New York Times: “A body believed to be of the suspect in a Kentucky highway shooting that left five people seriously injured this month was found on Wednesday, the authorities said, ending a manhunt that stretched into a second week and set the local community on edge. The Kentucky State Police commissioner, Phillip Burnett Jr., said in a Wednesday night news conference that at approximately 3:30 p.m., two troopers and two civilians found an unidentified body in the brush behind the highway exit where the shooting occurred.... The police have identified the suspect of the shooting as Joseph A. Couch, 32. They said that on Sept. 7, Mr. Couch perched on a cliff overlooking Interstate 75 about eight miles north of London, Ky., and opened fire. One of the wounded was shot in the face, and another was shot in the chest. A dozen vehicles were riddled with gunfire.”
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New York Times: “Hvaldimir, a beluga whale who had captured the public’s imagination since 2019 after he was spotted wearing a harness seemingly designed for a camera, was found dead on Saturday in Norway, according to a nonprofit that worked to protect the whale.... [Hvaldimir] was wearing a harness that identified it as “equipment” from St. Petersburg. There also appeared to be a camera mount. Some wondered if the whale was on a Russian reconnaissance mission. Russia has never claimed ownership of the whale. If Hvaldimir was a spy, he was an exceptionally friendly one. The whale showed signs of domestication, and was comfortable around people. He remained in busier waters than are typical for belugas....” ~~~
~~~ Marie: Oh, Lord, do not let Bobby Kennedy, Jr., near that carcass. ~~~
~~~ AP Update: “There’s no evidence that a well-known beluga whale that lived off Norway’s coast and whose harness ignited speculation it was a Russian spy was shot to death last month as claimed by animal rights groups, Norwegian police said Monday.... Police said that the Norwegian Veterinary Institute conducted a preliminary autopsy on the animal, which was become known as 'Hvaldimir,' combining the Norwegian word for whale — hval — and the first name of Russian President Vladimir Putin. 'There are no findings from the autopsy that indicate that Hvaldimir has been shot,' police said in a statement.”
New York Times: Botswana's “President Mokgweetsi Masisi grinned as he lifted the diamond, a 2,492-carat stone that is the biggest diamond unearthed in more than a century and the second-largest ever found, according to the Vancouver-based mining operator Lucara, which owns the mine where it was found. This exceptional discovery could bring back the luster of the natural diamond mining industry, mining companies and experts say. The diamond was discovered in the same relatively small mine in northeastern Botswana that has produced several of the largest such stones in living memory. Such gemstones typically surface as a result of volcanic activity.... The diamond will likely sell in the range of tens of millions of dollars....”
Click on photo to enlarge.
~~~ Guardian: "On a distant reef 16,000km from Paris, surfer Gabriel Medina has given Olympic viewers one of the most memorable images of the Games yet, with an airborne celebration so well poised it looked too good to be true. The Brazilian took off a thundering wave at Teahupo’o in Tahiti on Monday, emerging from a barrelling section before soaring into the air and appearing to settle on a Pacific cloud, pointing to the sky with biblical serenity, his movements mirrored precisely by his surfboard. The shot was taken by Agence France-Presse photographer Jérôme Brouillet, who said “the conditions were perfect, the waves were taller than we expected”. He took the photo while aboard a boat nearby, capturing the surreal image with such accuracy that at first some suspected Photoshop or AI."
Washington Post: “'Mary Cassatt at Work' is a large and mostly satisfying exhibition devoted to the career of the great American artist beloved for her sensitive and often sentimental views of family life. The 'at work' in the title of the Philadelphia Museum of Art show references the curators’ interest in Cassatt’s pioneering effort to establish herself as a professional artist within a male-dominated field. Throughout the show, which includes some 130 paintings, pastels, prints and drawings, the wall text and the art on view stresses Cassatt’s fixation on art as a career rather than a pastime.... Mary Cassatt at Work is on view at the Philadelphia Museum of Art through Sept. 8. philamuseum.org”
New York Times: “Bob Newhart, who died on Thursday at the age of 94, has been such a beloved giant of popular culture for so long that it’s easy to forget how unlikely it was that he became one of the founding fathers of stand-up comedy. Before basically inventing the hit stand-up special, with the 1960 Grammy-winning album 'The Button-Down Mind of Bob Newhart' — that doesn’t even count his pay-per-view event broadcast on Canadian television that some cite as the first filmed special — he was a soft-spoken accountant who had never done a set in a nightclub. That he made a classic with so little preparation is one of the great miracles in the history of comedy.... Bob Newhart holds up. In fact, it’s hard to think of a stand-up from that era who is a better argument against the commonplace idea that comedy does not age well.”
Washington Post: “An early Titian masterpiece — once looted by Napolean’s troops and a part of royal collections for centuries — caused a stir when it was stolen from the home of a British marquess in 1995. Seven years later, it was found inside an unassuming white and blue plastic bag at a bus stop in southwest London by an art detective, and returned. This week, the oil painting 'The Rest on the Flight into Egypt' sold for more than $22 million at Christie’s. It was a record for the Renaissance artist, whom museums describe as the greatest painter of 16th-century Venice. Ahead of the sale in April, the auction house billed it as'the most important work by Titian to come to the auction market in more than a generation.'”
Washington Post: The Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington, D.C., which houses the world's largest collection of Shakespeare material, has undergone a major renovation. "The change to the building is pervasive, both subtle and transformational."
Lisa Kashinsky of Politico: Donald Trump "couldn't stop talking about his upcoming [debate] against Joe Biden as he rallied in the president's adopted home turf of Philadelphia on Saturday night.... He mocked Biden for holing up behind closed doors at Camp David to prepare for the debate, suggesting the president would turn to illicit substances to boost his performance.... Trump ... claim[ed Biden] ... would get 'a shot in the ass' ahead of the bout ... and come on stage 'all jacked up.' He repeated, though indirectly, his claim that the president has used cocaine.... He disparaged CNN debate moderators Dana Bash and Jake Tapper, whom he called 'Fake Tapper.'... [Trump] has traded mock debates for a series of informal 'policy discussions' with senators, policy experts and other allies. And he has stayed on the campaign trail, hitting two events in two cities on Saturday alone."
