Thursday, February 28, 2019
Sater To Testify
KXLH: Michael Cohen will return to Congress March 6, Felix Sater to testify March 14
Schiff also announced that committee will host an at least partially open hearing March 14 with Felix Sater, the Russian-born onetime business associate of Trump’s who worked to build a Trump Tower in Moscow.
Cleared
NY Times: Trump Ordered Officials to Give Jared Kushner a Security Clearance By Maggie Haberman, Michael S. Schmidt, Adam Goldman and Annie Karni
President Trump ordered his chief of staff to grant his son-in-law and senior adviser, Jared Kushner, a top-secret security clearance last year, overruling concerns flagged by intelligence officials and the White House’s top lawyer, four people briefed on the matter said.
Gruesome
Guardian UK: FBI finds 2,000 human bones at Indiana home: 'Unlike anything we’d ever seen' - Bones were found to be a part of a collection of over 40,000 artifacts in the home of Don Miller, an artifacts collector
The FBI determined that half of Miller’s collection was Native American artifacts. Almost all the human remains are believed to be from Native American burial sites.
Native American burial sites are protected under the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act, which gives the right to determine what to do with artifacts found in burial sites and to those connected to their lineage. Archaeological digs of burial sites must also receive approval under the statute.
GOP Sinks Further
NY Times: Republicans Sink Further Into Trump’s Cesspool - What they left out of their questioning of Michael Cohen says more about the degradation of my former party than anything they said. By Peter Wehner
Yet Republicans on the House Committee on Oversight and Reform, in their frantic effort to discredit Mr. Cohen, went after him while steadfastly ignoring the actual evidence he produced. They tried to impugn his character, but were unable to impugn the documents he provided. Nor did a single Republican offer a character defense of Mr. Trump. It turns out that was too much, even for them.
Collapse
What a shock, no Nobel Peace Prize for Trump.
NY Times: Trump’s Talks With Kim Jong-un Collapse Over North Korean Sanctions By Edward Wong
NY Times: Trump’s Talks With Kim Jong-un Collapse Over North Korean Sanctions By Edward Wong
The Market On Thursday
Good morning. At 9:15 a.m. ET DOW futures are -24 and the price of oil per barrel is up. The market is poised to open moderately lower.
CNN: Aston Martin shares have plunged 40% since October By Ivana Kottasová
CNN: Aston Martin shares have plunged 40% since October By Ivana Kottasová
Wednesday, February 27, 2019
Today
All other news pales in comparison to this. This is where it is at today.
Guardian UK: Michael Cohen: Trump's ex-lawyer set to deliver explosive testimony – live - The president’s former lawyer is to deliver explosive public testimony before the House oversight committee
Guardian UK: Michael Cohen: Trump's ex-lawyer set to deliver explosive testimony – live - The president’s former lawyer is to deliver explosive public testimony before the House oversight committee
The Market On Wednesday
Good morning. At 9:25 a.m. ET DOW futures are -46 and the price of oil per barrel is up. The market is poised to open significantly lower.
CNN: Why the Fed's next move may be a rate cut By Paul R. La Monica
CNN: Why the Fed's next move may be a rate cut By Paul R. La Monica
Tuesday, February 26, 2019
Gaetz As POS
Yahoo: GOP Rep. Issues Mob-Style Threat Ahead Of Michael Cohen Testimony
GOP Representative Matt Gaetz of Florida tweeted “Hey [Michael Cohen] - Do your wife and father-in-law know about your girlfriends?” he asked.
“Maybe tonight would be a good time for that chat. I wonder if she’ll remain faithful when you’re in prison. She’s about to learn a lot ...”
Number 35
Bloomberg: These Are the World's Healthiest Nations By Lee J Miller and Wei Lu
Meanwhile in North America, Canada’s 16th-place ranking far surpassed the U.S. and Mexico, both of which dropped slightly to 35th and 53rd. Life expectancy in the U.S. has been trending lower due to deaths from drug overdoses and suicides.
