rarely does the headline get weirder *after* the nudity, drugs, and murder pic.twitter.com/XGUh6b43TE— Emma Baccellieri (@emmabaccellieri) March 23, 2017
Saturday, March 25, 2017
Today's Tweet
Friday, March 24, 2017
That Pesky Constitution
Nikolas Bowie at Take CareIn its first fifty days, the Trump administration has done a magnificent job—the best job—teaching Americans about the Constitution. Who among us could distinguish an emolument from a peppermint before 2016? In that spirit, as we learn more about the employees President Trump has hired to run the executive branch, it’s worth asking whether his administration is violating another under-the-radar provision: The Appointments Clause.
The Appointments Clause is the one that requires the president to get the “Advice and Consent of the Senate” before he can hire certain “Officers of the United States.” It’s the reason we know what Betsy DeVos thinks about bears or that the Russian ambassador is easily forgettable. The eighteenth-century authors of the clause anticipated that no president could run the executive branch by himself, but they wanted a “check” to ensure that he didn’t appoint “unfit characters,” “family connection[s],” or “obsequious instruments of his pleasure.” They decided that Senate debates on the merits of nominees would provide much-needed accountability for the most important members of a president’s team.
- and -
Over the years, these “assistants to the president” have grown in number and in status to take on some of the most important advisory responsibilities in the White House. But even though these assistants now wield tremendous informal clout, they have always remained “employees” for constitutional purposes. And every president since Roosevelt has generally adhered to the Appointments Clause by restraining their employees from exceeding the constitutional limits on their statutory authority.
Until now.
When President Trump issued his first travel ban, for instance, employees Bannon and Miller interposed themselves between the president and the Department of Homeland Security by overruling its interpretation of whether the ban applied to green-card holders. That weekend, employee Miller reportedly called a Senate-confirmed U.S. Attorney to dictate how he should defend the ban in court. In addition, employee Miller also “effectively ran” a meeting of the National Security Council despite Congress’s requirement that the council “shall be composed” only of people “appointed by the President by and with the advice and consent of the Senate.”
More recently, employee McGhan has given “authoritative guidance” to Senate-confirmed officers in the Department of Homeland Security about how to interpret President Trump’s inscrutable executive orders. He’s also the employee responsible for directing Senate-confirmed officers in the Department of Justice to turn over any warrants regarding the president’s wild accusations that he was wiretapped.
Employee Preibus reportedly directed the Senate-confirmed FBI director to “knock down” stories that the Trump campaign had colluded with Russia.
And the president has appointed at least one of his 400 “beachhead” employees, Stephen Vaughn, to serve in a Senate-confirmable position as acting U.S. Trade Representative, even though federal law expressly prohibits that sort of appointment.
Notice a pattern?
hat tip = Lawrence Tribe @tribelaw
Over the years, these “assistants to the president” have grown in number and in status to take on some of the most important advisory responsibilities in the White House. But even though these assistants now wield tremendous informal clout, they have always remained “employees” for constitutional purposes. And every president since Roosevelt has generally adhered to the Appointments Clause by restraining their employees from exceeding the constitutional limits on their statutory authority.
Until now.
When President Trump issued his first travel ban, for instance, employees Bannon and Miller interposed themselves between the president and the Department of Homeland Security by overruling its interpretation of whether the ban applied to green-card holders. That weekend, employee Miller reportedly called a Senate-confirmed U.S. Attorney to dictate how he should defend the ban in court. In addition, employee Miller also “effectively ran” a meeting of the National Security Council despite Congress’s requirement that the council “shall be composed” only of people “appointed by the President by and with the advice and consent of the Senate.”
More recently, employee McGhan has given “authoritative guidance” to Senate-confirmed officers in the Department of Homeland Security about how to interpret President Trump’s inscrutable executive orders. He’s also the employee responsible for directing Senate-confirmed officers in the Department of Justice to turn over any warrants regarding the president’s wild accusations that he was wiretapped.
Employee Preibus reportedly directed the Senate-confirmed FBI director to “knock down” stories that the Trump campaign had colluded with Russia.
And the president has appointed at least one of his 400 “beachhead” employees, Stephen Vaughn, to serve in a Senate-confirmable position as acting U.S. Trade Representative, even though federal law expressly prohibits that sort of appointment.
Notice a pattern?
hat tip = Lawrence Tribe @tribelaw
Today's Quote
Golden Oldie
Political language is designed to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable, and to give the appearance of solidity to pure wind.
Political language is designed to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable, and to give the appearance of solidity to pure wind.
