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[Reelya]

This is how America ends: a nuclear wasteland feuded over by the descendents of the Bannonites and the Conwaynians.

[chaoticag]

Well, at least it hasn't descended into the Western Roman Empire Imperial Musical Chairs. Yet.

[Reelya]

Well the record for the shortest presidency was in fact 31 days (march 4th to april 4th). Trump still has time to beat that record. He has to be out by the 19th of February, or he's permanently excluded from that record.

[chaoticag]

Well, chances are he'll outlast that. Even an impeachment is basically an attempt to formally charge him with a crime, and I'm not entirely sure Trump knows how the presidency works with regards to protections from criminal prosecution. I'd wager he's betting on it being impossible to hit him with any charges. With all eyes looking on him, he doesn't seem likely to want to look weak by doing anything he'd consider giving up.

[Baffler]

Flynn's replacement has apparently been selected, but it's not known if he's accepted the offer or not. Another military man, and one with excellent qualifications as well, from what I can see.
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-harward-idUSKBN15U29C

[Flying Dice]

It's... entirely possible to be both, xenophobic and racist? These are not mutually exclusive things where it is one or the other. Also uh, last I did look, when filling in race on a forum when doing the SAT or whatever while I was in the States, the race I did have to put down was White. And there are people out there who still toss racial slurs out at Arabs, I'm willing to say there at least a tiiiiiny sliver of racism in that xenophobia.

It's also a little odd saying that hate against Hispanics is more xenophobia everyone had to deal with at some point when quite a few states used to be Mexican provinces. The hate they get hasn't blunted despite having more than a few generations as US citizens compared to the Irish, the Italians, the Poles... I could go on.

Yes, I completely agree-the point I was making is that they aren't the same thing, which apparently isn't self-evident any more. Some anti-immigration people are also racist, but being anti-immigration doesn't make you racist (just historically ignorant if you're murrkan).

Speaking of historical ignorance, the old stuff between the U.S. and Mexico was 100% nationalistic bullshit, back during the whole Republic of Texas nonsense and the wars where we stole a bunch of Mexican states. That had fuck and all to do with xenophobia, it was just good old fashioned imperialism, right at the tail end of when it was still broadly acceptable to acquire land by starting a war, grabbing territory, and kicking out everyone who lived there. The current situation is immigration-related xenophobia, which is a completely different situation. It's like saying that reactions to Chinese immigrants back in the 1800s and reactions to China today are the same thing arising from the same source.

In unrelated news, sources inside the FBI investigation of Trumpet's campaign disclosed that multiple members of his inner circle were in close and repeated contact with Russian intelligence for a prolonged period of time. Gonna be funny if Trump doesn't get to fire them because they've been brought up on treason charges or whatever. Also going to be nice to shift from SJWs and neoliberals crying about the FBI doing their jobs and not giving preferential treatment to the alt-righters crying about the same.

[palsch]

Trump is being urged to withdraw Puzder for Labor Secretary after losing 4-12 Republican Senators.

Not clear whether the reason was the undocumented housekeeper, domestic violence accusation from his ex-wife, having to repeatedly delay his hearings to try to get his paperwork in order, repeated labour law violation accusations or the class action lawsuit (with antitrust implications) filed against him for wage fixing.

Flynn's replacement has apparently been selected, but it's not known if he's accepted the offer or not. Another military man, and one with excellent qualifications as well, from what I can see.
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-harward-idUSKBN15U29C

According to FP he asked for a few days to think it over, but is expected to accept. A good choice who could run an effective NSC, assuming Trump allows him to actually do his job and Bannon's shadow security group is disbanded. I'd expect Harward to make these things conditions of his employment, especially now the offer has been made public.

[smjjames]

Trump is being urged to withdraw Puzder for Labor Secretary after losing 4-12 Republican Senators.

Not clear whether the reason was the undocumented housekeeper, domestic violence accusation from his ex-wife, having to repeatedly delay his hearings to try to get his paperwork in order, repeated labour law violation accusations or the class action lawsuit (with antitrust implications) filed against him for wage fixing.

He's expected to withdraw his nomination soon. Nominees withdrawing is actually more common than the Senate voting him down.

Flynn's replacement has apparently been selected, but it's not known if he's accepted the offer or not. Another military man, and one with excellent qualifications as well, from what I can see.
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-harward-idUSKBN15U29C

According to FP he asked for a few days to think it over, but is expected to accept. A good choice who could run an effective NSC, assuming Trump allows him to actually do his job and Bannon's shadow security group is disbanded. I'd expect Harward to make these things conditions of his employment, especially now the offer has been made public.

The guy has worked with Mattis in the past, which I've read around has it's pros and cons. He's also worked on the NSC before under Bush 43, although in a lower position, so, he already knows how things are supposed to work, which is an absolute plus here.

I wonder if he's the first top NSC adviser to be from the Navy branch.... Edit: Nope, there's two others who served in the Navy.

[misko27]

Puzder? My gosh, I thought it would be impossible to reject any cabinet position! My lord. And this is before his confirmation hearing? Christ, I read that article about Oprah submitting the tape with Puzder's wife before Congress, but I didn't think anything would come of that. I'm shocked.

Unrelated: Stephen Colbert is apparently the top dog in the late night talk show ratings for the second week in a row, beating Jimmy Fallon by an increasingly large margin (300,000). The start of this rating surge was coincident with the first episode of Colbert's Late Show after Trump took office (one week in), which also featured an appearance by Stewart. Colbert's also had LWN host John Oliver and resident Fake News anchor Jake Tapper on the show.

For my part, I think he's been pretty funny. I missed Colbert. He's got videos on his on Youtube channel for anyone curious.

[palsch]

Withdrawal now confirmed.

