Blue Lives Matter?

Do you ever get a call soliciting money for some kind of police benevolent association? I do-- frequently. I always hang up. It's different from the way I treat other phone solicitors who slip through my security net. For the others I either speak in a really low voice so they have to press their ear against the phone to hear me-- and then blow a high-decibel coast guard whistle into the phone-- or I let loose with the most incredibly ugly stream of curses imaginable, so ugly that I unsalted and frighten myself. But when it's an operator-- inevitably an authoritative-sounding male-- identifying himself as from a police organization, I hold off on the whistle and curses. I just hang up. That's because I fear retribution.

No one from my high school academic classes became a cop. That's because in my high school, they divided kids up into "honor" classes, regular classes and "modified" classes. I was in the honor classes. The future cops weren't. And there were future cops at the school. They were in my gym classes and my home room classes and in my shop class. I didn't know for sure they would be cops then; there was always the chance they could be criminals. The future cops and the future mobsters were the same group of guys. At some point, they would go one way or the other-- although a congressman who eventually represented my neighborhood (decades after I had left) never made the choice... He was both a federal law enforcement agent and a mobster at the same time. That would be Michael Grimm (R-NY), who severed a tap on the wrist sentence for cheating on his taxes as part of a deal that didn't get into a long list of criminal activities, including at least one murder, in return for strict silence on his part. Omertà.

As the president of a large company in a small city, I was tight with the local police-- more than cordial relations. When my house was robbed once, I went to these cops from the city where I worked, not the city where my house was. They solved it-- fast-- and had all my stolen stuff back to me and the perps behind bars. More than cordial. Decades apart, I had affairs with two cops. What they had in common was chilling. I'm sure there are good cops like... Harry Bosch.





But not too many. More of them, I suspect, are like the cops/robbers kids in the modified classes, getting off on the power of fear, dominance and terror. This week New York Magazine published a piece by Zak Cheney-Rice worth reading, In L.A. County, Gangs Wear Badges that might help you to grok what the Black Lives Matter movement is fighting. "Much of the recent debate," wrote Cheney-Rice, "about policing’s excesses involves a clash of two viewpoints: one claiming that there is something structurally and culturally wrong with American law enforcement that encourages immoral behavior, and another that attributes their worst conduct to 'bad apples,' rogue individuals whose actions speak for them alone and do not indict their fellow officers or their profession as a whole. The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department provides a helpful literalization of the former point: an entire law-enforcement entity whose members regularly join criminal gangs, earn clout by harassing, assaulting, and killing county residents, and retaliate against their colleagues who dare to oppose them." Oh great!

Sworn testimony made in June by a whistleblower, Deputy Art Gonzalez, details a pattern of such behavior inside the Compton sheriff’s station, which exists as part of the Southern California city’s partnership with the county sheriff to provide local law enforcement. Gonzalez claimed that Deputy Miguel Vega, who shot 18-year-old Andres Guardado during a June incident that sparked protests, was a prospective member of the Executioners, a dozen or so deputies who allegedly operate as a gang-- setting illegal arrest quotas, threatening work slowdowns if they don’t get their desired shift assignments, assaulting their fellow deputies, and holding parties to celebrate when their members shoot or kill someone in the line of duty, the Los Angeles Times reports. The existence of the Executioners is “common knowledge” within the department, Gonzalez said, according to Spectrum News 1, which obtained a transcript of his testimony this week. Decades of harassment and violence at the hands of the Compton office-- including one 2019 incident where the city’s mayor, Aja Brown, claims to have been ordered out of her car by more than half a dozen deputies and searched for drugs that she did not possess-- have led the city to propose severing ties with the department altogether, a proposal that the Executioners revelations stand to accelerate. According to the whistleblower complaint, Deputy Vega, who shot Guardado six times in the back, was “chasing ink”-- a term used to describe efforts to impress the Executioners in order to be drafted into their ranks and obtain their signature tattoo: a skeleton backed by flames, brandishing a rifle and wearing a Nazi-style helmet.

Part of what makes this dynamic notable is how ordinary it is. Though the central allegation is that the Executioners “dominate” the Compton sheriff’s office, at least nine other such gangs are known to operate across the department, and have done so for decades. “Vikings, Reapers, Regulators, Little Devils, Cowboys, 2000 Boys and 3000 Boys, Jump Out Boys, and most recently the Banditos and the Executioners,” Matthew Burson, chief of the department’s professional standard division, told KABC last month of the LASD’s gang problem. “I am absolutely sickened by the mere allegation of any deputy hiding behind their badges to hurt anyone.” Sheriff Alex Villanueva has said he intends to fire or suspend more than two dozen deputies involved in a widely covered assault on four non-gang members at an off-duty party in 2018. Villanueva was elected under immense pressure to clean up the department, whose former heads-- Lee Baca and his undersheriff, Paul Tanaka-- were convicted of obstructing a federal probe of abuses in the county’s jail. Tanaka was an alleged member of the Lynwood Vikings, a white supremacist sheriff’s gang. Villanueva has also said that he will implement measures to discourage deputies from joining these cliques at all, but county Inspector General Max Huntsman said last month that he’d seen no evidence of this actually happening. The fallout has been costly on several fronts. Since 2010, misconduct claims linked to these sheriff’s gangs have cost the county $21 million in settlements and associated legal costs, according to the Los Angeles Times.

It’s hard to make sense of this phenomenon without acknowledging that discrete individual malfeasance is insufficient for explaining its scope and longevity. The existence of ten or more gangs operating within the law-enforcement agency that patrols America’s most populous county, and whose members have occupied its highest ranks, indicates a level of tolerance and normalization that cannot be isolated to any one person, and a scale of public danger that cannot be calculated in mere dollar amounts or police shooting statistics. These gangs have been implicated in sustaining an environment of terror, and are regularly celebrated and rewarded for it. Their existence, and seeming intractability, are stark manifestations of the ways that American law-enforcement agencies operate as fraternities the nation over, with less regard for public partnership than for capitalizing upon their own impunity. This is perhaps most evident in the conduct of police unions. But survey any heavily patrolled community and it becomes clear that the existence of police gangs are not necessary to promote illegal arrest quotas, work slowdowns, or internal plaudits for acts of brutality-- though gangs are an especially brazen way of formalizing them. This is simply the reality of policing.

A full year ago-- so long before the Democrats chose a candidate-- the International Union of Police Associations endorsed Trump’s 2020 re-election campaign. In doing so, union chief Sam Cabral said "Every top Democrat currently running for this office has vilified the police and made criminals out to be victims. They seem to take any union’s support for granted. Many of them still refer to the tragedy in Ferguson as a murder, despite the conclusions of every investigative inquiry to the contrary. While his candor ruffles the feathers of the left, I find it honest and refreshing. He stands with America’s law enforcement officer and we will continue to stand with him." Last month the union representing most NYC cops also endorsed Trump. Union president Patrick Lynch, said "Across this country, police officers are under attack. Our neighborhoods are being ripped apart by violence and lawlessness. Most politicians have abandoned us, but we still have one strong voice speaking up in our defense."

Staten Island Blue Dog Max Rose, Who Opposes Medicare-For-All And The Green New Deal, Gets Lucky

Another colorful lesser of 2 evils race shaping up in NY: Rose v Grimm?