One Sick Bastard. Marianne LeVine, et al., of the Washington Post: "... Donald Trump expanded his portrayal of migrants as violent with a suggestion that they could be pitted in fights for entertainment. During a speech to Christian conservatives on Saturday afternoon, and again at a rally in Philadelphia that evening, Trump claimed that he told his friend Dana White, president of the Ultimate Fighting Championship, that he should start a spinoff competition featuring migrants.... At a post-fight news conference in Saudi Arabia later Saturday, White confirmed that Trump made the comments but said they were 'a joke.'... The remarks are part of Trump's broader pattern of using dehumanizing language when discussing immigrants...." A Politico story is here.
Yes, Trump Is Getting Worse. And It Sells. Josh Dawsey & Isaac Arnsdorf of the Washington Post: Donald Trump's "incendiary emails are part of a concerted strategy that has allowed the campaign to erase a financial lead that President Biden's campaign had opened up in recent months, according to people close to the former president who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to speak for the campaign. But experts in small-dollar fundraising say the solicitations are aggressive even by the standards of Trump's frequently hyperbolic and inflammatory language.... One person with knowledge of the pitches said donations increase any time Trump seems to be under attack or argues that he is being treated unfairly.... The Biden campaign condemned the messages, [in which Trump complained 'THEY WANT TO SENTENCE ME TO DEATH' by 'GUILLOTINE,'] as laying the groundwork for more violence."
— Brian Tyler Cohen (@briantylercohen) June 22, 2024
Meredith McGraw, et al., of Politico: "Trumpkeeps flip-flopping his policy positions after meeting with rich people." Like when he decided last week, after meeting with the Business Round Table, that immigrants with U.S. college degrees did not "poison the blood" of the country and had earned green cards along with their sheepskins. "Trump floated a similar idea during his 2016 campaign, saying at the time that forcing non-citizens to leave the U.S. shortly after graduating from college was 'ridiculous' and that they should have a path to citizenship. But once elected president, Trump reversed himself, restricting immigration and limiting visas for high-skilled professionals and employers.... [President] Biden revoked the order soon after taking office." MB: Do you brilliant business folks not realize that Trump can flip-flop again? (Also linked yesterday.)
What happens when you gather thousands of conspiracy theorists and gullible believers in Trumpy-QAnon lies? Ha ha ha. ~~~
~~~ At Least One Real Right-Wing Conspiracy! Yvonne Sanchez & Isaac Arnsdorf of the Washington Post: At a gathering in a Phoenix suburb, far-right Arizona delegates to the Republican National Convention plotted a coordinated release of Trump delegates, possibly out of fear that the "deep state" was controlling Donald Trump. "The exact purpose of the maneuver was not clear.... Whatever the goal, the Trump campaign rushed to head off the stunt and replace the delegates.... The fracas exposed the challenges of choreographing next month's convention in Milwaukee, where some 5,000 delegates and alternates will participate -- many of them inclined toward the falsehoods and baseless accusations that animate many of Trump's supporters.... Suspicions have circulated among Trump's supporters that covert saboteurs have somehow infiltrated their ranks." (Also linked yesterday.)
Book Report! Shawn McCreesh of the New York Times: "'Apprentice in Wonderland' [by Ramin Setoodeh], published Tuesday, depicts [Donald Trump] as a lonely and sometimes dotty man, longing for the days when he was still accepted by his fellow celebrities, even as he seems to crave political power.... 'He compares himself to Clint Eastwood and Marlon Brando, and sees himself in a lot of ways as an actor and a famous person,' said Mr. Setoodeh.... Talking about those simpler times, Mr. Trump slipped into a few moments of something approaching introspection, as when he accidentally admitted he 'lost the election' (though he quickly reversed himself to say 'when they said we lost')."
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Michigan. Carl Gibson of AlterNet: "Michigan state representative Neil Friske, who is a freshman Republican lawmaker representing a rural district in the northern part of the state, is now being held without bond, and potentially faces three felony charges. The Washington Post reported that Friske was arrested at approximately 3 AM Eastern Time on Thursday morning, following a 'late-night incident' involving a man with a gun chasing a woman, and potentially shots fired. While Friske hasn't yet been formally charged, police are reportedly requesting that prosecutors file charges of sexual assault, along with a separate assault charge and a gun charge.... Friske is one of the most conservative members of the lower chamber...." MB: Uh, where "conservative" means assaulting a woman, chasing her in the middle of the night and maybe shooting at her. Because what "conservative" really means is "white male power über alles."
New York. Hurubie Meko of the New York Times: "Columbia University placed three administrators on leave this week, a university spokesman said on Saturday. The moves came a little more than a week after images emerged showing the school officials sharing disparaging text messages during a panel discussion about antisemitism on campus. The panel, which focused on Jewish life on campus amid tensions over Israel's war in Gaza, occurred during a Columbia College reunion on May 31. The spokesman did not identify which officials were placed on leave, but The Washington Free Beacon, the website that first published the images, reported that they were Susan Chang-Kim, the vice dean and chief administrative officer; Cristen Kromm, the dean of undergraduate student life; and Matthew Patashnick, the associate dean for student and family support. Ms. Chang-Kim also exchanged texts during the event with Josef Sorett, the dean of Columbia College, [who is cooperating with investigators]." ~~~
~~~ Marie: The comments reported are no anti-Semitic, but they show complete disregard for the panelists. If you're a student who suspects university administrators don't care about your well-being, there's a good chance you're right.
~~~~~~~~~~
Israel/Palestine, et al. The New York Times' live updates of developments Sunday in the Israel/Hamas war are here.
News Ledes
New York Times: "The end of the unusually early heat wave that gripped much of the United States over the past seven days is in sight. But first, the country will need to endure another day, possibly two, of scorching hot temperatures in the Mid-Atlantic States and along the I-95 urban corridor on the East Coast. The National Weather Service predicts that the heat wave, which has more than 100 million people under heat advisory alerts, will last through early this upcoming week."
The New York Times yesterday liveblogged the Great American Heat Wave of June 2024. "On the first weekend of summer, a brutal heat wave took hold for a sixth consecutive day, continuing to scorch large swaths of the United States.... Heat-related emergency room visits spiked this week in regions of the United States that had been hit the hardest by the heat wave, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention."
