"Flappy Moo Ear. Treats, please." pic.twitter.com/EQyFWbUE6e
— Melissa McEwan (@Shakestweetz) January 1, 2018
Rep. Devin Nunes, once sidelined by an ethics inquiry from leading the House Intelligence Committee's Russia probe, is reasserting the full authority of his position as chairman just as the GOP appears poised to challenge special counsel Robert S. Mueller III's investigation of possible coordination between the Trump campaign and Russian officials.Nunes' obstructionism, which is certainly unethical and possibly illegal, is deeply troubling all on its own. Even more troubling is the fact that virtually the entire rest of his traitorous party is utterly silent on his despicable water-carrying on behalf of this illegitimate, intransigently corrupt administration.
The California Republican was cleared in December of allegations he improperly disclosed classified information while accusing the Obama administration of exposing the identities of Trump affiliates on surveillance reports. Since clearing his name, Nunes has stepped up his attacks on Mueller's team and the law enforcement agencies around it, including convening a group of Intelligence Committee Republicans to draft a likely report on "corruption" among the investigators working for the special counsel.
Although Nunes has not officially wrested his panel's Russia probe back from the Republicans he deputized to run it, the chairman's reemergence as a combative Trump loyalist has raised alarm among Democrats that the future of the investigation may be clipped short or otherwise undermined.
...For months, Democrats have kept an unofficial count of the ways they say Nunes worked behind the scenes during the time he was under ethics investigation to slow or stymie the Intelligence Committee's Russia probe. Nunes never relinquished his sole, unchecked authority to sign off on subpoenas even as he handed the day-to-day operations to Reps. K. Michael Conaway (R-Tex.), Trey Gowdy (R-S.C.), and Thomas J. Rooney (R-Fla.). People familiar with the committee's work estimated that Nunes's effective veto cost Democrats dozens of requests for interviews and documents that were never sent out, despite repeated entreaties from the minority side.
This includes requests for subpoenas to obtain additional testimony from key figures in the probe who Democrats say were not forthcoming enough in interviews — among them Attorney General Jeff Sessions and Trump's son Donald Trump Jr. Democrats surmise they might have compelled them to return if not for Nunes's resistance.
In an interview with me, Rep. Jim Himes of Connecticut — the No. 2 Democrat on the House intel committee — said that Democrats are seriously exploring the possibility of issuing a minority report that details (among other things) the degree to which Republicans tried to impede a full investigation, should that end up happening. In this scenario, the public would at least have a clear sense of just how far Republicans went to protect President Trump and his top officials from accountability.Ball's in your court, Republicans.
"It's in both the Democrats' and the Republicans' interests to … write a report based on a common set of facts," Himes told me. "It would be a tragedy if the report has a minority section that says, 'Look, we wanted to talk to these two dozen witnesses and weren't able to do so.'"
...Himes confirmed to me that Democrats want to call Trump Jr. and Sessions back in to ask whether Papadoupoulos communicated to top campaign officials the existence of this Russian dirt on Clinton, and whether that is related to the June 2016 meeting to get said dirt from the Russian government. But it looks unlikely that Republicans will agree, and Himes said that if Republicans do end up frustrating a full inquiry more generally — and keep pushing the narrative of a deep-state coup against Trump — Democrats may issue a minority report detailing what Republicans really did here.
"If the investigation gets wound up too quickly, the minority report would be largely about outstanding questions that were never examined," Himes told me, though he stressed that he hopes this does not happen.
“We’ve spent 40 years putting together an apparatus to protect public health and the environment from a lot of different pollutants,” said William Ruckelshaus, the EPA’s first administrator. “[Pruitt]’s pulling that whole apparatus down.” https://t.co/ykebIzMBdY
— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) January 2, 2018
"I shouldn’t say this, but f–k it, [C.K's] allegations were the only one that made me laugh," he said in his Dave Chappelle: The Bird Revelation special released on New Year's Eve. "It's terrible, I know it's terrible. I'm sorry, ladies. …At the same time, you know what I mean, Jesus Christ, I don't know, they took everything from Louis, it might be disproportionate, I can't tell, I can't tell, this is like where it's hard to be a man."Kaiser at Celebitchy notes: "Yep, this is what we're up against. The Matt Damons and Dave Chappelles of the world want to create hierarchies of abuse and they want to tell victims of abuse and harassment that they — the victims — don't have any right to tell their stories, to feel victimized, to feel like they've had something taken away from them professionally or personally. Men truly don't understand how demoralizing it is to be harassed and abused. They think 'well why didn't she hang up the phone' or 'why didn't she say something' — and if those women had done those things, these men still would have found some way to impugn their stories. It's just awful."