Concrete
Guardian UK: Concrete: the most destructive material on Earth
After water, concrete is the most widely used substance on the planet. But its benefits mask enormous dangers to the planet, to human health – and to culture itself
Reverse
Guardian UK: Democrats prepare to vote to reverse Trump's border wall emergency call - House to vote Tuesday to revoke Trump’s executive order - Speaker Nancy Pelosi condemns Trump’s ‘power grab’
Democrats are moving quickly to try to roll back Donald Trump’s declaration of a national emergency to siphon billions of dollars from the military to fund construction of a fence along the US-Mexico border.
Where Kale Is King
NY Times: Where Kale Is King (at Least, When It’s Stewed in Schmaltz and Bacon) By Melissa Eddy
During the season, local restaurants and pubs are packed each weekend with long tables of people coming in from the cold for all-you-can eat feasts of locally grown kale, with all the trimmings. That includes a mildly spiced sausage stuffed with groats, a regional specialty known as pinkel.
It sounds a bit better when put to verse, as a “Kale Newspaper” did in 1953:
Kale is served, along with bacon, pinkel and pork,
Now everyone is encouraged to bravely lift their forks!
Cohen
NY Times: Planned in Michael Cohen’s Testimony: A Litany of Accusations Against Trump By Maggie Haberman
Michael D. Cohen, President Trump’s former personal lawyer and fixer, is planning on portraying his onetime client in starkly negative terms when he testifies Wednesday before a House committee, and on describing what he says was Mr. Trump’s use of racist language, lies about his wealth and possible criminal conduct.
The Market On Tuesday
Good morning. At 9:15 a.m. ET DOW futures are -129 and the price of oil per barrel is up. The market is poised to open significantly lower.
CNN: Elon Musk and the SEC; Oil stabilizes; Brexit endgame? By Charles Riley
CNN: Elon Musk and the SEC; Oil stabilizes; Brexit endgame? By Charles Riley
Monday, February 25, 2019
Green Book
Bitter Southerner: Traveling While Negro
Peter Farrelly’s movie “The Green Book” just won the Golden Globe for Best Motion Picture, Musical or Comedy. But the film has already spurred vigorous debate about elements of its self-proclaimed “true story” that aren’t exactly on the up-and-up. We asked Cynthia Tucker, who grew up in the days of Jim Crow, to find the stories of black people — from regular folks to Hammerin’ Hank Aaron — who traveled America when law and custom made the Green Book essential. Story by Cynthia Tucker
Goldstein
NY Times: It’s Mueller’s Investigation. But Right Behind Him Is Andrew Goldstein. By Noah Weiland and Michael S. Schmidt
Mr. Goldstein, the lone prosecutor in Mr. Mueller’s office who came directly from a corruption unit at the Justice Department, has conducted every major interview of the president’s advisers.
Very Strange
Here's the thing. If Trump doesn't believe anything from American Intelligence Agencies, and he only believes Putin, does this mean Trump learned about 'Hillary Collusion' from Putin? Where does he get this information because it's not from America.
Schiff
Guardian UK: Schiff threatens to call Mueller to testify if Trump-Russia report not made public - Top Democrat will be watching Attorney General William Barr to see if he were ‘to try to bury any part of this report’
A top Democrat threatened on Sunday to call special counsel Robert Mueller to testify on Capitol Hill, subpoena documents and take the Trump administration to court if necessary, if the full report on the Russia investigation is not made public.
Love Versus Hate
Guardian UK: Donald Trump accuses Spike Lee of 'racist hit on your president' - Lee urges Americans to choose ‘love versus hate’ in 2020 - Trump criticizes Oscar winner for giving speech using notes
“That car drove down that one street in Virginia,” Lee said, “and the president of the United States did not reject, refute [or] did not denounce the Klan, ‘alt-right’ and neo-Nazis. This film, whether we won best picture or not, this film will stand the test of time being on the right side of history.”
Around dawn on Monday, from the White House, Trump duly responded with a nasty personal jab.
