- What About Bob (WSJ - Pay Wall) "Sen. Bob Corker, a Tennessee Republican who has decided not to seek re-election, has lately been trading insults with President Trump over social media—and via traditional media as well. While our President seems to have a knack for getting into ugly public disputes, a timeline constructed by CNN suggests that in this case Mr. Corker has been the aggressor. Since Mr. Corker has lately been issuing public judgments about Mr. Trump’s integrity, it should also be noted--and here, too the CNN timeline is instructive--that Mr. Corker’s comments about Mr. Trump in 2016 were much more favorable than in 2017."
- Enough (WaPo) "Nine months of this administration is enough for us to stop pretending that this is somehow normal, and that we are on the verge of some sort of pivot to governing, to stability. Nine months is more than enough for us to say, loudly and clearly:Enough.
- Bob Corker’s Powerful Words About Donald Trump (New Yorker) "But there is also something serious and consequential going on here, something that goes beyond the daily Twitter wars. Corker, liberated by his decision not to seek reëlection in 2018, is breaking the vow of pettifogging that most Republican leaders have adhered to in talking about this rogue President. He is a senior Republican speaking plain truths that no amount of vitriol from Trump and his supporters can obscure. And he is doing the country, and perhaps even the world, a service. In the history books, the Republicans who get treated most kindly will be the dissidents like him and Jeff Flake, the Republican senator from Arizona who announced his own retirement on Tuesday, and who then took to the Senate floor to criticize both Trump and the Republican Party that continues to enable him."
- Jeff Flake’s Defiant Surrender (NYT) "The nomination of a figure like Trump, a clear threat to both the professed beliefs of his party’s leaders and to basic competence in presidential government, is the sort of shattering event that in the past would have prompted a real schism or independent candidacy. There is a small but significant Republican opposition to Trump, but its leading figures still don’t want to go to war with him directly, preferring philosophical attacks and tactical withdrawal to confrontation and probable defeat. To the extent that there’s a plausible theory behind all of these halfhearted efforts, it’s that resisting Trump too vigorously only strengthens his hold on the party’s base, by vindicating his claim to have all the establishment arrayed against him. But the problem with this logic is that it offers a permanent excuse for doing nothing, no matter how bad Trump’s reign becomes. The Republican establishment, like the House of Lords a century back, has the feel of a fated and superannuated institution that no stratagem can save. In the end the Lords chose to perish in the dark, to vote themselves into irrelevance. "
- Jeff Flake, a Fierce Trump Critic, Will Not Seek Re-election for Senate (NYT) "But Mr. Flake, choosing the Senate floor for his fierce denunciation of the president, appeared to issue a direct challenge to his colleagues and his party. ...privately, some Republicans were growing angry at the displays of disunity from Senators Flake and Corker as the party was trying to come together to pass a major overhaul of the tax code."
- Analysis | The Daily 202: Flake and Corker feel liberated to speak their minds. That should terrify Trump (WaPo)
THE STEELE FILE:
- Clinton campaign, DNC paid for research that led to Russia dossier (WaPo) "Fusion GPS’s work researching Trump began during the Republican presidential primaries when the GOP donor paid for the firm to investigate the real estate tycoon’s background. When the Republican donor stopped paying for the research, Elias, acting on behalf of the Clinton campaign and the DNC, agreed to pay for the work to continue. At no point, these people said, did the Clinton campaign or the DNC direct Steele’s activities. They described him as a Fusion GPS subcontractor. After the election, the FBI agreed to pay Steele to continue gathering intelligence about Trump and Russia, but the bureau pulled out of the arrangement after Steele was publicly identified in news reports."
- The Clinton camp and DNC funded what became the Trump-Russia dossier: Here’s what it means (WaPo) "The fact Democrats were behind at least some of the funding for the dossier is not totally new. Until now, though, the dossier had not been tied specifically to the Clinton campaign or the DNC. After the story posted, some seized upon The Post noting the FBI had agreed to pay Steele for information after the campaign. The Post originally reported on the FBI's agreement back in February. At the time, it also reported it never actually paid for the work after the agent was identified in news reports. There is, presumably, a reason Democrats haven't copped to funding the dossier... First among those reasons is paying a foreigner for opposition research for an American political campaign."