Meredith McGraw, et al., of Politico: "Trumpkeeps flip-flopping his policy positions after meeting with rich people. Like when he decided last week, after meeting with the Business Round Table, that immigrants with U.S. college degrees did not "poison the blood" of the country and had earned green cards along with their sheepskins. "Trump floated a similar idea during his 2016 campaign, saying at the time that forcing non-citizens to leave the U.S. shortly after graduating from college was 'ridiculous' and that they should have a path to citizenship. But once elected president, Trump reversed himself, restricting immigration and limiting visas for high-skilled professionals and employers.... [President] Biden revoked the order soon after taking office." MB: Do you brilliant business folks not realize that Trump can flip-flop again?
What happens when you gather thousands of conspiracy theorists and gullible believers in Trumpy-QAnon lies? Ha ha ha. ~~~
~~~ At Least One Real Right-Wing Conspiracy! Yvonne Sanchez & Isaac Arnsdorf of the Washington Post: At a gathering in a Phoenix suburb, far-right Arizona delegates to the Republican National Convention plotted a coordinated release of Trump delegates, possibly out of fear that the "deep state" was controlling Donald Trump. "The exact purpose of the maneuver was not clear.... Whatever the goal, the Trump campaign rushed to head off the stunt and replace the delegates.... The fracas exposed the challenges of choreographing next month's convention in Milwaukee, where some 5,000 delegates and alternates will participate -- many of them inclined toward the falsehoods and baseless accusations that animate many of Trump's supporters.... Suspicions have circulated among Trump's supporters that covert saboteurs have somehow infiltrated their ranks."
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When they censor any mention of Donald Trump's criminal convictions, they are essentially trying to ban a fact. I am not aware of any precedent where factual statements have been banned in our lifetime. -- Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.)
If I had a world of my own, everything would be nonsense. Nothing would be what it is because everything would be what it isn't. And contrariwise, what it is, it wouldn't be, and what it wouldn't be, it would. You see? -- Alice, Alice in Wonderland ~~~
~~~ A World of Their Own. Luke Broadwater of the New York Times: "The history-making felony conviction of ... Donald J. Trumphas raised some historic questions for the House's rules of decorum.... The Republicans who now hold the majority have used those rules to impose what is essentially a gag order against talking about Mr. Trump's hush-money payments to a porn actress or about the fact that he is a felon at all, notwithstanding that those assertions are ... the basis of a jury's guilty verdict. Doing so, they have declared, is a violation of House rules.... Perhaps the only place in the United States where people are barred from talking freely about Mr. Trump's crimes is the floor of what is often referred to as 'the people's House,' where Republicans have gone so far as to erase one such mention from the official record.... [BUT] Republicans have exempted themselves from that equal treatment standard when it comes to President Biden, whom they routinely accuse of criminal conduct despite having produced no evidence of any." (Also linked yesterday.)
National Crime Blotter
Jesse McKinley & Kate Christobek of the New York Times: "Prosecutors in Manhattan said on Friday that a judge should keep in place major elements of a gag order that was imposed on Donald J. Trump, citing dozens of death threats that have been made against officials connected to the case. The order, issued before Mr. Trump's Manhattan criminal trial began in mid-April, bars him from attacking witnesses, jurors, court staff and relatives of the judge who presided over the trial, Juan M. Merchan. Mr. Trump's lawyers have sought to have the orderlifted since Mr. Trump's conviction in late May. But in a 19-page filing on Friday, prosecutors argued that while Justice Merchan no longer needed to enforce the portion of the gag order relating to trial witnesses, he should keep in place the provisions protecting jurors, prosecutors, court staff and their families....
"Prosecutors said the threats were 'directly connected to defendant's dangerous rhetoric,' and cited several examples, including a post that depicted cross hairs 'on people involved in this case.' Others were homicidal messages directed at Mr. Bragg or his employees, including, 'We will kill you all' ... and 'Your life is done.' Four of the threats were referred for further investigation, according to the police affidavit." The NBC News report is here. (Also linked yesterday.)
Perry Stein of the Washington Post: "U.S. District Judge Aileen M. Cannon on Friday pressed the special counsel team prosecuting Donald Trump to explain Attorney General Merrick Garland's role in overseeing the classified-documents case and then criticized a lawyer on the team for being cagey with his response.... Based on the proceedings, it's unclear how Cannon will rule on the dismissal motion, but she acknowledged that precedent seems to support Garland's appointment of [special counsel Jack] Smith and that there would be a high legal bar for overturning it.... Next week, Cannon is scheduled to hear arguments on requests from prosecutors to restrict Trump from making any further incendiary claims that falsely suggest that FBI agents were 'complicit in a plot to assassinate him,' as well a motion from Trump's attorneys to disqualify the use at trial of audio notes that investigators obtained from one of his attorneys, Evan Corcoran." Politico's report is here.
Trumpity Doo-Dah. Edward Helmore of the Guardian: "The Missouri attorney general, Andrew Bailey [R], has confirmed that he is suing the state of New York for election interference and wrongful prosecution for bringing the Stormy Daniels hush-money case to a trial that saw Donald Trump convicted of 34 felonies.... Bailey claims the hush-money case was brought to smear the presumptive presidential nominee going into November's election and that New York's statute of limitations on falsification of business records, a misdemeanor, expired in 2019. But Bailey also told [Fox 'News'] that he recognized that any attempt by one state to sue another would probably go straight to the US supreme court." Thanks to RAS for the link. ~~~
~~~ Marie: Uh, the State of New York did not try Trump for violating a New York state records act. An entirely separate government entity -- Manhattan County -- tried Trump. One would think that an A.G. of any state would know the difference between a county and a state. I'm so confused.
John Fritze & Tierney Sneed of CNN: "Steve Bannon ... asked the Supreme Court on Friday to pause his prison sentence while he appeals his conviction for contempt of Congress. A federal appeals court on Thursday night rejected his bid to delay the start of his sentence." (Also linked yesterday.)
Danny Hakim & Jack Healyof the New York Times: "A Nevada judge on Friday threw out the state's case against the six Republicans who claimed to be presidential electors and tried to declare Donald J. Trump the winner of the 2020 election. The judge, Mary Kay Holthus, said that state prosecutors had chosen the wrong venue to file the case. John Sadler, a spokesman for Attorney General Aaron D. Ford, said, 'We disagree with the judge's decision and will be appealing immediately.'" The judge determined that the case should have been filed "up north" in the state capital, Carson City, where she has determined that most the allegedly illegal acts took place, rather than in Las Vegas, the locus of her court. The NBC News story is here. (Also linked yesterday.)
