Month: December 2017

Saturday Night at the Movies


If you really must pry: Top 10 films of 2017
By Dennis Hartley

It’s hard to believe it’s been 11 years since my pal Digby graciously offered me a crayon, a sippy cup and a weekly play date on her otherwise grownup site so I can scribble about pop culture. I’d like to take this opportunity to thank everybody who continues to support Hullabaloo and wish you and yours the best in 2018! With the year nearly over,‘tis the season for my roundup of the top 10 feature films out of the 50+ that I reviewed in 2017.

Granted, there are several intriguing late December releases that I have yet to see, including Alexander Payne’s Downsizing, Paul Thomas Anderson’s The Phantom Thread, and the biopics I, Tonya and Film Stars Don’t Die in Liverpool. However, it appears those films will not be opening in Seattle in time for me to review them in 2017, so what you see here is my “official” top 10 list-love it or loathe it. In alphabetical order:

After the Storm – This elegant family drama from writer-director Hirokazu Kore-eda is a wise, quietly observant and at times genuinely witty take on the prodigal son story. All the performances are beautifully nuanced; particularly when star Hiroshi Abe and scene-stealer Kirin Kiki are onscreen. Kudos as well to DP Yutaka Yamazaki’s painterly cinematography, and Hanargumi’s lovely soundtrack. Granted, some could find the proceedings too nuanced and “painterly”, but those with patience will be richly rewarded.
(Full review)

Bad Black – Some films defy description. This is one of them. Yet…a guilty pleasure. Written, directed, filmed, and edited by Ugandan action movie auteur Nabwana I.G.G.at his self-proclaimed “Wakaliwood studios” (essentially his house in the slums of Wakaliga), it’s best described as Kill Bill meets Slumdog Millionaire, with a kick-ass heroine bent on revenge. Despite a low budget and a high body count, it’s winningly ebullient and self-referential, with a surprising amount of social realism regarding slum life packed into its 68 minutes. The Citizen Kane of African commando vengeance flicks.
(Full review)

Becoming Who I Was – Until credits rolled for this South Korean entry by co-directors Chang-Yong Moon and Jeon Jin, I was unsure whether I’d seen a beautifully cinematic documentary, or a narrative film with amazingly naturalistic performances. Either way, I experienced the most compassionate, humanist study this side of Ozu. Turns out, it’s all quite real, and an obvious labor of love by the film makers, who went to Northern India and Tibet to document young “Rinpoche” Angdu Padma and his mentor/caregiver for 8 years as they struggle hand to mouth and strive to fulfill the boy’s destiny (he is believed to have been a revered Buddhist teacher in a past life). A moving journey (in both the literal and spiritual sense) that has a lot to say about the meaning of love and selflessness.
(Full review)

Blade Runner 2049 – So many sci-fi films these days needlessly assault the eardrums and are so jarringly flash-cut as to induce vertigo. Not this one. Which is to say that Blade Runner 2049 is leisurely paced. The story line is not as deep or complex as the film makers undoubtedly want you to think. The narrative is essentially a 90 minute script (by original Blade Runner co-screenwriter Hampton Fancher and Michael Green), stretched to a 164-minute run time. So why is it on my top 10 list? Well, for one thing, the “language” of film being two-fold (aural and visual), the visual language of Blade Runner 2049 is mesmerizing. Star Ryan Gosling delivers another one of his Steve McQueen-ish performances, and it works. I imagine the most burning question you have about Denis Villeneuve’s film is: “Are the ‘big’ questions that were left dangling at the end of Ridley Scott’s 1982 film answered?” Don’t ask me. I just do eyes. You may not find the answers you seek, but you may find yourself still thinking about this film long after the credit roll.
(Full review)

A Date for Mad Mary – The phrase “star-making performance” is overused, but it’s apt to describe Seana Kerslake’s turn in Darren Thornton’s dramedy about a troubled young woman who is being dragged kicking and screaming (and swearing like a sailor) into adulthood. Fresh from 6 months in a Dublin jail for instigating a drunken altercation, 20 year-old “mad” Mary (Kerslake) is asked to be maid of honor by her BFF Charlene. Charlene refuses her a “plus-one”, assuming that her volatile friend isn’t likely to find a date in time for the wedding. Ever the contrarian, Mary insists that she will; leading to a completely unexpected relationship. The director’s screenplay (co-written with his brother Colin) is chockablock with brash and brassy dialog, and conveys that unique penchant the Irish possess for using “fook” as a noun, adverb, super verb and adjective.
(Full review)

