Sen. Collins justified backing Brett Kavanaugh on grounds she thought he would be reasonable on abortion rights. Now she looks foolish. He joined the conservative minority opposed to abortion rights in a ruling announced last night. Justice John Roberts provided the fifth vote with liberals to protect choice (for now) in this case.
Yahoo: Supreme Court puts Louisiana abortion law on hold
another day, another book:
the guardian:
The deputy attorney general, Rod Rosenstein, privately complained that he was ordered by president Donald Trump to write the notorious memo justifying the firing of the FBI director James Comey, according to Comey’s former deputy.
Andrew McCabe writes in a new book that Rosenstein, who has publicly defended the memo, lamented that the president had directed him to rationalise Comey’s dismissal, which is now the subject of inquiries into whether Trump obstructed justice.
Rosenstein made his remarks in a private meeting at the justice department on 12 May 2017, according to McCabe’s memoir, which also accuses Trump of operating like a criminal mob boss and of unleashing a “strain of insanity” in American public life.
McCabe recalls Rosenstein being “glassy-eyed”, visibly upset and sounding emotional.
“He said it wasn’t his idea. The president had ordered him to write the memo justifying the firing,” McCabe writes. Rosenstein said he was having trouble sleeping, McCabe writes. “There’s no one here that I can trust,” he is quoted as saying.
McCabe’s book, The Threat: How the FBI Protects America in the Age of Terror and Trump, is due on sale later this month. A copy was obtained by the Guardian prior to its release.
[…]
In his sharpest criticism, McCabe writes that after firing Comey, Trump and the White House counsel, Don McGahn, acted like mobsters by in effect offering McCabe protection in return for loyalty.
[continues]
Kavanaugh – there’s this.
WaPo
Ummm, no.
oh, by the way, WE’RE MELTING! WE’RE MELTING!
from ny times editorial:
Which Way to the North Pole?
The north magnetic pole is moving eastward at an accelerating pace. Is doomsday nigh?
{…]
As it turns out, the geographic North Pole, the location of the planet’s spin axis, is also shifting east, not as strikingly as its magnetic cousin, but for the wrong reasons. The North and South Poles always wander a bit, but the movements have increased, and scientists theorize that the redistribution of mass on Earth as glaciers and ice sheets melt is one of the major reasons.
We have caused the Earth to wobble, and it’s getting worse. Several recently published studies warn that ice at both ends of the Earth is melting far faster, and oceans are warming far faster, than previously thought, suggesting that scientific estimates of a warming planet have been too conservative. Those are the headlines that should be causing real concern.
Collins is toast. She went from moderate who always voted far right to SFB lover and voting far right.
I wonder whether that answers SFB’s question from last week asking where global warming was when it was cold in DC – it was busy melting glaciers and warming up the oceans. ?
Maine has gone the same way as New Hampshire… both states have been purple, but with the mid terms both turned decidedly blue. I read somewhere (sorry I forgot as I would link to it) that the Democratic Party of Maine is already gearing up to try to oust her in 2020. I hope they succeed.
quote of the day:
“Of course I don’t want personal photos published, but I also won’t participate in their well-known practice of blackmail, political favors, political attacks, and corruption,” he wrote in the Medium post. “I prefer to stand up, roll this log over, and see what crawls out.”
read entire story in Medium
No thank you, Mr. Pecker
by jeff bezos
also from the hill on same subject:
Reporter: Bezos investigator believes ‘government entity’ may have obtained texts
A reporter at the Washington Post says that an investigator hired by Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos believes that text messages leaked to the National Enquirer between Bezos and his girlfriend may have been sent to the magazine by someone in government.
In an appearance on MSNBC on Thursday, Post reporter Manuel Roig-Franzia said that Bezos’s security consultant Gavin de Becker believes that National Enquirer obtained text messages from Bezos through inappropriate means.
Bezos on Thursday said in a blog post that the Enquirer was attempting to force him to call off his investigation of the tabloid under the threat of further texts being released.
“They have begun to believe, the Bezos camp, that this publication by the National Enquirer might have been politically motivated,” Roig-Franzia said Thursday.
“Gavin de Becker told us that he does not believe that Jeff Bezos’s phone was hacked, he thinks it’s possible that a government entity might have gotten hold of his text messages,” he added.
De Becker’s assertion that Bezos’s phone was not hacked raises questions as to how staffers at the Enquirer obtained messages that were allegedly sent privately between Bezos and his rumored girlfriend, former TV anchor Lauren Sanchez.
