The Ledes

Monday, October 7, 2024

Weather Channel: “H​urricane Milton has rapidly intensified into a Category 3 and hurricane and storm surge watches are now posted along Florida's western Gulf Coast, where the storm poses threats of life-threatening storm surge, destructive winds and flooding rainfall by midweek. 'Milton will be a historic storm for the west coast of Florida,' the National Weather Service in Tampa Bay said in a briefing Monday morning.”

CNN: “This year’s Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine has been awarded to Victor Ambros and Gary Ruvkun for their work on the discovery of microRNA, a fundamental principle governing how gene activity is regulated. Their research revealed how genes give rise to different cells within the human body, a process known as gene regulation. Gene regulation by microRNA – a family of molecules that helps cells control the sort of proteins they make – ... was first revealed by Ambros and Ruvkun. The Nobel Prize committee announced the prestigious honor ... in Sweden on Monday.... Ambros, a professor of natural science at the University of Massachusetts Medical School, conducted the research that earned him the prize at Harvard University. Ruvkun conducted his research at Massachusetts General Hospital, and is a professor of genetics at Harvard Medical School.”

The Wires
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The Ledes

Sunday, October 6, 2024

New York Times: “Two boys have been arrested and charged in a street attack on David A. Paterson, a former governor of New York, and his stepson, the police said. One boy, who is 12, was charged with second-degree gang assault, and the other, a 13-year-old, was charged with third-degree gang assault, the police said on Saturday night. Both boys, accompanied by their parents, turned themselves in to the police, according to Sean Darcy, a spokesman for Mr. Paterson. A third person, also a minor, went to the police but was not charged in the Friday night attack in Manhattan, according to an internal police report.... Two other people, both adults, were involved in the attack, according to the police. They fled on foot and have not been caught, the police said. The former governor was not believed to have been targeted in the assault....”

Weather Channel: “Tropical Storm Milton, which formed in the Gulf of Mexico on Saturday, is expected to become a hurricane late Sunday or early Monday. The storm is expected to pose a major hurricane threat to Florida by midweek, just over a week after Helene pushed through the region. The National Hurricane Center says that 'there is an increasing risk of life-threatening storm surge and wind impacts for portions of the west coast of the Florida Peninsula beginning late Tuesday or Wednesday.'”

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Public Service Announcement

Washington Post: "Americans can again order free rapid coronavirus tests by mail, the Biden administration announced Thursday. People can request four free at-home tests per household through covidtests.gov. They will begin shipping Monday. The move comes ahead of an expected winter wave of coronavirus cases. The September revival of the free testing program is in line with the Biden administration’s strategy to respond to the coronavirus as part of a broader public health campaign to protect Americans from respiratory viruses, including influenza and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), that surge every fall and winter. But free tests were not mailed during the summer wave, which wastewater surveillance data shows is now receding."

Washington Post: “Comedy news outlet the Onion — reinvigorated by new ownership over this year — is bringing back its once-popular video parodies of cable news. But this time, there’s someone with real news anchor experience in the chair. When the first episodes appear online Monday, former WAMU and MSNBC host Joshua Johnson will be the face of the resurrected 'Onion News Network.' Playing an ONN anchor character named Dwight Richmond, Johnson says he’s bringing a real anchor’s sense of clarity — and self-importance — to the job. 'If ONN is anything, it’s a news organization that is so unaware of its own ridiculousness that it has the confidence of a serial killer,' says Johnson, 44.” ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: I'll be darned if I can figured out how to watch ONN. If anybody knows, do tell. Thanks.

Washington Post: “First came the surprising discovery that Earth’s atmosphere is leaking. But for roughly 60 years, the reason remained a mystery. Since the late 1960s, satellites over the poles detected an extremely fast flow of particles escaping into space — at speeds of 20 kilometers per second. Scientists suspected that gravity and the magnetic field alone could not fully explain the stream. There had to be another source creating this leaky faucet. It turns out the mysterious force is a previously undiscovered global electric field, a recent study found. The field is only about the strength of a watch battery — but it’s enough to thrust lighter ions from our atmosphere into space. It’s also generated unlike other electric fields on Earth. This newly discovered aspect of our planet provides clues about the evolution of our atmosphere, perhaps explaining why Earth is habitable. The electric field is 'an agent of chaos,' said Glyn Collinson, a NASA rocket scientist and lead author of the study. 'It undoes gravity.... Without it, Earth would be very different.'”

The New York Times lists Emmy winners. The AP has an overview story here.

New York Times: “Hvaldimir, a beluga whale who had captured the public’s imagination since 2019 after he was spotted wearing a harness seemingly designed for a camera, was found dead on Saturday in Norway, according to a nonprofit that worked to protect the whale.... [Hvaldimir] was wearing a harness that identified it as “equipment” from St. Petersburg. There also appeared to be a camera mount. Some wondered if the whale was on a Russian reconnaissance mission. Russia has never claimed ownership of the whale. If Hvaldimir was a spy, he was an exceptionally friendly one. The whale showed signs of domestication, and was comfortable around people. He remained in busier waters than are typical for belugas....” ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Oh, Lord, do not let Bobby Kennedy, Jr., near that carcass. ~~~

     ~~~ AP Update: “There’s no evidence that a well-known beluga whale that lived off Norway’s coast and whose harness ignited speculation it was a Russian spy was shot to death last month as claimed by animal rights groups, Norwegian police said Monday.... Police said that the Norwegian Veterinary Institute conducted a preliminary autopsy on the animal, which was become known as 'Hvaldimir,' combining the Norwegian word for whale — hval — and the first name of Russian President Vladimir Putin. 'There are no findings from the autopsy that indicate that Hvaldimir has been shot,' police said in a statement.”

New York Times: Botswana's “President Mokgweetsi Masisi grinned as he lifted the diamond, a 2,492-carat stone that is the biggest diamond unearthed in more than a century and the second-largest ever found, according to the Vancouver-based mining operator Lucara, which owns the mine where it was found. This exceptional discovery could bring back the luster of the natural diamond mining industry, mining companies and experts say. The diamond was discovered in the same relatively small mine in northeastern Botswana that has produced several of the largest such stones in living memory. Such gemstones typically surface as a result of volcanic activity.... The diamond will likely sell in the range of tens of millions of dollars....”

