Studio 84, located in downtown Whitewater, is a non-profit art studio that offers “experiences in the visual arts and theater for the community …working with all people including those with Autism, physical disabilities, cognitive limitations and mental illness.”
Milwaukee television channel 58 WDJT recently visited and reported on the studio’s work —
Good morning.
Sunday in Whitewater will be a partly sunny day with a high of thirty-six. Sunrise is 7:21 AM and sunset 4:47 PM, for 9h 25m 26s of daytime. The moon is a waning gibbous with 88% of its visible disk illuminated. Today is the {tooltip}sixty-eighth day.{end-texte}Days since Trump’s election, with 11.9.16 as the first day.{end-tooltip}
On this day in 1929, Martin Luther King Jr. is born. On this day in 1967, it’s Packers 35, Kansas City 10 in the first Super Bowl.
Recommended for reading in full —
The AP reports on Ringling Bros. calling it quits after 146 years: “Ellenton, Fla. — After 146 years, the curtain is coming down on “The Greatest Show on Earth.” The owner of the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus told The Associated Press that the show will close forever in May. The iconic American spectacle was felled by a variety of factors, company executives say. Declining attendance combined with high operating costs, along with changing public tastes and prolonged battles with animal rights groups all contributed to its demise.”
Michelle Goldberg thinks that Democrats Should Follow John Lewis’ Lead (but I don’t think her advice applies only to Democrats): “Lewis was speaking for many of us who are aghast at the way Trump benefited from Russian hacking and now appears to be returning the favor by taking a fawning stance toward Putin. He spoke for those of us who are shocked by the role of the FBI, which improperly publicized the reopening of its investigation into Hillary Clinton’s emails but refuses to say whether it is investigating Trump’s ties with Russia. Trump lost the popular vote; he is president-elect only because the country values fidelity to the democratic process over popular democracy itself. (The Constitution, it turns out, may in fact be a suicide pact.) If the process itself was crooked—if Trump’s campaign colluded in any way with Russia—his legitimacy disappears. If he scorns the Constitution by, say, violating the Emoluments Clause, it disappears as well. A president who lost the popular vote, who may have cheated to win the Electoral College, and who will be contravening the Constitution the second he’s sworn in is due neither respect nor deference.”
Brian Buetler asks Who’s the Illegitimate President Now, Mr. Birtherism?: “But if it’s ironic that Trump rose to the pinnacle of global power on the strength of a failed campaign to delegitimize Obama, it’s also fitting that his own presidency will begin under a mix of suspicions and legitimacy questions that are very real and that Trump brought upon himself. Nobody who’s reasonable questions Trump’s eligibility for the presidency, but questions surrounding his entitlement to keep the job are widespread, and not just on the left-wing fringe. Birtherism may have been Trump’s accidental springboard to the presidency, but the next four years are set to express themselves as a continuous fight over the legitimacy of his presidency in ways that will make birtherism seem like a footnote.”
Sarah Oates describes How Russian ‘kompromat’ destroys political opponents, no facts required: “Kompromat has evolved well beyond the clumsy photo-editing of the Stalin era, when political opponents were carefully airbrushed out . Several opponents of Russian President Vladimir Putin or the Russian regime find themselves facing charges of possession of child pornography that they believe was planted by Russian operatives — in Russia, but also in Lithuania and Britain. Another tactic of choice involves sex tapes. In 2010, videos of Russian opposition journalists and politicians who had been filmed separately having sex with the same young Russian woman were leaked online. Last year, an opposition political party was damaged when a tape emerged of a married party leader having sex with an aide. Putin has been involved in such operations for years: In 1999, when he was the head of the FSB (the post-Soviet successor to the KGB), Putin reportedly helped then-President Boris Yeltsin to discredit and dismiss powerful prosecutor Yuri Skuratov, who had threatened to reveal which Russian officials were siphoning money to foreign bank accounts. When Yeltsin could not persuade the parliament to fire Skuratov, a video of the prosecutor — or at least a man who resembled him — having sex with prostitutes was aired on television. This all may sound like something out of “The Americans,” but it’s politics as usual in Russia.”