The Enquirer is owned by David Pecker, a top ally of President Trump. Pecker has been accused of helping the president kill unfavorable stories about his past affairs during the 2016 election.
Bezos and Trump have feuded publicly over Amazon and its relationship with the federal government, as well as over Bezos’s ownership of The Washington Post, which the president says unfairly targets him with negative news coverage.
In a Medium post Thursday night, the Amazon CEO vowed not to fall for “extortion” tactics from Pecker and American Media Inc., which owns the Enquirer.
“Rather than capitulate to extortion and blackmail, I’ve decided to publish exactly what [American Media Inc. (AMI)] sent me, despite the personal cost and embarrassment they threaten,” Bezos wrote.
they’re about to make great britain less great again. wonder what color hats they’ll wear with the logo and what will that new logo be? MEBE ?
BBC: Brexit: ‘Very real’ chance of Irish unity poll if no deal
[…]
As she tried to drum up support for her original Brexit deal last month, Theresa May warned a no-deal Brexit could strengthen the hand of those wanting Irish unification and Scottish independence.
[continues]
In the case of Collins it’s easy to fool a fool.
Is it just me or is Brexit beginning to look more like the great skid addle?
From WaPo re: Whitaker
What’d he do, disconnect his phone and stop going to meeting with SFB? I call bullshit.
jace, same cast of characters that caused the mess we have caused Brexit.
More from the WaPo Whitaker artice:
It’s been so long since Collins has been to an actual hearing he probably forgets that the witness is asked questions that may not be comfortable and is expected to answer them truthfully.
hmmmm…. look what I found with a quick google search…
Susan Collins will decide on reelection bid by end of the year…
pogo, what do you make of this bit of chutzpah?
from raw story:
Lawmakers gasped after acting attorney general Matt Whitaker tried to beg out of questions about special counsel Robert Mueller by telling a committee chairman his time was up.
House Judiciary Committee chairman Jerry Nadler (D-NY) asked Whitaker whether he had discussed the Mueller probe with the president or senior White House officials — which the acting attorney general said he had not done — and he then pressed him on oversight of the special counsel.
“In your capacity as acting attorney general have you ever been asked to approve any request for action to be taken by the special counsel?” Nadler said.
Whitaker then tried an unusual move to wriggle out of answering.
“Mr. Chairman, I see that your five minutes is up and so,” Whitaker said, as the chamber erupted in shocked gasps and laughter.
Nadler smiled thinly, and Whitaker pressed on.
[continues]
Friday before noon EST – Bezos takes on SFB magazine; acting AG puts on a shit show for House Judiciary committee; SFB goes freaking nuts (as usual); greedy old pervert tries to destroy House Judiciary committee hearing for acting AG; Manafort court visit document discussed; SFB gets an annual; Amazon not going to NYC. There are many hours to go before the end of the day.
Things not happening before Noon EST: none of the cult/mob arrested at 6am; SFB still president.
BlueB… Amazon’s chosen site of Long Island City is where my sister lives. She told me that everyone was upset… she didn’t know anyone who wanted them there. It’s a very mixed neighborhood and people were upset that the headquarters would completely change the place. Glad to know that Bezos cares enough to rethink a location if it’s not welcoming.
I think the headline is wrong — It should say Susan Collins –Fool!
More from the WaPo Whitaker article:
Well I wonder whether on Friday SuckaB.S. complained that Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) tried to get Whitaker to disclose names in the redacted portions of the Rosenstein letter to Mueller laying out the parameters of the investigation. I’m just guessing here, but I’m guessing she did not.
Well, Rasmussen is working overtime to buoy SFB’s approval – they have him at 50% today – which is UP 7% since Monday. They are 7 points above every other poll being counted by RCP to derive SFB’s 41.6% average today, which range from 38-43. Wait for the tweet from the twit about being at 50% approval. Believe me, it’s coming. That I can tell you.
Another of the greats gone. Albert Finney dead at 82
Jamie, he’s still speaking to us
From the motion picture Network (1976)
Peter Finch?
oops
sorry about that, peter 🙂
wapo:
‘My whole town practically lived there’: From Costa Rica to New Jersey, a pipeline of illegal workers for Trump goes back years
Peter Finch was amazingly nightmarish in Frenzy.
Maybe trump thinks his pipeline of ‘illegals’ will increase in value if he can get you to buy him a wall.