Chappelle, 44, went on to address C.K.'s incident with writer Abby Schachner, with whom he masturbated while on the phone. She told the New York Times that it was "one of the things that discouraged her from pursuing comedy."
"One lady said, 'Louis C.K. masturbated in front of me, ruined my comedy dreams,'" he said of Schachner. "Word? Well then I daresay, madam, you may have never had a dream. Come on, man, that's a brittle spirit. That is a brittle-ass spirit, that is too much, this grown-ass woman."
He continued, joking that Martin Luther King probably wouldn't have given up his "dream" if Louis C.K. masturbated in front of him.
"Show business is just harder than that," Chappelle said, bringing up Schachner again. "Them women sound … they sound weak. I know that sounds f–ked up, I'm not supposed to say that, but one of these ladies was like, 'Louis C.K. was masturbating while I was on the phone with him.' B-tch, you don't know how to hang up a phone? How the f–k are you going to survive in show business if this is an actual obstacle to your dreams?"
Crooked Hillary Clinton’s top aid, Huma Abedin, has been accused of disregarding basic security protocols. She put Classified Passwords into the hands of foreign agents. Remember sailors pictures on submarine? Jail! Deep State Justice Dept must finally act? Also on Comey & others
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 2, 2018
The president is back in Washington and appears to be starting his day by instructing the Department of Justice to arrest his political adversaries in an official statement. Happy New Year! https://t.co/kh8891BTmB
— Citizens for Ethics (@CREWcrew) January 2, 2018
Mullen, who headed the Joint Chiefs under both Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama, said the rising tension on the Korean peninsula is one example of an "incredibly dangerous climate" created as [Donald] Trump tries to disrupt the traditional American approach to foreign policy.Disrupt is a good word for what Trump has done to decades of established foreign policy. An even better word might be "annihilate."
"Those that would do us ill seem to be able to take advantage of the uncertainty," Mullen said.
Trump has threatened to "totally destroy" North Korea if the U.S. is forced to defend itself or its allies, as the country's leader Kim Jong Un continues to conduct tests of missiles that could be used to carry nuclear weapons.
"He's been incredibly disruptive with respect to the institutions, the commitments, the leadership, where we have been for the last 70 years," Mullen said of Trump's take on foreign policy.
"Clearly, the President has chosen to try to disrupt and break those up as much as possible, create a great uncertainty. And in my view, an incredibly dangerous climate exists out there in that uncertainty with how this all ends up...and one in particular that is top of the list is North Korea."
NYT story asserts Russia investigation began not with the dossier – but with George Papadopoulos tellings diplomats in London that Russia had damaging Clinton emails – which they then reported to the United States when hacked emails started to drop.https://t.co/eRrd1mZBd6
— andrew kaczynski🤔 (@KFILE) December 30, 2017
[The title of the post is a Scottish saying — "it's a long road that never changes direction" — which means don't lose hope; things can't go in the same direction forever.]
In his first interview since the Oct. 1 shooting, Coroner John Fudenberg said it took his office so long to release the information because his staff was striving for accuracy and wanted to update the families first.Fucking hell. My condolences, again and always, to the families, friends, colleagues, and communities of those who were killed. My thoughts are also with those injured and/or traumatized during the shooting.
"Because of the impact that this incident had on our community, and the attention that this incident received, it became very important for us to ensure that all of the families had the information prior to us releasing it to the public," said Fudenberg, who responded to the scene the night of the shooting.
Most of those killed at the Route 91 Harvest festival died from a single gunshot wound, according to the coroner's office. Six died from multiple wounds.
Hundreds of others were injured but survived.
Of the homicide victims, 18 died from at least one gunshot wound to the head, 21 died from at least one gunshot wound to the chest, 15 died from at least one gunshot wound to the back, and three died from a gunshot wound to the neck.
