;)
The Commentariat -- August 5, 2020
Late Morning/Afternoon Update:
Pranshu Verma & Edward Wong of the New York Times: "The State Department's acting watchdog has resigned from his post less than three months after replacing the previous inspector general, whom President Trump fired in May, the department said on Wednesday. The departure of Stephen J. Akard came as Congress continued to investigate the firing of his predecessor, Steve A. Linick, who was pursuing inquiries into Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. Three congressional committees issued subpoenas this week to top aides of Mr. Pompeo. Mr. Linick had opened investigations into Mr. Pompeo's potential misuse of department resources and his effort to push arms sales to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. The department gave no explanation for the departure of Mr. Akard, an ally of Vice President Mike Pence. A department spokeswoman said ... the deputy inspector general, Diana R. Shaw, would take over as acting inspector general.... Mr. Akard was also the agency's ambassador-level head of the Office of Foreign Missions, an arrangement that was a clear conflict of interest and widely criticized by Democratic lawmakers." ~~~
~~~ According to the Times, the Washington Post & CNN broke the story. The Post's report is here. CNN's report is here.
Sorry, Lindsey. Kyle Cheney of Politico: "Former Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates told lawmakers Wednesday that neither President Barack Obama nor Vice President Joe Biden attempted to influence the FBI's investigation of incoming national security adviser Michael Flynn during a January 2017 Oval Office meeting with top national security officials. 'During the meeting, the president, the vice president, the national security adviser did not attempt to any way to direct or influence any investigation,' Yates said during sworn testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee. The testimony counters repeated insinuations by ... Donald Trump and his top allies that Obama and Biden took a leading role in steering an investigation into the incoming national security adviser, a charge Trump has used to claim he was the victim of an unspecified crime he has dubbed 'Obamagate.' Trump has provided no evidence to support the claim, and Yates said under oath that Obama's only interest in Flynn was to ensure that it was safe to share sensitive national security information with the incoming administration.... 'General Flynn had essentially neutered the U.S. government's message of deterrence,' Yates said." Read on. Yates knocked down one fake GOP talking point after another. Mrs. McC: I guess they'll have to conclude that "the woman" is lying. ~~~
~~~ The Washington Post report, by Devlin Barrett, is here. "Trump attacked Yates before the hearing began, tweeting that she 'has zero credibility' and declaring her 'part of the greatest political crime of the Century, and ObamaBiden knew EVERYTHING!'... Seeking to use Yates to discredit the FBI's investigations around the 2016 Trump campaign, Republicans instead got a spirited defense of that work as ethical and necessary, even though she was critical of some of the FBI's moves at the time."
Felicia Sonmez, et al., of the Washington Post: "Former vice president Joe Biden will not travel to Milwaukee to accept the Democratic presidential nomination due to coronavirus concerns, convention organizers confirmed Wednesday. Biden will deliver his speech accepting the nomination later in August in his home state of Delaware, organizers said, adding that all other speakers who had been planning to travel to Milwaukee will no longer do so.... 'The mayor [of Milwaukee] has put in place a 225-person limit on people assembling in any one place,' Biden said. 'I think it's the right thing to do. I've wanted to set an example as to how we should respond individually to this crisis.' The move marks the latest disruption in plans for what is typically a political festival but is now being conducted almost entirely virtually. It comes after President Trump, who had attempted to hold the Republican National Convention in Charlotte and then Jacksonville, began exploring the option of delivering his speech from the South Lawn at the White House.... Under federal law, government employees and property are generally barred from being used for political purposes, with notable exceptions. The Hatch Act, which prevents federal officials from certain forms of political activity at work, exempts both the president and the vice president from any restrictions. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) pushed back against Trump's proposal in an interview with MSNBC's Andrea Mitchell on Wednesday afternoon."
David Jackson of USA Today: "... Donald Trump defended his call to reopen schools this fall by claiming children are 'virtually immune' from COVID-19 and that the coronavirus will 'go away' soon. 'This thing's going away -- It will go away like things go away,' Trump said during a wide-ranging interview on 'Fox & Friends' a day afte authorities reported more than 1,000 Americans died of the virus. Children can catch -- and pass on -- the coronavirus, doctors have said. The National Education Association has cited that in arguing that reopening schools this fall may maintain spikes in the spread of the virus.... 'This is the magical thinking that has misled us down the road to 155,000 deaths,' said Jonathan Reiner, professor of medicine at George Washington University."
