The day the world lost its mind

Or perhaps it was just the day that everybody in the United States seemed to lose their minds.  To hear the talking heads on teevee tell it, that is (my wife watches but I don't, so I got updates throughout the evening on yesterday's shitshow).

The day began with the reveal of James Comey's fatal error.  He's likely more than mildly nauseous this morning.  Bold is mine.

The FBI on Tuesday sent Congress a letter correcting Director James Comey’s testimony regarding the “hundreds and thousands” of emails he incorrectly claimed top Hillary Clinton aide Huma Abedin forwarded to her husband Anthony Weiner.

“Director Comey spoke of hundreds and thousands of e-mails being forwarded from Ms. Abedin to Mr. Weiner’s laptop computer,” Gregory A. Brower, the assistant director for the bureau’s Office of Congressional Affairs, wrote in a letter to Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-IA). “Investigators ultimately determined that two e-mail chains containing classified information were manually forwarded to Mr. Weiner’s account.”

This completely stunned me.  Not just that there were only two emails, but that Comey was so completely wrong about the number of them, testifying under oath to his hideous mistake, which led to ... well, you know.

As we know, it got worse for him.

Comey testified last week before the Senate Judiciary Committee that Abedin made “a regular practice” of forwarding “hundreds and thousands” of emails to Weiner “for him I think to print out” so Abedin could deliver the hard copies to Clinton.

ProPublica reported earlier Tuesday that piece of Comey’s testimony was inaccurate, and that the FBI had privately acknowledged the director’s misstatements but was still considering next steps.

“The FBI believes it is reasonable to conclude that most of the emails found on Mr. Weiner’s laptop computer related to the Clinton investigation occurred as a result of a backup of personal electronic devices,” Brower wrote in the letter to Grassley.

Epic fail.  Pantsed by his own people.  So while a few Hillbots immediately opened fire, as Gadfly has documented, we had to wait until the end of the day for Trump to wake up.

President Trump on Tuesday fired the director of the F.B.I., James B. Comey, abruptly terminating the top official leading a criminal investigation into whether Mr. Trump’s advisers colluded with the Russian government to steer the outcome of the 2016 presidential election.

The stunning development in Mr. Trump’s presidency raised the specter of political interference by a sitting president into an existing investigation by the nation’s leading law enforcement agency. It immediately ignited Democratic calls for a special counsel to lead the Russia inquiry.

So from there the reactions and spot analysis spiraled out of control.  While Democrats caterwauled about everything from Nixon to 'special prosecutor' -- the best idea coming from Texas Monthly's politics editor, RG Ratcliffe, suggesting two; one appointed by Obama and one by W. Bush -- Republicans clamored for Trey Gowdy to be named the FNG at FBI.  Update: Or maybe Rudy Giuliani.  Or Chris Christie.

This is my effort at documenting a few of the items that make the most -- or least -- sense to me; YMMV.

-- Trump has been on the verge of firing Comey for about a week; a remarkably well-kept secret with this administration.

Trump had grown angry with the Russia investigation — particularly Comey admitting in front of the Senate that the FBI was investigating his campaign — and that the FBI director wouldn't support his claims that President Barack Obama had tapped his phones in Trump Tower.

-- But wait; didn't Trump write in his termination letter to the director ...

While I greatly appreciate you informing me, on three separate occasions, that I am not under investigation, I nevertheless concur with the judgment of the Department of Justice that you are not able to effectively lead the Bureau.

-- Yet there obviously is an ongoing investigation.

However, a recent court filing by the Department of Justice on behalf of the FBI in an ongoing FOIA lawsuit plainly indicates the FBI has an active investigation pertaining to Donald Trump’s actions related to actual or potential election-related hacking and espionage by Russia.

Two, it appears.  Or maybe just the one.

Federal prosecutors have issued grand jury subpoenas as part of the ongoing probe of Russia’s interference in the 2016 presidential election, according to a new report.

The subpoenas to associates of former national security adviser Michael Flynn are seeking business records, CNN said Tuesday.

CNN confirmed with people familiar with the matter that the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Alexandria, Va., issued the subpoenas in recent weeks.

The subpoenas are a significant escalation of the FBI’s broader investigation into possible ties between Russia and President Trump’s 2016 campaign.

The news of subpoenas comes on the same night President Trump fired FBI Director James Comey.

Jeff Sessions -- who recused himself from investigating Trump's Russian connections because he lied prevaricated under oath about having conversations with Russians -- will not be the one who appoints any special prosecutor.  That job falls to the new deputy AG, Rod Rosenstein, who was confirmed with 94 votes in the Senate just a couple of weeks ago (and who helped shiv Comey).  Here's more about the man to watch from the NYT.