Rocio Guillen of Corona, California, was the only person who died from a gunshot wound to the leg.
Loads of money to convince average people that a massive tax cut for billionaires is somehow good for average people. Money that could instead be spent feeding and housing and healing average people. What absolute trash conservative ideology is. https://t.co/pt8lBiPmVF
— Melissa McEwan (@Shakestweetz) December 22, 2017
The Associated Press found that Lobkov was targeted by the hacking group known as Fancy Bear in March 2015, nine months before his messages were leaked. He was one of at least 200 journalists, publishers, and bloggers targeted by the group as early as mid-2014 and as recently as a few months ago.That 200 journalists were targeted doesn't mean 200 were successfully hacked. But some number were. And I'm very curious to know how much overlap there is, if any, between journalists who were successfully hacked and journalists who have been shit-canned for "sexual misconduct."
The AP identified journalists as the third-largest group on a hacking hit list obtained from cybersecurity firm Secureworks, after diplomatic personnel and U.S. Democrats. About 50 of the journalists worked at The New York Times. Another 50 were either foreign correspondents based in Moscow or Russian reporters like Lobkov who worked for independent news outlets. Others were prominent media figures in Ukraine, Moldova, the Baltics, or Washington.
The list of journalists provides new evidence for the U.S. intelligence community's conclusion that Fancy Bear acted on behalf of the Russian government when it intervened in the U.S. presidential election.
Young Turks creator and host Cenk Uygur made multiple graphic and disparaging remarks about women in his early days as a blogger, including saying that women were genetically 'flawed' because they don't want to have sex often enough.Mm-hmm. I'm sure he recalls asking "over 23" women if he could kiss them and "countless" women if he could fondle their breasts while he was in a "drunken stupor." Sounds legit. As legit as this shit:
...In an entry from 2000, Uygur complained about not having enough sex while living in Miami: "It seems like there is a sea of tits here, and I am drinking in tiny droplets. I want to dive into the whole god damn ocean," he wrote. "Obviously, the genes of women are flawed. They are poorly designed creatures who do not want to have sex nearly as often as needed for the human race to get along peaceably and fruitfully."
...In a a post archived in 2003, he wrote about carousing with numerous women in New Orleans while drunk.
"I had one of the best nights of my life at Mardi Gras. I kissed over 23 different women, saw and felt countless breasts, and was in a wonderful drunken stupor thanks to my friend John Daniels," reads the post.
John Daniels is sometimes used as a nickname for Jack Daniels whiskey. Uygur told TheWrap that all of the behavior he described had been consensual.
Even in the best interpretation of these explanations, we're meant to understand that it's acceptable for men to make their careers as chauvinistic raconteurs that position women as objectified props in their stories of sexual conquest.
— Melissa McEwan (@Shakestweetz) December 22, 2017
And we're not supposed to have a problem with men who think that "satirizing" the sexual objectification and exploitation of women is acceptable. Well, I have a big fucking problem with that. Even if the "satire" excuse is true, it's comprehensively gross.
— Melissa McEwan (@Shakestweetz) December 22, 2017
[Content Note: Misogyny; disablist language; spoilers for The Last Jedi at link.]
"Regarding female heroes: Did you not see everything that came out of Ghostbusters? That is why. I'm sick and tired of men being portrayed as idiots. There was a time we ruled society and I want to see that again. That is why I voted for Donald Trump."—Some dipshit who claims responsibility "for tanking the Rotten Tomatoes audience score" of The Last Jedi, because girls have cooties.
Throughout the course of our conversation [with the moderator of a Facebook page called Down With Disney's Treatment of Franchises and its Fanboys], the self-identified member of the "alt-right" claimed that Poe Dameron (played by Oscar Isaac) is a "victim of the anti-mansplaining movement," that Poe and Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill) are in danger of being "turn[ed]" gay, and that men should be reinstated as rulers of "society."Nothing delights me more than when misogynists can't enjoy something because there are TOO MANY awesome women in it.
...The page moderator HuffPost spoke to, who did not provide his name, said he launched this supposed bot campaign to protest the way "The Last Jedi" diverges from the franchise's so-called Expanded Universe.
"There were supposed to be a trilogy of books and then some after set in the Legends canon. But [Lucasfilm executives] Kathleen Kennedy and Pablo Hidalgo wanted to pursue their own feminst [sic] agenda," he wrote.
