Occupy Banksters & Crony Capitalism & GREED

The Federal Reserve's amazing pause
Axios | Dion Rabouin | 10/31/19

Fed Chair Jerome Powell almost rocked the boat during the FOMC's October press conference on Wednesday after announcing a third straight cut to U.S. interest rates.

What happened: Powell initially said it would take a "material reassessment" in the outlook for the Fed to change its view that no further rate cuts were needed -- but minutes later he reversed course, saying that holding rates at their current levels would be appropriate as long as the outlook stayed within the Fed's expectations. ... Read more

California wildfires: What you need to know
magazine | Gigi Sukin, Rebecca Falconer | 10/31/19

Ferocious winds caused new wildfires to erupt across Southern California Wednesday, with one blaze threatening the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library, causing thousands in the area to flee the Los Angeles Times reports.

What's new: Crews worked through the night to protect the library and "get a handle on" the fast-moving new brush blaze, named the Easy Fire, in Simi Valley, Ventura County, per AP. The National Weather Service said extreme red flag warnings would be in effect for much of Los Angeles and Ventura counties Thursday. Gusts could reach 70 mph in the mountains. ... Read more

The Political Economy of Central Banking: Contested Control and the Power of Finance, Selected Essays by Gerald Epstine

Central banks are among the most powerful government economic institutions in the world. This volume explores the economic and political contours of the struggle for influence over the policies of central banks such as the Federal Reserve, and the implications of this struggle for economic performance and the distribution of wealth and power in society.

Written over several decades by Gerald Epstein and co-authors, these works explore why central banks do what they do, and how they could better operate. Epstein shows that central banks are a contested terrain over which major economic and political groups fight for control; and demonstrates that though in the US and most other countries, private bankers have the upper-hand in this political struggle, they don t always win.

Graduate students, faculty and advanced undergraduates in economics, political science and sociology who are interested in central banking and finance as well as specialists who focus on central banking will find greater understanding of central banks through The Political Economy of Central Banking.

A world of rising risks and little leadership
Axios | Dave Lawler | 10/30/19

The era of American dominance is "definitively over," war with China is growing more likely, and world leaders are risking long-term security by refusing to face challenges like climate change, according to a new Atlantic Council report titled "Global Risks 2035."

The big picture: Author Mathew Burrows, a CIA veteran who previously steered long-term risk forecasts for the U.S. intelligence community, writes that the world is slipping into a "new bipolarity" defined by competition between the U.S. and China.

The U.S. has so far been unwilling to adapt to the changing global reality, Burrows tells Axios. No other country would imagine it could "only ensure national security through primacy," he says. ... Read more

Global risks 2035 update: In-Depth Research & Reports by Mathew J. Burrows

Our conclusion in 2016's Global Risks 2035 was that state-on-state conflict posed a bigger threat than terrorism. In the two years since, the post-Cold War order has continued to unravel without a "new normal" emerging. If anything, with de-globalization underway, conflict among the great powers looms even larger than when Global Risks 2035 was written in mid-2016.

We must recognize that the old historical rhythm that laid the foundations of the Western liberal order has come to an end. The world now faces momentous challenges with climate change, the return of state-on-state conflict and an end to social cohesion with increasing levels of inequality. Without a political, intellectual and, some say, spiritual renaissance that addresses and deals with the big existential tests facing humanity we will not be able to move together into the future.

With so much of the analysis of Global Risks 2035 still on target, this update focuses on key changes since 2016 and the alternative worlds that appear to be emerging from the fraying of the old normal.

1. The unipolar world of the 1990s, when the United States was the world's sole superpower, is definitively over and will no longer be a realistic option for any president.
2. An absolute United States' decline is not inevitable, but an open conflict with China increases those risks considerably.
3. A deep economic reversal in China could trigger a widespread economic meltdown that leads to a worst-case scenario of slower growth and a return to protectionism and political destabilization.

...

How Wildfires And Climate Change Are Connected | Velshi & Ruhle | MSNBC | 10/29/19 | 2:21

Everything you need to know about Brexit
Axios | staff | 10/30/19

On June 23, 2016, the United Kingdom shocked the world and voted to "Brexit," or leave the European Union. More than three years later, U.K. politics have been effectively broken by Brexit, but the U.K. remains in the EU.

Read more

Republicans Accuse Colonel Vindman, a Jew Who Fled Soviet Persecution, of Dual Loyalty
TheIntercept | Robert Mackey | 10/29/19

DESPERATE TO UNDERCUT the credibility of a White House official who testified to the House impeachment inquiry on Tuesday, Republicans resorted to an age-old smear tactic by questioning the loyalty of the witness, a naturalized American citizen who fled the Soviet persecution of Jews as a child and rose to the rank of Army colonel.

The witness, Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, is a decorated Iraq War veteran who advises the National Security Council on Ukraine and Russia. According to his prepared testimony, Vindman notified White House lawyers on two occasions in July that President Donald Trump and his aides had politicized aid to Ukraine, by pressing Ukraine's president to help smear Democrats in return for nearly $400 million in security assistance.

Vindman, the top Ukraine expert on the National Security Council, reportedly told House impeachment investigators that the "transcript" released by the White House of a July call between Trump and Ukraine's president was edited to exclude some references to Joe Biden and the Ukrainian gas company advised by his son Hunter. ... Read more

Visual guide to the raid that killed Isis leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi
TheGuardian | Glenn Swann, Finbarr Sheehy and Cath Levett | 10/28/19

The US began to receive intelligence on the whereabouts of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi about a month ago, according to Donald Trump. Intelligence officials were able to scope out his exact location two weeks ago, and Trump was made aware of the planned raid at the end of last week.

Moments after a team including the US president gathered in the White House situation room at about 5pm ET (11pm in Syria) on Saturday, eight helicopters -- mostly twin-rotor CH-47s -- took off from an airbase in northern Iraq. ... Read more

Trump & Syria: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver | John Oliver | 10/28/19 | 19:42

Donald Trump announces ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi is dead | CNN | 10/27/19 | 9:46

All the President's Women review: Donald Trump, sexual predator
TheGuardian | Lloyd Green | 10/27/19

Barry Levine, formerly of the National Enquirer, and Monique el-Faizy are well placed to write this alarming book

Barry Levine and Monique El-Faizy parachute into the netherworld of weaponized libido that is the life of the 45th president. Salaciousness abounds. Their book is lurid, informative and aptly subtitled "Donald Trump and the Making of a Predator".

Fortunately for us, the authors bring unique expertise. Levine is a former executive editor of the National Enquirer. According to the investigative reporter Ronan Farrow, Trump's secrets were stashed in a safe in Levine's office until they were shredded in December 2016 -- a claim the Enquirer denies. El-Faizy is the author of God and Country, which examined the rise of the evangelical community in the aftermath of George W Bush's 2004 re-election.

All the President's Women is breezy but heavy. Unlike Stormy Daniels' 2018 bestseller Full Disclosure, none of it is entertaining. Not surprisingly, the White House declined multiple opportunities to rebut the book's contentions.... Read more

All the President's Women: Donald Trump and the Making of a Predator by Barry Levine and Monique El-Faizy

Is Trump merely a boor and a misogynist--or is he a predator?

During his 2016 presidential run, the revelation of the Access Hollywood tape and subsequent allegations of sexual misconduct lodged against Donald Trump looked like they might doom his candidacy. Trump survived, and the first two years of the real estate scion's presidency were marked not by controversy over his behavior around women but by the Mueller investigation.

