Happy Tuesday, Newsies! Buckle up because today and all the rest of this week is going to be intense! We’ve been living in Mueller Time since the summer, but without much splashy public news to help us see it happening in real time. This week will change that. We are about to get plenty of public evidence of the Special Counsel’s work, and things are going to get very interesting.
I had been planning to open today with a bit of musing again about the character of Donald, the pretender, and lo and behold! In yesterday’s comments, Jeremy Moses saved me the trouble by saying what I was going to say — only much better (with an assist by GNR writer oldhippiedude)! Check it out:
I came to yesterday’s roundup too late to be in the conversation, but I wanted to highlight this comment from oldhippiedude, responding to a commenter who was concerned about a previously unseen nightmare that trump will unleash, now that he is really cornered:
“Predictions that Trump will someday unleash the supposed god-like powers of the presidency have been made since January 2017, and have still not come true . . . Trump is not as all-powerful as he thinks or wants us to believe. Events have consistently and repeatedly shown that he can’t make things happen by waving his hand and declaring ‘make it so.’”
To me, this one really drove home something we’ve talked about, but haven’t necessarily focused on because of everything else going on: The earth shattering, unprecedented, blinding, eye-watering, mind-fucking incompetence of this administration. Because oldhippiedude is right, that trump hasn’t done this (not that he had any possibility of god-like powers, in the first place), but look at everything that he did have playing to his advantage, going into the presidency: A Republican House and Senate; corrupt allies in those chambers who could, and would, obstruct any and all oversight or investigations into his corruption; an opposing party that, unlike his own, was not committed to unthinking, mindless obstruction, at all costs; expectations that were so low that he could expect rapturous, adoring headlines (remember how much he loves and craves those?), for going to the bathroom on his own; and, along with that, a mainstream media that was frantic to declare his respectability and legitimacy. I remember just a month or two into his “presidency”— the morning after he had put on a surprisingly successful PR appearance— CNN gleefully trumpeting the sickening-yet-entirely predictable headline, “PRESIDENTIAL TRUMP.” How the times have changed. The point, though, is that trump was better situated than any president in recent memory, to have a presidency that was successful, both legislatively and in terms of public approval. All he had to do— all he fucking had to do— was make some blandly disingenuous statements about unity and bipartisanship, tell Ryan and McConnell to dial down the pain that their legislative ideas inflicted on poor people just a tad, and not be quite so open about his racism and misogyny— Trump’s list of requirements to gain public approval was shorter than the three year old flower girl at your cousin’s wedding. Can you imagine what a Ted Cruz could have done under these circumstances? Can you even imagine? Trump likes to brag that he can do the seemingly impossible, and he’s right: He somehow, against all odds, figured out a way to fuck this up. No wonder other Republicans hate him. But it’s too late for him now, because he blew what should have been a slam dunk mid-term, in which the Republicans could have gained close to a Senate super majority, and maybe even kept the House. Instead, everyone hates him, the hounds of hell are coming for him, and the House Democrats haven’t even started their investigations. What an asshole. What a moron. What a stupid, stupid dipshit. — Jeremy Moses, Sunday GNR comments thread.
Thanks, Jeremy Moses! And you reminded me of an oldie but goodie which seems apropos today:
⚖ Musical Opener ⚖
⚖ Justice ⚖
Michael Flynn
Today, the OSC will be filing the sentencing memo for Michael Flynn. It will not be filed under seal but as a public document and we will finally learn the details of Flynn’s indictment and more about his crimes.
Jeffrey Epstein
Also today, the Epstein pedophilia court case will open in Palm Beach,FL with jury selection and possibly some witness testimony. Epstein was given an unforgivably lenient deal for his crimes by former prosecutor and current Secretary of Labor, Alex Acosta. Stick a pin in that name, as Rachel would say. Epstein tried to sue the attorneys for his victims but eventually had to drop the suit. Today’s trial is the lawyer’s countersuit. Hopefully, that overweening entitlement will be his undoing. This case is going to be a big deal and may involve some shocking revelations. Not only is Donald almost certainly going to be implicated, but many other powerful men as well. Brace yourselves, it might be shocking stuff. But sunlight is needed on dark secrets like this, and it may very well bring down a lot of people who deserve to be brought down, so it’s good news that it is happening at long last.
Palm Beach trial could reveal details of billionaire’s alleged abuse of teen girls, Marc Fisher, Washington Post, December 3, 2018.