There's a subway stop on the corner of Kings Highway and East 17th Street in Brooklyn, a few feet from the famous Dubrow's Cafeteria where JFK came for a rally in 1960. Back then that area around Dubrow's was the heart of Brooklyn's liberal Jewish bastion. The nearest high school was James Madison which graduated Ruth Bader Ginsberg, Bernie Sanders, Chuck Schumer-- and me. I didn't see any of them at Dubrow's the evening JFK was there, but my mother brought me to see the next president. A policeman on horseback accidentally stepped on my foot and I was carried into the cafeteria-- which was reserved for the local politicos and donors-- and Kennedy came over to me and offered my mother and I some solace for my wound. A few months later he defeated Vice President Richard Nixon-- massively so in that part of south Brooklyn.

That area is the furthest corner of NY-11, the "Staten Island district," currently represented by Blue Dog freshman Max Rose. The actual furthest corner of the district is Avenue P and East 17th street, 3 doors down from what was then my family's house. The congressional district itself is the most heavily-Italian district in America. But the eastern part of the Brooklyn section is still predominantly Jewish, although no longer liberal Jewish. They've all moved and the neighborhoods are filled with right-wing Russian immigrants; huge Trump supporters. The precincts that had traditionally given liberal Democrats immense margins turned out to give Trump his biggest wins in New York City. It broke my heart.

NY-11 itself, was the only New York City congressional district that Trump won-- beating Hillary 53.6% to 43.8%, a shanda. 4 years earlier, Obama had beaten Romney there, 51.6% to 47.3%. The PVI is R+3 and it's a pretty classic swing district. In the last few years there have been two Republican congressmen-- Michael "Mikey Suits" Grimm and Dan Donovan-- and two Democratic congressmen-- Mike McMahon and now Max Rose. Rose flipped the district after a bruising GOP primary in which Grimm, straight out of prison-- and all Trumpified and with Bannon's blessing-- tried unsuccessfully to displace Donovan. In the general, Donovan was a dead man walking and Rose eviscerated him in the Brooklyn third of the district and even beat him, albeit narrowly, in the Staten Island bulk of the district. It was a 101,823 (53.0%) to 89,441 (46.6%) Democratic win.

But it's still a Republican-leaning district where Trump has a big following and Rose is definitely at the top of the GOP list of Democrat-held seats they hope to flip. The NRCC and the Republican establishment in general has rallied around popular state Assemblywoman Nicole Malliotakis, who ran for mayor of NYC in 2017. Although she only took a minuscule 27.6% of the vote citywide, her win against Bill de Blasio in Staten Island was massive: 70,125 (70.6%) to 25,466 (25.6%).

She seems like the perfect candidate for the GOP to take on Rose. But that clashes with Mikey Suits' career plans. There's been a buzz on Staten Island for months that Grimm was thinking about running again but yesterday Laura Barrón-López broke the news for Politico readers: The former GOP congressman and tax felon says he's "90% of the way there to run" against freshman Max Rose on Staten Island. The Mafia congressman "is trying," she wrote, "to come back from the dead-- again." She interviewed him and he told her "he’s very close to launching the second bid for his old seat in as many years... Grimm says the shadow cast by his felony guilty plea is no longer a factor. He’s spoken to multiple people at the National Republican Congressional Committee, Grimm said, and he's in the process of setting up a meeting for an upcoming trip to Washington. 'The cloud is gone. It’s over; it’s in the past,' he said. 'I’ve had a lot of colleagues call me and tell me they’d love to have me back.'" (Another GOP criminal congressman, wanted to have his backside; I remember that.)

The move by the scandal-tainted tough guy, who once threatened to throw a reporter off a balcony, could jeopardize Republicans’ chances in a district key to the party’s hopes of recapturing the House in 2020.

...The one-time FBI agent said he was railroaded by his political enemies-- “They don’t want rising Republican stars in New York City,” he said-- when he was sentenced to less than a year in prison. And Grimm’s opponents all happen to have one thing in common: They’re President Donald Trump’s enemies, too.

“Who signed off on my indictment? James Comey,” Grimm, stirring his tea at the Z-One Diner here, said of the former FBI director whom Trump fired. “It’s the same exact players and the same exact playbook.”

He compared his felony charges for tax evasion to the “witch hunt” Russia investigation carried out by special counsel Robert Mueller, Comey and former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe. But there are obvious differences: Grimm pleaded guilty to concealing more than $900,000 in gross income and admitted failing to report hiring busboys “off the books” when he owned a Manhattan restaurant, Healthalicious.

...In what could be a sign of the battle to come, Grimm and Rose are already attacking each other gleefully more than a year before the start of the general election.

Grimm took issue with Rose boasting about passage of legislation that allows construction and maintenance of a seawall along the east shore of Staten Island. He said he’s the one who got the plan and the funding for the wall approved. What Rose passed was equivalent to pulling a permit, said Grimm.

“If [Rose] was a gentleman, and he wasn’t insecure because I know he is about me-- he’s terrified I’m going to run-- he’d be honest and say, ‘My congressman, Grimm, funded this wall, and I’m now making sure it’s getting done,’” said Grimm.

Rose-- a blunt-spoken Army veteran-- gladly fired back at his would-be opponent.

“There’s absolutely no doubt that Mike played a part, and then he had to pass the baton to Dan Donovan when he took a vacation in federal prison,” said Rose. “And then Dan Donovan passed the baton to me after I beat him.”

"God bless him," Rose added of news that Grimm is close to launching a campaign. "He's just the gift that keeps on giving."

Nearly three months on the job, Rose hasn’t shied away from defying party leaders. He voted against Nancy Pelosi for speaker. He isn't embracing proposals championed by leading progressives in the party and sided with Republicans on a symbolic procedural measure saying authorities should notify ICE when an undocumented immigrant buys a gun.

At the same time, Rose is being squeezed by an emboldened left flank of the party that dominates the news cycle and increasingly threatens primary challenges. And Rose, in particular, may end up feeling more of the heat because his district is just miles away from the one represented by fellow freshman Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.

Speaking to fewer than 100 constituents at his second-ever town hall last weekend in the auditorium of a high school in the Bay Ridge section of Brooklyn, Rose got five questions about freshman Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN), two about the Green New Deal, and went round for round with a constituent about why he opposes "Medicare for All." (Rose supports lowering the Medicare eligibility age to 50, instituting a nationalized system of all-payer rate-setting and a public option.)

Rose was pressed the most on policies boosted by Ocasio-Cortez and his response to comments made by Omar that were widely considered anti-Semitic. “Someone in this country does have a right to criticize Israel. Someone in this country does have a right to criticize Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu,” Rose said. “All I ask is that they do it without causing Jewish people pain by bringing up anti-Semitic comments."

Rose panned the "economic unorthodoxies" of the Green New Deal and said instead, he wants an “Apollo project for battery technology” to advance solar and wind energy and a cap-and-trade system to get the U.S. to a carbon-free economy by 2050.

While Rose works to position himself as more centrist than some of his Democratic colleagues, Republicans are eager to hit him from the right. As with other Trump-district members, Republicans plan to tag Rose as the tip of a socialist spear-- hoping that by tethering Rose to Ocasio-Cortez and Pelosi they can make him a one-term member. That playbook failed in 2018, after Republicans spent millions labeling Democrats running in red districts Pelosi soldiers.

“As the daughter of a Cuban refugee, the threat of socialism is something I don’t take lightly," said Malliotakis, who calls Rose "a Park Slope liberal," labeling the Democrat an off-island Brooklynite. "When I see individuals like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who's from New York City, trying to move our country more to the left, it really bothers me."

Rose has an answer to that charge at the ready, one he test-drove at a Staten Island town hall earlier last week. “I’m not a socialist. Everyone here knows I’m not a socialist,” he said in an interview. “It’s very obvious I’m not a socialist.”