Click on photo to enlarge.

~~~ Guardian: "On a distant reef 16,000km from Paris, surfer Gabriel Medina has given Olympic viewers one of the most memorable images of the Games yet, with an airborne celebration so well poised it looked too good to be true. The Brazilian took off a thundering wave at Teahupo’o in Tahiti on Monday, emerging from a barrelling section before soaring into the air and appearing to settle on a Pacific cloud, pointing to the sky with biblical serenity, his movements mirrored precisely by his surfboard. The shot was taken by Agence France-Presse photographer Jérôme Brouillet, who said “the conditions were perfect, the waves were taller than we expected”. He took the photo while aboard a boat nearby, capturing the surreal image with such accuracy that at first some suspected Photoshop or AI." 

Washington Post: “'Mary Cassatt at Work' is a large and mostly satisfying exhibition devoted to the career of the great American artist beloved for her sensitive and often sentimental views of family life. The 'at work' in the title of the Philadelphia Museum of Art show references the curators’ interest in Cassatt’s pioneering effort to establish herself as a professional artist within a male-dominated field. Throughout the show, which includes some 130 paintings, pastels, prints and drawings, the wall text and the art on view stresses Cassatt’s fixation on art as a career rather than a pastime.... Mary Cassatt at Work is on view at the Philadelphia Museum of Art through Sept. 8. philamuseum.org”

New York Times: “Bob Newhart, who died on Thursday at the age of 94, has been such a beloved giant of popular culture for so long that it’s easy to forget how unlikely it was that he became one of the founding fathers of stand-up comedy. Before basically inventing the hit stand-up special, with the 1960 Grammy-winning album 'The Button-Down Mind of Bob Newhart' — that doesn’t even count his pay-per-view event broadcast on Canadian television that some cite as the first filmed special — he was a soft-spoken accountant who had never done a set in a nightclub. That he made a classic with so little preparation is one of the great miracles in the history of comedy.... Bob Newhart holds up. In fact, it’s hard to think of a stand-up from that era who is a better argument against the commonplace idea that comedy does not age well.”

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Publisher & Editor: Marie Burns


Wednesday
Jul242019

The Commentariat -- July 25, 2019

Afternoon Update:

** Katie Benner of the New York Times: "The federal government will resume executions of death-row inmates after a nearly two-decade moratorium, Attorney General William P. Barr said Thursday. The announcement reverses what had been essentially a moratorium on the federal death penalty. The federal government has not executed an inmate since 2003, though prosecutors still seek the death penalty in some cases, including for Dylann S. Roof, an avowed white supremacist who killed nine African-American churchgoers in 2015, and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, the Boston Marathon bomber.... Mr. Barr said that Hugh Hurwitz, the acting director of the Bureau of Prisons, has scheduled executions in December and January for five men convicted of murder. They will take place at the federal penitentiary in Terre Haute, Ind., and additional executions will be scheduled later, Mr. Barr said." ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: How to divert attention from Mueller's denunciation of Barr & Trump: execute somebody.

Senate Republicans Oppose Everything about Fair Elections. Jordain Carney of the Hill: "Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) blocked two election security measures on Thursday, arguing Democrats are trying to give themselves a 'political benefit.' The move comes a day after former special counsel Robert Mueller warned about election meddling in 2020, saying Russia was laying the groundwork to interfere in the 2020 election 'as we sit here.' Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) had tried to get consent Thursday to pass a House bill that requires the use of paper ballots and includes funding for the Election Assistance Commission. It passed the House 225-184 with one Republican voting for it. But McConnell objected, saying Schumer was trying to pass 'partisan legislation.'... Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) also asked for consent to pass legislation that would require candidates, campaign officials and their family members to notify the FBI of assistance offers from foreign governments. McConnell also objected to that bill." ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: I am beginning to wonder if this is part of a GOP plot not only to erode voters' confidence in election results but also to give Republicans a fake "basis" to challenge results that go against them.

Andrew Desiderio of Politico: "The House Oversight and Reform Committee voted on Thursday to authorize subpoenas for senior White House officials' communications via private email accounts and messaging applications, a significant escalation in a years-long, bipartisan effort to learn more about potential violations of federal record-keeping laws. Thursday's vote by the Democrat-led panel came after the White House refused to turn over the messages voluntarily earlier this month -- including senior adviser Jared Kushner's WhatsApp communications with foreign officials..., Ivanka Trump's use of a private email account to conduct official business, and ... Stephen Bannon's use of a personal mobile device for White House business."

Jonathan Chait: In the last minutes of the Intelligence Committee hearing yesterday, "Mueller confirmed that Russia had blackmail leverage over Donald Trump during the 2016 campaign." Chait runs through the lines of questioning that establish Russia's ability to compromise Trump. Mrs. McC: I suspect Russia's got more on Trump than Schiff & Mueller highlighted. If so, I'll bet Trump knows it.

John Cassidy of the New Yorker: "With Republicans united behind the President, Democrats uncertain about how to proceed, and Mueller reluctant to the last to come straight out and say that the President committed impeachable offenses, it looks like Trump's blitzkrieg tactics of demonizing anyone who challenges him, terrorizing potential dissidents on his own side, and relentlessly spouting propaganda over social media may have worked. If so, he will have recorded a historic victory over the bedrock American principles of congressional oversight and equality before the law.... The wanton disrespect that these elected Republicans [on the House committees] showed Mueller was perhaps the most alarming testament yet to Trump's total conquest of the Party." ...

... Tom Nichols in USA Today: "The Republicans once prided themselves on being the toughest opponents of America's enemies. They have now been reduced to inane babbling about conspiracy theories, excusing the Russians, whitewashing the hostile foreign intelligence service called WikiLeaks, and attacking a man of indisputable honor and probity -- a fellow Republican, no less -- all in the name of covering Donald Trump's tracks.... I have never been prouder to be an ex-Republican."

Tom Porter of Business Insider: "... Donald Trump took to the stage at the Marriott Marquis hotel in Washington, DC, on Tuesday to deliver a speech to thousands of young, cheering supporters at the Turning Point USA conference. But ... no one seemed to notice that there was something subtly different about the presidential seal that was being shown on the screen behind him. Instead of the bald eagle featured in the official seal of the president of the United States, the image featured a double-headed eagle, which bears a striking resemblance to the one on the official coat of arms of the Russian Federation.... And instead of clutching arrows in its left claw, the eagle in the altered image held golf clubs...." Thanks to Ken W. for the link. ...

... Betsy Klein of CNN: "An audiovisual aide for conservative student group Turning Point USA was fired this week after ... Donald Trump appeared on a stage in front of a parody image of the presidential seal at its Teen Student Action Summit.... TPUSA had event branding on the screens, but during a run through ahead of Trump's remarks a few hours before the event, the team was told they had to change the branding to a presidential seal...." Mrs. McC: "was told?" By whom? I'd guess it was the crack White House advance team. And instead of sending over a high-res image of the seal, the White House guy (I'm guessing) left it to a TPUSA AV aide to punt. He did. And he got fired for his trouble.

~~~~~~~~~~

Grace Segers of CBS News: "House Speaker Nancy Pelosi shied away from advocating for impeachment in response to former special counsel Robert Mueller's testimony before the House Judiciary and Intelligence Committees.] The American people now realize more fully the crimes that were committed against our Constitution,' Pelosi said in the Capitol of Mueller's testimony. 'It is a crossing of a threshold in terms of the public awareness of what happened,' she later said during a news conference following Mueller's testimony. But she stopped short of advocating for impeachment right now. 'My position has always been, whatever decision we made in that regard would have to be with our strongest possible hand, and we still have some matters outstanding in the courts,' Pelosi said, arguing that Democrats needed more information before considering impeachment." Mrs. McC: For what it's worth, I thought she got a little closer to impeachment than she has in the past. Later in the day, some opinionators backed me up, including Rep. Jackie Speier (D-Calif.), who I think is a long-time friend of Pelosi's. ...

     ... Update. John Bresnahan, et al., of Politico: "House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler pushed to launch impeachment proceedings against ... Donald Trump during a closed-door meeting Wednesday, only to be rebuffed by Speaker Nancy Pelosi, according to four sources familiar with the discussions. At a caucus meeting following the hotly anticipated testimony of special counsel Robert Mueller, Nadler suggested that several House committee chairs could begin drafting articles of impeachment against Trump. Pelosi called the idea premature, said the sources."

Politico fronts with a banner headline: "'Euphoria': White House, GOP exult after a flat Mueller performance." Eliana Johnson & Melanie Zanona: "The tense opening moments of former special counsel Robert Mueller's much-anticipated testimony on Capitol Hill gave way to an early sense of relief at the White House, where aides were quietly celebrating what they viewed as disjointed questioning from Democrats and a weak performance from the star witness himself. Mueller, whose steely reputation has cast a long shadow over the Trump's tenure, proved -- at least in th early offing -- a less formidable witness in the flesh than Democrats had hoped, offering up clipped, monosyllabic responses and repeatedly asking lawmakers to repeat their questions. Watching from the White House, at least one Trump aide said the former FBI director, who spent some 22 months investigating the president, simply seemed past his prime and incapable of doing Trump much harm.... 'We had a very good day today, the Republican Party,' Trump told reporters as he prepared to depart for a fundraiser in West Virginia. 'There was no defense of what Robert Mueller was trying to defend.... There was no defense to this ridiculous hoax, this witch hunt.'" ...

     ... Mrs. Bea MCrabbie: White House staff isn't wrong about Mueller's performance, but they seem to be forgetting the House isn't finished.

Mrs. Bea McCrabbie: Here's snippet from Adam Schiff's closing questions to Bob Mueller:

Adam Schiff: ... From your testimony today, I gather than knowingly accepting assistance from a foreign government is an unethical thing to do. ...

Robert Mueller: And a crime. [pause] Given certain circumstances.

... Mrs. McCrabbie: You can hear the full exchange in this video which Schiff posted on YouTube. Mueller volunteered, unbidden, that accepting help from foreign governments was a crime, an assertion he quickly qualified. The Mueller report details & Mueller agreed in testimony yesterday, Donald Trump repeatedly sought & received campaign help from Russians. The Mueller report explains that Don Jr., Jared Kushner & even Paul Manafort were too damned dumb to know that they were breaking the law when they met with Russians to get dirt on Hillary Clinton. BUT. We know Donald Trump, Sr. thought this meeting was at least dodgy because he went to some lengths to concoct a series of lies about it. On August 17, 2016, Trump Sr. received an FBI briefing warning him he could be a target of Russian spies. "Trump would have been told, 'If you see these kinds of contacts please let us know about them so we can keep you updated on the threat picture,' said Frank Montoya, a former FBI counterintelligence agent...." Trump apparently never contacted the FBI, and he absolutely knew about Russian contacts because Michael Cohen was regularly briefing him on the Moscow Tower deal up until June 2016 & possibly until November 2016, & Trump also knew in advance about the Russia/Wikileaks dumps. So didn't Mueller just spontaneously tell us Donald Trump committed another crime?

Mrs. McCrabbie: It seems to me Democrats did the best job possible with a very reluctant witness, who refused even to read from his own report & declined to answer questions at least 200 times over the course of the day. As a number of you have suggested or said outright, the last act of Bob Mueller, American hero, was a great disservice to the country.

Chairman Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) opened the Intelligence Commitee session with impressive remarks about "the story of the 2016 election":

... Schiff subsequently questioned Mueller:

In the Intel Committee hearing, Mueller told Rep. Mike Quigley (D-Ill.) that Trump's repeated public embrace of WikiLeaks -- which he had identified earlier as "a hostile foreign entity" -- was more than problematic: "Problematic is an understatement in terms of what it displays, giving some hope or some boost to what is and should be illegal activity."