For the record again, the subterfuge IMHO does not lie in Russia's attempts to hack the election.  They tried; they did not succeed.  US elections are far too decentralized to be hacked by a single source; voter suppression is in fact a more impactful, concentrated, and successful effort.  Here's your proof of that.  But Trump's undisclosed tax returns probably hide a lot of Russian money over several years, especially if his son spilled the beans on that years ago.  That's where the real danger of having a president compromised by a nefarious foreign actor lies.

Let's stop here with a timeline of the events that have unspooled from early July -- an excellent resource -- surrounding Comey and his October 28 letter and everything since, as both a refresher and a tonic for your (or maybe just my) vertigo/dizziness/nausea, etc.  Let's also note that Comey becomes the third person fired by Trump (Preet Bharara and Sally Yates were ahead of him) who has lost their job in the midst of investigating Trump's Russia ties.

More, probably, later.

An open letter to Mayor Turner and the liberals on Houston City Council regarding the homeless ordinance

Time to ramp up the pressure a bit.

Feel free to use and send the text of my email below in time for today's city council session or write your own.  It was addressed to Mayor Turner and CMs Robinson, Edwards, Boykins, Cohen, Davis, Cisneros, Gallegos, Laster, and Green.  I do not believe any of the Republicans are redeemable on this issue, and won't waste my time contacting them.  The ten people above, the so-called liberals on Houston's council, could take the action I demand without any support from the conservative faction anyway.  It's in their hands.

Ladies and gentlemen:

I am aware that the city ordinance which criminalizes homeless encampment goes into effect this Friday, May 12.  At the time Council unanimously passed this ordinance a few weeks ago, I found myself stunned at the callous, inhumane action of the liberals, led by Mayor Turner, joining the worst of the conservatives in this vote.

I STRONGLY OPPOSE this ordinance. Government cuts to HUD and a lack of existing affordable housing in a Houston market once more on the speculative rise due to a strengthening oil economy leaves those most vulnerable at greatest risk of finding themselves on the street.  Additionally, the glaring, unreformed Harris County bail bond program that has created debtor's prisons of our jails must be resolved before this ordinance adds to a incarcerated population with little hope of being released for their victimless "crimes".

This ordinance is likely unconstitutional, and a court challenge is inevitable.  It is abjectly foolish, as Republicans in Austin and in Washington DC have repeatedly demonstrated, to be on the wrong side of the history of social justice.  Why you would wish to stand with them is frankly beyond my comprehension.

The ordinance criminalizes our city's homeless for merely trying to survive.  Houston will not be able to implement quick or long-term solutions, especially after the homeless coalition had announced that the plan to house 500 homeless by September will not be met.  This is the farthest thing from a holistic definition of "meaningful change", an Orwellian hashtag if ever there was one.

As a voter and taxpayer, I strongly urge YOU to postpone the enforcement date of May 12th until you and other stakeholders can move forward with a better plan.  You should respectfully reconsider your action and pause the implementation of this cruel ordinance until such time as you have have arranged a truly workable solution, and not just given lip service and hashtags to one.

Regards,

Perry Dorrell

P.S.  I found it extremely inappropriate for the Mayor to have visited the environmental rally at the end of last month and say to a volunteer there that "y'all are pimping the cause" of homelessness in Houston.  That warrants a retraction and an apology, and those of you who are Council members to whom this letter is addressed should be the first ones to demand it of the Mayor.

This meme speaks for me as well:

Update: In response, the mayor had his stooges in the media roll out "aggressive panhandling", "Meaningful Change Not Spare Change", and "drug users" (thanks, Constable Alan Rosen).  All of which is just more of the same shitty stigmatizing of the poor.

What would Jesus do, indeed.  Not only wouldn't He do that, he wouldn't find a middle man to handle charitable donations for the homeless who was also a registered sex offender.

Word from today's council hearing is that still nobody on council is listening or responding.  My email inbox can confirm the same.  The heat is just going to have to get hotter, I suppose.

The Weekly Wrangle

With this week's lefty blog post roundup, the Texas Progressive Alliance thinks lacking human decency should be considered a pre-existing condition.

Off the Kuff took a look at the already-crowded field vying to knock off Rep. John Culberson.

Easter Lemming recapped the disappointing Pasadena election, and the the Lewisville Texan Journal also has posted results for elections held there over the weekend.

SocraticGadfly snuck into FBI Director James Comey's Senate testimony hearing and found out the 10 real takeaways.

CouldBeTrue of South Texas Chisme noted that Texas Republicans are just as greedy and mean spirited as ever. Insurance industry over consumers and papers please for profiled people.