Frances Vinall of the Washington Post: "David DePape, who was sentenced to 30 years in prison on federal charges after he broke into Nancy Pelosi's San Francisco home and bludgeoned her husband [Paul Pelosi], was convicted Friday of five additional charges in a California court.... A [California] jury found DePape guilty of separate charges brought by California, including aggravated kidnapping, which mandates life imprisonment without the possibility of parole. DePape was also convicted of first-degree residential burglary; false imprisonment of an elder by violence or menace; threatening the life of a family member of a public official; and dissuading a witness by force or threat."
Presidential Race
Michael Scherer of the Washington Post: "President Bidenquietly revealed his campaign's master strategy to defeat Donald Trump last month at a private fundraiser outside Seattle. 'When he lost in 2020, something snapped in him,' Biden said, a bumper sticker slogan he has been repeating ever since. The notion that the former president changed -- becoming more self-obsessed, more dangerous and more extreme -- has since been seeded throughout Biden's campaign, the result of months of polling, focus groups and ad testing, his advisers say. Independent Democratic groups that plan to spend hundreds of millions of dollars to help reelect Biden have come to similar conclusions in their own research, according to people familiar with that work who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the strategy." ~~~
~~~ Marie: I don't think it's true that "something snapped" in Trump. That suggests it's possible to pinpoint a moment or short span in time when Trump changed from marginally competent to deranged. Jamelle Bouie's assessment of progressive deterioration seems more correct: ~~~
~~~ Jamelle Bouie of the New York Times: "... with less than five months left before the election, [Donald Trump] is no more prepared for a second term than he was for a first. He may even be less prepared: less capable of organizing his thoughts, less able to speak with any coherence and less willing to do or learn anything that might help him overcome his deficiencies. Everything that made Trump a bad president the first time around promises to make him an even worse one in a second term.... Trump's authoritarian instincts -- his refusal to accept or even learn the rules of the constitutional system -- are a huge part of the reason he struggled in the job of president.... As [CBS newsman John] Dickerson writes, 'Trump is in rebellion against the presidency....'" ~~~
~~~ Marie: Ramin Setoodeh, the author of a book on Trump's teevee show "The Apprentice" is making the book tour and opined the other day on MSNBC that Trump never really did any of his jobs -- businessman, tycoon, president, etc. Rather he just acted the parts. That's fair enough, but it's important to add that Trump isn't just a terrible actor; he also doesn't understand the jobs of the characters he's trying to play. A competent CEO doesn't relish saying "You're fired" to an employee; the CEO realizes that every firing is a failed hire. And a minimally competent president does few of the things that Trump made part of his daily White House schedule. His attempt to play president was an unintentional farce -- with consequences.
Jessica Piper & Madison Fernandez of Politico: "... Donald Trump's huge May fundraising haul erased President Joe Biden's longstanding cash advantage as the two gear up for a rematch. Trump's campaign had $116.6 million in the bank at the end of May, compared to $91.6 million for Biden." (Also linked yesterday.)
Michelle Goldberg of the New York Times: "Named colloquially for the fanatical postal inspector Anthony Comstock, the 1873 [Comstock A]ct -- which is actually a set of anti-vice laws -- bans the mailing of 'obscene, lewd, lascivious, indecent, filthy or vile' material, including devices and substances used 'for producing abortion, or for any indecent or immoral purpose.' Though never repealed, it was, until recently, considered a dead letter, made moot by Supreme Court decisions on free speech, birth control and abortion. But with Roe overturned, some in Donald Trump's orbit see a chance to reanimate Comstock, using it to ban medication abortion -- and maybe surgical abortion as well -- without passing new federal legislation. The 920-page blueprint for a second Trump administration created by Project 2025 ... calls for enforcing Comstock's criminal prohibitions against using the mail -- widely understood to include common carriers like UPS and FedEx -- to provide or distribute abortion pills.... 'Believe them when they tell us what they want to do, because they will do it if they're given half a chance,' [Sen. Tina Smith (D-Minn.), a former Planned Parenthood official,] said."
Adam Liptak of the New York Times: "The Supreme Court ruled on Friday that the government may disarm a Texas man subject to a domestic violence order, limiting the sweep of its [2022] blockbuster decision that vastly expanded gun rights." Liptak doesn't say so (yet), but John Roberts wrote the 8-1 decision; Clarence Thomas dissented. Here's CNN's report. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Chris Geidner, Law Dork: "The decision was a not-so-subtle scaling-back of [Clarence] Thomas's 2022 decision in New York State Rifle and Pistol Association v. Bruen, despite that [Chief Justice John] Roberts insisted Friday's decision was only clarifying Bruen in light of the fact that, as he put it, 'some courts have misunderstood the methodology of our recent Second Amendment cases.'... Given [Thomas'] authorship of Bruen, his dissent on Friday is honestly the strongest evidence that Friday's decision was, indeed, a pulling back from Bruen. Beneath Roberts's opinion presenting a united front against Thomas's thinking, though, every justice in the majority, save for Justice Sam Alito, also wrote separately or joined one of the 49 pages of concurring opinions." MB: Maybe Sam alone did not write an opinion because he was otherwise tied up. ~~~
** Insufferable Sam, MIA. Shania Shelton of CNN: "Justice Samuel Alito was not present on Friday morning as the Supreme Court handed down opinions in the courtroom, the second day in a row he has been absent. Alito's absence, for which the Supreme Court has not provided an explanation, is unusual because it's the end of the term and the justices have issued nine opinions over the last two days." MB: Yeah, well, I'm thinking we're looking at what you could call a domestic issue here. Martha-Ann may be off her meds. Suppose she has locked Sam in the basement. Check the flag! Therein may lie a clue. (Also linked yesterday.)
Betsy Swan of Politico: "A surprising winner in the Supreme Court gun ruling [is] Hunter Biden.... The case decided Friday ... involved a provision of a federal gun-control law that bars people under domestic-violence restraining orders from having firearms. It's a sister provision to the drug-users prohibition that Biden was found guilty of violating.... [In his opinion,] Chief Justice John Roberts emphasized in his majority opinion that the justices were only greenlighting taking guns away from people who had first been deemed by a judge to pose a danger to others."