Endless Poetry – Ever since his 1970 Leone-meets-Fellini “western” El Topo redefined the meaning of “WTF?, Chilean film maker/poet/actor/composer/comic book creator Alejandro Jodorowsky has continued to push the creative envelope. His new film, the second part of a “proposed pentalogy of memoirs”, follows young Alejandro (played by the director’s son Adan, who also composed the soundtrack) as he comes into his own as a poet. Defying his nay-saying father, he flees to Santiago and ingratiates himself with the local bohemians. He caterwauls into a tempestuous relationship with a redheaded force of nature named Stella. What ensues is the most gloriously over-the-top biopic since Ken Russell’s The Music Lovers. This audacious work of art not only confirms that its creator has the soul of a poet, but stands as an almost tactile evocation of poetry itself.
(Full review)

I Am Not Your Negro – The late writer and social observer James Baldwin once said that “Whatever white people do not know about Negroes reveals, precisely and inexorably, what they do not know about themselves.” Sadly, thanks to the emboldening of certain elements within American society that have been drawn from the shadows by the openly racist rhetoric spouting from our nation’s current leader, truer words have never been spoken. Indeed, anyone who watches Raoul Peck’s documentary will recognize not only the beauty of Baldwin’s prose, but the prescience of such observations. Both are on full display throughout Peck’s timely treatise on race relations in America, in which he mixes archival news footage, movie clips, and excerpts from Baldwin’s TV appearances with narration by an uncharacteristically subdued Samuel L. Jackson, reading excerpts from Baldwin’s unfinished book, Remember This House. An excellent and enlightening film.
(Full review)

Loving Vincent – If I liken Dorota Kobiela and Hugh Welchman’s first feature film to staring at an oil painting for 95 minutes…that could be misinterpreted as a negative. But I’m only making you aware that their Vincent van Gogh biopic is literally a collection of the artist’s paintings, brought to life. It’s actually an ingenious concept. Utilizing over 120 of van Gogh’s paintings as storyboard and settings, the filmmakers incorporate roto-scoped live action with a hand-painted, frame-by-frame touch-up to fashion a truly unique animated feature. The screenplay (co-written by directors Kobiela and Welchman along with Jacek von Dehnel) was derived from 800 of the artist’s letters. It is essentially a speculative mystery that delves into the circumstances of van Gogh’s last days and untimely demise. While this is not the definitive van Gogh biopic (Vincente Minnelli’s colorful 1956 effort Lust For Life, featuring an intense and moving performance by Kirk Douglas, takes that honor), it is the most visually resplendent one that I’ve seen to date.
(Full review)

The Women’s Balcony – A warm, witty and wise Israeli dramedy from director Emil Ben-Shimon and screenwriter Shlomit Nehama. The story is set in present-day Jerusalem, in the predominately orthodox Bukharan Quarter neighborhood. What begins as a joyous celebration at a small synagogue takes a dark turn when the “women’s balcony” collapses. This leaves the congregation with no place to worship, and no spiritual leader until their aging rabbi recovers from his resulting nervous breakdown. Fate delivers an ambitious young rabbi, who quickly ingratiates himself as “temporary” head of their synagogue. A little too quickly for the women of the congregation, who are chagrined to learn that the hasty remodeling eschews the open balcony for a stuffy glorified walk-in closet where they’re now relegated to sit for services. Soon, the women find themselves reluctantly engaged in virtual guerilla warfare against this fundamentalist redux of their previously progressive synagogue. This coterie of strong female characters are well-served by their real-life counterparts, resulting in a truly superb ensemble performance.
(Full review)

Your Name – I have sat through more than my fair share of “body swap” movies, but it’s been a while since I have experienced one as original and entertaining as Makoto Shinkai’s animated fantasy. The story concerns a teenage girl named Mitsuha, who lives in a bucolic mountain village, and a teenage boy named Taki, who resides in bustling Tokyo. They are separated by geography and blissfully unaware of each other’s existence, but they both share the heady roller coaster ride of hormone-fueled late adolescence, replete with all its attendant anxieties and insecurities. There’s something else that they share: a strange metaphysical anomaly. Or is it a dream? Sinkai’s film is a perfect blend of fantasy, sci-fi, mystery, comedy, coming-of-age tale, and old-fashioned tear-jerker (yes-I laughed and I cried). In short, it’s one of the best animes of recent years.
(Full review)

Posts with related themes:
The Top 100 films from 2007-2016

More reviews at Den of Cinema

–Dennis Hartley

As always I’m immensely grateful for all of you who drop by to read this creaky old blog. It’s what keeps me going. Together we will get through this.

