Author: tristero

Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives 

by tristero

What is it about the NY Times and their obsession with diners? Here they go again:

Over lunch at the Frost Cafe, a corner diner in a picturesque pocket of Virginia that President Trump won handily in 2016… [followed by roughly 1800 — 1800!!! —more words that pretend that asking people in diners and steak frys their political opinions is a legitimate way to take the Pulse of the Nation]

At least they could go to a decent diner. My nominee: Bette’s OceanView Diner in Berkeley, CA.  And it’s not just the pancakes, which are indeed sublime. The fried eggs and toast I had there were the best, hands down, I’ve ever eaten. Also:

My guess is that you will have to talk to quite a few regular denizens of Bette’s before you find a Trump apologist.

I’m Beginning to Think The Russian Prostitute Video Tape Has to be Real 

by tristero

The assumption has been that the tape, if it existed, couldn’t be nearly enough, that the leverage Putin holds on Trump has to be about money.

But what if the tape was really horrific? What if paying two prostitutes to perform certain activities for him was merely where the video began? What if Donald Trump did… a-and it was captured on high quality video? The mind heaves.

That could easily explain the extraordinary lengths Trump goes to help Putin — directly, via the blame-Ukraine-for-2016 shenanigans, and now with Turkey (for starters). Because if the tape is real and the activities Trump indulged in are gross enough and possibly illegal, that could — in addition to holding him up for worldwide ridicule at a level far greater than his known activities have done — seriously affect his bottom line as well.

No tapes have yet surfaced. But absence of evidence is not…

When It Comes to Killing People, Trump Is Acting More Like Bush

by tristero

During my lifetime, George W. Bush holds the record for being the US president directly responsible for the most deaths through neglect and violence. Bush’s incompetence and profoundly deep psychopathy killed both Americans (also, here) as well as non-Americans (but he specialized in the latter).

So far, Trump’s death record — as awful as it is — doesn’t come close to this monstrous level. That’s about to change:

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced Wednesday that Turkey’s military has launched a long-expected offensive into northeastern Syria targeting U.S.-allied Syrian Kurdish fighters who have played a central role in battling the Islamic State militant group. 

“The Turkish Armed Forces, together with the Syrian National Army, just launched #OperationPeaceSpring against PKK/YPG and Daesh terrorists in northern Syria,” Erdogan wrote on Twitter Wednesday afternoon, referring to the Syrian-Kurdish force as well as the Islamic State. 

“Our mission is to prevent the creation of a terror corridor across our southern border, and to bring peace to the area,” he said. Turkish media outlets aired footage of warplanes leaving from an air base in Turkey’s southeast and large explosions in Tel Abyad and another Syrian border town. 

The offensive has presented the Trump administration with a dilemma, because of the Syrian-Kurdish forces alliance with the United States. 

The White House announced Sunday that it was withdrawing U.S. troops from the area that Turkey planned to invade, igniting a firestorm of criticism. Republican leaders denounced Trump’s abandonment of the Kurds. Pentagon officials struggled with explanations, humanitarian workers warned of civilian casualties, and Kurdish commanders said they might be forced to abandon their Syrian prisons holding thousands of captured Islamic State fighters and head for the front lines against Turkey.

Anyone who thinks that America will be able to go back to pre-Trump norms or quickly recover global credibility is fooling themselves. That’s because even though the upcoming slaughter of the Kurds’ are on Trump, but all Americans will be blamed.

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Drummer 

by tristero

Reliable rumor has it that when he died earlier today, Ginger Baker — the most imaginative drummer that ever played in a rock band — immediately went to hell. But he was so horribly unpleasant and obnoxious that the devils refused to admit him.

So Ginger’s in heaven now, surrounded by the good, the decent, the kind, and the well-adjusted — and banging up an ugodly beautiful storm.

This is Serious 

by tristero

Trump is threatening people’s lives. I see no reason not to take him seriously. This is not a joke. This is not bluster. This is the president of the United States making it very clear what he wants his people to do.