Defense Secretary, Others Walk Back Another Trump Lie. Lolita Baldor & Deb Riechmann of the AP: "Defense Secretary Mark Esper said Wednesday that most people think the deadly explosion Tuesday in Lebanon that killed at least 100 people was an accident, contradicting ... Donald Trump, who said American generals told him it was likely caused by a bomb. Esper said the U.S. was still gathering information about the explosion, but said most believe 'it was an accident, as reported.' On Tuesday, Trump said, 'It looks like a terrible attack.... I met with some of our great generals and they just seem to feel that it was. This was not a - some kind of a manufacturing explosion type of a event. ... They seem to think it was an attack. It was a bomb of some kind, yes.' From the outset, U.S. officials have said that they did not know the cause of the initial fire and explosions that set off the larger blast. But they say they do believe the reports out of Lebanon claiming a large stockpile of ammonium nitrate left over from a seizure is what exploded. Officials on Wednesday couldn't identify any 'generals' who delivered any such Beirut message to the president. And while none would comment publicly, some noted that defense and intelligence officials didn't have enough information about the explosion to make any statement about the cause on Tuesday evening.... Esper said the U.S. was preparing to provide humanitarian aid and medical or other supplies to the Lebanese people. The U.S. Embassy in Beirut said at least one American citizen was killed and several more were injured in the explosion." Emphasis added.
The Lamborghini Factory Protection Program. Azi Paybarah of the New York Times: "A Texas man this week became the second person in less than two weeks to be accused by federal prosecutors of using Covid-19 relief money to buy a Lamborghini. The man, Lee Price III, 29, of Houston, received more than $1.6 million under the federal Paycheck Protection Program after he submitted five applications in May and June with fraudulent information to numerous banks claiming to employ dozens of people, prosecutors in Houston said on Tuesday.... Mr. Price was arrested Tuesday and charged with wire fraud, bank fraud, making false statements to financial institutions and engaging in prohibited monetary transactions, the prosecutors said." Mrs. McC: Somebody check the Treasury Department parking lot & find out what kind of vehicle Steve Mnuchin is driving to work these days.
In a New York Times video op-ed, historian Allan Lichtman explains his presidential prediction model & predicts the winner of the 2020 presidential race. "In 1980, he developed a presidential prediction model that retrospectively accounted for 120 years of U.S. election history. Over the past four decades, his system has accurately called presidential victors, from Ronald Reagan in '84 to, well, Mr. Trump in 2016."
Julia Manchester of the Hill: "Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) successfully defended her seat in Michigan's 13th District on Tuesday, fending off a primary challenge from former Rep. Brenda Jo[n]es (D-Mich.). The Associated Press called the race for the incumbent on Wednesday morning. Tlaib won 66 percent of the votes cast, with 87 percent of precincts reporting."
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Mrs. Bea McCrabbie: I'm posting this page before it's "ready." My power has been out for hours because of the hurricane/storm, and I can't guess when it will be back on because the power company is totally messed up in this secition of the country. It took more than 3 hours for me even to be able to report this neighborhood's outage. I'm running on a generator, but blips can occur. If today's Commentariat isn't up to its usual amateur standards, the wind is the why. Update: After a little more than 12 hours, the power company managed to restore power here. We had a little breeze; I'm going to hate to see how long it will take when a serious hurricane hits the area. And I'm awfully glad that several years ago, I gave myself the gift of what I call a "half-house" generator: that is, one that powers the essentials.
The Trumpidemic, Ctd.
The New York Times' live updates of coronavirus developments Wednesday are here.
The New York Times' live updates of coronavirus developments Tuesday are here: "Negotiators on Capitol Hill reported little progress on Tuesday toward reaching an agreement over an economic recovery package. But the top Senate Republican [Mitch McConnell] signaled that he might be willing to reverse course and accept the extension of $600-per-week jobless-aid payments that many in his party oppose if it would yield a compromise, and the White House and congressional Democrats agreed to an end-of-the-week deadline to seal a deal." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ The Washington Post's live updates for Tuesday are here. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Ginger Gibson of NBC News: "Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell conceded Tuesday that he will lack Republican support to pass further coronavirus aid and instead will rely on Democrats to fashion a deal with the White House. 'It's not going to produce a kumbaya moment,' McConnell, R-Ky., told reporters in the Capitol. 'But the American people in the end need help.'" ~~~
[~~~ Merriam-Webster: "Our Kumbaya Moment: How a folk song became a term of derision."] ~~~
~~~ Seung Min Kim, et al., of the Washington Post: "The White House and Democratic leaders agreed to try to finalize a deal to address lapsed unemployment benefits and eviction restrictions by the end of this week and hold a vote in Congress next week, suddenly trying to rush stalled talks in the face of growing public and political unrest. Senior White House officials said Tuesday that they made 'very concrete offers' to Democrats related to unemployment benefits and eviction protections, and after days of bickering both sides now appear to be trying to secure a compromise. The agreement on a timeline came in a meeting with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.), Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows." ~~~
~~~ Dana Milbank of the Washington Post: "This is what happens when you put a saboteur in charge of governing.... The common denominator [in Congress's failure to pass a coronavirus relief bill & Donald Trump's chaotic 'leadership' of the pandemic response], the man with a lead role in both, is Mark Meadows, the new White House chief of staff. During his seven years in Congress, he developed an unsurpassed reputation for blowing things up and making sure bills didn't pass. But he has virtually no experience at getting things done. At deadlocked congressional negotiations Monday, Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) complained to Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, who successfully cut two pandemic-relief deals with lawmakers, that Meadows had been a 'bad influence' on Mnuchin.... Under Meadows, Trump seems to have no guardrails.... Meadows's [history of] anti-government vandalism probably won't save Trump, but it could bring us all down with him."