The Palm Beach trial, which is expected to last about 10 days, is a rare opportunity for dozens of women, now in their 20s and 30s, to make public their accounts of how they say Epstein abused them.
In 2008, Epstein — a legendary New York money manager who has lavish spreads in Manhattan, Palm Beach and on a Caribbean island he owns — pleaded guilty to a Florida state charge of felony solicitation of underage girls, for which he served a 13-month jail sentence. But to many of his accusers and critics, that was a light punishment compared with what he would have faced if federal prosecutors had been allowed to move ahead with a 53-page indictment they had drawn up.
“I do not believe Epstein will ever be held accountable,” said Conchita Sarnoff, the author of “TrafficKing,” a book on the Epstein case. “But this trial will show how he has been protected by powerful friends. The question remains: What is Epstein doing for them that they continued to protect him?”
💸 emoluments, emoluments 💸
DC, Md. officials ready with subpoenas in Trump hotel case, Tammy Abdollah, AP News, December 3, 2018.
“We’ve got the discovery ready to go,” said Maryland Attorney General Brian Frosh. “Their objective at this point is just to keep the doors shut, they don’t want any of this information out in public and they don’t want our case to move forward. So they’re going to be be obstructing as much as they can.”
District of Columbia Attorney General Karl A. Racine said in a statement that the subpoenas would go out to third-party organizations and federal agencies “to gather the necessary evidence to prove that President Trump is violating the Constitution’s emoluments clauses — our nation’s original anti-corruption laws.”
Trump has been fighting multiple lawsuits that argue foreign representatives’ spending money at the Trump International Hotel are violations of the Constitution’s emoluments clause, which bans federal officials from accepting benefits from foreign or state governments without congressional approval.
🌎 In International News 🌎
Keep an eye on International news, Newsies, especially stuff involving money laundering, sex trafficking, and international law enforcement/intelligence. There are a lot of interconnected stories going on right now. And remember, we still have allies around the world, too.
UK
Video: MI6 chief uses speech to issue warning to Russia
UK is in technological arms race with its foes, warns MI6 chief, Nick Hopkins, The Guardian, December 3, 2018.
In a rare speech, Alex Younger said British intelligence agencies had to “innovate faster than they can” as the country’s adversaries turn to cyber-attacks, disguised use of military force, misinformation and political obfuscation to probe and undermine Britain’s institutions and defences.
Though his remarks appeared primarily aimed at Russia, Younger also admitted there are emerging issues over China’s dominant position in the development of game-changing new technologies. ✂️
Younger directly challenged Russia, saying the UK’s response to the “egregious” Skripal nerve agent attack in Salisbury should be seen as a warning.
The mass expulsion of Russian intelligence officers from the UK and other Nato nations following Salisbury had “significantly degraded Russian intelligence capability” in the UK, he said.
“Our intention is for the Russian state to conclude that whatever benefits it thinks it is accruing from this activity, they are not worth the risk … we can do this to any opponent, at any time.”
📺 It’s probably nothing… 📻
Right wing hardliner Benjamin Netanyahu has been recommended for bribery charges by Israeli police — based on allegations that he incentivised certain media outlets to give him favorable coverage. (Nothing like that going on here, of course...🐺):
Netanyahu's legal troubles mount as police seek new bribery charges, Maayan Lubell, Reuters UK, December 2, 2018.
JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israeli police on Sunday said they had found enough evidence for bribery and fraud charges to be brought against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his wife in a third corruption case against the Israeli leader.
Authorities allege Netanyahu awarded regulatory favours to Israel’s leading telecommunications company, Bezeq Telecom Israel (BEZQ.TA), in return for more positive coverage of him and his wife on a news website, Walla, owned by the company. Netanyahu denies any wrongdoing.
Shortly after the police recommendations were made public, Netanyahu issued a statement saying that the allegations had no legal basis and that ultimately nothing would come of the investigation. “I am sure that also in this case the relevant authorities, after examining the matter, will reach the same conclusion - that there was nothing because there is nothing,” he said.
😜 Momentary Madness- “Get Me Out Of Here” 😜
ETA courtesy of 2thanks: For the record, you can hear the popular-vote loser say “Get me out of here” at about the 25-second mark on the recording here.
🔍 That Russher Thing 🔎
The Mueller Investigation Grows More Ominous for Trump and His Inner Circle, Mark Follman, Mother Jones, December 2, 2018.