... Also in the Intel Committee hearing, Rep. Sean Maloney (D-NY) asked Mueller why he didn't pursue a subpoena of Trump. A very interesting exchange:

... Another highlight of the afternoon hearing: PBS: "... Robert Mueller told Rep. Val Demings, D-Fla., that ... Donald Trump did not answer many questions that were asked as part of the Russia investigation. 'Isn't it fair to say that the president's written answers were not only inadequate and incomplete, because he didn't answer many of your questions, but where he did that his answers showed he wasn't always being truthful?' Demings asked Mueller. 'I would say generally,' Mueller said":

Justin Baragona of the Daily Beast: "Towards the end of Robert Mueller's testimony before the House Intelligence Committee on Wednesday, the former special counsel indicated that the FBI is currently investigating matters of blackmail and compromise involving those [who] were in ... Donald Trump's orbit. During his allotted time, Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL) noted that because it was outside the Mueller investigation's purview, the final report did not reach any counterintelligence conclusions regarding 'any Trump administration officials who may be vulnerable to compromise or blackmail by Russia.'... The Illinois lawmaker [later] noted that Mueller had charged former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn with making false statements about his conversations with Russian officials. 'Since it was outside the purview of your investigation, your report did not address how Flynn's false statements could pose a national security risk, because the Russians knew the falsity of those statements, right?' Krishnamoorthi wondered. 'I cannot get into that, mainly because there are many elements that the FBI are looking into different aspects of that issue,' Mueller said in response. 'Currently?' Krishnamoorthi quizzically replied. 'Currently,' the one-time FBI chief confirmed." Includes video. ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: Julie Davis & Mark Mazzetti of the New York Times assert in their lede in the Times' top story that "Robert S. Mueller III offered no new revelations on Wednesday into Russia's interference in the 2016 elections or President Trump's attempts to derail his probe." But I think the revelation that the FBI is still investigating Trump's associates -- and maybe Trump himself -- as security risks because of their international entanglements is pretty explosive. I hope Jared was watching.

Jerry Nadler began the questioning of Robert Mueller, in what was a highlight of Wednesday morning's Judiciary Committee hearing:

... Ted Lieu elicits the most significant response from Mueller re: obstruction:

     ... Ted Lieu is one of the sharpest tacks on the board. Update: Mueller tried to clean up his response to Lieu during the afternoon session before the House Intelligence Committee, "correcting" his answer to say he "did not make a determination" on obstruction. So Wow! followed by "never mind." ...

     ... Here are Andrew Desiderio & Kyle Cheney of Politico on the correction: "Mueller, however, corrected himself during the second portion of his testimony before the House Intelligence Committee, saying, 'That is not the correct way to say it.' Mueller clarified his response by noting instead that the Justice Department policy that prohibits the indictment of a sitting president meant that he 'did not reach a determination as to whether the president committed a crime.'" That's not quite a reversal of his initial testimony. P.S. The Politico report is a pretty good summary of what's transpired so far. Matt Ford, in his column linked below suggested Mueller may have reworded his answer because he realized "that he had let something slip past his shield of impartiality." ...

     ... Dahlia Lithwick of Slate: "... the one bit of news that seemed to have been news has been clarified back into the same exact legal language as was carefully crafted in the report. It was a misstep that was misunderstood and then retracted, a perfect capsule performance of how dragging an unwilling witness into a polemical hearing was never going to go well."

... Jonathan Chait: "Democrats tried fruitlessly to lead Mueller to his own conclusions. Two Democrats on the Judiciary Committee, Hakeem Jeffries and Ted Lieu, walked the witness through the three stated elements of an obstructive act defined in the Mueller report: an obstructive act, a nexus with an official proceeding, and corrupt intent. Jeffries went sequentially through the elements, getting Mueller to agree that Trump's actions had fulfilled each one. But then Mueller interjected, 'Let me just say, if I might, I don't subscribe necessarily to your -- the way you analyzed that. I'm not saying it's out of the ballpark, but I'm not supportive of that analytical charge.' He agreed that it was 1 + 1 + 1, but would not agree that it added up to 3. He was not denying, it either -- merely hewing to his ultrafastidious conception of a uniquely constrained prosecutor who could lay out the constituent pieces of a crime but could only leave it to Congress to name the final product. This was a key vulnerability Republicans used against Mueller.... Despite the copious evidence he produced, the lack of bottom-line conclusion allowed Republicans to define it as exoneration and dare Mueller to disagree." Mrs. McC: I highlighted that one clause only because I think it's fine writing. ...

... David Graham of the Atlantic: "... because Mueller had decided at the outset of his report that he could not and would not charge the president with crimes, thanks to Justice Department guidance and in the interest of fairness, Mueller did not make the otherwise obvious jump from laying out the ways that Trump's behavior met the three-prong test to actually stating that Trump obstructed justice. During [Wednesday's] House Judiciary Committee hearing, Democratic Representative Hakeem Jeffries sought to demonstrate the disconnect by walking Mueller through the three-prong test.... Mueller, seeing the trick, tried to cut it off.... During the next round of Democratic questions, Representative Ted Lieu executed a similar maneuver, and Mueller once again tried to put the cat back in the bag.... But by then, the point was made: Mueller himself had acknowledged all the ways that Trump's behavior met all three prongs of the test for obstruction of justice."

Almost Everything You Need to Know about Republicans' Interrogations. Eric Levitz of New York: "... in questioning the former special counsel Wednesday morning, Republicans cast their president as the victim of an illegitimate, partisan witch hunt -- which nevertheless totally exonerated him of all wrongdoing. Specifically, GOP lawmakers asserted that the Mueller investigation had concluded that neither Trump nor anyone in his campaign 'colluded, collaborated or conspired with the Russians'; that this finding was inevitable, since the entire investigation was triggered by a fraudulent dossier; that Trump knew he was entirely innocent and therefore could have legitimately ended Mueller's probe if he'd wished; that Trump nevertheless graciously refrained from impeding the investigation; and that Mueller ultimately betrayed Trump's good-faith cooperation by releasing an 'extra prosecutorial' analysis of the president's potential acts of obstruction, in defiance of Justice Department regulations and the core principles of the American legal system. All of which were lies." [Levitz writes] "a quick debunking of the five false premises in the GOP's counternarrative[.]"

David Corn of Mother Jones: "Whether or not Trump engaged in active collusion with Vladimir Putin's regime, he gained the presidency with covert foreign assistance and then abandoned his most fundamental duty: to protect the United States. Arguably, this is more significant than the obstruction issue, for Trump has permitted a foreign power to get away with perverting the foundation of American democracy.... A US election was hijacked. Trump stood by as it happened and profited from it. And ever since he has attempted to cover up this original sin of his presidency. At the hearing..., in the quiet way of an institutionalist who respects norms and rules, Mueller made it clear: Trump engaged in treachery. This is not news. But it remains a defining element of the Trump presidency that deserves constant attention."

Politico Magazine rounds up some legal experts' opinions on the effects of the hearings.

Michael Shear of the New York Times: "President Trump started shouting on Twitter before 7 a.m. on Wednesday, venting about what he called the 'Greatest Witch Hunt in U.S. history' as Robert S. Mueller III, the special counsel, was headed to Capitol Hill to testify in the Russia inquiry.... By 8:10, the president had posted seven more times, delivering a kind of Twitter greatest hits -- punctuated by capital letters and exclamation points -- in which he portrayed himself as the innocent victim of an illegal crusade by Mr. Mueller, Democrats and the country's intelligence community. He said that his accusers were part of an 'illegal and treasonous attack on our Country.'... On Tuesday, Mr. Trump had shrugged off the impending testimony, telling reporters that he would not watch the hearings on Wednesday, then admitting that 'maybe I'll see a little bit of it.' But the president's early morning online activities betrayed his real intentions, indicating once again that Mr. Trump appeared consumed by the investigation that had dominated much of his presidency.... Wednesday morning, Mr. Trump appeared to threaten Mr. Mueller with prosecution for lying to Congress if the special counsel claimed during his testimony that he did not apply for the job of F.B.I. Director the day before he was appointed to lead the Russia probe. 'Hope he doesn't say that under oath in that we have numerous witnesses to the interview, including the Vice President of the United States!.'..." ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: On that last point, it looks as if Mueller's friend Bill Barr will be prosecuting him. During the hearing, Louie Goemert asked a question predicated on the assertion that Mueller applied to Trump for the FBI job. Though Goemert was talking over Mueller, I believe Mueller said something to the effect of "I didn't apply for the job." Update: Later, Greg Steube (R) asked Mueller about applying for the FBI job, & Mueller said he did not. He said the purpose of the interview with Trump was to inform Trump about what the FBI director's job involved (paraphrase). Get out your handcuffs, Sheriff Bill. ...

... Mrs. McCrabbie: One thing I found funny: a Democrat (I forget who) asked Mueller to put his conclusions on obstruction in plain English so the American people could understand what-all he found. Mueller's response: "The president was not exculpated for the acts that he allegedly committed." Exculpated? Really? What percentage of voters knows what that means? Plain English for thee, Bob, but not for me.