For a snowboarder in Canada, an inflatable backpack made all the difference:
The Rhino Guardians from Dan Sadgrove on Vimeo.
Dan Sadgrove describes his recent film on an anti-poaching group:
In 2016 I travelled to South Africa to visit The Black Mambas – the worlds first all female anti-poaching unit operating in the Balule Game Reserve in South Africa. Coming from disadvantaged communities and breaking strong patriarchal tradition, these courageous women focus on eliminating illegal wildlife trade through conservation, education and the protection of wildlife, helping to ensure the long term survival of threatened and endangered species in the area. Each day they patrol up to 20km, unarmed, looking for poachers, wire-snares, and break-ins along the fence line. Their lives are at constant risk from poachers and the dangerous wildlife they protect.
It is their belief that the war on poaching will not be won with guns and bullets, but through education within their local communities.
The Black Mambas Anti-Poaching Unit blackmambas.org
The Black Mambas are Nkateko Letti Mzimba, Cute Grace Mhlongo, Felicia Mogakane, Belinda Mzimba, Qolile Mathebula, Kedibone Malatji, Nomsa Mokgadi Malungane, Lindiwe Labina Pilusa, Remember Dikeledi, Nesti Suzen Mohale, Patience Maphanga, Thato Moroni, Amy Clark, Lukie Mahlake, Winie Nyathi, Collen Mathebula, Proud Mkansi, Dedeya Nkwinika, Happy Nkwinika, Boetie Nkosi, Maseke Tribe, Joshua Nyoni, Christopher Khwakhwa & Given Ndlovu.
Good morning.
Here in small town Whitewater we’ll have an increasingly sunny day with a high of thirty degrees. Sunrise is 7:22 AM and sunset is 4:46 PM, for 9h 23m 44s of daytime. The moon is a waning gibbous with 94.4% of its visible disk illuminated. Today is the {tooltip}sixty-seventh day.{end-texte}Days since Trump’s election, with 11.9.16 as the first day.{end-tooltip}
On this day in 1963, George Wallace is sworn in as governor of Alabama, after which he delivers an inaugural address that vows “segregation now, segregation tomorrow, segregation forever.” On this day in 1863, the 23rd Wisconsin leads an expedition to South Bend, Arkansas.
Recommended for reading in full —
Julie Pace [following a David Ignatius column in the Washington Post] reports on the longer-term meaning of a Top Trump aide in frequent contact with Russia’s ambassador: “More broadly, Flynn’s contact with the Russian ambassador suggests the incoming administration has already begun to lay the groundwork for its promised closer relationship with Moscow. That effort appears to be moving ahead, even as many in Washington, including Republicans, have expressed outrage over intelligence officials’ assessment that Putin launched a hacking operation aimed at meddling in the U.S. election to benefit Trump. During a news conference Wednesday, Trump pointedly would not say whether he planned to repeal the sanctions ordered by Obama. He again highlighted his warmer rapport with the Russian leader. “If Putin likes Donald Trump, I consider that an asset, not a liability, because we have a horrible relationship with Russia,” he said. The sanctions targeted the GRU and FSB, leading Russian intelligence agencies that the U.S. said were involved in the hacking of the Democratic National Committee and other groups. The U.S. also kicked out 35 Russian diplomats who it said were actually intelligence operatives.”
Daniella Diaz reports that Trump [as if on cue] suggests he would be open to lifting sanctions on Russia: “Washington (CNN)President-elect Donald Trump suggested Friday he is open to lifting sanctions on Russia, though he plans to keep them for “at least a period of time”….”If you get along and if Russia is really helping us, why would anybody have sanctions if somebody’s doing some really great things?” he said in the interview.”
Aaron Blake demonstrates that Donald Trump’s team is running a misdirection campaign on Russian hacking: “For the first time in weeks, President-elect Donald Trump’s team has been able to play some offense when it comes to allegations of Russian hacking. BuzzFeed’s decision to publish a dossier full of unverified and sometimes over-the-top salacious claims commissioned by Trump’s political opponents has proven a controversial one, allowing Trump to credibly claim persecution by the media. But even as he and his advisers have found their footing a bit, they just can’t help but overextend themselves. In recent days, they’ve made claims and suggestions that just don’t square with the facts and/or strain credulity. It’s almost as if their boss’s tendency to bring a bazooka to a knife fight has filtered down. Below, a few examples….”
