The Commentariat -- July 3, 2021

Jennifer Steinhauer of the New York Times: "President Biden said Friday that he wanted the military to remove the investigation and prosecution of sexual assault cases from the control of commanders, a sea change for the military justice system. An independent commission formally recommended to Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III this week that sexual assault, sexual harassment and related cases be shifted to special victims prosecutors outside of the chain of command in the military, something military leaders have long resisted, arguing that it would hinder order and discipline.... While Mr. Austin and Mr. Biden have supported the findings of the commission -- which are all but certain to receive pushback from officials from some branches of the military -- it will be up to Congress to change the military law. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, Democrat of New York, has a bipartisan measure that would overhaul the way the military prosecutes sexual assault but also other serious crimes.... Her bill has gained support from at least 70 members of the Senate -- including many who voted against the same bill in 2014, arguing it would undermine commanders. Reconciling her bill with the vision of the commission will now be in the hands of lawmakers."

Annika Constantino & Christina Wilkie of CNBC: "President Joe Biden hosted a naturalization ceremony on Friday to swear in and welcome 21 new U.S. citizens ahead of Independence Day.... The president was joined at the event by Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, who shared the story of his immigrant parents' journey to the United States as refugees.... At Friday's ceremony, Biden commended immigrants for their contributions to the country, noting that many serve in the military or have been working as health-care and front-line workers during the pandemic. The president also presented an award to Sandra Lindsay, a nurse from Long Island who immigrated to the U.S. from Jamaica when she was 18 years old."~~~

~~~ President Biden begins speaking at about 10:10 minutes in. Watch the part that begins at about 22:25 in, where Biden introduces Sandra Lindsay:

Maria Sachetti of the Washington Post: "The Biden administration unveiled plans Friday to bring hundreds, possibly thousands, of deported veterans and their immediate family members back to the United States, saying their removal 'failed to live up to our highest values.' Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas ordered his department's immigration agencies to 'immediately' take steps to ensure that military families may return to the United States. He said the department would also halt pending deportation proceedings against veterans or their immediate relatives who are in the United States, and clear the way for those who are eligible to apply for U.S. citizenship."

Paul Krugman of the New York Times: "On the right, expertise isn't just considered worthless, it's viewed as disqualifying. People with actual knowledge of a policy area -- certainly those with any kind of professional reputation -- are often excluded from any role in shaping policy. Preference is given to the incompetent -- often the luridly incompetent."

Andrew Kaczynski, et al., of CNN: "A conservative YouTuber who participated in the January 6 riot accompanied Republican members of Congress on a trip to the border Tuesday night, serving as a translator at times. Anthony Aguero, a close ally of Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene can be seen in videos and photos with Republican members of Congress who traveled to a route along the border frequented by migrants on Tuesday night. CNN's KFile previously reported that Aguero went into the Capitol during the January 6 riot and cheered and justified the break-in. During his livestream of the Tuesday visit, Aguero interviewed and chatted with Reps. Tom. Tiffany of Wisconsin, Lauren Boebert of Colorado, Madison Cawthorn of North Carolina, Chris Jacobs of New York, Michael Cloud of Texas, John Rose of Tennessee, Ronny Jackson of Texas, and Mary Miller of Illinois.... Aguero has not been charged for unlawful entry at the US Capitol on January 6. After chanting "heave-ho" as rioters attempted to break in, he entered the Capitol Rotunda and later chanted 'our house' on the Capitol steps."

Spencer Hsu of the Washington Post: "Another alleged Oath Keepers associate was arrested Friday in connection with the Jan. 6 Capitol riot, accused of joining a 'stack formation' of organized members who prosecutors say marched up the east steps and entered the Rotunda in camouflage and tactical gear. David Moerschel, 43, of Punta Gorda, Fla., was charged by criminal complaint Thursday with three counts, including conspiracy and obstructing Congress. Moerschel joined some defendants who prosecutors allege staged in advance at an Arlington hotel, where they say weapons were stored for a 'Quick Reaction Force' site.... Charging papers said Moerschel ... attended 17 online planning calls and chats organized by charged Oath Keepers co-defendants Kenneth Harrelson and Kelly Meggs between Sept. 28 and Jan. 3 before they traveled to Washington. Moerschel also was part of an encrypted Signal chat group discussing gas, hotel logistics and the Quick Reaction Force, the FBI alleged."

Meet (an Alleged) Trump Insurrectionist. Andrea Sacedo of the Washington Post: “In January, a federal judge agreed to release Thomas Robertson, a former Rocky Mount, Va., police officer facing multiple charges over his alleged participation in the Jan. 6 Capitol riot. But Judge G. Michael Harvey's release conditions were clear: Robertson could not own any firearms, destructive devices or dangerous weapons while his case was pending. If he owned any guns, he must relocate them within two days. Days after his release, authorities found eight firearms at his home in Ferrum, Va., according to court documents. The judge gave Robertson a second chance, reminding him of his release conditions. Then, last month, authorities found a loaded M4 carbine and a partially assembled pipe bomb while conducting an authorized search at his home, court records state. Robertson is also accused of buying 34 firearms online and 'transporting them in interstate commerce while under felony indictment,' prosecutors said. Now they are asking the judge to revoke Robertson's release order and issue an arrest warrant for violating his pretrial release terms a second time."

Michael Wines & Reid Epstein of the New York Times: "... Donald J. Trump twice sought to talk on the phone with the Republican leader of Arizona's most populous county last winter as the Trump campaign and its allies tried unsuccessfully to reverse Joseph R. Biden Jr.'s narrow victory in the state's presidential contest, according to the Republican official and records obtained by The Arizona Republic, a Phoenix newspaper. But the leader, Clint Hickman, then the chairman of the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors, said in an interview on Friday that he let the calls -- made in late December and early January -- go to voice mail and did not return them. 'I told people, "Please don't have the president call me,"' he said. At the time, Mr. Hickman was being pressed by the state Republican Party chairwoman and Mr. Trump's lawyer Rudolph W. Giuliani to investigate claims of fraud in the county's election.... The Arizona Republic reported that the calls came as the state Republican chairwoman, Kelli Ward, sought to connect Mr. Hickman and other county officials to Mr. Trump and his allies...."

Dareh Gregorian & Gretchen Morgenson of NBC News: "Lawyers and representatives for the Trump Organization dismissed the criminal charges against the company as prosecutorial overreach Thursday, but legal experts contacted by NBC News said the company and its chief financial officer are in serious legal jeopardy.... The company was 'paying tuition for ([CFO Allen] Weisselberg's) grandson. That's kind of difficult to explain as a legitimate business expense,' [Daniel] Shaviro [of NYU Law] said. Also damning is that the indictment said the company kept two sets of books -- a private one that counted Weisselberg's apartment and cars as part of his $940,000-a-year compensation, and another that didn't, allowing him to pay taxes on less income.... Cono R. Namorato, a former assistant attorney general in the Justice Department's tax division said that the 'two sets of books is a classic indication of an overt act of evasion,' and that prosecutors' claim that Weisselberg falsely claimed to be living in Long Island to avoid paying taxes in New York City looks almost like 'a slam-dunk case.'"

Another Selfish Justice Thinks He'll Live Forever. Lydia O'Connor of the Huffington Post: Stephen Breyer "is the court's oldest member, and for months the expectation has been that ... [he] would soon retire from the court so President Joe Biden could nominate a younger replacement..., avoiding a repeat of what happened when the liberal Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg died during Donald Trump's final months in office. Justices typically announce their plans to step down at end of the nine-month term, or shortly beforehand.... Some clues [Breyer] offered Friday indicate he's planning to stick around for a while. The court confirmed that Breyer has hired four law clerks for the next term ― the most he's allowed to have...."

Jacey Fortin & Isabella Grullón Paz of the New York Times: "The Boy Scouts of America reached an $850 million settlement agreement on Thursday with tens of thousands of people who said they were sexually abused by scout leaders or members over several decades. Kenneth M. Rothweiler, the lawyer who represents the largest group of claimants -- about 16,800 -- said in a statement that the agreement would be 'the largest settlement of child sexual abuse claims in United States history.' In an interview on Friday, he added that the claimants could expect billions more in payouts from insurance companies and organizations that have sponsored the Boy Scouts."

Rachel Lerman & Gerrit De Vynck of the Washington Post: "A supply-chain ransomware attack that hit hours before the beginning of a holiday weekend has already affected more than 200 businesses, researchers said. On Friday, information technology company Kaseya sent out a warning of a 'potential attack' on its VSA tool, which is used by IT to manage and monitor computers remotely. Kaseya urged customers to shut down their servers running the service.... More than 40,000 organizations use Kaseya products, the company says, which includes VSA and other IT tools. Researchers said cybercriminals were sending two different ransom notes on Friday -- demanding $50,000 from smaller companies and $5 million from larger ones. The U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency urged companies in a statement to follow Kaseya's advice and said it is 'taking action to understand and address the recent supply-chain ransomware attack.' Huntress Labs, a cybersecurity software company that has clients who were affected by the attack, said it believes Russian-speaking hacking group REvil is behind the ransomware attack. That's the same group that the FBI said was responsible for the attack on JBS Meats...." A BBC News story is here.

Beyond the Beltway

Florida. Devoun Cetoute & Rob Wile of the Miami Herald: "The city of North Miami Beach ordered the 10-story Crestview Towers Condominium to be immediately closed and evacuated Friday evening after a building inspection report found it not safe for occupancy due to structural and electrical issues, city officials said Friday night. The Jan. 11, 2021, inspection report, which the condo association turned in to the city Friday afternoon after the city had threatened to shut down the building on Thursday, said the 156-unit building is: 'Structurally no[t] safe for the specified use for continued occupancy. Electrically no[t] safe for the specified use for continued occupancy.' The condo tower is the first to be closed due to unsafe structural issues after the partial collapse of Champlain Towers South in Surfside on June 24." The article is free to nonsubscribers.

Florida. Democracy Alerts: "[Friday] individual professors and students of Florida's public colleges and universities filed a lawsuit against the Florida Commissioner of Education and other higher education officials challenging the constitutionality of House Bill 233, which Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) signed into law last week in an effort to monitor 'intellectual diversity' on campus. The lawsuit argues that H.B. 233 'aims to identify public institutions of higher education where liberal and progressive views predominate' and infringes on protected freedoms of speech and association."

New Hampshire. State Supremes Do the Right Thing. Taylor Romine of CNN: "The New Hampshire Supreme Court on Friday voted in a 4-0 decision that a 2017 state law requiring proof of residence to vote is unconstitutional, saying that it 'imposes unreasonable burdens on the right to vote.' The law, also known as Senate Bill 3, required that those registering to vote 30 days or more before an election show documents to prove residence, while those registering less than 30 days before voting do not have to show proof at the time of registration but must provide verification through several methods. This required signing an affidavit that the listed residence was correct in addition to providing documentation within 10 days or the secretary of state's office mailing a verifying form to the address. The New Hampshire Democratic Party and the League of Women Voters of New Hampshire sued the state shortly after the law went into effect." ~~~

     ~~~ John DiStaso of WMUR Manchester, N.H.: "Constitutional attorneys on both sides of the issue told WMUR that the ruling cannot be appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court because it was decided solely on the basis of state law and the state constitution." According to Ali Velshi of MSNBC, one Dartmouth student had to change his vehicle registration & driver's license from another state to New Hampshire, at a cost of several hundred dollars, making this a mighty expensive poll tax.

New York. Jonah Bromwich of the New York Times: "Alvin Bragg, a career prosecutor with experience taking on white-collar crime and corruption, is poised to become Manhattan's next district attorney, a job that will include overseeing the most prominent and contentious criminal case in the United States: the prosecution of ... Donald J. Trump's family business. Given the overwhelming edge Democrats hold in Manhattan, Mr. Bragg is heavily favored to win the general election in November after his foremost opponent in the Democratic primary, Tali Farhadian Weinstein, conceded on Friday.... Mr. Bragg, 47, would be the first Black person to lead an office that still prosecutes more Black people than members of any other racial group. During the campaign, he sought to balance concerns about public safety with a vision for a more equitable criminal justice system." The Hill has a report here. ~~~