Additional developments around the latest Cohen plea deal look ominous for Trump, and not only because Cohen reportedly has spent a whopping 70 hours talking to investigators. In a sentencing memo filed in court late Friday, Cohen’s attorneys said he has voluntarily cooperated with the New York attorney general’s office on “state court action in which the NYAG has sued the Donald J. Trump Foundation and certain individual defendants, including Donald J. Trump. He also provided the NYAG with documents concerning a separate open inquiry.” The nature of that separate inquiry is unclear. Cohen has also cooperated “on an expedited basis” with New York tax authorities, according to his attorneys. ✂️
The president’s week of escalating rage-tweeting about Mueller and recent news accounts of his particularly foul mood suggest that Trump grasps how Mueller is bearing down on him and his inner circle. As Garrett Graff wrote persuasively in Wired earlier in the week, Mueller’s endgame may now be coming into view. The special counsel has in effect already been publishing an iterative “Mueller report,” Graff noted, to the tune of nearly 300 pages thus far of vividly detailed court filings.
There is more to come soon: By December 7, Mueller’s team is scheduled to disclose details in a sentencing document on the alleged “crimes and lies” that blew up Manafort’s own plea deal, which may point to Manafort having coordinated with the Trump White House to impede Mueller’s work. And Trump’s former national security adviser Michael Flynn is finally scheduled to be sentenced on December 18; the nature of his cooperation with the special counsel since he admitted a year ago to lying to the FBI remains virtually unknown to the public.
This Was the Week the Mueller Probe Switched From “What If” to “What Else”, Dahlia Lithwick, Slate, December 1, 2018.
At some point in the future, we will perhaps look back at this week as the week that brought a time switch in the Mueller probe. This was the week in which we learned that a lot of what had been reported as speculative, or reported but not taken seriously, or reported but forgotten, now maps onto real facts. This was the week that Trump confederates were shown to be liars or admitted to being liars. The president’s former lawyer has now established that he was lying to Congress to protect the president. The president, or “Individual 1” as he’s now described in legal filings, himself is now certainly a subject of great interest to federal investigators.
Instead, it’s clearer than ever that, in addition to an ongoing obstruction investigation, Mueller is now setting down markers around which of Trump’s advisers and associates and family were involved in Russian entanglements that may have compromised them and with efforts to cover those entanglements up. As former federal prosecutor Ken White put it in the Atlantic:
The president of the United States’ personal lawyer admitted to lying to Congress about the president’s business activities with a hostile foreign power, in order to support the president’s story. In any rational era, that would be earthshaking. Now it’s barely a blip.
The blip-y nature of this news is understandable. For one thing, this all took place on a news week that included the G-20, George H.W. Bush, tear gas at the border, red Christmas trees, and several natural disasters. For another, it’s frankly easy to become lost in this maze of Mueller news, to slide into a googley-eyed trance simply trying to parse the Manafort-Trump-Mueller-Assange-Corsi-Stone–Don Jr. –Putin-Flynn- Cohen-Sater-Ivanka–Erik Prince–Deutsche Bank Mad Libs on TV chyrons.* Even Ocean’s Twelve didn’t have this many characters. In the absence of a mile-high whiteboard or pocket Collusion flashcards, it feels hard to get your bearings.
Mueller preparing endgame for Russia investigation, Michael Isikoff, Yahoo News, December 3, 2018.
WASHINGTON — Special counsel Robert Mueller’s prosecutors have told defense lawyers in recent weeks that they are “tying up loose ends” in their investigation, providing the clearest clues yet that the long-running probe into Russia’s interference in the 2016 election may be coming to its climax, potentially in the next few weeks, according to multiple sources close to the matter.
The new information about the state of Mueller’s investigation comes during a pivotal week when the special counsel’s prosecutors are planning to file memos about three of their most high profile defendants — former Trump national security adviser Michael Flynn, former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort and former Trump personal lawyer Michael Cohen. ✂️
The fact that Mueller is planning a public filing about Manafort suggests he may no longer feel the need to withhold information about his case in order to bring additional indictments against others. That would be consistent with messages his prosecutors have given defense lawyers in recent weeks indicating that they are in the endgame of their investigation.
James Comey agrees to testify before House on condition it be made public afterward, Roey Hadar, ABC News, December 2, 2018.