Linda Qiu of the New York Times runs down some of the lies Trump told at a press briefing Tuesday about how well the U.S. was combatting the coronavirus. Mrs. McC: I don't think these lie-a-thons should be called "briefings." A "briefing" implies information is being shared, but lies are disinformation. ~~~
~~~ Anne Gearan of the Washington Post: "In recent days, Trump has increasingly pointed to the experiences of other countries in an attempt to dilute the bad news at home and justify the largely hands-off federal response, which has included no national mandates or lockdowns. Germany, France, Spain, Belgium, Japan, Israel, India, Australia, Brazil, South Korea, China, Hong Kong and others have been part of a presidential spin-the-globe review of trouble spots, in which Trump makes misleading claims about the U.S. record and talks up the prospects for a cure.... But none [of the 'flare-ups' Trump describes in other countries] is equal to the United States, which, with a little more than 4 percent of the global population, has clocked about a quarter of the world's cases.... 'Most of the observations the president makes about the virus are inaccurate,' said Cheryl Healton, dean of the School of Global Public Health at New York University." The story is free to nonsubscribers.
~~~ Philip Bump of the Washington Post: During his interview with Jonathan Swan of Axios, "Trump held a number of loose sheets of paper, each with a graph that, he clearly believed, showed how well the United States has done in combating the coronavirus pandemic.... These were the emperor's clothes, and he was proud of them. But Swan, given one of the few opportunities for a non-sycophant to interview the president, revealed them for what they were. Trump was left fumbling, unable to rationalize his repeated claims that all was well. Because, of course, it isn't.... It quickly became apparent that he didn't have a grasp on what was happening with the pandemic.... On Tuesday morning, Politico published an article looking closely at how the White House operates under its new chief of staff, former North Carolina congressman Mark Meadows. One White House staffer who spoke with Politico's reporters said that Meadows and his team were protecting Trump from bad political news.... The Swan interview certainly suggests that someone is keeping Trump from understanding what's actually happening with the pandemic. The odds are that the person who is doing so is Trump." (Also linked yesterday.)
Aamer Madhani, et al., of the AP: "... as the crisis has spread to all reaches of the country, with escalating deaths and little sense of endgame, a chasm has widened between the president and the experts.... Trump and his political advisers insist that the United States has no rival in its response to the pandemic. They point to the fact that the U.S. has administered more virus tests than any other nation and that the percentage of deaths among those infected is among the lowest. 'Right now, I think it's under control,' Trump said during an interview with Axios.... 'We have done a great job.' But ... the president is increasingly out of step with the federal government's own medical and public health experts.... Dr. Deborah Birx, White House coronavirus task force coordinator, warned this week that the virus has become 'extraordinarily widespread.'... Adm. Brett Giroir, the assistant secretary of Health and Human Services who has avoided contradicting the president throughout the crisis, said on Sunday it was time to 'move on' from the debate over hydroxychloroquine, a drug Trump continues to promote.... Dr. Robert Redfield, head of the CDC, last week acknowledged during an ABC News interview that the initial federal government response to the virus too slow. 'It's not a separation from the president, it's a cavernous gap,' said Lawrence Gostin, a public health expert at Georgetown University. 'What we're seeing is that scientists will no longer be cowed by the White House.'"
"We Have the Best Testing in the World." -- Trump. Sarah Mervosh & Manny Fernandez of the New York Times: "Frustrated by a nationwide testing backlog, the governors of six states took the unusual step of banding together on Tuesday to reduce the turnaround time for coronavirus test results from days to minutes. The agreement, by three Republican governors and three Democratic governors, was called the first interstate testing compact of its kind. The six states -- Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Ohio and Virginia -- agreed to work with the Rockefeller Foundation and two U.S. manufacturers of rapid tests to buy three million tests. The bipartisan plan highlights the depth of the testing problems in the United States more than six months into the pandemic."
