Monday Reading

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

Margaret Sullivan explores the media's treatment of women candidates as a stubborn feature of our (still) sexist society:

“There is a narrow universe of acceptable behavior for women,” explained Heidi Moore, a media consultant who is a former Wall Street Journal reporter and former business editor of the Guardian U.S. 

In politics — as in so many other spheres — women get bashed far more than their male counterparts for personality quirks, vulnerabilities and actions of all sorts. 

Not to mention their appearance and speaking voices. Think of how far a female candidate would get if she came off like the rumpled and ranting Bernie Sanders. 

“We see in coverage of women lawmakers that even minor flaws are treated as disqualifying,” Moore told me, “while men’s flaws get brief attention but are glossed over as a case of ‘nobody’s perfect.’ ”

It's especially galling in the age of Trump -- with his endless miasma of ugliness, betrayal and failure -- that inane trivialities in the initial coverage of Sens. Harris, Gillibrand and Warren are already appearing as sexist narratives that some in the media are testing out. Watch for it, then push back.  Hard. (Sullivan also cites Norman Ornstein's great takeaway on how the media treated the relative coverage of Clinton's emails and Trump's disqualifying rotten- to- the- core scandals in 2016:  “A balanced treatment of an unbalanced phenomenon distorts reality.”)

Here's what a hollow, damaged, needy little man does:

Acceding to a request from Washington, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe nominated U.S. President Donald Trump for the Nobel Peace Prize around autumn for engaging with North Korea, Japanese government sources said Feb. 16. 

According to the sources, the U.S. government "informally" asked Tokyo to nominate Trump after he met with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in Singapore in June, the first-ever summit between the two countries. 

At a news conference in the White House on Feb. 15, Trump revealed that Abe gave him a copy of a five-page letter the prime minister sent to the Norwegian Nobel Committee, which awards the prize. 

The deadline for nominating candidates for the prize is February every year. College professors and members of the parliament in each country, as well as former Nobel laureates, are eligible to recommend candidates. 

Trump quoted Abe as saying, “I have nominated you, respectfully, on behalf of Japan.”
As for the reasons for the nomination, Trump said, “Because he had rocket ships and he had missiles flying over Japan. They had alarms going off. You know that. Now, all of a sudden they feel good. They feel safe. I did that.”

First, shame on Abe.  So, Rump takes credit for defusing a crisis on which he lit the fuse (remember "They will be met with fire and the fury like the world has never seen"?). Meanwhile, how's that denuclearization workin' out for ya? Sad!

As he inches closer to being the kind of despot he so admires overseas, Rump is engaging in some industrial strength projection this morning:

Wow, so many lies by now disgraced acting FBI Director Andrew McCabe. He was fired for lying, and now his story gets even more deranged. He and Rod Rosenstein, who was hired by Jeff Sessions (another beauty), look like they were planning a very illegal act, and got caught.....

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 18, 2019

....There is a lot of explaining to do to the millions of people who had just elected a president who they really like and who has done a great job for them with the Military, Vets, Economy and so much more. This was the illegal and treasonous “insurance policy” in full action!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 18, 2019

"Deranged," "lies," "lying," "illegal," and "treasonous" are descriptors more commonly applicable to the tweeting twit than to his targets. 

Here's the full transcript of former Acting FBI Director Andrew McCabe's "60 Minutes" interview that aired last night, that triggered Rump.  A pithy excerpt:

[Scott Pelley voiceover] McCabe says that the basis for both investigations was in Mr. Trump's own statements. First, Mr. Trump had asked FBI Director Comey to drop the investigation of National Security Adviser Michael Flynn, who has since pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI about his Russian contacts.  Then, to justify firing Comey, Mr. Trump asked his deputy attorney general, Rod Rosenstein, to write a memo listing the reasons Comey had to go. And according to McCabe, Mr. Trump made a request for that memo that came as a surprise. 

Andrew McCabe: Rod was concerned by his interactions with the president, who seemed to be very focused on firing the director and saying things like, "Make sure you put Russia in your memo." That concerned Rod in the same way that it concerned me and the FBI investigators on the Russia case. 

If Deputy Attorney General Rosenstein listed the Russia investigation in his memo to the White House, it could look like he was obstructing the Russia probe by suggesting Comey's firing. And by implication, it would give the president cover. 

Scott Pelley: He didn't wanna put Russia in his memo. 

Andrew McCabe: He did not. He explained to the president that he did not need Russia in his memo. And the president responded, "I understand that, I am asking you to put Russia in the memo anyway." 

When the memo justifying Comey's firing was made public, Russia was not in it. But, Mr. Trump made the connection anyway, telling NBC, then, Russian diplomats that the Russian investigation was among the reasons he fired Comey. 

Why would Rump be so eager to get the FBI/ Justice Department on record undercutting the Russia investigation if there was nothing to hide, then brag to his Russian handlers that he took care of the troublesome Comey and (presumably) his investigation?  (Rhetorical questions.)

Unfortunately, our blogging brother Infidel 753 has been suffering with an inflammation affecting his hand (which, according to the latest info, is much better), so no link round- up for now. But feel free to go over and offer your best wishes for a quick, complete recovery. (UPDATE:  He's back -- here's the most interesting link round- up you're going to find anywhere.)