--George Orwell
Trump Redacted
Jezebel:
President Trump recently participated in an interview with Time Magazine’s Michael Scherer for a cover story about his relationship with the truth. Predictably, this conversation really tested the limits of irony.
In the full transcript of the interview published by Time, Trump lies a lot, says a number of half-true things, does not admit he was incorrect to link Ted Cruz’s father with Lee Harvey Oswald, foists responsibility for his inaccuracies onto media reports that he misrepresents, says the word “Brexit” 11 times, and forms sentences like “Brussels, I said, Brussels is not Brussels.” But, listen, some of it was fine! In the transcript below, we have redacted everything that is not verifiably true. What remains is everything the president said that is definitely true.
Today's Tweet
I'm so old, I remember when Devin Nunes called @justinamash "al-Qaida's best friend in Congress." This Devin Nunes: pic.twitter.com/xXA0fEcbjJ— Howie Klein (@downwithtyranny) March 23, 2017
Thursday, March 23, 2017
Taibbi
Is it possible Matt could be losing the battle he's constantly fighting against having a solid opinion on anything other than how fucked up it all is?
Well, no - he gets about half-way before sinking back into his comfort zone of "Yeah but the Democrats".
But still, it's a pretty good synopsis. (Rolling Stone)
These things generally don't happen by accident.
For The Love Of Money --The O'Jays
Well, no - he gets about half-way before sinking back into his comfort zone of "Yeah but the Democrats".
But still, it's a pretty good synopsis. (Rolling Stone)
The impact of the DeVos implosion was twofold. First, the Democrats realized they could and should fight back. Second, Republicans found the downside of party-line votes. Many received a torrent of abuse from constituents who demanded they vote DeVos out.
"I have heard from thousands, truly, thousands of Alaskans who have shared their concerns about Mrs. DeVos," said Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski, who dealt with protests outside her Alaska office and later estimated that 30,000 constituents called to complain.
Murkowski announced that she would pull her vote for DeVos, as did Republican Sen. Susan Collins of Maine. A senator voting against his or her own party's nominee is the Beltway equivalent of an eclipse or a volcanic lightning strike – rare and frightening to the natives.
True to form, the Democrats – they have been a step behind Trump for a while now – never managed to peel off a third defector to defeat DeVos. But Republicans still suffered the indignity of needing Vice President Mike Pence to break the tie, another thing that had never before happened in the Senate's history.Here's the O'Jays tune Taibbi mentioned in the piece - the one 45* used as his entrance march at CPAC. It seems a little odd. If you're touting the glories of having all the money and lusting for power, why do you pick that particular cut? But then, it's not really odd at all considering 45* has done every shitty thing more or less out in the open, so it fits perfectly: Being a money-grubbing rent-seeking leech is how he got to be the hero they all love to adore - and aspire to be - with the bonus of doing things the Libtards hate, in ways that make the Libtards cry.
These things generally don't happen by accident.
For The Love Of Money --The O'Jays
Money money money money, money [Repeat: x 6]
Some people got to have itSome people really need itListen to me why'all, do things, do things, do bad things with itYou want to do things, do things, do things, good things with itTalk about cash money, moneyTalk about cash money- dollar bills, why'all
For the love of moneyPeople will steal from their motherFor the love of moneyPeople will rob their own brother
For the love of moneyPeople can't even walk the streetBecause they never know who in the world they're gonna beatFor that lean, mean, mean green
Almighty dollar, money
For the love of moneyPeople will lie, Lord, they will cheatFor the love of moneyPeople don't care who they hurt or beat
For the love of moneyA woman will sell her precious bodyFor a small piece of paper it carries a lot of weightCall it lean, mean, mean green
Almighty dollar
I know money is the root of all evilDo funny things to some peopleGive me a nickel, brother can you spare a dimeMoney can drive some people out of their minds
Got to have it, I really need itHow many things have I heard you saySome people really need itHow many things have I heard you say
Got to have it, I really need itHow many things have I heard you sayLay down, lay down, a woman will lay downFor the love of money
All for the love of moneyDon't let, don't let, don't let money rule youFor the love of moneyMoney can change people sometimes
Don't let, don't let, don't let money fool youMoney can fool people sometimesPeople! Don't let money, don't let money change you,It will keep on changing, changing up your mind.Like I said, he's done all the shitty things right there in front of us, but 63 million voters decided it was all OK as long as they were able to engage with him in a years-long mutual ego massage, substituting dreams of hitting the lottery retroactively for the reality of guys like Donald Trump stripping them of any chance they ever had to make it any farther than are right now.