Matthew Choi of Politico: "... Donald Trump suggested on Tuesday that a bomb attack was behind the catastrophic explosion that rocked Beirut earlier in the day, seemingly contradicting Lebanese officials' explanations that it was caused by confiscated explosives. The exact cause of the explosion was unclear Tuesday afternoon, but Abbas Ibrahim, chief of Lebanese General Security, said it was set off by explosive material that had been seized from a ship years ago, The Associated Press reported. The Lebanese interior minister also backed that explanation, saying the material was ammonium nitrate held in the port since 2014, Reuters reported.... 'I met with some of our great generals and they just seem to feel that it was' an attack, Trump replied to a reporter's question at a White House coronavirus briefing. 'This was not some kind of a manufacturing-explosion-type of event. This was, seems to be, according to them -- they would know better than I would -- they seem to think it was an attack. A bomb of some kind.'" ~~~
~~~ Just Making up Stuff. Barbara Starr et al., of CNN: "Three US Defense Department officials told CNN that as of Tuesday night there was no indication that the massive explosion that rocked Beirut on Tuesday were an "attack," contradicting an earlier claim from ... Donald Trump. While speaking to reporters at the White House on Tuesday, Trump offered sympathy and assistance to the people of Lebanon after the explosion, which left dozens dead and thousands injured and he referred to the incident as a 'terrible attack.'" ~~~
~~~ From Ben Hubbard's NYT report, also linked under Way Beyond the Beltway, on the devastating Beirut explosions: Trump "said he consulted with military generals and that 'they seem to think it's an attack, a bomb of some kind.' However, a senior U.S. official said, 'Everything I'm seeing thus far points to a tragic accident.'"
Mrs. McCrabbie: When you're sure Donald Trump is up to no good but you're not sure why, trust your instincts. He's up to no good. Yesterday, I linked an NPR story that said the Census Bureau had suddenly decided to stop its counting efforts a month early. The gist of the story was that the shortcut would make the Census less accurate. Well, yeah: ~~~
~~~ Vanita Gupta, in a Washington Post op-ed: "The Trump administration is doing everything it can to sabotage the 2020 Census so that it reflects an inaccurate and less diverse portrait of America. Its latest effort involves quietly compressing the census timeline to all but guarantee a massive undercount.... This move is part of a series of administration actions whose intent is unmistakable: to suppress minority representation and gain political advantage. First the administration tried to add a citizenship question to the census. Having been rebuffed by the Supreme Court, it issued an unconstitutional order last month instructing officials to exclude undocumented residents from being counted for purposes of apportioning congressional districts.... The census is foundational to democracy." ~~~
~~~ ** Steven Shepard of Politico: "The Census Bureau said late on Monday that it would finish collecting data for the decennial count next month and work to deliver population tallies to ... Donald Trump that meet his constitutionally questionable order to exclude undocumented immigrants for the purpose of congressional apportionment. The agency, which is part of the Commerce Department, had said this spring that it would require more time to complete its data collection because of the coronavirus pandemic. But amid a renewed push by Trump to remove those in the country without documentation from the count, Census Bureau Director Steven Dillingham now says the data will be sent to the president by the end of the year -- and not next spring, when Joe Biden could be in the Oval Office.... Dillingham also said the bureau 'continues its work on meeting the requirements' of two Trump orders: a July 2019 executive order that asked administrative agencies to collect data on undocumented immigrants in order to provide counts that states could use to draw state legislative maps that did not include those people; and a presidential memorandum from last month instructing the Census Bureau to calculate apportionment counts -- the number of congressional seats each state will have in the next decade -- without undocumented immigrants included." ~~~
~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: Plan C here is an acknowledgment that somebody thinks Trump is going to lose the election. I'll bet that's not the way the boys presented Plan C to Trump.
Jim Sciutto of CNN: "[H]ow should Americans understand their President's relationship with Putin and Russia? 'Putin is Trump's honey trap,' one of his former advisers told me, using an expression reserved for attractive spies who romance their marks into becoming double agents. It is not an encouraging appraisal to hear from someone who served this President at the highest level. Perhaps even more worrisome, Putin knows it. Some of the most experienced US intelligence officials have told me that Putin is aware of Trump's admiration for him and has sought to exploit it. They see the results in Trump's near mimicry of Kremlin talking points, on everything from election interference, to bounties on US troops in Afghanistan, to his understanding of Europe. Senior advisers have told me that Trump's hostility to European leaders and his understanding of the origins of the Second World War are influenced by Putin." --s