David Badash of AlterNet: "In a 6-3 decision along partisan lines the right-wing justices on the U.S. Supreme Court once again targeted the landmark 2015 Obergefell same-sex marriage decision, leading liberal Justice Sonia Sotomayor to sound 'alarm bells' on marriage equality in her dissent a legal expert says, warning that they may try to 'roll it back.' The case involves Sandra Muñoz, a U.S. citizen who argued that the federal government's denial of a visa for her husband, who lives in El Salvador, deprives her of her constitutionally protected right to liberty. The right-wing majority in a decision written by Justice Amy Coney Barrett ruled: 'A citizen does not have a fundamental liberty interest in her noncitizen spouse being admitted to the country.'... [Sotomayor wrote,] '... The majority's holding will also extend to those couples who, like the Lovings and the Obergefells, depend on American law for their marriages' validity. Same-sex couples may be forced to relocate to countries that do not recognize same-sex marriage, or even those that criminalize homosexuality.... The constitutional right to marriage has deep roots.... The majority departs from longstanding precedent and gravely undervalues the right to marriage in the immigration context.'"
Elahe Izadi & Isaac Stanley-Becker of the Washington Post: "Robert Winnett, the British journalist recently tapped to become editor of The Washington Post later this year, will not take the job and will remain at the Daily Telegraph in London, according to a memo obtained by The Post on Friday.... Post CEO and publisher Will Lewis confirmed that Winnett had withdrawn from the position, relaying the news 'with regret' in a note to Post staff.... The announcement came after days of turmoil at The Post, triggered by the abrupt exit of executive editor Sally Buzbee as well as questions about the past practices of both Winnett and Lewis -- veterans of London newsrooms that operate by different rules than their American counterparts." MB: Gosh, Winnett never even had to pack. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ The New York Times story is here. Its lede is a bit more forceful: "Robert Winnett, the editor selected to run The Washington Post, will not take up that position, after reports raised questions about his ties to unethical news gathering practices in Britain." (Also linked yesterday.)
** Robert Reichon his childhood friendship with Michael Schwerner, one of the three Freedom Riders beaten and murdered by members of the Klan, including a sheriff's deputy. The state of Mississippi refused to charge the assassins with murder.
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Florida. Patricia Mazzei of the New York Times: "... in a move that stunned arts and culture organizations, [Gov. Ron] DeSantis [R] vetoed the entirety of their grant funding -- about $32 million -- on June 12, leaving them scrambling to figure out how to offset the shortfall.... Mr. DeSantis ... gave no explanation for zeroing out the arts grants." MB: So either Gov. Phil I. Stein holds a general belief that art is for sissies or some artiste insulted him (maybe both). Donald Trump did not invent retribution; there are petty Republicans everywhere.
Louisiana. Rick Rojas, et al., of the New York Times: "Gov. Jeff Landry [R] wants his state to be at the forefront of a national movement to advance legislation with a Christian worldview.... He signed into law a mandate that the Ten Commandments be hung in every public classroom, demonstrating a new willingness for Louisiana to go where other states have not. Last month, Louisiana also became the first state to classify abortion pills as dangerous controlled substances.... The Christian political movement has been evident in debates across the country over transgender rights, school curriculums, in vitro fertilization and abortion." ~~~
~~~ Marie: The headline here is "Louisiana's Ten Commandments Law Signals a Broader Christian Agenda." But the movement is not especially Christian in its objectives. As with most religious teachers, the Jesus guy opposes bullying, most broadly expressed in the Sermon on the Mount: "So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets." The so-called Christian agenda is nothing if not bullying non-Christians to bow to Christian rules and requiring women and LGBTQ people to obey Christian men. Perhaps surprisingly, Jesus is quite ecumenical (see, for instance, the Parable of the Good Samaritan), pro-feminist (see, for instance, the Syro-Phoenecian woman who teaches Jesus a lesson) & undisturbed by "sinful" extra-marital sex (his healing of the Roman centurion's male sex slave and his acceptance of a prostitute [Luke 7]).
~~~ As for Louisiana's Ten Commandments law, the Gospels' Jesus would not be impressed: he was down to two: "Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets." (Matthew 22)
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Vatican. Emma Bubola & Elisabetta Povoledo of the New York Times: "When reports spread that Pope Francis had used an offensive anti-gay slur while speaking to Italian bishops at a conference last month, many Catholics were both shocked and baffled. How could a pope known for his openness to and acceptance of L.G.B.T.Q. people use homophobic slang and caution prelates about admitting gay men into seminaries? But the question, and the apparent inconsistency in Francis' messaging, reflect the deep contradictions and tensions that underlie the Roman Catholic Church's and Francis' relationship to homosexuality. The church holds that 'homosexual tendencies' are 'intrinsically disordered.' When it comes to ordination, the church's guidelines state that people with 'deep-seated' gay tendencies should not become priests. Yet ordination has also long been a refuge of sorts for homosexual Catholic men, according to researchers and priests, who say that at least thousands of clergymen are gay, though only a few are public about their sexual orientation because of the stigma it still carries in the church."
News Lede
New York Times: "During the annual hajj pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia, one of the most important events on the Muslim calendar, at least 450 people died under a scorching sun as they prayed at sacred sites around the holy city of Mecca. Amid maximum temperatures that ranged from 108 Fahrenheit to 120, according to preliminary data, and throngs of people, many passed out and needed medical care. The pilgrims, some who have saved their whole lives for the hajj, spend days walking and sleeping in tents during their journey to Mecca, the holiest city for Muslims. The hajj is one of Islam's five pillars, and all Muslims who are physically and financially able are obliged to embark on the pilgrimage. Indonesia has so far reported the most deaths, 199, and India has reported 98."
Insufferable Sam, MIA. Shania Shelton of CNN: “Justice Samuel Alitowas not present on Friday morning as the Supreme Court handed down opinions in the courtroom, the second day in a row he has been absent. Alito's absence, for which the Supreme Court has not provided an explanation, is unusual because it's the end of the term and the justices have issued nine opinions over the last two days." MB: Yeah, well, I'm thinking we're looking at what you could call a domestic issue here.