~~~ AP: &"All three candidates who are still in the running in New York City's Democratic mayoral primary have filed legal actions seeking the right to review the ongoing ranked choice vote tally. Civil rights attorney Maya Wiley filed a lawsuit Thursday in state court in Brooklyn seeking to preserve her right to challenge the election result and asking for all of the ballots that were 'cast or attempted to be cast' to be saved.... Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams and former city sanitation commissioner Kathryn Garcia filed similar legal actions on Wednesday."

Texas. History Museum Wrong Place to Discuss Racial History. Abby Livingston & Isabella Zou of the Texas Tribune: "A promotional event for a book examining the role slavery played leading up to the Battle of the Alamo that was scheduled at the Bullock Texas State History Museum on Thursday evening was abruptly canceled three and a half hours before it was scheduled to begin. Authors of the book, titled 'Forget the Alamo,' and the publisher, Penguin Random House, say the cancellation of the event, which had 300 RSVPs, amounts to censorship from Republican elected leaders and an overreaction to the book's examination of racism in Texas history.... [Gov. Greg] Abbott, [Lt. Gov. Dan] Patrick and other GOP leaders are board members of the State Preservation Board, which oversees the Bullock museum.... Patrick confirmed he called for the event to be canceled.... The book received mostly positive reviews, including from The Wall Street Journal and The Washington Post, with a consensus that it builds on widely accepted academic research." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: I hate the term "cancel culture." I think it's stupid. Plus, it's sort of an oxymoron to describe anything associated with Republicans as "culture." But this is an extreme example of what Republicans means when they describe liberal "cancel culture." It is not just complaining about a POV you don't like; it's literally cancelling an event where a POV you consider incorrect is to be presented. Politicians should never be on boards of institutions where any sort of intellectual endeavor might occur.