But Rose could also benefit from a fractious Republican primary. Malliotakis touted establishment Republican support she’s quickly lining up, noting that New York Reps. Lee Zeldin and Elise Stefanik are backing her bid. Stefanik’s new Elevate PAC, formed to boost female Republicans in primaries, is “supporting” her. Malliotakis has also met with House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy “personally,” she said, and “he’s very supportive.” (McCarthy did not respond to a request for comment.)

Looming large over any Republican primary is Trump, who endorsed Donovan over Grimm in the 2018 primary. Grimm said he doesn't harbor a grudge, but he'd be less enthusiastic about a run this time if the president is going to back another candidate in the race.

"The president got involved to save an incumbent, which I respect," Grimm said. "I wouldn’t want to be in a position now where the president would jump in again."

Malliotakis wouldn't necessarily be a natural fit for a Trump endorsement, but neither was Donovan, who voted against Trump's tax overhaul. In her failed campaign for mayor in bright-blue New York in 2017, Malliotakis said she voted for Trump but later regretted it.

“I agree with the president on most policies," Malliotakis said in an interview at a The Coffee Club Diner in South Brooklyn. "When I disagree with him, I’ll disagree with him. I’m not anybody’s rubber stamp. I’m my own individual person.”

Grimm thinks he's the best shot at taking the seat back, calling Malliotakis too "liberal" to win. And he claims his recent history as a criminal defendant makes him the right person to send back to Washington during Trump's reelection campaign.

"Bad things happen to good people every day, and my experience would make me a better legislator because I look at how it's happened again to Donald Trump," said Grimm, returning to his felony. "My love for this country just exudes from me. It just comes out of me."

See it exuding?

Like Al Capone, they put Mikie Suits away for tax evasion but never charged him with murder, etc

Tomorrow's Primary Day-- And Crowley Is A Villain Not Just In Queens And The Bronx, But In Staten Island And Brooklyn Too!

Today, the furthermost corner of NY-11 is at Avenue P and East 15th Street. When I was a pre-teen, my family had a house on 17th right off Avenue P. One of my friends, Anne, lived with her family on East 14th Street between Avenue P and Kings Highway. We both went to PS 197. Back then we were also in the same congressional district-- Manny Celler's. First elected in 1923, Celler's district was redrawn at least 4 times and back in the early '60s it was NY-11, as it is now-- albeit without Staten Island-- when Anne and I lived in it. Actually she still does. I didn't know that until this week. I hadn't heard from her since we went away to college. We hadn't been in touch. She e-mailed me, inspired to finally reach out by Fred Moguls' WNYC piece, and told me she reads DWT everyday. She told me something I didn't know anything about-- that Grimm called Rose "a pussy" in public, and that mister "courage to lead" said nothing in retort and went on to whine to multiple people about it. That's not a guy who's ready to take on Grimm in a general, and when there was a candidate forum in the very red South shore of Staten Island and it was confirmed Grimm would be there, Rose was a no-show coward. I called her and we caught up. We exchanged pictures. She said she would recognize me instantly. Something like sixty years have passed. I would never have recognized myself. Anyway, Anne said she agrees with everything I write... everything. I love her; no one else agrees with everything. No one. She's petrified the DCCC is going to wind up giving NY-11 back to Michael "Mikie Suits" Grimm by supporting a crummy Blue Dog, Max Rose. She had written a post about her fears but was nervous about sending it to me. Why, I asked, you were always a much better writer than I was. She used to help me with my homework. Here's her guest post. Please encourage her to write more.

The 2 bad guys in the NY-11 race-- Grimm and Rose

Please, Stop Michael Grimm... And The DCCC
-by Anne From Brooklyn

The Darwin awards for political ineptness have yet to be invented, but the DCCC is doing everything it can to win the coveted Most Embarrassing Congressional Election That Doesn't Have To Be Lost category in a landslide.

In 2015, it took the grand prize without breaking a sweat. Never content to settle, the D-trip now aims to break its already impressive record-- in the same district, against the same flawed Republican. It may very well work. But it may also fail spectacularly; particularly if The People have their way.

In 2015, they put up the most clownish Democrat they could think of to screw their hopes so shamefully that Candidate Recchia earned star status on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. Recchia went on to raise more funds than any Congressional candidate in history, right before setting another record when he suffered an epically humiliating loss to Republican Michael Grimm. Grimm was not only under indictment at the time, but had just threatened (on live tv!) to break a reporter "in half-- like a little boy" and throw him "over this balcony." The balcony was DC's Congressional Rayburn Building and Grimm ultimately resigned his seat, pleaded guilty to felony tax fraud, and served an eight-month sentence.

Now that he's out and wants his seat back, he is Trumpily primarying the Trumpiest schlump representative, Dan Donovan (the DA who could indict a ham sandwich, but not the NYPD officer who caused the death of Eric Garner with an illegal chokehold).

The DCCC can glide to November victory with the most populist Democrat the district has known in decades by working to help elect Michael DeVito, a guy well-known for his deep integrity, empathy and non-partisan service throughout the district. He's mentored Donovan's own stepson, and, as a Marine, serves as the perfect foil to Grimm. The DCCC is far too masochistic to ever do anything so sensible, though. Instead, they dropped a Blue Dog elitist unknown into the mix to alienate every voter with Nancy Pelosi-isms and empty platitudes. Max Rose isn't just the perfect picture of a limousine Blue Dog, he's a plastic puppet devoid of substance who has in his remarkably short time living amongst the plebs of NY-11 already dropped enough Trumpian whoppers on voters to qualify as the hollowest of candidates, straight from the Build-A-Politician Factory located on K Street.

Max Rose is a compact package of arrogance, spitting out lines fed to him by his D.C. handlers, and while he does, obfuscating that fact at every turn, presenting himself as some sort of anti-establishment everyman. In the early days of his campaign (at least as it was announced; he's been secretly running for office for years) he launched a 100-day "listening tour," which is exactly what you do when you don't know anyone in and anything about the district you're trying to represent. At the beginning of this stunt, he issued his first public lie,"All too often politicians-- both Democrats and Republicans-- develop their policy platforms behind closed doors with lobbyists and truckloads of polling data guiding their decision making. That's not who I am and that's not what this campaign will be about..." Yet just seven days prior, he announced his campaign team, a roster full of D.C. troupers from the revolving door of the DCCC and its consultant class, with one exception: his campaign manager, Kevin Elkins. And if we are the company we keep, then Rose is already a dirty rat.

Elkins' involvement as a Rose staffer didn't happen through old fashioned recruiting, but through a backroom deal akin to extortion that filters through the local county committee. Elkins, formerly the Executive Director of the County Committee, approached the Chairman, John Gulino, to inform him that he would primary the City Councilwoman, Debi Rose. Debi Rose was-- and remains-- the only woman of color elected to office in Staten Island history. With Elkins' notoriety as a dirty player, Gulino had to know the race would get ugly fast, and that the very popular and progressive Debi Rose would get dragged through the difficulty of a filthy campaign-- ostensibly risking the loss of the seat to a Republican in an already strongly-held Republican borough. Gulino offered Elkins the campaign manager slot on Max Rose's team as a way to keep him at bay. And it was this that led the tail to wag the dog, from before the Congressional campaign was announced to the present day.

