hours, it’s so interesting. But I decided you’re more important than anybody, okay? It’s all a big, beautiful fraud. [10/15/16] 

Trump: The media “will not talk about Wikileaks” 

The media is an extension of the Clinton campaign as wikileaks has proven and they will not talk about wikileaks. [10/17/16] 

Trump: “Boy, that Wikileaks has done a job on her, hasn’t it?” 

I said open border, and she open border I don’t want open border but she turned out she wanted open borders. Boy, that wikileaks has done a job on her, hasn’t it? [10/20/16] 

Trump: “We’ve learned so much from Wikileaks” 

“We’ve learned so much from Wikileaks. For example, Hillary believes it’s vital to deceive the people by having one public policy — [ booing ] — And a totally different policy in private. That’s okay. [10/20/16] 

Trump: “We love Wikileaks. Wikileaks.” 

We love wiki-leaks. Wiki-leaks. They have revealed a lot. They’ve revealed that there is a great hostility toward Catholics. They reveal a great hostility toward evangelicals. [10/21/16] 

Trump: “A terrible Wikileaks was released just moments ago… you’ll be sickened by it” 

A terrible Wikileaks was just released moments ago which you’ll go home, you’ll see it and you’ll be sickened by it and that she can get away with what she’s getting away with. [10/25/16] 

Trump: “Wikileaks revelations have exposed criminal corruption at the highest levels of our government” 

The Wikileaks revelations have exposed criminal corruption at the highest levels of our government. [10/29/16] 

Trump: Wikileaks show “a rigged system with more collusion, probably illegal” 

Out today Wikileaks just came out with a new one just a little while ago it’s just been shown that a rigged system with more collusion probably illegal between the department of justice the Clinton campaign and the state department you saw that. The emails show that the assistant attorney general who’s involved in the investigation has been feeding information directly to John Podesta and the Clinton campaign can you believe that. She shouldn’t be allowed to run. [11/02/16] 

Trump: Wikileaks revealed Clinton was “completely jeopardizing the national security of the United States” 

Just today we learned Hillary Clinton was sending highly classified information through her maid. Did you see? Just came out a little while ago. Who, therefore, had total access to this information, completely jeopardizing the national security of the United States. This just came out, wikileaks. We need a government that can go to work on day one for the American people. That will be impossible with Hillary Clinton, the prime suspect in a far-reaching criminal investigation. [11/05/16]

Of course we knew he was saying this stuff when he said to her face that she had hatred in her heart and that he’d put in in jail as soon as he became president. He’s a pig and a liar who is guilty of everything he accused her of doing.

And his allegedly upstanding major domo is no better:

Would England give away the Crown Jewels?
by Tom Sullivan

Red Rock Lakes National Wildlife Refuge, Montana. Centennial Mountains and Wetlands Picnic Creek meanders in the foreground with marshes and wetlands stretching to the Centennial Mountains in the distant. Photo by James N Perdue.

Dylan Ratigan’s epic 2011 “America is being extracted” rant comes to mind this morning.

In addition to the House ethics fiasco and Iowa Republican Rep. Steve. King’s attempt to encroach on the Supreme Court’s turf, on Tuesday a House Republican introduced a rule to make it easier for the United States to rid itself of public lands We the People own. Think Progress reported:

A new rule, written by House Natural Resources Committee Chairman Rob Bishop (R-UT), establishes as fact that any legislation to dispose of public lands and natural resources would cost taxpayers exactly $0. This paves the way for the new Congress to get rid of vast swaths of public lands — all at the expense of the American taxpayer.

Bishop spokesman Parish Braden told The Hill:

“In many cases federal lands create a significant burden for the surrounding communities,” Braden said in a statement.

“Allowing communities to actually manage and use these lands will generate not only state and local income tax, but also federal income tax revenues, as well as reduce the need for other taxpayer-funded federal support, either through Payments in Lieu of Taxes or other programs like Secure Rural Schools,” he continued. “Unfortunately, current budget practices do not fully recognize these benefits, making it very difficult for non-controversial land transfers between governmental entities for public use and other reasons to happen.”