Trump says he has done more for black Americans than John Lewis -- and everybody else -- did. Also, Trump has nothing good to say about Lewis because Lewis did not attend his inauguration:
~~~ Maggie Haberman & Neil Vigdor of the New York Times: "President Trump played down the accomplishments of Representative John Lewis, the recently deceased civil rights icon, and criticized him for not attending the Trump inauguration in an interview conducted while Mr. Lewis was lying in state at the Capitol. The comments from Mr. Trump, which aired on 'Axios on HBO' Monday night, were unsurprising, given his penchant for grievance. But they were nonetheless stunning for the degree to which Mr. Trump refused to view Mr. Lewis's life and legacy in terms beyond how it related to Mr. Trump himself.... When asked to reflect on Mr. Lewis's contributions to the civil rights movement, Mr. Trump instead talked up his own record." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: As a number of pundits have pointed out, Lewis did not attend George W. Bush's inauguration either. That did not stop Dubya and Laura Bush from making a statement upon new of Lewis' death, after which Dubya was one of three Presidents to attend Lewis's funeral to make gracious remarks about the civil rights leader. ~~~
~~~ Axios has published Jonathan Swan's full interview of Donald Trump here. Poppy Harlow & Jim Sciutto of CNN urge you to watch it. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Paul Campos in LG&$: "... the most consistently underrated fact about Trump is how genuinely stupid he is. And I don't mean stupid compared to how smart you would want a president of the United States or the manager of a Wendy's to be. Just flat out stupid in comparison to the average human being. Watch this clip and then imagine trying to brief him on anything." ~~~
~~~ It Is Not Only the Stupid. Greg Sargent of the Washington Post assesses the reason for the success of Swan's interview: "Again and again, Swan practically pleaded with Trump to demonstrate a shred of basic humanity about the mounting toll under his presidency, and to display a glimmer of recognition of responsibility for it. Again and again, Trump failed this most basic test." ~~~
~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: That may be, but I'd say the strength of Swan's interview lay in his repeated challenges to Trump. Rather than nod when Trump said something amazingly stupid, Swan sat up in feigned surprise: "Who said that?" "What manuals?" "Why can't I consider population?" Trump still tried to wiggle out of Swan's challenges by ignoring them and saying a different stupid thing, but after 5 or 10 of these evasions, even a dope notices, "Something is not right." ~~~
~~~ "Treat Him Like a Clown." Alex Shephard of the New Republic nails it: "On the one hand, there is the man in the office: grotesque, incoherent, malicious, dumb. On the other, there are the rituals and aesthetic trappings that have grown around the office of the presidency itself, which all communicate its awesome power and solemnity.... One of the many virtues of Axios's Jonathan Swan's interview with Trump is that it does away with much of that unearned solemnity.... Instead, it has the look of a sitcom. As many have pointed out, the rhythms of its edits, which cut between Trump's relentless maundering and bullshitting, Swan's increasingly incredulous reactions, and long, awkward shots of the two of them, most closely resembles HBO's Veep.... It wasn't always like this. Less than two years ago, Swan sat down with Trump and beamed while the president praised him for acquiring a shiny little scoop about the administration's plans to end birthright citizenship. That was access journalism at its worst, where the pursuit of scoops trumps everything.... [Perhaps now], with Trump floundering, there's little risk in making the president look bad. It also suggests that journalists have finally figured out the best way to interrogate the president: Treat him like a clown." The article is firewalled. Mrs. McC: I used up one of my three/month TNR shots. ~~~
~~~ Travis Andrews of the Washington Post interviews David Mandel, the producer of "Veep," about Trump's resemblance to some character(s) in the satirical show. "Almost as soon as President Trump's tense interview with Axios's Jonathan Swan aired, Twitter accounts started comparing it to HBO's political satire 'Veep.'... 'Yes, this is like a scene from Veep. Except on Veep this scene would have been re-written after the table read, because a president being this stupid is too gaggy and unrealistic,' tweeted Sam Richardson, who portrayed the honest-to-a-fault Richard Splett on that very show." ~~~
Adding the @VeepHBO credits/music to the @axios / @jonathanvswan Trump interview just makes sense pic.twitter.com/wtMBiBcZ3S
— brendan mcsomething (@brendanmc84) August 4, 2020
~~~ Stupid? Whaddaya Mean, "Stupid"? ~~~
"Yo, Semites" https://t.co/cGdQ4zliXz
— Maggie Haberman (@maggieNYT) August 4, 2020
~~~ Marina Pitofsky of the Hill: "President Trump ... mispronounced the name of one of America's most famous national parks at a ceremony touting his signature on a major piece of conservation legislation. Trump tripped up as he tried to speak about the giant sequoia trees of Yosemite National Park. Instead of Yosemite, it sounded as if Trump was saying 'yo-Semite.'" [Mrs. McC: And then, "Yo, Seminites."] Thanks to Ken W. for the link.