Happy Hollandaise everyone! Keep the faith.

cheers — digby

Oh MSNBC, you’ve made a huge mistakeby digby

This is getting ridiculous. On the heels of firing Sam Seder for satire and then hiring him back, we find out that MSNBC fired Joan Walsh as well.They say they are happy to have her back to work for free but they won’t be paying her anymore. Apparently, they need to make room for more right wing hacks.
I like the Never-Trump apostates like Nicole Wallace and Steve Schmidt. As Republicans they are very good at harsh criticism and they are turning it on their own party and the president for a change. It’s good to know that while Republicans may have wrong ideas about policy they aren’t all batshit crazy and falling into line behind Donald Trump. And it’s fine to feature GOP officials on TV to give the party line. They are part of the government and the media has a responsibility to allow them to give their side of the story. But hacks like Hugh Hewitt? What value does he add? Why would they give him his own show and have him on constantly but fire a progressive voice with a big following, especially among women, like Walsh?

Walsh has been a strong mentor to women journalists for years, including yours truly. And for progressive women in the MSNBC audience seeing a sharp, mature, female political analyst with Joan’s wit on TV is a rare treat and we follow her specifically for the down-to-earth wisdom and strength she projects. We are a big part of their audience and we buy things. We buy a lot of things.  Why the disrespect?

Well, Joan is not a creature of the beltway. She spent most of her career on the west coat and now lives in New York. Her political analysis is different as a result. She’s much more in touch with those of us who didn’t come up in that rarefied world of political journalism but observed it from the same outside perspective from which the rest of the country sees it. One cannot help but suspect that’s not something the suits find to be valuable.

This is a mistake.

As Nicole Belle at C&L put it:

This is a HUGE miscalculation on MSNBC’s part, ignoring the zeitgeist outside the Beltway–the plummeting approval rates of Trump; the distrust of the Republican majority; the growing number of women in the Resistance movement now running for offices; the empowerment of women in workplaces and the public square. 

MSNBC’s most unapologetically liberal hosts, Rachel Maddow and Joy Reid, enjoy high ratings. Lawrence O’Donnell and contributor Sam Seder were recently saved by viral campaigns. 

And yet, despite that evidence that liberal audiences are watching and are invested in who appears on air, MSNBC’s Andy Lack decides to let go a solid, feminist, liberal and fact-based voice like Joan Walsh and keep Trump fluffer Hugh Hewitt? 

No, I say. 

Please contact MSNBC in whichever manner suits you:
Snail mail: MSNBC, 30 Rockefeller Plaza, New York, N.Y. 10112 Attn: Andrew Lack
Comment line: (212) 664-4444 

Twitter: @MSNBC (tag @joanwalsh as well, use hashtag #WTFMSNBC or #KeepJoanWalsh.) Digital director: @Farrashley 

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/msnbc/ 

Don’t let them change the framing of the political debate by removing liberal voices one by one. Stand up against the Foxification of MSNBC. Sign the petition.

Weigh in people. We are living in a time when honest voices in our media are not just helpful for our political cause, they are vital and necessary to preserve our democracy. This is one way we can help.

As always I’m immensely grateful for all of you who drop by to read this creaky old blog. It’s what keeps me going. Together we will get through this.

Happy Hollandaise everyone! Keep the faith.

cheers — digby

Of course he’s a racist. Why do you ask?by digby

We knew Donald Trump was a full blown racist. It’s just that we don’t usually hear him talking like George Wallace. He’s usually spouting bullshit about how “they” (Mexicans, Muslims, African Americans) are all criminals and promising to restore “law and order” as his cover.
Here he is talking in private:

According to six officials who attended or were briefed about the meeting, Mr. Trump then began reading aloud from the document, which his domestic policy adviser, Stephen Miller, had given him just before the meeting. The document listed how many immigrants had received visas to enter the United States in 2017.

More than 2,500 were from Afghanistan, a terrorist haven, the president complained.

Haiti had sent 15,000 people. They “all have AIDS,” he grumbled, according to one person who attended the meeting and another person who was briefed about it by a different person who was there.

Forty thousand had come from Nigeria, Mr. Trump added. Once they had seen the United States, they would never “go back to their huts” in Africa, recalled the two officials, who asked for anonymity to discuss a sensitive conversation in the Oval Office.

As the meeting continued, John F. Kelly, then the secretary of homeland security, and Rex W. Tillerson, the secretary of state, tried to interject, explaining that many were short-term travelers making one-time visits. But as the president continued, Mr. Kelly and Mr. Miller turned their ire on Mr. Tillerson, blaming him for the influx of foreigners and prompting the secretary of state to throw up his arms in frustration. If he was so bad at his job, maybe he should stop issuing visas altogether, Mr. Tillerson fired back.