When they censor any mention of Donald Trump's criminal convictions, they are essentially trying to ban a fact. I am not aware of any precedent where factual statements have been banned in our lifetime. -- Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.)
If I had a world of my own, everything would be nonsense. Nothing would be what it is because everything would be what it isn't. And contrariwise, what it is, it wouldn't be, and what it wouldn't be, it would. You see? -- Alice, Alice in Wonderland ~~~
~~~ A World of Their Own. Luke Broadwater of the New York Times: "The history-making felony conviction of ... Donald J. Trumphas raised some historic questions for the House's rules of decorum.... The Republicans who now hold the majority have used those rules to impose what is essentially a gag order against talking about Mr. Trump's hush-money payments to a porn actress or about the fact that he is a felon at all, notwithstanding that those assertions are no longer merely allegations but the basis of a jury's guilty verdict. Doing so, they have declared, is a violation of House rules.... Perhaps the only place in the United States where people are barred from talking freely about Mr. Trump's crimes is the floor of what is often referred to as 'the people's House,' where Republicans have gone so far as to erase one such mention from the official record.... [BUT] Republicans have exempted themselves from that equal treatment standard when it comes to President Biden, whom they routinely accuse of criminal conduct despite having produced no evidence of any."
Danny Hakim & Jack Healy of the New York Times: "A Nevada judge on Friday threw out the state's case against the six Republicans who claimed to be presidential electors and tried to declare Donald J. Trump the winner of the 2020 election. The judge, Mary Kay Holthus, said that state prosecutors had chosen the wrong venue to file the case. John Sadler, a spokesman for Attorney General Aaron D. Ford, said, 'We disagree with the judge's decision and will be appealing immediately.'" The judge determined that the case should have been filed "up north" in the state capital, Carson City, where she has determined that most the allegedly illegal acts took place, rather than in Las Vegas, the locus of her court. The NBC News story is here.
John Fritze & Tierney Sneed of CNN: "Steve Bannon ... asked the Supreme Court on Friday to pause his prison sentence while he appeals his conviction for contempt of Congress. A federal appeals court on Thursday night rejected his bid to delay the start of his sentence." Related story linked below.
Jesse McKinley & Kate Christobek of the New York Times: "Prosecutors in Manhattan said on Friday that a judge should keep in place major elements of a gag order that was imposed on Donald J. Trump, citing dozens of death threats that have been made against officials connected to the case. The order, issued before Mr. Trump's Manhattan criminal trial began in mid-April, bars him from attacking witnesses, jurors, court staff and relatives of the judge who presided over the trial, Juan M. Merchan. Mr. Trump's lawyers have sought to have the order lifted since Mr. Trump's conviction in late May. But in a 19-page filing on Friday, prosecutors argued that while Justice Merchan no longer needed to enforce the portion of the gag order relating to trial witnesses, he should keep in place the provisions protecting jurors, prosecutors, court staff and their families....
"Prosecutors said the threats were 'directly connected to defendant's dangerous rhetoric,' and cited several examples, including a post that depicted cross hairs 'on people involved in this case.' Others were homicidal messages directed at Mr. Bragg or his employees, including, 'We will kill you all,' 'You are dead' and 'Your life is done.' Four of the threats were referred for further investigation, according to the police affidavit." The NBC News report is here.
Adam Liptak of the New York Times: "The Supreme Court ruled on Friday that the government may disarm a Texas man subject to a domestic violence order, limiting the sweep of its [2022] blockbuster decision that vastly expanded gun rights." Liptak doesn't say so (yet), but John Roberts wrote the 8-1 decision; Clarence Thomas dissented. Here's CNN's report.
Elahe Izadi & Isaac Stanley-Becker of the Washington Post: "Robert Winnett, the British journalist recently tapped to become editor of The Washington Post later this year, will not take the job and will remain at the Daily Telegraph in London, according to a memo obtained by The Post on Friday.... Post CEO and publisher Will Lewis confirmed that Winnett had withdrawn from the position, relaying the news 'with regret' in a note to Post staff.... The announcement came after days of turmoil at The Post, triggered by the abrupt exit of executive editor Sally Buzbee as well as questions about the past practices of both Winnett and Lewis -- veterans of London newsrooms that operate by different rules than their American counterparts." MB: Gosh, Winnett never even had to pack. ~~~
~~~ The New York Times story is here. Its lede is a bit more forceful: "Robert Winnett, the editor selected to run The Washington Post, will not take up that position, after reports raised questions about his ties to unethical news gathering practices in Britain."
Jessica Piper & Madison Fernandez of Politico: "... Donald Trump's huge May fundraising haul erased President Joe Biden's longstanding cash advantage as the two gear up for a rematch. Trump's campaign had $116.6 million in the bank at the end of May, compared to $91.6 million for Biden."
Second-Term Trump. Thanks to RAS for the link. ~~~
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Joe's New Deal CCC. Kate Yoder of Grist: "Within weeks, the nation will deploy 9,000 people to begin restoring landscapes, erecting solar panels, and taking other steps to help guide the country toward a cleaner, greener future. The first of those workers were inducted into the American Climate Corps on Tuesday during a virtual event from the White House. Their swearing-in marks another step forward for the Biden administration's ambitious climate agenda. The program, which President Joe Biden announced within days of taking office in 2021, is a modern version of the Climate Conservation Corps, the New Deal-era project that put 3 million men to work planting trees and building national parks." Thanks to RAS for the link. MB: The New Deal CCC was the "Civilian Conservation Corps." (Also linked yesterday.)
