Don't Expect Trump To Help Fix Russian Electoral Meddling

Señor T may be-- is-- distracting everyone with whatever he's babbling about today... yesterday it was the incoherence of a path to citizenship and deporting thousands of El Salvadoreans, many with American-born children. Just as long as no one is talking about Putin-Gate he's chuckling away. Wednesday morning AP reported that Senate Dems issued a warning "of deepening Russian interference throughout Europe and concludes that even as some Western democracies have responded with aggressive countermeasures, President Donald Trump has offered no strategic plan to bolster their efforts or safeguard the U.S. from again falling victim to the Kremlin’s systematic meddling." Why should he, since the meddling is on his own behalf? Republican enablers are ignoring the report entirely.

The report commissioned by the top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee is the first from Congress to comprehensively detail Russian efforts to undermine democracies since the 2016 presidential election. It wastes no time in calling out Trump personally for what it describes as a failure to respond to Russia’s mounting destabilization activities in the U.S. and worldwide. The report was obtained by The Associated Press in advance of its public release Wednesday.

“Never before has a U.S. president so clearly ignored such a grave and growing threat to U.S. national security,” the report warns.

No Republicans on the committee signed on to the 200-plus page report released by Sen. Ben Cardin of Maryland. But even without GOP backing, the report’s recounting of Russian operations in 19 European nations foreshadows the still-unpublished Senate Intelligence Committee’s bipartisan inquiry into Russia’s role during the 2016 U.S. presidential election.

Cardin said in a statement that he commissioned the report so Americans can see the “true scope and scale” of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s efforts to undermine democracy.

“While President Trump stands practically idle, Mr. Putin continues to refine his asymmetric arsenal and look for future opportunities to disrupt governance and erode support for the democratic and international institutions that the United States and Europe have built over the last 70 years,” Cardin said.

Cardin’s inquiry lays blame directly on Putin for a “relentless assault to undermine democracy and the rule of law in Europe and the United States.” Concerned that Trump has failed to identify Russian aggression as a national rallying point, the report urges a “stronger congressional voice” in pro-democracy efforts and funding. The report calls for committee hearings and other bipartisan efforts to aid European nations in countering Russian aggression.

Some policy changes suggested by the report have garnered GOP interest, including the aggressive use of financial sanctions aimed at Russia and pressuring social media companies to be more transparent about Russian political messaging.

The report also pushes for the administration to fully fund and utilize the State Department’s Global Engagement Center, which it says is hobbled by “a lack of urgency and self-imposed constraints” under Secretary of State Rex Tillerson.

The center was created in 2016 to blunt terrorist propaganda. It duties have expanded to include countering Russian propaganda under legislation last year from Sens. Rob Portman (R-OH) and Chris Murphy (D-CT) Cardin’s report sketches a bleak portrait of European nations besieged by Russian encroachment. It also cites years of cyberattacks, disinformation, clandestine social media operations, financing of fringe political groups, corruption and in the extreme, assassination attempts and military operations that destabilized fledgling democratic governments in the Ukraine and Georgia. The report leans heavily on open source information as well as staff interviews with European diplomats and government officials.

Labeling Russia’s activities an “asymmetric assault on democracy,” the report notes that even elections in countries such as Britain, France and Germany were reportedly targeted by Moscow-sponsored hacking, internet trolling and financing for extremist political groups. The report also credits those nations and smaller European countries, such as Finland and Estonia, for responding quickly and often with effect.

Facebook officials told Cardin’s investigators that Kremlin-backed trolls that stirred up political tensions on its American pages also “pursued a similar strategy in the lead up to the 2017 French political election, and likely before Germany’s national election” last year.

Similarly, Finnish officials told Cardin’s investigators that Finland has ramped up anti-disinformation efforts after Russian-leaning Twitter accounts “began tweeting misinformation and fringe viewpoints” before that nation’s 2015 parliamentary elections-- foreshadowing the surge in Russian-sourced fake Twitter accounts that proliferated during the U.S. presidential election.

Senate Intelligence Committee officials have questioned efforts of Facebook and Twitter to accurately determine the extent of Russian political messaging during the 2016 U.S. election. Cardin’s team also noted alarming discrepancies between the extent of Russian troll activity found by independent researchers and far lower figures claimed by social media companies in European countries. The report advocates for social media companies to do a better job of auditing their platforms to determine the full extent of Russian disinformation flowing across them.