Jennifer Rubin writes that Jason Chaffetz defends warning letter to ethics chief: “Chaffetz’s passivity in the face of well-publicized concerns about the Emoluments Clause stands in stark contrast to his aggressive, self-initiating action during the Obama years. He is not alone. Indeed, the entire Republican House seems entirely uninterested in keeping its promise to act as a check on Trump. The oath they take is to defend the Constitution, an obligation which places on Chaffetz and other Republicans the responsibility to investigate, not sit idly by, if a week from today the president will be in violation of the clear text of the Constitution. If Republicans do not show more initiative in policing potential corruption and in preventing Trump from trampling on the Constitution, Democrats will have a solid argument in 2018 that a change in the House majority is necessary to curtail corruption and act as an independent check on the executive branch.”
Great Big Story depicts Harvesting Glaciers with the Last Ice Merchant: “For more than 50 years, Baltazar Ushca Tenesaca has been ascending Ecuador’s tallest mountain to harvest glacial ice. At one time, there were 40 or so ice merchants who made the daily trek up the active volcano. But now, only Ushca continues this 500-year-old tradition. And while the demand for ice isn’t as high as it once was, Tenesaca’s harvesting methods remain the same. Despite the challenges, this ice merchant is as dedicated to his work as ever.”
Harvesting Glaciers with the Last Ice Merchant | That’s Amazing from Great Big Story on Vimeo.
Good morning.
Friday in Whitewater will be cloudy with a high of eighteen. Sunrise is 7:22 AM and sunset 6:45 PM, for 9h 22m 05s of daytime. The moon is a waning gibbous with 98.6% of its visible disk illuminated. Today is the {tooltip}sixty-sixth day.{end-texte}Days since Trump’s election, with 11.9.16 as the first day.{end-tooltip}
On this day in 2012 the cruise ship Costa Concordia capsized and sank after striking an underwater rock obstruction off Tuscany, killing thirty-three people. The ship’s captain was later found guilty of manslaughter and sentenced to sixteen years in prison. On this day in 1922, WHA Radio, “the oldest station in the nation” is established in Madison.
Recommended for reading in full —
Journalist and Trump critic Masha Gessen describes, in Russia, Trump & Flawed Intelligence, her skeptical assessment of a recently-released intelligence statement of Russian influence in the presidential election: “The election of Donald Trump is anomalous, both because of the campaign he ran and the peculiar vote mathematics that brought him victory. His use of fake news, his serial lying, his conning his way into free air time, his instrumentalization of partisanship and naked aggression certainly violated the norms of American democracy. But the intelligence report does nothing to clarify the abnormalities of Trump’s campaign and election. Instead, it risks perpetuating the fallacy that Trump is some sort of a foreign agent rather than a home-grown demagogue, while doing further damage to our faith in the electoral system. It also suggests that the US intelligence agencies’ Russia expertise is weak and throws into question their ability to process and present information—all this, two weeks before a man with no government experience but with a short Twitter fuse takes the oath of office.”
Michael Weiss recounts Russia’s Long History With Honey Traps—They Didn’t Start With Donald Trump: “In February 1999, [general prosecutor Yuri] Skuratov resigned, citing poor health, but it was later reported that Yeltsin had tried to “squeeze” him out of a job. The following month, Russia’s Federation Council, or upper chamber of parliament, rejected his resignation and issued a motion of confidence in his role. Then a video was released on state-controlled Rossiya TV channel showing a man who looked a lot like Skuratov cavorting with two prostitutes. In April, Yeltsin suspended Skuratov “during the period of the criminal investigation” into the video….The person in charge of the investigation into the tape’s provenance was Putin, then head of the FSB who, one might safely assume, ordered the filming of the event (vanilla by modern standards) if not the procurement of the working girls, too. In any event, Skuratov accused him of planting the tape, and journalist Pavel Sheremet (murdered last year in Ukraine) reported at the time that Putin arranged to have Skuratov quietly leave the prosecutor general’s office. In a televised press conference held in April that year, Putin and Russian Interior Minister Sergei Stepashin verified that it was indeed Skuratov in the video and that the orgy had been paid for by criminal suspects being investigated by Skuratov’s office. Skuratov was finally sacked in April 2000, following the Federation Council’s vote to dismiss him, following a year-long intra-government dispute over his future.”