News Ledes

Standoff on I-95. New York Times: "Eleven men were taken into custody on Saturday after a lengthy roadside standoff between police officers in Massachusetts and a group of heavily armed men in tactical gear who claimed to be part of a group called Rise of the Moors. Dozens of police officers from Massachusetts and New Hampshire responded to the standoff, which shut down part of a highway for several hours and prompted the authorities to order people in surrounding communities to shelter in place." An ABC News story is here. See also Patrick's commentary in today's thread.

New York Times: "A leak in an underwater gas pipe sparked a swirling fire that raged for hours in the Gulf of Mexico on Friday, creating a biblical scene that drew comparisons to Mordor, the volcanic hellscape from 'The Lord of the Rings.' The circular inferno formed at 5:15 a.m. after a pipeline about 12 inches in diameter leaked, according to a statement from Petróleos Mexicanos, or Pemex, Mexico's state-owned oil monopoly, which controls the pipeline." ~~~

The Commentariat -- July 2, 2021

Sean Sullivan & Anne Gearan of the Washington Post: "During his trip to a grief-stricken stretch of Florida beachfront on Thursday, [President] Biden summoned two defining features of his political identity: empathy and bipartisanship.... The visit in many ways marked a return of norms and expectations for a president in times of national crisis after the awkward and sometimes ham-handed responses of ... Donald Trump. Where Trump often kept his distance from suffering and seemed to prefer focusing on strength, Biden spent hours addressing the emotionally fraught tragedy on Thursday." The AP's story is here.

Pete Williams of NBC News: "Attorney General Merrick Garland ordered a temporary stop Thursday to scheduling further federal executions. In a memo to senior officials, he said serious concerns have arisen about the arbitrariness of capital punishment, its disparate impact on people of color, and 'the troubling number of exonerations' in death penalty cases." The Washington Post's report is here. The Attorney General's memorandum is here.

Amy Goldstein of the Washington Post: "The Biden administration issued rules Thursday to shield Americans from large, unexpected medical bills after patients wind up in emergency rooms or receive other care they did not realize lay outside their insurance networks. The rules, to begin in January, are the first in a series of coordinated steps that four federal agencies are required to take to set in motion a law Congress adopted last year to protect health-care consumers against a practice known as surprise billing. Thursday's rules spell out that, if a health plan provides for any emergency services, those services must be covered without requiring permission from an insurer ahead of time. And ... patients cannot be billed ... for the difference between what the hospital charges and what an insurance company pays for out-of-network care."

Dan Lamothe of the Washington Post: "The U.S. military has vacated its most significant airfield in Afghanistan, three defense officials said, underscoring that the Pentagon expects to complete its withdrawal from the country within days after 20 years of war. The departure from Bagram air base, about 45 miles north of Kabul, ends the U.S. military presence at Afghanistan's most significant airfield. It has long been used to launch strike aircraft against the Taliban and other militant groups, and was once the headquarters for U.S. Special Operations troops in the war."

Mike Lillis of the Hill: "Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) has named Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) to serve on the select committee investigating the attack on the Capitol by a mob of pro-Trump supporters.... House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.) will serve as the select panel's leader. Pelosi's other Democratic picks include Administration Committee Chairwoman Zoe Lofgren (Calif.), Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff (Calif.), Pete Aguilar (Calif.), Stephanie Murphy (Fla.), Jamie Raskin (Md.) and Elaine Luria (Va.)." Update: The Washington Post's story, by Felicia Sonmez & Marianna Sotomayor is here. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ MEANWHILE. Jamie Gangel of CNN: "House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy on Wednesday issued a blanket threat during a meeting with freshmen members of his caucus that he would strip any Republican member of their committee assignments if they accept an offer from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to serve on the select committee to investigate the January 6 insurrection, according to two GOP sources with knowledge of the matter." MB: So we'll see if Kevin strips Cheney of her committee assignments, while he leaves reprobates like alleged sex offender Matt Gaetz & confirmed white supremacist Paul Gosar on House committees. (Also linked yesterday.)

Jeff Stein of the Washington Post: "The federal deficit will hit $3 trillion in 2021 for the second consecutive year, primarily because of the national spending blitz in response to the coronavirus pandemic, the Congressional Budget Office said Thursday. The deficit represents a slight decrease from last year but is triple that of 2019, and amounts to one of the biggest imbalances between federal spending and revenue in American history, the nonpartisan budget office said. But the CBO also projected faster-than-expected economic growth, with unemployment falling more sharply than previously predicted...."

A Bad Day for Democracy

Harper Neidig of the Hill: "The Supreme Court on Thursday ruled that a California regulation requiring nonprofits to disclose their donors to state officials is unconstitutional. The court sided with a pair of conservative groups challenging the disclosure requirement in a 6-3 split along ideological lines. Chief Justice John Roberts wrote the majority opinion, ruling that the disclosure regulations have a chilling effect on donors' First Amendment rights." The New York Times report, by Adam Liptak, is here. (Also linked yesterday.)

John Kruzel of the Hill: “The Supreme Court on Thursday ruled that a pair of Republican-backed Arizona voting restrictions do not run afoul of federal law, rejecting a Democratic challenge and dealing a blow to voting rights advocates.... One Arizona policy at issue in Thursday's case requires provisional ballots cast in the wrong precinct to be discarded. The second measure makes it illegal for most third parties to deliver ballots for others, a practice critics refer to as 'ballot harvesting.'... Developing." MB: According to CNN, the decision was 6-3, with the more liberal justices dissenting. Update: The New York Times report, by Adam Liptak, is here. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

What is tragic here is that the Court has (once again) rewritten -- in order to weaken -- a law that stands as a monument to America's greatness and protects against its lowest impulses. What is tragic is that the court undermined a law designed to end discrimination in voting. I respectfully disagree. -- Justice Elena Kagan, dissent in Brnovich v. Democratic National Committee

~~~ Alexander Bolton of the Hill: "Justice Elena Kagan ripped her conservative colleagues on the Supreme Court on Thursday in a blistering 41-page dissent, accusing them of ignoring the legislative intent of the 1965 Voting Rights Act as well as the high court's own precedents. Kagan's fiery dissenting opinion in a voting rights case, which was joined by the two other liberal members of the court, Justices Stephen Breyer and Sonia Sotomayor, accused her conservative colleagues of undermining Section 2 of the landmark Voting Rights Act and tragically weakening what she called 'a statute that stands as a monument to America's greatness.' 'Never has a statute done more to advance the nation's highest ideals. And few laws are more vital in the current moment. Yet in the last decade, this court has treated no statute worse,' she wrote, in what is likely to become a rallying cry for Democratic lawmakers and progressive activists pushing for election reform laws, including the John Lewis Voting Rights Act, in Congress." ~~~