Cardin’s report urges Trump to set up an interagency “fusion cell” on Russian interference modeled on the National Counterterrorism Center that was created after the 9/11 attacks. The report recommends that the president convene an annual global summit modeled after similar forums on combating the Islamic State group or homegrown extremists. Rapid response teams should be formed to defend ally countries after cyberattacks, with an international treaty governing the use of cyber tools in peace time.

It calls on the government to increase the amount of aid it provides to promote democracy in Europe and publicly to expose any organized crime and corruption links to Putin. It say social media companies should be required to publicize the sources of funding for political advertisements along the same lines as broadcast and print media.

So far, the president personally has shown little interest in addressing Russia’s activities. During a November trip to Asia, where he met with Putin, Trump said “he said he didn’t meddle” and added: “I really believe that when he tells me that, he means it.”

Other administration officials have been more skeptical of Russian behavior. Defense Secretary James Mattis has said the U.S. is prepared to deter Russian aggression in Europe and the U.S. agreed late last year to allow sales of lethal anti-tank weapons to Ukraine.

CIA Director Mike Pompeo said Sunday on CBS’ Face the Nation that the CIA is working diligently to prevent Russia or any other U.S. adversary from interfering in future elections. “I continue to be concerned not only about the Russians but about others’ efforts as well,” Pompeo said.

There must be something between letting Russia determine American election results and letting the neocons start a shooting war with them, no?

Senate Defeats Fast Track Filibuster; Final Passage Almost Certain

"Yes We Can pass a corporate-written 'trade' agreement. My congressional brothers and sisters, with your help ... yes we can."

by Gaius Publius

By a narrow vote (but not as narrow as it looked), the Senate passed a standalone Fast Track bill 60–37. As explained by the floor leaders, three senators had trouble getting to the floor, but their votes were known and announced, so there were no undecideds.

Five Republicans voted to uphold the filibuster for reasons that can be examined later:

• Susan Collins (R-ME)
• Ted Cruz (R-TX)
• Rand Paul (R-KY)
• Jeff Sessions (R-AL)
• Richard Shelby (R-AL)

On the Democratic side, because three senators didn't show up to vote, the pro-TPP forces needed 13 Democrats to join with Republicans to defeat the filibuster. And surprise — 13 Democrats showed up:

• Michael Bennet (D-CO)
• Maria Cantwell (D-WA)
• Tom Carper (D-DE)
• Chris Coons (D-DE)
• Dianne Feinstein (D-CA)
• Heidi Heitkamp (D-ND)
• Tim Kaine (D-VA)
• Claire McCaskill (D-MO)
• Patty Murray (D-WA)
• Bill Nelson (D-FL)
• Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH)
• Mark Warner (D-VA)
• Ron Wyden (D-OR)

There's actually a 14th pro-TPP Democrat who was too afraid to vote until the 60th vote was cast:

•  Ben Cardin (MD)

 Huff Post explains:

Senate Gives Obama Huge Win On Trade

... Still, the razor-thin margin of the final vote count masks the fact that McConnell had slightly broader support at his disposal. Sen. Ben Cardin (D-Md.) stood by the table in the well of the Senate for most of the vote, waiting for the measure to get across the threshold of 60. As soon as it did, with a vote by Sen. Dean Heller (R-Nev.), Cardin voted no, suggesting he had been willing to vote yes if needed.

Ben Cardin voted Yes on Fast Track on May 22, once the filibuster was broken, a vote that helped send the Fast Track–and–Trade Assistance bill to the House. So Cardin's preferences are clear. He's a quiet Yes — he just doesn't want people to know that if he can help it. If you care, Cardin's up for reelection in 2018.

After the vote, McConnell announced that of the three absent senators, Corker, a Republican, was a Yes. Sherrod Brown then announced that the other two absent senators, Lee (R-UT) and Menendez (D-NJ), were both No votes.

With Cardin, Lee and Menendez factored in, the actual count would have been a still-tight 61–39. Two more Republican defections would have swung it the other way, but I strongly suspect there was an additional very quiet (but obvious if you think about it) Democratic Yes vote in the wings, if it was needed.

So the list of Democratic perps is the 13 above plus Ben Cardin. Perhaps they'll hold a reunion on some K Street–financed yacht once they're all turned out of office. They'll probably have the cash for it. They won't have Obama-money — he'll have surpassed Bill Clinton in parting gifts by that point — but K Street is not known for its poor people either.