Former FBI Director James Comey wrote on Twitter that he will testify privately before a House panel on the condition that he will be able to speak freely afterward and that a public transcript will be released within 24 hours.
“Hard to protect my rights without being in contempt, which I don’t believe in. So [I] will sit in the dark, but Republicans agree I’m free to talk when done and transcript released in 24 hours. This is the closest I can get to public testimony,” Comey wrote on TwitterSunday morning.
Comey had filed suit in federal court Thursday to block the subpoena requiring him to testify behind closed doors to the House Judiciary and Oversight Committees, instead preferring to testify publicly. In the lawsuit, the former FBI director condemned the process as being powered by “a poisonous combination of presidential tweets and the selective leaking that has become standard practice" for Republican lawmakers.
More great content from GNR Commenters
I’m telling you, Newsies, be sure to read the comments under GNR each day. They are full of very cool stuff from your fellow newsies! WIneRev’s comments are not to be missed and yesterday they provided this neat little recap of the sentencing schedule as it presently stands for already convicted/already pleaded guilty co-conspirators in the Russia Collusion scandal:
First off, currently serving his sentence, is George “Coffee Boy” Papadapolous. George is enjoying the Hospitality suite at the Federal facility in Oxford, Wisconsin, just a few miles east of the state resort area of Wisconsin Dells. He started there last Monday for a 14 day stretch (although, when he was first arrested, he was held for 2 days, and it could be he’ll get credit for those 2 as “time served”.) Anyway, George P. gave us a fine preview and example of coming attractions.
Next, last week’s spotlight-grabber, Michael Cohen will be next week’s headliner. Yes, Mr. Fixer (or at least his attorneys) will face sentencing a week from Wednesday, December 12. CNN has a nice little story HERE if you want to read about the judge deciding, the 45-63 months and $20,000 to $1million fine. Mind you, these numbers are only for the first 8 counts, the plea deal from August? How last week’s count #9 plays into these is something we’ll have to watch.
Now there’s also ex-NSA appointee, General-who-should-be-busted-to-buck-private, Michael Flynn. The first of the Sell-out men to be caught, POLITICO and others noted he is only facing 1 count of lying to the FBI. That was lodged early on, and Flynn has been free all this time because of what he has been providing to the Mueller team (which, putting those 2 together, must be fairly substantial.) Still, on December 18, the judge can see the sentencing guidelines go up to $250,000 and 60 months. No word, given his betrayal of the uniform, if he’d be sent to the military prison in Leavenworth, Kansas, but the karma would be sweet.
Paul Manafort? Paul, Paul, Paul *shaking head*. You are such a non-coffee boy, such a Fixer Extraordinaire, such a Sell Out on an international scale, you get TWO sentencing dates! Yep, you’ve hit the big time! CNBC runs down that you have Date One on February 8 for the 8 counts your were CONVICTED on in Eastern Virginia back in August.
Then, March 5, you get to wear your green jumpsuit back to court for Date Two. This will be the sentencing for you Second Trial that was slated to start mid-September in DC. But YOU worked out a plea deal with Robert Mueller, pleading guilty in exchange for your co-operation for lighter sentence.
And THEN, Paulle, you being the Big Time Convicted Felon that you are, SCREWED THAT DEAL! (Made the 6 o’clock news in every time zone on the planet; proud of yourself?)
So there’s the run down as it stands. If you need a little bookmark, this might help. Also, beware these dates have a way of sliding around a bit (because you never know who’s going to try to pull a fast one, right Paul?) but here’s a starting point.
And another great commenter, John in Denver, reminded us of a couple of others, who already were sentenced and served/are serving their time:
** Alex Van der Zwaan, a lawyer who once worked closely with Manafort and Gates, pleaded guilty in February to lying to Mueller’s investigators about contacts with an official in the Trump election campaign. Van der Zwaan, the Dutch son-in-law of one of Russia’s richest men, was sentenced on April 3 to 30 days in prison and fined $20,000.
+
A 28-year-old California man was sentenced to six months in prison on Wednesday for selling bank account information that helped Russia wage a social media campaign aimed at influencing and disrupting the 2016 presidential race.
The man, Richard Pinedo, was the third defendant to be sentenced in the investigation of the special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III, into Russia’s election interference and whether any Trump associates conspired. He was also ordered to serve six months of home detention after his time [six months] in prison.