Tempers flared and Mr. Kelly asked that the room be cleared of staff members. But even after the door to the Oval Office was closed, aides could still hear the president berating his most senior advisers.

He’s the guy who called for the Central Park Five to be executed and when they were all exonerated said they were guilty anyway.

It’s who he is. We knew that. And, by the way, it’s the main reason Trump voters like him so much.

What this story shows is that Trump wants to cut off immigration for anyone Trump doesn’t like. Which means anyone who isn’t white and/or rich. Trump, like his voters, wants an America that only looks like him.

Update: Little reminder of the way the man who serves as Trump’s model for the presidency spoke about racial and ethnic minorities, Richard Nixon:

‘In his private roll calls of perceived enemies, African Americans never ranked as high as liberal Jews, but in his rants about race and ethnicity (Jews were obnoxious, the Irish were mean drunks, Mexicans were thieves) he stirred in theories of black inferiority. “Most of them basically are just out of the trees”, he told appointee, Donald Rumsfeld’, the author writes. 

‘I have the greatest affection for them, but I know they ain’t going to make it for five hundred years’, Nixon told Ehrlichman and Haldeman. ‘The Mexicans are a different cup of tea. They have a heritage. At the present time they steal, they’re dishonest…[but] they do have some concept of family life, at least. They don’t live like a bunch of dogs, which the Negroes do live like.’

Peas in a pod. 

As always I’m immensely grateful for all of you who drop by to read this creaky old blog. It’s what keeps me going. Together we will get through this.

Happy Hollandaise everyone! Keep the faith.

cheers — digby

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One of these coins is not like the othersby digby

The top three coins are the ones issued for Pence, Biden and Obama. It’s obvious who the bottom one is forI hate to be repetitive, but it’s impossible not to when you see things like this. This is not funny and it’s not normal, people.

President Donald Trump broke with decades-long tradition when he unveiled his “challenge coin” — ditching the presidential seal and slapping on his campaign slogan “Make America Great Again” in place of the national motto E pluribis unum (out of many, one).

The Presidential “challenge coin” is a tradition that goes back two decades, with each president’s coin differing slightly in design from the next. The coins are given, usually to members of the military, to celebrate accomplishments or recognize a particular act of service. The custom is discrete, with presidents typically passing the coins to the recipients via a handshake.

According to a White House aide who spoke with the Washington Post, Trump played an active role in designing the coin. And the design is a noticeable departure from years past — an eagle emblazoned with Trump’s signature replaces the Presidential seal on one side (in fact, Trump’s name appears three times on the coin), a bright American flag serves as the backdrop of the White House on the other side, 13 arrows representing the original colonies have been removed, and the usual muted copper and silver colors have been replaced with a bright gold. The coin is also much larger and thicker than those of years past.

Jennifer Burch, a former staff sergeant in the U.S. Air Force (medically retired) and a Trump voter, said Trump was “disrespecting” tradition with the new coin design.

“When I was in the service, I would get a challenge coin for doing something above and beyond,” she told ThinkProgress, adding that she received one for helping to raise more than $20,000 in relief funds after the 2010 Haiti earthquake. “Every coin tells a story … I feel like, now, they’re being a little overused.”

“Some change can be good. But this is not. It’s not classy,” Burch added.

Yeah, it’s also something right out of the Kim Jong Un Dear Leader playbook. It perfectly symbolizes why the cloying obsequiousness of the GOP on the steps of the White House and the growing calls for a purge of federal law enforcement of anyone who isn’t a Trump loyalist is so alarming. They are joining his cult, one by one.

It’s one thing for supporters and opportunists to manufacture and sell wingnut kitch. There are always people willing to pay for team gear. But this is official government product and it’s supposed to be about the presidency not the person. To actually eliminate the national motto in favor of his plagiarized campaign slogan and plaster his name all over the thing is just too much.

It is beyond fitting that Trump deleted “e Pluribus Unum” — out of many, one—from the Presidential coin. Our national motto sums up our nation’s deepest aspirations. Trump has never shown even the slightest respect for the motto and what it stands for. https://t.co/tSz9rg3jQj

— Neal Katyal (@neal_katyal) December 22, 2017

As always I’m immensely grateful for all of you who drop by to read this creaky old blog. It’s what keeps me going. Together we will get through this.