GP

Unlike Bayh And Conrad, Not Every Democrat Thinks The Message From Last Tuesday Is To Surrender To The GOP & Dismantle Social Security

Republican reactionaries and Democratic conservatives should keep in mind what happened to her and her ilk when they pushed people too far

I'm pretty sure that the very first Senate candidate ever endorsed by Blue America was then-Congressman Ben Cardin in 2005 when he was running for the Maryland seat Paul Sarbanes was retiring from. Cardin struck me as a levelheaded and committed progressive and 738 Blue America supporters donated a modest $8,128 towards his 2006 election. At the time, I wrote:

If you read Ben Cardin's record as a congressman you'll understand how important it is to get a guy like this into the U.S. Senate. But it was really meeting Ben in person and seeing what he was like as a human being that inspired me to start an Act Blue page for him. The Republicans are targeting Maryland as a place where they can make an inroad. I think they're barking up the wrong tree. If Ben has the money to get his message out, he'll be sworn in as a U.S. Senator next January, where he'll be a voice of conscience in a time when Bush/DeLay/Frist/Abramoff ethics and Robertson/Falwell/Dobson/Phelps morals have replaced genuine American values.

And Cardin hasn't been a disappointment. In the current Congress, his ProgressivePunch score has been a robust 96.72, even more progressive than Bernie Sanders, Jeff Merkley or Barbara Boxer!

Yesterday Senator Cardin publicly ruminated about the meaning he was drawing about the message from last week's electoral drubbing his party took at the polls (though, basically, not in his state, where normal Democrats were all successful and -- at least federally-- the only casualty was an especially bad Blue Dog, Frank Kratovil, one of the extremely conservative members of that caucus who voted with the Republicans far more than with the Democrats on contentious, substantive issues). Cardin's conclusions are at odds with the conclusions of many conservatives in the media, in the Senate, in his own party.

"Now that we’ve had a little time to digest the results of Tuesday’s mid-term elections," he began, "its story is glaringly clear: American voters are angry and frustrated. Too many Americans are still out of work; too many American families are still losing their homes; and too many small businesses are struggling to survive in this tough economy. Voters are angry that we have not done more to help working families keep faith in the American Dream." Exactly right. Too many Democrats have strayed in the direction of Frank Kratovil and the Blue Dogs. The tragedy isn't that Kratovil and 29 other Blue Dogs were obliterated-- they earned that-- but that because they managed to muddy (and sully) the Democratic brand in the mind of so many voters, several Democrats who have been champions of working families-- Members like Carol Shea-Porter, Mary Jo Kilroy, John Hall, Phil Hare and, more than anyone, Alan Grayson-- were also swept away with the garbage like Bobby Bright, Travis Childers, Gene Taylor, Walt Minnick, Glenn Nye, etc.

The election is now over and we all have a responsibility to govern together. As a public servant in the Maryland General Assembly, U.S. House of Representatives, and now the U.S. Senate, I have experience crossing party lines in order to do what is right for Maryland and America.  At the same time, I will stand up for what I believe in and disagree when necessary.

Apparently Senators Conrad and Bayh, two far more conservative and corporately-inclined members of the Democratic caucus, didn't take away the same message as Senator Cardin. Bayh and Conrad see the drubbing the exact same way Republicans do-- as an opportunity to further concentrate the nation's wealth in the hands of fewer and fewer people. They both see an opportunity to begin the process of dismantling Social Security. This what happens when Big Business owns all of one party and a substantial piece-- the Bayh-Conrad piece-- of the other. Sam Stein tackled the thorny-- or electrifying-- question Tuesday evening at HuffPo:

In what may be the first major move of the forthcoming Social Security debate, the Peterson Foundation launched on Tuesday a $20 million TV ad campaign to promote the need for a major discussion on debt and deficit reduction.

...Perhaps the most frightening part of the unveiling, however, is that Peterson-- long a scourge of progressives for having earned hundreds of millions in the hedge fund business while preaching financial sacrifice for others-- has prominent Democrats backing his latest campaign. Appearing alongside him at the Newsuem on Tuesday morning was outgoing Sen. Evan Bayh (D-Ind.) and Budget Committee Chair Sen. Kent Conrad (D-N.D.).

"People on the left who don't want to touch entitlements, that is just unrealistic," said Conrad. "I would say to my friends on the left it is unrealistic, Medicare and Social Security are headed for insolvency. The idea that nothing has to be done is divorced from reality. On the right, those who say no new revenue, I believe, are also in denial."

"The election a week ago today would have been a lot more edifying if we had more commercials like that then the ones running out there in the various states," Bayh said of the ad campaign. "Very impressive."