Black Lives Matter
Paul Murphy & Devan Cole of CNN: "The US Navy distanced itself on Sunday from an incident organized by the privately run Navy SEAL Museum, which is not sponsored the Navy, in which a Colin Kaepernick jersey was worn by a 'target' during a military working dog demonstration. In a pair of nearly two-year-old videos that were posted in January but went viral on social media over the weekend, a man can be seen wearing a red jersey emblazoned with Kaepernick's name and former player number during the working dog demonstration conducted by the museum. After a man in military fatigues begins the demonstration, a total of four military working dogs charge toward the jersey-wearing man and attack him, clinging to his arms and legs while a crowd of visitors watch on." Thanks to Akhilleus for the link. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: Akhilleus mentioned in his commentary below that the so-called museum was in Fort Pierce, Florida. To double-check that, I clicked the link, and I'm so glad I did because now I plan to enter the raffle the "museum" is sponsoring: "A Chance to Win Two Weapons at Once!": a Shepherd Knife and a Cabot Pistol. Maybe I can pretend to be a SEAL & attack some terrorists (or football players exercising their First-Amendment rights) with those weapons. ~~~
~~~ UPDATE. James LaPorta of the AP: "The commander of the Navy SEALs said the unit will suspend its support of the National Navy SEAL Museum, a nonprofit organization not overseen by the military after videos surfaced online of dogs attacking a man wearing a Colin Kaepernick jersey during a demonstration. 'Each and every one of us serves to protect our fellow Americans - ALL Americans. Even the perception that our commitment to serving the men and women of this nation is applied unevenly is destructive,' Rear Adm. Collin Green, who heads the Naval Special Warfare Command, said in an email to his forces on Monday evening. He added: 'We will revisit our relationship with the Museum when I am convinced that they have made the necessary changes to ensure this type of behavior does not happen again.'" Mrs. McC: Oh, so he left open a window.
Cops Mistake SUV for a Motorcycle, Draw Guns on Little Girls. Teo Armus of the Washington Post: "Sunday morning was meant to be a girls outing for the Gilliams, as cousins, sisters, aunts and nieces piled into an SUV to go get their nails done together in suburban Denver. But before they could even find an open salon, the family's four children were ordered at gunpoint to lie facedown on the parking lot, and two were handcuffed. The Black girls, who range from 6 to 17 years old, broke down into tears and screams as a group of White [Aurora] police officers hovered over them.... Police blamed a misunderstanding: The license plate number on a stolen motorcycle matched the family's blue SUV, and that car had been reported missing earlier this year, too.... Aurora's police chief apologized on Monday night and launched an internal investigation after video of the incident quickly went viral.... Nearly one year ago, Aurora police tackled 23-year-old Elijah McClain as he was walking down the street and placed him into a chokehold, just moments before paramedics injected the Black man with a heavy sedative. Last month, two officers were fired over photos reenacting the violent arrest near a memorial for McClain, who died days later." ~~~
All the Best People, Ctd.
Linnaea Honl-Stuenkel of Crew: "William Perry Pendley, President Trump's nominee to lead the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), has said that the government should sell federal lands, denied climate change, wants to& weaken the Endangered Species Act and has sued BLM and the Interior Department repeatedly over the course of his career. His history of litigation against the agency that Trump has finally nominated him to lead -- after nearly a year as its acting head -- generated a list of potential conflicts of interest that is literally 17 pages long.... When he initially joined the agency..., Pendley issued a 17-page list of 57 potential conflicts that he had to recuse from.... Seven of those recusals have expired, and 50 are still in effect." --s
Nahal Toosi of Politico: "The State Department has sharply criticized and largely rejected a recent inspector general's investigation that found 'substantial evidence' two Trump administration political appointees had failed to properly report behavior amounting to 'workplace violence.' The department's response to the probe, included in papers obtained by Politico, is fresh evidence of the lingering tensions between Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and the watchdog office in the days since he engineered the firing of Inspector General Steve Linick in mid-May. The investigation into the workplace violence issue also involves the leaders of the Office of the Chief of Protocol -- a State Department division that faces scrutiny in a separate, ongoing inspector general's office probe into Pompeo and his wife. On Monday, Democrats subpoenaed four Pompeo aides to testify in a congressional investigation into why the secretary had pushed President Donald Trump to oust Linick, who was notified of his firing on May 15." --safari: Read on for the workplace violence.
Em Steck & Andrew Kaczynski of CNN: "... Donald Trump's nominee to become the US ambassador to Germany has a history of making xenophobic and racist comments about immigrants and refugees in both Germany and the US. Retired Army Col. Douglas Macgregor, a decorated combat veteran, author and frequent guest on Fox News, claimed that Muslim migrants were coming to Europe 'with the goal of eventually turning Europe into an Islamic state.' He criticized Germany for giving 'millions of unwanted Muslim invaders' welfare benefits rather than providing more funding for its armed services.... [In interviews, he] repeatedly advocated to institute martial law at the US-Mexico border and 'shoot people' if necessary. He also said that Eastern Ukrainians are 'Russians' on the Russian state-controlled TV network RT in 2014.... Macgregor graduated from West Point and served in the US Army for nearly 30 years as a decorated combat veteran. He retired as a colonel in 2004." --s
Elections 2020
Arizona Senate Race. Jonathan Cooper of the AP: "Republican Sen. Martha McSally and Democratic astronaut Mark Kelly secured their parties' nominations Tuesday in the Arizona race to finish the late John McCain's U.S. Senate term. It sets up a heated contest between two former combat pilots in what is expected to be one of the most expensive and spirited Senate races of 2020. The race will test Democrats' growing strength in sprawling Sun Belt suburbs and Republican efforts to blame China for the coronavirus outbreak." ~~~
~~~ Arizona Congressional Race. Abigail Mihaly of the Hill: "Rep. Tom O’Halleran won the Democratic primary in Arizona's 1st District on Tuesday as he seeks to earn a third term in November. The Blue Dog Democrat won with 58.7 percent of the vote, beating Democratic rival Eva Putzova with 94 percent of precincts reporting, according to The Associated Press."