Nicholas Fandos of the New York Times writes a fairly good summary of "what we learned" from the hearings.

On substance, Democrats got what they wanted: that Mueller didn't charge Pres. Trump because of the OLC guidance, that he could be indicted after he leaves office, among other things. But on optics, this was a disaster. -- Chuck Todd, in a tweet, Wednesday ...

... Annals of "Journalism," Ctd. Maria Bustillos in the Columbia Journalism Review: "... Chuck Todd managed to demonstrate, with uncharacteristic brevity, his basic misunderstanding of the requirements of his job[.]... Todd's focus on the 'entertainment' aspect of politics coverage is often in evidence -- for example, in his own recent performance as moderator in the Democratic presidential debate. He managed to talk more than all but three of the candidates, even as he demanded that they keep their own answers brief.... For Chuck Todd all the political world's a stage, and he's the star. And it's not just Todd. Other MSNBC anchors reacted to the Mueller hearings similarly, finding fault with the Democrats', and Mueller's, lack of pizazz as performers." ...

... It Wasn't Just Chuck & the Gang. Matt Ford of the New Republic: "Even before Robert Mueller's appearance before Congress on Wednesday reached the halfway point, some [D.C. reporters] concluded that it was a major setback for impeaching ... Donald Trump.... The focus on congressional theatrics and [Mueller's] demeanor misses the point. In substantive terms, the former special counsel in the Russia investigation affirmed several key interpretations of his report and its findings.... While the political press was busy lamenting that Mueller didn't break character and accuse the president of impeachable crimes, it missed the news: Mueller, in his own way, underscored the case for Trump's impeachment.... It's no surprise that those who view impeachment as a cable-news narrative saw little of value in Mueller's hearing. There were no bombshells to be found, but that's largely because the bombs have already gone off." ...

... Michael Grynbaum of the New York Times has more on pundits' analysis of the Mueller's "performance." Mrs. McC: But I think the problems were not his sometimes shaky grasp of the particulars of the report (and that time he couldn't remember the word "conspiracy"), but his self-imposed limitations on his own testimony. There were no doubt some matters Mueller could not discuss for valid reasons like ongoing investigations & national security considerations. But, as Matthew Miller said (cited by Grynbaum), "It would have been better for him to come to Congress ready to answer questions about the president's conduct and how it should be interpreted, rather than punting over and over again." Exactly.

Senate GOP Responds to Mueller's Warnings about Foreign Election Interference. Jordain Carney of the Hill: "Senate Republicans blocked two election security bills and a cybersecurity measure on Wednesday in the wake of ... Robert Mueller warning about meddling attempts during his public testimony before congressional lawmakers. Democrats tried to get consent to pass two bills that would require campaigns to alert the FBI and Federal Election Commission about foreign offers of assistance, as well as a bill to let the Senate Sergeant at Arms offer voluntary cyber assistance for personal devices and accounts of senators and staff. But Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-Miss.) blocked each of the bills. She didn't give reason for her objections, or say if she was objecting o behalf of herself or the Senate GOP caucus." Mrs. McC: Apparently GOP senators are assuming all the foreign hacking & fake Facebook posts will inure to their benefit.


Zachary Cohen & Betsy Klein of CNN: "... Donald Trump has vetoed three joint resolutions prohibiting arms sales to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, the White House announced Wednesday, rejecting an attempt by congressional lawmakers to halt the controversial weapons transfers. In messages to the Senate, Trump announced he was returning the bipartisan bills that would have blocked licensing for certain arms sales in Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, the UK, France, Spain and Italy."

Andrew Desiderio of Politico: "The Justice Department will not bring criminal charges against Attorney General William Barr and Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross after the Democrat-led House voted last week to hold them in contempt. In a letter to Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Wednesday, Deputy Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen said the Cabinet officials' defiance of congressional subpoenas seeking information about the 2020 census 'did not constitute a crime.' Lawmakers never expected the Justice Department to prosecute its own leader and another cabinet official, but Rosen's letter represented the department's formal response to a House vote that, in effect, referred Barr and Ross for criminal prosecution."

Andrew Harris of Bloomberg: "... Donald Trump asked a federal judge for an emergency order keeping House Democrats from getting -- or even asking for -- his New York State tax returns. One day after the president sued to block the House Ways and Means Committee from obtaining those records under a newly enacted New York State law, he petitioned the court to stifle any such request before it's made by Committee Chairman Richard Neal [D-Mass.]... U.S. District Judge Trevor McFadden in Washington set a July 25 hearing on Trump's request. Neal hasn't committed to asking for the returns. They were placed within reach by the TRUST Act, a measure signed into law by Governor Andrew Cuomo earlier this month. It compels the state's tax department to comply with the House committee records requests. Trump wants the court to invalidate the law too."

Camilo Montoya-Galvez of CBS News: "Delivering a painful defeat to the Trump administration's most sweeping effort to single-handedly overhaul the asylum system without Congress, a federal judge on Wednesday blocked a rule that made most migrants from Central America and other countries ineligible for asylum at the U.S.-Mexico border. Judge Jon Tigar of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California agreed to issue a temporary injunction halting the policy while he reviews the merits of a legal challenge spearheaded by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). In his order, Tigar seemed to agree with the concerns raised by the plaintiffs that policy could result in the U.S. government sending asylum seekers back to dangerous circumstances just because they did not seek protection in countries like Mexico." Thanks to Ken W. for the link.

Jonathan Dienst & Tom Winter of NBC News: "Jeffrey Epstein, the millionaire financier who is being held on federal sex trafficking charges, was found injured and in a fetal position in his cell at a New York City jail, sources close to the investigation told NBC News on Wednesday night. Epstein, 66, was found semi-conscious with marks on his neck in his cell at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in Manhattan some time in the last two days, the sources said. Epstein is on suicide watch, two sources said. Two sources told NBC News that Epstein may have tried to hang himself, while a third source cautioned that the injuries weren't serious, questioning whether Epstein might have staged an attack or a suicide attempt to get a transfer to another facility."

Beyond the Beltway

** Puerto Rico. Patricia Mazzei & Frances Robles of the New York Times: "Gov. Ricardo A. Rosselló of Puerto Rico announced his resignation on Wednesday night, conceding that he could no longer credibly remain in power after an extraordinary popular uprising and looming impeachment proceedings had derailed his administration. In a statement posted online just before midnight, Mr. Rosselló, 40, said he would step down on Aug. 2. He said his successor for the moment would be the secretary of justice, Wanda Vázquez, a former district attorney who once headed the island's office of women's affairs. Ms. Vázquez was next in line under the commonwealth's Constitution because the secretary of state, who would have succeeded Mr. Rosselló as governor, resigned last week when he also was caught up in a chat scandal that enveloped the administration."

Way Beyond

So Boris Johnson -- the "Britain Trump," according to the United States Trump -- is now the Britain Prime Minister. He has been to London to visit the Queen. ...

... Maybe Elizabeth will like him, because "her people" picked him out. Joe Roberts of U.K. Metro News: "Boris Johnson has been elected as prime minister by 92,000 people who are predominately male, white, middle-class pensioners. It's not the first time a prime minister has been elected without a general election, but many are questioning why our new leader should be chosen by 0.14 per cent of Britain's population. Experts have looked closely at the Conservative membership and found it is 'entirely unrepresentative' of the general population based on gender, wealth, ethnicity and their hard-line attitudes against Brussels. Research has confirmed that 70% of party members are male and 97% are white British. The average age is 57, although over 40% of the group is aged 65 or above." Eighty-six percent are wealthy.

News Lede

New York Times: "Never in recorded history has Paris been hotter than it was on Thursday. The same was true of Belgium, Germany and the Netherlands, as temperatures rose and records tumbled one by one across Western Europe, scorching the continent and sending residents scrambling to seek relief from a dangerous heat wave. In Paris, the temperature soared to 42.6 degrees Celsius (108.7 Fahrenheit), breaking a record set in 1947, 40.4 degrees Celsius, according to the French national weather service, which said the temperatures could rise further. Some 20 million people in northern France were expected to be affected by the heat."

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Tuesday
Jul232019

The Commentariat -- July 24, 2019

Late Morning/Afternoon Update:

In the Intelligence Committee hearing, Mueller told Rep. Mike Quigley (D-Ill.) that Trump's repeated public embrace of WikiLeaks -- which he had identified earlier as "a hostile foreign entity" -- was more than problematic: "Problematic is an understatement in terms of what it displays, giving some hope or some boost to what is and should be illegal activity."

... Also in the Intelligence Committee hearing, Rep. Sean Maloney (D-NY) asked Mueller why he didn't pursue a subpoena of Trump. A very interesting exchange:

... Another highlight of the afternoon hearing: PBS: "... Robert Mueller told Rep. Val Demings, D-Fla., that ... Donald Trump did not answer many questions that were asked as part of the Russia investigation. 'Isn't it fair to say that the president's written answers were not only inadequate and incomplete, because he didn't answer many of your questions, but where he did that his answers showed he wasn't always being truthful?' Demings asked Mueller. 'I would say generally,' Mueller said":

Jerry Nadler began the questioning of Robert Mueller, in what was a highlight of this morning's Judiciary Committee hearing:

... Ted Lieu elicits the most significant response from Mueller re: obstruction:

      ... Ted Lieu is one of the sharpest tacks on the board. Update: Mueller tried to clean up his response to Lieu during the afternoon session before the House Intelligence Committee, "correcting" his answer to say he "did not make a determination" on obstruction. So Wow! followed by "never mind." ...