Elkins is so reviled in Staten Island politics that after he was revealed to be the target of a $10,000 hit by Richard Luthmann (a Staten Island attorney who is himself notorious for suing for the right to a trial by combat), the dark joke throughout the borough was that the $10,000 plan to shoot Elkins failed because there were too many people willing to do it for free. Elkins would use the "hit" revelation for public sympathy, as is his modus operandi, morphing the story that there was a plot into,"I survived an assassination attempt." Elkins remains closely tied to Mike McMahon, having worked on his successful Congressional campaign (followed by his failed one, which he lost to Michael Grimm in 2010), and when Luthmann was remanded without bail, a propensity for violence was presented as grounds for remand, based on the story about Elkins. With McMahon's connections, and a personal aversion to Luthmann (McMahon's wife, Judge Judy McMahon, was a target of online bullying by Luthmann,) it is suspected that the bail revocation and "hit" story may not be entirely as it appears.

Kevin Elkins has a petty history as well in his nefariousness, having a years-long reputation for campaign lawn sign shenanigans, which was unable to be proven until he was caught-- himself-- on camera removing an opponent's lawn signs under cover of night in 2015. The race was for District Attorney, the opponent was Joan Illuzzi, and the candidate Elkins was working for-- Mike McMahon. Not content to end his lawn sign pettiness three years ago, he seems to be continuing his scheme on Max Rose's campaign, directing staff to engage in lawn sign destruction and removal, and planting his candidate's signs where they are not wanted or requested, in an effort to give the appearance his candidate is more popular than he is (lawn signs are a big deal on Staten Island.) With the dearth of local press coverage in the race, this all plays out on Facebook and Twitter, where voters air their grievances.

It is likely Kevin Elkins' language that Max Rose deploys when he issues his pretentiously folksy utterances of "you bet!" And "I'm running because I'm fed up!" and deploys a manufactured Brooklyn accent which doesn't exist in the elitist circles in which he grew up. It's all part of dumbing things down for the lowly voters. And it is Elkins' condescension and detachment from voters, combined with the typical DCCC arrogance and tone deafness that created the narrative of Rose's campaign that he has gleefully followed from Day One. By presenting himself as a soldier hero with the "Courage to Lead," co-opting the Army's motif and logo for his campaign, and talking about his purple heart and Afghanistan at every step, Rose and his ilk are counting on appealing to the militant right wing of the base for the General election, and to scrape through the primary by attempting to scare the bejesus out of anyone left of Reagan: if you don't vote for me, you'll get a convicted felon! I have more money than anyone!

Rose's entire persona is manufactured. Any fans he has parrot "his résumé" which includes a one-year stint at a couple of patronage jobs, respectively, that he touts as the experience needed to advocate for some 700,000+ constituents. He and his handlers have tried to avoid referencing his organic history, so the "elitist" label can be dodged, but his non-political biography reveals the holes of the conceit.

A product of the tony Park Slope section of Brooklyn with a sprinkling of the Hamptons, Rose did not have an association with CD-11 outside of his prep school education (Poly Prep, where his family's ties to the Board and connections with other affluent Brooklynites would provide a deep-pocketed fundraising base.) According to past acquaintances, he was looking for a district to move into run for Congress, and parts of New Jersey were contenders. One such prospect may have been Hoboken, where Leigh Marsanico-Byrne, who he introduced as his fiancee (and now his wife), resided or resides. According to neighbors in the luxury waterfront apartment building he moved into upon his transplantation into Staten Island, she has not lived there throughout their courtship or his campaign, and indeed she is rarely seen on the campaign trail. Further investigation revealed that she owns a property in Hoboken, New Jersey. She registered to vote at Rose's address on November 3, 2017, having never voted in an election (nor been registered to) before in New York or New Jersey. A "child stylist" by profession who runs in socialite circles, it is possible that her absence is a strategy as much as it is a byproduct of her residency.

Rose is sure to highlight his Wesleyan education with his Masters from the London School of Economics. But he quickly zooms to emphasize his work with those he presents as the poor and downtrodden-- lest we forget he actually has a little consideration for people of color and those in poverty (his public statements and answers to questions posed reveal him to believe they are one and the same.) There are three pieces of background he emphasizes repeatedly: his one-year-ish stint as Chief of Staff at Brightpoint Health, his job as "Special Assistant" to Brooklyn DA Ken Thompson, and his membership in Occupy the Block. Ken Thompson was a beloved district attorney who died in the course of his tenure. Rose does not reveal the length of his employment there, but touts his indispensable involvement in the "Begin Again" program which was designed to help clear low-level offenses. The program was launched in July 2015; Rose was working for Brightpoint by the following June. Despite an exhaustive online search to find Max Rose's name on anything associated with the program, he appears on a single piece of correspondence, in minutes of a meeting. As Brooklyn lost its cherished DA, checking the facts with him about Rose's "invaluable" role is impossible.

Rose was at a women's breakfast in Staten Island on Saturday... demonstrating his "stamina to lead?"

Rose repeats his talking points about his position at Brightpoint Health, that he "helped deliver" healthcare to low-income patients and those suffering with addiction and that he "helped bring a medical clinic and drug recovery center to the island." But there was ALREADY a clinic functioning before Brightpoint acquired it, and the grants reveal that funding was in place years before Rose was ever involved. In March 2016, ostensibly around or before the time Rose became involved with the organization, the collaboration between the existing entity, Community Health Action Staten Island ("CHASI") and Brightpoint was already in the works. In Brightpoint, Rose attempts to claim credit for accomplishments he didn't earn. Whether the healthcare "delivered" by Brightpoint is even altruistic at all is another question. Max makes hay of his dedicated volunteerism with Occupy the Block, a neighborhood watch-type initiative that sets up dedicated volunteerism with Occupy the Block, a neighborhood watch-type initiative that sets up twice weekly in the most challenged areas of Staten Island where violence can build. He uses his "Occupy" status in ample photo ops, campaign materials, and speeches. Many of the men of Occupy the Block will tell you they've never heard of him, or that they saw him a few times before he declared his run for office. Others will change the subject immediately to Michael DeVito, and how he's "the real" volunteer for Occupy the Block (a fact specifically cited in DeVito's induction into the NYS Senate Veterans' Hall of Fame.) They may tell you even more about DeVito, and they may tell you nothing else about Max Rose but shoot you a glance that tells you they are not happy with opportunists.

And as with every Blue Dog, that gets right to the root of it all: opportunism. Max Rose is neither a Democrat nor a Blue Dog for his principles. He certainly isn't the progressive he purports himself to be, nor does he have the "courage" he said he has to lead. He is credibly a pro-choice candidate, and that appears to be the sum of his authentic convictions, so the label "Democrat" seems convenient enough. The blind ambition within him makes him a natural choice for the Blue Dog team, and the zeal he has to perpetuate the Military-Industrial Complex at great taxpayer expense and huge profit to the Defense PACs which provide his benefaction makes him a perfect New Dem as well. A perfunctory amateur analysis of the Blue Dog/New Dem combo yielded a predicted "Trump Score" in legislation for of New Dem/Blue Dog cross-endorsed candidate of 43.44, meaning that Rose could be more of a Republican in a House voting record than the existing Congressman, Donovan, and even out-flank from the right Grimm's legislative voting history.

When challenged on his positions, the source of his funding, or to explain his actual experience, he quickly rushes to his combat veteran credentials. "Afghanistan" seems to be the safe word he and his consultants are counting on; that, and to sow enough fear for Democrats and discord between voters of Donovan and Grimm to split the vote and squeak into place. And while he sprinkles his GI Joe tales around, he often forgets his audience. The 11th District has a large population of Muslims of varying ethnicities and origins. It's not surprising to learn that the presentation of the candidate in combat fatigues talking about shooting people in the desert has not resonated pleasantly in congregations of Pakistani-Americans, at Muslim festival celebrations, and among memberships of organizations where peace is fervently pursued.