He is capable of anything.  He must be impeached and removed immediately.

In related news, Dean Baquet demonstrates, once again, that he has no idea what Trump is and how dangerous the situation is.

QOTD— So Far 

by tristero

From the redacted whistleblower complaint:

According to White House officials I spoke with, this was “not the first time“ under this administration that a presidential transcript was placed into this codeword-level system solely for the purpose of protecting politically sensitive – rather than national security sensitive – information.

 Translated: Trump’s White House is hiding a lot more. About a lot of crimes beyond this one.

I Won’t Trust It’s Complete Unless The Whistleblower Testifies It Is 

by tristero

This may be a good sign:

The acting director of national intelligence, under pressure from Congress to release the full complaint of a whistle-blower who touched off the Ukraine impeachment furor, was to have handed over the document to the House Intelligence Committee at 4 p.m., according to a congressional aide.

But Trump, Barr, and Maguire can’t be trusted. Let’s not forget that as damning as it is in this bowdlerized form, the rough summary of the Trump/Ukraine phone call was, in fact, redacted, and in fact is not a verbatim transcript despite the Trump administration lying with a straight face and pretending it was complete and accurate.


The only way we can be certain that the full whistleblower complaint is delivered to Congress is if the whistleblower swears under oath it’s complete.

In other news, Maguire threatened to resign. Resign now, buddy. You deliberately broke the law, probably on orders from on high (or with the conscious thought of currying favor from them).

But now that you were caught, you’re engaged in a truly pathetic attempt to salvage what’s left of your reputation, and you’re desperately trying to take the high, principled road.

Too late, pal. You should have thought of what association with Trump would do for your rep long before you joined the his corrupt administration.

Oh, and don’t slam the door.

The Latest Sparkly Thing 

by tristero

Damn straight it’s damning. But no one should be distracted by this single sparkly thing because it’s neither a verbatim record of what was said nor is it the entire story.

And that is my biggest concern, that the press will in its hive wisdom decide that it was damning enough and that now the story is complete. It is not.

The entire, original, complete, unredacted whistleblower complaint needs to be turned over to Congress. Now.

But the press coverage I’ve seen, with the exception of Maddow, still is minimizing the blatant lawbreaking that Trump, Barr, and Maguire are perpetrating. [SEE UPDATE 2 Below]

UPDATE: The Republicans desperately want reporting to stop with the transcript.

Sen. Lindsey Graham, chairman of the Judiciary Committee, told reporters that this transcript doesn’t justify an impeachment. 

“From my point of view, to impeach any president over a phone call like this would be insane,” Graham said.

The GOP is trying to pretend the story begins and ends with a few remarks that have been reported in a paraphrased fashion.

Again, this non-transcript is just the latest sparkly thing. The press has to do its job. It simply must place this non-transcript in context and make it clear that it is just one of several pieces of the story. They have to aggressively report the lawless behavior of the the Trump administration in their attempt to suppress the whistleblower complaint. [Paragraph updated after posting to reflect the fact that transcript is in fact not a transcript.]

UPDATE 2: This is exactly what I mean by the press minimizing the story:

The release did not go far enough for many Democrats, who have demanded to see the full complaint about Mr. Trump’s actions lodged by a whistle-blower, which has not been shared with Congress.

So What?


by tristero

Trump is claiming that he will release a “declassified and unredacted transcript” of his phone conversation with the Ukrainian president.

So what?

First, anyone who believes, without hearing an audio recording, that the transcript is truly verbatim is naive.* Secondly, “unredacted” does not mean “unedited.” The clue is in the word “declassified.” It will almost certainly be edited. There just won’t be those ominous black boxes on the page so it will look “pure.”

Third, it’s not enough.

The whistleblower complaint was only partly about the phone call. There is more. And I’m not the only one who thinks there is a lot more.  The complaint itself must be handed over to Congress. The law must be followed.

But even that is not enough. Joseph Maguire must go.