     ... Here are Andrew Desiderio & Kyle Cheney of Politico on the correction: "Mueller, however, corrected himself during the second portion of his testimony before the House Intelligence Committee, saying, 'That is not the correct way to say it.' Mueller clarified his response by noting instead that the Justice Department policy that prohibits the indictment of a sitting president meant that he 'did not reach a determination as to whether the president committed a crime.'" That's not quite a reversal of his initial testimony. The Politico report is a pretty good summary of what's transpired so far.

Michael Shear of the New York Times: "President Trump started shouting on Twitter before 7 a.m. on Wednesday, venting about what he called the 'Greatest Witch Hunt in U.S. history' as Robert S. Mueller III, the special counsel, was headed to Capitol Hill to testify in the Russia inquiry.... By 8:10, the president had posted seven more times, delivering a kind of Twitter greatest hits --; punctuated by capital letters and exclamation points -- in which he portrayed himself as the innocent victim of an illegal crusade by Mr. Mueller, Democrats and the country's intelligence community. He said that his accusers were part of an 'illegal and treasonous attack on our Country.'... On Tuesday, Mr. Trump had shrugged off the impending testimony, telling reporters that he would not watch the hearings on Wednesday, then admitting that 'maybe I'll see a little bit of it.' But the president's early morning online activities betrayed his real intentions, indicating once again that Mr. Trump appeared consumed by the investigation that had dominated much of his presidency.... Wednesday morning, Mr. Trump appeared to threaten Mr. Mueller with prosecution for lying to Congress if the special counsel claimed during his testimony that he did not apply for the job of F.B.I. Director the day before he was appointed to lead the Russia probe. 'Hope he doesn't say that under oath in that we have numerous witnesses to the interview, including the Vice President of the United States!.'..." ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: On that last point, it looks as if Mueller's friend Bill Barr will be prosecuting him. During the hearing, Louie Goemert asked a question predicated on the assertion that Mueller applied to Trump for the FBI job. Though Goemert was talking over Mueller, I believe Mueller said something to the effect of "I didn't apply for the job." Update: Later, Greg Steube (R) asked Mueller about applying for the FBI job, & Mueller said he did not. He said the purpose of the interview with Trump was to inform Trump about what the FBI director's job involved (paraphrase). Get out your handcuffs, Sheriff Bill.

~~~~~~~~~~

... Again. New York Times reporters are liveblogging the Mueller hearings. There is also a livefeed of the hearings on the linked page. ...

... Robert Mueller is scheduled to begin testifying before the House Judiciary Committee Wednesday morning at 8:30 am ET.

Morgan Chalfont of the Hill: "House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) on Tuesday told former special counsel Robert Mueller that the Justice Department's instruction that he limit his testimony to the four corners of his public report should have 'no bearing' on his congressional appearance. Schiff, who wrote to Mueller on the eve of his highly-anticipated testimony on Capitol Hill, also accused the Justice Department of trying to obstruct legitimate investigations by Congress by saying that Mueller's testimony should remain within the boundaries of his 448-page redacted report. 'The DOJ Letter attempts unduly to circumscribe your testimony and represents yet another attempt by the Trump Administration to obstruct the authorized oversight activity and legitimate investigations of the Committee,' Schiff wrote to Mueller in a letter provided by a committee aide Tuesday evening." ...

... Lawrence O'Donnell reported that Jerry Nadler, the Judiciary Committee chair, wrote a similar letter to Mueller Tuesday night. The letter seems to be consistent with remarks Nadler made in a CNN interview earlier in the day.

Nicholas Fandos of the New York Times: "Robert S. Mueller III's longtime right-hand aide will appear beside him at the witness table during Wednesday's hearing with the House Judiciary Committee to assist as needed as the former special counsel answers questions about his investigation, people familiar with the hearing said. The Judiciary Committee signed off on the unusual arrangement after Mr. Mueller made a last-minute request that the aide, Aaron Zebley, be sworn in as a witness alongside him. If Democrats had agreed, lawmakers could have questioned Mr. Zebley directly, potentially upending carefully laid plans by Democrats and Republicans over how to use their scant time with Mr. Mueller. Instead, as a counsel to Mr. Mueller, Mr. Zebley will not be under oath or theoretically allowed to answer lawmakers' queries. But he can confer privately with Mr. Mueller, 74, if the former special counsel needs assistance or guidance about how to respond." ...

... Rachel Maddow reported that in the Intelligence Committee hearing, Aaron Zebley will be sworn in, so he will be answering questions. This is an agreement that was just reached Tuesday night between Mueller & the Intel Committee. ...

So Robert Mueller has now asked for his long time Never Trumper lawyer to sit beside him and help with answers. What's this all about? His lawyer represented the 'basement server guy' who got off free in the Crooked Hillary case. This should NOT be allowed. Rigged Witch Hunt! -- Donald Trump, in a tweet late Tuesday ...

Here's who Trump means by basement server guy." -- Mrs. Bea McCrabbie ...

... Surprise! "Executive Time" Runs All Day Today. John Bowden of the Hill: "President Trump's schedule remains open for most of Wednesday as former special counsel Robert Mueller plans to testify before Congress on his investigation into Russia's election interference. A White House press guidance released Tuesday evening showed no events scheduled until late in the afternoon, when Trump is expected to ... [travel] to Wheeling, Va., where he will hold a campaign rally.... Trump has insisted in recent days that he does not plan to watch the full hearing, clarifying to reporters that he may see 'a little bit' of it during the day. 'No, I&'m not going to be watching -- probably -- maybe I'll see a little bit of it. I'm not going to be watching Mueller because you can't take all those bites out of the apple,' Trump said on Monday."

I was surprised to hear there was anything negative in the Mueller report at all about President Trump. I hadn't heard that before. I've mainly listened to conservative news and I hadn't heard anything negative about that report, and President Trump has been exonerated. -- Cathy Garnaat, a Republican voter who attended Justin Amash's May town hall in which he explained why he supported impeaching Trump

Lies & the Lying Liars Who Tell Them. Elaina Plott of the Atlantic: Garnatt's "words represent a perception gap distilled, a tidy summary of how many Americans navigated the space between commentary on the Mueller report and the report itself. They underscore just how successfully Attorney General William Barr exploited that space, harnessing the power of television to set the narrative of the report.... And they affirm the challenge Democrats face ... in their attempt to make Mueller's words resonate when, in an era defined by the laws of entertainment, they may well have missed their moment.... In the Trump era, most stories have a day- or even an hour-long shelf life, meaning the immediate spin on the most crucial of events is often the one most likely to stick." ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: I'm guessing "No Collusion! No Obstruction!" will be PolitiFact's Lie of the Year. I know it's mine. But it won't matter. Every elected Republican is happy to ride that lie into battle as if it were a great white armored steed. The party is 100 percent corrupt. I'd like to hear Bob Mueller today say unequivocally, "'No Collusion! No Obstruction!' is a lie." But he's a Republican, and that would be, you know, "outside the four corners of the report."

Martin Matishak of Politico: "House and Senate Democrats on Tuesday used the pending testimony from former special counsel Robert Mueller to launch a full-scale assault on Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell over his ongoing efforts to block congressional efforts to pass election security legislation. 'The only people that are stopping these kinds of common-sense measures from becoming law of the land are ... leader McConnell and President Trump,' Sen. Mark Warner of Virginia, the Senate Intelligence Committee's top Democrat, said during a Capitol Hill press conference. While Republicans and Democrats alike have attempted to pass a variety of legislation to improve election security over the past two years in response to Russian interference, McConnell has repeatedly stood in the way of the bills and argued against the need for a greater federal role to protect voting." ...

... Doina Chiacu of Reuters: "Russia is determined to interfere in U.S. elections despite sanctions and other efforts to deter such actions before the next presidential election in 2020, FBI Director Christopher Wray said on Tuesday ... during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing."

Kevin Breuninger of CNBC: "... Donald Trump on Tuesday filed a lawsuit against the Democrat-led House Ways and Means Committee, as well as New York state's attorney general and its tax chief, to block the disclosure of years of his tax returns. The president's lawsuit, which was filed 'in his capacity as a private citizen,' came less than a month after the Ways and Means Committee sued the Treasury Department and the Internal Revenue Service to obtain Trump's federal returns. Trump's new legal action intervenes in that suit, according to the complaint filed in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C." Mrs. McC: Trump must have some mighty high crimes & misdemeanors hiding in those returns. The backdrop for this suit is that for the last half-century, all major-party presidential nominees have released at least some tax returns, including rich candidates like Mitt Romney & the Bushes.

Trump Lies to Kids about President Powers, Democrats, Other Stuff. Zack Ford of ThinkProgress: "... Donald Trump was candid about the unlimited power he believes he has during a speech at the Turning Point USA Teen Student Action Summit on Tuesday. After reasserting that investigations into Russia's election meddling found 'no collusion,' Trump claimed, 'Then I have an Article II, where I have the right to do whatever I want as President. But, I don';t even talk about that ... because they did a report and there was no obstruction.'... In recent months, the president has ramped up his rhetoric on the topic, signaling both his misunderstanding of the executive powers outlined in the Constitution as well as his intent to abuse them.... The rest of Trump's speech Tuesday was chock full of extremism. He reiterated his attacks on several congresswomen of color and lied about voter fraud to claim that the elections in California and other states were 'rigged' thanks to undocumented immigrants." Mrs. McC: Trump's lies, especially when directed at teenagers, should constitute an impeachable offense, IMO. ...

They vote many times, not just twice, not just three times. They vote -- it's like a circle. They come back; they put a new hat on. They come back; they put a new shirt. And in many cases, they don't even do that. You know what's going on. It's a rigged deal. -- Donald Trump, "explaining" to teenagers how undocumented workers vote in the U.S. ...

... Katie Rogers of the New York Times: "President Trump on Tuesday repackaged campaign rally red meat into child-size portions for a gathering of young supporters.... The president ... used his time at the conference to paint a dark picture of immigrants and the election system, falsely claiming that undocumented immigrants can vote, and then accusing the election system in states like California of being rigged.... [He] again said [Rep. Alexandria] Ocasio-Cortez had called Americans 'garbage.' She did not.... 'She's vicious,' Mr. Trump said ... about ... Representative Rashida Tlaib of Michigan. 'She's like a crazed lunatic.'" Mrs. McC: Projection, Donald?

Josh Gerstein of Politico: "A federal jury on Tuesday convicted Bijan Rafiekian, a former business partner of Michael Flynn [& an advisor to Trump's transition team], on a pair of foreign-agent felony charges stemming from work the two men did for Turkish interests during the final months of the Trump presidential campaign in 2016. The verdicts, returned by jurors in Alexandria, Va., after a weeklong trial and only about four hours of deliberation, amount to a belated courtroom victory for special counsel Robert Mueller, who investigated the $600,000 lobbying and public relations contract at the heart of the case and then handed the matter off to other federal prosecutors...." The prosecution hit a major snag when prosecutors determined that Flynn -- who was to be a key witness in the trial -- "submitted false information" to the DOJ. "In Flynn's absence, prosecutors relied on emails, Skype chats and other witnesses to make their case...."

They're saying 'Britain Trump' They call him Britain Trump, and people are saying that's a good thing. They like me over there. That's what they wanted. That's what they need. -- Donald Trump, referring to Boris Johnson in a speech Tuesday

"They" may call Boorish Johnson "the British Trump," but no English-speaking person without a language disorder calls him "Britain Trump." -- Mrs. Bea McCrabbie ...

... Edward Wong & David Sanger of the New York Times: "With his showmanship, his fondness for broad declarations and his transactional politics, [Boris] Johnson, or 'BoJo' as he is commonly known, is cut from Trumpian cloth. 'Britain is in an existential crisis, and the U.S. is in a form of crisis,' said R. Nicholas Burns, one of the top State Department officials under former President George W. Bush. 'Both of their leaders are mercurial, and they're entirely unpredictable.'... Both men are forces looking to shatter decades-old institutions that have bound together Western democracies. Mr. Trump has talked of withdrawing from the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, while Mr. Johnson aims to carry out Brexit, Britain's divisive plan to leave the European Union -- even if he has to do it without an agreement wit Brussels."

Potemkin Village, HHS-Style. Emily Green of Vice: "When the Department of Health and Human Services wanted to show how well it was treating unaccompanied minors in its custody, it invited journalists and politicians to visit a new emergency shelter in Carrizo Springs, Texas, which had soccer fields, a gazebo, and well-equipped classrooms. Yet less than a month after it opened, that facility is shutting down...." Emphasis added. Read on. (Also linked yesterday.) ...

... Graham Kates of CBS News: "An unprecedented number of unaccompanied migrant children are at risk of spending the rest of their childhoods in federal custody, CBS News learned in an exclusive interview with the head of the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR), the agency that cares for these children.... 'Unfortunately, I have well over 4,000 of those children in my care at this time...,' the director, Jonathan Hayes, told CBS News in June. 'So conceivably someone could come into our care at 15 years old and not have an identifiable sponsor in the United States and remain with us for a few years.' On their 18th birthdays, many of the children will be taken from ORR's youth holding facilities, referred to as shelters, to adult detention centers operated by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). The number of children in this group has risen sharply in recent years, an 'alarming' and 'deeply concerning' trend, according to three former agency officials who spoke with CBS News." ...

... Miriam Jordan of the New York Times: "More than 2,000 migrants who were in the United States illegally were targeted in widely publicized raids that unfolded across the country last week. But figures the government provided to The New York Times on Monday show that just 35 people were detained in the operation." (Also linked yesterday.) ...

... Brooklyn Dance of the Tennessean: "Neighbors and activists gathered for hours in a Hermitage [-- a Nashville suburb --] driveway Monday morning while they said two Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers attempted to talk a man and his 12-year-old son into getting out of their van. Eventually, more than 10 bystanders linked arms around the van, creating a pathway for the pair to enter their house. ICE public information officer in Nashville Bryan Cox said the officers then drove away to deescalate the situation. Neighbors ... said they have seen an unmarked, white F-150 truck roaming the neighborhood for the past two weeks, but didn't think much of it until this morning, when the truck began to flash red and blue lights." Read on for how events unfolded....

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: Quite heartening. The Parable of the Good Samaritan is one answer to the question, "Who is my neighbor?" So is the Parable of the Good People of Nashville. Go & do likewise. ...

... Obed Manual in the Dallas Morning News: "An 18-year-old Dallas-born U.S. citizen has been in the custody of U.S. Customs and Border Protection and Immigration and Customs Enforcement for more than three weeks, his attorney says. Now his family fears he may be deported.... [Francisco] Galicia wasn't allowed to use the phone for the three weeks he was in CBP custody, [his mother] said. Francisco's brother Marlon, who was born in Mexico, signed a voluntary deportation form after the CBP detained him for two days. "The Dallas Morning News reviewed a copy of the birth certificate [which Francisco's mother presented to CBP officials] and it lists Galicia as having been born at Parkland Memorial Hospital on December 24, 2000." Mrs. McC: Yes, but he "looks Mexican." (Also linked yesterday.) ...

     ... Update. Obed Manuel in the Dallas Morning News: "Francisco Erwin Galicia, the Dallas-born U.S. citizen who spent three weeks in U.S. Customs and Border Protection and Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody, was released Tuesday afternoon. Galicia's case garnered national attention. The Dallas Morning News first reported on Monday that the 18-year-old had been held in CBP and ICE custody since June 27.... Galicia's detention appears to have been a bureaucratic mix up related to the fact that he had a U.S. birth certificate and also, years earlier, a Mexican visitor's visa to travel to the U.S. from Mexico. Neither ICE nor CBP have responded to repeated requests for comment.... [Francisco's brother Marlong, who was born in Mexico, & traveled with Francisco to Mexico,] was deported ... and is now in Reynosa[, Mexico,] with his grandmother." There were some complications because Francisco also held a visitors visa that falsely claim[ed] that he was born in Mexico." As Chris Hayes put in Tuesday night, Francisco was detained "because of the color of his skin."

Thanks, Betsy! Erica Green & Stacy Cowley of the New York Times: "Dream Center Education Holdings, a subsidiary of a Los Angeles-based megachurch, had no experience in higher education when it petitioned the federal Education Department to let it take over a troubled chain of for-profit trade schools.... The purchase was blessed [by the Education Department] despite Dream Center's lack of experience and questionable finances by an administration favorable to for-profit education. But barely a year later, the company tumbled into insolvency, dozens of its colleges closed abruptly and thousands of students were left with no degree after paying tens of thousands of dollars in tuition.... Company emails, documents and recordings show that part of why Dream Center kept going is that it thought the Education Department, which under [Betsy] DeVos has rolled back regulations on for-profit education, would try to keep it from failing. Mr. Barton emailed other Dream Center executives that the department's head of higher education policy -- Diane Auer Jones, a former executive and lobbyist for for-profit colleges -- had pulled strings to help the company's schools in their effort to regain a seal of approval from an accreditor, despite their perilous positions. In another instance, Dream Center's chief operating officer told faculty at an endangered campus that Ms. Jones was changing departmental regulations to help the schools obtain accreditation retroactively." (Also linked yesterday.)

Daisuke Wakabayashi, et al., of the New York Times: "The Justice Department said on Tuesday that it would start an antitrust review into how internet giants had accumulated market power and whether they had acted to reduce competition. Similar inquiries are underway in Congress and at the Federal Trade Commission, which shares antitrust oversight responsibilities with the Justice Department.... Attorney General William P. Barr himself has plunged into the conversation about tech power. On Tuesday, he said in a speech in Manhattan that tech companies should stop using advanced encryption and other security measures that effectively turn devices into 'law-free zones,' essentially criticizing Apple and its iPhones without naming them." ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: If this were a normal administration, you would consider the DOJ's investigation to be a good thing, but I suspect the "antitrust review" will end up focusing on how social media are so unfair to Donald Trump & his loony, white-nationalist, conspiracy-theorizing backers.

** Emily Cochrane of the New York Times: "Thousands of emergency workers who rushed to the rubble of the World Trade Center after the Sept. 11 attacks will be granted health care and other compensation for the rest of their lives. The Senate on Tuesday gave final approval to legislation that would care permanently for those who have grown deathly ill from the toxins of ground zero. White House officials said President Trump was expected to sign it. Even before the Senate's 97-to-2 vote was gaveled to a close, retired New York firefighters and police officers, advocates and Jon Stewart, the comedian who championed the legislation, had leapt to their feet in the usually hushed chamber to lead a standing ovation.... Senators rejected two amendments that sought to curtail the measure's cost.... One of those amendments, introduced by Senator Rand Paul, Republican of Kentucky, would have offset the cost of the legislation with spending cuts. Another, proposed by Senator Mike Lee, Republican of Utah, would have capped the fund at the Congressional Budget Office's $10.2 billion estimate over the next 10 years.... Mr. Lee and Mr. Paul were the only 'no' votes...." ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: Both Paul & Lee voted for Trump's deficit-ballooning massive tax cut for corporations & rich people. So that's a yes for rich people & a no for first responders. As for Trump's signing the bill, that's pro forma since Congress could override a veto.

Kadia Goba, et al., of BuzzFeed News: “The House voted overwhelmingly Tuesday night to formally oppose the Palestinian-backed movement to boycott Israel, over the objections of Reps. Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib. The measure, H.Res.246 opposes 'efforts to delegitimize the State of Israel and the Global Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions Movement [BDS] targeting Israel,' according to the bill's text. BDS -- a movement which began in 2005 -- calls for groups to apply economic pressure to Israel to achieve Palestinian independence in the Middle East. The Senate passed a similar bill amid concerns that the legislation violates the First Amendment. The bill passed the House Tuesday 398-17 with five members voting 'present' to abstain from the vote. Sixteen Democrats opposed the bill, including Omar and Tlaib. Just one Republican voted against the measure, Rep. Thomas Massie."

Ryan Browne of CNN: "The Senate Tuesday voted overwhelmingly 90 to 8 to confirm ... Donald Trump's pick for secretary of defense, Mark Esper, giving the Pentagon its first permanent chief since James Mattis stepped down in January. While he received broad bipartisan backing, several Democratic presidential hopefuls including Sens. Kirsten Gillibrand, Kamala Harris, Cory Booker, Amy Klobuchar and Elizabeth Warren voted against Esper who had been Army Secretary and had briefly served as the acting secretary of defense after Trump's initial pick to replace Mattis, Patrick Shanahan's nomination dramatically imploded last month."

Presidential Race 2020. Hassan Kanuof & Andrew Wallander of Bloomberg: "Sen. Bernie Sanders' (I-Vt.) 2020 presidential campaign has been hit with an unfair labor practice complaint alleging illegal employee interrogation and retaliation against staffers. The July 19 complaint to the National Labor Relations Board, filed by an unnamed individual in Indiana, was posted to the agency's website late July 22. It comes as tense negotiations between the Sanders campaign and the union representing staffers recently boiled over publicly. The Washington Post reported July 23 that unionized organizers for the campaign had won a pay raise and reached a compromise to reduce the hours of some workers.... The charge [on the NLRB docket] also alleges that the campaign unlawfully discharged an employee, modified a labor contract, and engaged in illegal discipline.... Sanders has made worker rights a key part of this platform in the race for the Democrat White house nomination." ...

... Devan Cole of CNN: "Sen. Bernie Sanders said Tuesday that his campaign has reached a deal with its unionized staffers to increase their pay following negotiations, defusing an issue that threatened to distract his populist messaging for higher wages.... Last week, Sanders defended the salary of his staffers, who unionized earlier this year, following a Washington Post report detailing campaign field staff's frustration that in some cases, long hours and six-day weeks were driving down their hourly compensation. 'I was insistent that everybody on our staff make at least $15 an hour, and in fact they're making $17 an hour,' Sanders told CNN's Poppy Harlow on 'Newsroom' Tuesday. 'The offer that we made to the union several months ago would have accomplished that. And I'm happy to tell you, by the way, that offer was just accepted.'"

Congressional Race 2020. QAnon Candidate Challenges Ilhan Omar. Jared Holt of Right Wing Watch: "Danielle Stella, a Republican candidate seeking to unseat Rep. Ilhan Omar from the U.S. House of Representatives in 2020, firmly supports the QAnon conspiracy theory, according to someone identifying themselves as communications volunteer who responded to Right Wing Watch's inquiry. QAnon is a Trump-era phenomena centered on a conspiracy theory that alleges that Trump administration insiders have been dropping clues, in the form of cryptic riddles posted on anonymous imageboards, about a supposed secret plan to take down the 'deep state' and a worldwide network of satanic pedophiles said to include A-list Hollywood figures and top-level Democrats. Believers, who call themselves' anons,' dedicate themselves to decoding the posts."

Trump's Tweets & Fox "News" Led to Pipe Bombs. Ryan Reilly of the Huffington Post: "Cesar Sayoc, the fanatical Donald Trump fan who mailed package bombs to the president's political opponents, is a cognitively limited sexual abuse survivor who thought of the now-president as a 'surrogate father' and came to believe in an 'alternative reality' fueled in part by Trump's attacks on his political opponents, his attorneys told a federal court on Monday. Sayoc has admitted to mailing pipe bombs to Democratic politicians, media figures and celebrities he perceived as Trump's enemies last fall, and pleaded guilty to several federal crimes in March.... 'A rational observer may have brushed off Trump's tweets as hyperbole, but Mr. Sayoc took them to heart,' according to Sayoc's attorneys.... Sayoc 'began watching Fox News religiously,' started following political news on Facebook and and 'threw himself into' Trump's campaign...." (Also linked yesterday.)

David Enrich & Jo Becker of the New York Times: "As Deutsche Bank officials this year scrambled to extricate themselves from a yearslong relationship with Jeffrey Epstein..., they uncovered suspicious transactions in which Mr. Epstein had moved money out of the United States. Deutsche Bank reported the transactions to a federal agency in charge of policing financial crimes, according to three people familiar with the bank&'s internal processes. The report came as the bank started looking for signs that Mr. Epstein was using his financial resources for the purposes of sex trafficking.... At least one bank dropped Mr. Epstein as a client in the years after his guilty plea. But it wasn't until late last year, after The Miami Herald published an investigation into the earlier sexual abuse allegations, that Deutsche Bank decided to sever ties with him.... Deutsche Bank officials are still trying to determine what Mr. Epstein was using his accounts for, including where and to whom he had previously moved money."

Beyond the Beltway

** Puerto Rico. Steve Almasy, et al., of CNN: "Puerto Rico Gov. Ricardo Rosselló is expected to resign Wednesday after more than a week of protests that rocked the island's capital city, a source familiar with the situation told CNN. Thousands have jammed the streets of San Juan calling for the governor's resignation after Puerto Rico's Center for Investigative Journalism published a series of group messages between the governor and his inner circle that included homophobic and misogynistic language and jokes about Hurricane Maria victims. Demonstrators were determined to stay on the streets until Rosselló stepped down, fed up with years of government corruption, high poverty rates, crushing debt and a painfully slow recovery since the 2017 disaster. Overnight Wednesday, an energetic crowd filled the streets outside the governor's mansion waving flags and banners after news of the governor's anticipated announcement broke." ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: Guess we'd better get out our flags & banners & march on the White House.

Way Beyond

Ben Westcott, et al., of CNN: "Warplanes from four countries faced off Tuesday in a chaotic and unprecedented confrontation above a small, disputed island off the coast of South Korea and Japan. South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff issued a statement claiming they had fired more than 300 warning shots at a Russian A-50 command and control military aircraft early Tuesday morning after it had twice violated the country's airspace, the first such incident between the countries. Moscow furiously denied Seoul's account of the encounter, claiming that South Korean military jets had dangerously intercepted two of its bombers during a planned flight over neutral waters. But in a statement Tuesday afternoon, Japan's Ministry of Defense backed up South Korea's claims, saying the A-50 had flown over the islands and that Tokyo had scrambled fighters to intercept. In a further complication, both South Korea and Japan said that two Chinese H-6 bombers had joined the Russian military aircraft on sorties through the region as well." (Also linked yesterday.)

Here's the New York Times' story, by Stephen Castle, on Boris Johnson's becoming Conservative party leader & new British PM. (Also linked yesterday.) ...

... "Ivanka Trump Congratulates Boris Johnson On Becoming PM Of Nonexistent Country." Lee Moran of the Huffington Post: "Ivanka Trump congratulated British lawmaker Boris Johnson for his imminent appointment as prime minister of the ... 'United Kingston' instead of United Kingdom." "Look Daddy.....I'm governmenting!!!" wrote Twitter wag Kim. Thanks to forrest m. for the link. (Also linked yesterday.)

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Monday
Jul222019

The Commentariat -- July 23, 2019

Late Morning/Afternoon Update:

Olivia Beavers & Morgan Chalfont of the Hill: "One of former special counsel Robert Mueller's deputies, Aaron Zebley, may accompany him for his public appearance before Congress on Wednesday, according to Republican lawmakers and multiple sources familiar with the internal discussions. One Democratic source said Zebley is likely to join Mueller at the witness table on Wednesday, though several sources described the situation as fluid. A Republican source said they were told by the Judiciary Committee that Mueller requested Zebley join him for his public testimony. A spokesman for Judiciary Chairman Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.) said as of Tuesday afternoon Mueller was the only witness expected for the hearing."

Here's the New York Times' story, by Stephen Castle, on Boris Johnson's becoming Conservative party leader & new British PM. More stories linked under Way Beyond the Beltway. ...

... "Ivanka Trump Congratulates Boris Johnson On Becoming PM Of Nonexistent Country." Lee Moran of the Huffington Post: "Ivanka Trump congratulated British lawmaker Boris Johnson for his imminent appointment as prime minister of the ... 'United Kingston' instead of United Kingdom." "Look Daddy.....I'm governmenting!!!" wrote Twitter wag Kim. Thanks to forrest m. for the link.

Potemkin Village, HHS-Style. Emily Green of Vice: "When the Department of Health and Human Services wanted to show how well it was treating unaccompanied minors in its custody, it invited journalists and politicians to visit a new emergency shelter in Carrizo Springs, Texas, which had soccer fields, a gazebo, and well-equipped classrooms. Yet less than a month after it opened, that facility is shutting down...." Emphasis added. Read on.

Miriam Jordan of the New York Times: "More than 2,000 migrants who were in the United States illegally were targeted in widely publicized raids that unfolded across the country last week. But figures the government provided to The New York Times on Monday show that just 35 people were detained in the operation."

Obed Manual in the Dallas Morning News: "An 18-year-old Dallas-born U.S. citizen has been in the custody of U.S. Customs and Border Protection and Immigration and Customs Enforcement for more than three weeks, his attorney says.... [Francisco] Galicia wasn't allowed to use the phone for the three weeks he was in CBP custody, [his mother] said. Francisco's brother Marlon, who was born in Mexico, signed a voluntary deportation form after the CBP detained him for two days. "The Dallas Morning News reviewed a copy of the birth certificate [which Francisco's mother presented to CBP officials] and it lists Galicia as having been born at Parkland Memorial Hospital on December 24, 2000." Mrs. McC: Yes, but he "looks Mexican."

Trump's Tweets Led to Pipe Bombs. Ryan Reilly of the Huffington Post: "Cesar Sayoc, the fanatical Donald Trump fan who mailed package bombs to the president's political opponents, is a cognitively limited sexual abuse survivor who thought of the now-president as a 'surrogate father' and came to believe in an 'alternative reality' fueled in part by Trump's attacks on his political opponents, his attorneys told a federal court on Monday. Sayoc has admitted to mailing pipe bombs to Democratic politicians, media figures and celebrities he perceived as Trump's enemies last fall, and pleaded guilty to several federal crimes in March.... 'A rational observer may have brushed off Trump's tweets as hyperbole, but Mr. Sayoc took them to heart,' according to Sayoc's attorneys."

Thanks, Betsy! Erica Green & Stacy Cowley of the New York Times: "Dream Center Education Holdings, a subsidiary of a Los Angeles-based megachurch, had no experience in higher education when it petitioned the federal Education Department to let it take over a troubled chain of for-profit trade schools.... The purchase was blessed [by the Education Department] despite Dream Center's lack of experience and questionable finances by an administration favorable to for-profit education. But barely a year later, the company tumbled into insolvency, dozens of its colleges closed abruptly and thousands of students were left with no degree after paying tens of thousands of dollars in tuition.... Company emails, documents and recordings show that part of why Dream Center kept going is that it thought the Education Department, which under [Betsy] DeVos has rolled back regulations on for-profit education, would try to keep it from failing. Mr. Barton emailed other Dream Center executives that the department's head of higher education policy -- Diane Auer Jones, a former executive and lobbyist for for-profit colleges -- had pulled strings to help the company's schools in their effort to regain a seal of approval from an accreditor, despite their perilous positions. In another instance, Dream Center's chief operating officer told faculty at an endangered campus that Ms. Jones was changing departmental regulations to help the schools obtain accreditation retroactively."

Ben Westcott, et al., of CNN: "Warplanes from four countries faced off Tuesday in a chaotic and unprecedented confrontation above a small, disputed island off the coast of South Korea and Japan. South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff issued a statement claiming they had fired more than 300 warning shots at a Russian A-50 command and control military aircraft early Tuesday morning after it had twice violated the country's airspace, the first such incident between the countries. Moscow furiously denied Seoul's account of the encounter, claiming that South Korean military jets had dangerously intercepted two of its bombers during a planned flight over neutral waters. But in a statement Tuesday afternoon, Japan's Ministry of Defense backed up South Korea's claims, saying the A-50 had flown over the islands and that Tokyo had scrambled fighters to intercept. In a further complication, both South Korea and Japan said that two Chinese H-6 bombers had joined the Russian military aircraft on sorties through the region as well."