National Crime Blotter
** Charlie Savage & Alan Feuer of the New York Times: "Shortly after Judge Aileen M. Cannon drew the assignment in June 2023 to oversee ... Donald J. Trump's classified documents case, two more experienced colleagues on the federal bench in Florida urged her to pass it up and hand it off to another jurist, according to two people briefed on the conversations. The judges who approached Judge Cannon -- including the chief judge in the Southern District of Florida, Cecilia M. Altonaga -- each asked her to consider whether it would be better if she were to decline the high-profile case, allowing it to go to another judge, the two people said. But Judge Cannon, who was appointed by Mr. Trump, wanted to keep the case and refused the judges' entreaties. Her assignment raised eyebrows because she has scant trial experience and had previously shown unusual favor to Mr. Trump by intervening in a way that helped him in the criminal investigation that led to his indictment, only to be reversed in a sharply critical rebuke by a conservative appeals court panel. The extraordinary and previously undisclosed effort by Judge Cannon's colleagues to persuade her to step aside adds another dimension to the increasing criticism of how she has gone on to handle the case.... Ultimately, Judge Cannon is not subject to the authority of her district court elders." Read on. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Marie: Right from the get-go, I was urging the district's chief judge to tell Judge Aileen to step aside as she had bitten off more than she could chew. Turns out the chief judge tried, but Aileen wouldn't hear of it. Now, Roger Stone is suggesting he just might have Aileen's home phone number and he knows she's about to dismiss the charges against Trump. (Story linked yesterday.) Maybe that's not just bluster on Roger's part. What's most extraordinary about this story is that there's a story at all: it's extremely rare for private discussions among federal judges to be leaked to the public. And it's clear from the story that the two senior judges were not discreet about sharing their convos with other members of the court, a couple of whom really wanted this story to get out. ~~~
~~~ Carl Gibson of AlterNet: Legal analyst Lisa Rubin [said on MSNBC] "that the Times' unnamed source speaking to the leading national newspaper of record about judges' pleas to Cannon to step down from the case was 'almost as big as the news itself.... It is somebody who is literally saying to the American public, all of those concerns that you are hearing about Judge Cannon being out of her depth, in the tank for Donald Trump, or both, those are concerns that were shared by at least two of her colleagues on the bench and at least one very, very seasoned judge, the chief judge of the district....'"
~~~ Alan Feuer & Eileen Sullivan of the New York Times: "When Judge Aileen M. Cannon presides over a hearing on Friday in ... Donald J. Trump's classified documents case, she will spend the day considering well-trod arguments about an arcane legal issue in an unorthodox manner. It will be the latest example of how her unusual handling of the case has now become business as usual. Over the past several months, Judge Cannon, who was appointed by Mr. Trump in his final days in office, has made a number of decisions that have prompted second-guessing and criticism among legal scholars following the case. Many of her rulings, on a wide array of topics, have been confounding to them, often evincing her willingness to grant a serious hearing to far-fetched issues that Mr. Trump's lawyers have raised in his defense.... In recent months, Judge Cannon has continued ... making several quizzical decisions or just as often putting off making them at all."
They're Going to Take Him Away, Ha Ha. Zach Montague of the New York Times: "A federal appeals court on Thursday rejectedStephen K. Bannon's last-ditch bid to remain free while he exhausts his legal options to overturn his conviction for contempt of Congress, leaving little chance that he can further delay a four-month prison sentence that is set to start next month. Mr. Bannon, a longtime Trump ally, was convicted in 2022 after ignoring a congressional subpoena seeking information about his role in the Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol, but he had been allowed to remain free while h pursued a lengthy appeals process. That came to an end this month when the judge overseeing his case ordered Mr. Bannon to report to prison on July 1 after a federal appeals court upheld his conviction in May." Politico's story is here.
Presidential Race
Melinda French Gates in a CNN opinion piece: "As President Joe Biden faces ... Donald Trump in another contest for the White House, the stakes for women and families couldn't be higher. I've never endorsed a presidential candidate before. My work on gender equality and global health often requires me to work with leaders on both sides of the aisle, so I've avoided talking publicly about who I voted for in past elections. But this year is different.... One of Trump's first actions as president was reinstating and expanding the global gag rule, which restricted foreign aid to organizations providing reproductive services and, by some estimations, caused more than 100,000 maternal and child deaths globally. The former president imposed restrictions on the federal family planning program, Title X, that made it harder for people from low-income backgrounds to access contraceptives. His often divisive, sometimes violent rhetoric throughout his campaigns and administration -- from the sexist attacks he lobbed at women journalists to calling for his opponent to be jailed -- has contributed to a hostile political climate for women in office and allowed threats against election workers, most of whom are women, to proliferate. And he deliberately appointedSupreme Court justices who would overturn Roe v. Wade...."
Michael Luciano of Mediaite: "The quixotic presidential campaign of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. issued a bonkers press release putting CNN 'on clear notice' after the eccentric political scion failed to make the network's debate stage." The campaign asserted that debate moderators Jake Tapper & Dana Bash, along with other CNN employees could be doing "serious jail time" for keeping Kennedy off the debate stage with President Biden and Trump.
When Trump wasn't tossing rolls of paper towels at hurricane victims, he was threatening nuclear war ~~~
~~~ Brett Samuels of the Hill: "Former President Trumpsaid many controversial things in the aftermath of Hurricane Maria in 2017, but it was something he told then-Puerto Rican Gov. Ricardo Rosselló about nuclear war while touring storm damage that stunned Rosselló.... '"But I tell you what''" [Trump said.] He paused for effect. "If nuclear war happens, we won't be second in line pressing the button."'"
Charlie Nash of Mediaite: "... Donald Trump casually declared on Thursday that the CIA 'was probably behind' former President John F. Kennedy's assassination after revealing he was asked not to release files related to JFK during his first term as president."
Are You Better Off Now Than You Were Four Years Ago? Chris Hayes reminded us last night that today -- June 20 -- is the fourth anniversary of Donald Trump's first infamous "super-spreader" rally. Politico (Oct. 31, 2020): "... Donald Trump's campaign rallies between June and September may have caused some 30,000 coronavirus infections and more than 700 deaths, according to a new study by Stanford University economists." One victim of the June 20, 2020, rally "which saw at least eight Trump advance team staffers in attendance test positive for coronavirus,' was Herman Cain, a former GOP candidate for president, who died in late July 2020. "He was a very special person, and I got to know him very well," [Trump] said, "And unfortunately he passed away from a thing called the China virus." (Also linked yesterday.)