→ And for your edification, Mieke Eoyang has helpfully provided twitter cliff notes on the relevant statutes we may hear referenced this week and into the coming months:
👀 Where is Mike Pence, Anyway? 👀
Now, with all that’s been going on and that will go on this week, a lot of people are quite rightly wondering where the hell is Mike Pence in all of this, anyway? Our obsequious veep keeps a very low profile, except to pop up now and then to break tie votes in the Senate or to gaze approvingly at the prOTUS. Many of us have been justifiably concerned that if Donald goes down, then we are stuck with a “president” Pence, which could be worse, believe it or not. Donny is a horrific human being in every possible way but, as Jeremy Moses pointed out above, he is such an incompetent fool that he is failing abjectly in office as he has in the rest of his life.
Pence, on the other hand, is a kook and a religious fanatic; a dominionist, an opportunist and a thoroughly ruthless idealogue. He has the self-discipline to wait and to play the game, and he could very well succeed where Don-Don failed. Lots of us are understandably concerned about that.
So, I thought this eventful week would be a good time to remind everyone of the good news that may have gotten lost in the avalanche of news that this maladministration has dropped like so many cow patties all over us: Mike Pence is going down, too. In fact, Mike Pence may go down first.
Here’s how I know this:
Do you recall last December when Donny et al in the White House freaked out over the OSC having obtained transition emails months before? Let’s review the facts:
1. Mike Pence ran the transition.
2. The transition used resources supplied by the General Services Administration (GSA)
3. As is customary (and in their hubris), the transition team allowed the GSA to preserve the transition documentation for posterity.
4. However, when the 45th administration realized there was a serious collusion investigation underway (Yates warning, Flynn resignation, Comey investigation), they installed a Rudy Giuliani law partner and loyalist, Richard Beckler as General counsel for the GSA in May 2017, thus thinking they had ensured that the documentation of their activities during the transition would never fall into the hands of the Russia investigators.
5. Beckler got straight to work, sending a letter to that effect in June 2017, right after the appointment of Robert Mueller as the special counsel. Donald and his band of mercenary men thought they were home free. lol
6. But Beckler got sick that summer with an aggressive pancreatic cancer and he was in hospital by August, died in September. That summer, the OSC requested the transition materials and the GSA staff handed them over. Including thousands of emails, laptops, cellphones, and so forth.
7. The transition team freaked out.
That’s right. Robert Swan Mueller has everything and knows everything about the transition period, which was the period when so much dodgy activity went on — Jared’s seeking the back channel to Russia, Flynn’s calls to the Russian ambassador, Prince’s meeting in the Seychelles, millions of $ racked up for the puny inauguration — and so much more. The OSC has known about everything that went down during the transition since summer 2017.
And Mike Pence was in charge of the transition, Newsies. He is a goner.
Is Mike Pence involved in the Russia scandal?, Jennifer Rubin, Washington Post via Chicago Tribune, November 15, 2018.
At some point, special counsel Robert Mueller almost certainly will want to interview Pence. (Pence's lawyer reportedly met with Mueller over the summer.) At that point, Pence will need to explain how it was that he never learned in real time about Flynn's legal problems as an unregistered foreign agent, never knew about campaign or transition contacts with Russians and/or WikiLeaks, and didn't know that Comey was being fired at least in part because of the Russia episode. It's quite possible that he has been excluded from key conversations and lied to by Trump and others in the administration. If that is the case, Pence need not worry about any legal jeopardy.
On the other hand, one wonders why he would want to continue serving in an administration that uses him to deceive Congress, the press and the public. At some point, if Pence is an innocent man wrapped up in a web of dishonesty and subterfuge, you'd think he'd get angry, refuse to carry the president's water and even quit.
In any event, Pence's political future is dim. If he's complicit in a cover-up, he's in legal peril. If he's not, he's a fool and a pawn, someone far too naive to be entrusted with power. Aside from Pence's own political future, if Trump is removed (an unlikely but not impossible event) or decides to flee the presidency, could the public trust Pence? Unfortunately, he's no Gerald Ford.
Ahem...we don’t know who this mystery subpoena recipient is yet...
This Blue 🌊 Will Also Bring 🔥
Rep. Jerrold Nadler has had it with your lies
Cohen cooperation is proof of Russian 'leverage' over Trump, incoming House Judiciary chairman says, Ben Kamisar, NBC News, December 2, 2018.