One of the ways we resist the demoralization and despair in which exploiters of fear like Trump thrive is to keep talking about the good things in our lives.
Because, even though it feels very much (and rightly so) like we are losing so many things we value, there are still daily moments of joy or achievement or love or empowering ferocity or other kinds of fulfillment.
Maybe you've experienced something big worth celebrating; maybe you've just had a precious moment of contentment; maybe getting out of bed this morning was a success worthy of mention.
News items worth celebrating are also welcome.
So, whatever you have to share that's good, here's a place to do it.
* * *
In a few days, I'm going to see a friend who moved to Britain a few months ago and is returning for a visit, and I AM SO EXCITED TO SEE HIM YAYAYAYAYAY!!!
Two cases which had been filed against Donald Trump for violations of the emoluments clause of the Constitution, accusing him of benefitting from foreign gifts while holding public office, have been dismissed. Josh Gerstein at Politico reports:
U.S. District Court Judge George Daniels ruled that the two suits were fatally flawed because the plaintiffs failed to show injury directly related to the use of Trump's properties by foreign officials and governments.Daniels can tell Congress to do something all day long, but they're not going to do it.
Daniels, who sits in Manhattan and is an appointee of President Bill Clinton, also said the issue was one that Congress should police, not the courts.
"As the only political branch with the power to consent to violations of the Foreign Emoluments Clause, Congress is the appropriate body to determine whether, and to what extent, Defendant's conduct unlawfully infringes on that power," the judge wrote. "If Congress determines that an infringement has occurred, it is up to Congress to decide whether to challenge or acquiesce to Defendant's conduct. As such, this case presents a non-justiciable political question."
One of the cases dismissed Thursday was filed by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, or CREW, along with a group of employees and owners of hospitality businesses like restaurant and hotels. The other suit, brought as a class action on behalf of members of the public, was filed by an individual New York attorney, William Weinstein.
Daniels concluded that all the plaintiffs lacked standing to sue.
This was a bad decision. Frankly, every citizen of this country who believes the Constitution should still mean something should have "standing" to bring an emoluments violation case, as we've all got something to lose. https://t.co/3PYflF6kyn
— Melissa McEwan (@Shakestweetz) December 21, 2017
What do you value most in a friendship?
The safety to be entirely myself. And that is what I try to give my friends (and everyone, really) in return.
That doesn't mean that I expect to be able to behave however I want without consequence or that I will tolerate all manner of garbage from other people. To the absolute contrary, I want my friends to have high expectations of me, and hold me to them — because that is how I become my best self.
It means that I can be vulnerable, and not be taken advantage of. That I can fuck up, and be forgiven (provided I make meaningful amends). That I can be flawed, and still loved.
"Pence departed Washington after a celebratory event with lawmakers that marked the final passage of tax cut legislation. His wife, Karen Pence, a regular travel partner whom he calls his own 'commander in chief,' did not accompany him on the trip." 😬 https://t.co/g4DMGTYx2c
— Melissa McEwan (@Shakestweetz) December 21, 2017
If Karen Pence didn't accompany Mike Pence on his trip to Afghanistan, that means he could not, per his own code, have met alone with any women. Which is quite a diplomatic message to send in Afghanistan, to women who have fought Taliban rule.
— Melissa McEwan (@Shakestweetz) December 21, 2017
This is a long and important read by the Guardian's Outside in America team: Bussed Out: How America Moves Its Homeless. I strongly encourage you to bookmark it for when you have time to settle in and read the whole thing.
Part of the reason it's so critical, troublingly, is because the tax bill just passed by the Republicans is merely one piece of the onslaught they are going to wreak on the remaining shreds of the social safety net. Fewer social services will inevitably mean an increase in homelessness.
Which means we need to find meaningful solutions. One-way bus tickets out of town ain't among them.
[Content Note: Anti-feminism.]
Not ten days after the Washington Post credited Kellyanne Conway for Merriam-Webster making "feminism" their word of the year, CNN is running a piece (to which I am not linking, but it's easy enough to find if you are so inclined) with the appalling headline: "In 2017, Trump Revived Feminism, Saved Satire, and Reinvigorated Journalism."