So far, Trump has dodged the #MeToo bullet that has taken down so many once-powerful men. But despite the decades of tabloid fascination with his personal life, the story of Trump's relationship with women has never been fully told. Considering his bully pulpit in the White House, the reckoning is overdue.

All the President's Women offers the most detailed account yet of Trump's history with women, dating back to his childhood and high school days through his rise in real estate, reality TV, and politics. This book will show that Trump's behavior goes far beyond occasional "locker-room talk" and unwanted advances.

Barry Levine and Monique El-Faizy detail more than a dozen new allegations against Trump, including a disturbing attack on a woman at Mar-a-Lago, an incident at a private Manhattan sex club involving a teenage girl, as well as Trump's behavior at fashion shows and beauty pageants--events that gave the future president a hunting ground to harass young women.

With groundbreaking interviews, behind-the-scenes reporting, and never-before-seen photos, veteran journalists Levine and El-Faizy tell the story of Trump from the point of view of the women in his orbit--wives, mistresses, playmates, and those whom the president has dated, kissed, groped, or lusted after.

Catch and Kill: Lies, Spies, and a Conspiracy to Protect Predators by Ronan Farrow

In 2017, a routine network television investigation led Ronan Farrow to a story only whispered about: one of Hollywood's most powerful producers was a predator, protected by fear, wealth, and a conspiracy of silence. As Farrow drew closer to the truth, shadowy operatives, from high-priced lawyers to elite war-hardened spies, mounted a secret campaign of intimidation, threatening his career, following his every move, and weaponizing an account of abuse in his own family.

All the while, Farrow and his producer faced a degree of resistance they could not explain -- until now. And a trail of clues revealed corruption and cover-ups from Hollywood to Washington and beyond.

This is the untold story of the exotic tactics of surveillance and intimidation deployed by wealthy and connected men to threaten journalists, evade accountability, and silence victims of abuse. And it's the story of the women who risked everything to expose the truth and spark a global movement.

Both a spy thriller and a meticulous work of investigative journalism, Catch and Kill breaks devastating new stories about the rampant abuse of power and sheds far-reaching light on investigations that shook our culture

Revealed: the 20 firms behind a third of all carbon emissions
TheGuardian | Matthew Taylor and Jonathan Watts | older 10/09/19

The Guardian today reveals the 20 fossil fuel companies whose relentless exploitation of the world's oil, gas and coal reserves can be directly linked to more than one-third of all greenhouse gas emissions in the modern era.

New data from world-renowned researchers reveals how this cohort of state-owned and multinational firms are driving the climate emergency that threatens the future of humanity, and details how they have continued to expand their operations despite being aware of the industry's devastating impact on the planet.

The analysis, by Richard Heede at the Climate Accountability Institute in the US, the world's leading authority on big oil's role in the escalating climate emergency, evaluates what the global corporations have extracted from the ground, and the subsequent emissions these fossil fuels are responsible for since 1965 -- the point at which experts say the environmental impact of fossil fuels was known by both industry leaders and politicians. ... Read more

Conservative leaders to send White House letter in support of Mulvaney
Axios | Jonathan Swan | date

A group of conservative leaders plan to send a letter to the White House and Capitol Hill on Thursday expressing support for acting White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney, who has come under fire in the wake of a chaotic press conference last week, according to a source who shared the draft letter with Axios.

Why it matters: Mulvaney's friends and allies have recently grown worried about his job security. They've been hearing reports that he's being cut out of some decisions and deprived of information by White House counsel Pat Cipollone. Mulvaney's mishap of a press conference last week -- in which he conceded, then retracted, that there was a politically motivated "quid pro quo" involved in Ukrainian aid -- armed his internal critics with additional weapons. ... Read more

'Anonymous' to expose private Trump conversations | MSNBC & Axios | 10/25/19 | 3:06

A Warning by anonymous

In the op-ed, which was published Sep. 5, 2018, the author wrote of Trump, "The dilemma -- which he does not fully grasp -- is that many of the senior officials in his own administration are working diligently from within to frustrate parts of his agenda and his worst inclinations. I would know. I am one of them. To be clear, ours is not the popular 'resistance' of the left. We want the administration to succeed and think that many of its policies have already made America safer and more prosperous. But we believe our first duty is to this country, and the president continues to act in a manner that is detrimental to the health of our republic."

Trump Is Going Ballistic Because the Walls Are Closing In
MotherJones | Monika Bauerlein | 10/14/19

From the day Donald Trump assumed the presidency, it's been clear that he planned to burn it down. Not the office itself, but the system on which it is built: the credibility of the electoral system by which that formidable power is attained. The norms, customs, and processes that constrain it. And, perhaps most importantly, the idea that the people who bestow that power are entitled to know how it is being used.

The impeachment fight goes to the heart of this last point-- the same point that's also the core of what we are about as journalists, and what you are about as people engaged with our democracy. So we wanted to take a step back and look at the big picture of what this growing constitutional crisis means, and how we at Mother Jones should think about our work in this context.

Politicians who lie, obfuscate, or dodge the rules for strategic reasons are nothing new for us, or for you. (Our Washington bureau chief, David Corn, literally wrote the book -- okay, a book -- on this.) But Trump is a different story. Not only does he crash through the guardrails of law and common sense, he may no longer understand what they are. As David pointed out recently, the most telling part of the infamous call with the Ukrainian president came when Trump demanded that Volodymyr Zelensky look into an utterly bizarre conspiracy theory that holds that Russia did not hack the DNC's servers. David wrote: ... Read more

Anonymous Trump official who authored NYT op-ed to release book
Axios | Ursula Perano | 10/22/19

The anonymous senior Trump administration official who authored an infamous New York Times op-ed against President Trump last year has written a book, according to the Washington Post.

What's happening: The book, titled "A Warning," will be released on Nov. 19 and is said to provide "an unprecedented behind-the-scenes portrait of the Trump presidency," per the Post. The author's name will remain anonymous. ... Read more

A Warning by anonymous

In the op-ed, which was published Sep. 5, 2018, the author wrote of Trump, "The dilemma -- which he does not fully grasp -- is that many of the senior officials in his own administration are working diligently from within to frustrate parts of his agenda and his worst inclinations. I would know. I am one of them. To be clear, ours is not the popular 'resistance' of the left. We want the administration to succeed and think that many of its policies have already made America safer and more prosperous. But we believe our first duty is to this country, and the president continues to act in a manner that is detrimental to the health of our republic."

I Am Part of the Resistance Inside the Trump Administration
NYT | anonymous Op-Ed | last year 09/05/18

It's not just that the special counsel looms large. Or that the country is bitterly divided over Mr. Trump's leadership. Or even that his party might well lose the House to an opposition hellbent on his downfall.

The dilemma -- which he does not fully grasp -- is that many of the senior officials in his own administration are working diligently from within to frustrate parts of his agenda and his worst inclinations. ... Read more

Trump Attempts To Serve As His Own Clean-Up Crew As Impeachment Closes In | Deadline | MSNBC | 10/22/19 | 18:28

Trump Wields DOJ As Russia, Media Reprise 2016 Roles For 2020 | Rachel Maddow | MSNBC | 10/22/19 | 28:28

1 Big Thing: Speedy impeachment | Axios & MSNBC | 3:14

The Political Bullets Of Impeachment Could Fly In All directions | Morning Joe | MSNBC | 10/22/19 | 20:48

The 2 Republican senators to watch as Trump's impeachment looms
Axios | Mike Allen | 10/21/19

As President Trump's standing with Republican lawmakers grows more precarious, the two senators to watch -- for totally different reasons -- are Sen. Mitt Romney of Utah and Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, and we talked to both of them last night on "Axios on HBO."