In an exclusive interview on "Meet the Press," Nadler said that former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen’s admissions last week related to his role in securing a Trump Tower in Moscow during the time of the GOP presidential primary raise the specter of a compromised presidential candidate, and now president, that should trouble the American people.
"The fact that he was lying to the American people about doing business in Russia and the Kremlin knew he was lying gave the Kremlin a hold over him," Nadler said. ✂️
"We have a president who lies incessantly to the American people about big matters and small matters, who surrounds himself with people who lie incessantly to the American people. The key fact now is that the time that he can get away with lying to the American people all the time and evading accountability is coming to an end," he said.
And so has Sen. MArk warner
Warner says Senate Intel has made "a number of referrals" to Mueller, Camilo Montoya-Galvez, CBS News, December 2, 2018.
Virginia Sen. Mark Warner, the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, said his committee has made "a number of referrals" to special counsel Robert Mueller's office for prosecution, and vowed to do the same for anyone who lies to congressional investigators probing Russian interference in the 2016 election.
"If you lie to Congress, we're going to go after you. We're going to make sure that gets referred," Warner said on "Face the Nation" Sunday.
And Rep. Raúl Grijalva isn’t putting up with this nonsense, either
Poised to take the chair of the House Committee on Natural Resources, Rep. Grijalva intends to steer the House oversight back toward reality-based science and protection of public lands, water and cultural resources. Newsies, in all the furor over the high-visibility races last month, let’s not forget there are many more fantastic Democrats raring to go and get to work putting our country back on the right track. This blue wave was such good news in so many ways.
Rep. Raúl Grijalva intends to force a reckoning with climate change, Paige Blankenbuehler, High Country News, November 29, 2018. (follow the link for the full interview. Rep. Grijalva is not letting Ryan Zinke off easy).
Less than a week before the midterm elections, U.S. House Rep. Raúl Grijalva, D- Arizona, released a report detailing how the U.S. House Committee on Natural Resources, on which he has served for 14 years, stacked its hearings with industry interests. “Under Republican leadership,” he wrote, “hearings have disproportionally included witnesses who pad their profits by degrading public lands.”
Now that Democrats have won a majority in the House, Grijalva will have his chance, as the committee’s new chairman, to change the direction of the governing body that oversees federal lands and energy and water resources. Grijalva’s committee will also oversee and investigate the Interior Department, employing the system of checks and balances that Grijalva thinks his predecessors neglected. ✂️
”We have an opportunity to take this committee and its priorities and its policies and legislative initiatives and steer it in a different direction. Under our jurisdiction, we have issues that have to be dealt with — tribal sovereignty, education, health care, historical and cultural resource preservation. The other issue is climate change. It touches every issue that we deal with, and the fossil-fuel extraction industries are making such a rush for resources in our public lands. This administration, in two years, has made every effort to suppress science and dumb down the issue of climate change. We want to elevate that again to the status it deserves in decision-making.”
🚂 Let’s Pause To Celebrate Human Achievement 🚂
🌟 Regular People Being Great 🌟
The people of Wisconsin
Republicans who just lost the popular vote by several points in Wisconsin, as well as every statewide office including Governor and Attorney General, have decided they aren’t gonna play by democracy’s rules anymore and are trying to strip power from the Governor and AG through lame duck legislation. In effect, they are trying to legislate back to themselves the power they just lost in the election.
Wisconsinites have said Thanks, NO. And they turned out in droves yesterday for the public hearings and last night in waves for a protest outside the Capitol. Today there may be a vote, and whatever the outcome, Wisconsinites stood up, spoke out and fought for democracy. Well done.
Kazi Mannan
This is not a new story, but I saw it for the first time in a Twitter thread and was so moved by it. This is who we can be as a nation — and how fitting that it is an immigrant who points the way:
At This Immigrant-Owned Restaurant in D.C, the Homeless Eat For Free ← story here and video below (just so beautiful — do yourself a favor and devote 3:50 to watching this).
The Alt Gov patriots
It all started when the Badlands National Park twitter and facebook feeds spoke out defiantly about climate change in the early days of Donny’s regime, after the admin imposed a gag order on federal employees on inauguration day 2017. The “rogue” NPS handles quickly multiplied and soon other government departments joined in — ‘Alt Gov’ and ‘Rogue staffer’ feeds blossomed all over the place — and followers were treated not only to an inside glimpse of how our career federal people are faring in this age of criminality, but also reassured by the knowledge that the resistance is both inside the government and out here in the wild. So kudos to all the patriots who stand watch within the government and thanks to them for the Alt Gov and Rogue Gov social media feeds.