I'm sure that satirists and journalists are none too happy about that headline, either, but I'll leave that to them to sort out. Naturally, I'm primarily concerned with the claim that Trump "revived feminism."
And are you freaking kidding me with this trash, @CNN? pic.twitter.com/9jSGyYw44X
— Melissa McEwan (@Shakestweetz) December 21, 2017
I have seen Donald Trump, a patriarchal white supremacist serial sex abuser, be given more credit for energizing feminist activism than was given to Hillary Clinton, a trailblazing feminist who became a historic female presidential candidate.
— Melissa McEwan (@Shakestweetz) December 21, 2017
I am sick to my fucking teeth of women having credit stolen from us and handed to men, especially in the way that casts men's misogyny and abuse as our primary motivator.
— Melissa McEwan (@Shakestweetz) December 21, 2017
This framing is disgusting. And I am tired of seeing mainstream political press indulging it. STOP. The narrative that we have abusive men to "thank" for feminist advocacy and activism is part of the goddamned problem.
— Melissa McEwan (@Shakestweetz) December 21, 2017
For the $1.5 trillion that congressional Republicans are borrowing to pay for a tax cut for the wealthy and corporations, #CHIP could be funded for 915 years. pic.twitter.com/gens9sPmUI
— Southern Poverty Law Center (@splcenter) December 20, 2017
The GOP tax bill includes a provision that forces U.S. companies with businesses operating in Puerto Rico to pay higher taxes than their counterparts on the U.S. mainland, which puts industries and jobs on the island at risk HuffPost reports. https://t.co/NMjg7bYVxs
— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) December 20, 2017
Like I keep saying: Malice has truly become the centerpiece of Republican governance. https://t.co/6RBc7Awgx7
— Melissa McEwan (@Shakestweetz) December 21, 2017
.@nikkihaley: U.S. "will remember this day in which it was singled out for attack in the General Assembly for the very act of exercising our right as a sovereign nation...We will remember it when so many countries come calling on us, as they so often do, to pay even more." pic.twitter.com/e06Gk2U1kv
— This Week (@ThisWeekABC) December 21, 2017
The million-dollar question: Is this just Sessions going through the motions to comply with that GOP request?
— Mark Murray (@mmurraypolitics) December 21, 2017
Or is this a real effort to re-open the case? https://t.co/bnii8lTipg
Excuse me. "Re-open the case"? That implies there was a "case" in the first place, which is both incorrect and irresponsible. https://t.co/1xkM6vCl1W
— Melissa McEwan (@Shakestweetz) December 21, 2017
I'm less worried about Mueller being fired than about Mueller showing conclusive evidence of criminal acts and there being no repercussions for the incriminated. Trump confessed to obstruction of justice multiple times. Kushner and Sessions were caught lying on their clearance forms about foreign contacts. Those are merely two examples of open, serious offenses for which there's been no penalty.2. Me, also on Twitter, with more on the idea that it will empower Trump if Mueller's investigation does not result in his removal:
Many anticipate firing of Mueller as a breaking point that will spur protests and sink Trump. Do not count on that. It is possible Mueller will be fired. What is worse is if crimes openly committed by Trump and admin — obstruction of justice, perjury, lying on federal forms — go unaddressed and many elude indictment.
There are MANY more crimes at play here — ranging from financial crimes dating back decades to treason — but they're largely suspected. Other crimes are not in question. That those who've committed, at best, severe breaches of protocol and more likely, illegal actions, not only remain in power but control the mechanisms of power should concern you greatly. They are acting with impunity in every respect, with no concern for public opinion or for the rule of law. They are behaving like a consolidated autocratic regime.
This is why I was adamant a year and a half ago that this needed to be investigated thoroughly and people who committed open offenses held to account quickly, before consolidation took hold. 2016 was your best bet. They may not fire Mueller — because it's unnecessary. If someone like Kushner — who is a huge ongoing risk to national security -- can hold power unchallenged, then true accountability is in question.
...But just as people had a massive failure of imagination earlier, they are failing to envision an outcome worse than Mueller's dismissal — that his findings could be both extraordinarily damning yet ultimately inconsequential in terms of who holds power.
...When you warn the public that Trump seeks to shut down the Mueller probe, the subtext is that this is a lawless regime who will abuse power so as not to be held accountable for blatant crimes.