And then there is the money. Max Rose has only one notable opponent, the aforementioned DeVito. He has made it his business to hit Rose publicly about the sources of some of his funds. Rose had already publicly announced his "corporate PAC money pledge" and subsequently received the endorsement of End Citizens United, the AstroTurf organization that runs a circular conveyor belt with the DNC, Emily's List, and now VoteVets. Let it be stated for the record that this decoy was not deployed until after Rose's overlords were able to ensure they could funnel enough corporate money effectively through other Democratic "leadership" PACs such as the JOEPAC of his chief benefactor, Joe Crowley, and through the joint fundraising agreement Rose shares with Crowley.

On February 15th, the day after the Parkland massacre, a Twitter user later determined to be New York physician Matthew Brown tagged both Rose and Anthony Brindisi for the Blue Dog PAC's $20,000 in NRA cash since 2016 with, "you really want to be supported by blood money? Will you repudiate the NRA's dirty cash?" DeVito issued a scathing rebuke immediately, and apparently earned a reputation for being a shit-stirrer in the district-- something that Centrist Democrats didn't welcome. Rose's handling of the question, however, fared worse. Rose continued to get pressed on the matter on social media, yet never answered. A March for Our Lives group had formed locally with the leadership of a Parkland survivor's cousin, and when a town hall was requested to Donovan and rejected as is the norm, the "MFOL" group began to assemble one of their own, inviting all Congressional candidates to participate, including Grimm and the present Congressman. Max Rose attempted to reclaim his image as a guy against the NRA (some arguments from his surrogates included that it's only a little bit of NRA money in his PAC) and offered to pay for a town hall out of his campaign funds. Both the town hall organizers in Staten Island, and a smaller town hall organization that followed in Brooklyn (which he did not attend) refused his offer and privately expressed their disgust at the hypocrisy.

On April 7th, the "Town Hall for our Lives" proceeded at a Staten Island college, with recitations and tears and statements and elected officials, all surrounding the Parkland massacre and what legislative steps are necessary. Max Rose was able to get through the entire town hall without the question of the Blue Dog NRA funds until the end, when a woman was able to plead for a last question. She posed it, and he answered, "I'm so glad you asked this question," (as if anyone was stopping him from answering at any moment before.) "The Blue Dogs gave it back, and he went on to offer more platitudes and rehearsed sentences about the "F-U" rating he is going to get in Congress, but not before declaring that "an opponent on this stage with me" spread "this lie." With crocodile tears welling up that he had rented from Kevin Elkins, he proceeded to explain how hurtful it was to be damaged by "lies." "We have to be done with these lies" he whined, and declared himself "a proud Blue Dog" while the audience shuffled out.

The Blue Dog's NRA money no longer a focus, a debate was hosted by Swing Left on April 26th, and the subject of PAC money was raised-- once again by DeVito, but this time, with fire, as part of his closing remarks."The Blue Dog Democrats take money from corporations, from Big Pharma, from Monsanto... Max Rose has signed a fundraising agreement with Joe Crowley. THAT'S where the money comes from. You need to believe in your candidate." The moderator allows the microphone to return to Rose for an answer, and his retort was a pompous, "I have raised more money in this race than all of the candidates" [heckles and boos; an audience member shouts, "FROM WHERE?!" And a chant of "from where, from where" begins.] DeVito grabs another mic, "from the oligarchy, from corporate donors, that's from where," and Max Rose shuts down his comments for the rest of the evening, unable to face the criticisms of the voters.

If the notion of Rose's mendacity hadn't yet spread far from the debates and town halls, the trade unions have been tenacious in getting word out throughout the working class voters of the district that he has been particularly disloyal and dishonest regarding Local Union No. 3 International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers and their strike, which began in March 2017. Near the beginning of Rose's announced candidacy, he was already made aware of the strike that was in effect and published a cursory statement of cheer for the union. He did not join the strike line. Over the course of the following months as the strike continued, he would occasionally send out a tweet or post on social media in statement of support to the Local #3 workers. But on October 27th, he sat down for an interview with the network owned by Charter/Spectrum and said on air that he was proud not to take money from unions. Amongst workers, this caused an outrage. But it was a photo he posted on December 17th that sealed his dishonor among Local #3, and the wider population of trade unionists, "all the political pros told me not to worry about speaking with voters until 3 months before the election" he captioned it, with a fundraising list he purported to represent a voter list. Local #3 workers and family members, who have been using Twitter to publicize their plight during the media blackout about it, began slamming him about the Spectrum remote they spied on his table. He offered an empty "you bet" response to whether he would cancel his service, and claimed he had already called upon the Mayor to cancel Spectrum's franchise agreement in July. A scan of his tweets revealed that he had merely tagged the Mayor in a tweet and considered the matter handled. As a protege of Crowley, who directly accepts campaign funds from Charter/Spectrum as well as Related-- the company union busting at Hudson Yards-- he will soon see that "Union Strong" is a term that brings voting voices with it.

In an atmosphere that is ripe with disgust over corporate greed and politicians who lie; at a time when Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is challenging Joe Crowley in a primary that she just may win, the DCCC needs a mandate this year to send them packing and hand the business of being a Democrat back to the voters. The Ivory Tower has proven itself haughty and clueless for long enough, and this season, when a comedian asks, "How the fuck does that happen?!" about CD-11, let's hope it's about how a working-class Marine veteran outraised by nearly a million dollars got a Blue Dog to lie down.

UPDATE: Curtains For Grimm?

There's been a lot of bullshit journalism out in NY-11 about how folks in Staten Island see Mkey Suits as Jesus-reincarnated. Maybe that's because the "journalists" involved were only interviewing his rabid, mentally ill supporters. Yesterday, a Remington Research poll came out and it told a very different story. Interviewing likely 2018 Republican primary voters, they found 83% with favorable attitudes towards Trumpanzee, 55% with favorable attitudes towards incumbent Dan Donovan and just 45% (remember, of Republicans not of normal people) with favorable attitudes towards Grimm. 47% of these Republicans said they will vote for Donovan in tomorrow's primary, 40% said they'll vote for Grimm and 13% are still undecided. Republicans in the Staten Island part of the district say they'll vote for Donovan 47-39% and in the Brooklyn part of the district they'll vote for Donovan 59-26%.

Is The Employee Free Choice Act Being Discussed In This Electoral Cycle? It Is In Brooklyn And Staten Island-- Meet Michael DeVito

NY-11 is all of Staten Island and the Trumpiest part of south Brooklyn. In fact, the district, the most Italian district in America, has a PVI of R+3. Although Obama beat Romney there in 2012-- 51.6% to 47.3%-- in 2016 it was Trump country. He beat Hillary 53.6% to 43.8%. The GOP establishment is happy to run incumbent Dan Donovan but former Congressman Michael "Mikey Suits" Grimm is our of prison and trying to get back into Congress again as a Trumpist. Trump, at the urging of Giuliani, Ryan and McCarthy, endorsed Donovan.

Meanwhile the DCCC and right-of-center shitbag, Joe Crowley, are pushing carpetbagger and Blue Dog Max Rose, who has nothing whatsoever to do with the district. Blue America has endorsed Michael DeVito and I asked him to introduce himself with a guest post. Please consider contributing to his campaign by tapping on the ActBlue 2018 congressional thermometer on the right. The primary, by the way, is 3 weeks from yesterday.



"We Are A Working-Class District. We Are Union"
by Michael DeVito

“How do you join a union, Mister?” Manny, one of my student interns, is eager to know. I’m struck suddenly by the impact of being asked two questions about unions in one day, and wonder if it’s a sign the conversation is gaining traction, especially among those in the next generation.

 In my work as a teacher and youth advocate, there is never any shortage of moments when intersectionality punches you in the face.

