TRUMP FIRES COMEY AMID RUSSIA INQUIRY
PRESIDENT LANDS A PUNCH, AND MANY HEAR ECHOES OF WATERGATE
It appears we are headed for a Watergate-era-type showdown.
"I greatly appreciate you informing me ... that I am not under investigation ..."
In an act of unprecedented chutzpah, Trump says he must fire Comey because of the Clinton email case!
Cue the music.
"[F]iring Mr. Comey raises much deeper questions about the independence of the F.B.I. and the future of its investigations under Mr. Trump."
Let's go back to early March, "when the president posted Twitter messages accusing former President Barack Obama of wiretapping his office.
The next morning, word spread quickly that Mr. Comey wanted the Justice Department to issue a statement saying that he had no evidence to support the president's accusation. The department did not issue such a statement.
For weeks after, Mr. Trump insisted that his accusation was correct. In dramatic testimony later in March, Mr. Comey said that he had no information to back up the president's allegations.
That set up a remarkable dynamic -- an F.B.I. director directly contradicting a sitting president at the same time that the bureau was pursuing a possible criminal investigation into the president's aides."
"Senator Chuck Schumer, the Democratic leader, told the president he was making a big mistake; publicly, Mr. Schumer called the firing a cover-up."
Nice one.
Cover-up = "big mistake" ... remember this?
A8
TRUMP ON COLLISION COURSE WITH ELECTION'S VICTOR ON DEALING WITH NORTH
"Mr. Trump's strategy ... is an approach drawn from his real-estate experience: Inflict maximum pain first, then see if the other guy wants to talk."
"During the campaign, Mr. Moon said sanctions had one goal: to bring the North Koreans back to the negotiating table. The Trump administration has said they have a different goal: to force the North to give up its entire arsenal. That is a significant difference."
And which is more likely to actually succeed in the real universe?
A16
TRUMP ADMINISTRATION DELAYS DECISION ON LEAVING PARIS CLIMATE PACT
"With top presidential aides stubbornly divided, the White House abruptly announced on Tuesday that President Trump would make no decision on the United States' future in the Paris climate change accord until June ..."
So many pacts and treaties to tear up ... so little time.
A17
TRUMP'S TAX CUT COULD LEAD TO BROAD AVOIDANCE
"President Trump's proposal to cut taxes is short on details. But some people can already see opportunities for widespread tax avoidance."
A19
A COMPLEX RELATIONSHIP AND AN ABRUPT ENDING A YEAR IN THE MAKING
"[I]t had been a long time in coming."
Perhaps a nice anger management class? A rubber room packed with stress-reducing toys? A rubber toy packed with stress-reducing room?
A26
THE FIRING OF JAMES COMEY
"This is a tense and uncertain time in the nation's history. The president of the United States, who is no more above the law than any other citizen, has now decisively crippled the F.B.I.'s ability to carry out an investigation of him and his associates. There is no guarantee that Mr. Comey's replacement, who will be chosen by Mr. Trump, will continue that investigation; in fact, there are already hints to the contrary.
The obvious historical parallel to Mr. Trump's action was the so-called Saturday Night Massacre in October 1973, when President Richard Nixon ordered the firing of the special prosecutor investigating Watergate, prompting the principled resignations of the attorney general and his deputy. But now, there is no special prosecutor in place to determine whether the public trust has been violated, and whether the presidency was effectively stolen by a hostile foreign power. For that reason, the country has reached an even more perilous moment."
Of course, It Can't Happen Here.
A27
A BETTER WAY TO HELP THE WORLD
One Republican and one Democratic senator walked into a bar ...
and showed the crowd what true bipartisanship really is! Go Bob and Chris!
B3
AMAZON URGES YOU TO CALL YOUR MOTHER (WITH ALEXA)
Just think. You can program Alexa to call your mom's Alexa and they can talk to each other for hours while you finish the laundry.
B9
OFF TO SOARING START, YANKS AREN'T LOOKING DOWN
"The question is, of course, is whether the Yankees' sterling play during the first six weeks might be expected to continue over the course of 162 games."
Two reasons why one might expect it. There are a bunch of others. These guys look like they are for real.
B9
NOT FOR THE FIRST TIME, HARVEY APOLOGIZES
ZAPPA'S LAW: There are two things on earth that are universal: hydrogen and stupidity.
C5
SPOTLIGHT ON A DIVA, WITH BULL'S-EYE PRECISION
"'On a really good night -- which happens more often than not, but not as much as I would like,' Mr. Guscott said, 'I feel like there's a thin silver thread between me and the performer, because I don't have to think any more about what they're going to do.'"
Well-spilled ink. You find amazing artists in the darkest and most obscure little corners.
TIME MACHINE
May 10, 1901
116 years ago
"The greatest general panic that Wall Street has ever known came upon the stock market yesterday, with the result that before it was checked many fortunes, the accumulation in some cases of years, had been completely swept away."
and this
"While the panic lasted there were some fortunate people who, not being in it, could afford to smile. For it offered to them one of the greatest opportunities for bargains Wall Street has ever seen. As a result of the mad, unreasoning rush to sell, many stocks broke far below what is recognized as their real value. Hence it was that bargain hunters and rich men pounced upon these stocks and snapped them up with avidity, this buying contributing not a little to the market's rise. These men, buying at or near the low figure of the day, were able in a few short hours to make fortunes. And at their elbows, gathered around the tickers, were men who had just lost fortunes. It is almost incomprehensible, but it is true. That is Wall Street."
Panic of 1901 and this short-but-sweet summary.
In lighter news
Page 16 EXPECTS A GREAT FORTUNE
"Garabet Ajamian, an Armenian who lives at 406 Walnut Street, West Hoboken, and who is employed by the North Jersey Street Railway at $2 a day, yesterday announced that his wife and her brother, who lives in India, had become heirs to an estate of $224,000,000 by the will of their uncle, Mandarje Oghley, formerly a merchant in Constantinople. When asked if there was no mistake about the amount Ajamian said he thought not."
We just need your Social Security number ...
No comments:
Post a Comment