In case you haven’t had your fill of fascist nonsense, this week, here’s an annotated transcript of Chump’s rambling SOTU:
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/02/05/us/politics/trump-state-of-union-speech-transcript.html
Inside Edition : “Who could ever forget his performance in Tom Jones ?”
“Finney starred as Tom Jones in the 1963 movie about the singer’s life.”
And, jeffrey dahmer for his line of makeup.
I listened to much of the SFB SOTU Liefest – but reading it puts it in a different perspective. Let’s just say the written word doesn’t improve it.
Sounds like a second accuser has come forward in VA, this one accusing Lt. Gov. Fairfax of rape when he was an undergrad at Duke. Looks like the pan is getting a little too hot for Fairfax. ~~ So I guess we should follow the Kavanaugh model – believe the woman, call for an end to his public service life, then put him in the governor’s chair. ~~ Frankly, I have no idea whether he ever forced sex on anyone, but I do not have any belief that either of the two women have a motive to lie about these things. Like with Kavanaugh, we’ll see.
POGO – looking like Fairfax is on his way out, too bad he had a great story. With the gov holding in, he might get to replace the former Fairfax. With that action Virginia the Commonwealth makes it another week.
Next up is the gov and AG. Tune in next week.
i’m sorry it’s on a paid-subscription service, but if you’re nostalgic for a time when our President wasn’t quite so vain, venal, vicious, and avaricious, Letterman’s interview with Obama on netflix is worth watching.
Bezos is gutting pecker & the enquirer
Bezos is gutting pecker…
X-R, shades of Lorena Bobbitt.
last night on PBS Newshour, mark and david respond to being asked by Amna Nawaz:
There’s a lot happening in Virginia, still. It’s still evolving. What do you make of how it’s been handled by leader there so far?
Mark Shields:
Terribly.
The late Mo Udall wisely said that, when the Democrats organize a firing squad, they first form a circle. And I would say that’s gone on.
I think each of the cases has to be treated separately. I do think that Governor Northam — politics, to begin with, is not brain surgery. It’s about addition, and not subtraction. It’s about a party that welcomes people to its ranks, that warmly embraces newcomers and accepts converts happily and finds common ground.
A losing political party is one that spends time, energy and effort hunting down heretics and banishing them to the outer darkness because they don’t subscribe totally to the received wisdom.
The Democrats in Virginia have played that second role. They had, in Ralph Northam, a popular governor who had secured passage of Medicaid for 400,000 Virginians, something long promised, who had run against the NRA, gave them an F rating, he took them on, on universal background charges, who, in the most segregated day in America, which is Sunday morning, when people go to church with people of their own race, belongs to a church with 60 percent African-Americans, with an African-American pastor.
And all of that is forgotten, all of that is tossed aside blithely because of one yearbook page which was hateful, hurtful and absolutely indefensible.
But I just — I thought the stampede on the part of national Democrats, and including Democrats as honorable as Tim Kaine, the former governor, and senator of Virginia, to toss him out, to demand his resignation was really unacceptable. I really did.
Amna Nawaz:
What did you make of this, David? Did you think it was a stampede?
David Brooks:
A bit.
Men turn out to be a problem. There’s a lot of male bad behavior. Maybe we should have only women leading our states. That might solve these problems.
I think there are two different cases here. The Fairfax case, the Justin Fairfax case, is suddenly looking to be the much more serious of the two to me, that there’s multiple — two women making allegations, with some suggestion that there is contemporaneous evidence, that he assaulted them.
And so that, to me, it turns out, is the most serious one to me. I would say he’s in the post peril. He might have done an actual crime. So, there, I think — I’m always very slow to call for resignations. It makes everybody feel good. But I really believe in investigating. And so somebody should be investigating that one.
On the Northam case, you know, what he does — we spoke about it briefly, because the news had just broken last week — that what he did was appalling and hateful.
And yet I do think, in a lot of these cases, that there should be some path to redemption. And that path should involve an apology. It should involve a lifetime or decades or years of service in the cause.
And Northam, frankly, his record on civil rights is quite good. And so whatever hateful thing he may or may not have done as a med student, it’s not evident in his adult behavior. And I do think that that mitigates toward some sense of leniency. Then maybe he can spend the rest of his governorship continuing good work, heightened because of what he did as a young man.
So, to me, to throw — to destroy a reasonably good career, whether you — for — over this thing is probably not — we do not have a surplus of good people in public life.
repeating mark shields in case you didn’t want to read that long post: