The Commentariat -- June 20, 2020

Afternoon Update:

Alan Feuer, et al., of the New York Times: "President Trump on Saturday personally fired the United States Attorney in Manhattan, Geoffrey S. Berman, whose office has pursued one case after another that has rankled the president and his allies, putting his former personal lawyer in prison and investigating his current one. It was the culmination of an extraordinary clash after years of tension between the White House and New York federal prosecutors. In a letter released by the Justice Department, Attorney General William P. Barr accused of Mr. Berman of choosing 'public spectacle over public service' because he would not voluntarily step down from the position. 'Because you have declared that you have no intention of resigning, I have asked the President to remove you as of today, and he has done so,' the letter read. Mr. Barr said Mr. Berman's top deputy, Audrey Strauss, would become the acting United States Attorney.... Speaking briefly to reporters outside the White House before heading to a campaign rally in Tulsa, Okla., Mr. Trump appeared to try to distance himself from the firing. Mr. Trump insisted that he was 'not involved,' despite Mr. Barr's letter, which made clear that Mr. Trump had dismissed Mr. Barr.... In a statement released Saturday evening, Mr. Berman said he would step down immediately in light of Mr. Barr's 'decision to respect the normal operation of law' in replacing him with Ms. Strauss." Emphasis added.

Donald Judd of CNN: "The Trump campaign confirmed six staffers working on the Tulsa rally tested positive for coronavirus."

Charlie Savage of the New York Times: "... John R. Bolton can go forward with the publication of his memoir, a federal judge ruled on Saturday, rejecting the administration's request for an order that he try to pull the book back and saying it was too late for such an order to succeed. 'With hundreds of thousands of copies around the globe -- many in newsrooms -- the damage is done. There is no restoring the status quo,' wrote Judge Royce C. Lamberth of the Federal District Court of the District of Columbia. But in a 10-page opinion, Judge Lamberth also suggested that Mr. Bolton may be in jeopardy of forfeiting his $2 million advance, as the Justice Department has separately requested -- and that he could be prosecuted for allowing the book to be published before receiving final notice that a prepublication review to scrub out classified information was complete.... The judge wrote that after viewing classified declarations and discussing them in the closed hearing, he was 'persuaded that defendant Bolton likely jeopardized national security by disclosing classified information in violation of his nondisclosure agreement obligations.'... Judge Lamberth will also oversee the part of the lawsuit that seeks to seize Mr. Bolton's proceeds...." Politico's story is here. ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: On the other hand, Bigmouth Donald may have hurt the so-called "Justice" Department's case for clawing back Bolton's profits. As Savage notes, "Mr. Trump has accused Mr. Bolton of lying -- and false information is not classified." ~~~

~~~ Fortunately, Donald Trump accepted the ruling in a mature & circumspect manner: ~~~

~~~ Tax Axelrod of the Hill: "President Trump touted a judge's ruling on former national security adviser John Bolton's memoir that allowed the book to proceed with publishing but panned its author as possibly threatening the nation. 'BIG COURT WIN against Bolton. Obviously, with the book already given out and leaked to many people and the media, nothing the highly respected Judge could have done about stopping it...BUT, strong & powerful statements & rulings on MONEY & on BREAKING CLASSIFICATION were made,' Trump tweeted. 'Bolton broke the law and has been called out and rebuked for so doing, with a really big price to pay. He likes dropping bombs on people, and killing them. Now he will have bombs dropped on him!'" Mrs. McC: You may find it odd to characterize a loss as a win, but you're not Donald Trump. And you probably don't have a phalanx of obsequious aides telling you, "You won, Sir. You won!"

The Washington Post's live updates for coronavirus developments Saturday are here. "New daily coronavirus cases in the United States on Friday exceeded 30,000 for the first time in seven weeks as states in the South and West continued to report alarming spikes in new infections.... The last time new daily cases in the United States topped 30,000 was on May 1...." The New York Times' live updates for Saturday are here.

Kaelan Deese of the Hill: "The Trump Death Clock truck moved in to join the camaraderie in Tulsa, Okla. ahead of President Trump's rally there Saturday evening. The truck displays digital statistics on three different faces of the vehicle, delivering a real-time tracker of alleged needless American deaths due to Trump's response to the coronavirus pandemic, The Guardian reported. The mobilized death clock is strategically placed outside of the Bank of Oklahoma (BOK) Center, where Trump's rally is scheduled for at 7 p.m. CT Saturday. Eugene Jarecki, an award-winning filmmaker, is the administer behind the clock, and said the truck's presence in Tulsa is a public service. 'We want everyone who attends Trump's rally to have an opportunity to make an informed choice based on real numbers,' Jarecki said. webpage, which claims, 'Experts estimate that, had mitigation measures been implemented one week earlier, 60% of American COVID-19 deaths would have been avoided.' The tracker currently suggests around 71,700 American deaths could have been avoided had the administration acted sooner in response to the pandemic."

~~~~~~~~~~

Fired by Press Release: Your Friday Night News Dump. Benjamin Weiser, et al., of the New York Times: "The Justice Department on Friday abruptly tried to oust the United States attorney in Manhattan, Geoffrey S. Berman, the powerful federal prosecutor whose office sent President Trump's former personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, to prison and who has been investigating Mr. Trump's current personal lawyer, Rudolph W. Giuliani. But Mr. Berman said in a statement that he was refusing to leave his position, setting up a crisis within the Justice Department over one of its most prestigious jobs. 'I have not resigned, and have no intention of resigning, my position,' Mr. Berman said, adding that he learned that he was 'stepping down' in a press release from the Justice Department. Attorney General William P. Barr's announcement that President Trump was seeking to replace Mr. Berman was made with no notice. Mr. Barr said the president intended to nominate as Mr. Berman's successor Jay Clayton, current chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission. Mr. Barr asked Mr. Berman to resign but he refused so Mr. Barr moved to fire him, according to a person familiar with the matter. Mr. Trump had been discussing removing Mr. Berman for some time with a small group of advisers, the person said. Mr. Berman has taken an aggressive approach in a number of cases that have vexed the Trump administration, from the prosecution and guilty pleas obtained from Mr. Cohen to a broader investigation, growing out of that inquiry, which focused on Mr. Trump's private company and others close to him." Read on. ~~~

~~~ "Friday Night Standoff." Devlin Barrett of the Washington Post: "The Trump administration announced Friday night that Manhattan U.S. Attorney Geoffrey Berman, who has handled a number of investigations involving the president or his campaign, will be leaving that job, though Berman fired back that he hadn't resigned and would stay on to ensure his office's cases proceed unimpeded. The surreal Friday night standoff marks the latest battle over the Trump administration's management of the Justice Department. Democrats have decried what they charge has been the politicization of the department under President Trump and his attorney general, William P. Barr." An NBC News story is here. An AP story is here. ~~~

~~~ Josh Kovensky of TPM: In a tweet, "House Judiciary Committee chair Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-NY) invited Berman to testify before Congress at a previously scheduled hearing on Wednesday featuring DOJ whistleblowers." ~~~

~~~ Matt Naham of Law & Crime explains why Barr may not be able to dispatch Berman: 1. Berman said he isn't going anywhere till the Senate confirms a new U.S. attorney. 2. "Berman noted [in a statement last night] that he was appointed to his position by the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York not the President. In 2018, then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions first appointed Berman as interim SDNY U.S. Attorney. After the 120-day interim stint expired, the court appointed Berman to his current position. Trump never sent Berman's nomination to the Senate. The April 2018 court order said that Berman was appointed U.S. Attorney 'unless the President of the United States nominates and the Senate confirms a United States Attorney for this district [...]'.... [However,] NYU Law Professor Ryan Goodman pointed to the United States v. Solomon case, which happens to have been decided in the SDNY. That decision noted that 'the President may, at any time, remove the judicially appointed United States Attorney, pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 504 [...] regardless of the nature of his appointment.'"

Justin Moyer, et al., of the Washington Post: "Demonstrators spread across Washington[, D.C.,] on Friday to celebrate the death of slavery 155 years ago and continue the national street crusade against the racial oppression that pervades the country today.... By late evening, the marches and speeches of the day near Lafayette Square had given way to music and laughter along U Street, making the protests feel more like a street festival.... Around 10 p.m. a small group of protesters scaled the statue of Confederate Gen. Albert Pike near Judiciary Square. They had come prepared with ropes and chains in hopes of toppling the statue, which has long been the site of protests. After more than an hour they succeeded, and then set the statue on fire. Police were nearby but did not intervene.... Celebrations and marches were held in Atlanta and Salt Lake City, in Richmond and Minneapolis.... In Richmond, [Va.,] hundreds of protesters gathered for a candlelight vigil around the statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee, which has been the focus of demonstrations on police brutality. Like the scene in Washington, a diverse group of people danced and sang as they demonstrated."

Oklahoma. Astead Herndon of the New York Times: "Hundreds gathered along Greenwood Avenue [in Tulsa, Oklahoma] -- the site of one of America's worst racist attacks -- to celebrate Juneteenth, the holiday that commemorates when enslaved black Americans in Texas formally learned of emancipation. The end of a centuries-long massacre.... Organizers planned to cancel their annual Juneteenth celebration amid the national coronavirus pandemic. Then President Trump announced a campaign rally in the city, originally slated to be held on the Friday holiday but later moved to Saturday evening. With that event looming, and national protests raging about racial injustice and police brutality, what was typically a celebration of resilience had transformed into one of defiance. 'Black Lives Matter' was painted in bright yellow letters across Greenwood Avenue. Attendees said they were celebrating not only how black ancestors were freed from enslavement, but also the persistence of black Americans today -- from a pandemic that has disproportionately affected black communities, police departments that disproportionately kill black people, and a president who has shown little willingness to acknowledge the reality of both." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Nikki Carvajal of CNN: "Vice President Mike Pence declined to say the words 'Black lives matter' during an interview with an ABC affiliate in Pennsylvania on Friday, instead saying that 'all lives matter.' The reporters repeatedly asked pence to say "black lives matter," and he repeatedly refused to do so. pence also defended Trump's posting of what was a sweet video which was manipulated to become racist propaganda, claiming it showed that Trump had "a good sense of humor." Mrs. McC: Yeah, ha ha. If the photo that accompanies Carvajal's report is any indication, the reporter who asked pence to say "black lives matter" is black. It takes either a tremendous Fear of Trump and/or fundamental racist bigotry to refuse to tell a black man that his life matters. ~~~

~~~ Oh, and Trump's "good sense of humor" also was a copyright violation: ~~~

~~~ Donie O'Sullivan of CNN: "Facebook and Twitter on Friday removed a video posted by ... Donald Trump's account that had twisted a viral video of two toddlers after one of the children's parents lodged a copyright claim. The video had more than 4 million views on Facebook ... and more than 20 million views on Twitter ... before it was taken down. The now-removed clip is a crude and misleading edit of a video that went viral last year which shows a Black child and a White child running to hug each other. The version posted to Trump's account made it first appear as if the Black child was running away from the White child. Jukin Media, a company that represents creators of videos including the parent who owns this video, said in a statement..., 'Neither the video owner nor Jukin Media gave the President permission to post the video, and after our review, we believe that his unauthorized usage of the content is a clear example of copyright infringement without valid fair use or other defense.'... Responding to Trump's use of the video, [Michael] Cisneros[, father of one of the toddlers,] wrote in a Facebook post Thursday night [of Trump], 'HE WILL NOT TURN THIS LOVING, BEAUTIFUL VIDEO TO FURTHER HIS HATE AGENDA!! !! !! !!'"

Rebecca Shabad of NBC News: "Senators on Friday announced legislation to make Juneteenth, a widely observed holiday that marks the federal order to free slaves in Texas on June 19, 1865, a national holiday.... The day, which began as a Texas holiday in 1980, is now recognized by 47 states and the District of Columbia as a state holiday or observance and is marking its 155th anniversary this year.... The bill was proposed by Sens. Ed Markey, D-Mass., [Corey] Booker, [D-N.J.,] Tina Smith, D-Minn., and Kamala Harris, D-Calif. Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, is a cosponsor. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Jonathan Swan of Axios: "President Trump declined on Friday to say he retains full confidence in Defense Secretary Mark Esper, and said Esper and Joint Chiefs Chairman Mark Milley should have been 'proud' to join him on the now-infamous walk across Lafayette Square.... Trump initially said of Esper and Milley, 'I don't think they broke with me' and 'I think they should do what they want to do.' But the president soon pivoted to say, 'I would have handled it differently.' He said he understood that their responses appeared to be prompted by their desire to adhere to 'exact, strict' regulations, but that 'if I were in their position I would have done it somewhat differently. Under regulation, perhaps they're right,' Trump said, but claimed, 'I know the regulation even better than they do. But they also would have been right to say, "We're proud to walk alongside our president and we want our president to be safe."'... Asked whether he considered firing Esper -- as Axios and others reported -- Trump hesitated and chose not to directly deny it. 'I really wasn't focused on it," he replied, "because I have many things that I do focus on very much.'"

** Your Government Is Spying on You. Zolan Kannos-Young of the New York Times: "The Department of Homeland Security deployed helicopters, airplanes and drones over 15 cities where demonstrators gathered to protest the death of George Floyd, logging at least 270 hours of surveillance, far more than previously revealed, according to Customs and Border Protection data. The department's dispatching of unmanned aircraft over protests in Minneapolis last month sparked a congressional inquiry and widespread accusations that the federal agency had infringed on the privacy rights of demonstrators. But that was just one piece of a nationwide operation that deployed resources usually used to patrol the U.S. border for smugglers and illegal crossings. Aircraft filmed demonstrations in Dayton, Ohio; New York City; Buffalo and Philadelphia, among other cities, sending video footage in real time to control centers managed by Air and Marine Operations, a branch of Customs and Border Protection. The footage was then fed into a digital network managed by the Homeland Security Department, called 'Big Pipe,' which can be accessed by other federal agencies and local police departments for use in future investigations, according to senior officials with Air and Marine Operations." ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: This is astounding. The federal government is widely using military-style equipment to spy on Americans exercising their First Amendment rights.

Georgia. Brittany Shammas of the Washington Post: "Hundreds of pages of personnel records regarding the former [Atlanta police] officer, Garrett Rolfe, [accused of murdering Rayshard Brooks] were made public Friday, including investigations into several misconduct allegations made about him. In what appears to be the most serious misconduct case previously lodged against Rolfe, the former officer was issued a written reprimand for pointing his gun at a fleeing car. The police department's office of professional standards found the September 2016 chase, which hit speeds over 100 miles per hour, violated policy and culminated in unreasonable force against a 15-year-old suspect, who was black. One officer was arrested, while several others faced disciplinary actions. A sergeant retired before the investigation concluded."

Kentucky. Ray Sanchez & Elizabeth Joseph of CNN: "The city of Louisville, Kentucky, and its police department are taking the first steps toward firing an officer involved in the fatal shooting of Breonna Taylor last March. Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer has initiated termination proceedings against Louisville Metro Police Det. Brett Hankison, Fisher said in a statement without elaborating. The 26-year-old African American EMT was killed more than two months ago when police broke down the door to her apartment in an attempted drug sting and shot her eight times. Hankison and two other officers remain on administrative leave.... They have not been charged with any crimes." Mrs. McC: Oh, they're just thinking of firing the officer now? Every time I see a well-circulated photo of Taylor's smiling face, my heart breaks. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

A Tweet from the Darkest Side. Colby Itkowitz & Robert Barnes of the Washington Post: "President Trump on Friday promised to renew his effort to end the Obama-era program that protects undocumented immigrants brought here as children from deportation, a day after the Supreme Court ruled to keep it in place. In a morning tweet, Trump seized on the fact that the 5-4 decision did not address the merits of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA program[)], but rather said that the administration had not provided proper legal justification for ending it. 'The Supreme Court asked us to resubmit on DACA, nothing was lost or won. They "punted," much like in a football game (where hopefully they would stand for our great American Flag). We will be submitting enhanced papers shortly in order to properly fulfil the Supreme Court's ruling & request of yesterday,' Trump wrote." ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: As I read Trump's tweet, he is promising to ruin the lives of hundreds of thousands of young people in order to save face for losing a Supreme Court case. What a twisted monster. Dorian Gray hid the picture of his real self in the attic; Trump tweets his out nearly every day. ~~~

~~~ Linda Greenhouse of the New York Times: "The DACA decision contained a message threaded through its dry language of administrative procedure -- a warning to the Trump administration not to assume that it gets a free pass, not to take the Supreme Court for granted. 'This is not the case for cutting corners,' the chief justice wrote.... Given the decisions due in the next few weeks on abortion, religion, the president's tax returns and the Electoral College, among other cases, it's too soon to place a label on this pandemic-disrupted Supreme Court term."

Oregon. Thomas Elfrink of the Washington Post: "As hundreds of Black Lives Matter protesters marched through Medford, Ore. earlier this month, one driver ... drove steadily into the mass of demonstrators. When one woman stopped to hold up her sign, the bright yellow car struck her with its left bumper and mirror. The woman who was hit now says ... the driver ... was ... Chris Luz -- the mayor ... [of] the neighboring town of Phoenix, Ore." The victim, Mikala Johnston, confronted Luz during a Phoenix city commission meeting. "Medford police have now opened a criminal investigation into the allegation, Sgt. Jason Antley told The Washington Post on Thursday."

David Nakamura & John Hudson of the Washington Post: "President Trump was in a White House event with governors Thursday when he took a moment to punch out a tweet from his cellphone -- threatening to decouple the U.S. economy from China, the world's second largest economy [Mrs. McC: a virtual impossibility]. The missive was another salvo in a long bilateral trade dispute but it also represented an effort by the president to reestablish himself as a hard-liner on China -- a day after shocking revelations from his former national security adviser John Bolton painted him as obsequious to Chinese President Xi Jinping in private conversations. Trump's urgency underscores how Bolton's disclosures ... could complicate a key pillar of the president's reelection strategy as his campaign has attacked former vice president Biden ... as soft on China." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Charlie Savage of the New York Times: "Lawyers for the Justice Department and John R. Bolton, President Trump's former national security adviser, clashed on Friday as a federal judge [Royce Lamberth] weighed a Trump administration request to order Mr. Bolton to somehow claw back his memoir even though hundreds of thousands of copies were printed and distributed around the world.... The main elements of the book, an unflattering account of Mr. Trump's conduct in office, have already been widely reported.... The judge opened the hearing with a suggestion that he may be inclined to agree with Mr. Cooper about the request for an order. 'The horse, as we used to say in Texas, seems to be out of the barn,' Judge Lamberth said. But he also will be asked to decide other matters -- like the government's request to seize Mr. Bolton's $2 million advance -- and asked why Mr. Bolton had walked away from the prepublication review and did not tell the government that he had told Simon & Schuster to start printing.... Judge Lamberth made no ruling on the request for a restraining order from the bench, and he said that before making any decision he needed to hold a second, closed-door hearing with only the government to discuss the details of information in the book the administration now says are classified. He held the closed hearing later on Friday -- in person because it involved discussion of classified information -- according to a notation added to the case's electronic docket." ~~~

     ~~~ The Washington Post's story is here.

Annals of "Journalism," Ctd. Dan Froomkin of Press Watch: "In Friday's New York Times, the paper's White House bureau chief, Peter Baker, tut-tutted the 'normalization' of Donald Trump's presidency -- as if he himself, along with his colleagues, weren't among the people most responsible for it.... [Baker's piece is here, also linked yesterday] Reading, listening to and watching the news coverage of Donald Trump, I am often struck at the lack of context, alarm, and outrage from the mainstream political media. There's an awful lot of stenography and credulousness.... Way too often, especially in his daily articles, Baker has downplayed the profoundly aberrational, deviant nature of the Trump presidency. He has taken what Trump says at face value even when he knows better. He has internalized Trump's framings, refused to call lies lies, and engaged in mind-boggling false equivalence." Mrs. McC: There's an art to reading articles MSM writers like Peter Baker & Dan Balz. You have to look for the things they find remarkable. My commentary on a piece by Baker, for instance, should always begin, "Even Peter Baker says ..." because Peter Baker not only find the most aberrant presidential behavior or remark normal, he tries to normalize it.

Sharon LaFraniere of the New York Times: "New details from the Justice Department's inquiry into Russian influence over the 2016 election released on Friday underscored President Trump's keen interest in weaponizing information stolen by the Russians and funneled to WikiLeaks for use against his 2016 opponent, Hillary Clinton. The new disclosures also emphasized prosecutors' doubts about whether Mr. Trump told them the truth when he was questioned during the two-year investigation by the special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III, into Russian interference in that election and whether the Trump campaign conspired with Moscow to influence its outcome. Over all, however, the new information shed little new light on the special counsel's inquiry that dominated the first two years of Mr. Trump's presidency. It was released in response to a lawsuit claiming that the Justice Department's redactions of sensitive information in the Mueller report violated the Freedom of Information Act." ~~~

~~~ Jason Leopold, et al., of BuzzFeed News: "Donald Trump was told in advance that Wikileaks would be releasing documents embarrassing to the Clinton campaign and subsequently informed advisors that he expected more releases would be coming, according to newly unredacted portions of special counsel Robert Mueller's report into Russia's interference in the 2016 election. In July 2016, political consultant Roger Stone told Trump as well as several campaign advisors that he had spoken with Julian Assange and that WikiLeaks would be publishing the documents in a matter of days.... The new revelations are the strongest indication to date that Trump and his closest advisors were aware of outside efforts to hurt Clinton's electoral chances, and that Stone played a direct role in communicating that situation to the Trump campaign. Trump has publicly denied being aware of any information being relayed between WikiLeaks and his advisors." ~~~

~~~ Katelyn Polantz, et al., of CNN: "Special counsel Robert Mueller examined whether ... Donald Trump lied to him in written answers during the Russia investigation, a possibility House Democrats have said they continue to look into even after Trump's impeachment. With fresh detail, the special counsel's investigation also documented how several Trump campaign officials heard from the then-candidate abou WikiLeaks releases that ultimately helped his campaign, a new version of the Mueller report said on Friday.... 'According to multiple witnesses involved with the Campaign, beginning in June 2016 and continuing through October 2016, [Roger] Stone spoke about WikiLeaks with senior Campaign officials, including candidate Trump,' Mueller wrote.... 'No wonder they kept this hidden,' Democratic Rep. Adam Schiff ... tweeted Friday night." ~~~

     ~~~ A Whopping Benefit of the Doubt. Mrs. McCrabbie: Mueller apparently decided that "I forgot" was a plausible excuse for Trump's lying in his written responses, just as comedian Steve Martin explained to the IRS his failure to pay taxes on a million dollars. Martin's "I forgot" was a joke. But in a real case, Mueller decided to credit Trump with forgetfulness and let him get away with a lie in an answer made under oath.

The Trumpidemic, Ctd.

The New York Times' live updates of coronavirus developments Friday are here. The Washington Post's live updates for Friday are here. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Are You Ready for Some Football? Max Cohen of Politico: "... Donald Trump on Friday rebuked his administration's top infectious disease expert, rejecting Dr. Anthony Fauci's warning that the ongoing coronavirus pandemic could keep football from returning this fall. 'Tony Fauci has nothing to do with NFL Football,' Trump wrote on Twitter. 'They are planning a very safe and controlled opening.'... 'Unless players are essentially in a bubble -- insulated from the community and they are tested nearly every day -- it would be very hard to see how football is able to be played this fall,' Fauci told CNN's Sanjay Gupta on Thursday. 'If there is a second wave, which is certainly a possibility and which would be complicated by the predictable flu season, football may not happen this year.'" More on Trump's rejection of Fauci's advice linked under "Presidential Race."

Not All of the Corruption of the Trump Administration is Up-front & Noisy. Katie Thomas of the New York Times: "When the coronavirus kills, it attacks the lungs.... But earlier this month, the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority, or BARDA, a federal health agency, abruptly notified companies and researchers that it was halting funding for treatments for this severe form of Covid-19, the disease caused by the virus. The new policy highlights how staunchly the Trump administration has placed its bet on vaccines as the way to return American society and the economy to normal in a presidential election year. BARDA has pledged more than $2.2 billion in deals with five vaccine manufacturers for the coronavirus, compared with about $359 million toward potential Covid-19 treatments. But the shift in strategy also shows that the administration is backing away from the relatively modest funding it has provided so far for treatments that address the severe lung ailments, while continuing support for antiviral therapies that could treat people earlier in the course of the disease." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Rick Noack of the Washington Post: "As coronavirus cases surge in the U.S. South and West, health experts in countries with falling case numbers are watching with a growing sense of alarm and disbelief, with many wondering why virus-stricken U.S. states continue to reopen and why the advice of scientists is often ignored. 'It really does feel like the U.S. has given up,' said Siouxsie Wiles, an infectious-diseases specialist at the University of Auckland in New Zealand -- a country that has confirmed only three new cases over the last three weeks and where citizens have now largely returned to their pre-coronavirus routines.... China's actions over the past week stand in stark contrast to those of the United States. In the wake of a new cluster of more than 150 new cases that emerged in Beijing, authorities sealed off neighborhoods, launched a mass testing campaign and imposed travel restrictions." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Tim Mak of NPR: "The Transportation Security Administration withheld N95 masks from staff and exhibited 'gross mismanagement' in its response to the coronavirus crisis-- leaving employees and travelers vulnerable during the most urgent days of the pandemic, a senior TSA official alleges in a new whistleblower complaint. On Thursday evening, the Office of Special Counsel, an independent federal agency that handles whistleblower complaints, said it had found 'substantial likelihood of wrongdoing' in the complaint and ordered the Department of Homeland Security to open an investigation. TSA Federal Security Director Jay Brainard is an official in charge of transportation security in the state of Kansas and has been with the agency for almost 20 years. He told NPR that the leadership of his agency failed to protect its staff from the pandemic, and as a result, allowed TSA employees to be 'a significant carrier' for the spread of the coronavirus to airport travelers.... His allegations include that personal protective equipment was withheld from TSA employees, that local supervisors were not permitted to mandate masks, that the TSA failed to adequately execute contact tracing, and the TSA declined to require that employees change or sanitize gloves between passengers." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Aaron Gregg & Jeff Stein of the Washington Post: "The U.S. Small Business Administration and Treasury Department announced Friday that they would release a data set showing which businesses received many taxpayer-funded Paycheck Protection Program loans, walking back an earlier stance that all of the business names would remain hidden because the Trump administration considered them proprietary. The disclosures will include the names of recipients who received loans of more than $150,000 and it will also reveal a dollar range for each loan.... The announcement came after several weeks of tense negotiations with congressional leadership, in which members of both parties pressed for some form of disclosure. The plan announced Friday amounts to an attempted compromise.... It was the Trump administration's latest reversal on the matter. The SBA said in response to open records requests throughout April and May that it would release 'individual loan data' in accordance with its past practice for subsidized loans. But [Treasury Secretary Steve] Mnuchin claimed in a June 11 hearing before the Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship that the business names and loan amounts were considered confidential and therefore would not be disclosed."

Lara Seligman & Connor O'Brien of Politico: "The Navy has decided to uphold the firing of Capt. Brett Crozier, the former commanding officer of the aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt who was relieved of duty after raising the alarm about a Covid-19 outbreak on his ship in March, according to two people familiar with the investigation. 'The results of the investigation justified the relief,' said one person who has seen the investigation.'He failed to take appropriate action, to do the things that the commanding officer of a ship is supposed to do, so he stays relieved.'" (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

~~~ Spencer Ackerman of the Daily Beast: "Navy Capt. Brett Crozier has been vindicated after warning of a dire coronavirus outbreak aboard the USS Theodore Roosevelt -- just not by the Navy, which on Friday announced that it will not reverse Crozier' firing for the infraction of trying to save his sailors' lives. Instead, the Navy leadership implied that Crozier was responsible for the outbreak that he loudly warned he needed urgent help from the Navy to redress.... A final report into Crozier's firing, released Friday, accused the Roosevelt commander and his team of being 'biased by groupthink, emotion and a loss of perspective as to the real risk at hand' -- as well as an insufficient appreciation of how the fleet commander was working tirelessly to aid evacuation from the ship, something Crozier had challenged. The report ... levied the extraordinary claim that Crozier's team 'took little to no action within their own span of control to improve the crew's safety.'... [Crozier's firing] was a debacle for the Navy. An initial outbreak afflicting around 100 sailors among the 4,000-strong crew ultimately swelled to 1,273 -- including Crozier himself."

Florida. Michelle Marchante of the Miami Herald: "Florida's Department of Health on Friday morning confirmed 3,822 additional cases of COVID-19, setting another daily total record high since the start of the pandemic. The state now has a total of 89,748 confirmed cases. And as bars, gyms, vacation rentals and movie theaters reopened at partial capacity in all but three South Florida counties, the number and rate of new COVID-19 cases were rising statewide -- a troubling indicator that the disease could be spreading more quickly." ~~~

~~~ Gov. Ron DeSantis is not about to blame people enjoying Florida's recreational amenities -- bars, vacation spots, movie theatres, etc., for the uptick in coronavirus cases: ~~~

~~~ Amanda Woods of the New York Post: "Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis pointed to clusters of 'overwhelmingly Hispanic' day laborers and agriculture workers driving the state's recent coronavirus spike -- but farmworkers and industry associations argue that resources and testing came too late to those communities, according to new reports. The Republican governor told reporters Tuesday that cramped living and working conditions for migrant workers and Hispanic construction workers are partly to blame, according to WFOR-TV. 'Some of these guys go to work in a school bus, and they are all just packed there like sardines, going across Palm Beach County or some of these other places, and there's all these opportunities to have transmission,' DeSantis said during a press conference in Tallahassee. He pointed to cases in migrant camps, a watermelon farm and Immokalee, a major hub for tomato production, as evidence of the uptick. But Florida Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried argued that the majority of farmworkers left several weeks ago after harvests ended and that the real uptick is in non-agricultural areas, according to the Miami Herald." ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: So Ron's message to Americans is a kind of tourist boosterism laced with overt racism & classism. To nice, middle-income (mostly white) people: come to Florida, have fun, enjoy the beaches, lie in the sun, chill out in a cool movie theatre and stop in a bar. Unless you're a Hispanic tomato-picker who likes riding around sardine-style in old school busses, you won't get sick.

Presidential Race

Monica Alba, et al., of NBC News: "Leading members of the coronavirus task force warned White House officials about the health risks of holding large-scale indoor campaign rallies and advised against such mass gatherings, according to two people familiar with the discussions. Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation's top infectious disease expert, and task force response coordinator Dr. Deborah Birx both vocalized concerns internally in the last week about the safety of holding a rally on Saturday with as many as 19,000 people in an enclosed arena in Tulsa, Oklahoma.... It has been nearly two months since the last coronavirus task force briefing and four weeks since Birx answered questions about the coronavirus pandemic from the White House briefing room.... Asked whether the [task force] briefings will ever return, White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany told reporters Friday it was unlikely and that instead she will be the one to present new information after consulting with Birx." ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: It's really unfair for reporters to claim that Trump & pence pay no attention to their own task force medical advisors. After all, Trump has required attendees at his Tulsa rally to hold him & his campaign harmless when said Trumpbots contract the coronavirus at the rally. However, in the weeks to come, many people may contract the virus in contacts with rally-goers, and those new victims of the Trumpidemic will not have signed any waivers.

Jonathan Swan of Axios: "President Trump defended his decision to move ahead with a controversial large-scale Tulsa rally this weekend amid the pandemic, saying in an interview Friday with Axios that 'we have to get back to living our lives" and "we're going to have a wild evening tomorrow night at Oklahoma.' Pressed on why he wasn't using his presidential bully pulpit to encourage rally attendees to wear masks, Trump described masks as 'a double-edged sword.' When asked if he recommended people wear them, he added: 'I recommend people do what they want.'... Ahead of the rally expected to draw tens of thousands of supporters and protesters, the president's comments underscore his skepticism of the effectiveness of strict enforcement of masks and social distancing to combat the virus that has killed more than 118,000 Americans and devastated the U.S. economy. And his advice flies in the face of warnings from Trump's own government's top infectious disease expert, Dr. Anthony Fauci."

Ziva Branstetter, et al., of the Washington Post: "As thousands of Trump fans and protesters poured into [Tulsa] in advance of President Trump's first campaign rally in months, authorities imposed a curfew as fears of potential violence mingled with anxiety about a spike in new cases of coronavirus. Metal barricades went up around downtown and police cars began blocking off streets after Tulsa announced a last-minute curfew for the downtown area Thursday night that will continue Friday and Saturday.... The move came after Tulsa Mayor G.T. Bynum declared a 'civil emergency,' saying law enforcement informed him that 'individuals from organized groups who have been involved in destructive and violent behavior in other states are planning to travel to the City of Tulsa for purposes of causing unrest in and around the rally,' according to his executive order.... Trump ... [tweeted] Friday that 'any protesters, anarchists, agitators, looters or lowlifes who are going to Oklahoma, please understand, you will not be treated like you have been in New York, Seattle or Minneapolis. It will be a much different scene!'" An AP story is here. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: Notice how Trump threatens protesters exercising their First Amendment rights & lumps them in with "anarchists, agitators, looters [and] lowlifes." ~~~

     ~~~ Update. Barbara Sprunt of NPR: "The city [of Tulsa] was originally intended to be under curfew for the weekend, but it was lifted at the request of the Secret Service, according to a city press release. 'Last night, I enacted a curfew at the request of Tulsa Police Chief Wendell Franklin, following consultation with the United States Secret Service based on intelligence they had received,' Mayor G.T. Bynum said in a statement. 'Today, we were told the curfew is no longer necessary so I am rescinding it.'"

~~~ Kevin Liptak of CNN: "... Donald Trump warned those protesting his planned rally in Oklahoma they could be treated roughly, an opening threat a day ahead of what he says is the new kickoff of his reelection campaign. Writing on Twitter, Trump lumped together 'protesters, anarchists, agitators, looters or lowlifes' and said they would not be afforded what he's decried as gentle treatment if they gather outside his Tulsa event. It came the morning after he used a blatantly false video of young children to decry media coverage of American race relations, a move that drew a rebuke from Twitter. The messages, which came as the nation marks the day in 1865 that the last enslaved Black people in the US learned they had been freed from bondage, made no attempt at striking a unifying or commemorative tone. Instead, Trump used his platform to heighten the drama surrounding his return to the campaign trail after a 110-day pandemic-forced absence and warn those who oppose him to stay away." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Pete Williams & Dareh Gregorian of NBC News: "The Oklahoma Supreme Court on Friday denied a request to order a Tulsa arena to enforce federal recommendations for preventing the spread of the coronavirus at ... Donald Trump's campaign rally. The groups suing could not establish a clear legal right to the order they were seeking, the court said in a unanimous, one-page order." (Also linked yesterday.)

Greg Sargent of the Washington Post: "President Trump's campaign is under fire for employing a symbol once used by Nazis in a new batch of Facebook ads -- a red inverted triangle that appeared alongside a warning about the dire threat posed by 'antifa,' a loose motley group allied against neo-fascist activity. An internal Department of Homeland Security document -- which I obtained from a congressional source -- makes the Trump campaign's use of this symbol, and its justification for it, look a whole lot worse, by undercutting the claim that antifa represents any kind of threat in the first place.... The document -- which is an assessment of ongoing 'protest-related' threats to law enforcement dated June 17 -- makes no mention at all of antifa in its cataloging of those threats.... The broader story here ... is that the continued fearmongering about antifa by Trump and many top officials seems designed to distort the true nature of these multiracial, largely peaceful and broadly representative national protests in a very fundamental way." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Arden Farhi, et al., of CBS News: "Brad Parscale, Donald Trump's campaign manager, did not vote for President Trump in 2016. In fact, he didn't vote in the general election at all, according to election records obtained by CBS News.... He did cast a ballot in the 2012 and 2018 federal elections. And his 2018 vote was submitted by mail. 'In 2016, I was in New York working to elect Donald Trump and encountered a series of problems receiving my absentee ballot from Texas and missed the deadline,' Parscale said in a statement to CBS News. 'Just further proof that vote-by-mail is not the flawless solution Democrats and the media pretend it is.'" Mrs. McC: No, it's evidence either that (1) you couldn't get your act together to properly request an absentee ballot, OR (2) Texas needs to improve its absentee-ballot request system. Jerk.

Kentucky Senate Race. Jonathan Martin of the New York Times: "With just over a week until the Democratic primary, the fury in Kentucky over [Breonna] Taylor's death, uncertainty about voting in a pandemic and a host of late endorsements from progressive leaders have provided fresh momentum to [state Rep. Charles] Booker's candidacy [for the U.S. Senate] -- upending a nominating contest few in the national party were even following last month. Polls indicate Mr. Booker is closing the gap against [heavy favorite Amy] McGrath, even though she had raised nearly $41 million to his $788,000 as of the start of the month. In just a few weeks since then, though, he has raised almost $3 million.... An unabashed progressive, Mr. Booker is running on 'Medicare for all' and the Green New Deal.... Kentucky ... amounts to something of a dry run for the left, a test of whether grass-roots energy can overcome fearsome fund-raising, and whether [Chuck] Schumer's ability to keep coronating candidates from Washington can be sustained...." ~~~

~~~ Michelle Lee of the Washington Post: "Fewer than 200 polling places will be open for voters in Kentucky's primary Tuesday, down from 3,700 in a typical election year. Amid a huge influx in requests for mail-in ballots, some voters still had not received theirs days before they must be turned in. And turnout is expected to be higher than in past primaries because of a suddenly competitive fight for the Democratic Senate nomination.... Because of a shortage of workers willing to staff voting sites during the health crisis, each of the commonwealth's 120 counties is opening a very limited number of polling locations. The two largest counties will have just one in-person location each." Mrs. McC: But another looming voting disaster in the backward, third-world nation known as the USA.

Colby Itkowitz of the Washington Post: "Rep. Matt Gaetz created a social media frenzy Thursday when he revealed he had a teenage son named Nestor and later introduced the young man during an appearance on Fox News. Gaetz (R-Fla.) shared that he has a Cuban-born son to explain why he became so irate when Rep. Cedric L. Richmond (D-La.), who is black, said the white lawmakers in the room couldn't understand what it was like to father a black child.... Gaetz told People Magazine in an interview that he never formally adopted 19-year-old Nestor but that Nestor has lived with him since immigrating from Cuba at age 12." (Also linked yesterday.) Here's the committee-room exchange:

~~~ Happy Father's Day, Matt! Mrs. McCrabbie: As is often the case with Gaetz, the story of his relationship with Nestor is not exactly what he claimed. Ken W. made a comment in yesterday's thread that forced me to look a teensy bit further into the "reason" for Gaetz's manufactured outrage we hear in the clip above. ~~~

~~~ Aaron Navarro of CBS News: "In a tweet featuring a picture of him and Nestor Galban, whom he calls his son, Gaetz said, "We share no blood but he is my life. He came from Cuba (legally, of course) six years ago and lives with me in Florida...," he said.... He added that Galban arrived to America when he was 12 years old and is now 19.... In an interview with People, Gaetz said Galban has been living with him for most of the time he's been in the U.S., about four years, before he went to Miami to live with his biological father.... Gaetz has not formally adopted Galban.... Jose Felix Diaz, a former state legislator who served with Gaetz, tweeted that the congressman had dated Galban's sister." Gaetz has previously referred to Nestor as "a House page." Mrs. McC: IOW, Gaetz used his relationship with a young man to grandstand in a very public forum. Pretty disgusting.

Joe Concha of the Hill: "ABC's Jimmy Kimmel on Thursday announced he will be taking the summer off after facing criticism over wearing blackface in a recurring skit he performed while working on 'The Man Show' on Comedy Central.... Kimmel, as a co-host of the 'The Man Show,' performed a recurring skit that included him dressed in blackface as then-NBA star Karl Malone. Videos and photos of the skits on the show, which ran from 1999-2004, have been circulating online recently with calls for Kimmel to apologize." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

The Commentariat -- June 19, 2020

Afternoon Update:

Pete Williams & Dareh Gregorian of NBC News: "The Oklahoma Supreme Court on Friday denied a request to order a Tulsa arena to enforce federal recommendations for preventing the spread of the coronavirus at ... Donald Trump's campaign rally. The groups suing could not establish a clear legal right to the order they were seeking, the court said in a unanimous, one-page order."

Lara Seligman & Connor O'Brien of Politico: "The Navy has decided to uphold the firing of Capt. Brett Crozier, the former commanding officer of the aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt who was relieved of duty after raising the alarm about a Covid-19 outbreak on his ship in March, according to two people familiar with the investigation. 'The results of the investigation justified the relief,' said one person who has seen the investigation. 'He failed to take appropriate action, to do the things that the commanding officer of a ship is supposed to do, so he stays relieved.'"

Astead Herndon of the New York Times: “Hundreds gathered along Greenwood Avenue [in Tulsa, Oklahoma] — the site of one of America’s worst racist attacks — to celebrate Juneteenth, the holiday that commemorates when enslaved black Americans in Texas formally learned of emancipation. The end of a centuries-long massacre.... Organizers planned to cancel their annual Juneteenth celebration amid the national coronavirus pandemic. Then President Trump announced a campaign rally in the city, originally slated to be held on the Friday holiday but later moved to Saturday evening. With that event looming, and national protests raging about racial injustice and police brutality, what was typically a celebration of resilience had transformed into one of defiance. 'Black Lives Matter' was painted in bright yellow letters across Greenwood Avenue. Attendees said they were celebrating not only how black ancestors were freed from enslavement, but also the persistence of black Americans today — from a pandemic that has disproportionately affected black communities, police departments that disproportionately kill black people, and a president who has shown little willingness to acknowledge the reality of both.”

Ziva Branstetter, et al., of the Washington Post: “As thousands of Trump fans and protesters poured into [Tulsa] in advance of President Trump's first campaign rally in months, authorities imposed a curfew as fears of potential violence mingled with anxiety about a spike in new cases of coronavirus. Metal barricades went up around downtown and police cars began blocking off streets after Tulsa announced a last-minute curfew for the downtown area Thursday night that will continue Friday and Saturday.... The move came after Tulsa Mayor G.T. Bynum declared a 'civil emergency,' saying law enforcement informed him that 'individuals from organized groups who have been involved in destructive and violent behavior in other states are planning to travel to the City of Tulsa for purposes of causing unrest in and around the rally,' according to his executive order.... Trump ... [tweeted] Friday that 'any protesters, anarchists, agitators, looters or lowlifes who are going to Oklahoma, please understand, you will not be treated like you have been in New York, Seattle or Minneapolis. It will be a much different scene!'” An AP story is here. ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: Notice how Trump threatens protesters exercising their First Amendment rights & lumps them in with "anarchists, agitators, looters [and] lowlifes." ~~~

~~~ Kevin Liptak of CNN: "... Donald Trump warned those protesting his planned rally in Oklahoma they could be treated roughly, an opening threat a day ahead of what he says is the new kickoff of his reelection campaign. Writing on Twitter, Trump lumped together 'protesters, anarchists, agitators, looters or lowlifes' and said they would not be afforded what he's decried as gentle treatment if they gather outside his Tulsa event. It came the morning after he used a blatantly false video of young children to decry media coverage of American race relations, a move that drew a rebuke from Twitter. The messages, which came as the nation marks the day in 1865 that the last enslaved Black people in the US learned they had been freed from bondage, made no attempt at striking a unifying or commemorative tone. Instead, Trump used his platform to heighten the drama surrounding his return to the campaign trail after a 110-day pandemic-forced absence and warn those who oppose him to stay away."

Rebecca Shabad of NBC News: "Senators on Friday announced legislation to make Juneteenth, a widely observed holiday that marks the federal order to free slaves in Texas on June 19, 1865, a national holiday.... The day, which began as a Texas holiday in 1980, is now recognized by 47 states and the District of Columbia as a state holiday or observance and is marking its 155th anniversary this year.... The bill was proposed by Sens. Ed Markey, D-Mass., [Corey] Booker, [D-N.J.,] Tina Smith, D-Minn., and Kamala Harris, D-Calif. Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, is a cosponsor.

Ray Sanchez & Elizabeth Joseph of CNN: "The city of Louisville, Kentucky, and its police department are taking the first steps toward firing an officer involved in the fatal shooting of Breonna Taylor last March. Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer has initiated termination proceedings against Louisville Metro Police Det. Brett Hankison, Fisher said in a statement without elaborating. The 26-year-old African American EMT was killed more than two months ago when police broke down the door to her apartment in an attempted drug sting and shot her eight times. Hankison and two other officers remain on administrative leave.... They have not been charged with any crimes." Mrs. McC: Oh, they're just thinking of firing the officer now? Every time I see a well-circulated photo of Taylor's smiling face, my heart breaks.

The New York Times' live updates of coronavirus developments Friday are here. The Washington Post's live updates for Friday are here.

Not All of the Corruption of the Trump Administration is Up-front & Noisy. Katie Thomas of the New York Times: "When the coronavirus kills, it attacks the lungs.... But earlier this month, the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority, or BARDA, a federal health agency, abruptly notified companies and researchers that it was halting funding for treatments for this severe form of Covid-19, the disease caused by the virus. The new policy highlights how staunchly the Trump administration has placed its bet on vaccines as the way to return American society and the economy to normal in a presidential election year. BARDA has pledged more than $2.2 billion in deals with five vaccine manufacturers for the coronavirus, compared with about $359 million toward potential Covid-19 treatments. But the shift in strategy also shows that the administration is backing away from the relatively modest funding it has provided so far for treatments that address the severe lung ailments, while continuing support for antiviral therapies that could treat people earlier in the course of the disease."

Rick Noack of the Washington Post: “As coronavirus cases surge in the U.S. South and West, health experts in countries with falling case numbers are watching with a growing sense of alarm and disbelief, with many wondering why virus-stricken U.S. states continue to reopen and why the advice of scientists is often ignored. 'It really does feel like the U.S. has given up,' said Siouxsie Wiles, an infectious-diseases specialist at the University of Auckland in New Zealand — a country that has confirmed only three new cases over the last three weeks and where citizens have now largely returned to their pre-coronavirus routines.... China’s actions over the past week stand in stark contrast to those of the United States. In the wake of a new cluster of more than 150 new cases that emerged in Beijing, authorities sealed off neighborhoods, launched a mass testing campaign and imposed travel restrictions.”

Tim Mak of NPR: "The Transportation Security Administration withheld N95 masks from staff and exhibited 'gross mismanagement' in its response to the coronavirus crisis – leaving employees and travelers vulnerable during the most urgent days of the pandemic, a senior TSA official alleges in a new whistleblower complaint. On Thursday evening, the Office of Special Counsel, an independent federal agency that handles whistleblower complaints, said it had found 'substantial likelihood of wrongdoing' in the complaint and ordered the Department of Homeland Security to open an investigation. TSA Federal Security Director Jay Brainard is an official in charge of transportation security in the state of Kansas and has been with the agency for almost 20 years. He told NPR that the leadership of his agency failed to protect its staff from the pandemic, and as a result, allowed TSA employees to be 'a significant carrier' for the spread of the coronavirus to airport travelers.... His allegations include that personal protective equipment was withheld from TSA employees, that local supervisors were not permitted to mandate masks, that the TSA failed to adequately execute contact tracing, and the TSA declined to require that employees change or sanitize gloves between passengers."

David Nakamura & John Hudson of the Washington Post: "President Trump was in a White House event with governors Thursday when he took a moment to punch out a tweet from his cellphone – threatening to decouple the U.S. economy from China, the world’s second largest economy [Mrs. McC: a virtual impossibility]. The missive was another salvo in a long bilateral trade dispute but it also represented an effort by the president to reestablish himself as a hard-liner on China – a day after shocking revelations from his former national security adviser John Bolton painted him as obsequious to Chinese President Xi Jinping in private conversations. Trump’s urgency underscores how Bolton’s disclosures ... could complicate a key pillar of the president’s reelection strategy as his campaign has attacked former vice president Biden ... as soft on China."

Greg Sargent of the Washington Post: “President Trump’s campaign is under fire for employing a symbol once used by Nazis in a new batch of Facebook ads — a red inverted triangle that appeared alongside a warning about the dire threat posed by 'antifa,' a loose motley group allied against neo-fascist activity. An internal Department of Homeland Security document — which I obtained from a congressional source — makes the Trump campaign’s use of this symbol, and its justification for it, look a whole lot worse, by undercutting the claim that antifa represents any kind of threat in the first place.... The document — which is an assessment of ongoing 'protest-related' threats to law enforcement dated June 17 — makes no mention at all of antifa in its cataloging of those threats.... The broader story here ... is that the continued fearmongering about antifa by Trump and many top officials seems designed to distort the true nature of these multiracial, largely peaceful and broadly representative national protests in a very fundamental way.”

Colby Itkowitz of the Washington Post: "Rep. Matt Gaetz created a social media frenzy Thursday when he revealed he had a teenage son named Nestor and later introduced the young man during an appearance on Fox News. Gaetz (R-Fla.) shared that he has a Cuban-born son to explain why he became so irate when Rep. Cedric L. Richmond (D-La.), who is black, said the white lawmakers in the room couldn’t understand what it was like to father a black child.... Gaetz told People Magazine in an interview that he never formally adopted 19-year-old Nestor but that Nestor has lived with him since immigrating from Cuba at age 12." Here's the committee-room exchange:

Joe Concha of the Hill: "ABC's Jimmy Kimmel on Thursday announced he will be taking the summer off after facing criticism over wearing blackface in a recurring skit he performed while working on 'The Man Show' on Comedy Central.... Kimmel, as a co-host of the 'The Man Show,' performed a recurring skit that included him dressed in blackface as then-NBA star Karl Malone. Videos and photos of the skits on the show, which ran from 1999-2004, have been circulating online recently with calls for Kimmel to apologize."

~~~~~~~~~~

... Which nobody ever heard of before Donald Trump made it famous. Just ask him.

~~~ Michael Ruane of the Washington Post: “The National Archives on Thursday located what appears to be the original handwritten 'Juneteenth' military order informing thousands of people held in bondage in Texas they were free. The decree, in the ornate handwriting of a general’s aide, was found in a formal order book stored in the Archives headquarters building in Washington. It is dated June 19, 1865, and signed by Maj. F.W. Emery, on behalf of Union Maj. Gen. Gordon Granger. 'The people of Texas are informed that, in accordance with a proclamation from the Executive of the United States, “all slaves are free,’” the order reads.... The order was located by Trevor Plante, director of an archives textual records division, who, because of current interest in the subject, was asked to search for it. Printed versions of the order have long existed, Plante said Thursday. 'But this is something that we haven’t tracked down before,' he said. The handwritten entry 'absolutely' predated the printed versions of the order, he said.” ~~~

~~~ Jamelle Bouie of the New York Times: “Who freed the slaves? The slaves freed the slaves. 'Slave resistance,' as the historian Manisha Sinha points out in 'The Slave’s Cause: A History of Abolition,' 'lay at the heart of the abolition movement.... Prominent slave revolts marked the turn toward immediate abolition,' Sinha writes, and 'fugitive slaves united all factions of the movement and led the abolitionists to justify revolutionary resistance to slavery.'” ~~~

~~~ John Parkinson of ABC News: "Late Thursday afternoon, the gold-framed portraits of four former Speakers of the House of Representatives who shared ties to the Confederacy were removed from the walls of the U.S. Capitol, as efforts to strike down symbols of racism around the country continue in the wake of George Floyd's killing last month. In a letter addressed Thursday to Cheryl Johnson, clerk of the House of Representatives, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi called for the removal of the paintings in observance of Juneteenth on Friday. The portraits were taken down hours later. They had hung in the Capitol for decades, honoring Robert Hunter of Virginia, who served as speaker from 1839 to 1841, Howell Cobb of Georgia, 1849 to 1851, James Orr of South Carolina, 1857 to 1859, and Charles Crisp of Georgia, 1891 to 1895. 'There is no room in the hallowed halls of Congress or in any place of honor for memorializing men who embody the violent bigotry and grotesque racism of the Confederacy,' Pelosi, D-Calif., proclaimed." ~~~

Wherein John Roberts Tells Donald Trump He's a Sloppy Coward

** Adam Liptak & Michael Shear of the New York Times: “The Supreme Court ruled Thursday that the Trump administration may not immediately proceed with its plan to end a program protecting about 700,000 young immigrants known as Dreamers from deportation. Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. wrote the majority opinion, joined by the court’s four more liberal members. The court’s ruling was a blow to one of President Trump’s central campaign promises — that as president he would 'immediately terminate' an executive order by former President Barack Obama that Mr. Trump had called an illegal executive amnesty for hundreds of thousands of young immigrants.” This is a breaking news story. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

~~~ Robert Barnes of the Washington Post: “... as lower courts had found, Roberts said the administration did not follow procedures required by law, and did not properly weigh how ending the program would affect those who had come to rely on its protections against deportation, and the ability to work legally.... 'We address only whether the [Department of Homeland Security] complied with the procedural requirement that it provide a reasoned explanation for its action. Here the agency failed to consider the conspicuous issues of whether to retain forbearance and what if anything to do about the hardship to DACA recipients. That dual failure raises doubts about whether the agency appreciated the scope of its discretion or exercised that discretion in a reasonable manner,'” [Roberts wrote]. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

      ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: In other words, this is a "procedural" decision & not the big win for DACA beneficiaries that a proper act of Congress would grant. Not for the first time, Roberts has refused to accept the cavalier, ham-handed way Trump & his minions try to undo standing rules & laws. Trump can do it again, and if he does it right, DACA recipients could lose their right to stay in the country where they have lived most of their lives. We need a Congress who will fix this. ~~~

~~~ Politico's story, by Josh Gerstein, is here. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: According to several legal experts I heard on the teevee, Trump could "cure" the defects in the DHS's procedural mess by executing his own order to screw all the DACA kids. But DACA is popular even with Republicans (including, no doubt, evangelicals), so he didn't have the guts to do that. Instead, he ordered DHS to screw the kids administratively in hopes his own fingerprints wouldn't show up on the deportation orders. ~~~

~~~ Harper Neidig of the Hill: "President Trump on Thursday lashed out at the Supreme Court after it issued a ruling against his move to rescind deportation protections for young undocumented immigrants.... In a pair of tweets, Trump [wrote,] 'These horrible & politically charged decisions coming out of the Supreme Court are shotgun blasts into the face of people that are proud to call themselves Republicans or Conservatives,' Trump tweeted. 'We need more Justices or we will lose our 2nd. Amendment & everything else. Vote Trump 2020!'... 'Do you get the impression that the Supreme Court doesn’t like me?'" Mrs. McC Translation: It is "horrible" to deny me the authority to ruin the lives of millions of innocent people on a whim. And I will use violent language to say so. (Also linked yesterday.)

Seung Min Kim of the Washington Post: “A senior State Department official who has served in the Trump administration since its first day is resigning over President Trump’s recent handling of racial tensions across the country — saying that the president’s actions 'cut sharply against my core values and convictions.' Mary Elizabeth Taylor, assistant secretary of state for legislative affairs, submitted her resignation Thursday. Taylor’s five-paragraph resignation letter, obtained by The Washington Post, serves as an indictment of Trump’s stewardship at a time of national unrest from one of the administration’s highest-ranking African Americans and an aide who was viewed as loyal and effective in serving his presidency.... Taylor’s decision to leave the administration amid the racial tensions flaring nationwide appears to be the first high-profile resignation made in protest of the president’s actions that has been made public.... Taylor was viewed as a loyal member of the administration and is a lifelong member of the Republican Party.” The Raw story has a summary report here.

Eric Schmitt & Thomas Gibbons-Neff of the New York Times: "The Air Force inspector general is investigating whether the military improperly used a little-known reconnaissance plane to monitor protests in Washington and Minneapolis this month, the Air Force said on Thursday.... The Air Force’s action comes days after the Pentagon’s top intelligence policy official told Congress that the nation’s military intelligence agencies did not spy on American protesters during the wave of nationwide demonstrations. In a letter last week to the House Intelligence Committee, Joseph D. Kernan, the under secretary of defense for intelligence and security, said he had received no orders from the Trump administration to conduct such surveillance, and he underscored citizens’ constitutional right to protest peacefully."

Brad Reed of the Raw Story: “... Donald Trump on Thursday gave an interview to the Wall Street Journal in which he made a number of outlandish claims.... Here are some of the highlights.... 1.) ... China may have deliberately allowed the novel coronavirus to spread to the United States in retaliation for his tariffs.... 2.) ... he hired John Bolton to make foreign leaders fearful that he’d go to war with them unless they gave him what he wanted.... 3.) ... he actually was threatening to have looters shot in his now-infamous tweet.... 4.) ... calls COVID-19 testing 'overrated' then brags about how many tests the United States has done.... 5.) ... brags that he made more people aware of Juneteenth by holding a rally on that date in a city known as the site of the worst anti-black pogrom in American history.... 6.) ... suggests some people are wearing face masks to damage him politically.” The Wall Street Journal's report of the interview is here. The transcript of the WSJ interview is here, & it may load for nonsubscribers. ~~~

~~~ Peter Baker of the New York Times: “After more than three years of the Trump presidency, it has become easy to forget at times just how out of the ordinary it really is. The normalization of Mr. Trump’s norm-busting, line-crossing, envelope-pushing administration has meant that what was once shocking now seems like just another day.... In 494 pages..., [John Bolton] becomes the first person with daily access to Mr. Trump’s Oval Office to catalog the various ways that he has seized the presidency to suit his own needs.... The portrait he draws in 'The Room Where It Happened,' due out Tuesday, is of a president who sees his office as an instrument to advance his own personal and political interests over those of the nation. That is what got Mr. Trump impeached in the first place, but the book asserts his Ukraine scheming was no one-off. The line between policy and politics, generally murky in any White House, has been all but erased in Mr. Bolton’s telling.... Wwhat Mr. Bolton argues is that Mr. Trump’s personal and political interests are the essential elements of this particular presidency....”

 

The New York Times' live updates of coronavirus developments Thursday is here. The Washington Post's live updates for Thursday are here. (Also linked yesterday.)

Gaslighting the Foxbots. Josh Wingrove of Bloomberg, in Time: “The coronavirus pandemic will 'fade away' even without a vaccine, but researchers are close to developing one anyhow..., Donald Trump said. 'We’re very close to a vaccine and we’re very close to therapeutics, really good therapeutics,' Trump said Wednesday night in a television interview with Fox News. 'But even without that, I don’t even like to talk about that, because it’s fading away, it’s going to fade away, but having a vaccine would be really nice and that’s going to happen.' Trump’s comments come as the U.S. continues to see 20,000 new daily cases from a pandemic that so far has killed 117,000 people in the country.” (Also linked yesterday.)

Conor Finnegan of ABC News: "... Donald Trump is not 'fit for office' and doesn't have 'the competence to carry out the job,' his former national security adviser John Bolton told ABC News...." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

~~~ Edward Wong & Michael Crowley of the New York Times: “As national security officials and some trade advisers in the Trump administration tried crafting get-tough-on-China policies to address what they viewed as America’s greatest foreign policy challenge, they ran into opposition from ... President Trump himself[, who] was undermining their work. That has been the underlying tension of the last three and a half years, laid out in blunt language in the new memoir by John R. Bolton.... The book supports what administration officials have said in interviews and private discussions since 2017, and what, in many ways, had been out in the open in Mr. Trump’s fawning statements about China’s authoritarian leader, Xi Jinping, many made on Twitter. Taken together, the accounts reveal that there has been no coherent China policy, despite efforts early in the administration by senior aides to frame foreign policy around what they labeled 'great power competition,' outlined in their own national security strategy document.” ~~~

~~~ “Make Sure I Win.” -- Trump to Xi. Gabriel Sherman of Vanity Fair: “John Bolton’s account that Donald Trump asked Chinese President Xi Jinping last June to buy more American farm products to help Trump’s reelection is so explosive that White House officials prevented Bolton from directly quoting Trump in Bolton’s new tell-all memoir. 'I would print Trump’s exact words but the government’s prepublication review process has decided otherwise,' Bolton writes in The Room Where it Happened.... According to an unredacted passage shown to Vanity Fair by a source, Trump’s ask is even more crudely shocking when you read Trump’s specific language. 'Make sure I win,' Trump allegedly told Xi during a dinner at the G20 conference in Osaka, Japan last summer. 'I will probably win anyway, so don’t hurt my farms.… Buy a lot of soybeans and wheat and make sure we win.'...

** “Another passage shows Trump’s racist views on immigration. Bolton describes how Trump derailed a White House meeting about Iran strategy by bringing up a right wing conspiracy that Black South Africans were killing white South African farmers and stealing their land. According to Bolton, Trump blurted out that he wanted to grant the white South Africans 'asylum and citizenship.'”

Presidential Race

Marc Caputo & Matthew Choi of Politico: "Sen. Amy Klobuchar late Thursday said she personally called Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden to advise he pick a woman of color as his running mate, effectively announcing the end of her vice presidential aspirations. 'I truly believe, as I actually told the vice president last night when I called him, that I think this is a moment to put a woman of color on that ticket,' the Minnesota Democrat told MSNBC's Lawrence O'Donnell. 'And there is so many incredibly qualified women.'... Klobuchar's credentials as a former prosecutor with a tough-on-crime record didn't sit well as her home state became a locus among protests and calls for structural change in law enforcement."

Jonathan Swan & Margaret Talev of Axios: "President Trump's campaign plans to turn this weekend's Tulsa rally into a massive pro-Trump festival complete with musical acts, and it's flying in high-profile backers and camera crews to show the world the fervency of his supporters.... Organizers are leasing a jet to fly in surrogates the night before and multiple film crews are being brought in to record the event.... The June 20 'Great American Comeback' event is partly a kickoff for a comeback tour amid the coronavirus pandemic. It's also a giant commercial for Trump's re-election campaign, an answer to protests outside the White House and a trial run for Republican National Convention events in Jacksonville this August.... Speakers, performers and surrogates will appear both inside and outside the arena, and Trump plans to speak at both the indoor and outdoor stages, according to a source with direct knowledge of the plans." ~~~

~~~ The “Great American Comeback” Is a Fiasco. Annie Karni, et al., of the New York Times: “... instead of offering Mr. Trump a glide path back into the campaign season, where he could sell a message about a country overcoming daunting challenges, Mr. Trump’s Tulsa rally has become yet another flash point for a candidate who has repeatedly displayed insensitivity about race in America.... Mr. Trump and his aides failed to grasp the significance of holding a rally on Juneteenth, a holiday celebrated annually on June 19 that honors the end of slavery in the United States. Nor did they appear to realize that Tulsa was the site of one of the country’s bloodiest outbreaks of racist violence.... Mr. Trump has responded to the protests by insisting that he has done more for African-Americans than any other president in history, save for Abraham Lincoln, and that his campaign 'loves the black people.' On Thursday. he tried to take credit for making Juneteenth 'very famous,’ saying 'nobody had ever heard of it’ until he scheduled his rally for that day. Adding to the anxiety in Tulsa are heightened fears about the risks of the coronavirus. Officials announced Wednesday that there were 96 new cases, the largest single-day increase since March.” ~~~

From the WSJ interview transcript:

Trump: I made Juneteenth very famous.... But nobody had heard of it. Very few people have heard of it. Actually, a young African-American Secret Service agent knew what it was. I had political people who had no idea. [To aide Alyssa Farah:] Did you ever hear of Juneteenth before?

Farah: I did from last year when the White House put out a statement.

Trump: Oh really? We put out a statement? The Trump White House put out a statement?

Farah: Yes.

~~~ “It's Just a Question of How Many Will Die.” Jonathan Partlow, et al., of the Washington Post: “The managers of the arena in Oklahoma where President Trump plans to hold a controversial campaign rally requested on Thursday that the Trump campaign provide a detailed written plan outlining 'health and safety' measures ahead of the event to prevent the spread of the coronavirus, according to a statement from the venue.... A number of Tulsa residents and business owners ... have sued the venue manager attempting to block the event unless it is held in accordance with social distancing guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. A Tulsa County judge on Tuesday denied the request for a temporary injunction, but the decision was appealed to the Oklahoma Supreme Court.... The court [will] decide the issue Friday. During [a] hearing [Thursday], Paul DeMuro, one of the attorneys for the plaintiffs, said that ... 'This is not a question of whether additional people will be infected and die in Tulsa,' he said. 'It’s just a question of how many.'”

Andrew Solender of Forbes: “President Trump appeared on his son Donald Trump Jr.’s podcast ‘Triggered’ on Thursday, where he released an ad claiming Osama Bin Laden 'endorsed' Joe Biden, predicted Democrats would work with him if wins a second term, and said there would be 'tremendous bedlam' if Biden wins in November.... Trump Jr. then unveiled an ad as a 'Father’s Day present,' approved by Trump, which claimed Biden was 'endorsed' by Bin Laden and called Biden 'China’s candidate, Iran’s candidate and Osama’s candidate.' Trump called Biden 'unequipped' and 'in no condition' to be president, and described him as 'China’s dream,' just a day after former National Security Adviser John Bolton released an excerpt from his forthcoming book in which he claims Trump pleaded with Chinese President Xi Jinping to help Trump win reelection and praised Xi’s plan to build concentration camps for Uighur Muslims.”

Facebook Has Principles! -- No Nazi Symbols, Donald! Isaac Stanley-Becker of the Washington Post: “Facebook on Thursday deactivated dozens of ads placed by President Trump’s reelection campaign that included a symbol once used by the Nazis to designate political prisoners in concentration camps. The marking appeared as part of the campaign’s online salvo against antifa and 'far-left groups.' A red inverted triangle was used in the 1930s to identify Communists, and was applied as well to Social Democrats, liberals, Freemasons and other members of opposition parties incarcerated by the Nazis. The badge forced on Jewish political prisoners ... featured a yellow triangle overlaid by a red triangle so as to resemble a Star of David. The red triangle appeared in paid [Trump] posts [and] ... was featured alongside text warning of 'Dangerous MOBS.'... Facebook removed the material following queries from The Washington Post, saying ads and organic posts with the inverted triangle violated its policy against organized hate.” (Also linked yesterday.) A CNN story is here. ~~~

~~~ Trump Cannot Stop. Taylor Hatmaker of Tech Crunch: “On Thursday night, Trump shared a crudely edited video of two children with a fake CNN chyron reading 'Terrified todler [sic] runs from racist baby.' Ironically, the video goes on to declare 'America is not the problem, fake news is.' The video, which had 7.9 million views at the time of writing, quickly earned Twitter’s 'manipulated media' warning label, indicating just under the tweet itself that the content is not what it seems. Clicking through the warning label leads to a page fact-checking the tweet, including links to the original CNN share of the video of the two kids with the framing 'These two toddlers are showing us what real-life besties look like.'” Includes Trump's tweet. ~~~

     ~~~ Cat Zakrzewski of the Washington Post: “The president tweeted a doctored version of a popular video that went viral in 2019, which showed two toddlers, one black and one white, hugging. In the version Trump shared, the video has been edited with ominous music and a fake CNN headline that says, 'Terrified toddler runs from racist baby.' 'Racist baby probably a Trump voter,' the headline then says in a subsequent screen.” Mrs. McC: I don't need to remind you that if a real president had sent out a video like this, it would create a huge scandal & the Congress would censure him. Trump is not a real president.

Alex isenstadt of Politico: “... Donald Trump called mail-in voting the biggest threat to his reelection and said his campaign's multimillion-dollar legal effort to block expanded ballot access could determine whether he wins a second term.... Trump and his campaign argue, despite a lack of evidence, that widespread mail-in voting will benefit Democrats and invite fraud. The Republican Party is spending tens of millions of dollars on a multi-front legal battle.... Trump was asked a two-part question during the interview: Would a substantial amount of mail-in voting — which is widely expected because of coronavirus — cause him to question the legitimacy of the election? And would he accept the results no matter what? 'Well, you can never answer the second question, right? Because Hillary kept talking about she’s going to accept, and they never accepted it. You know. She lost too. She lost good.' Clinton conceded the day after the 2016 election.”

Beyond the Beltway

New Mexico. Andrew Hay of Reuters: "A New Mexico prosecutor on Wednesday dropped a shooting charge against an Albuquerque man suspected of shooting a protester and called for further investigations after allegations the protester was armed at the time he was shot. Bernalillo County District Attorney Raúl Torrez said he had serious concerns an initial police investigation into the Monday shooting did not identify who owned multiple weapons collected at the scene, including knives, nor interview key bystanders and police. Torrez dropped an initial aggravated battery with a deadly weapon charge against Steven Baca, 31, after images emerged online showing protester Scott Williams, 39, holding what was rumored to be a knife before he was allegedly shot by Baca. Torrez said he expected Baca to claim self defense in the case." (Also linked yesterday.) 

The Commentariat -- June 18, 2020

Late Morning/Afternoon Update:

Facebook Has Principles! -- No Nazi Symbols, Donald! Isaac Stanley-Becker of the Washington Post: "Facebook on Thursday deactivated dozens of ads placed by President Trump's reelection campaign that included a symbol once used by the Nazis to designate political prisoners in concentration camps. The marking appeared as part of the campaign's online salvo against antifa and 'far-left groups.' A red inverted triangle was used in the 1930s to identify Communists, and was applied as well to Social Democrats, liberals, Freemasons and other members of opposition parties incarcerated by the Nazis. The badge forced on Jewish political prisoners ... featured a yellow triangle overlaid by a red triangle so as to resemble a Star of David. The red triangle appeared in paid [Trump] posts [and] ... was featured alongside text warning of 'Dangerous MOBS.'... Facebook removed the material following queries from The Washington Post, saying ads and organic posts with the inverted triangle violated its policy against organized hate."

** Adam Liptak & Michael Shear of the New York Times: "The Supreme Court ruled Thursday that the Trump administration may not immediately proceed with its plan to end a program protecting about 700,000 young immigrants known as Dreamers from deportation. Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. wrote the majority opinion, joined by the court's four more liberal members. The court's ruling was a blow to one of President Trump's central campaign promises -- that as president he would 'immediately terminate' an executive order by former President Barack Obama that Mr. Trump had called an illegal executive amnesty for hundreds of thousands of young immigrants." This is a breaking news story. ~~~

~~~ Robert Barnes of the Washington Post: "... as lower courts had found, Roberts said the administration did not follow procedures required by law, and did not properly weigh how ending the program would affect those who had come to rely on its protections against deportation, and the ability to work legally.... 'We address only whether the [Department of Homeland Security] complied with the procedural requirement that it provide a reasoned explanation for its action. Here the agency failed to consider the conspicuous issues of whether to retain forbearance and what if anything to do about the hardship to DACA recipients. That dual failure raises doubts about whether the agency appreciated the scope of its discretion or exercised that discretion in a reasonable manner,'" [Roberts wrote]. ~~~

      ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: IOW, this is a "procedural" decision & not the big win for DACA beneficiaries that a proper act of Congress would grant. Not for the first time, Roberts has refused to accept the cavalier, ham-handed way Trump & his minions try to undo standing rules & laws. Trump can do it again, and if he does it right, DACA recipients could lose their right to stay in the country where they have lived most of their lives. We need a Congress who will fix this. ~~~

~~~ Politico's story, by Josh Gerstein, is here. ~~~

~~~ Harper Neidig of the Hill: "President Trump on Thursday lashed out at the Supreme Court after it issued a ruling against his move to rescind deportation protections for young undocumented immigrants.... In a pair of tweets, Trump [wrote,] 'These horrible & politically charged decisions coming out of the Supreme Court are shotgun blasts into the face of people that are proud to call themselves Republicans or Conservatives,' Trump tweeted. 'We need more Justices or we will lose our 2nd. Amendment & everything else. Vote Trump 2020!'... 'Do you get the impression that the Supreme Court doesn't like me?'" Mrs. McC Translation: It is "horrible" to deny me the authority to ruin the lives of millions of innocent people on a whim.

The New York Times' live updates of coronavirus developments Thursday is here. The Washington Post's live updates for Thursday are here.

Gaslighting the Foxbots. Josh Wingrove of Bloomberg, in Time: "The coronavirus pandemic will 'fade away' even without a vaccine, but researchers are close to developing one anyhow..., Donald Trump said. 'We're very close to a vaccine and we're very close to therapeutics, really good therapeutics,' Trump said Wednesday night in a television interview with Fox News. 'But even without that, I don't even like to talk about that, because it's fading away, it's going to fade away, but having a vaccine would be really nice and that's going to happen.' Trump's comments come as the U.S. continues to see 20,000 new daily cases from a pandemic that so far has killed 117,000 people in the country."

Conor Finnegan of ABC News: "... Donald Trump is not 'fit for office' and doesn't have 'the competence to carry out the job,' his former national security adviser John Bolton told ABC News...."

New Mexico. Andrew Hay of Reuters: "A New Mexico prosecutor on Wednesday dropped a shooting charge against an Albuquerque man suspected of shooting a protester and called for further investigations after allegations the protester was armed at the time he was shot. Bernalillo County District Attorney Raúl Torrez said he had serious concerns an initial police investigation into the Monday shooting did not identify who owned multiple weapons collected at the scene, including knives, nor interview key bystanders and police. Torrez dropped an initial aggravated battery with a deadly weapon charge against Steven Baca, 31, after images emerged online showing protester Scott Williams, 39, holding what was rumored to be a knife before he was allegedly shot by Baca. Torrez said he expected Baca to claim self defense in the case."

~~~~~~~~~~

The Trumpidemic, Ctd.

The New York Times' live updates of coronavirus developments Wednesday are here. The Washington Post's live updates for Wednesday are here. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

AWOL. Sheryl Stolberg, et al., of the New York Times: "The federal government's leadership in the coronavirus crisis has so faded that state and local health officials have been left to figure out on their own how to handle rising infections and to navigate conflicting signals from the White House.... To public health experts, it is little mystery why Americans are confused. As the White House sends mixed messages, Washington's public health bully pulpit has largely fallen silent. [Former acting CDC director Dr. Richard Besser said,] 'without that daily reinforcement, you have what is happening around the country -- people not believing the pandemic is real, cases rising in some places and the possibility that some communities' health care systems will get overwhelmed.'" ~~~

~~~ Kevin Liptak, et al., of CNN: "... Donald Trump has largely tuned out the persistent coronavirus contagion -- which is causing spikes in new cases across 21 states and daily death tolls that reach into the hundreds -- to focus instead on reviving both the economy and his own political prospects.... 'They just don't want to deal with the reality of it. They're in denial,' one administration official close to the coronavirus task force said."

Robert O'Harrow, et al., of the Washington Post: "As it races to create a vaccine for the novel coronavirus, the Trump administration this month announced that one of its largest pandemic-related contracts would go to a little-known biodefense company named Emergent BioSolutions.... The $628 million deal to help manufacture an eventual vaccine cemented Emergent's status as the highest-paid and most important contractor to the HHS office responsible for preparing for public health threats and maintaining the government's stockpile of emergency medical supplies.... Now, Emergent is the only maker of multiple drugs the government deems crucial for the Strategic National Stockpile, and the government is the company's primary customer, accounting for most of its revenue.... But Emergent's dominance has fueled new risks for national health preparedness, according to documents and former government officials. The industry consolidation has created 'vulnerabilities in the supply chain,' while also raising the prospect of inflated costs because of a lack of competition, according to a confidential report [commissioned by HHS] obtained by The Post.... Emergent's advocacy for biodefense spending over more than a decade was aided by influential allies in Washington and tens of millions of dollars in lobbying campaigns, documents show."(Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Elizabeth Cohen & Wesley Bruer of CNN: "The federal government is stuck with 63 million doses of hydroxychloroquine now that the US Food and Drug Administration has revoked permission for the drug to be distributed to treat coronavirus patients. The government started stockpiling donated hydroxychloroquine in late March, after President Trump touted it as 'very encouraging' and 'very powerful' and a 'game-changer.' But Monday, the FDA revoked its emergency use authorization to use the drug to treat Covid-19, saying there was 'no reason to believe' the drug was effective against the virus, and that it increased the risk of side effects, including heart problems. That leaves the Strategic National Stockpile with 63 million doses of hydroxychloroquine, plus another 2 million doses of chloroquine, a related drug donated by Bayer, according to Carol Danko, a spokesperson for the US Department of Health and Human Services." Mrs. McC: Thanks, Trump!

Capitalism is Awesome, Ctd., Deadly Edition. Kyle Bagenstone of USA Today: "As U.S. meat production plummeted in April following a rash of coronavirus outbreaks and closures at processing plants across the country, industry and political leaders sounded an alarm.... President Donald Trump ... invoked the Defense Production Act to declare it was crucial to keep meat plants open and operating.... But Americans were never at risk of a severe meat shortage, a USA Today investigation found.... [I]n a six-week period stretching from mid-March to the executive order, exports of hundreds of millions of pounds of meat continued.... [T]he industry also never drew down meat supplies sitting in 'cold storage' warehouses in the middle of the supply chain.... In fact, red meat and poultry products in cold storage grew by about 40 million pounds from March to April.... The Midwest Center for Investigative Reporting found that 10,000 meatpacking workers had fallen ill by May 5, with at least 45 deaths. Those numbers have since grown to more than 24,000 infections and at least 90 deaths." --s

Arizona. Perry Vandell of the Arizona Republic: "Pinal County Sheriff Mark Lamb announced on Wednesday afternoon that he tested positive for COVID-19, the disease caused by the new coronavirus. Lamb posted on the Pinal County Sheriff Office's Facebook page that he had been invited on Tuesday to join ... Donald Trump at the White House and was tested before the meeting as part of the protocol.... In early May, Lamb made waves when he said he wouldn't enforce Gov. Doug Ducey's stay-at-home order in part because he thought it was unconstitutional. At the time Lamb said he also thought, as a policy measure, the steps to slow the virus's spread had gone on long enough."

** Book Report. Peter Baker of the New York Times: "John R. Bolton, the former national security adviser, says in his new book that the House in its impeachment inquiry should have investigated President Trump not just for pressuring Ukraine to incriminate his domestic foes but for a variety of instances when he sought to intervene in law enforcement matters for political reasons. Mr. Bolton describes several episodes where the president expressed willingness to halt criminal investigations 'to, in effect, give personal favors to dictators he liked,' citing cases involving major firms in China and Turkey. 'The pattern looked like obstruction of justice as a way of life, which we couldn't accept,' Mr. Bolton writes, adding that he reported his concerns to Attorney General William P. Barr. Mr. Bolton also adds a striking new allegation by saying that Mr. Trump overtly linked trade negotiations to his own political fortunes by asking President Xi Jinping of China to buy a lot of American agricultural products to help him win farm states in this year’s election." Read on. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

     ~~~ Baker outlines five takeaways from Bolton's book here. ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: I guess we know now why "the Justice Department filed a last-minute lawsuit against Mr. Bolton this week seeking to stop publication." Barr is totally implicated. As for Bolton, he apparently spills quite a bit of ink over chastising the House for not investigating other Trump misdeeds at the same time Bolton himself was keeping those misdeeds secret from the House. Phony jackass. ~~~

~~~ Josh Dawsey of the Washington Post also read Bolton's book. "Bolton attributes a litany of shocking statements to the president. Trump said invading Venezuela would be 'cool' and that the South American nation was 'really part of the United States.' Bolton says Trump kept confusing the current and former presidents of Afghanistan, while asking Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to help him strike a deal with Iran. And Trump told Xi that Americans were clamoring for him to change the constitutional rules to serve more than two terms, according to the book. He also describes a summer 2019 meeting in New Jersey where Trump says journalists should be jailed so they have to divulge their sources: 'These people should be executed. They are scumbags,' Trump said, according to Bolton's account."

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: The most important thing Bolton nails down is that Trump did not just passively accept foreign interference in U.S. elections; he soliticited foreign assistance -- more than once. And Bill Barr knew it. He knew it when he stood up there and mischaracterized the Mueller report. In a just world, Deputy Dawg would be in jail, too. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

~~~ Caitlin Oprysko of Politico: "According to an excerpt of the memoir, published in the Wall Street Journal on Wednesday..., Donald Trump asked President Xi Jinping of China for domestic political help to boost his electoral prospects in the midst of the two leaders' trade war last summer.... U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer, who was in the Xi meeting, denied that the episode ever took place when asked multiple times about Bolton's allegation during a Senate hearing.... Trump had choice words for Bolton, telling The Wall Street Journal that Bolton was a 'liar' and that 'everybody in the White House hated John Bolton.' During an interview with Fox News' Sean Hannity on Wednesday night, Trump added that Bolton 'broke the law' by revealing what the president called 'highly classified information.'" The WSJ excerpt is here. ~~~

~~~ A CNN report, by Nicole Gaouette, is here. ~~~

     ~~~ Peter Baker of the New York Times, in his "five takeaways" article, also linked above, writes, "Mr. Trump did not deny [asking Xi for help in boosting his re-election chances] when asked about the matter on Wednesday night by Sean Hannity on Fox News, but Robert Lighthizer, his trade representative, did on his behalf earlier in the day, saying it was not true."

~~~ Aaron Blake of the Washington Post: "The most damning passage [in regard to Trump's disinterest in human rights] comes when Trump, in Bolton's telling, on two occasions actually encouraged Chinese President Xi Jinping to use concentration camps for Uighur Muslims in the Xinjiang province[.... After Trump spoke to Xi about the Uighurs at the Osaka G-20 meeting in June 2019]..., Trump in July 2019 met with victims of political persecution, including Uighurs, and declared of his devotion to religious freedom, 'I don’t think any president has taken it as seriously as me.' The White House announced shortly after the news [the Bolton was releasing his book] broke [on June 8, 2020,] that Trump had signed the 'Uighur Human Rights Policy Act of 2020.'" (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

     ~~~ Ben Fox & Deb Riechmann of the AP: Trump's encouragement of imprisoning Uighurs in concentration camps "could take some punch out of the Trump campaign's efforts to portray former Vice President Joe Biden as soft on China.... It also contradicts the position of lawmakers who have taken hard-line positions against Beijing." ~~~

~~~ Max Benwell, et al., of the Guardian list "eight of the most shocking revelations" of Bolton's book. ~~~

~~~ Ha Ha. Here's an actual book review by Jennifer Szalai of the New York Times: "'The Room Where It Happened,' an account of [John Bolton's] 17 months as Trump's national security adviser, has been written with so little discernible attention to style and narrative form that he apparently presumes an audience that is hanging on his every word.... Bolton has filled this book's nearly 500 pages with minute and often extraneous details, including the time and length of routine meetings and even, at one point, a nap. Underneath it all courses a festering obsession with his enemies.... The book is bloated with self-importance, even though what it mostly recounts is Bolton not being able to accomplish very much. It toggles between two discordant registers: exceedingly tedious and slightly unhinged.... It's a strange experience reading a book that begins with repeated salvos about 'the intellectually lazy' by an author who refuses to think through anything very hard himself." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

~~~ David Graham of the Atlantic: "Trump's willingness to prioritize his political fortunes..., Bolton writes, was part of a pattern: 'Trump commingled the personal and the national not just on trade questions but across the whole field of national security. I am hard-pressed to identify any significant Trump decision during my White House tenure that wasn't driven by reelection calculations.'... 'The pattern looked like obstruction of justice as a way of life,' writes Bolton.... Bolton's account is notable for two reasons. The first is the messenger: Bolton had not only a front-row seat but a seat at the table for the events he recounts, and there is no question about his conservative bona fides. Second, it shows the scale and depth of Trump's depravity and corruption.... For Trump, everything revolves around his own interests, political or otherwise. He doesn't care who gets hurt in other countries, or even in his own country."

Dan Friedman of Mother Jones: "The Times calls [Bolton] a 'complicated, controversial figure.' Not really. He's a jerk promoting himself.... Last fall, patriotic civil servants -- including former Bolton subordinates Fiona Hill and Alexander Vindman ... risked their careers and endured slander to testify truthfully about Trump's efforts to corrupt US foreign policy. The witnesses appeared in the House Ways and Means hearing room. That was 'the room where it happened.' Bolton didn't show up." ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: Of course Bolton is a jerk promoting himself, but if Senate Republicans had permitted him to be subpoenaed, he would have testified in the impeachment trial. The failure of Bolton & other administration to testify is the result of a grand GOP conspiracy against the American people.

Aaron Blake of the Washington Post: "At the heart of the [Justice Department's] lawsuit ... seeking to halt the release next week of John Bolton's tell-all book ... is the idea that Bolton's book contains classified information.... As the Justice Department's own suit admits, there was indeed a point at which the White House official who had worked extensively with Bolton decided that the manuscript of the book was free of classified information. Shortly thereafter, though, she was overruled by officials with closer ties to Trump -- and, in one case, thanks to an official with a history of politically charged actions benefiting Trump.... The official was Michael Ellis, the senior director for intelligence on the National Security Council. Interestingly, the lawsuit says the additional review was conducted 'at the request of' Bolton's replacement as White House national security adviser, Robert O'Brien.... O'Brien has also proved to be one of Trump's most loyal aides, shifting the National Security Council from its traditional role of advising a president on policy to defending, implementing and enabling his preexisting policy ideas, according to a February New York Times analysis.... A former aide to the top Republican on the House Intelligence Committee, Rep. Devin Nunes (Calif.), Ellis in 2017 was one of three White House officials involved in the handling of sensitive intelligence that was shared with Nunes to discredit the Russia investigation." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

~~~ Theodore Boutrous, Jr., in a Washington Post op-ed: "The Trump administration's lawsuit against John Bolton is a paper tiger, designed for a showy roar of outrage but with little prospect of any real bite.... The complaint on its face demonstrates that this is just the latest example of Trump flouting the First Amendment and manipulating and abusing the national security apparatus for personal and political purposes to hide information of great public concern.... The biggest problem is that the administration is seeking a prior restraint of speech before it occurs -- not just damages for injuries allegedly caused by speech after the fact. The Supreme Court has never upheld a prior restraint on speech about matters of public concern.... The complaint doesn't even name the publisher as a defendant, and the books have already been printed and shipped to warehouses. Advance copies have been distributed to journalists and others. So even if the Justice Department can persuade a judge to enjoin Bolton, the non-parties remain free to disseminate the book." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