QUick-Thinking CHP officers
CHP uses Autopilot to stop a Tesla Model 3 with a sleeping driver at the wheel, Doug Smith, Los Angeles Times, December 2, 2018.
Deducing that the Tesla Model 3 was running on Autopilot, the officers called for backup and prepared to employ a stratagem.
After a second unit caught up to block any traffic coming from behind, the original car sped up to get in front of the Tesla, then gradually slowed to a stop.
The cameras and computer algorithms of the vehicle’s self-driving system did their job, slowing to avoid ramming the officer’s car.
Several miles from the first contact, the Tesla slowed to a full stop just north of the offramp at Embarcadero Road.
♀ Equal Rights Amendment ♀
Virginia Could Be The State To Give Women Equal Rights Nationwide, Whittney Evans, NPR News, November 30, 2018.
Nearly 50 years ago, Congress passed the Equal Rights Amendment, barring sex discrimination. But 38 states had to ratify it before it could take effect. Earlier this year, Illinois became state No. 37, and a bipartisan group of lawmakers is campaigning to make Virginia the final, historic vote.
For the past 10 days, those lawmakers have traveled the state on a bus tour, trying to grow enthusiasm for the amendment. And they will need a lot of it. Last session, a group of primarily Democratic lawmakers tried to ratify the amendment, but it didn't even make it to the floor for a vote. Today, there seems to be Republican support and more energy around the ratification than before.
😆 Meanwhile, From The Schadenfreude File, This Assh*le 😆
BSO sergeant who wore ‘QAnon’ patch in photo with Pence has been disciplined, Carli Teproff, Miami Herald, December 3, 2018.
The Broward Sheriff’s Office SWAT sergeant who wore a “QAnon” conspiracy patch on his official uniform when he posed in a photo with Vice President Mike Pence at the Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport last week received a written reprimand and will be reassigned, the department announced Monday.
Sgt. Matthew Patten, a 27-year veteran of the sheriff’s office, was found to have violated the department’s uniform code and displayed “conduct unbecoming an employee,” according to the official reprimand signed by Patten. He was removed from BSO’s Strategic Investigations Division’s Office of Homeland Security and the agency’s S.W.A.T. Team and will be reassigned to the Department of Law Enforcement.
And this assh*le
Kid Rock replaced as grand marshal in Nashville Christmas parade, Tal Axelrod, The Hill, December 1, 2018.
Musician Kid Rock was replaced as grand marshal in the Nashville, Tenn., Christmas parade following an appearance on “Fox & Friends” Friday in which he called Joy Behar a “bitch.”
Bryan Lewis, the attorney for Steve Smith, Kid Rock’s business partner, told Variety Friday that Kid Rock would still attend the parade even though James Shaw Jr., the Nashville man who wrestled a rifle from a gunman at a local Waffle House in late April, was appointed as his replacement. ✂️
Rock faced intense backlash after the comments, with Nashville Mayor David Briley (D) saying he would skip the parade if Rock was still the grand marshal.
Behar, a co-host of The View, responded, saying, “This bitch, and these bitches, would be happy to have you on the show and have a beer.”
This Assh*le too
Come on, credit where it’s due, please: Rudy is “too toxic” thanks to Rudy!
Kossack Walter Einenkel served up this delicious schadenfreude tidbit Friday night. Honestly, you can’t make this stuff up: Rudy was pulling strings behind the scenes trying to throw himself a party, but getting others to pretend to be organizing it — oh and getting chumps guests to pay for the privilege of coming — and whoops! Nobody wanted to come! Imagine that! Walter’s title attributes this to the toxic stench of association with Don-Don, but in the diary itself he makes it clear that ol’ Rudy is plenty toxic all on his own. I could not agree more, so please enjoy today’s best slice of schadenfreude pie:
Sad! Big bash honoring Rudy Giuliani canceled because people find him “too toxic” thanks to Trump, Walter Einenkel, DailyKos, November 30, 2018.
New York’s Daily News reports that plans for a big 25th-anniversary party for Giuliani, marking the dark day he became mayor, have been scuttled. Why? Because no one wants to be at a party celebrating a guy who may or may not be a part of the biggest and most treasonous and disgraceful chapters in American history. The plan was to have the party at the same hotel at which he celebrated his original mayoral victory. Of course, like everything Giuliani, it was completely orchestrated.