Richard Wolffe writes that Trump’s trainwreck press conference ushers in a shambolic presidency: “After a rambling introduction about carmakers, veterans affairs and his inaugural celebrations, Trump finally arrived at his desired topic of the day: the non-resolution of the conflicts of interest that will embroil his presidency from now until he leaves the Oval Office. A table stacked with yellow envelopes was supposed to represent all the documents Trump signed to disentangle his business affairs from his presidency, by passing management control of the Trump Organization to his sons. Rather like a suitcase supposedly full of cash, it was hard to tell if any of the documents were real without, you know, releasing them to the press like his tax returns. Instead, we were forced to listen to his personal attorney assuring us there was a wall being built between the presidency and the Trump Organization. That wall is about as solid as Trump’s other proposed wall on the southern border, given that there is no divestment. Why not? As the Trump attorney explained, a fire sale of Trump assets would be unfair to the president-elect and it was impossible to find an independent trustee competent enough to do so anyway. Oh yes, and such a divestment would involve a lot of third-party debt, despite Trump’s claims that he has no debt.”
Rosie Gray reports that An Alt-Right Leader Sets Up Shop in Northern Virginia: “This month, [racist Richard] Spencer’s rebooting again: He is renting a “hub” for the alt-right movement in a townhouse in Alexandria, Virginia. Spencer and Jason Jorjani, the editor-in-chief of Arktos, a publishing arm associated with the alt-right, have bought the domain name altright.com. Spencer and Jorjani met at the conference for the National Policy Institute, Spencer’s innocuously named think tank, where attendees gave Nazi salutes as Spencer shouted “Hail Trump” from the stage. They quickly formed a bond, and are now joining forces to brand themselves as the intellectual leaders of the alt-right. Spencer’s new headquarters reflects his increasing effort to mainstream the alt-right as its preferred candidate prepares to enter the White House, and to cement himself as its leading voice….The pair imagine the space as a kind of office-salon hybrid for the alt-right, a private space where people in the movement can make videos, throw parties (there’s an outdoor patio) and work on the nascent website, which Spencer said would launch on Monday. The loft “is symbolic in that it is a headquarters of sorts,” Spencer said.”
What does the world look like to a polar bear? To find out, the U.S. Geological Survey recorded two polar bears trying to survive in the wild:
From the excellent @PowerVertical of RFL/RL, Brian Whitmore describes Kremlin lies:
— RFE/RL (@RFERL) January 12, 2017
Lawrence Downes describes Kellyanne Conway, and Trump, correctly as bald-faced liars, in Trump, Trapped in His Lies, Keeps Lying. Sad! They’ve a certain kind of lie, though: one that rests in the idea that nothing’s outwardly determinable, and that, in fact, there are no discernible facts. See, along these lines, For Mr. Trump, It’s STEM, Schwem, Whatever… (Trump “insists that the truth is indeterminable whenever he wishes to evade responsibility for his own lies”).
Here’s Downes describing Trump and his doppelgänger Conway:
Mr. Trump’s mouthpiece, Kellyanne Conway, went on TV on Monday to defend her boss. “He has debunked this so many times,” she said, casually contorting the meaning of “debunked.” (She meant “pathetically denied.”)
“Why is everything taken at face value?” she said. “You can’t give him the benefit of the doubt on this and he’s telling you what was in his heart? You always want to go by what’s come out of his mouth rather than look at what’s in his heart.”
This is where things got really weird. Ms. Conway’s quote is a glimpse into the heart of darkness that a Trump presidency portends. She wants us to swallow Mr. Trump’s reality without question. To accept only what he says now — not what he said then — over the evidence seen and heard by our own eyes and ears. She wants us to overcome the dissonance by looking for the “truth” in his heart.