Happy Hollandaise everyone! Keep the faith.

cheers — digby

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We must ensure that the Resistance keeps up the pressure. Without it Democrats will cave.by digby

I watched Trump sign his big tax bill today and I had my usual dual reaction of revulsion and fury whenever I see him. It’s a physical response. I’ve never felt this way about any politician before. In fact, I’ve never felt this way about any person before. He is uniquely dreadful. Pollster Peter Hart did focus groups all over the country and found that this is not an unusual reaction:

Donald Trump lost the support and respect of a majority of Americans in his first year as president…. In 2017, Americans hoped the Trump era would be about changing Washington and the old established order. But they did not sign on to the division and discord. Instead, 2017 has found Americans feeling that they are living constantly on edge … Instead of being a unifying force or a stable leader, he has been an unnerving presence. 

I think he was being generous. He is more than unnerving. He is downright terrifying. And I have to say that the spectacle of all those Republicans lining up this week to unctuously sing his praises and ostentatiously kiss his ring in front of the whole country may have been the most unnerving moment of this terrifying year.

It’s fine to take a victory lap when you get a legislative victory. All politicians do that. But this was something else again. Seeing all those officials lined up behind him made it clear that Republicans have cynically decided to fete him like the dictator of a banana republic. We are a hares-breath away from it being true.

Today he bragged, he bloviated, he whined and he insisted that next year Democrats are going to be with him on his big tax-money-for-rich-cronies initiative, an “infrastructure” bill.  We’ll have to see what happens, but if the Democrats want to split their burgeoning coalition they’ll start cooperating with that monster.  It’s not as if whatever infrastructure bill they come up with will be anything but a boondoggle for rich people.

The latest (hopefully temporary) cave on DACA is not reassuring. If the Democrats lose their spines going into this election  and allow Trump to be seen as a “winner” by bringing them around to his side, if they even think of kissing his ring like those Republicans have done, in the midst of a strong economy, the GOP will win. And we will be done.

It is vital that they stay strong and resist. Any capitulation to Trump will demoralize the Democratic base and give the other side a good reason to come out and vote for their team next year.  Keep in mind that Democrats must have an unusually high turnout in a mid-term which is always very difficult for them and the Republicans must stay home in a midterm which is uncommon.

The Resistance is called what it’s called because of a massive grassroots demand that Trump not be normalized or validated. We must push these Democrats to hold the line.

I will be here pushing as hard as I can for them to block, resist, stop, protest and resist anything and everything that Donald Trump and his unctuous sycophants try to do in the next year.  There can be no capitulation to this unfit cretin or we are well and truly sunk.

If we stick together and resist the normalization of this outrageous insult to reason and reality, we might just come out of this in one piece.

I am so grateful for all of my readers — it’s the sustenance that gets me through these dark times.

If you feel like putting a little something in the Hullabaloo Christmas stocking this year, it would be much appreciated.

Happy Hollandaise everyone! Keep the faith.

cheers — digby

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Sugar plum fairies
by Tom Sullivan

Mar-a-Lago entrance. Photo by tommietheturtle from Palm Beach, CC BY 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons.

To no one’s surprise, the Republicans’ tax overhaul, won’t pay for itself, says the Joint Committee on Taxation’s new report. Released hours after the president had signed the bill into law, the committee’s summary is blunt:

The bill will cost in excess of $1 trillion over 10 years, a reduction in the committee’s initial $1.46 trillion estimate for the tax measure. At a hastily arranged signing ceremony in the Oval Office with only the press present, the sitting president promised the tax cuts would be “fantastic for the economy.”

Must. Do. What. TV. Says.

The signing came unexpectedly:

Trump told the press that he initially planned to sign the bill in early January at a “big formal ceremony,” but changed his mind after watching TV this morning. “I watched the news this morning they were all saying, ‘Will he keep his promise? Will he sign it by Christmas.’ And I called downstairs and I said, get it ready, we have to sign it now,” Trump said.

Bypassing the “big formal ceremony” will be a sore disappointment to Republican leaders who won’t get their moment of triumph memorialized by photos with the president. Suckers. Trump handed out their ceremonial pens to the press instead.

Then again, maybe it wasn’t just the TV that prompted the snap signing. The JCT report was on its way, Plum Line’s Greg Sargent suggests in a tweet:

Perfect:

1) Trump signs bill likely saving himself/family tens of millions of dollars

2) Leaves town

3) JCT analysis finds GOP vow of explosive econ growth paying for tax cuts is $1 trillion sham

4) Trump is already in Mar-a-Lago

5) Twitter Trumpkins think *they’ve* won

They’ll have visions of sugar-plums dancing in their heads. The one-percent, anyway. The rest will be dreaming of gazillions of new jobs spawned by yet another GOP tax cut that will pay for itself. During the bill signing, a rambling president told reporters his bill had received a thumbs-up from Robert Kraft, owner of the New England Patriots:

Trump mentioned to reporters during the signing in the Oval Office that he received a call Thursday night from his “friend” and fellow billionaire, who he said praised the legislation.