Why they matter: With Trump's impeachment by the House growing ever more likely, he has to keep his red wall of Republican Senate support so that, like President Clinton, he'll be acquitted rather than removed after a Senate trial. ... Read more

Lindsey Graham on President Trump | Axios | 10/20/19 | 1:06

Mitt Romney on whether Obama, Biden and Trump are honorable | Axios | 10/20/19 | 55

Taking stock of China's growing power and prosperity | PBS | 5:25

The Kurds: The Most Famous Unknown People in the World | Stephen Mansfield | TED | 05/18/16 | 17:32

Bill MCKibben on how Climate Crises and New Technologies will Change what it Means to be Human
TheIntercept | Murtaza Hussain | 10/19/19

IS THE HUMAN race approaching its demise? The question itself may sound hyperbolic -- or like a throwback to the rapture and apocalypse. Yet there is reason to believe that such fears are no longer so overblown. The threat of climate change is forcing millions around the world to realistically confront a future in which their lives, at a minimum, look radically worse than they are today. At the same time, emerging technologies of genetic engineering and artificial intelligence are giving a small, technocratic elite the power to radically alter homo sapiens to the point where the species no longer resembles itself. Whether through ecological collapse or technological change, human beings are fast approaching a dangerous precipice.

The threats that we face today are not exaggerated. They are real, visible, and potentially imminent. They are also the subject of a recent book by Bill McKibben, entitled "Falter: Has the Human Game Begun to Play Itself Out?" McKibben is an environmentalist and author, as well as the founder of 350.org, a campaign group working to reduce carbon emissions. His book provides a sober, empirical analysis of the reasons why the human race may be reaching its final stages. ... Read more

Falter: Has the Human Game Begun to Play Itself Out? by Bill McKibben

Thirty years ago Bill McKibben offered one of the earliest warnings about climate change. Now he broadens the warning: the entire human game, he suggests, has begun to play itself out.

Bill McKibben's groundbreaking book The End of Nature -- issued in dozens of languages and long regarded as a classic -- was the first book to alert us to global warming. But the danger is broader than that: even as climate change shrinks the space where our civilization can exist, new technologies like artificial intelligence and robotics threaten to bleach away the variety of human experience.

Falter tells the story of these converging trends and of the ideological fervor that keeps us from bringing them under control. And then, drawing on McKibben's experience in building 350.org, the first truly global citizens movement to combat climate change, it offers some possible ways out of the trap. We're at a bleak moment in human history -- and we'll either confront that bleakness or watch the civilization our forebears built slip away.

Falter is a powerful and sobering call to arms, to save not only our planet but also our humanity.

Trump's shout-it-out-loud strategy
Axios | Jonathan Swan, Mike Allen | 10/18/19

The Trump administration is testing a novel strategy for dealing with controversy and possible illegalities: Pretend you have nothing to hide by blurting it out loud.

Why it matters: President Trump and his aides and allies seem to think that by being unapologetic and admitting things that would have touched off blazing scandals just a few years ago, they can move the goalposts of what's acceptable to Republicans and the public.

1) Acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney just said it out loud at a White House briefing, connecting Trump's release of Ukraine aid with an investigation of corruption that included U.S. Democrats. ...

2) Amid rising charges of cronyism, Trump awarded one of his own resorts, Trump National Doral near Miami, the lucrative contract for next June's G7 summit. ... Read more

Mick Mulvaney announces 2020 G7 summit location | FoxNewsless | 10/17/19 | 41:01

Lawmakers Don't Have Many Nice Things To Say About Negotiating With Mick Mulvaney
NPR | Kelsey Snell | older 07/09/19

This week, lawmakers are confronting another budget stalemate, and instead of pointing fingers at one another, many on Capitol Hill are grumbling that the White House is to blame if they can't reach a deal. The biggest culprit in many minds is acting White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney.

Mulvaney has long been a controversial figure in Washington. The former South Carolina congressman was known for his hard-line demands to cut federal spending. He voted against most spending bills and railed against Congress for spending on everything from Medicare to the Defense Department. ... Read more

RALLY | President Trump holds campaign rally in Dallas, Texas | Fox | 10/17/19 | 1:34:24

Gordon Sondland's Testimony About The Trump-Ukraine Scandal Defies Belief
HP | Nick Robins-Early | 10/18/19

The ambassador claims he didn't know Donald Trump was targeting Joe Biden in Ukraine -- but the evidence was on front pages for months.

In his opening statement, the U.S. ambassador to the European Union said he only recently learned that Trump's personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani may have tried to get Ukrainian officials to probe the former vice president's dealings in the country.

But it would have been almost impossible for someone working at the highest levels of diplomacy, who claimed Ukraine was an important part of his portfolio, to ignore the signs -- or the headlines. ... Read more

Day 1,000: Trump unbound, unfiltered
Axios | Mike Allen | 10/17/19

There have been many holy-crap-that-did-not-just-happen days in the Trump White House, but few top the soap opera of Oct. 16, 2019 -- exactly Day 1,000 of the Trump presidency.

What they're saying: A GOP official in California told Axios' Margaret Talev: "The needle on the Batsh*t Crazy Meter may have gone past the red zone today."

Pelosi told reporters in the White House driveway afterward: "What we witnessed on the part of the president was a meltdown -- sad to say."

Trump tweeted: "Nancy Pelosi needs help fast! There is either something wrong with her 'upstairs,' or she just plain doesn't like our great Country. She had a total meltdown in the White House today. It was very sad to watch. Pray for her, she is a very sick person!" ... ... Read more

Gordon Sondland Claims He Was 'Disappointed' With Trump's Ukraine Pressure
HP | Nina Golgowski | 10/17/19

Gordon Sondland, the U.S. ambassador to the European Union, criticized President Donald Trump's dealings with Ukraine, saying he was "disappointed" in his efforts to enlist the country's leaders in investigating a political rival.

"It was apparent to all of us that the key to changing the President's mind on Ukraine was Mr. Giuliani," Sondland said in his prepared remarks that name Trump's personal attorney Rudy Giuliani. ... Read more

1000 Days Of The Trump Presidency In Under Four Minutes | 10/17/19 | 4:07

Rachel Maddow: Tanking Russia Economy Inspired Meddling In Trump Election | TheBeat | MSNBC | 10/17/19 | 12:48

Trump smacks down Graham after latest Syria broadside
Politico | Caitlin Oprysko | 10/17/19

President Donald Trump on Wednesday lashed out at Sen. Lindsey Graham, marking the latest salvo in the pair's clash over Trump's sudden withdrawal of U.S. troops from northern Syria.

"Lindsey Graham would like to stay in the Middle East for the next thousand years with thousands of soldiers fighting other people's wars. I want to get out of the Middle East," Trump charged during a news conference at the White House alongside Italian President Sergio Mattarella.

Trump and Graham have been engaged in a war of words for the last week and a half over Trump's abrupt decision and his subsequent defenses, with Graham accusing the president of essentially helping facilitate the revival of the Islamic State terrorist group. Trump's decision prompted an across-the-board backlash, paving the way for Congress to formally rebuke the president for the move. ... Read more

2020 Democrats Pile on Warren
Axios | Mike Allen | 10/16/19

The rest of the field clearly thinks that Elizabeth Warren has passed Joe Biden as the Democrats' 2020 frontrunner, and the attacks rained in on her at last night's 12-pack debate outside Columbus, Ohio.