They’ve both a post-empirical dishonesty: the truth for them cannot be observed, cannot be measured, although they and the circumstances they describe are both within the same created order. Some liars will point to flimsy facts, etc.; Conway and Trump often don’t bother to point to anything tangible at all.
They’d not deny (presumably) that trees, cats, and people can be observed and measured; they’d say that those events and circumstances that might refute their own political claims retreat from measurement, to be found (conveniently for them) in their own hearts.
For Conway this may be a lucrative sophistry; for Trump it’s likely characterological.
I posted yesterday that Gentrification Requires the Right Social Conditions, contending in part that a small city like Whitewater remains divided (and by consequence limits its own attractiveness to newcomers) because it remains divided by town and gown (and divided within the town, itself, too).
Whitewater’s problem is not that different factions do not have a sense of their own interests, it’s that these factions do not see others’ interests adequately, and so both make accommodations less likely and (worse) even misperceive full measure of the very community in which they live.
It’s much easier to be a representative of a particular group (e.g., students, middle-aged non-student residents, elderly residents). (Obvious point, still worth making: I don’t claim to represent anyone else; I’m an emissary of one, so to speak.)
A few people saying they’ve solved problems of division doesn’t mean those divisions have been solved; it means a few people think (let’s assume sincerely so) that they have been, and hope to convince many others that their assurances are an adequate substitute for community harmony.
I’m increasingly convinced that the best efforts at community harmony and progress will not come from local government, or large local institutions, but from private charitable, small business, and cultural projects. Each of these has a chance of inspiring cross-cultural understanding as good or better than any factionalized political representation.
Cross-cultural understanding is a necessary condition of community progress.
Good morning.
Thursday in Whitewater will be cloudy, with morning snow showers, and a daytime high of twenty-five. Sunrise is 7:23 AM and sunset 6:43 PM, for 9h 20m 30s of daytime. The moon is full today, with 100 percent of its visible disk illuminated. Today is the {tooltip}sixty-fifth day.{end-texte}Days since Trump’s election, with 11.9.16 as the first day.{end-tooltip}
Whitewater’s Tech Park Board meets at 8 AM, and the Landmarks Commission Birge Fountain Subcommittee Meeting will meet at 10 AM.
On this day in 2010, an earthquake strikes Haiti, killing over one-hundred thousand. On this day in 1864, the 20th Wisconsin Infantry takes part in a battle in Matamoras, Mexico to rescue the American consul in Matamoras when he became caught in an uprising between two opposing Mexican factions.
Recommended for reading in full —
Christian Caryl writes that one should Beware the Dark Art of Russian Blackmail: “Blackmail exists everywhere, of course. But nowhere else has it become such a prominent part of political life as in post-Soviet Russia. In the wild 1990s, the gray men of the old KGB sold their talents to the highest bidders, and plenty were willing to bid: newly minted millionaires, would-be politicians, mobsters. Countless private security services competed to see who could produce the dirtiest dirt, and journalists — another feature of a strange new world of turbulent freedom — were happy to publish what they dug up. Putin learned well. As president he soon cracked down on both the freelance spies and the journalists, but he never forgot his early lessons about the uses of kompromat, from the Russian for “compromising material.” Discrediting an enemy, he realized, can be far more effective than throwing them in jail, so the culture of kompromat has continued to thrive under his rule — though it’s now primarily deployed in the services of the Russian state.”
Paul Wood of the BBC considers the Trump ‘compromising’ claims: How and why did we get here?, and offers different perspectives on Trump: “In a New York Times op-ed in August, the former director of the CIA, Michael Morell, wrote: “In the intelligence business, we would say that Mr Putin had recruited Mr Trump as an unwitting agent of the Russian Federation.” Agent; puppet – both terms imply some measure of influence or control by Moscow. Michael Hayden, former head of both the CIA and the NSA, simply called Mr Trump a “polezni durak” – a useful fool. The background to those statements was information held – at the time – within the intelligence community. Now all Americans have heard the claims. Little more than a week before his inauguration, they will have to decide if their president-elect really was being blackmailed by Moscow.”