“He said this tax bill is incredible,” the president said. “He owns the New England Patriots, but, he’s in the paper business, too. And he said based on this tax bill that he just wanted to let me know that he’s going to a buy a big plant in the great state of North Carolina, and he’s going to build a tremendous paper mill there — or paper products plant.”

Asked by the Boston Business Journal to confirm the president’s claim, Kraft spokesperson Stacey James avoided mention of any building plans:

“In terms of Mr. Kraft’s own business interests, he is always exploring opportunities locally, nationally and internationally,” James said. “The Kraft Group currently does business in 95 countries and owns manufacturing facilities in 14 states, including North Carolina.”

Kraft may have plans he means to keep on the down-low, but the likelihood is the president was engaging in more of his trademarked puffery.

This place is full of vultures, vultures everywhere.

When dealing with Donald Trump, it is always best to watch your wallet. Dana Milbank reports on how his tax plan treats Puerto Rico as a foreign country, hitting businesses there with a 12.5 percent tax on income from intellectual property. The move gives pharmaceutical and medical device manufacturers there incentive to move off-island:

You might recognize this pattern, even if you don’t care about Puerto Rico and the suffering of the more than 3 million Americans there. Trump comes in with razzle-dazzle and self-congratulation, promising great things to come. Then, when the cameras are off, comes the quiet collapse.

The prototype is the Trump Taj Mahal Atlantic City. In April 1990, it opened with much fanfare as the world’s largest casino-hotel complex. Six months later, it defaulted on payments. Nine months after that, it filed for bankruptcy.

It is the Trump playbook, write Jonathan C. Lipson and Andrea Monroe of Temple University’s Beasley School of Law in USA Today: Buy extravagantly today, and leave someone else to foot the bill tomorrow.

The Palm Beach Post’s Christine Stapleton and Lawrence Mower published a report Thursday detailing yet again the risk anyone takes in making deals with Donald Trump.

The pair explore Trump’s creative use of preservation easements for avoiding paying taxes:

Congress created the charitable deduction in 1969 as an incentive to conserve land and preserve historic buildings, but by the 2000s, it became widely abused by the wealthy. In such easements, owners donate control of property, be it land or historic features, to a nonprofit, reducing an estate’s value.

Before the Internal Revenue Service cracked down on them, easements were on the agency’s list of “Dirty Dozen Tax Scams.”

The lengthy article details how Trump cut a deal in the early 1990s with the Palm Beach town council to “donate” an easement that would preserve the historic Mar-a-Lago property in exchange for approval to open it as a private club. The easement would allow the cash-strapped Trump to write off $5.7 million in estimated value from is income taxes:

But Trump’s promise couldn’t be in writing, Trump attorney Rampell told the council, according to meeting minutes and transcripts. If the council insisted Trump’s commitment be in writing, his donation might be disqualified by the IRS as a charitable contribution.

The final quid-pro-quo arrangement gave the real estate magnate his tax deduction in exchange for donating the easement to the National Trust. The arrangement requires the property to be open to the public. Of course, Trump found a way around that:

For one day a year, up to 100 members of the public must be allowed on the grounds of the estate for “viewing and study.” On one other day, Trump must allow up to 20 members of the public into the mansion “for the purpose of viewing and studying the historic and architectural characteristics of the property.”

So who are the lucky ones standing in long lines to get a glimpse within the lavish estate?

Socialites who pay up to $1,000 for tickets to charity galas. Friends of members and small groups invited in for weddings, lectures and luncheons.

David Frum explains in a piece in Esquire detailing rot in conservatism, “The problem with the devil’s bargain is that the devil never delivers … That’s the point of the story.”

* * * * * * * *

Request a copy of For The Win, my county-level election mechanics primer, at tom.bluecentury at gmail.

It’s the Holiday Season and if you feel like putting a little something in the Hullabaloo Christmas stocking this year it would be much appreciated.

Friday Night Soother: Christmas penguins!by digby

Who knew that this was a ritual around the world?
Japan:

South Korea:

Long Island!

Have a wonderful evening, everyone. Have a little Christmas cheer, sing a carol, watch a movie, hang out with friends and family — enjoy!

If you feel like dropping a little something in the Hullabaloo Christmas stocking this year I would be most appreciative. As always I’m immensely grateful for all of you who drop by to read this creaky old blog. It’s what keeps me going. Together we will get through this.