And no, that’s not enough, either. Maguire must be replaced by someone completely acceptable to Adam Schiff. And there needs to be assurances from the Justice Department that there will no more interference — ever — with the whistleblower program by the Trump administration.**

Oh, and in other news, Pelosi announced a formal impeachment inquiry. I suppose I should be relieved but instead I’m just disgusted that it took this much to get her to stop dithering. Why?

Read David Leonhardt’s brilliant precis of Trump’s high crimes and misdemeanors and ask yourself how on earth any decent Congressperson could have waited so long to support a formal impeachment inquiry.

There is something dangerously wrong with a government that would allow any president to get away with 1/10th what Trump has done. There is something dangerously wrong with a press that — after all his lies and bullshit — would fall for Trump’s switcheroo on the whistleblower complaint and minimize that aspect of this story.

It is my sincere hope that this is the beginning of a transition to sanity, but I fear that the press is going to let the whistleblower complaint go after the transcript is released. And that  Pelosi moved far too late.

*Even with an audio recording, it’s easy enough to edit out the naughty bits and no one would ever be able to tell. I happen to be an expert at audio editing. Believe me, I know.

**Frankly, I don’t know how such a pledge could be enforced but it’s better than no pledge.

Once Again, the Story is the Destruction of  Effective Whistleblowing 

by tristero

I honestly don’t understand why the Times, among so many others, is downplaying the fact that Trump has now made it impossible for whistleblowers to come forward without suffering dire consequences,  including jail time. Slate sums it up.

This process appeared to have worked as intended until the Ukraine whistleblower’s complaint landed on Maguire’s desk. ICWPA does not seem to give Maguire any leeway here: Under the law, he must accept Atkinson’s judgment and send the complaint to Congress. Yet Maguire has refused to do so, asserting that he does not believe the complaint constitutes an “urgent concern.” House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam B. Schiff has sent Maguire multiple demands and even a subpoena for the complaint, but Maguire will not turn it over. 

What is Maguire’s legal basis for withholding the complaint? The OLC [Office of Legal Counsel] told him it was not an “urgent concern.” Its reasoning, of course, is secret. 

The OLC’s intervention to block the transmission of the whistleblower’s complaint is a startling breach of protocol. ICWPA defines an “urgent concern” as a “serious or flagrant problem, abuse, violation of law or Executive order, or deficiency relating to the funding, administration, or operations of an intelligence activity involving classified information.” Because the complaint remains hidden, we cannot know if it meets this standard. But the law does not give Maguire the power to answer that question. Instead, it grants Atkinson the authority to decide if a whistleblower’s complaint fits this definition. Moreover, it states that Maguire “shall … forward” the complaint to Congress if Atkinson determines it meets the statutory standard. Maguire has no apparent right to veto Atkinson’s judgment. 

And yet, the OLC has conjured precisely such a right and handed it to Maguire. It is possible, if unlikely, that the OLC’s legal analysis is defensible. But it is impossible to assess that analysis because the office has suppressed it. And the OLC’s track record, especially under Trump, gives us good reason to doubt that its logic holds water. 

Schumer wants to change that, but his own powers are limited. He has urged his Republican colleagues to “insist” that the Justice Department turn over the OLC’s opinion; congressional committees can’t normally gain access to such information, but Schumer appears to be seeking some accommodation from the administration. Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Richard Burr has shown no indication that he will comply with Schumer’s requests. 

There are many layers of alleged misconduct here, from the president’s own reported criminality to the administration’s efforts to conceal the president’s actions from Congress—and, by extension, the public. But it should not be forgotten that this cover-up is being facilitated by the office ostensibly responsible for keeping the executive branch in line with the law. The whistleblower’s complaint remains secret today because the OLC decided that a statute does not mean what it says. Instead of following the law, the office seems to be helping Trump cover his tracks. 

And I’d just like to repeat that publicly releasing what will surely be bowdlerized transcripts — which Trump appears to be dangling as a substitute for releasing the whistleblower complaint to Congress — will do nothing but enable Trump to set the initial tone of the reporting and therefore, the story. As he did to catastrophic effect with the Mueller report.

This is very serious.