Longtime intelligence analyst Amy Zegart poses The Biggest Intelligence Questions Raised by the Trump Dossier: “1) Trump team communications with the Russian government before the election….2) Whether the FBI screwed up….3) Is the two-page intelligence report officials provided to Trump and Obama, which in part summarizes the longer set of memos compiled by the former MI6 agent and made public by Buzzfeed, primarily aimed at the past or the future?….4) The obvious unknown: Is the embarrassing information about Mr. Trump true?”
Greg Sargent observes that Trump’s presser was remarkable. It means we’re heading into truly uncharted territory: “Take two key provisions [of Trump’s proposals oon conflicts of interest] here, the idea for a new ethics adviser that would sign off on new deals, and the pledge to “isolate” himself from the business to the degree that he won’t know about any new deals unless he reads about them in the media. The problem is obvious: Even if Trump takes these steps, and even if he does transfer his holdings into a trust managed by his sons, he still knows what his business holdings are, regardless of whether he knows about any “new” deals or whether any such new deals pass muster with his ethics adviser. That means that much of the potential for conflicts remains in place: Trump will be making regulatory decisions impacting businesses (such as banks) that are entangled with his own. He will be setting American policy in countries where he retains holdings. Trump’s businesses could even directly benefit from Trump policies. Only full divestment would have sufficed to ward off potential conflicts in these areas.”
From You Suck at Cooking (episode 55) it’s Slam Poetry Popcorn —
I’ve written that Whitewater faces a choice between decisive action now (to lessen government’s role) or years of stagnation and relative decline before eventual gentrification (at which point longtime residents will have almost no say in redevelopment). See, How Big Averts Bad. As I doubt Whitewater’s local political class has the will for near-term changes, the best option during this long period will come from community-based, non-governmental initiatives and businesses. See, An Oasis Strategy.
Yet even an eventual, rejuvenating gentrification requires more than inexpensive, dilapidated properties to rehabilitate. Emily Badger makes this clear in How to Predict Gentrification: Look for Falling Crime: some minimal social conditions have to exist before risk takers are willing to commit to a community.
She writes (admittedly about cities, not towns) that
“But a huge piece of it,” she [Ingrid Gould Ellen, a professor of urban policy and planning at New York University] said, “I think is crime.”
New research that she has conducted alongside Keren Mertens Horn, an economist at the University of Massachusetts in Boston, and Davin Reed, a doctoral student at N.Y.U., finds that when violent crime falls sharply, wealthier and educated people are more likely to move into lower-income and predominantly minority urban neighborhoods.
Their working paper suggests that just as rising crime can drive people out of cities, falling crime has a comparable effect, spurring gentrification. And it highlights how, even if many Americans — including, by his own words, President-elect Donald Trump — inaccurately believe urban violence is soaring, the opposite long-term trend has brought wide-ranging change to cities.
Needless to say, small-town Whitewater’s problem is not urban crime (we’re not an urban area). There is, however, a level of division in the city along lines of cultural identity that is discernible to anyone observing the town with clear eyes, and that cannot be papered over with false contentions of town-gown harmony. The last thirty years have seen an increase in the size of our local campus, but city is still widely divided, and attempts at cultural harmony have gone nowhere as far as one might hope.
Lack of town-gown harmony is Whitewater’s analog to urban crime: it’s a cultural reason some people will (sadly) avoid the city.
Fixing this division will not come from public spending, nor public enforcement efforts, nor public relations. It will come, if it does, from private cultural, charitable, and business efforts.
We’ve a long, difficult slog ahead, but occasionally a bit of humor will make the journey easier. Mark Hamill, who was the voice of The Joker on Batman: The Animated Series, has recorded one of Trump’s many unhinged tweets as though Trump were that comic book villain:
The Trumpster quote #1#ANewJeersToast https://t.co/qZQEGU18r6
— Mark Hamill (@HamillHimself) January 8, 2017
Trump’s tweet: “Happy New Year to all, including to my many enemies and those who have fought me and lost so badly they just don’t know what to do. Love!” 7:17 AM – 31 Dec 2016
Good morning.