House Natural Resources Committee spokeswoman Molly Block repeated the talking point to the Washington Post, saying, “in many cases federal lands create a significant burden for the surrounding communities.” She went on, almost as if from a script:

“Allowing communities to actually manage and use these lands will generate not only state and local income tax, but also federal income tax revenues” she added, as well as reduce the need for some federally-supported payments. “Unfortunately, current budget practices do not fully recognize these benefits, making it very difficult for non-controversial land transfers between governmental entities for public use and other reasons to happen.”

But many Democrats argue that these lands should be managed on behalf of all Americans, not just those living nearby, and warn that cash-strapped state and local officials might sell these parcels to developers.

One might infer that is the intent of the divestiture.

Arizona Democrat Rep. Raúl M. Grijalva issued a statement critical of the move:

Washington, D.C. – Ranking Member Raúl M. Grijalva (D-Ariz.) sent a notice to Democratic leadership today highlighting a significant change the Republican Conference has proposed to House rules. The new provision would help House Republicans pursue their long-stated goal of giving away National Parks, Forests, Public Lands, Wildlife Refuges and other federal areas – currently owned and used by the American people – by requiring the House to pretend such giveaways have no cost.

The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) already significantly undervalues federal land conveyances. If enacted, the proposed rule change would ignore even this meager accounting, allowing the 115th Congress to claim giving away public land has no cost to the American people, even if CBO determines otherwise.

“The House Republican plan to give away America’s public lands for free is outrageous and absurd,” Grijalva said. “This proposed rule change would make it easier to implement this plan by allowing the Congress to give away every single piece of property we own, for free, and pretend we have lost nothing of any value. Not only is this fiscally irresponsible, but it is also a flagrant attack on places and resources valued and beloved by the American people.”

State and local governments are unlikely to have the budget or staffing resources to actually own and manage large units of federal land. If House Republicans succeed in giving public land to states or localities, they would likely be forced to sell the land to the highest bidder.

“The proposal is one more example of the Trump Republican’s plans to use federal resources to enrich wealthy developers by making it easier for them to get their hands on invaluable federal lands currently owned by, and open to, all Americans.”

After a search of the non-digital archive inside my skull, I seem to remember conservatives in the 1970s opposing “radical” land reform efforts in third-world countries. Private property was sacrosanct. Redistributing land from rich, large landholders was insidious, creeping communism. Giving land to poor peasants might seem to liberals like a feel-good way to empower them, but really most cash-strapped peasants would simply sell their small plots right back to the oligarchs for cheap and in the long run be no better off. Or else, you’d have to prevent them from selling, in which case the property wasn’t really “theirs” and you turned the peasants into serfs bound to the land. Dumb, freedom-hating liberals, etc. That was then.

Now Republicans consider We the People the rich, oppressive landowners. Our public trust properties must be redistributed to cash-strapped (mostly) red states so they can be quickly sold off for a short-term gain. Just not back to government oligarchs. To private ones. See how much better that is?

Ratigan called plans not to address the extraction he saw underway “reckless, irresponsible and stupid.”

I’ve traveled by car to every state except Hawaii (for obvious reasons). America’s wild lands are our Crown Jewels and belong to us all, to We the People. But we are being ruled by thieves eager to plunder our national heritage to enrich their already rich friends. Fight these bastards.

Some interesting headlines for you

by digby

From the NY Times today:

From the NY Times one week before the election:

I haven’t seen any explanation of this from the Times. We know that James Comey refused to join the rest of the administration in trying to create a bipartisan statement about this issue. This article came two days after the FBI director James Comey sent a letter to Jason Chaffetz exploding the email story resulting in these headlines on the front page of the paper two days running:

Something very weird happened with the FBI in the days leading up to the election. And the news media went right along with it.  I suppose history will have to sort this out since I haven’t seen much interest in it.

The Russian hacking may not have affected the outcome. But this stuff did. And nobody seems to care.

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