Kansas Senate Race. James Arkin & Ally Mutnick of Politico: "Rep. Roger Marshall won the GOP primary for an open Senate seat in Kansas on Tuesday, turning aside the controversial Kris Kobach -- to the relief of Republicans concerned that Kobach could put not just the state but the party's Senate majority at risk this fall. Marshall had 37 percent of the vote compared to 26 percent for Kobach when The Associated Press called the race. The result was a more decisive victory for Marshall than expected by many Republicans, who had predicted with deep concern that the race was a tossup going into Tuesday.... Donald Trump did not endorse or oppose anyone, frustrating some Republicans who thought he could have ended the concern by weighing in." ~~~
~~~ Kansas Congressional Race. Dave Weigel & Colby Itkowitz of the Washington Post: "Kansas Republicans on Tuesday ousted Rep. Steve Watkins, weeks after the freshman lawmaker was charged with voting illegally in a 2019 election and then obstructing the inquiry. State Treasurer Jake LaTurner was projected to win the primary in the state's 2nd Congressional District, according to the Associated Press. Watkins denied the three felony charges, and in a TV ad that ran before the primary, he tried to reintroduce himself as an outsider running against a career politician -- one who had supported a tax increase.... LaTurner's closing commercials framed the race around the charges, pitching him as a Republican who could 'turn the page' for voters who were 'sick of the scandals.'" A New York Times story is here.
Missouri Congressional Race. Ally Mutnick of Politico: "Liberal challenger Cori Bush defeated Rep. Lacy Clay (D-Mo.) in a primary for his St. Louis-based House seat on Tuesday -- a huge win for the left and a seismic loss for the Congressional Black Caucus, which has tried to snuff out challenges from younger candidates. Bush's victory came two years after her first challenge to Clay, which the incumbent won by 20 percentage points. But this cycle, Bush's campaign was better funded and had more outside help from a wide array of surrogates including Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and the Justice Democrats, the group that helped elect Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.)." A New York Times story is here. ~~~
~~~ Missouri -- ObamaCare. Rachel Roubein of Politico: "Missouri voters on Tuesday approved Medicaid expansion to many of the state's poorest adults, making their conservative state the second to join the Obamacare program through the ballot during the pandemic. The Missouri ballot measure expands Medicaid to about 230,000 low-income residents at a time when the state's safety net health care program is already experiencing an enrollment surge tied to the pandemic's economic upheaval. The measure was up 52 percent to 48 percent, with 83 percent of precincts reporting, when the Associated Press projected the win for expansion. Missouri becomes the sixth red state where voters have defied Republican leaders to expand Medicaid, just weeks after Oklahoma voters narrowly backed the program."
The Missouri vote came as the state has faced one of the sharpest increases in coronavirus infections and now reports on average over 1,200 daily new cases, almost three times more than a month ago.
"A Remarkable Change of Tune." Caitlin Opyrsko of Politico: "... Donald Trump on Tuesday reversed his opposition to mail-in voting and encouraged it -- at least in one crucial battleground state -- after railing against the practice for months amid the coronavirus pandemic. 'Whether you call it Vote by Mail or Absentee Voting, in Florida the election system is Safe and Secure, Tried and True,' Trump wrote in a tweet. 'Florida's Voting system has been cleaned up (we defeated Democrats attempts at change), so in Florida I encourage all to request a Ballot & Vote by Mail! #MAGA'[.] The tweet represented a remarkable change in tune for the president, who has himself voted by mail but has aggressively pushed voters to head to the polls in person this fall despite fears of spreading the coronavirus. Trump has repeatedly leveled unsubstantiated claims that voting by mail would result in widespread voter fraud and that the practice would ultimately benefit Democrats.... Just last week, Trump floated delaying November's election until it was safer to do so in person, a suggestion he is not constitutionally empowered to enact. On Monday the president claimed the right to issue an executive order pertaining to his concerns about mail-in voting, another legally dubious proposition, and pledged to sue Nevada over its plans to mail ballots to all registered voters. Asked about what authority the president might have to issue an executive order on mail-in voting, White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany declined to answer." ~~~
~~~ Trump Campaign, GOP Sue Nevada. Kevin Freking of the AP: "Democrats currently have about 1.9 million Floridians signed up to vote by mail this November, almost 600,000 more than the Republicans' 1.3 million, according to the Florida secretary of state. In 2016, both sides had about 1.3 million signed up before the general election.... Trump elaborated Tuesday on why he supports voting by mail in Florida but not elsewhere. 'They've been doing this over many years, and they've made it really terrific,' he said during a news conference. 'This took years to do,' he added. 'This doesn't take weeks or months. In the case of Nevada, they're going to be voting in a matter of weeks. And you can t do that.' Nevada officials joined several states that plan on automatically sending voters mail ballots. Two states, California and Vermont, moved earlier this summer to adopt automatic mail ballot policies. With the bill passed by lawmakers on Sunday, Nevada Gov. Steve Sisolak, a Democrat, signed it into law on Monday. In a tweet Trump called the bill's passage 'an illegal late night coup' and accused Sisolak of exploiting the coronavirus pandemic to ensure votes would favor Democrats. Making good on Trump's threat of legal action, his campaign and the national and state GOP filed suit Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Nevada against the secretary of state to stop the plan.... Florida hardly has a history of flawless elections...."