~~~ ** President Joe Biden, in a statement: "I am deeply disappointed in today's decision by the United States Supreme Court that undercuts the Voting Rights Act, and upholds what Justice Kagan called 'a significant race-based disparity in voting opportunities.' In a span of just eight years, the Court has now done severe damage to two of the most important provisions of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 -- a law that took years of struggle and strife to secure. After all we have been through to deliver the promise of this Nation to all Americans, we should be fully enforcing voting rights laws, not weakening them. Yet this decision comes just over a week after Senate Republicans blocked even a debate -- even consideration -- of the For the People Act that would have protected the right to vote from action by Republican legislators in states across the country.... Democracy is on the line."

~~~ A Court "Hostile to American Democracy." Richard Hasen, in a New York Times op-ed: "In two disturbing rulings closing out the Supreme Court's term, the court's six-justice conservative majority, over the loud protests of its three-liberal minority, has shown itself hostile to American democracy.... The court is putting our democratic form of government at risk not only in these two decisions but in its overall course over the past few decades.... Rather than focus on whether a law has a disparate impact on minority voters, as Justice Elena Kagan urged in her dissent, the court [in the Arizona voting rights case] put a huge thumb on the scale in favor of restrictive state voting rules.... Minority voters have a high burden: They must show that the state has imposed more than the 'usual burdens of voting.'... If you put the [two] ... cases together, the court is making it easier for states to pass repressive voting laws and easier for undisclosed donors and big money to influence election outcomes.&" ~~~

~~~ E.J. Dionne of the Washington Post: "You wonder if July 1, 2021, might come to be known as Oligarchy Day.... The decisions in both cases could have been written by the Republican National Committee, attorneys for the Koch brothers and advocates of voter suppression.... The conservative justices also showed -- yet again -- that the right's oft-stated commitment to 'states' rights' is situational. Arizona was free to make it harder to vote, but California was not free to let citizens know who is financing entities enmeshed in their state's politics.... [For] senators still reluctant to overturn or reform the Senate's filibuster rules[, t]heir choice really is between defending the filibuster and defending democracy.... Court enlargement must now be on the agenda of anyone who cares about protecting voting rights and our increasingly fragile system of self-rule." ~~~

~~~ Steve M.: "... there are two kinds of Republicans: those who want to steal elections by any means necessary, including by means of embarrassingly implausible stunts like the January 6 riot and the Arizona audit, and those who want to steal election the [s]ubtle way, by creating a legal framework that favors the GOP at every turn while retaining the appearance of fairness and impartiality, at least to those who aren't paying close attention. Donald Trump and MAGA Nation belong in the former category, while many Republican officeholders, including the Republicans who refused to 'find' votes for Trump after Election Day 2020 or otherwise reject Joe Biden's obvious victory, belong in the latter category. The Republicans on the Supreme Court belong in that category too. They want the GOP to win every future election just as much as Trump and his crew do, but they want the GOP victories to have the patina of legitimacy. Hence today's decisions and the ones that came before them." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Exactly. Jim Crow lives! I heard Sherrilyn Ifill, director of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, say today that the Supremes had taken the U.S. back to pre-1965, when the country was not a true democracy because so many Americans were excluded from voting. And that's where Johnny & the Dwarfs have taken us by gutting the transformational Voting Rights Act. Moreover, Alito's decision not only specifically sanctions Trump's "big lie" -- Alito writes about how the Arizona law ensures against "voter fraud" -- it also provides a legal excuse for all the nutcases who stormed the Capitol (and who will make similar forays in the future). Yes, yes, violence is a shame, but those ole boys who delayed certification of the Electoral College vote were fighting for a certain kind of "democracy" where the "real winner" is determined by a particular genre of voter. When the majority of Republicans tell pollsters Biden "stole" the election, what many of them mean is that too many Black votes counted.

** Ben Protess, et al., of the New York Times: "The Trump Organization, the real estate business that catapulted Donald J. Trump to tabloid fame, television riches and ultimately the White House, was charged Thursday with fraud and tax crimes in connection with what prosecutors said was a 15-year-long scheme to compensate a top executive off the books. The Manhattan district attorney's office, which has been conducting the investigation, also accused the executive, Allen H. Weisselberg, Mr. Trump's long-serving and trusted chief financial officer, of avoiding taxes on $1.7 million in income. He faced grand larceny, tax fraud and other charges. The charges were revealed at an arraignment in State Supreme Court in Manhattan for the Trump Organization and Mr. Weisselberg. More details about the allegations were set to be laid out in an indictment to be unsealed after the court proceeding." This is an update of a story linked yesterday.

Spencer Hsu of the Washington Post: "... Donald Trump has offered to give House Democrats a peek at financial statements related to his complex business empire from before his 2016 presidential bid and eight years of contracts with his accounting firm, but refused to divulge more sensitive source data or internal communications, his lawyers told a federal judge Thursday. The disclosure of the offer, made in late June in unsuccessful court-ordered mediation, came as Trump urged a federal judge in Washington to end a stalemate and toss out a 2019 House subpoena for eight years of his financial records, calling the congressional demand unconstitutional and unenforceable.... Douglas Letter, general counsel for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), said Trump lawyers' in mediation 'never offered to produce a single document.' Instead they proposed that a handful of committee aides and lawmakers view a small sample of records in private; take notes instead of copy or photograph them; and keep the information confidential to the committee, Letter said. He called the limitations on reviewing complex and voluminous financial data 'ridiculous.'... U.S. District Judge Amit P. Mehta ... promised to 'work very hard to get everyone an expedited decision,' saying he knew any ruling would be appealed."

Beyond the Beltway

California. Jeremy White of Politico: "California's elections chief certified the gubernatorial recall Thursday, setting up a likely mid-September election to consider whether Gov. Gavin Newsom should remain in office. It officially marks the state's second-ever gubernatorial recall after the 2003 ouster of then-Gov. Gray Davis, whom voters replaced with Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger."

Accidents can happen. -- Ross Pietro, building inspector at a Miami Shores dog track building that collapsed in 1997 ~~~

~~~ Florida. Frances Robles of the New York Times: "Ross Prieto, the chief building official in Surfside, Fla..., told residents of Champlain Towers South [in 2018] that their building appeared to be sound nearly three years before its deadly collapse last week.... The city of Doral, where Mr. Prieto has worked as a consulting building engineer since May, announced this week that Mr. Prieto was on leave for undisclosed reasons, and that it was reviewing the eight projects he had worked on in that city.... Mr. Prieto, 54, who has a master's degree in construction management, has more than 25 years of experience as a building and roofing inspector in at least six South Florida cities, including Miami, Miami Beach and Hialeah."

News Ledes

CNBC: "Job growth leaped higher in June as businesses looked to keep up with a rapidly recovering U.S. economy, the Labor Department reported Friday. Nonfarm payrolls increased 850,000 for the month, compared to the Dow Jones estimate of 706,000 and better than the upwardly revised 583,000 in May. The unemployment rate, however, rose to 5.9% against the 5.6% expectation."

The New York Times is liveblogging developments today in the Surfside, Florida, condominium collapse.

The Commentariat -- July 1, 2021

Late Morning/Afternoon Update:

Ben Protess, et al., of the New York Times: "The Trump Organization, the real estate business that catapulted Donald J. Trump to tabloid fame, television riches and ultimately the White House, was charged Thursday with fraud and tax crimes in connection with what prosecutors said was a 15-year-long scheme to compensate a top executive off the books. The Manhattan district attorney's office, which has been conducting the investigation, also accused the executive, Allen H. Weisselberg, Mr. Trump's long-serving and trusted chief financial officer, of avoiding taxes on $1.7 million in income. He faced grand larceny, tax fraud and other charges. The charges were revealed at an arraignment in State Supreme Court in Manhattan for the Trump Organization and Mr. Weisselberg. More details about the allegations were set to be laid out in an indictment to be unsealed after the court proceeding." This is an update of a story linked below.

Mike Lillis of the Hill: "Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) has named Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) to serve on the select committee investigating the attack on the Capitol by a mob of pro-Trump supporters.... House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.) will serve as the select panel's leader. Pelosi's other Democratic picks include Administration Committee Chairwoman Zoe Lofgren (Calif.), Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff (Calif.), Pete Aguilar (Calif.), Stephanie Murphy (Fla.), Jamie Raskin (Md.) and Elaine Luria (Va.)." Update: The Washington Post's story, by Felicia Sonmez & Marianna Sotomayor is here. ~~~

     ~~~ MEANWHILE. Jamie Gangel of CNN: "House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy on Wednesday issued a blanket threat during a meeting with freshmen members of his caucus that he would strip any Republican member of their committee assignments if they accept an offer from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to serve on the select committee to investigate the January 6 insurrection, according to two GOP sources with knowledge of the matter." MB: We'll see if Kevin strips Cheney of her committee assignments, while he leaves reprobates like alleged sex offender Matt Gaetz & confirmed white supremacist Paul Gosar on House committees.

A Bad Day for Democracy ~~~

Harper Neidig of the Hill: "The Supreme Court on Thursday ruled that a California regulation requiring nonprofits to disclose their donors to state officials is unconstitutional. The court sided with a pair of conservative groups challenging the disclosure requirement in a 6-3 split along ideological lines. Chief Justice John Roberts wrote the majority opinion, ruling that the disclosure regulations have a chilling effect on donors' First Amendment rights." Update: The New York Times report, by Adam Liptak, is here.

John Kruzel of the Hill: "The Supreme Court on Thursday ruled that a pair of Republican-backed Arizona voting restrictions do not run afoul of federal law, rejecting a Democratic challenge and dealing a blow to voting rights advocates.... One Arizona policy at issue in Thursday's case requires provisional ballots cast in the wrong precinct to be discarded. The second measure makes it illegal for most third parties to deliver ballots for others, a practice critics refer to as 'ballot harvesting.'... Developing." MB: According to CNN, the decision was 6-3, with the more liberal justices dissenting. Update: The New York Times report, by Adam Liptak, is here.

~~~~~~~~~~

Trump Org & CFO indicted. Weisselberg surrenders; stories linked below.

Another Whopper from Joe's Big Book of Tall Tales. Daniel Dale of CNN: "On Tuesday, President Joe Biden repeated a vivid story he has been telling since at least his 2020 presidential campaign. Biden's story serves to illustrate both his connection with average workers and his fondness for Amtrak.... The story details a conversation he claims to have had with a particular Amtrak conductor as he was boarding a train as vice president. But the story could not possibly be true -- as some conservative media outlets pointed out.... [The conductor] had been dead for more than a year -- and had been retired for more than two decades -- before the earliest moment [in 2015] they could conceivably have had the supposed conversation Biden keeps describing."

Christopher Cadelago, et al., of Politico: "The handling of [Vice President Harris's] border visit was the latest chaotic moment for a staff that's quickly become mired in them. Harris' team is experiencing low morale, porous lines of communication and diminished trust among aides and senior officials. Much of the frustration internally is directed at Tina Flournoy, Harris' chief of staff, a veteran of Democratic politics who began working for her earlier this year. In interviews, 22 current and former vice presidential aides, administration officials and associates of Harris and Biden described a tense and at times dour office atmosphere. Aides and allies said Flournoy, in an apparent effort to protect Harris, has instead created an insular environment where ideas are ignored or met with harsh dismissals and decisions are dragged out. Often, they said, she refuses to take responsibility for delicate issues and blames staffers for the negative results that ensue."

If You're Still Waiting for That Tax Refund.... Jeff Stein of the Washington Post: "The Internal Revenue Service closed the most recent filing season with more than 35 million in unprocessed tax returns, as the agency's backlog grew markedly amid a crush of challenges related to the pandemic and economic relief efforts, a government watchdog said Wednesday. Erin Collins, the National Taxpayer Advocate, said in her report that about 17 million paper tax returns are still waiting to be processed and approximately 16 million additional returns have been placed on hold because they require further review manually. Another 2.7 million amended tax returns have not been processed. This backlog represents a four-fold increase from 2019 -- the most recent year before coronavirus -- when the IRS closed its filing season with only 7.4 million unprocessed returns, according to the report. These numbers reflect the IRS backlog as of May, and the agency may have made progress reducing it since then." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Rachel Siegel of the Washington Post: "The inspector general overseeing the Federal Housing Finance Agency resigned Tuesday, two months after a scathing watchdog report alleged that she abused her authority, retaliated against employees and blocked an investigation into her conduct. In April, an investigation by a special panel -- known as the Integrity Committee -- sent a report to the White House about Laura Wertheimer, the inspector general overseeing FHFA, who was nominated by President Barack Obama in 2014. The report noted years of complaints against Wertheimer and other staff members, and it ultimately concluded that 'misconduct of this nature warrants consideration of substantial disciplinary action, up to and including removal.'" (Also linked yesterday.)

Capitalism Is Awesome, Ctd. Hiroko Tabuchi of the New York Times: A "veteran oil-industry lobbyist was told he was meeting with a recruiter. But the video call, which was secretly recorded, was part of an elaborate sting operation by an individual working for the environmental group Greenpeace UK. During the call, Keith McCoy, a senior director of federal relations for Exxon Mobil, described how the oil and gas giant targeted a number of influential United States senators in an effort to weaken climate action in President Biden's flagship infrastructure plan. That plan now contains few of the ambitious ideas initially proposed by Mr. Biden to cut the burning of fossil fuels, the main driver of climate change. Mr. McCoy also said on the recording that Exxon's support for a tax on carbon dioxide was 'a great talking point' for the oil company, but that he believes the tax will never happen. He also said that the company has in the past aggressively fought climate science through 'shadow groups.'... On the video call recorded by Greenpeace, Mr. McCoy defended the company&'s efforts to mislead the public on climate change...." ~~~

~~~ "Climate Crimes." Chris McGreal of the Guardian: "To investigate the lengths of the oil and gas industry's deceptions -- and the disastrous consequences for communities across the country -- the Guardian is launching a year-long series tracking the unprecedented efforts to hold the fossil fuel industry to account. The legal process is expected to take years. Cities in California filed the first lawsuits back in 2017, and they have been tied down by disputes over jurisdiction, with the oil companies fighting with limited success to get them moved from state to federal courts where they think the law is more favorable. But climate activists see opportunities long before verdicts are rendered in the US. The legal process is expected to add to already damning revelations of the energy giants' closely held secrets. If history is a guide, those developments could in turn alter public opinion in favor of regulations that the oil and gas companies spent years fighting off. A string of other recent victories for climate activists already points to a shift in the industry's power."