Manny is asking this question as we walk in a procession chanting, “No More Guns, No More Guns. Stop the Violence, Stop the Violence.” We are on the North Shore of Staten Island, and we’re walking to celebrate the life of a young man I mentored five years ago: Cesar Sanchez.  Cesar was murdered by a two-time killer in the Berry Homes (a NYCHA Housing Development) on September 24th 2014. Delano Hubert had shot and killed another kid a few hundred feet away years earlier. Hubert served just six years for that murder, because the D.A. accepted a plea of attempted manslaughter. That D.A. is the current Congressman of New York’s CD11, Dan Donovan. Hubert was released to no prospects for a job, continued education, or mental health services. He was on parole and often not showing up for probation.

Manny is asking me about unions because before we started our Walk Against Gun Violence, I gave a speech about standing united in solidarity for what you believe in and that, now more than ever, we need to stand together to fight for our civil rights and our economic freedom.

We tell the kids every year that we could have prevented Cesar’s death with better laws, and if we really looked out for each other; if we made sure we worked together to make our community strong and vibrant.

After Cesar’s death, I started a scholarship fund with his mother and each year we host a run/walk called “A Race Against Gun Violence.”  We usually do our walk down on the beach. This year, we are walking around the housing complex where Cesar lived, because next week, the NYC Parks Department-- having accepted my application-- will formally name the basketball courts there in honor of Cesar.

As we walk around the complex this time, Manny tells everyone he just dropped a track on SoundCloud. He says, “I gotta make some bank so I can fund my music career. I gotta get into a union to do it.”

Just a few hours before the walk, I was at a Democratic Party debate.

The question there: what legislation would you introduce into Congress to make it easier for those who want to unionize to have their union recognized by their employer?

The South Shore of Staten Island, the scene of the debate, is reputed to be a Republican stronghold. The reality is more nuanced, and the district in its entirety is actually a microcosm of America. Even throughout the infamously Conservative South Shore, there is an immense concentration of civil servants, and trades workers: firefighters, cops, electricians, teachers, plumbers, construction workers, nurses, bus drivers, signalmen, etc. We are a working-class district. We are union. We are a district which has largely been voting Republican for the last 30 years (although Obama was elected and re-elected right here), even as there are 1.75 times the number of registered Democrats as Republicans. More remarkably: there are about as many unaffiliated registered voters as Republicans.

NY-11 went 20 points for Trump in 2016. If we are paying attention, the message is clear: the Establishment is not welcome in this district.

We want change. We need a champion.

We know why people here voted for Trump, and really: this question is plucked right out of the minds of the middle class, which is rapidly becoming the new poor in America-- the poor who are being imprisoned by debt and lack of opportunity.

My answer is the Employee Free Choice Act.

Since Taft-Hartley, unions have been up against the ropes. As we are forced into the blinding light of the gig economy, (what Chris Hedges calls, “the new term for serfdom”) we are faced with the apparent possibility that the only way to save America is with a Labor Movement larger than the Civil Rights Movement of the sixties. In 2005, The Employee Free Choice Act was presented for the first time. According to labor leaders far and wide, it was destined to pass in 2009 when Democrats controlled all three parts of the government.

It failed.

It failed because of corporate Blue Dog Democrats who were more beholden to their CEO masters and the donor class demagogues than the working people of our country.

It failed the American Worker.

Corporate Democrats failed the American Worker.

The EFCA does three things:

1. It empowers workers to unionize without the requirement of an additional secret ballot.
2. It mandates that if an agreement were not reached after 90 days of collective bargaining, mandated mediation and then arbitration would be required.
3. It penalizes corporations should they attempt to subject workers to detriments for participating in union activities. 

This is the kind of clear message we need to send to corporations. We are standing with our workers, and we can only do so if we send people like me to Congress who are unbought.

This is what I am fighting for in NY-11 and across the country.

Right now, we have 1,800 IBEW Local 3 union families striking for 14 months against Charter/ Spectrum in New York City. They are being starved. They are losing their homes. They are being stripped of their dignity, all because Charter doesn’t want to honor the contract they acquired through the purchase of Time-Warner.

The mandated mediation/arbitration clause in the EFCA would have had these folks back to work 11 months ago.

When Bernie was defending the EFCA, he said, “Big Business does not want to ensure that workers make a decent wage.” Local 3’s fight is the perfect example.

We used to cheer at the number of Americans that climbed into the middle class in our country. Now we are mourning as droves of people fall into the pit of poverty.

Most of the young people I work with have fallen behind in high school. Some made bad choices, while many have had to make tough choices, and all of them are subject to a school system that is failing them because of a lack of vision and equity. Most of my kids are headed toward the perilous gig economy-- towards serfdom. The majority of them are not college-bound and will wind up in the service industry.

I tell Manny that we have an OSHA 30 training this coming week. I tell him he can join two unions if he wants: the carpenters union and the musicians’ union.

The first step is to be on time for OSHA training this weekend.

He says, “Word? No Doubt.”

We shake hands with the thumb snap at the end.

My commitment to my community is thirteen years renewed, after eight-plus years as a U.S. Marine in peacetime, and six more years as a graduate student/ contractor/ expat father in Okinawa.  When I got back to my hometown in 2005, I hit the ground running – right into service. Every day I get up and go to work to help just one kid succeed because I know that helping one kid is helping a whole family, and every family affects a community.

Their fight is my fight, because I have skin in this game too.

I fight for my own child who, as a newly-minted Court Stenographer, is making her way in the gig economy. Miya is working hard to pay back her school debt and is contributing to the greater good of America. She pays her dues to the National Court Reporters Association, and she’s working towards joining the Association of Surrogate’s and Supreme Court Reporters.

All my kids want an America that is going to be there for them. I believe it is up to people like me to ensure we make it so.

The Leakiest Ship Ever-- And Mikey Suits Probably Will Have Trouble Sleeping Tonight

Is Señor Trumpanzee going to install a boxing ring in front of his desk in the Oval Office. Like he's always said, his style of management includes having his employees fight with each other. Collegiality is not a trait is encourages. Back-stabbing is. He's a sick cookie... always has been. But what would you expect from someone whose father was a KKK thug and whose grandfather ran a whorehouse? Sunday afternoon, Axios' Jonathan Swan posted a really hilarious Age of Trump leak: Stunning Oval Office leak: Aides fight in front of Trump-- about leaks.

Shortly after word leaked that Kelly Sadler had taken a nasty shot at John McCain, President Trump convened a meeting in the Oval Office for a tiny group of communications staffers, according to sources familiar with the gathering. Sadler, Mercedes Schlapp, Raj Shah, and John Kelly all gathered in front of the Resolute Desk for a conversation with Trump about the leaking problem. They were the only people in the room, though the door to the outer Oval was open.

The president told Sadler she wouldn’t be fired for her remark. He added, separately in the conversation, that he’s no fan of McCain. Then Trump, who had grown obsessed with the leaking problem, told Sadler he wanted to know who the leakers were. Sadler then stunned the room: To be completely honest, she said, she thought one of the worst leakers was Schlapp, her boss.

Schlapp fought back like a mad dog and Sadler ratted out several other White House staffers for leaking as well. Eventually someone leaked the whole mess to Axios, the best place to go with White House gossip that will instantly be read by everyone in DC. Several people with enough connections to be listened to seriously have told me that Trump himself is getting all this crap leaked. Does that illustration above look more like a White House leaking or more like a White House crying?