“Rudy wanted it to appear to come together organically,” according to that source, who said the mayor left party-planning responsibilities to associates who struggled to find supporters willing to pay for tickets.
This seems like an appropriate spot to slip in a...
🎶 Musical Interlude 🎶
⚡️ Lightning Roundup ⚡️
⚡️⚡️ Late-breaking story and well worth a read! Mueller may be poised to lift the lid of his investigation, Stephen Collinson and Marshall Cohen, CNN, December 4, 2018.
⚡️More on OSC report: Mueller's breadcrumbs suggest he has the goods, Garrett M. Graff, Axios, December 3, 2018.
⚡️ Panic: Trump erupts at those who cooperate in the Russia investigation, Chris Megerian, LA Times, December 3, 2018.
⚡️ Trump’s latest tweets cross clear lines, experts say: Obstruction of justice and witness tampering, Deanna Paul, Washington Post, December 3, 2018.
⚡️ Explainer about witness tampering/obstruction: Donald Trump, Paul Manafort and that Pesky Witness Tampering Statute, Sarah Grant, Sabrina McCubbin, Yishai Schwartz, Benjamin Wittes, Lawfare Blog, August 23, 2018.
⚡️ Think President Trump seems rattled now? There may be more to come, Ken Dilanian and Tom Winter, NBC News, December 3, 2018.
⚡️ Bush family will let Trump attend funeral but won’t let him speak, Oliver Willis, American Independent via Shareblue Media, December 3, 2018.
⚡️ Thankfully: Tally of those missing in Camp fire drops to 25, Anh Do, Los Angeles Times, December 2, 2018.
⚡️ News on apparent election fraud in NC: Channel 9 uncovers similarities between absentee ballots in U.S. House District 9 race, Joe Bruno, wsoctv.com, December 3, 2018.
⚡️ At center of voter fraud scandal, a convicted felon and ‘grassroots’ campaigner, Brian Murphy and Eli Portillo, McClatchy, December 3, 2018.
⚡️ Stacey Abrams eyeing Senate, governor campaigns, David Siders, Politico, December 3, 2018.
⚡️ Rick Wilson last week: Sensing Defeat, Trump Cries ‘Witch Hunt’, Rick WIlson, Daily Beast, November 28, 2018.
⚡️ From jessiestaf’s GNR; worth reading it all! No tears for Paul Ryan: On the short, unhappy tenure of the worst House speaker ever, Andrew O’Hehir, Salon, December 1, 2018.
💪 Action Roundup 💪
Don’t forget the Georgia runoff election today. If you’re in Georgia, help GOTV if you can (you’ve already voted, right?). It’s an uphill effort, but a win for John Barrow would make such a difference there! Georgia deserves so much better than it has had and the hundreds of thousands of disenfranchised voters in that state deserve better, too!
Consider donating to Indivisible 2.0, and check out their website at that link for information and strategy for the resistance going forward.
💙 RoundUp WindDown 💙
Newsies, it is Mueller Time at last. This week is probably going to be exciting and shocking, so while popcorn and beer may be on the menu, be prepared for unpleasant surprises, too. This marathon will continue even as Robert Mueller and the OSC reveal the truth, because the criminals will not hang their heads in shame and accept their comeuppance. No, they are vicious, ruthless criminals and they will try anything they can think of to evade justice. There may be some unsettling times ahead, and never forget that the good guys (we, the majority — and the patriots behind the lines in government departments everywhere) outnumber the bad guys. Bigly. 😏
Take care of yourself because you are needed today and you will be needed tomorrow and the next day too — and every day until the orange menace and his criminal cabal are out of our White House and we can rebuild the country.
Get your rest, eat nutritious and delicious food, take a little mental break each day to recharge your batteries and then come back to the effort. As chloris creator said on Friday, it turns out this democracy experiment is an ongoing project. We must remain engaged and involved. This country and the ideals it so imperfectly represents are worth it.
In closing, I leave you with a clip from the movie Amadeus — the final punishment scene from Mozart’s opera Don Giovanni. The wicked lout is dragged to the depths of hell. ENJOY! 😜
Thanks Battling Maxo for this idea...so fitting!
Have a good day, Newsies! I may be a while replying in comments- just catching 40 winks.