And:
Tweet From Yesterday
BIG: Rep. Schiff confirms that he's seen evidence of Trump/Russia collusion that's "more than circumstantial."— molzy (@bitchyologist) March 22, 2017
pic.twitter.com/DPQ3Zu8Yxr
Speaking Of 45*
I have never made but one prayer to God, a very short one: 'O Lord make my enemies ridiculous.' And God granted it.
--Voltaire
hat tip = David Ferguson, Raw Story
Wednesday, March 22, 2017
Today's Today
FDR signed the Beer and Wine Revenue Act on March 22, 1933.
Of course, there was always a way around prohibition if you were properly connected. The more things change.
Of course, there was always a way around prohibition if you were properly connected. The more things change.
American History Museum on Twitter
Yay Tweety
Chris Matthews gets up on his hind legs and starts talkin' sense.
And we are left to wonder a coupla things - whether or not Phil Griffin knows about this, and if we missed the freeze warning for hell.
The Turnaraound
The 2016 election was just a month away when Steve Curtis, a conservative radio host and former Colorado Republican Party chairman, devoted an entire episode of his morning talk show to the heated topic of voter fraud.
“It seems to me,” Curtis said in the 42-minute segment, “that virtually every case of voter fraud I can remember in my lifetime was committed by Democrats.”
On Tuesday, Colorado prosecutors threw a wrench into that already dubious theory, accusing Curtis of voter fraud for allegedly filling out and mailing in his ex-wife’s 2016 ballot for president, Denver’s Fox affiliate reported.
Curtis, 57, was charged in Weld County District Court with one count of misdemeanor voter fraud and one count of forgery, a Class 5 felony, according to local media.
The case is the only voter fraud investigation related to the 2016 election that has resulted in criminal charges in the state, the Colorado secretary of state’s office told Denver’s ABC affiliate.
In sales, it's called The Turnaround. You take a negative, restate it, and either make it a positive or at least make it sound better or deflect the criticism or duck your responsibility, etc.
"We never go out anymore"
=
"Gee, honey - I guess I was being selfish; I just wanna keep you all to myself"
"It's expensive, but it's worth it"
=
"It's the best quality product you can buy and the investment you make today will pay off for a long time."
In politics, it's a way to slam your opposition and invite the inference that you're a swell guy by comparison. And it can be a very effective tactic when you're selling your way into power - which is how it works now. We don't evaluate the resumé to make an informed decision. We vote for the one who looks good and sounds OK and carries fewer negatives - the one with the better Marketing Campaign.
But it gets full-blown destructive when it flops all the way over into the kind of Authoritarian Gaslighting we've seen from the Trumpsters (most recently), and from guys like Mr Curtis for a coupla generations now - because eventually:
- Every accusation is a confession
- Every boast is an expression of inadequacy
- Every warning of a threat is a statement of intent
Get woke - stay woke.
Today's Tweet
Al Franken v. Gorsuch is worth watching— Judd Legum (@JuddLegum) March 21, 2017
“I had a career in identifying absurdity. And I know it when I see it.”https://t.co/cwKFUkk0oH pic.twitter.com/wA4b3KoVNR
Keith
NEW VIDEO: 60 days in, let's face it. By his own metrics, his people are idiots, and @realDonaldTrump is a Loser. pic.twitter.com/HSGzo1aiyj— Keith Olbermann (@KeithOlbermann) March 21, 2017
Tuesday, March 21, 2017
The Onion
WASHINGTON—Rushing toward the president as he pressed the eight-inch bit into his temple, several White House aides managed to wrestle a drill from Donald Trump’s hand Monday while he attempted to remove Obama’s listening device from his skull. “Obama implanted a microphone inside my head to record everything I say!” Trump reportedly shouted shortly before three White House staffers pinned him to the floor and pried apart his fingers to seize the power tool. “You don’t understand, he can hear everything we’re saying! Obama can even hear my thoughts! I have to get it out! I can feel it! I can feel it! I can feel it!” At press time, staffers were panicking after Trump locked himself in the bathroom and began cutting his stomach open with a razor blade in an attempt to find the tracking chip he said The New York Times had put in his food.
Today's Tweet
Comey just confirmed both political parties were hacked in 2016 by Russians—but that only Democratic info was released.— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) March 20, 2017
Take a candidate we've been conditioned to dislike - for a good 25 years now - and just play up everything negative even more. Hammer on it night-n-day. It's especially effective when "the dirt" just happens to include the magic word "email", which of course links nicely to the more recent negative inferences about Hillary that were set in place over the last 5 years or so.
Eventually you can move the needle enough to make a difference.
Because advertising works. The world is being run by some pretty smart people (current POTUS notwithstanding), and smart people don't spend $500 Billion a year on shit that don't work.
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