Monday Reading

As always, please go to the links for the full articles/ op- eds.

Digby writes about the "civility" scolds in the media who aren't getting what the public shaming is all about:

The news media has been rightfully up in arms about the president of the United States participating in a cover-up of the murder of a journalist and Washington Post columnist. And they've been equally critical of President Trump's comments last week at a rally in Montana, where he applauded a GOP congressman for body-slamming a reporter because he asked a question. Likewise, the media has understandably protested the Secret Service telling an accredited journalist that he was not allowed to ask Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner questions on an airplane. 

This is, after all, a country with a Bill of Rights that protects freedom of the press. All right thinking people are supportive of their position on these issues. Between all that and the constant demeaning of the media by the president, it's clear that this administration is using the power of the government and the president's bully pulpit to threaten the press, and not just in a metaphorical sense. All of the above examples demonstrate a threat of physical violence. [snip]

This past weekend, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell was yelled at in a Louisville restaurant while sitting with his wife, Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao. A man approached their table and angrily told they should leave the country. When other patrons spoke up and told him to leave them alone he shouted, "They're coming for Social Security!" (This happens to be true. McConnell told CNBC just last week that the only solution for the massive deficit caused by his massive tax cuts for corporations and the wealthy is to cut "entitlements.") [snip] 

Of all the people in our public life to get angry about this, the last you'd expect would be members of the media, who are being demonized by the president and these very same politicians. But some of them are quite upset and have taken to social media to scold citizens for addressing their leaders in this way...

It's a safe prediction that our "free press" will be the last to understand the danger of passivity in the face of aggressive Republican efforts to neuter democracy in this country.

Robert Reich on the truth about the "Trump economy":

Too often, discussions about “the economy” focus on overall statistics about growth, the stock market, and unemployment. 

But most Americans don’t live in that economy. They live in a personal economy that has more to do with wages, job security, commutes to and from work, and the costs of housing, healthcare, drugs, education, and home insurance. 

These are the things that hit closest home. They comprise the typical American’s standard of living. 

Instead of an “economic boom,” most Americans are experiencing declines in all these dimensions of their lives.

Kate Briquelet takes a detailed look at Trump thorn Michael Avenatti's finances (spoiler alert: shades of Trump!):

Civil court filings paint a picture of Avenatti as a hard-charging attorney who enjoyed the luxe life—jetting around the world to race cars with a Saudi prince and treating his wife and their friends to luxury villas in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. Yet he and his companies owed hundreds of thousands in unpaid taxes and in compensation to one former colleague, who claims Avenatti stiffed him out of millions in law-firm profits. 

A review of court documents reveals that Avenatti, his former law firm Eagan Avenatti, and his former company Global Baristas, the majority owner of the Seattle-based Tully’s coffee chain, have owed millions in unpaid federal and state taxes in Washington and California, as well as hundreds of thousands in past-due rent to landlords. 

The Democratic Party doesn't need this guy now or in 2020.

Alex Steffen writes about the carbon lobby's doomed battle to stave off action on climate change:

The clean economy will eventually put the dirty economy out of business—but just how soon is the crux of the climate fight. 

The carbon lobby’s agenda is not to win—few investors seriously think fossil fuels are in for boom times ahead—but to lose slowly, to stall for time, to maintain the appearance of unshakable ubiquity (and thus profitability). 

Looking at the building global political momentum on climate, the growing competitiveness of the new economy, and the rising financial risks facing fossil fuel companies, we begin to see just how vital the Trump administration and the GOP Congress are to slowing action on climate. They (and Russia) are working as essentially the only strong counterforce to rapidly accelerating climate action. They are the core constituency for predatory delay. 

The prescription of electing Democratic majorities in Congress this year would help, but we need to have a real President who won't stymie actions that such a Congress would pass.

As always, we close with our recommendation to check out Infidel 753's excellent link round- up for a wide- ranging selection of interesting topics, oddities and amusements.