~~~ Update: Desperation Time. Charlie Savage of the New York Times: "The Justice Department asked a judge on Wednesday to order President Trump's former national security adviser John R. Bolton to halt publication of his memoir, which has already been printed an distributed to booksellers, saying that it contained classified information even as details emerged from it. In a court filing, the Trump administration also urged the judge overseeing the lawsuit, Judge Royce C. Lamberth of the Federal District Court for the District of Columbia, to declare that the potential restraining order it was seeking should also bind the book's publisher, Simon & Schuster, and stores from disseminating the book once they received notice of it.... The Justice Department's filing amounted to a sharp escalation of a lawsuit it filed a day earlier accusing Mr. Bolton of failing to complete the prepublication review process he agreed to undergo as a condition of receiving his security clearance.... Several legal specialists said the 11th-hour effort to block the book from reaching the public was unlikely to succeed for both practical and constitutional reasons." An Axios story is here; it includes a facsimile of the DOJ's plea. ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: The request for a restraining order is stupid. Reporters from every major news outlet have copies of the book. The important details of Bolton's screed are already out, and every dirty little secret will be published within days. ~~~

~~~ Josh Kovensky of TPM: "The Justice Department is considering filing criminal charges against former National Security Adviser John Bolton over his soon-to-be-released White House tell-all, the LA Times reported on Wednesday."

Matthew Lee of the AP: "Secretary of State Mike Pompeo met with a top Chinese official in Hawaii on Wednesday as new revelations about ... Donald Trump and China rocked Washington. Pompeo and his deputy Stephen Biegun held closed-door talks with the Chinese Communist Party's top diplomat, Yang Jiechi, at Hickam Air Force Base in Honolulu, according to a senior State Department official on the base. Discussions covered a wide range of contentious issues that have sent relations between the two countries plummeting, according to the two sides."

Shane Harris, et al., of the Washington Post: "An Army officer's promotion is in jeopardy over what some officials fear could be White House retaliation for his role in last year's impeachment inquiry, raising the possibility that President Trump might again intervene in military affairs, according to officials familiar with the matter. Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, who received a Purple Heart for his actions in Iraq and later served as a White House aide on European affairs, is among hundreds of officers selected to be promoted to full colonel this year. Such promotions are typically signed off on by Army and then Pentagon leaders before moving to the White House and the Senate for a confirmation vote. The list is now with a Pentagon personnel office. Multiple government officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to address personnel matters, have voiced concern, however, that the White House could strike Vindman's name once it is conveyed, effectively sanctioning him for testimony he gave under subpoena to House lawmakers."

Jennifer Hansler & Brian Stelter of CNN: "The heads of four organizations overseen by the US Agency for Global Media (USAGM) were all dismissed Wednesday night -- a move likely to heighten concerns that new Trump-appointed CEO Michael Pack means to turn the agency into a political arm of the administration. In what a former official described as a 'Wednesday night massacre,' the heads of Middle East Broadcasting, Radio Free Asia, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, and the Open Technology Fund were all ousted, multiple sources told CNN.... Jeffrey Shapiro, an ally the ultra-conservative former Trump White House chief strategist Steve Bannon, is expected to be named to lead the Office of Cuba Broadcasting. The rash of firings came just hours after Pack, another Bannon ally, introduced himself to employees, nearly two weeks after being confirmed for the job." --s The New York Times story is here. ~~~

The wholesale firing of the agency's network heads, and disbanding of corporate boards to install President Trump's political allies, is an egregious breach of this organization's history and mission from which it may never recover. This latest attack is sadly the latest -- but not the last -- in the Trump administration;s efforts to transform U.S. institutions rooted in the principles of democracy into tools for the president's own personal agenda. -- Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.), in a statement, Wednesday ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: One might think, given the Bolton revelations, that Trump would have ordered Pack to back off the plan to reorganize the well-regarded independent news agencies as arms of the Trump campaign. But no. Trump's urge to turn VOA into Voice of Trump is too strong to allow for even temporary restraint. Besides, Trump sees nothing wrong with abusing his office.

Josh Kovensky of TPM: "The Justice Department responded to a blistering critique of its conduct in the Michael Flynn case on Wednesday, calling its decision to drop charges against the former national security adviser an 'unreviewable exercise of prosecutorial discretion.'... Prosecutors submitted the filing to U.S. District Judge Emmett Sullivan in Washington, who appointed former U.S. District Judge John Gleeson to examine the Justice Department's conduct in the case.... The DOJ held back in the filing from arguing that Gleeson's appointment itself was unconstitutional, and instead argued that the Constitution forbids Sullivan from doing anything other than granting the motion to dismiss the charges. The Justice Department argued in the filing that its reasoning for dropping the charges was beyond judicial review." --s ~~~

~~~ Tierney Sneed of TPM: "In response to the allegations made by a former federal judge about the Justice Department's dropping of his case..., Michael Flynn went on an indignant tear against the decision [of U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan] to appoint the former judge to oppose the dismissal.... He said that the arguments made by retired U.S. District Judge John Gleeson were 'an affront to the Rule of Law and a raging insult to the citizens of this country who see the abject corruption in this assassination by political prosecution of General Flynn.'... Flynn argued that Sullivan had no choice but to immediately dismiss Flynn's case. He said that delaying the dismissal so that Gleeson could argue against it was a 'clear impermissible violation of the separation of powers,' while describing Sullivan's choice of Gleeson in particular as 'appalling.'" --s

Craig Timberg of the Washington Post: "At a time when President Trump and other top U.S. officials have claimed -- with little evidence -- that leftist groups were fomenting violence, federal prosecutors have charged various supporters of a right-wing movement called the 'boogaloo bois,' with crimes related to plotting to firebomb a U.S. Forest Service facility, preparing to use explosives at a peaceful demonstration and killing a security officer at a federal courthouse.... A far-right extremist movement born on social media and fueled by anti-government rhetoric has emerged as a real-world threat in recent weeks, with federal authorities accusing some of its adherents of working to spark violence at largely peaceful protests roiling the nation.... 'The numbers are overwhelming: Most of the violence is coming from the extreme right wing,' said Clint Watts, a former FBI agent who studies extremist political activity for the Foreign Policy Research Institute, a think tank in Philadelphia."

Sean Collins of Vox: "The current protests -- and the anger that fuels them -- ... are a cry of pain from a raw nerve that has always afflicted the United States, one that was all too often ignored." --safari: A long researched piece with many stats on racial inequalities and their effects.

Tiffany Hsu of the New York Times: "Aunt Jemima, a syrup and pancake mix brand, will get a new name and image after Quaker Oats, its parent company, acknowledged that its origins were 'based on a racial stereotype.'" Thanks to Ken W. for the link. The NBC News story is here. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

~~~ Racist? Whaddaya mean, racist? ~~~

     ~~~ Thanks to the Jim Crow Museum. Terry Nguyen of Vox has more on the history of the brand. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

~~~ Update: Uncle Ben & Mrs. Butterworth. Maria Cramer of the New York Times: "Within hours of the announcement that Aunt Jemima was being retired from store shelves, at least three more food companies rushed to respond to complaints about other brands that have been criticized for using racial stereotypes. Mars Food, the owner of the brand Uncle Ben's rice, which features an older black man smiling on the box, said on Wednesday afternoon that it would 'evolve' the brand.... ConAgra Brands, the maker of Mrs. Butterwort's pancake syrup, released a statement saying the company had begun a 'complete brand and package review.'... And later on Wednesday, the parent company of Cream of Wheat announced that it was conducting a similar review.... The image on a box of Cream of Wheat, a beaming black man in a white chef's uniform, has not been altered much since its debut in the late 19th century. The character was named 'Rastus,' a pejorative term for black men, and he was depicted as a barely literate cook who did not know what vitamins were." ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: It never dawned on me Mrs. Butterworth was black, but I guess she is when she's a bottle of syrup.

Theresa Vargas of the Washington Post explains the significance of racist symbols to dummies: "We can pretend that the debate over Confederate symbols is about preserving or erasing history, but really, it's about our values. It's about whether we care more about statues standing than people falling."

Georgia. Kate Brumback of the AP: “Prosecutors brought murder charges Wednesday against the white Atlanta police officer [Garrett Rolfe] who shot Rayshard Brooks in the back, saying that the black man posed no threat when he was gunned down and that the officer kicked him and offered no medical treatment as he lay dying on the ground.... The felony murder charge against Rolfe carries life in prison without parole or the death penalty. He was also charged with 10 other offenses punishable by decades behind bars. 'Mr. Brooks never presented himself as a threat,' [District Attorney Paul] Howard said. A second officer with Rolfe, Devin Brosnan, stood on a wounded Brooks' shoulder as he struggled for his life, according to Howard. Brosnan was charged with aggravated assault and other offenses but is cooperating with prosecutors and will testify, according to the district attorney, who said it was the first time in 40 such cases in which an officer has come forward to do this." The Washington Post's report is here. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) The Washington Post's story is here.

Mississippi. A "Noble Cause." Emily Pettus of the AP: "After rejecting a proposal to move a Confederate monument, [Harry Sanders,] a white elected [county supervisor] in Mississippi said this week that African Americans 'became dependent' during slavery and as a result, have had a harder time 'assimilating' into American life than other mistreated groups.... In northeastern Mississippi's Lowndes County, supervisors voted along racial lines Monday against moving a Confederate monument that has stood outside the county courthouse in Columbus since 1912. The monument depicts a Confederate soldier and says the South fought for a 'noble cause.'... After the meeting, Sanders, a Republican, was quoted by the Commercial Dispatch as saying that other groups of people who had also been mistreated in the past -- he cited Irish, Italian, Polish and Japanese immigrants -- were able to successfully 'assimilate' afterward. 'The only ones that are having the problems: Guess who? The African Americans,' Sanders said. 'You know why? In my opinion, they were slaves. And because of that, they didn't have to go out and earn any money, they didn't have to do anything. Whoever owned them took care of them, fed them, clothed them, worked them. They became dependent, and that dependency is still there....'" Mrs. McC: I'm shocked to learn a Mississippi cotton-country GOP candidate is a racist. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Virginia. Sandra Garcia of the New York Times: “A monument to the black tennis legend Arthur Ashe in Richmond, Va., was vandalized with spray paint that read 'WLM' and 'White Lives Matter' on Wednesday. Mr. Ashe, a Richmond native, became the first black man to win Wimbledon, the Australian Open and the U.S. Open. His statue is on the city's Monument Avenue, a residential street that extends for five miles into Henrico County and is dotted with a number of prominent Confederate monuments."

Elections 2020

Maggie Haberman & Annie Karni of the New York Times: "... the president's customary defiance has been suffused with a heightened sense of agitation as he confronts a series of external crises he has failed to contain, or has exacerbated, according to people close to him. They say his repeated acts of political self-sabotage -- a widely denounced photo-op at a church for which peaceful protesters were forcibly removed, a threat to use the American military to quell protests -- have significantly damaged his re-election prospects, and yet he appears mostly unable, or unwilling, to curtail them.... The president is acting trapped and defensive, and his self-destructive behavior has been so out of step for an incumbent in an election year that many advisers wonder if he is truly interested in serving a second term. Rather than focus on plans and goals for another four years in office, Mr. Trump has been wallowing in self-pity about news coverage of him since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic, people who have spoken with him said."

Ally Mutnick & Melanie Zanona of Politico: "The House's highest-ranking Republicans are racing to distance themselves from a leading GOP congressional candidate in Georgia after Politico uncovered hours of Facebook videos in which she expresses racist, Islamophobic and anti-Semitic views. The candidate, Marjorie Taylor Greene, suggested that Muslims do not belong in government; thinks black people' are held slaves to the Democratic Party'; called George Soros, a Jewish Democratic megadonor, a Nazi; and said she would feel 'proud' to see a Confederate monument if she were black because it symbolizes progress made since the Civil War. Greene finished first in a primary for a deep-red, northwest Georgia seat last week by a nearly two-to-one margin over the second-place candidate. She is entering an August runoff as the heavy favorite to secure the Republican nomination for a district where that is tantamount to winning the general election in November." Mrs. McC: I'm shocked to learn a red-clay Georgia GOP candidate is a racist. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Nina Jankowicz & Cindy Otis of Wired: "For the past several years, Facebook users have been seeing more content from 'friends and family' and less from brands and media outlets. As part of the platform's 'pivot to privacy' after the 2016 election, groups have been promoted as trusted spaces that create communities around shared interests.... But as our research shows, those same features -- privacy and community -- are often exploited by bad actors, foreign and domestic, to spread false information and conspiracies.... If you were to join the 'Alternative Health Science News' group, for example, Facebook would then recommend ... that you join a group called 'Sheep No More,' which uses Pepe the Frog, a white supremacist symbol, in its header; as well as 'Q-Anon Patriots,' a forum for believers in the crackpot QAnon conspiracy theory." --s

Ouch! Stings Like a Bumble Bee. AP: "A former CEO of Bumble Bee Foods has been sentenced to more than three years in jail for his role in a canned tuna price-fixing conspiracy involving three major companies, the U.S. Justice Department said. Christopher Lischewski was also ordered Tuesday to pay a $100,000 fine in addition to serving a 40-month term."

News Lede

New York Times: "Vera Lynn, who sang the songs that touched the hearts and lifted the spirits of Britons from the bomb-blitzed streets of London and Coventry to the sands of North Africa and the jungles of Burma during World War II, died on Thursday at her home in Sussex, England. She was 103."