Dos Centavos saw Greg Abbott's signing of the anti-sanctuary legislation as an outlawing of brown skin.  And on Cinco de Mayo, John Coby at Bay Area Houston issued a call to arms (to the polls).

Texas Leftist decried the passage of Trumpcare by the US House, and Ted at jobsanger sees racism as the cause for the GOP abandoning their own plan.

Texas Vox advanced the state's solar energy conference to be held in Austin in June, as energy entrepreneurs throughout the state will convene and network.

On Star Wars Day (May the Fourth) the Empire struck back, observed PDiddie at Brains and Eggs.

Neil at All People Have Value attended May Day protests in Houston that called for fair wages for all. APHV is part of NeilAquino.com.

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The Rivard Report takes a look at the San Antonio mayor's election, where a runoff between incumbent Ivy Taylor and city council member Ron Nirenberg will determine the winner.

From KERA, allegations of voter fraud have delayed the election results of a city council seat in west Dallas, with a runoff likely.  And All Ablog Austin has the final poll numbers from the Central Texas counties of Travis, Williamson, Hays, and Bastrop.

Equality Texas has the call to action on some of the more hateful legislation on tap this week from the Lege, including HB 3859, a bill that would allow child welfare organizations, agencies, employees, and foster parents that contract with the state to discriminate against LGBTQ families and others when making foster care and adoption decisions.

Texas Watch marks the passage of the House version of the Blue Tarp Bill, with the Senate still to vote on its own, and Grits for Breakfast rounds up a few of the police accountability bills that are bottled up in the Lege.

Via the Texas Tribune and the Austin American Statesman, the Texas House passed two other noteworthy bills: eliminating the governor's right to appoint his donors to state posts, and doing away with the straight-party ticket voting button.

RG Ratcliffe at Burkablog documents the trend toward partisan local elections (which used to be much more non-partisan).

Texas has experienced an alarming spike in pedestrian deaths throughout the state, with drunk or distracted walking blamed as the cause, reports CultureMap Houston.

Somervell County Salon ruminates for the easily amused about the demise of net neutrality, and Pages of Victory excerpts from a recent article wondering why, in the face of such repeated and terrible Republican action, the Democrats keep losing to them.

Sunday Mildly Nauseous Funnies

On Star Wars Day, The Empire struck back

May the Fourth was with somebody but not those of us with pre-existing conditions.

After US House Republicans finally -- barely -- repealed Obamacare, they celebrated with a beer bust.  Hope they got a cut rate on their Bud Lite.  Maybe Keystone Light would have been cheaper, added a little more to the symbolism?

It's not over; the Senate (to hear them tell it) is basically planning on ripping the House bill up and starting over.  That might be good news, it might be bullshit.  Don't mistake Lindsey Graham for the last of the Jedi, despite his skepticism.

“Any bill that has been posted less than 24 hours, going to be debated three or four hours, not scored? Needs to be viewed with suspicion.”

Bernie Sanders thanked Trump for supporting Medicare for All -- something Texas Congressman and still lone 2018 US Senate candidate Beto O'Rouke has yet to express publicly, despite his recent fundraising emails declaring healthcare is a human right -- and promised to quote President Cheetolini on the floor of the upper chamber as the AHCA gets its sausage repacked into something perhaps more edible.

In Austin, The Empire struck back a day early, passing Arizona-style "papers please" legislation (SB4, the anti-sanctuary bill) despite the copious tears of internet sensation Gene Wu and others.  The most cogent analysis came from RG Ratcliffe at Burkablog, who stated simply that the Lone Star business lobby, unable to focus on more than one battle at a time, caved on immigrants rights in exchange for fighting what we still hope will be a winning one on the bathroom bill.

I don't agree, by the way, that the Texas House did the same.  Joe Straus telegraphed anti-sanctuary legislation early in this session,  and the electoral facts are that no Republican who voted against SB4 could be reasonably expected to withstand a primary challenge from his or her right in 2018, and that would produce a Balkanized lower chamber in 2019 looking much like a Senate led by Lav Lord Patrick, which is to say some more conservative Speaker than Straus.  This acknowledges another political reality: Texas Democrats will continue to lose just as hard as always.

There's a long court battle ahead (and it will begin right away) on immigrants rights, and Texas may come out less favorably at the end of it than did Arizona given the Fifth Circuit and Justice Gorsuch and all, but at least there's some precedent that gives hope.   Don't count on any help from Sith Apprentice Sessions at the DOJ.

The good news out of the Lege this week is limited: you probably won't have to get your car inspected any longer, and you might get to smoke a little weed if the doctor says you're sick enough.

So the Resistance/Rebellion needs more heroes, maybe younglings stepping up next year.  Enjoy your Cinco de Mayo anyway, parade or happy hour or no.