Happy Hollandaise everyone! Keep the faith.

cheers — digby

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Trump toadie o’ the dayby digby

I have decided to start a new feature with the most unctuous sycophantic Trump quote of the day. Get a load of this from Pennsylvania Republican congressman Mike Kelly on Fox this morning:

I will tell you what. For those people on the Trump train or not on the Trump train, this is high-speed rail right now. And so if you’re not on the Trump train, you get on the train or get off the tracks. You’re gonna get run over.

Look, the House had done its work in the appropriations.We had our 12 bills ready to go. Unfortunately it didn’t get through the Senate. But the big news — the big news is for America, you look at today, and I can tell you walking around the streets of Pittsburgh, people walking more erect, not just whispering ‘Merry Christmas’ but saying ‘Hey, Merry Christmas.’

You can feel it, you can see it. And I’m not just pumping sunshine for the sake of pumping sunshine. I am telling you, this is a different country. In 11 months, this president has changed the entire complexion of our entire country and our place in the world. We are no longer leading from behind, we are leading from the front and everybody else is looking to us and saying ‘go, go, go.’

Somebody’s been hitting the eggnog a little early.

Don’t anyone tell him about this:

Here’s the video:

If you feel like dropping a little something in the Hullabaloo Christmas stocking this year I would be most appreciative. As always, I’m immensely grateful for all of you who drop by to read this creaky old blog. It’s what keeps me going. Together we will get through this.

Happy Hollandaise everyone! Keep the faith.

cheers — digby

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Warner is pushing hard for a reasonby digby

Mark Warner spoke out earlier this week on the Senate floor warning that firing Mueller would be a “red line.” And it’s not partisanship that has him saying that. He’s not a bomb thrower. When he says that the Russia probe is the most important thing he will ever work on, it’s meaningful:

In TV interviews over the past year, Warner has been candid as he vacillated between thinking there’s more smoke or more fire. Now, he clearly sees fire.

The committee plans to go hard after Facebook to cough up more about Russia-sponsored ads, and after Trump’s inner circle to spill more about connections to Putin people.

Up first: Calling back Jared Kushner, Donald Trump Jr. and other “principals involved in some of these activities” for more Intelligence Committee questioning.

When those witnesses came to the committee before, they were interviewed by staff. This time, they’ll be questioned by the senators themselves.

Warner: “We could debate whether they come back in public or private. I would lean more towards public.”

What’s next for Facebook: Warner said that Facebook still hasn’t been fully candid, and plans to require more information about what happened in 2016, and more transparency on future political ads.

Warner wants independent experts to have access to the Russia targeting data, to provide “a third‑party, almost academic, analysis.”

Warner on Facebook: “I would like to have a higher confidence they’ve really done the investigation of all possible Russian [connections]. And some of the Russian sites were actually … started or activated outside of Russia but are were still controlled by them.”

It seems that Warner has some suspicion that the Trump campaign was involved in the sophisticated propaganda campaign last year. It’s hard to know if the Republican majority will allow them to pursue this angle but it’s truly dangerous not to pursue it. This is a powerful new threat to all elections going forward. For some reason the Republicans seem convinced that it’s always going to work in their favor, which is interesting in itself.

If you feel like dropping a little something in the Hullabaloo Christmas stocking this year I would be most appreciative. As always I’m immensely grateful for all of you who drop by to read this creaky old blog. It’s what keeps me going. Together we will get through this.

Happy Hollandaise everyone! Keep the faith.

cheers — digby

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Trump has already left his mark. And it’s ugly.by digby

New York Magazine compiled the 55 ways the Trump administration has already structurally changed America. Get a load of the damage so far:

Given that the congressional year has otherwise been marked by turmoil and inaction, and given the high staff turnover and the parade of scandals at the White House, it’s been easy to miss what this administration has already done. In the background, Donald Trump’s Cabinet members and their collaborators have been working hard to deliver on Steve Bannon’s vision of dismantling the “regulatory state.” With Trump’s blessing, they have made drastic, structural changes on education, immigration, environmental protections, broadcasting and internet laws, and rules of military engagement, among other issues. Most often the changes have taken direct aim at Obama’s legacy, but some apply to regulations and programs that date back decades.

What follows is a list of those changes. Excluded here is anything abstract: say, about how Trump has trampled on political norms, degraded national discourse, or permanently shattered the “dignity of the Oval Office.” Also excluded are the promises on which he has yet to deliver — for instance, moving the U.S. embassy in Israel to Jerusalem or building the border wall. Finally, it doesn’t include his selection of judges — he’s nominated 58 circuit- and district-court judges, 18 of whom have already been confirmed — since judicial appointments are an expected part of any president’s work.