Karoun Demirjian of the Washington Post: "The House voted Wednesday to form a select committee tasked with investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol with nearly all Republicans opposing the legislation -- a sign of the political challenges that face Democrats as they attempt to probe why thousands of ... Donald Trump's supporters laid siege to the U.S. Capitol complex. The 220 to 190 party-line vote stands in contrast to a vote in May, when 35 House Republicans joined Democrats to back creation of an independent commission to examine the attack. But while many House Republicans were willing to embrace an outside panel of experts evenly weighted between GOP and Democratic appointees, most were wary of a select committee that would be firmly in the control of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's handpicked participants.... Only two of the 211 House Republicans voted in favor of creating the panel -- Reps. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) and Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.), both of whom were among the 10 Republicans who voted to impeach ... Donald Trump in January.... Pelosi (D-Calif.) designed the select committee to have 13 members, only five of whom would be appointed 'after consultation with the minority leader,' Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.)." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Three Stooges Plan Investigation of NSA; Hilarity to Ensue. Caroline Vakil of the Hill: "Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) announced on Wednesday that he asked Rep. Devin Nunes, the top Republican on the House Intelligence Committee, to look into allegations that the National Security Agency (NSA) was spying on Fox News host Tucker Carlson<." MB: This looks like a great opportunity for Devin to perform a reprise of his midnight foray into the White House bushes.

Paul Kane of the Washington Post: "Early in his tenure, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) took decisive action against a Republican who embraced racist views. 'I've watched on the other side that they do not take action when their members say something like this. Action will be taken,' McCarthy said in a January 2019 interview on CBS, outlining his plan to strip Steve King, an Iowa Republican, of his committee assignments. Two-and-a-half years later, McCarthy has ceded that moral high ground in policing his own caucus. Instead, he has adopted something best called whataboutism: Anytime a Republican does something wrong, he points to a Democrat who's gone unpunished by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.)."

Zachary Cohen & Geneva Sands of CNN: "Department of Homeland Security officials are warning that the same sort of rhetoric and false narratives that fueled the January 6 attack on the US Capitol could lead to more violence this summer by right-wing extremists. A growing belief among some Donald Trump supporters that the former President will be reinstated in August, coupled with relaxed Covid-19 restrictions, has DHS officials concerned that online rhetoric and threats could translate into actual violence in the coming months as more people are out and in public places. The August theory is essentially a recycled version of other false narratives pushed by Trump and his allies leading up to and after January 6, prompting familiar rhetoric from those who remain in denial about his 2020 election loss. But the concern is significant enough that DHS issued two warnings in the past week about the potential for violence this summer."

** New York Times: "In the six months since an angry pro-Trump mob stormed the U.S. Capitol, immense efforts have been made not only to find the rioters and hold them accountable, but also ... to dig into the details of Jan. 6 and slowly piece together what actually happened that day.... And while Republicans in Congress blocked the formation of a blue-ribbon bipartisan committee, House Democrats are poised to appoint a smaller select committee. Even now, however, Republican politicians and their allies in the media are still playing down the most brazen attack on a seat of power in modern American history. Some ... have accused the F.B.I. of planning the attack in what they have described -- wildly -- as a false-flag operation.... The Times's Visual Investigations team spent several months reviewing thousands of videos.... What we have come up with is a 40-minute panoramic take on Jan. 6, the most complete visual depiction of the Capitol riot to date." The article then outlines what it calls "some of the major revelations." Well-worth carving out 40 minutes to watch it. Supersize it. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

~~~ Spencer Hsu & Rachel Weiner of the Washington Post: "More than a dozen arrests in the Jan. 6 Capitol riot were announced or unsealed Wednesday, revealing charges against alleged supporters of extremist right-wing groups including the Oath Keepers, Proud Boys and Boogaloo Bois, and individuals accused of attacking the property of news media. The arrests ranked among the most made public in a single day and came as an alleged Oath Keepers member [Mark Grods] reached an unexpected plea deal with prosecutors in the largest conspiracy case brought against those accused of obstructing Congress as it met to confirm the 2020 election results." ~~~

~~~ Zoe Tillman of BuzzFeed News: "A member of the alleged Oath Keepers conspiracy who cut a deal with prosecutors will admit he stashed guns at a Virginia hotel as part of preparations for demonstrations at the Capitol on Jan. 6. Mark Grods is set to plead guilty on Wednesday afternoon to two felony counts for conspiracy and obstructing Congress. Grods will confirm the government's long-standing allegation that members of the Oath Keepers who came to Washington, DC, to oppose Congress's certification of the election were prepared for violence and arranged to store firearms outside of the city that could be brought in on short notice." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Ryan Reilly of the Huffington Post: "As the unprecedented probe [to track down January 6 insurrectionists] reshapes the federal government's approach to domestic terrorism, Justice Department officials announced last week they had cleared the benchmark of 500 arrests.... [Attorney General Merrick] Garland ... said DOJ's efforts were 'not possible without the continued assistance of the American public.' Much of that assistance has come from people who personally knew Capitol suspects.... But there's a whole other batch of Capitol defendants who ended up on the FBI's radar thanks to the work of someone they&'d never met: anonymous online sleuths who tracked down the digital breadcrumbs that Capitol suspects had often unknowingly sprinkled across the internet. They call themselves sedition hunters, and they have receipts. They're members of a loosely affiliated network of motivated individuals and pop-up volunteer organizations with names like Deep State Dogs and Capitol Terrorists Exposers that developed after the Jan. 6 attack to identify the Trump supporters who organized the Capitol riot and brutalized the law enforcement officers protecting the building." Reilly goes on to describe some of the sedition hunters & their methods.

How Biden Won. Ruth Igielnik, et al., of the Pew Research Center: "A number of factors determined the composition of the 2020 electorate and explain how it delivered Biden a victory.... Overall, there were shifts in presidential candidate support among some key groups between 2016 and 2020, notably suburban voters and independents. On balance, these shifts helped Biden a little more than Trump.... Biden made gains with suburban voters.... Trump made gains among Hispanic voters.... Apart from the small shift among Hispanic voters, Joe Biden's electoral coalition looked much like Hillary Clinton's, with Black, Hispanic and Asian voters and those of other races casting about four-in-ten of his votes.... Biden made gains with men, while Trump improved among women, narrowing the gender gap.... Biden improved over Clinton among White non-college voters.... Biden grew his support with some religious groups while Trump held his ground.... After decades of constituting the majority of voters, Baby Boomers and members of the Silent Generation made up less than half of the electorate in 2020 (44%), falling below the 52% they constituted in both 2016 and 2018."

