Eleventy-dimensional Stratergery from Devin Nunes!
…comes to us from unindicted co-conspirator Tex Betsy who sends us this urgent news while in flight:
Well isn't this embarrassing… https://t.co/4FUAWEOWr2
— Devin Nunes' Alt-Mom (@NunesAlt) March 19, 2019
Thanks Tex!
Fasten your seatbelts
Tiger Beat (emphasis mine):
“The Federal Aviation Administration is facing its greatest crisis in years, as multiple investigations seek to understand what went wrong at an agency that spent the past decade amassing what had been considered the best aviation safety record in the world.
“That record is now tarnished, after a total of 346 people died since October in two crashes involving the Boeing 737 MAX — a plane the agency approved after allowing the company to conduct much of its own oversight of the certification process, under a regulatory strategy Congress has repeatedly endorsed. And the scrutiny comes as the FAA nears its 15th month of waiting for President Donald Trump to nominate a permanent leader.”
So self-regulation doesn’t work? I’m shocked. Speaking of being shocked, I’ve not seen any official word from Transportation Secretary Elaine Chau, wife of amply be-chinned Mitch McConnell.
Being the child of lawyers this liability analysis in the LATimes caught my attention:
“Boeing’s risks might be rising after a report in the Seattle Times that the company’s safety analysis for the airliner’s new flight control system had crucial flaws. Much of the legal liability depends on the findings of investigators, as well as the contracts Boeing has with airlines that purchased the planes.”
As most stories about legal liability, this is kind of bloodless to put everything in terms of dollars, but it also (of course) is about guilt; if you are not guilty of anything there will be no awards.
The story goes on to list the cascading damages besides the victims of the plane crashes. You see, the airlines of the grounded planes can sue Boeing for lost revenue while the plans remain grounded (and presumably for any loans to buy the planes), and of course the airlines of the crashed planes can sue as well. And then there’s all the potential cost recovery when someone loses the case. The victims families can sue the airlines of the crashed planes, and the airlines can sue Boeing, and…
This has ripples that extend way beyond the obvious, but it really all comes back to allowing companies to self-regulate, which puts it at the feet of Congress. And as I’m sure we’ll learn soon enough that this specific self-regulation scheme came while Republicans were running roughshod over common sense, claiming that the Invisible Hand wouldn’t allow companies to do something so bone-headed as to not perform due diligence.
So by their philosophy, Boeing is in the soup because of market forces. Therefore, Boeing should not get bailed out by the US gubmint. Hahaha, but of course they will be bailed out. Corporations are people, my friends! Look to see who is owned by Boeing.
Who is Trump Shtupping?
Talking Points Memo brings us to to date on the Rub-n-Tug empresario Cindy Yang story:
“Top Intelligence and Judiciary Committee Democrats on Friday wrote to the FBI, Secret Service and Director of National Intelligence asking them to investigate Cindy Yang, the south Florida businesswoman whose advertisements of her access to President Donald Trump came to light after Patriots owner Robert Kraft was arrested for allegedly soliciting prostitution in a spa she founded.
“In addition to founding a chain of massage parlors “suspected of involvement in prostitution and human trafficking,” the Democrats wrote, Yang reportedly “created a business” — GY US Investments LLC, which TPM has covered — “that may be selling access to the President and members of his family to clients from China.”
“If true, these allegations raise serious counterintelligence concerns,” they added.”
Everyone suspected when Trump super-friend and deflated balls New England Patriots owner Bob Kraft was arrested seeking a happy ending at the Orchids of Asia day spa that they must be a connection with Comrade Stupid.
And of course there was!
Li “Cindy” Yang (it had to be “Cindy” dinnit?), is a frequent guest at Mar-a-Lago, she spent the Super Bowl with the president (selfies!) and donated more than $16,000 to his campaign. She’s even been to the White House.
Ever the entrepreneur, Yang also had a side-hustle to her side-hustle: selling access to the Trump family and other administration officials through a business called G.Y. U.S. Investments. Rub-n-Tug not included.
Without splitting hairs we see that her side hustle bidness is directly competing with Merde-a-Lardo bidness plan which exists only to sell access to the Grifter-in-Chief, enjoy magnificent chocolate cake while threatening nuclear war with North Korea, sometimes letting the patrons run agencies of the gubmint for fun, or win ambassadorships like door prizes for buying a membership.