Florida
NY Times: ‘The Monsters Are the Men’: Inside a Thriving Sex Trafficking Trade in Florida
Beyond the lurid celebrity connection, however, lies the wretched story of women who the police believe were brought from China under false promises of new lives and legitimate spa jobs. Instead, they found themselves trapped in the austere back rooms of strip-mall brothels — trafficking victims trapped among South Florida’s rich and famous.
The Making Of A Monster
NY Times: How Lindsey Graham Went From Trump Skeptic to Trump Sidekick - “What happened to me?” the senator asks. “Not a damn thing.”
...from the 2016 campaign, in which Graham called the future president a “kook,” “crazy” and “unfit for office,” among other things — and which are easily juxtaposed today with Graham’s sycophantic raves about the president’s stellar golf game and reminders that Trump “beat me like a dog” in the 2016 presidential primary (no doubt delighting Trump with his nod to the president’s canine-themed pejoratives).
The Market On Monday
Good morning. At 9:25 a.m. ET DOW futures are +189 and the price of oil per barrel is down. The market is poised to open significantly higher.
CNN: GE sells BioPharma business to CEO's former company for $21.4 billion By Matt Egan
CNN: GE sells BioPharma business to CEO's former company for $21.4 billion By Matt Egan
Fired
Guardian UK: 'You're fired!' America has already terminated Trump by Robert Reich
In other words, will America fire Trump?
I have news for you. America has already fired him.
When the public fires a president before election day, as it did Jimmy Carter, Nixon and Herbert Hoover, they don’t send him a letter telling him he’s fired.
They just make him irrelevant. Politics happens around him, despite him. He’s not literally gone but he might as well be.
Friday, February 22, 2019
This Is America
All That's Interesting: 33 Photos Of Segregation That Show A Country Divided By Race
'Contained And Evaluated'
Salon: Yale psych prof: If Trump weren't president he would be "contained and evaluated" - Psychiatrist and editor of "Dangerous Case of Donald Trump" says "a lot worse will happen" if Trump is not removed by Chauncey DeVega
Research shows that stress levels are the highest in our memory -- actually higher than any time since World War I. If you think of all the crises that have happened in that time period, we are actually in a worse state. We know that anxiety levels are 70 percent higher than two years ago. This is according to research from the American Psychological Association and American Psychiatric Association. We know that public mental health is deteriorating. This is shown by the drastically increasing murder rate and epidemics of suicides that the United States is experiencing now. Unfortunately a population becomes habituated to such things. We become more numb to the stress levels. People become jumpier and more anxious and looking for comfort.
Annemarie Schwarzenbach
I just stumbled across Annemarie Schwarzenbach by accident. She was a writer, photographer, journalist, and she traveled far and wide especially into Muslim regions. She died in her 30s in 1942 and spent a good part of her life dressing as a man, she suffered from addictions and depression. She also revolted against the Nazis and helped people under fascist rule. There's a movie about part of her life 'Journey To Kafristan' which I want to see.
Annemarie Schwarzenbach bio
Annemarie Schwarzenbach bio
Trump Country
Guardian UK: Why ‘Trump country’ isn’t as Republican as you think - Appalachia wasn’t always conservative. In Virginia’s coal country, a long history of grassroots organising is inspiring a new wave of activism. By Elizabeth Catte
Rural spaces are often thought of as places absent of things, from people of colour to modern amenities to radical politics. The truth, as usual, is more complicated. The parents and grandparents of my childhood friends were union organisers; when my grandfather moved to east Tennessee, he went from a world of communist coal miners to the backyard of one of the most important incubators of the civil rights movement, the Highlander Research and Education Center.
Venezuela
Guardian UK: Venezuela crisis threatens disease epidemic across continent - experts - Collapse of Venezuela’s healthcare system could fuel spread of malaria and other diseases across region
Experts have warned of an epidemic of diseases such as malaria and dengue on an unprecedented scale in Latin America following the collapse of the healthcare system in Venezuela.
It's Coming
NY Times: The Mueller Report Is Coming. Here’s What to Expect. A concise report will probably act as a “road map” to investigation for the Democratic House — and to further criminal investigation by other prosecutors. By Neal K. Katyal - Mr. Katyal was an acting solicitor general under President Barack Obama.