The state of play: Even Biden piled on Warren, over Medicare for All. Every conversation about whether taxes would go up under Medicare for All, and every dodge, threatened to eat away at Warren's image as a truth-teller. ... Read more

Homewreckers: How a Gang of Wall Street Kingpins, Hedge Fund Magnates, Crooked Banks, and Vulture Capitalists Suckered Millions Out of Their Homes and Demolished the American Dream by Aaron Glantz

In the spirit of Evicted, Bait and Switch, and The Big Short, a shocking, heart-wrenching investigation into America's housing crisis and the modern-day robber barons who are making a fortune off the backs of the disenfranchised working and middle class--among them, Donald Trump and his inner circle.

Two years before the housing market collapsed in 2008, Donald Trump looked forward to a crash: "I sort of hope that happens because then people like me would go in and buy," he said. But our future president wasn't alone. While millions of Americans suffered financial loss, tycoons pounced to heartlessly seize thousands of homes -- their profiteering made even easier because, as prize-winning investigative reporter Aaron Glantz reveals in Homewreckers, they often used taxpayer money -- and the Obama administration's promise to cover their losses.

In Homewreckers, Glantz recounts the transformation of straightforward lending into a morass of slivered and combined mortgage "products" that could be bought and sold, accompanied by a shift in priorities and a loosening of regulations and laws that made it good business to lend money to those who wouldn't be able to repay. Among the men who laughed their way to the bank: Trump cabinet members Steve Mnuchin and Wilbur Ross, Trump pal and confidant Tom Barrack, and billionaire Republican cash cow Steve Schwarzman. Homewreckers also brilliantly weaves together the stories of those most ravaged by the housing crisis. The result is an eye-opening expose of the greed that decimated millions and enriched a gluttonous few.

Ohio #DemDebate Biggest Winners and Losers | TYT | 10/16/19 | 9:22

Democratic Debate 2019 analysis: Pre & Post show coverage of the Ohio debate | ABC News | ABC News | 10/15/19 | 4:48:42

Sen. Elizabeth Warren assailed by rivals in 4th Democratic debate
ABCNews | Kendall Karson and Elizabeth Thomas | 10/15/19

The Democratic presidential contenders were in Westerville, Ohio, for the fourth primary matchup of the season.

The pivotal debate, held on the campus of Otterbein University, came as the Democratic field is sparring -- over health care, immigration, climate change, criminal justice reform, among other topics -- and as an ongoing impeachment inquiry battle pulls the contest into Washington's orbit despite efforts to keep kitchen table issues at the forefront.

... That new front-runner took the harshest attacks Tuesday night. Yet Sen. Elizabeth Warren was targeted mostly over old disagreements -- with fireworks that illuminated familiar ground, or that created what Sen. Cory Booker called "déjà vu all over again." Read Rick Klein's analysis here. ... Read more

Trump tries new defense in Syria furor: Insult the Kurds
Politico | Quint Forgey | 10/16/19

President Donald Trump on Wednesday minimized Turkey's invasion of northeastern Syria as a land skirmish that does not warrant American intervention, and repeatedly insulted the Kurdish fighters who battled alongside U.S. forces to quash the Islamic State in the region.

During a pair of appearances alongside the Italian president, Trump glossed over the campaign against the Middle East terror group and instead mounted a vigorous defense of his widely condemned decision to allow Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's forces to push into Syria -- where they have slaughtered the U.S.-allied Kurds and wreaked havoc that has resulted in the escape of hundreds of ISIS adherents from a detention camp.

"They're not angels, if you take a look," the president told reporters in the Oval Office of the Syrian Kurdish militias. "You have to go back and take a look. But they fought with us, and we paid a lot of money for them to fight with us, and that's OK," he continued. "They did well when they fought with us. They didn't do so well when they didn't fight with us."... Read more

The Arrival (1996) | YouYube Movies | 02/01/19 | 1:55:20

The Arrival (2016) Ending + Creature EXPLAINED | | 05/27/18 | 11:06

NYT: Bolton told Trump aide to alert White House lawyers on Ukraine
Axios | Rebecca Falconer | 10/15/19

Former National Security Adviser John Bolton told a top aide on Russia to notify White House lawyers about a campaign to press Ukraine to investigate President Trump's rivals, Congress was told Monday, the New York Times first reported.

What they're saying: Trump's former Russia adviser Fiona Hill testified for 10 hours in the House's Ukraine investigation. Per the NYT, she said Bolton told her to alert the chief National Security Council lawyer that Trump's personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani was "cooking up" a "rogue operation with legal implications" with Acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney. ...

... "It was not the first time Mr. Bolton expressed grave concerns to Ms. Hill about Mr. Giuliani. 'Giuliani's a hand grenade who's going to blow everybody up,' Ms. Hill quoted Mr. Bolton saying during an earlier conversation." ... Read more

Lieday The 13th: Donald Trump's Untruths Hit Ominous Daily Average
HP | Lee Moran | 10/15/19

According to The Washington Post's Fact Checker column, the president has made 13,435 false or misleading claims in his first 993 days in office, until Oct. 9. That's an average 13.5 untruths per 24 hours.

He passed the 12,000 lies mark in August, when he was spouting an average 12.9 lies per day.

The Post put the recent uptick down to revelations of Trump's phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and the subsequent launch of an impeachment investigation into the U.S. president. ... Read more

Video of president in 'Church of Fake News' goes viral | Local 10 News | 10/14/19 | 1:47

The Doomsday Machine by Daniel Ellsberg

At the same time former presidential advisor Daniel Ellsberg famously took the top-secret Pentagon Papers, he also took with him a chilling cache of top secret documents related to America's nuclear program in the 1960s. Here for the first time he reveals the contents of those documents and makes clear their shocking relevance for today.

The Doomsday Machine is Ellsberg's hair-raising insider's account of the most dangerous arms buildup in the history of civilization, whose legacy - and renewal under the Obama administration - threatens the very survival of humanity. It is scarcely possible to estimate the true dangers of our present nuclear policies without penetrating the secret realities of the nuclear strategy of the late Eisenhower and early Kennedy years, when Ellsberg had high-level access to them. No other insider has written so candidly of that long-classified history, and nothing has fundamentally changed since that era. Ellsberg's analysis of recent research on nuclear winter shows that even a 'small' nuclear exchange would cause billions of deaths by global nuclear famine. Ellsberg, in the end, offers steps we can take under a new administration to avoid nuclear catastrophe.

Hunter Biden defends his Ukraine work | ABC News | 10/15/19 | 3:19

Back-To-School Commercial | 1:06

Pelosi and Graham team up to oppose Trump's Syria decision
Axios | Marisa Fernandez | 10/14/19

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) spoke Monday to discuss bipartisan efforts to overturn President Trump's decision to withdraw U.S. troops from northern Syria and sanction Turkey for its military offensive against Syrian Kurdish forces.