Abbie VanSickle of the New York Times: "The Supreme Court on Thursday upheld a tax on foreign income that helped finance the tax cuts ... Donald J. Trump imposed in 2017 in a case that many experts had cautioned could undercut the nation's tax system. The vote was 7 to 2, with Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh writing the majority opinion. He was joined by Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr., and the court's three liberals. Justice Amy Coney Barrett wrote a concurring opinion, joined by Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr., and Justice Clarence Thomas dissented, joined by Justice Neil M. Gorsuch.... In the majority opinion, Justice Kavanaugh wrote that the tax fell within the authority of Congress under the Constitution. Many tax experts had warned that striking down the tax could have wide repercussions. Such a move could have threatened to fundamentally change how income is defined, block efforts to tax billionaires' wealth and undermine enforcement for all sorts of other taxes, which amount to billions in revenue for the government." A CNN report is here. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Marie: My question: does Gorsuch earn an all-expenses-paid luxury vacation for siding with Clarence & the Billionaires?
Amy Howe of ScotusBlog: "The [Supreme C]ourt handed a win to a former-city council member in Texas on Thursday, clearing the way for her federal civil rights claim to move forward. Sylvia Gonzalez contends that her 2019 arrest on charges that she had tampered with government records came in retaliation for her criticism of the city manager in Castle Hills, Tex. In a brief unsigned opinion, the justices reinstated Gonzalez's claim after a federal appeals court had thrown it out, holding that the lower court had applied an 'overly cramped' reading of its caselaw. Gonzalez, who is 76 years old and the first Hispanic woman elected to the city council in Castle Hills, was charged in 2019 with violating a state law that makes it a crime to intentionally tamper with government records after she placed a petition that she had initiated, criticizing the city manager, in her binder. Gonzalez says that she accidentally picked up the petition after a long meeting. She spent the day in jail and eventually left the council."
Justice Thomas’s revised financial disclosures still don’t reflect all the gifts he’s received.
California. Lara Korte & Melanie Mason of Politico: "Federal agents raided the home of Oakland MayorSheng Thao Thursday morning, according to the Department of Justice, witnesses and reports from local media. Thao is facing a recall vote amid a crime wave and municipal fiscal challenges.... Thao was escorted out of her home by agents, [a neighbor said]."
Florida. Josh Margolin of ABC News: "A former top law enforcement official in Florida is accusing Gov. Ron DeSantis and his top aides of forcing him to retire after he refused to carry out orders he says were illegal or inappropriate, according to a lawsuit filed overnight. Shane Desguin, a career employee of the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, rose to become the agency's chief of staff. He alleges his retirement in November was actually a 'wrongful termination' and was the result of him blowing the whistle on a host of issues, including violations of state public records laws, illegal orders to arrest demonstrators without probable cause and directives to obtain photos and personal information of migrants flown to the Sunshine State without legal justification."
Michigan. AP: "Police arrested a Republican lawmaker early Thursday while responding to reports of possible gunshots in Michigan's capital city [Lansing], authorities said. Rep. Neil Friske was arrested 'for a felony-level offense' around 2:45 a.m., Lansing police spokesperson Jordan Gulkis said.... A statement on [Friske's] campaign's Facebook page said 'Rep Friske is always exercising his 2nd Amendment right.'" MB: Yes, of course he is. It's about 2:45 am here, so I think I'll just step outside and shoot something because I'm always exercising my 2nd Amendment right.
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Lara Jakes of the New York Times: "Mark Rutte, the departing prime minister of the Netherlands who has guided more than $3 billion in Dutch military support to Ukraine since 2022, on Thursday clinched the last assurance he needed to become NATO's next secretary general. On Thursday, President Klaus Iohannis of Romania dropped his bid to lead NATO, making it all but certain that Mr. Rutte, 57, would be formally elected to a four-year term at the helm of the Atlantic alliance. That could take place as soon as next week, ahead of a high-level NATO summit in Washington in July. The Netherlands is a founding member, and Mr. Rutte would be the fourth Dutch official to become the organization's top diplomat." (Also linked yesterday.)
Israel/Palestine, et al. The New York Times' live updates of developments Friday in the Israel/Hamas war are here.
Russia/North Korea. Paul Sonne of the New York Times: "President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia directly warned the United States and its allies that he is willing to arm North Korea if they continue to supply Kyiv with sophisticated weapons that have struck Russian territory, raising the stakes for the Western powers backing Ukraine. Mr. Putin made the threat in comments to reporters traveling with him late Thursday in Vietnam before he flew home to Russia after a trip there and to North Korea. He had made a similar, though significantly less overt, threat a day earlier in Pyongyang, where he revived a Cold War-era mutual defense pact with North Korea's leader, Kim Jong-un. The pact requires each nation to provide military assistance to the other 'with all means at its disposal' in the event of an attack."
Vatican. Anthony Faiola & Stefano Pitrelli of the Washington Post: "Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò, the former Vatican ambassador to the United States and the pope's most ardent internal critic..., has called Pope Francis a liberal 'servant of Satan,' demanded his resignation and suggested the Vatican's Swiss Guards arrest the 87-year-old pontiff. Now, after receiving years of withering verbal attacks, Francis appears to have struck back against ... Viganò.... The Vatican's disciplinary body, the Dicastery of the Doctrine of the Faith, issued a formal decree, made public by Viganò on Thursday, assigning the senior cleric to a penal canon trial. The charges: the 'crime of schism' and 'denial of the legitimacy of Pope Francis.' Such trials are exceedingly rare, and the move underscores a recent effort by the Vatican to take more formal action against a gaggle of archconservatives who have sought to undermine Francis's papacy from the inside. Conviction could lead to Viganò's defrocking and excommunication." (Also linked yesterday.)
News Ledes
Murder at the Mad Butcher. New York Times: "Three people were killed and 10 others injured in a shooting on Friday morning at a grocery store in Fordyce, Ark., the police said. A shooter opened fire at the Mad Butcher grocery store in Fordyce in Central Arkansas about 11:30 a.m., the Arkansas State Police said in a statement. The shooter, whose name was not released, was shot by the police and injured before being taken into custody, the police said.... The officers had injuries that were not life-threatening. Mike Hagar, the director of Arkansas State Police, said at a news conference that the shooter's injury was not life-threatening."
New York Times: "Almost 100 million people across the United States spent the first day of summer on Thursday sweltering in temperatures that topped 90 degrees, as meteorologists warned that the high-pressure system that scorched the country for the past four days would linger through the weekend in many places. The heat shattered temperature records and altered daily routines from the Midwest river valleys to the pine forests of New England, and left roughly one-third of Americans under extreme heat advisories, warnings or watches on Thursday, according to the National Integrated Heat Health Information System."
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