Michael Gryboski of the Christian Post: "The newly appointed head of faith outreach for former Vice President Joe Biden's presidential campaign is working on getting evangelicals to support the Democratic nominee. Josh Dickson, an evangelical Christian who has been active in the Democratic Party for nearly 10 years, was appointed National Faith Engagement director for the Biden campaign.... Dickson believes some evangelicals are moving toward supporting Biden. An example of this, he said, is seeing evangelical leaders' embrace of the Black Lives Matter movement." ~~~
~~~ Gabby Orr of Politico: "A left-leaning group focused on persuading religious Americans to vote out Donald Trump in November has recruited some of the president's leading Republican agitators to assist them. On Wednesday, Vote Common Good will launch a new partnership with the Lincoln Project, an anti-Trump GOP group founded by veteran Republican strategists, to mobilize faith voters to reject Trump on Election Day. The initiative will focus on courting white evangelicals and white Catholics -- two demographics Trump won by significant margins in 2016 -- who have lost patience with the president's behavior or been disappointed with his handling of the coronavirus pandemic and the Black Lives Matter protest movement against racism. The efforts will be concentrated in six battleground states -- North Carolina, Ohio, Michigan, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and Florida --; where multiple polls have shown Trump trailing ... former Vice President Joe Biden."
Mrs. McCrabbie: The video below came up after the video of Trump's remarks about John Lewis. Kind of interesting how this dyed-in-the-wool, life-long Republican gave up on Trump & the cult of Trump:
Way Beyond the Beltway
Lebanon. Ben Hubbard of the New York Times: "First, an explosion in Beirut's port, possibly from a fireworks warehouse, sent a plume of smoke billowing over the capital skyline early Tuesday evening. Then a much larger explosion from a building nearby shot a chrysanthemum of orange and red smoke into the air followed by a massive shock wave of whitish dust and debris that rose hundreds of feet and spread out for blocks. The seaside capital rocked like an earthquake. Cars tumbled upside down and bricks rained down from apartment buildings. Glass flew out of windows miles away and roofs collapsed. The wounded stumbled through debris-choked streets to hospitals, only to be turned away in some cases because the hospitals, already reeling from the coronavirus pandemic, were overwhelmed. By late evening, the Health Ministry said, more than 70 people were dead and at least 3,000 wounded in the worst carnage to hit the city in more than a decade.... It was unclear exactly what caused the explosions, but Prime Minister Hassan Diab said an estimated 2,750 tons of highly explosive ammonium nitrate, commonly used in fertilizer and bombs, had been stored in a depot at the port for six years."
~~~ AP: "A massive explosion shook Lebanon's capital Beirut on Tuesday wounding a number people and causing widespread damage. The afternoon blast shook several parts of the capital and thick smoke billowed from the city center. Residents reported windows being blown out and a false ceilings dropping. The explosion appeared to be centered around Beirut's port and caused wide scale destruction and shattered windows miles away." (Also linked yesterday.)
News Lede
CNN: "More than 3.1 million homes and businesses have no electrical power after the powerful storm Isaias whipped through the mid-Atlantic and Northeast on Monday and Tuesday. According to a tally from Poweroutage.US, the outages were concentrated in the tri-state area: As of Wednesday morning, power was out for nearly a million people in New Jersey, about 775,000 people in New York, and about 700,000 in Connecticut. In all, outages stretched from North Carolina up to Maine. The storm system also killed several people as it ripped through the East Coast after making landfall as a Category 1 hurricane on Ocean Isle Beach, North Carolina, Monday. Isaias brought hurricane-force wind gusts to Long Island, according to unofficial reports from the National Weather Service. Peak wind gusts reached 67 mph in Greenwich, Connecticut, 68 mph at Newark Airport in New Jersey, and over 75 mph in multiple parts of New York's Suffolk County, the weather service said. The storm, now a post-tropical cyclone, has moved into southeastern Canada, bringing heavy rain and powerful winds over the province of Quebec."
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