If you're a corporate shill dedicated to destroying the middle class. Bayh is thankfully leaving the Senate in January, although I fear he (and his lobbyist wife) won't be disappearing from the political firmament. Conrad, a member of the Cat Food Commission, will still be around tugging the Democrats into more and more Republican Party directions, directions fatal for the Democratic Party, which needs to jettison these conservative ideas and take stock in what their big tent is supposed to actually represent. Along those lines one of the country's most respected economists, Dean Baker, Co-Director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research, sent Conrad a letter which he gave me permission to reprint:

November 9, 2010

The Honorable Kent Conrad
702 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510

Dear Senator Conrad:

You were quoted as saying at a press conference today:

“People on the left who don't want to touch entitlements, that is just unrealistic. … I would say to my friends on the left it is unrealistic, Medicare and Social Security are headed for insolvency. The idea that nothing has to be done is divorced from reality.”

This struck me as a very peculiar statement for two reasons. First, I literally cannot identify a single person on the left who working on Social Security who has not suggested many ways to close the projected long-term shortfall. The list of items they have put forward has included raising or eliminating the payroll cap, applying estate tax revenue to financing Social Security, and applying the revenue from a financial speculation tax to Social Security.

Many have also suggested phasing in modest increases in payroll taxes at a gradual pace, which would still allow after-tax wage growth to substantially outpace the rate of inflation. As I’m sure you know, polls have consistently shown that payroll tax increases are unpopular, but nonetheless preferred to benefit cuts.

I mention this list of ways to deal with the shortfall because it is simply not honest to claim that people on the left have not put forward suggestions for dealing with the shortfall. You may not
consider these suggestions to be good ones, but that doesn’t mean that they do not exist.

The second reason that your statement is peculiar is that it is quite literally wrong in the case of Social Security. None of us know the future, but if we rely on the Social Security trustees projections the program will be fully solvent until the year 2037. (The Congressional Budget Office projects that it will be fully solvent until 2039.) This means that we certainly can wait before taking any action on the program.

For example, if we waited until 2020, and then implemented a fix comparable in size to the Greenspan Commission’s proposals, then the program would be fully solvent through the rest of the century. In fact, this would be true even if we waited until 2030 to implement the fix.


In short, it is simply not true to claim that we cannot wait to address the program’s projected shortfall. There are reasons why you may think it is better to move quickly, but the reality is that the
projections show that we have the option to wait.

I would be happy to discuss this issue with you further if it would be helpful.

Regards,

Dean Baker
Co-Director, Center for Economic and Policy Research

Meanwhile, over on the House side, the crap that's left of the Blue Dog Caucus, is running around chasing it's collective tail trying to wreak revenge on Pelosi for... not being Republican enough or something. According to Roll Call the reactionary corporate wing of the House Democratic caucus feels it can best serve its masters by some of these proposals its considering:

• Holding Blue Dog meetings at the same time as Democratic Caucus meetings, under the logic that if Pelosi isn’t going to listen to them, they don’t need to listen to her.

• Taking down a rule during the lame-duck session to express their displeasure with the Speaker and embarrass her on the floor.

• Pushing to make the chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee an elected position to weaken the Democratic leader’s power.

• Getting members to sign letters expressing their displeasure at the Speaker and threatening not to run for re-election if she remains.

• Making a push to enforce term limits against Reps. George Miller (Calif.) and Rosa DeLauro (Conn.), Pelosi’s closest allies, in their roles as co-chairmen of the Steering and Policy Committee.

• Opening formal negotiations with Republicans on budget cuts or other issues and cutting Pelosi out of the talks.

Please keep in mind that this past cycle, Blue America TV and radio ads were responsible for ridding Congress of the single most reprehensible Blue Dog, Bobby Bright (AL). Our Blue Dog page is still open for business and we promise to work on getting rid of more Blue Dogs in the primary season next year. Please consider giving us a hand.

UPDATE: Finally A Democrat Who Isn't On The Board Of MorganStanley Praises The Cat Food Commission-- Conrad, Of Course

Though not for lack of trying, Erskine Bowles has never been elected to anything, not by real people. But the shameless corporate hack-- Obama's second worst pick for his Cat Food Commission-- was selected for a very lucrative position on the Board of Wall Street financial predators MorganStanley. That Board is his constituency and he is representing their interests with his viciously anti-family proposals. One of the most corporate-oriented Democrats on the commission other than Bowles, is North Dakota Senator Kent Conrad-- and he thinks Democrats should sacrifice their political careers on the alter of concentrating more of the nation's wealth in the hands of his campaign donors. This garbage will wind up on history's trash pile in two years, when his corporate donors abandon him for a teabagger and Democratic voters decide there's no reason to bother to go to the polls.