You can't count this as a leak, per se, but a crazy pair of Trump tweets this evening seems to have sunk felon Mikey Suits' campaign to reclaim his old congressional seat in Staten Island and south Brooklyn (NY-11). There's plenty of speculation that either Paul Ryan, Kevin McCarthy or Rudy Giuliani talked Trump into endorsing Dan Donovan over Grimm.

Grimm tweeted back: "All the endorsements in the world can’t change the facts: Donovan has failed to pass even one substantive bill into law, and has voted against President Trump every time it’s mattered-- from failing to repeal Obamacare, to banning sanctuary cities, and even against tax cuts," the tax cuts that Donovan voted against despite the moron-in-chief claiming otherwise ... in his Adderall-fueled tweet.

Dan Donovan tweeted too:

Does It Make A Difference If The President Is A Truculent, Ill-Advised Imbecile?

Nikki Haley by Nancy Ohanian

Yesterday Señor Trumpanzee announced, as expected, that he's withdrawing the U.S. from the Iran nuclear deal, "reneging," as NBC put it, "on a landmark pact and raising the question of whether Tehran might respond by resuming its frozen weapons program." Babbling like a psychotic money, Señor T imagines he got even with with Obama for making fun of him at the White House Correspondents Dinner in 2011. Trumpanzee: "It is clear to me that we cannot prevent an Iranian nuclear bomb under the decaying and rotten structure of the current agreement. The United States will withdraw from the Iran nuclear deal."

Trump further said that he would impose the "highest level" of sanctions, which would not only affect Iran but other countries that do business with it. The Treasury Department said a series of primary and secondary sanctions-- those affecting American and foreign partners of Iran-- would go back into effect after wind-down periods specified by law.

...If Iran seeks nuclear weapons, he said, it will face "bigger problems than it has ever had before."

But the move also raises two important questions for the Trump administration and the international community: whether Iran will respond by resuming its quest for nuclear weapons-- and whether reneging on the Iran pact might affect North Korea's willingness to cut a denuclearization deal of its own with the president.

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo was in the air on his way to North Korea during the announcement, Trump said. Critics of Tuesday's move said Trump is giving North Korea little reason to trust him.

"We are basically just going back on our word," said Jon Wolfstahl, who was the National Security Council’s senior director for arms control and nonproliferation under Obama.

The withdrawal of the U.S. leaves a big hole at the negotiating table after Trump had sought over the past six months to force a new deal by threatening to scrap the existing one.

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said Tuesday that his country would remain engaged with the other signatories to the original deal.

"We've known for months that President Trump wouldn't be committed to this deal," he said. "The Iranian foreign ministry will continue talks with remaining countries in the deal."

French President Emanuel Macron, who spoke with Trump Tuesday morning, tweeted his "regret" over Trump's decision. "The nuclear non-proliferation regime is at stake," he wrote.

Alan Grayson mentioned something to me on the phone a few minutes ago that I don't think he'll mind me sharing: "Let’s see how people feel about this if Iran celebrates the Prophet’s Birthday (Nov. 20-21) by exploding a nuclear weapon." President Obama, reminding everyone about the difference between a thoughtful and literate president instead of a senile ape, posted a reaction on his Facebook page, asserting that "There are few issues more important to the security of the United States than the potential spread of nuclear weapons, or the potential for even more destructive war in the Middle East. That’s why the United States negotiated the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) in the first place."

The reality is clear. The JCPOA is working-- that is a view shared by our European allies, independent experts, and the current U.S. Secretary of Defense. The JCPOA is in America’s interest-- it has significantly rolled back Iran’s nuclear program. And the JCPOA is a model for what diplomacy can accomplish-- its inspections and verification regime is precisely what the United States should be working to put in place with North Korea. Indeed, at a time when we are all rooting for diplomacy with North Korea to succeed, walking away from the JCPOA risks losing a deal that accomplishes-- with Iran-- the very outcome that we are pursuing with the North Koreans.

That is why today’s announcement is so misguided. Walking away from the JCPOA turns our back on America’s closest allies, and an agreement that our country’s leading diplomats, scientists, and intelligence professionals negotiated. In a democracy, there will always be changes in policies and priorities from one Administration to the next. But the consistent flouting of agreements that our country is a party to risks eroding America’s credibility, and puts us at odds with the world’s major powers.

Debates in our country should be informed by facts, especially debates that have proven to be divisive. So it’s important to review several facts about the JCPOA.

First, the JCPOA was not just an agreement between my Administration and the Iranian government. After years of building an international coalition that could impose crippling sanctions on Iran, we reached the JCPOA together with the United Kingdom, France, Germany, the European Union, Russia, China, and Iran. It is a multilateral arms control deal, unanimously endorsed by a United Nations Security Council Resolution.

Second, the JCPOA has worked in rolling back Iran’s nuclear program. For decades, Iran had steadily advanced its nuclear program, approaching the point where they could rapidly produce enough fissile material to build a bomb. The JCPOA put a lid on that breakout capacity. Since the JCPOA was implemented, Iran has destroyed the core of a reactor that could have produced weapons-grade plutonium; removed two-thirds of its centrifuges (over 13,000) and placed them under international monitoring; and eliminated 97 percent of its stockpile of enriched uranium-- the raw materials necessary for a bomb. So by any measure, the JCPOA has imposed strict limitations on Iran's nuclear program and achieved real results.

Third, the JCPOA does not rely on trust-- it is rooted in the most far-reaching inspections and verification regime ever negotiated in an arms control deal. Iran’s nuclear facilities are strictly monitored. International monitors also have access to Iran’s entire nuclear supply chain, so that we can catch them if they cheat. Without the JCPOA, this monitoring and inspections regime would go away.

Fourth, Iran is complying with the JCPOA. That was not simply the view of my Administration. The United States intelligence community has continued to find that Iran is meeting its responsibilities under the deal, and has reported as much to Congress. So have our closest allies, and the international agency responsible for verifying Iranian compliance-- the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

Fifth, the JCPOA does not expire. The prohibition on Iran ever obtaining a nuclear weapon is permanent. Some of the most important and intrusive inspections codified by the JCPOA are permanent. Even as some of the provisions in the JCPOA do become less strict with time, this won’t happen until ten, fifteen, twenty, or twenty-five years into the deal, so there is little reason to put those restrictions at risk today.

Finally, the JCPOA was never intended to solve all of our problems with Iran. We were clear-eyed that Iran engages in destabilizing behavior – including support for terrorism, and threats toward Israel and its neighbors. But that’s precisely why it was so important that we prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon. Every aspect of Iranian behavior that is troubling is far more dangerous if their nuclear program is unconstrained. Our ability to confront Iran’s destabilizing behavior-- and to sustain a unity of purpose with our allies-- is strengthened with the JCPOA, and weakened without it.

Because of these facts, I believe that the decision to put the JCPOA at risk without any Iranian violation of the deal is a serious mistake. Without the JCPOA, the United States could eventually be left with a losing choice between a nuclear-armed Iran or another war in the Middle East. We all know the dangers of Iran obtaining a nuclear weapon. It could embolden an already dangerous regime; threaten our friends with destruction; pose unacceptable dangers to America’s own security; and trigger an arms race in the world’s most dangerous region. If the constraints on Iran’s nuclear program under the JCPOA are lost, we could be hastening the day when we are faced with the choice between living with that threat, or going to war to prevent it.

In a dangerous world, America must be able to rely in part on strong, principled diplomacy to secure our country. We have been safer in the years since we achieved the JCPOA, thanks in part to the work of our diplomats, many members of Congress, and our allies. Going forward, I hope that Americans continue to speak out in support of the kind of strong, principled, fact-based, and unifying leadership that can best secure our country and uphold our responsibilities around the globe.