The special counsel Robert Mueller will apparently soon turn in a report to the new attorney general, William Barr. Sure, there is still a lot of activity, including subpoenas, flying around, but that shouldn’t stop Mr. Mueller.
GOP Election Fraud
NY Times: New Election Ordered in North Carolina Race at Center of Fraud Inquiry By Alan Blinder
North Carolina officials on Thursday ordered a new contest in the Ninth Congressional District after the Republican candidate, confronted by evidence that his campaign had financed an illegal voter-turnout effort, called for a new election.
The Market On Friday
Good morning. At 9:25 a.m. ET DOW futures are -64 and the price of oil per barrel is down. The market is poised to open significantly lower.
CNN: Stamps.com stock plummets 50% after it ends partnership with the US Postal Service By Chris Isidore
CNN: Stamps.com stock plummets 50% after it ends partnership with the US Postal Service By Chris Isidore
Thursday, February 21, 2019
Weak
Bloomberg: Trump’s Presidency Is Getting Weaker - A defeat for the president’s “Space Force” proposal was typical – and telling. By Jonathan Bernstein
This week offered two prime examples of why Donald Trump’s presidency has been weaker than most people realize.
Gagged
This vicious horrible man got off lightly.
Politico: Roger Stone gets full gag order after Instagram post - Stone was trying to walk back an Instagram post appeared to include a gun’s crosshairs above the head of the federal judge overseeing his case. By DARREN SAMUELSOHN, JOSH GERSTEIN and MATTHEW CHOI
Politico: Roger Stone gets full gag order after Instagram post - Stone was trying to walk back an Instagram post appeared to include a gun’s crosshairs above the head of the federal judge overseeing his case. By DARREN SAMUELSOHN, JOSH GERSTEIN and MATTHEW CHOI
Ticks
The Atlantic: Climate Change Enters Its Blood-Sucking Phase - As winters grow warmer in North America, thirsty ticks are on the move.
This was the sixth calf, of 30 collared, that they’d found sucked to death by ticks this season.
The ticks had taken a third of this animal’s weight.
Disgrace Upon Disgrace
Guardian UK: Alec Baldwin fears for family's safety after Trump 'retribution' threats - In Dworkin Report podcast, SNL sketch actor wonders what ‘retribution’ will look like, and jokes about jail for Trump Jr
Alec Baldwin has spoken of his fear that Donald Trump is stirring up some supporters to exact “retribution” against him for his satirical performance of the president on Saturday Night Live, saying the president “signals people” to become angry and bitter “and then the actions flow from there”.
House Democrats Take On Trump's Emergency
Guardian UK: House Democrats to file measure aimed at blocking Trump's emergency declaration - Lawmakers’ move, planned for Friday, sets up clash over presidential powers and immigration but is likely to fail
Though the effort seems almost certain to ultimately fall short – perhaps to a Trump veto – the resulting votes will let Democrats take a defiant stance against Trump that is sure to please liberal voters. They will also put some Republicans from swing districts and states in a difficult spot.
Massive Crisis In Venezuela
NY Times: Venezuelans Fleeing Crisis Face Desperate Hike to 12,000 Feet By Nicholas Casey and Jenny Carolina González
The walking began before dawn: before the clouds broke against the mountaintops, before the trucks took over the highway, even before anyone in the town woke up to check the vacant lot where scores of Venezuelan refugees had been huddling through the night.
Children, grandmothers, teachers, nurses, oil workers and the jobless had all sprawled there together — bound by a collective will to put as many miles as possible between themselves and the collapsing country they had fled.
Catholic Abuse
NY Times: To Save the Catholic Church, Listen to Priests’ Victims - The pope should always offer forgiveness. But he must drive abusers and their enablers from the ministry. By Mark Joseph Williams - Mr. Williams is a survivor of child sexual abuse.