** Weisselberg Surrenders. Ben Protess, et al., of the New York Times: "Donald J. Trump's long-serving chief financial officer, Allen H. Weisselberg, surrendered on Thursday to the Manhattan district attorney's office as he and the Trump Organization prepared to face charges in connection with a tax investigation, people with knowledge of the matter said. The exact charges were not yet known.... Mr. Weisselberg, accompanied by his lawyer, Mary E. Mulligan, walked into the Lower Manhattan building that houses the criminal courts and the district attorney's office about 6:20 a.m. He is expected to appear in court in the afternoon along with representatives of the Trump Organization." ~~~

~~~ ** Shayna Jacobs, et al., of the Washington Post: "A grand jury in Manhattan filed criminal indictments Wednesday against former president Donald Trump's company and its longtime chief financial officer, according to two people familiar with the indictments. The indictments against the Trump Organization and its CFO, Allen Weisselberg, will remain sealed until Thursday afternoon, leaving the specific charges against them unclear. Earlier Wednesday, people familiar with the case said the charges were related to allegations of unpaid taxes on benefits for Trump Organization executives. Weisselberg is expected to surrender Thursday morning at the office of Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance Jr. (D), two people familiar with the plan said. He is expected to be arraigned later in the day in front of a state court judge. The Trump Organization will also be arraigned, represented in court by one of its attorneys." ~~~

~~~ Adam Reiss, et al., of NBC News have confirmed the Washington Post story in this update of an NBC News story linked here yesterday. ~~~

~~~ Michael Rothfeld, et al., of the New York Times profile Allen Weisselberg. "Interviews with 18 current and former associates of Mr. Weisselberg, as well as a review of legal filings, financial records and other documents, paint a portrait of a man whose unflinching devotion to Mr. Trump will now be put to the test." The story has been updated . ~~~

~~~ So many thanks to Ken W. for reminding us, in today's Comments, of this gem (albeit Hillary was speaking of Trump's personal federal income tax, but as we would say in the South, "same difference"):

More Bad News for the Trumpster. Cat Zakrzewski of the Washington Post: "A federal judge on Wednesday blocked a Florida law that would penalize social media companies for blocking a politician's posts, a blow to conservatives' efforts to respond to Facebook and other websites' suspension of ... Donald Trump. The law was due to go into effect Thursday, but in issuing a preliminary injunction, U.S. District Judge Robert Hinkle of the Northern District of Florida suggested that the law would be found unconstitutional. 'The plaintiffs are likely to prevail on the merits of their claim that these statutes violate the First Amendment,' Hinkle wrote. 'There is nothing that could be severed and survive.'" An NBC News report is here.

Tyler Pager of the Washington Post: "... Donald Trump traveled to the U.S.-Mexico border ... Wednesday for a trip billed as an opportunity to assail President Biden on immigration -- an issue core to Trump's political identity and one Republicans view as a weakness for Democrats. But Trump often got sidetracked from the day's message, instead launching into grievance-filled rants.... Trump did not fully ignore the issue of immigration -- he just mainly focused on himself."

Graham Bowley of the New York Times: "Bill Cosby had his conviction for sexual assault overturned by a Pennsylvania appeals court on Wednesday, a decision that will set free a man whose case had represented the first high-profile sexual assault trial to unfold in the aftermath of the #MeToo movement. Three years into the prison sentence of three to 10 years he has served at a maximum-security facility outside Philadelphia, the 7-member Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruled Mr. Cosby, 83, had been denied a fair trial in 2018. The ruling upended the legal case against Mr. Cosby brought by prosecutors in Pennsylvania that began with his arrest in 2015 on charges of drugging and sexually assaulting a woman at his home in the Philadelphia suburbs eleven years earlier." The AP's story is here. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Robert McFadden of the New York Times: "Donald H. Rumsfeld , the secretary of defense for Presidents Gerald R. Ford and George W. Bush, who presided over America's Cold War strategies in the 1970s and, in the new world of terrorism decades later, the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, died on Tuesday at his home in Taos, N.M. He was 88." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

~~~ Spencer Ackerman of the Daily Beast: "he only thing tragic about the death of Donald Rumsfeld is that it didn't occur in an Iraqi prison.... Rumsfeld escaped the consequences of decisions he made that ensured a violent, frightening end for hundreds of thousands of people. An actuarial table of the deaths for which Donald Rumsfeld is responsible is difficult to assemble. In part, that's a consequence of his policy, as defense secretary from 2001 to 2006, not to compile or release body counts, a PR strategy learned after disclosing the tolls eroded support for the Vietnam War. As a final obliteration, we cannot know, let alone name, all the dead." Firewalled.

The Pandemic, Ctd.

The New York Times' live updates of Covid-19 developments Thursday are here.

The New York Times' live updates of Covid-19 developments Wednesday are here: "The director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Wednesday stood by advice that people fully vaccinated against the coronavirus do not need to wear masks in most situations, but added that there are instances where local authorities might impose more stringent measures to protect the unvaccinated. The comments came after the World Health Organization recently reiterated longstanding guidance that everyone, vaccinated or not, wear masks and take other precautions, following a global surge in infections of the highly contagious Delta variant." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: I did attend events over the weekend where I did not wear a mask and where I was in close contact with people from around the country, so I'm wearing a mask for the next few weeks when I go out in order to protect other people in case I'm a carrier.

David Lim of Politico: "The Biden administration is rethinking its approach to Covid-19 testing as the pandemic enters an uncertain phase -- one in which new infections have dropped to the lowest level since the spring of 2020, but the highly contagious Delta variant is driving fresh outbreaks. Federal health officials, along with testing labs and test makers, are weighing how to implement the lessons they have learned from this pandemic to prepare for the next one. That includes what types of government incentives could help keep companies prepared to quickly develop tests in the face of a new emergency, and whether to stockpile key testing supplies. The administration also recently retooled the leadership of its Covid-19 testing and diagnostic workgroup."

Fenit Nirappil of the Washington Post: "Los Angeles County public health authorities are urging unvaccinated and vaccinated people alike to don masks again inside restaurants, stores and other public indoor spaces because of the growing threat posed by the more contagious delta variant of the novel coronavirus. The high-profile move by the county of 10 million marks an abrupt shift in tone after states and localities have dropped most mask mandates and social distancing requirements in recent weeks. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in mid-May rescinded almost all masking recommendations for fully vaccinated people." The article is free to nonsubscribers. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Wisconsin. Milwaukee Journal Sentinel Editors: "COVID-19 is still killing people in Wisconsin -- nearly all of them people who have not been fully vaccinated, state health officials say. And that's why Ron Johnson's news conference Monday was so disheartening.... Instead of encouraging more people to get vaccinated so we can be rid of this plague once and for all, Johnson has chosen to use his taxpayer-financed megaphone to draw attention to a vanishingly small number of people who believe they suffered a serious side effect. And he has continued to cast doubts aboutscience, research, masks and other public health measures while promoting 'cures' with no evidence behind them. He is the most irresponsible representative of Wisconsin citizens since the infamous Sen. Joseph R. McCarthy in the 1950s."

Beyond the Beltway

Charles Pierce of Esquire on South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem's plan to send the state's National Guard on a privately-funded excursion to patrol the U.S.-Mexico border. Pierce cites a Military Times article that reports that the governors of Arkansas, Florida & Nebraska have all pledged to send law enforcement officers to beef up border security. "... using that money essentially to rent out another state's National Guard as a private army for a political stunt to benefit the Republican Party and the future political plans of the governor of South Dakota is one very long step down a road that other republics have traveled, never to be seen again.... Here we have a cabal of Republican governors using their law-enforcement apparatus -- and now, their National Guard troops -- in a coordinated exercise in political gamesmanship, if not outright sabotage.... What's to prevent this band of ghouls from putting this kind of thing together to take more, ah, 'active' measures against the administration in the future? The last time governors decided to use their states' military as an argument in national politics, people wound up ducking behind things in Fort Sumter.... Biden should federalize the South Dakota National Guard immediately and then order it to stay where it is." Firewalled. ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Pierce is right. The WashPo may think "democracy dies in darkness," but when democracy ultimately fails, it's usually right out in the sunlight. Donald Trump used the military for his personal political gain, but "his generals" prevented some of his worst-laid plans. By contrast, nobody is stopping Kristi or the other Republican governors from executing their plans to employ troops & other law enforcement officers to promote their political agendas. It doesn't matter much that they're starting down this road by planning to aim their guns at foreign nationals yearning to be free. What matters is that people in positions of power have switched from criticizing federal policies to taking matters into their own hands. And those hands are holding grenades.

Florida. Beth Reinhard, et al., of the Washington Post: "The president of the board of the Florida condominium that collapsed last week resigned in 2019, partly in frustration over what she saw as the sluggish response to an engineer's report that identified major structural damage the previous year. Anette Goldstein was among five members of the seven-member board to resign in two weeks that fall, according to minutes from an Oct. 3 meeting, at a time when the condo association in Surfside was consumed by contentious debate about the multimillion-dollar repairs.... Debate over the cost and scope of the work, along with turnover on the volunteer board, dragged out preparations for the repairs for three years, according to previously unpublished correspondence, condo board minutes and other records kept by the homeowners association." ~~~