Why it matters: Trump's decision has sparked bipartisan backlash and accusations that he is abandoning the Kurdish allies who helped the U.S. in the fight against ISIS. Trump has voiced approval for the idea of sanctioning Turkey for its invasion, but he has stood by his decision to move U.S. troops out of the way despite the overwhelming criticism he's received from even his most loyal allies. ... Read more

FULL RALLY: President Trump rally in Minneapolis, MN | Fox 10 | 10/10/19 | 1:46:00

FULL RALLY: Watch the full President Trump rally in Louisiana | Fox 10 | 10/11/19 | 1:31:00

Weather: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver | 10/14/19 | 16:26

Outcry after Trump fails to condemn fake video of him shooting opponents
TheGuardian | Poppy Noor | 10/14/19

Slamming journalists to the floor, attacking the most senior black congresswoman and shooting critics in the face. These are not scenes normally associated with the highest office in the land, but they appear in a doctored video of Donald Trump shown at a pro-Trump conference in Miami last week.

The two-minute clip is taken from a famous scene from the end of the movie Kingsman, in which the lead character, played by Colin Firth, goes on a killing spree in a church.

On Monday, a list of high-profile figures slammed the president for failing to condemn the video. ... Read more

Video of president in 'Church of Fake News' goes viral | Local 10 News | 10/14/19 | 1:47

Back-To-School Commercial | 1:06

Appeals court upholds House subpoena for Trump's financial records
Axios | staff | 10/11/19

The D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld Friday a House subpoena for President Trump's financial records to Mazars USA, the president's longtime accounting firm.

Why it matters: This is one of the last stops for this case. Unless the president's legal team asks the full D.C. Circuit to take up the case or appeals it to the Supreme Court, the president could lose his fight to keep his financial records private.

The big picture: This case is just one front in the ongoing court battle to access more information about Trump's finances. The president's legal team was able to obtain an emergency stay from the Second Circuit Court of Appeals this week after losing a ruling in a similar case for Trump's tax returns brought by Manhattan's district attorney. ... Read more

Appeals court upholds House subpoena for Trump's financial records

FULL RALLY: President Trump rally in Minneapolis, MN | 10/10/19 | 1:46:00

Criminality Taints Giuliani Role In Trump Ukraine Scheme | Rachel Maddow | MSNBC | 10/11/19 | 18:55

Mainstream economists are getting radical
Axios | Dion Rabouin | 10/11/19

As global growth continues to fall, the world's top economists and financial authorities are signaling an openness to experimenting with previously fringe economic ideas that just a few years ago would have been considered extreme or even laughable.

What's happening: Central bank policies, which now include negative interest rates in Japan and the eurozone, have yielded negligible improvement. Even monetary policies previously considered extreme have failed to offset the persistent drag from the world's worsening demographic.

... Reality check: The unorthodox policies are being encouraged by either former central bankers or those like Draghi who are on their way out of office. Current central bank leaders largely continue to reject such ideas, even in the face of growing evidence their policies aren't working. ... Read more

The Actual Laws Trump has Broken, Just with the Ukraine and China Affairs, Could Land Him 10 Years in Prison
TheIntercept | Ryan Grim | 10/10/19

IN THE FACE of an overwhelming pile of evidence suggesting that President Donald Trump pressured a foreign country to damage a political rival, most Republicans have chosen either to remain silent or to deny outright that anything out of the ordinary occurred. Others have taken a more sophisticated route: Concede his wrongdoing, but argue that it's not impeachable.

"Donald Trump should not have been on the phone with a foreign head of state encouraging another country to investigate his political opponent, Joe Biden. Some Republicans are trying, but there's no way to spin this as a good idea," wrote Tucker Carlson and Neil Patel recently in The Daily Caller. But, they add importantly, that doesn't mean his error rises to the level of an impeachable offense.

They are, however, indictable. A variety of felony criminal statutes plainly implicate Trump's behavior, and come with lengthy prison sentences -- the types of sentences doled out for high crimes, to say nothing of misdemeanors. Indeed, many of them are straightforward. Altogether, if the impeachment inquiry is limited simply to Trump's pressure on Ukraine, the charges could amount to more than 10 years in prison. ... Read more

White House Aides Avoid Media Amid Impeachment Storm
HP | AP | 10/10/19

It's a well-worn strategy: Senior officials conveniently manage to be elsewhere when major controversies engulf the White House.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- They've skipped the high-profile Sunday TV shows and avoided driveway chat sessions with reporters. Few who are typically eager to defend the president have appeared at all on television this month.

White House officials close to President Donald Trump are pulling off a disappearing act, remaining largely absent from public view -- in the middle of the storm over impeachment.

"We invited the White House on to answer questions on the show this morning," CNN's Jake Tapper explained to his viewers on Sunday's "State of the Union." ?They did not offer a guest." ...

... Indeed, knowing "when to be out of town" was one of the top nuggets of advice that Kevin Hassett, the president's former top economic adviser, said he'd received from a predecessor and had to offer his successor. ... Read more

Tax Rate for the Rich | DN | 10/09/19 | 0:35

The Triumph of Injustice: How the Rich Dodge Taxes and How to Make Them Pay by Emmanuel Saez

Even as they became fabulously wealthy, the ultra-rich have had their taxes collapse to levels last seen in the 1920s. Meanwhile, working-class Americans have been asked to pay more. The Triumph of Injustice presents a forensic investigation into this dramatic transformation, written by two economists who revolutionized the study of inequality. Eschewing anecdotes and case studies, Emmanuel Saez and Gabriel Zucman offer a comprehensive view of America's tax system, based on new statistics covering all taxes paid at all levels of government. Their conclusion? For the first time in more than a century, billionaires now pay lower tax rates than their secretaries.

Blending history and cutting-edge economic analysis, and writing in lively and jargon-free prose, Saez and Zucman dissect the deliberate choices (and sins of indecision) that have brought us to today: the gradual exemption of capital owners; the surge of a new tax avoidance industry, and the spiral of tax competition among nations. With clarity and concision, they explain how America turned away from the most progressive tax system in history to embrace policies that only serve to compound the wealth of a few.

But The Triumph of Injustice is much more than a laser-sharp analysis of one of the great political and intellectual failures of our time. Saez and Zucman propose a visionary, democratic, and practical reinvention of taxes, outlining reforms that can allow tax justice to triumph in today's globalized world and democracy to prevail over concentrated wealth.

The end of stock market corrections
Axios | Dion Rabouin | 10/10/19

Normally the health of business drives a country's asset prices, but that's not what's happening at the moment, according to Deutsche Bank Securities chief economist Torsten Slok.

What's happening: The S&P 500 has risen by around 20% so far this year, despite weakening U.S. economic data and a slowing labor market. Earnings growth, typically the bread and butter of equity market returns, was negative in the second quarter and is expected to be negative in the third and fourth quarters as well.

U.S. GDP growth is expected to be lower in the second half of the year than in the first and lower still in 2020, a negative picture for the country's growth outlook and that of its public companies.

What we're hearing: Slok, a typically even-handed economist, expressed his disbelief at the decoupling of asset prices from fundamentals in a recent note to clients.

Homewreckers: How a Gang of Wall Street Kingpins, Hedge Fund Magnates, Crooked Banks, and Vulture Capitalists Suckered Millions Out of Their Homes and Demolished the American Dream by Aaron Glantz

In the spirit of Evicted, Bait and Switch, and The Big Short, a shocking, heart-wrenching investigation into America's housing crisis and the modern-day robber barons who are making a fortune off the backs of the disenfranchised working and middle class--among them, Donald Trump and his inner circle.

Two years before the housing market collapsed in 2008, Donald Trump looked forward to a crash: "I sort of hope that happens because then people like me would go in and buy," he said. But our future president wasn't alone. While millions of Americans suffered financial loss, tycoons pounced to heartlessly seize thousands of homes -- their profiteering made even easier because, as prize-winning investigative reporter Aaron Glantz reveals in Homewreckers, they often used taxpayer money -- and the Obama administration's promise to cover their losses.