Anyway, we’re glad to see that the Democrats are looking into Yang. This really is exposure to yet more kompromat.
Would you buy a used car from these men?
Deutsche Bank loaned more than $2 billion to Donald Trump before he became president — despite multiple red flags surrounding his business dealings, The New York Times reported Monday.
That seems like a lot of money to loan a bad-risk grifter—a man who bankrupted casinos!—when no other major bank would touch him, bigly!
We can guess that Comrade Stupid owes the bank a lot of that $2b Ameros, which puts him in the asset column of the ol’ ledger. That becomes important as Deutsche is 1) trying to merge with another German bank, CommerzBank and B) because Deutsche Bank is notorious for money laundering (ALLEGEDLY!) for the Russians. So maybe in hearings for the merger, we might learn more about Comrade Stupid’s exposure to pressure or out-right kompromat? I’m curious!
As the article makes clear, no one had any comment: the bank, the White House, not even pugnacious twit Eric Trump, who has both said that the Trump Companies are not over-leveraged AND that they’ve had great opportunities in Russia.
Cow tipping for speed and accuracy.
Midnight runner Devin Nunes is suing Twitter and several of its users for more than $250 million, accusing them of defamation and negligence. The defendants include two anonymous parody accounts, “Devin Nunes’ Mom” and “Devin Nunes’ Cow.”
Here’s the tweet that brought this to our attention:
How does one win a lawsuit when you’ve already lost pic.twitter.com/d15EdAIIXn
— Ryan Mac (@RMac18) March 18, 2019
Which sort of sums up the whole thing, at least in my mind. Anyway, the LATimes includes this little bit o’ Law that kinda settles the whole thing:
Section 230 of the Communication Decency Act provides internet services with immunity from liability for material posted by their users.
I recommend reading the article in the LATimes, it’s short, sweet, and snarky as hell.
I guess they want to compete with Wahoo Fish Taco?
(Hat tip: Scissorhead Skinny-D)
Jeebus weeps
The Lord works in mysterious ways. pic.twitter.com/drrxy3tq05
— Right Wing Watch (@RightWingWatch) March 18, 2019
Our old pal Liz ‘3-fingers’ Crokin believes that Gawd sent butterflies to Southern California to deliver to her a message about the soon-to-be mass arrest of cannibal pedophiles.
Seem totes reasonable.
Horse Race Reporting: Comin’ round the bend…
Tiger Beat on the Potomac (thanks Charlie!) is outta the gate running horse race journalism:
“Former Texas Rep. Beto O’Rourke raised $6.1 million in the first 24 hours after launching his presidential campaign, crushing the first day hauls of many of his Democratic competitors and surpassing even the massive 24-hour total brought in by Sen. Bernie Sanders…
“On Monday, O’Rourke’s campaign touted its “grassroots” fundraising base, noting that the former congressman pulled in donations from all 50 states and every U.S. territory within the first 24 hours”
It’s probably too soon to have any polling results to show support, but the amount of Ameros does not always equal the amount of support. Howard Schultz—eff that guy!—could write himself a $7M check and take first place in the money chase.
Anyway, the implication is that Beto has a wide-base of support from small donors, just like his record-setting (and unsuccessful) Senate Campaign had. A large base of small donors is the Unicorn of politics: it assumes that these small donors are not tapped out and that he could continue to raise vast sums of money throughout the campaign.
Most of the reporting this morning of Beto’s roll-out is very dismissive, so other than raising a lot of money, the press is unimpressed.
Axios’ morning email thingie:
This weekend was a sneak peek: Beto groveling and Trump bellowing.
Beto O’Rourke apologized for joking during his first two days on the trail that his wife is raising their three children “sometimes with my help.”
“A stumbling start for Beto, despite crowds”: “A more disciplined candidate might not have been so sloppy, with months to prepare and adoring crowds waiting.
One can see forming the narrative from our elite press; in addition to all the misogyny that they are heaping on the women candidates, Bernie and Warren are old socialists, and Beto is going to be hapless white guy on an apology tour.
And so it goes.
 | HarpoSnarx on This Afternoons Irony Ale… |
 | ming on Midday Palate Cleanser |
 | Astamari on Would You Loan This Man $2B… |
| Astamari on Fasten Your Seatbelts, Bo… |
 | MDavis on News That Will Drive You To… |