If Mueller finishes his probe and doesn't conclude that Trump, Pence, and Sessions did anything prosecutable, despite so much evidence of collusion, they're going to claim exoneration, which is a real worry, for a few reasons.3. Greg Sargent, at the Washington Post, with more on the idea that Democrats are doing the work of conveying that the Trump administration is a lawless regime (to borrow Kendzior's words) who must be held accountable:
First, because lots of people are invested in some magical outcome of Trump, Pence, and basically the entire administration being swept from office. That is not going to happen, and if nothing at all happens, there will be widespread disillusionment.
Secondly, because a long investigation followed by a conclusion that allowed the top of the executive branch to claim total exoneration is essentially what happened with Fitzgerald's investigation of BushCo in the Plame outing. Mueller's investigation is like Fitz's on steroids.
When Libby was the biggest fish nabbed by Fitz, people were disillusioned AND BushCo was wildly empowered. They behaved with even more contempt for the rule of law than they had been previously. And they were amateurs compared to this lot. Imagine what will happen if/when Trump is empowered in the same way. It's going to get ugly. It could, frankly, be even worse than a Constitutional crisis provoked by Trump firing Rosenstein, or pressuring him/his replacement to fire Mueller.
Any way this plays out, the outcome is going to be troubling. And that has everything to do with the fact that Congressional Republicans refuse to do their job of delivering checks and balances on the executive.
The Post's Paul Kane reports this morning that despite their rhetoric downplaying this possibility, House Democrats are privately preparing for a possible effort to impeach [Donald] Trump, should they regain the majority.On that note:
That's excellent news. This is exactly what Democrats should be doing — right now.
Not just because an impeachment battle might actually happen, but also for another reason: Democrats will need to find a more effective way to talk to the American people about the serial degradation of our democracy we are seeing in the Trump era, for the good of the party, yes, but also for the good of the country.
...[I]t's perfectly plausible that there actually will be a constitutional crisis in coming weeks or months. We don't know if Trump will try to remove special counsel Robert S. Mueller III, but some of his friends and advisers believe this a genuine possibility: Trump's lawyers are telling him he'll be exonerated soon, but if not, Trump may go into "meltdown." If that happens, we just don't know how congressional Republicans will respond. Right now, they should be sounding a loud, clanging alarm, and they simply are not doing this in any meaningful sense.
Even if it doesn't happen, Mueller could end up finding very serious, albeit not criminal, wrongdoing. We don't know how Republicans would respond to that, either. If Republicans punt in either scenario and don't act in the face of obviously impeachable offenses, Democrats will have to take the lead in making a big case to the country about why Trump's aggregate misconduct has crossed over into a legitimate basis for undoing the effects of the election. This is a difficult and complicated business, and Democrats should be preparing for it, with a current effort to grapple with the totality and larger significance of that misconduct, which is, if anything, mounting.
.@RepMaxineWaters announces Thursday press conference to reveal letter of support for Special Counsel Mueller signed by 171 lawmakers. pic.twitter.com/mmFFlLqnIN
— Kyle Cheney (@kyledcheney) December 21, 2017
It has been roughly eight months since cholera first took hold in war-torn Yemen. In that brief span, the waterborne disease has exacted a staggering toll on the country's population — and that toll only continues to rise by the day.Goddammit. Sob.
The number of suspected cases of cholera has crossed one million, the International Committee of the Red Cross announced Thursday. Of those who have contracted the disease since April, the World Health Organization believes more than 2,200 people have died of it — almost a third of whom are children.
In its announcement on Twitter, the ICRC was left nearly speechless, elaborating on its confirmation with just three words: "This is devastating."
...[Y]ears of war and eroding infrastructure have left Yemen teetering on the brink of an abyss.
Since 2015, a Saudi-led coalition supported by the U.S. has conducted an airstrike campaign to dislodge the Houthis, an Iran-backed rebel group that seized large expanses of the country, including the capital. Caught between the warring sides have been the Yemeni civilians, who have suffered as the violence disrupted food supplies, undermined access to clean water, and diminished the capacity of medical facilities — when they've managed to stay open at all.
GOOD. https://t.co/xm9P9GqScp
— Melissa McEwan (@Shakestweetz) December 21, 2017