In Homewreckers, Glantz recounts the transformation of straightforward lending into a morass of slivered and combined mortgage "products" that could be bought and sold, accompanied by a shift in priorities and a loosening of regulations and laws that made it good business to lend money to those who wouldn't be able to repay. Among the men who laughed their way to the bank: Trump cabinet members Steve Mnuchin and Wilbur Ross, Trump pal and confidant Tom Barrack, and billionaire Republican cash cow Steve Schwarzman. Homewreckers also brilliantly weaves together the stories of those most ravaged by the housing crisis. The result is an eye-opening expose of the greed that decimated millions and enriched a gluttonous few.

All the President's Women: Donald Trump and the Making of a Predator by Barry Levine

Donald Trump's alleged transgressions against women are numerous, and as a new book reveals, they stretch back far further than we've previously realized. In All the President's Women: Donald Trump and the Making of a Predator, journalists Barry Levine and Monique El-Faizy draw on over 100 interviews, many of them exclusive, to craft a detailed history of Trump's relationships with women, stretching back to his childhood and education as well as his rise through real estate, entertainment, and politics. What emerges from the authors' reporting is a portrait of a serial predator who hides behind wealth and institutional power to frequently harass and abuse women.

While the president has publicly faced allegations from two dozen women, this book reveals another 43 allegations of alleged inappropriate behavior, including 26 instances of unwanted sexual contact. In this exclusive excerpt from All the President's Women, Levine and El-Faizy investigate an alleged wave of unwanted touching that preceded his proposal to Melania Knauss, including a disturbing instance of groping at Mar-a-Lago. -- Adrienne Westenfeld

Revealed: the 20 firms behind a third of all carbon emissions
TheGuardian | Matthew Taylor and Jonathan Watts | 10/09/19

The Guardian today reveals the 20 fossil fuel companies whose relentless exploitation of the world's oil, gas and coal reserves can be directly linked to more than one-third of all greenhouse gas emissions in the modern era.

New data from world-renowned researchers reveals how this cohort of state-owned and multinational firms are driving the climate emergency that threatens the future of humanity, and details how they have continued to expand their operations despite being aware of the industry's devastating impact on the planet.

The analysis, by Richard Heede at the Climate Accountability Institute in the US, the world's leading authority on big oil's role in the escalating climate emergency, evaluates what the global corporations have extracted from the ground, and the subsequent emissions these fossil fuels are responsible for since 1965 -- the point at which experts say the environmental impact of fossil fuels was known by both industry leaders and politicians.

The top 20 companies on the list have contributed to 35% of all energy-related carbon dioxide and methane worldwide, totalling 480bn tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (GtCO2e) since 1965. ... Read more

Trump's burn-down-the-House plan
Axios | Johnathan Swan | 10/09/19

President Trump, while nervous about the historic stain of impeachment, is throwing everything he has into this fight: refusing all cooperation, running ads to profit politically, and torching every person who stands in opposition to him.

The big picture: When it all boils down, Trump really only trusts his own instincts. And his instincts here are the same as they were with the Mueller investigation: Fight like hell.

White House Refuses To Cooperate With Impeachment Inquiry; Constitutional Crisis Looms
HP | Sanjana Karanth and Nick Visser | 10/09/19

The White House is pushing back against the House impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump by refusing to cooperate with lawmakers' demands for documents and interviews related to the investigation, setting up a constitutional crisis.

The eight-page letter, signed Tuesday by White House counsel Pat Cipollone, also accused Democratic lawmakers of using the investigation to overturn the 2016 election results and demanded they abandon all impeachment efforts. ... Read more

Text Messages Show the Trump-Zelensky Call Had Just One Goal -- and it was Anything But Routine
TheIntercept | Alex Emmons | 10/04/19

NEWLY RELEASED text messages between State Department officials provide the clearest evidence yet that President Donald Trump's July 25 phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky was not "routine," and that it was organized specifically to pressure the Ukrainian government to undertake politically motivated investigations.

The White House's reconstruction of the July 25 call released earlier this month showed Trump asking Zelensky for a "favor" and repeatedly pressing him to investigate Joe and Hunter Biden for "corruption." The readout galvanized calls for Trump's impeachment, but it didn't explain how the call came about in the first place. ... Read more

White House insists Trump didn't give Turkey a "green light" in Syria
Axios | Dave Lawler | 10/08/19

The White House is insisting that President Trump did not offer Turkey a "green light" to slaughter U.S.-backed Kurdish forces in northern Syria last night and that the U.S. wouldn't bear responsibility for any Islamic State resurgence in the area.

Why it matters: Confusion and concern followed the sudden announcement last night -- after a call between Trump and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan -- that the U.S. would withdraw from the "immediate area" into which Turkish troops are expected to advance.

Turkey fiercely opposes the primarily Kurdish forces that hold the area and helped the U.S. retake swathes of Syria from ISIS, leading to bipartisan accusations that Trump is abandoning an ally.... Read more

Trump threatens to "obliterate" Turkey's economy over Syria red lines
Axios | Jacob Knutson | 10/08/19

President Trump defended his decision to withdraw U.S. forces from northern Syria on Twitter Monday, warning that he will "totally destroy and obliterate" Turkey's economy if the country does anything he considers "off limits" -- presumably referring to a military offensive against U.S.-backed Kurdish forces in the region.

"As I have stated strongly before, and just to reiterate, if Turkey does anything that I, in my great and unmatched wisdom, consider to be off limits, I will totally destroy and obliterate the Economy of Turkey (I've done before!). They must, with Europe and others, watch over the captured ISIS fighters and families. The U.S. has done far more than anyone could have ever expected, including the capture of 100% of the ISIS Caliphate. It is time now for others in the region, some of great wealth, to protect their own territory. THE USA IS GREAT!" ... Read more

Under Scrutiny For Corruption, Trump Blurs Meaning Of Corruption | Rachel Maddow | MSNBC | 10/08/19 | 20:47

Witness In Trump-Ukraine Scandal Ordered Not To Appear Before Congress
HP | Hayley Miller | 10/08/19

The State Department blocked a top U.S. diplomat from giving a scheduled deposition Tuesday before a House panel conducting the impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump.

Gordon Sondland, the U.S. ambassador to the European Union, is a witness to Trump's efforts to persuade Ukraine to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden, a front-runner in the 2020 Democratic presidential primary race. ... Read more

Trump loses New York court fight over his tax returns
Axios | staff | 10/07/19

President Trump lost a key court battle on Monday after a New York federal judge ruled that Manhattan's district attorney could subpoena 8 years of the president's personal and corporate tax returns from his longtime accounting firm, Mazars USA, reports the New York Times.

Why it matters: The case involved an untested legal argument from Trump's lawyers, which posited that the Constitution protects presidents from criminal investigations while in office.

The big picture, via Axios' Zach Basu: Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance's office subpoenaed Trump's tax returns last month as part of its investigation into hush money payments made to Stormy Daniels during the 2016 election. ... Read more

One Child Policy: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver | 10/07/19 | 23:04

Second Ukraine whistleblower has "firsthand knowledge" of Trump allegations
Axios | Zachary Basu | 10/07/19

The attorney representing the whistleblower whose anonymous complaint about President Trump and Ukraine has sparked an impeachment inquiry confirmed to ABC News on Sunday that he is now representing a second whistleblower with "firsthand knowledge" of some of the allegations.