Midweek in Whitewater will be rainy with a high of thirty-eight. Sunrise is 7:23 AM and sunset is 4:42 PM, for 9h 18m 58s of daytime. The moon is a waxing gibbous with 98.7% of its visible disk illuminated.Today is the {tooltip}sixty-fourth day.{end-texte}Days since Trump’s election, with 11.9.16 as the first day.{end-tooltip}
Whitewater’s Police & Fire Commission meets tonight at 6:30 PM.
On this day in 1964, the U.S. Surgeon General issues the first government report saying smoking may be hazardous to one’s health. On this day in 1887, conservationist Aldo Leopold is born.
Recommended for reading in full —
Julian Borger reports that John McCain passes dossier alleging secret Trump-Russia contacts to FBI: “The Guardian has learned that the FBI applied for a warrant from the foreign intelligence surveillance (Fisa) court over the summer in order to monitor four members of the Trump team suspected of irregular contacts with Russian officials. The Fisa court turned down the application asking FBI counter-intelligence investigators to narrow its focus. According to one report, the FBI was finally granted a warrant in October, but that has not been confirmed, and it is not clear whether any warrant led to a full investigation.”
Jennifer Rubin asks the pertinent question, Could Trump be in Putin’s pocket?: “unless and until Americans are satisfied that their president-elect is truly putting America first and not acting at the behest of a foreign country, every nominee, policy decision and statement will raise questions. Does Trump believe what he says or is he saying what Russian President Vladimir Putin wants him to say? Does Trump want to get along with Russia for his own purposes or for the country’s benefit?”
J. Gerald Hebert, Joseph D. Rich and William Yeomans write that Jeff Sessions says he handled these civil rights cases. He barely touched them: “In the questionnaire he filed recently with the Senate Judiciary Committee, Sessions (R-Ala.) listed four civil rights cases among the 10 most significant that he litigated “personally” as the U.S. attorney for Alabama during the 1980s. Three involved voting rights, while the fourth was a school desegregation case. Following criticism for exaggerating his role, he then claimed that he provided “assistance and guidance” on these cases. We worked in the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, which brought those lawsuits; we handled three of the four ourselves. We can state categorically that Sessions had no substantive involvement in any of them. He did what any U.S. attorney would have had to do: He signed his name on the complaint, and we added his name on any motions or briefs. That’s it.”
Frank Bruni describes The Dark magic of Kellyanne Conway: ” But for sheer, jaw-dropping wonder, I doubt that any of it will improve on a typical Conway television interview, which is a circus of euphemisms, a festival of distractions and a testament to the stamina of a willed smile. She looks cheery when attacking, even cheerier when attacked and absolutely radiant when descending into a bog of half-truths and fictions. It’s always sunny on Conway’s side of the street….What she possesses is a showmanship that Trump can’t help appreciating. I know dozens of people who despise her politics but are mesmerized by her performances. She’s the Streep of “Fox & Friends” (of “Morning Joe,” too) and a perfect emblem of these polarized times, when no claim is too laughable or denial too ludicrous if it counters the supposed insidiousness of the other side.”
There’s windy and then there’s windy in Colorado —
Donald Trump insists that he uses ‘the best words‘ and that he will only hire ‘the best people.’ Turns out, some of those best people have found the best words not of their own expression, nor even of Trump’s, but of third parties from whom they have liberally plagiarized:
Monica Crowley, President-Elect Donald J. Trump’s pick for a top National Security Council job, plagiarized numerous passages in her Ph.D. dissertation, Politico Magazine has found.
An examination of the dissertation and the sources it cites identified more than a dozen sections of text that have been lifted, with little to no changes, from other scholarly works without proper attribution. In some instances, Crowley footnoted her source but did not identify with quotation marks the text she was copying directly. In other instances, she copied text or heavily paraphrased with no attribution at all.
Via Trump Pick Monica Crowley Plagiarized Parts of Her Ph.D. Dissertation @ Politico Magazine.