There was also a joint statement-- in the form of a press release-- from Prime Minister May, Chancellor Merkel and President Macron.

It is with regret and concern that we, the Leaders of France, Germany and the United Kingdom take note of President Trump’s decision to withdraw the United States of America from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action.

Together, we emphasise our continuing commitment to the JCPoA. This agreement remains important for our shared security. We recall that the JCPoA was unanimously endorsed by the UN Security Council in resolution 2231. This resolution remains the binding international legal framework for the resolution of the dispute about the Iranian nuclear programme. We urge all sides to remain committed to its full implementation and to act in a spirit of responsibility.

According to the IAEA, Iran continues to abide by the restrictions set out by the JCPoA, in line with its obligations under the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons. The world is a safer place as a result. Therefore we, the E3, will remain parties to the JCPoA. Our governments remain committed to ensuring the agreement is upheld, and will work with all the remaining parties to the deal to ensure this remains the case including through ensuring the continuing economic benefits to the Iranian people that are linked to the agreement.

We urge the US to ensure that the structures of the JCPoA can remain intact, and to avoid taking action which obstructs its full implementation by all other parties to the deal. After engaging with the US Administration in a thorough manner over the past months, we call on the US to do everything possible to preserve the gains for nuclear non-proliferation brought about by the JCPoA, by allowing for a continued enforcement of its main elements.

We encourage Iran to show restraint in response to the decision by the US; Iran must continue to meet its own obligations under the deal, cooperating fully and in a timely manner with IAEA inspection requirements. The IAEA must be able to continue to carry out its long-term verification and monitoring programme without restriction or hindrance. In turn, Iran should continue to receive the sanctions relief it is entitled to whilst it remains in compliance with the terms of the deal.

There must be no doubt: Iran’s nuclear program must always remain peaceful and civilian. While taking the JCPOA as a base, we also agree that other major issues of concern need to be addressed. A long-term framework for Iran’s nuclear programme after some of the provisions of the JCPOA expire, after 2025, will have to be defined. Because our commitment to the security of our allies and partners in the region is unwavering, we must also address in a meaningful way shared concerns about Iran’s ballistic missile programme and its destabilising regional activities, especially in Syria, Iraq and Yemen. We have already started constructive and mutually beneficial discussions on these issues, and the E3 is committed to continuing them with key partners and concerned states across the region.

We and our Foreign Ministers will reach out to all parties to the JCPoA to seek a positive way forward.

Not everyone is opposed to what Trump did. Staten Island mafioso, Michael "Mikey Suits" Grimm, recently released from prison and running for Congress, issued a statement too: "President Trump's decisive rejection of the terrible Iran Deal is yet another foreign policy victory that will make our country and the world a safer place. We cannot allow the world's leading state sponsor of terror to ever obtain nuclear weapons, and the deal devised by Barack Obama's Administration did nothing to protect our long-term interests while giving away massive concessions to the regime in Tehran. The financial concessions Iran secured under the deal were further used to militarize the rogue state while funding violence and terrorism across the Middle East. As we have seen, President Trump's bold approach and leadership have already helped us reach historic steps toward peace and denuclearization in the Korean Peninsula. I am confident that today's decision will reinforce the pressure on Iran and ultimately lead to a final solution to the Iranian threat."

And Darrell Issa, forced to retire by Democrat Doug Applegate told whomever still listens to whatever he has to say, "I applaud President Trump’s bold leadership putting Iran, and its regional proxies, on notice and demanding that they permanently abandon any ambition to develop nuclear weapons. The Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action negotiated under the previous administration was irresponsible agreement that put our people at risk, left our most important allies in the Middle East in jeopardy, and did not achieve a single stated foreign policy objective of the United States. As I said in 2015: No nation has ever abandoned its nuclear ambitions without first agreeing to actually abandon its nuclear ambitions. Absent any commitment by the Iranian regime to permanently abandon its goal to develop nuclear weapons and a robust ‘anywhere, anytime’ inspections regime, the JCPOA was not worth the paper it was written on. Needless to say Doug Applegate, a former frontline Marine Colonel, saw it very differently from Issa. "Trump’s repudiation of the Iran Deal is utterly ill-advised, insulting to our allies, a huge risk for little gain. The Russians will find it to their liking because disruption inevitably spikes oil prices and will help save the Russian economy... which is, of course, why they so love their useful fool, Donald Trump."

But most of the responses I hear were more in line with what Ro Khanna (D-CA), Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and Carol Shea-Porter (D-NH) had to say after the speech yesterday. Ro, a member of the House Armed Services Committee: "Withdrawing from the Iran Deal only sends the message that the US can't keep its commitments when administrations change and the only way to resolve disputes with us is through nuclear deterrence. Pulling out makes it more likely, not less, that Iran will acquire a nuclear weapon."

Elizabeth Warren: "America should be a country that keeps it promises. The Obama Administration negotiated a landmark agreement to peacefully prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon. But President Trump's decision to withdraw the United States from the Iran Deal breaks our word, hurts our credibility with our allies, empowers Iranian hardliners, and doesn't make us any safer here at home. There's no question that Iran's government is a bad actor. But inspectors have independently verified that Iran has been complying with the deal-- a fact that even the Trump Administration has conceded. I'd rather the United States-- together with our allies-- counter Iran's bad behavior with the nuclear deal than without it. Instead, President Trump has pulled the US out without offering any real alternative to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon, creating chaos and confusion across the Middle East, and the world. This isn't a strategy. It's a recipe for disaster."

Carol Shea Porter: "This decision will make Americans and people all across the world less safe. Before the agreement, Iran was months away from having a nuclear weapon. Now, they are at least a year away, and we can snap sanctions back into place immediately if they make any move towards developing a weapon. Under the deal, Iran cannot enrich uranium beyond 3.6 percent, far short of the 80 percent needed for a weapon. Iran agreed to give away 97 percent of its nuclear fuel. In addition, we forced them to take the vast majority of their centrifuges out of service, meaning it will be very difficult and noticeable if they try to enrich more material. And we mandated inspections, so if they try, we will know, and we can take appropriate action. The Iran Deal is not perfect. But we must consider the danger facing the world before the deal and the improved security we now enjoy because of it. We should side with our allies and stay with them in this deal. American leadership is at stake. You don’t do arms control agreements with your friends; you sign them with your enemies in order to make the world a safer place for all. Inspections have confirmed that Iran is complying with this deal. We should too. We have a responsibility to the people we swore to protect-- and to the world-- to stop the proliferation of nuclear weapons. That’s what this deal does, and without it, we seriously risk another conflict in the Middle East. We should steer our nation down the pathway to a safer and more peaceful world, not the pathway to war."

Major General (Ret.) Paul Eaton released a statement through VoteVets that is very much worth thinking about:

If Iran is in compliance with the deal, as all indications say they are, then Donald Trump’s decision today is an active violation of a deal we signed.

The implications for the United States violating agreements it signed could be disastrous and far-reaching. It puts American security in greater danger, frays our alliances, and sends a message to North Korea, and others, that the word of the United States is not worth the paper it is printed on.

Democrats and Republicans alike-- even many who opposed the Iran Deal-- correctly note that losing our ability to monitor Iran's nuclear program blinds us in the face of great risk to us and to our ally, Israel. At a time of great peril around the world, the multilateral Iran deal is our best hope at keeping a nuclear Iran out of the question.

Now, unfortunately, America must rely on its allies to clean up Donald Trump's mess, and keep Iran from restarting its nuclear program. If they can do so, we may be able to avoid catastrophe.

But that will be a credit to them, not to Donald Trump.