I’ll just say that it’s … sobering.

Here are just the ones having to do with immigration and criminal justice:

Immigration
Travel from eight countries is banned
After 11 months’ worth of legal dueling, Trump has effectively delivered on a version of his Muslim ban. With the Supreme Court’s blessing, he’s halted nearly all travel from Iran, Syria, Libya, Somalia, Yemen, and Chad, plus North Korea and (in some cases) Venezuela.

All refugees from 11 countries have been blocked from entering the U.S.
Trump’s infamous “travel ban” executive order in January also decreed that refugees could no longer come here — no matter which country they were fleeing. Again because of lawsuits, that rule has been watered down, but Trump has successfully banned refugees from ten majority-Muslim countries plus North Korea, leading to a 40 percent drop in overall refugee admissions and a 94 percent drop in Muslim refugees.

Protections for the Dreamers have been rescinded
The Department of Homeland Security will start cutting off protections for the nearly 700,000 Dreamers — undocumented immigrants who were brought to the U.S. as children — in March, by decree from Trump. There’s still a chance, however, that Congress will pass a new law in the interim offering them legal residency or a path to citizenship.

A program for child migrants fleeing violence in Central America is being phased out
More than 2,700 children, mostly from El Salvador, had received tentative approval to move here — but this year the State Department abruptly turned them away. It has also stopped accepting new applications for the program, which has been around since 2014, and plans to abolish it altogether.

The U.S. has backed out of the U.N.’s migration pact
U.S. representatives had been involved in a United Nations’ council on migration since the inaugural meeting this past spring. The idea is to coordinate help for more than 60 million people who have been driven from their homes by wars, poverty, or climate change. But the U.S. announced in December that it was quitting; Secretary of State Rex Tillerson claimed that participating would undermine American sovereignty.

Spouses and children of refugees have lost their path into the U.S.
A program that helps refugees reunite with their families has been suspended by the State Department and other agencies — until when, no one knows.

Immigration agents are now required to treat the claims of asylum-seekers more skeptically
Homeland Security is telling its asylum officers to take a more critical stance on the stories of immigrants who say they are fleeing violence or persecution. If the interviewees seem nervous, the agents are to avoid factoring in that it might be caused by trauma or culture shock.

Green cards are taking longer to obtain
Homeland Security now requires in-person interviews for certain kinds of applications — something they had stopped doing ten years ago because it was a colossal waste of time. Immigration lawyers told CNN it could mean millions fewer immigrants will be admitted here by 2020.

Criminal Justice
Federal prosecutors have been stripped of their discretion and ordered to seek maximum penalties
Attorney General Jeff Sessions issued the order in May, with a specific intent that prosecutors pursue stiff sentences for drug-dealing, gun crimes, and gang violence. But the mandate applies to every kind of case.

A police-department reform program has been cut off
After the Department of Justice sued the police in Ferguson, Missouri, and ordered the department to clean up its act on race relations, the DOJ created a program where other police departments could seek similar guidance, but on a voluntary, cooperative basis. Police departments in Philadelphia, San Francisco, and Las Vegas, among others, took advantage of it. Sessions effectively cut off the program and channeled the money to groups like police unions instead.

Local police are once again stocking up on military weapons
After police in Ferguson used military weapons against protesters in 2015, Obama took measures to end the militarization of police. Sessions rescinded those rules, so police can once again obtain surplus grenade-launchers, bayonets, and armored vehicles for free or with federal dollars.

Half a million fugitives are now allowed to buy guns
In February, the DOJ narrowed the definition of “fugitive” to people who have crossed state lines to escape prosecution or avoid testifying, which cleared 518,670 alleged criminals for gun purchases, according to the FBI.

I would just point out that a majority of those can specifically be attributed to Trump not just standard issue GOP policy. Not every Attorney General would be a rank racist neo-confederate like Jeff Sessions. And Trump is the one who pushed the immigration issue into full-blown xenophobia.

Republicans are horrible and I would be as resistant to their agenda no matter what. But a lot of Trump’s “accomplishments” are things that go beyond what an average Republican president would have done. He’s appointed extremists all over the executive branch to carry out extremist policies. All we can do is hope that their incompetence outweighs their lunacy.

If you feel like dropping a little something in the Hullabaloo Christmas stocking this year I would be most appreciative. As always I’m immensely grateful for all of you who drop by to read this creaky old blog. It’s what keeps me going. Together we will get through this.

Happy Hollandaise everyone! Keep the faith.

cheers — digby

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