The guy has worked with Mattis in the past, which I've read around has it's pros and cons. He's also worked on the NSC before under Bush 43, although in a lower position, so, he already knows how things are supposed to work, which is an absolute plus here.

Heard mostly good things from most sources, and the only attack was from a wingnut on Twitter who read he went to high school in Iran and decided that made him a security threat. There is some fear that the White House will become a circle jerk of Mattis insiders, but right now I think that is a lesser risk. At least this is a position where you want military insiders.


Jack Goldsmith continues to hammer on McGahn. EDIT to expand on this; He lays out a timeline of events that show the absurdity of the administration's claims and that the facts outline suggest the White House Council is either having their legal advice misrepresented or they acted incompetently and offered poor council to the president.

For those who aren't familiar with Goldsmith, he resigned from the Bush era Office of Legal Council in an attempt to get the John Yoo torture memos withdrawn. Those who don't know the story should give it a read. It's worth noting that even Yoo, whose memos were used as a legal shield against prosecution for torture, has been criticising Trump lately. Goldsmith has the integrity and chops to criticise the OLC. But going far enough to offend Yoo's sensibilities by overreaching executive power is just absurd.

[smjjames]

Well, his hearing was postponed a couple times and then it was postponed indefinetly.

Withdrawal now confirmed.

The guy has worked with Mattis in the past, which I've read around has it's pros and cons. He's also worked on the NSC before under Bush 43, although in a lower position, so, he already knows how things are supposed to work, which is an absolute plus here.

Heard mostly good things from most sources, and the only attack was from a wingnut on Twitter who read he went to high school in Iran and decided that made him a security threat. There is some fear that the White House will become a circle jerk of Mattis insiders, but right now I think that is a lesser risk. At least this is a position where you want military insiders.

The concerns that I saw mainly had to do with his past relationship with Mattis, which is a friendly one, as far as I can tell. He's pretty much THE NSC advisor that Trump needs right now.

I wonder how Iran would react to him though since he grew up in Iran and has familiarity with the culture there, even speaks Farsi. Certainly would be an asset in dealing with Iran.

[palsch]

I should really just post the Lawfare RSS feed and tell you all to keep up with it, but this is a really good piece on the legal and practical issues around leaks.

[Akura]

Also news, a court in China has handed back control of the Trump brand in China.

PRESIDENT Donald Trump’s triumph in the fight to wrest back his brand name for construction services in China could spell the end of more than 225 Trump-related marks here that don’t belong to him, including Trump toilets, Trump condoms, Trump pacemakers and a “Trump International Hotel.”

After a decade of grinding battle in China’s courts, an official finding in Trump’s favour expected this week could signal a shift in fortune for the US president’s intellectual property.

Also at stake are 49 pending Trump trademark applications — all made during his campaign — and 77 previously registered marks, most of which will come up for renewal during his term.

Each win creates value for Trump’s business empire — and raises ethics questions about his administration.

Critics say the trademarks present conflicts of interest for Trump and may violate the emoluments clause of the US Constitution, which bars public servants from accepting anything of value from foreign governments unless explicitly approved by Congress.

“There can be no question that it is a terrible idea for Donald Trump to be accepting the registration of these valuable property rights from China while he’s a sitting president of the United States,” said Norman Eisen, who served as chief White House ethics lawyer for President Barack Obama.

“It’s fair to conclude that this is an effort to influence Mr Trump that is relatively inexpensive for the Chinese, potentially very valuable to him, but it could be very costly for the United States.”

China could use Trump’s desire to control his brand to extend or withhold favour, particularly since its courts and bureaucracy reflect the imperatives of the ruling Communist Party.

Is there a source on this?

[Baffler]

Also news, a court in China has handed back control of the Trump brand in China.

PRESIDENT Donald Trump’s triumph in the fight to wrest back his brand name for construction services in China could spell the end of more than 225 Trump-related marks here that don’t belong to him, including Trump toilets, Trump condoms, Trump pacemakers and a “Trump International Hotel.”

After a decade of grinding battle in China’s courts, an official finding in Trump’s favour expected this week could signal a shift in fortune for the US president’s intellectual property.

Also at stake are 49 pending Trump trademark applications — all made during his campaign — and 77 previously registered marks, most of which will come up for renewal during his term.

Each win creates value for Trump’s business empire — and raises ethics questions about his administration.

Critics say the trademarks present conflicts of interest for Trump and may violate the emoluments clause of the US Constitution, which bars public servants from accepting anything of value from foreign governments unless explicitly approved by Congress.

“There can be no question that it is a terrible idea for Donald Trump to be accepting the registration of these valuable property rights from China while he’s a sitting president of the United States,” said Norman Eisen, who served as chief White House ethics lawyer for President Barack Obama.

“It’s fair to conclude that this is an effort to influence Mr Trump that is relatively inexpensive for the Chinese, potentially very valuable to him, but it could be very costly for the United States.”

China could use Trump’s desire to control his brand to extend or withhold favour, particularly since its courts and bureaucracy reflect the imperatives of the ruling Communist Party.

Is there a source on this?

This is the only source I can find that even mentions it, and it has no relation whatsoever to the headline.
http://www.news.com.au/world/north-america/michael-flynn-resignation-hillary-clinton-skewers-donald-trumps-former-national-security-adviser/news-story/3b09c67839a78aff934067307dbd69f9

[smjjames]

That link mentions something that Reelya didn't mention. The lawsuit had been going on for many years and just happened to conclude now. Whether it's sheer coincidence or there's some politicing behind it that led to it concluding now, I have no idea.

Other than the political baggage attached to it, it sounds like it might be a typical trademark lawsuit fight.

If I were in Congress, I'd probably check it for conflicts of interest and see if there was any political push behind it. Though that'd probably be impossible to find out 100% for sure because the whole thing is in China.