BUSINESS:
- Two-person energy firm's $300 million Puerto Rico contract raises eyebrows (USA Today) "In addition to its size and relative inexperience, the fact that Whitefish Energy Holdings is based in Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke's hometown of Whitefish, Mont., is fueling questions about how Whitefish Energy Holdings secured the lucrative contract. The former Montana congressman's son also had a summer job at a Whitefish construction site."
HISTORY/RELIGION:
- How Martin Luther Changed the World (New Yorker) " Luther was one of those figures who touched off something much larger than himself; namely, the Reformation—the sundering of the Church and a fundamental revision of its theology. The Reformation, in turn, reshaped Europe. Luther led the movement mostly by his writings. The Reformation wasn’t led, exactly; it just spread, metastasized."
NEWS:
- General Mattis, Stand Up to Trump or He’ll Drag You Down (NYT) "Led by you and you only, Secretary Mattis, your little squadron with Tillerson, Kelly and McMaster still has power. And if you can’t together force Trump onto an agenda of national healing and progress, then you should together tell him that he can govern with his kids and Sanders — because you took an oath to defend the Constitution, not to wipe up Trump’s daily filth with the uniform three of you wore so honorably."
- LA Looks to Rideshare to Build the Future of Public Transit (Wired) "...the sort of on-demand transit Uber, Lyft, and other ride-hailing companies have made so popular might finally make it to the masses—maybe even to those without smartphones or bank accounts. The Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority just announced it’s looking for a friend to help it build an on-demand transit program, which would supplement the services the agency already runs. LA Metro calls it 'microtransit,' something in between a big bus that follows a rigid route and a personal ride that takes you door to door. Proponents see this type of public-private partnership as the key to a new kind of public transit service, where agencies are more like travel agents (remember those?) than airlines."
- SpaceX Keeps Lining Up Covert Military Launches (Wired) "...it seems, SpaceX has restored confidence in its customers after its failures in 2015 and 2016. This year, it has launched 15 missions, reusing three of its boosters. The value proposition is even appealing to that most cagey of customers: the United States military. The main advantage for SpaceX is obvious: price. NASA’s interest in SpaceX’s reusable technology seems to be growing as well."
- These Explosions Show Why the FAA Doesn’t Want Laptops in Luggage (Wired) "The agency [FAA] ran a series of experiments, placing laptops inside typical suitcases next to your standard flammable toiletries... The resulting fires and explosions were large enough for the FAA to warn there’s a risk they could overwhelm the on-board fire suppression systems of planes..."
TRUMPTELL:
- Trump's $25,000 to family of slain soldier arrives — after questions from the press (USA Today) "The family of a soldier killed in Afghanistan received a $25,000 personal check from President Trump...dated the day The Washington Post asked about it. The White House said it has been processing the gift since the call."
BOTTOM OF THE NEWS:
- Einstein scribbled his theory of happiness in place of a tip. It just sold for more than $1 million (WaPo) "If you are lucky, the notes themselves will someday be worth more than some spare change, Einstein said, according to the seller of the letters, a resident of Hamburg, Germany who is reported to be a relative of the messenger."
- The Uncanny Resurrection of Dungeons & Dragons (New Yorker) "The game has no board and no cards. At its best, it’s a story told between the players, who control characters (elves, dwarves, gnomes, humans), and the Dungeon Master, who describes the world and uses dice to determine outcomes in the second person. In 2017, gathering your friends in a room, setting your devices aside, and taking turns to contrive a story that exists largely in your head gives off a radical whiff for a completely different reason than it did in 1987. Dungeons & Dragons seems to have been waiting for us somewhere under the particular psyche of this generation, a psyche that may have been coaxed into fantasy mania by the media that surrounded it."
TODAY'S SONG:
- I Know How You Get (mk.gee)
Sign up for email distribution of the Day's Most Compelling News below or by visiting Top of the News
No comments:
Post a Comment