When I was a child, I was sexually abused by a Catholic priest. Trauma is the devil. It stays in the core of your being. My tears waited nearly a half-century to stream from my eyes. Many victims go to their graves never revealing what they endured. Some take their own life, like one friend of mine. I suffered the pangs of addiction, the subsequent lies, and depression and suicidal ideation, along with bankruptcy and the loss of my job and home.
A childhood lost. The isolation was real. My father had died at only 40. My mother, lonely, drank, fell into rage, and was largely absent. I was prey, vulnerable to being groomed by the priest. The line was crossed.
The Market On Thursday
Good morning. At 9:20 a.m. ET DOW futures are +20 and the price of oil per barrel is down. The market is poised to open modestly higher.
CNN: US-China trade talks; VW warns over tariffs; Barclays and Brexit By Ivana Kottasová
CNN: US-China trade talks; VW warns over tariffs; Barclays and Brexit By Ivana Kottasová
Wednesday, February 20, 2019
Domestic Terrorist
NY Times: Coast Guard Officer Plotted to Kill Democrats and Journalists, Prosecutors Say By Dave Philipps
A Coast Guard lieutenant and self-described white nationalist who was arrested in Maryland last week was plotting to kill a long list of prominent journalists and Democratic politicians, as well as professors, judges and what he called “leftists in general,” federal prosecutors said in a court filing.
Warmed Up And Served Again
Same playbook. Abortion, Guns, and Socialism. Yawn.
The Atlantic: Trump's New Red Scare - With reelection looming and his wall all but defeated, the president sees a convenient political target on the left. by David A. Graham
The Atlantic: Trump's New Red Scare - With reelection looming and his wall all but defeated, the president sees a convenient political target on the left. by David A. Graham
Hippocamp
The Atlantic: A City-Size Moon Was Hiding Around Neptune - Even to the most powerful telescopes, little Hippocamp appears only as a fuzzy dot in photos. by Marina Koren
Hippocamp is one of 14 moons orbiting Neptune.
Live At Paste Studio NYC
Aurora - IMO, the best new pop singer in a long time. She's got it all and then some, and then some. She performs with a stripped down band like this and also with a larger electronic sounding band. I'm so pleased to see someone singing melodic music.
Cold War
Guardian UK: Russia may be forced to aim weapons at Washington, suggests Putin - ‘Centres of decision making’ will be targeted if west deploys new missiles in Europe
The treaty, concluded by Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev, banned the development and deployment of land-based missiles with a range of 500-5,500km and was widely credited with banishing nuclear missiles from Europe. The US, led by the national security adviser, John Bolton, suspended the treaty this month amid claims that Moscow had secretly developed a cruise missile that violated the agreement. Russia denies this.
Bernie
NY Times: Bernie 2020, Pro and Con - The strengths and weaknesses of the frequently underrated politician from Vermont. By David Leonhardt
Sanders is a natural politician. Too many Democrats campaign on a laundry list of smart, technocratic proposals that, in the minds of voters, add up to less than the sum of their parts. Sanders understands the importance of clear, bold messages: greedy billionaires, $15 minimum wage, free college, Medicare for all, Green New Deal. If he were elected president along with Democratic majorities in Congress, he would have a mandate for Reagan-like change — in the opposite direction.
1,100 And Counting
NY Times: Trump Has Publicly Attacked the Russia Investigation More Than 1,100 Times
Mr. Trump has employed a wide range of attacks in what appears to be an attempt to discredit the people and organizations associated with the investigations.
According to the president, the inquiry by Robert S. Mueller III, the special counsel, into Russian interference in the 2016 election is the “single greatest witch hunt in political history.”
The Market On Wednesday
Good morning. At 9:25 a.m. ET DOW futures are -14 and the price of oil per barrel is down. The market is poised to open modestly lower.
CNN: Fed minutes; Glencore caps coal; Setback for Walmart By Ivana Kottasová
CNN: Fed minutes; Glencore caps coal; Setback for Walmart By Ivana Kottasová
Tuesday, February 19, 2019
The ADX
NY Times: Where El Chapo Could End Up: A Prison ‘Not Designed for Humanity’ By Alan Feuer and Alan Blinder
“No mountain, bush, tree or blade of grass is visible from the yard, just the sky,” Mr. Rudolph wrote. “The cages have just enough room to do aerobic exercises. Other than the opportunity to breathe fresh air and feel the sunshine on your skin, the outside cages are just cells that are open to the sky.”