~~~ Mike Baker & Kimiko de Freytas-Tamura of the New York Times: "The deferred maintenance and inadequate savings at the Champlain Towers building are common dilemmas at condo associations across the country, where volunteer board members, sometimes with little expertise in financing or maintenance, find themselves dealing with vicious infighting with their neighbors and pressure to keep dues low.... A vast majority of states do not require condo boards to maintain robust reserves to help pay for those items when they come due.... Industry leaders and some states have long pressed condos and other homeowners' associations to have robust reserve funds in order to avoid consternation and procrastination when a big bill is coming due. But with little voluntary progress, a move to reshape state laws has gained momentum in recent months."

New York. Katie Glueck of the New York Times: "A day after New York City's Board of Elections sowed confusion in the Democratic mayoral primary by releasing new tallies and then retracting them, it issued a new preliminary tally of votes suggesting that the race between Eric Adams, the primary night leader, and his two closest rivals had tightened significantly. According to Wednesday's nonbinding tally, Mr. Adams led Kathryn Garcia by just 14,755 votes, a margin of around 2 percentage points, in the final round. Maya Wiley, who came in second place in the initial vote count, barely trailed Ms. Garcia after the preliminary elimination rounds were completed: Fewer than 350 votes separated the two. But in reality, all of those candidates remain in contention, and those numbers could be scrambled again as the city's Board of Elections tabulates ranked-choice outcomes that will include roughly 125,000 Democratic absentee ballots, with a fuller result not expected until mid-July."

North Carolina. Katie Robertson of the New York Times: "The University of North Carolina's board of trustees voted on Wednesday to grant tenure to the Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Nikole Hannah-Jones, ending a dispute that had stretched on for more than a month. Nine board members voted in favor of tenure for Ms. Hannah-Jones and four against during a special meeting on the campus in Chapel Hill, which some trustees attended via Zoom.... Ms. Hannah-Jones, a correspondent for The New York Times Magazine who earned a master's degree from U.N.C. in 2003, had accepted a position as the Knight Chair in Race and Investigative Journalism at the university's Hussman School of Journalism and was expected to start July 1." NPR's story is here.

Way Beyond

Canada. Leyland Cecco of the Guardian: "A First Nations community in western Canada has discovered the remains of nearly 200 people on the grounds of a former residential school, adding to the growing tally of unmarked graves across the country. The Lower Kootenay Band said on Wednesday that ground-penetrating radar had revealed 182 human remains at St Eugene's Mission residential school, near the city of Cranbrook, British Columbia. Some of the remains were buried in shallow graves only three and four feet deep.... From the 19th century until the 1990s, more than 150,000 Indigenous children were forced to attend state-funded schools in [a] campaign to forcibly assimilate them into Canadian society. Abuse was rife at the schools where thousands of children died of disease, neglect and other causes." ~~~

~~~ Ian Austen & Vjosa Isai of the New York Times: "Pope Francis will meet with Indigenous leaders later this year to discuss coming to Canada to apologize for the church's role in operating schools that abused and forcibly assimilated generations of Indigenous children, a step toward resolving the grievances of survivors and Indigenous communities, the head of Canada's largest Indigenous organization said on Wednesday. In a statement, the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops said that the pope will meet separately at the Vatican with the representatives of Canada's three biggest Indigenous groups -- the First Nations, the Métis and the Inuit -- during a four-day series of meetings in December that will culminate in a joint session with all three."

News Ledes

CNBC: "Initial filings for unemployment insurance fell sharply last week, indicating continued improvement in the U.S. jobs market, the Labor Department reported Thursday. First-time jobless claims totaled 364,000 for the week ended June 26, compared to the 390,000 Dow Jones estimate. That marked a new pandemic-era low and a decline of 51,000 from the previous week. The last time there were fewer claims was the week of March 14, 2020, just before the worst of the economic damage hit."

The Washington Post's live updates of developments in the Surfside, Florida, condominium collapse are here. ~~~

~~~ Hill: "Video footage taken from the scene of the condominium building that collapsed last week in Surfside, Fla. shows water pouring into the garage and debris on the floor just minutes before the building gave way, ABC affiliate WLS reports. Adriana Sarmiento told WLS she and her husband were swimming in the pool at a nearby resort while on vacation when they heard a loud noise coming from the Champlain Tower South building. They went to investigate what they heard and saw concrete debris littering the garage and water rushing in from the ceiling." Includes brief video clip. ~~~

~~~ The New York Times is liveblogging developments in the Surfside, Florida condominium collapse: “President Biden will resume his role as consoler in chief on Thursday by traveling to Florida, where workers continue to comb through the rubble of the Champlain Towers South condo complex one week after the building partially collapsed, killing at least 18 people and leaving 145 unaccounted for." ~~~

~~~ Marie: Say, you know who else is planning an event not too far away? Zac Anderson of the Sarasota Herald-Tribune: "... Donald Trump's Sarasota rally scheduled for Saturday is moving ahead despite a report that Gov. Ron DeSantis' office asked for the event to be postponed while the governor responds to the mass casualty event in Surfside." Sarasota is on Florida's west coast.

Washington Post: "A bomb truck with the Los Angeles Police Department exploded Wednesday night after officers removed explosives from a home where, earlier in the day, they had seized thousands of pounds of illegal fireworks. The blast left nearby cars flipped onto their sides and sent more than a dozen people to the hospital. At least 17 people -- 10 law enforcement personnel and seven community members -- were hurt when a truck transporting the materials exploded about 6:40 p.m. The bomb squad was called to remove about 40 'Coca-Cola can-sized' improvised explosive devices, LAPD Chief Michel R. Moore said in a news conference late Wednesday night. None of the injuries are life-threatening, Moore said.... Something went wrong ... in what Moore called a 'total catastrophic failure of that containment vehicle.'"