Why it matters: One of the attacks Trump and his allies have used to try to undermine the credibility of the first whistleblower is that he relied on secondhand information from other White House officials. There is no requirement in the whistleblower statute for firsthand information, but an official with direct knowledge of the allegations could provide even more explosive evidence in the impeachment investigation. ... Read more

US to let Turkish forces move into Syria, dumping Kurdish allies
The Guardian | Julian borger | 10/07/19

White House reveals policy shift following conversation between Trump and Erdogan

The White House has given the green light to a Turkish offensive into northern Syria, moving US forces out of the area in an abrupt foreign policy change that will in effect abandon the Kurds, Washington's longtime military partner.

Kurdish forces have spearheaded the campaign against Islamic State in the region, but the policy swerve, after a phone conversation between Donald Trump and Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Sunday, means Turkey would take custody of captured Isis fighters, the White House said.

It has also raised fears of fresh fighting between Turkey and Kurdish forces in Syria's complex war now the US no longer acts as a buffer between the two sides. ... Read more

Scorching Temperatures Spoil Fall For Americans As Summer Weather Lingers
HP | Ja'han Jones | 10/03/19

Americans living on the eastern side of the country faced historically hot temperatures Wednesday as a heat wave lingered into the early days of fall. The sweltering heat smothered Northeast and Southeast cities just over a week after world leaders met in New York for a U.N. Climate Action Summit to discuss the dangers of climate change.

On Wednesday, parts of New York City reached 95 degrees, marking the highest temperatures the city has ever recorded in October, according to the National Weather Service. In and around Washington, D.C., temperatures crept into the high 90s, with some Baltimore and D.C. residents experiencing 98-degree heat, also an all-time high for the month. In all, the National Weather Service said 20 eastern cities set or matched records for the highest temperature recorded in the entire month of October. They added that 50 cities in total broke high temperature records for Oct. 2. These records came after dozens of states experienced record-breaking temperatures just one day prior, on Oct. 1. ... Read more

Mike Pence, At Center Of Trump Ukraine Scheme, Scrambles For Cover | Rachel Maddow | MSNBC | 10/03/19 | 10:44

Trump's impeach-me strategy
Axios | Jim VandeHei, Mike Allen | 10/04/19

President Trump is going all in. He declared he has the "absolute right" to call for foreign nations to investigate political rivals -- publicly calling on China to investigate the Bidens -- and he plans to ask Democrats to vote on starting impeachment or get stonewalled.

Why it matters: It now seems increasingly inevitable the House will impeach Trump. Think about it this way: Imagine a Democrat who called for impeachment before the China comment voting against impeachment after it.

Trump said on the South Lawn yesterday: "China should start an investigation into the Bidens, because what happened in China is just about as bad as what happened with Ukraine."

As Axios first reported, the White House plans to send Pelosi a letter as soon as today that dares her to hold a vote on an impeachment inquiry rather than simply declaring it. Trump wants to force votes by vulnerable House Dems. ... Read more

Kurt Volker, the former special envoy to Ukraine, gives House Democrats the first deposition in their impeachment inquiry .pdf

Stephen Miller blamed impeachment on Deep State -- Bannon says that's for 'nut cases'
TheGuardian | Martin Pengelly | 10/04/19

The former White House strategist, and a leading voice of the alt-right, was once key in the propagation of the conspiracy theory

Senior White House adviser Stephen Miller recently claimed the impeachment inquiry imperilling Donald Trump's presidency was a product of the "deep state", a conspiracy theory which holds that a permanent government of civil servants and security operatives exists to thwart the will of the people.

But according to Steve Bannon, Trump's former 2016 campaign chair and White House strategist, a prime mover in the formation and propagation of the Deep State conspiracy theory, it should not be taken seriously.

Bannon states his opinion in a new book, Deep State: Trump, the FBI and the Rule of Law by James B Stewart, which will be published on 8 October. The Guardian obtained a copy.

The "deep state conspiracy theory is for nut cases", Bannon is quoted as saying, because "America isn't Turkey or Egypt". ... Read more

Climate denial among D.C. policymakers thrives in echo chambers
Axios | Amy Harder | 10/03/19

The tendency for Washington policymakers to not accept mainstream climate science is growing inside echo chambers and under President Trump, according to a new peer-reviewed study.

Why it matters: The research adds some quantitative heft to the notion that Trump, who regularly dismisses and mocks climate change, is having a tangible impact among America's most influential policy experts working inside the beltway of Washington, D.C. ... Read more

Support for impeaching Trump hits new high
Politico | Steven Shepard | 10/02/19

Support for impeaching President Donald Trump is growing. A batch of recent polling confirms the Democratic impeachment push is gaining steam -- including a new POLITICO/Morning Consult survey that shows for the first time that more voters support than oppose proceedings to remove Trump from office. The uptick is primarily among Democrats, as Republican voters surveyed continue to have Trump's back.

In the POLITICO/Morning Consult poll, 46 percent of voters said Congress should begin impeachment proceedings vs. 43 percent who said they should not. Eleven percent had no opinion. That support represented a 3-point bump from last week, when voters were evenly split. ... Read more

Trump's impeachment defiance spooks key voting blocs
Politico | Gabby Orr | 10/03/19

President Donald Trump was in trouble with women voters long before House Democrats launched a formal impeachment inquiry against him last week. Since then, his standing has grown only worse.

Nearly a half-dozen polls conducted since last Tuesday, when House Speaker Nancy Pelosi directed her colleagues to proceed with pursuing Trump for potentially impeachable offenses, have shown women voters rallying behind her decision, exacerbating concerns among White House allies that white women who helped carry Trump to victory in 2016 can no longer be counted on next November. ... Read more

The Impeachment Crisis Just Got Worse for the GOP
TheNation | Joan Walsh | date

Donald Trump is laying the groundwork to bring Pompeo and Pence down with him.

Donald Trump came completely unglued twice on Wednesday. But pay no attention to the man behind the meltdown. All the real action in his rapidly escalating impeachment crisis took place outside the White House.

Wednesday morning, after ducking the question repeatedly, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo admitted he was on Trump's thuggish phone call with Ukrainian President Vlodymyr Zelensky in July. But you had to be paying close attention to catch it, given the way Pompeo rushed through and eventually swallowed the admission: "Was I on the phone callIwasonthephonecall." Just after that, House Intelligence Committee chair Adam Schiff said that rather than merely going to court over Pompeo and other Trump toadies' stonewalling subpoenas, he would wrap the many counts of defiance into articles of impeachment, under "obstruction of justice." The day ended with a Washington Post bombshell showing how Trump used Vice President Mike Pence in his efforts to pressure Zelensky to "investigate" Hunter Biden. Team Pence, uncharacteristically, pushed back on Team Trump's claims. ... Read more

What if the World Treated the U.S. Like a Rogue State?
magazine | author | date

... ... Under Trump, America is in the business of actively creating or deepening threats to the world: capsizing the climate; pardoning U.S. soldiers and military contractors convicted of war crimes; supplying arms to Saudi Arabia, so that the kingdom can bombard Yemen. For a while, it looked as if Trump might attack North Korea; it's still possible that he will start a war with Iran. In recently leaked memos, Kim Darroch, the former British ambassador to the U.S., worried that Trump would wreck world trade. Along the way, his administration has trashed so many diplomatic rules and norms that the entire edifice of postwar multilateralism is at risk. A low point was Mike Pompeo's speech last December in Brussels, when he attacked the European Union, the UN, and every other kind of multilateralism that the U.S. once championed. "There was a stunned silence after the speech," said Anthony Gardner, a former American ambassador to the EU, "and then he left right away without taking questions." Two years ago, Mary Robinson, a former UN special envoy on climate change, called the U.S. "a rogue state" for quitting the Paris accord. It's common now for foreign policy professionals from America's traditional allies to murmur brokenly about the "rules-based order," as if they were standing at the bedside of a dear, dying friend.

