It’s war in Syria, involving Britain and France, but as of this writing the pundits have not yet caught up. This round-up will not have anything else except what you, our readers, post. As of this writing, I am not sure what we have gotten ourselves into.
America has no interest in a prolonged war. And Trump doesn’t know what he’s doing. Reassuring combo.
This is not a normal situation. Too much background scandal to treat as a simple response.
What could go wrong?
McClatchy:
Sources: Mueller has evidence Cohen was in Prague in 2016, confirming part of dossier
Confirmation of the trip would lend credence to a retired British spy’s report that Cohen strategized there with a powerful Kremlin figure about Russian meddling in the U.S. election.
Really? Who could have guessed?
Jonathan Bernstein/Bloomberg:
Ryan's Finale: Ducking Blame One Last Time
He was big on committing himself and his party to wild-eyed goals and then failing.
Paul Ryan won't retire as the least effective House speaker of the modern era. Newt Gingrich's title is safe. But there's not much to say in favor of Ryan's tenure -- beyond that he inherited a difficult situation thanks to the group of rejectionist radicals who put their own purism ahead of the party's goals.
David A. Hopkins/Honest Graft:
It turns out that there are pretty good reasons why the speaker of the House is usually a veteran party "pol" rather than an ideologue or policy specialist—and is usually someone who views the position as the desired culmination of a long-held ambition rather than a potential impediment to his or her even greater future plans. While Boehner, a widely underrated leader, repeatedly put himself on the line politically in order to protect his party, Ryan instead risked his party in order to protect himself—including by the way he announced his retirement.
Throughout his tenure in office, Ryan acted more like an ideological activist than as the leader of a party or a country. Ideological leaders of the left and right have their place in our political system, but that place is seldom at the head of a congressional caucus. Boehner understood that the greater interests of his members sometimes required him to take heat from conservative insurgents for departing from ideological purity; Ryan instead manuevered to direct blame onto others in order to preserve his own reputation in conservative circles.
Wil Wilkinson/NY Times:
The Self-Destruction of Paul Ryan and the G.O.P.
The forthcoming implosion of Mr. Ryan’s party, and his imminent retreat to Wisconsin, illustrates the danger of hidebound ideological overconfidence. Party elites in the grip of dogma can’t see the point of checking in with the people they represent and are blind to new problems the partisan catechism is not equipped to comprehend. If a decent Republican Party one day rises from the devastation Paul Ryan practically invited Donald Trump to inflict, it will be one that has stopped legislating for an imaginary world of self-financing tax cuts, having rediscovered and realigned with the basic interests of aging and working-class white suburban and rural American voters. It will take their woes seriously, and nurture their welfare, not their grievance.
And a follow up from Norm Ornstein:
Believing that if Trump goes normality will return would be hopelessly naive. Why relitigate? Those who are now on the right side of history have to look back and reflect on why it took them so long to recognize the growing rot so that it won’t keep recurring.
WaPo:
Post-ABC poll: Majority of Americans support Mueller’s probe of Russia, Trump campaign
Nearly 7 in 10 adults say they support Mueller’s focus on possible collusion with Russia. Sixty-four percent say they want the special counsel investigating Trump’s business activities. And a 58 percent majority supports investigating alleged payments by Trump associates to silence women who say they had affairs with him.
We can infer two things: 1) what Rs think doesn’t matter, since they are out of touch with indies and the majority, and B) R candidates are in a world of hurt since they cannot simultaneously satisfy their base and the general electorate. And guess who knows that? Paul Ryan.
Greg Sargent/WaPo:
The public is recoiling at Trump’s contempt for the rule of law
It’s tempting to see all of these numbers as little more than a reflection of Trump’s deep unpopularity. But numbers this stark suggest something else may be going on: That the depth of Trump’s contempt for our institutions and the rule of law is becoming clear to the public, and Americans are recoiling at it.
This contempt is everywhere. You see it in Trump’s double standard towards due process, documented by Adam Serwer, in which he rages at the raiding of his lawyer’s office, while cheering on law enforcement abuses directed at Muslims, immigrants, and African Americans. You see it in his instinct towards firing Rosenstein for the express reason that he is behaving by the book, rather than politicizing law enforcement to Trump’s benefit. Trump views law enforcement as primarily an instrument for carrying out his political will. He has told us this in his own words again and again and again.
James Hohmann/WaPo:
The Daily 202: Paul Ryan’s party is over
Stop mistaking Trumpism for conservatism. Most of the press coverage in the past 24 hours says matter-of-factly that the party has moved to the right. That’s not quite correct. The party has moved toward Trump, who has redefined modern conservatism in his more nationalistic mold and made what was historically a movement of ideas into, mostly, a cult of personality. “Ryan’s retirement means America no longer has a conservative party,” observes The Post’s Editorial Board. “Republicans are decreasingly conservative and increasingly reactionary.”
Alex Seitz-Wald/NBC:
Retiring Republicans are practically handing House seats to Democrats
Vulnerable Republicans have abandoned re-election bids from Florida to California, with more retirements than at any point since World War II, except for 1992.
"Ryan's retirement is a sign that the bottom really has fallen out for Republicans," said former Florida Republican congressman David Jolly, who predicted more lawmakers will follow Ryan to the exits after the House speaker announced Wednesday he will not seek re-election.
"A lot of Hill Republicans are just miserable right now. That's the constant theme I hear from former colleagues," Jolly said. "The reality is that Trump has just made the environment really, really difficult."
A NY story I love: hey, taxi!!!
Chris Cillizza/CNN
Michael Cohen and the absolutely amazing history of the once-coveted New York City taxi medallion
The cost was so exorbitant that many people leased a portion of a cab/medallion, sharing it with several other people and driving 24 hours a day to recoup their investment. (If you've seen
HBO's "The Night Of," you know what I'm talking about.)
Then Uber and Lyft happened. Those ride-transport services flooded the New York city streets with supply, making the demand for cabs -- and medallions -- far less urgent.
BuzzFeed:
Cohen followed his father-in-law into the rough-and-tumble world of New York City taxis in March 1997, registering five new cab companies, including Sir Michael Hacking Corp. and Lady Laura Hacking Corp., according to New York state business registration records.
His holdings grew. New York City records show Cohen, his wife, and his in-laws hold a stake in more than 15 colorfully named taxi companies such as Golden Child Cab Corp. and Smoochie Cab Corp. When Cohen testified before the House and Senate Intelligence committees last year, one lawmaker asked him if he used the alias “Michael Hacking” — because the lawmaker mistakenly thought “Hacking” was a surname rather than another word for taxi driver.
Cohen then entered into a series of taxi management agreements with Garber, who controlled cab companies in New York City, Chicago, and Moscow. In June 2006, Yellow Cab SLSJET agreed to pay Cohen a $69,000 monthly fee to use 30 of the medallions that every taxicab must have. In return, SLSJET would get to keep any additional profits.
New York authorities fined SLSJET about $1.6 million in 2014 for ripping off its drivers on fees to lease vehicles. It’s unclear if SLSJET was managing Cohen’s medallions during this time.
Finally, let’s finish with something crazy:
Are there Bannon fingerprints on this? It’s a lawsuit that somehow drags governments in. Give it a read.