Calling
BBC News: Alabama newspaper editor calls on KKK to lynch Democrats
Democrats in the Republican Party and Democrats are plotting to raise taxes in Alabama... This socialist-communist ideology sounds good to the ignorant, the uneducated, and the simple-minded people."
"Seems like the Klan would be welcome to raid the gated communities up there."
Bernie Is In
Guardian UK: Bernie Sanders announces run for presidency in 2020 - The independent senator from Vermont will reprise his 2016 bid for the Democratic nomination, which channeled grassroots support
Bernie Sanders, the independent senator from Vermont whose 2016 presidential campaign helped energize the progressive movement and reshaped the Democratic party, has entered the 2020 race for the White House.
Mess
NY Times: Why Trump’s Emergency Mess Means Danger for the Courts - The president’s move has already been challenged in court. Win or lose, he is almost certainly forcing an alarming judicial precedent. By Robert Chesney - Mr. Chesney is a law professor at the University of Texas at Austin.
The Texans and others who face the loss of land because of eminent domain actions funded via Mr. Trump’s emergency declaration have standing to sue and good cause to do so. Not because the government may offer them too little money to constitute just compensation, though past practice suggests this will be an issue, too. Rather, they object to the process that the president has used to gain the funding after Congress largely denied it to him.
Sweet Sixteen
NY Times: 16 States Sue to Stop Trump’s Use of Emergency Powers to Build Border Wall By Charlie Savage and Robert Pear
A coalition of 16 states, including California and New York, on Monday challenged President Trump in court over his plan to use emergency powers to spend billions of dollars on his border wall.
The Market On Tuesday
Good morning. At 9:20 a.m. ET DOW futures are -79 and the price of oil per barrel is down. The market is poised to open significantly lower.
CNN: Walmart had a blowout holiday quarter By Nathaniel Meyersohn
CNN: Walmart had a blowout holiday quarter By Nathaniel Meyersohn
Monday, February 18, 2019
Full Performance On KEXP
Aurora - 4 stars **** Sande - best new band in quite some time. They are the real real deal. Beautiful.
Idiot
Guardian UK: 'So many lies': Trump attacks McCabe over explosive CBS interview
Donald Trump returned to the attack against Andrew McCabe on Monday, in response to an interview in which the former deputy FBI director discussed his new book and made claims damaging to the president.
The Market On Monday
Good morning. At 9:25 a.m. ET DOW futures are +16 and the price of oil per barrel is up. The market is poised to open modestly higher.
CNN: How elite investors use artificial intelligence and machine learning to gain an edge By Matt Egan
CNN: How elite investors use artificial intelligence and machine learning to gain an edge By Matt Egan
Abuse Upon Abuse
I grew up in a ultra right wing Catholic family and as a child I learned at a very young age to keep my head down, not make any noise, and stay quiet, be invisible. I was not sexually abused, yet I witnessed tons of physical and emotional abuse. The nuns literally beat the living shit out of children every day. Children that were slower learners, or from extreme poverty, or from abusive households were the most vulnerable. These were the children who were beaten, somehow beating the shit out of them was the way to improve conditions that these children were unable to control or even understood in even the tiniest of ways. It's a horrible disgusting legacy and I left the church as a teenager, never to return, and never will.
February 6, 2019 - NY Times: Sexual Abuse of Nuns: Longstanding Church Scandal Emerges From Shadows By Jason Horowitz
February 6, 2019 - NY Times: Sexual Abuse of Nuns: Longstanding Church Scandal Emerges From Shadows By Jason Horowitz
The sexual abuse of nuns and religious women by Catholic priests and bishops — and the abortions that have sometimes resulted — has for years been overshadowed by other scandals in the Roman Catholic Church.
That seemed to change this week when Pope Francis publicly acknowledged the problem for the first time.
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