Everyone on the front lines of foreign policy has stories to tell of chaos and breakdown. In one minor but telling exemplar of the genre, UN officials were shocked last summer when the U.S. abruptly decided to stop contributing $300 million--less than 0.6 percent of its foreign aid spend--to the Relief and Works Agency's budget for Palestinian refugees. The agency began its work in 1949, to assist Palestinians who'd newly been rendered homeless; with successive generations, its beneficiaries have swelled to around 5.4 million, many of whom still live in or near refugee camps. "The U.S never had a problem with that number, until last year," one UN official told me. "Then they made the argument that the funding should be pegged to the original number of some 800,000 refugees." The U.S. refused to budge, despite multiple meetings, including one in mid-August that lasted 15 hours--so long that, after the building's cafes shut at 5:30 p.m., delegates had to leave the premises altogether to find food. These gatherings rarely conclude without some sort of consensus, or at least some ambiguous language to project unanimity, the official said. But in this case, even that wasn't an option; America's dissent had to be recorded in a footnote before the meeting could move on.

There are so many "egregious examples" of this kind, Wendy Sherman, the undersecretary of state for political affairs during the Obama administration, told me. "To the point that our allies, European leaders, are looking elsewhere for solidarity." A Canadian political scientist who advised her country during last year's NAFTA renegotiations was sickened when Trump imposed tariffs on steel and aluminum using a provision for national security considerations. "What that meant to Canadians was: We are a threat to the national security of the U.S." She described Trump's actions as "brutal" and "an enormous betrayal" and added: "There was a growing sense that we were foolish to believe in the trust between the two countries." ... Read more

The Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia (full film) | PBS Frontline | 09/30/19 | 1:54:56

Trump's foreign policy is for sale. That threatens our national security
TheGuardian | Michael H | 10/02/19

The Ukraine scandal is not only undermining American democracy -- it's damaging national security. US foreign policy increasingly looks like that of a mafia state, wielded at the behest of, and for the benefit of, one man's personal interests, and for sale to the highest bidders. This is devastating America's role in the world.

Trump led an effort -- along with other government officials and the president's personal lawyer -- to use the power of the United States to pressure the government of Ukraine to fabricate smears about one of Trump's domestic political opponents. As the White House admitted in a transcript of Trump's 25 July call with the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, Trump asked Zelenskiy for a "favor" -- to look into the former vice-president Joe Biden and his son -- and said that the US attorney general, Bill Barr, and Trump's personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, would help. ...

... We're through the looking glass now. America's friends are perplexed, and the damage could be incalculable. Some countries may try to placate Trump because the United States is indeed powerful and they are scared that the US mob-boss-in-chief might break their legs. But they will hate us, look for other options, and ditch us at the first opportunity.

Our closest allies will reject us. No matter how important the US alliance is for these countries, the current scandal will force them to distance themselves even further from the United States. Intelligence cooperation could slow because allies know Trump is abusing those channels. No one will have faith in US commitments because they fear that Trump will sell them out for personal gain. The United States under Trump could be treated like a powerful autocracy -- a country that must be dealt with, but not trusted, and always hedged against. ... Read more

What 2 Deep-Dive Books on Kavanaugh Taught Me About Truth in the Trump Era
Politico | Lara Bazelon | 09/29/19

Last September, the country was torn apart by decades-old allegations of sexual assault against Brett Kavanaugh as he headed into his Supreme Court confirmation hearing. Now, the recent frenzy around the possible impeachment of Donald Trump and the whistleblower report that started it has prompted the same kinds of questions. Which stories and which storytellers should we believe in our hyper-partisan era?

Two recent books have taken us right back to where we were a year ago. The Education of Brett Kavanaugh, by New York Times reporters Robin Pogrebin and Kate Kelly, was published earlier this month to great anticipation. It promised to excavate what last year's allegations of Kavanaugh's sexual misconduct in high school and college--followed by a contentious Supreme Court confirmation hearing--could not. Pogrebin and Kelly said their mission was to give context for who Justice Kavanaugh is "as a person," and dig into "the man who is portrayed in these starkly polarized ways."

Book 2... Justice on Trial, Hemingway's book, co-authored with attorney Carrie Severino, was published earlier this year. It, too, rakes over the September 2018 confirmation hearings that transfixed and splintered the country. It's a different kind of book: The authors are much closer to the world of conservative activism than a news outlet like the New York Times, and the authors make no secret of their right-of-center bona fides. Still, they spoke with more than 100 people, including President Donald Trump, several Supreme Court justices, numerous senators and high-level government officials, and family and close friends of Kavanaugh.

Both books purport to be deep dives into the murk, and promise new revelations and evidence-backed conclusions in the longstanding debate over whether Kavanaugh sexually assaulted Christine Blasey Ford in high school and exposed himself to Deborah Ramirez in college. ... Read more

The Education of Brett Kavanaugh: An Investigation by Robin Pogrebin and Kate Kelly

In September 2018, the F.B.I. was given only a week to investigate allegations of sexual misconduct against Brett Kavanaugh, President Trump's Supreme Court nominee. But even as Kavanaugh was sworn in to his lifetime position, many questions remained unanswered, leaving millions of Americans unsettled.

During the Senate confirmation hearings that preceded the bureau's brief probe, New York Times reporters Robin Pogrebin and Kate Kelly broke critical stories about Kavanaugh's past, including the "Renate Alumni" yearbook story. They were inundated with tips from former classmates, friends, and associates that couldn't be fully investigated before the confirmation process closed. Now, their book fills in the blanks and explores the essential question: Who is Brett Kavanaugh?

The Education of Brett Kavanaugh paints a picture of the prep-school and Ivy-League worlds that formed our newest Supreme Court Justice. By offering commentary from key players from his confirmation process who haven't yet spoken publicly and pursuing lines of inquiry that were left hanging, it will be essential reading for anyone who wants to understand our political system and Kavanaugh's unexpectedly emblematic role in it.

Justice on Trial: The Kavanaugh Confirmation and the Future of the Supreme Court by Mollie Hemingway

The Trump presidency opened with the appointment of Neil Gorsuch to succeed the late Antonin Scalia on the Supreme Court. But the following year, when Trump drew from the same list of candidates for his nomination of Brett Kavanaugh, the justice being replaced was the swing vote on abortion, and all hell broke loose.

The judicial confirmation process, on the point of breakdown for thirty years, now proved utterly dysfunctional. Unverified accusations of sexual assault became weapons in a ruthless campaign of personal destruction, culminating in the melodramatic hearings in which Kavanaugh's impassioned defense resuscitated a nomination that seemed beyond saving.

The Supreme Court has become the arbiter of our nation's most vexing and divisive disputes. With the stakes of each vacancy incalculably high, the incentive to destroy a nominee is nearly irresistible. The next time a nomination promises to change the balance of the Court, Hemingway and Severino warn, the confirmation fight will be even uglier than Kavanaugh's.

A good person might accept that nomination in the naïve belief that what happened to Kavanaugh won't happen to him because he is a good person. But it can happen, it does happen, and it just happened. The question is whether America will let it happen again.