~~~~~~~~~~

** Emily Cochrane, et al., of the New York Times: "White House and congressional negotiators reached accord on a two-year budget on Monday that would raise spending caps and lift the government's debt ceiling, likely averting a fiscal crisis but splashing still more red ink on an already surging deficit. If passed by Congress and signed by President Trump, the deal would stop a potential debt default this fall and avoid automatic spending cuts next year. The agreement would also bring clarity about government spending over the rest of Mr. Trump's term.... The agreement, struck by Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, would raise spending by $320 billion, compared to the strict spending levels established in the 2011 Budget Control Act and set to go into effect next year without legislative action. Spending on domestic and military programs would increase equally, a key demand of Ms. Pelosi, offset by about $75 billion in spending cuts, far lower than the $150 billion in cuts that some White House officials initially demanded. The deal would lift the debt ceiling high enough to allow the government to keep borrowing for two more years, punting the next showdown past the 2020 elections." (Also linked yesterday.) ...

... John Bresnahan & Burgess Everett of Politico: "... Donald Trump may have to hand out some new nicknames -- for himself -- after endorsing a bipartisan budget deal with Congress: 'Trillion Dollar Trump?' 'Deficit Don?' With a new bipartisan budget deal that does nothing to cut federal spending, Trump is on track for another $1 trillion deficit this year. And there's no reason to believe the following fiscal year will be any different, with ballooning deficits from higher spending, the 2017 tax cuts -- Trump's signature legislative achievement, which slashed revenue -- and none of the entitlement reforms long preached by Republican leaders on Capitol Hill. Candidate Trump bragged that he would pay off the entire federal debt in eight years, but President Trump is governing as if deficits don't matter. In fact, Trump is approaching the level of red ink from President Barack Obama's first term, when Obama racked up trillion-dollar deficits four years in a row. Trump is on pace to do the same, starting with this year's yawning deficit of more than $1 trillion, according to budget estimates. But there are huge differences: Trump has a growing economy with historically low unemployment and a soaring stock market, while Obama was battling a brutal downturn in the economy during the worst recession in 80 years, making it much harder to curb federal spending." ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: It makes no sense to rack up deficits when the economy is in fairly good shape. The purpose of "fiat money" -- the government's ability to "print money" -- is to pump cash into the economy when it needs a boost during a recession or depression. But economists agree, in general, that the federal government should balance its budget & work toward getting the government in the black when the economy is mostly humming along because debt is expensive, especially when a good portion of that debt is to foreign entities. There can be exceptions: for instance, if government services like, say, infrastructure are in dire need of upgrades. (In theory, if all or most of the U.S.'s debt was owed to Americans, as it was after WWII, the national debt is not a net loss. Rather, it's a transfer from your grandkids to somebody else's grandkids or vice-versa.)

Almost every word out of Trump's mouth is a lie. Anderson Cooper calls him out:

... Michael Shear of the New York Times: "... ahead of the congressional hearings, Mr. Trump and his aides sought to dismiss them as nothing more than a desperate attempt to elicit from Mr. Mueller something that could justify impeachment proceedings. 'We had a total "no collusion" finding. The Democrats were devastated by it. They went crazy. They have gone off the deep end,' Mr. Trump said during a lengthy question-and-answer session with reporters in the Oval Office, adding, 'All they care about is a phony investigation.' Mr. Trump's comments came after he posted about Mr. Mueller on Twitter earlier in the day, calling him 'highly conflicted' and saying that his testimony would be 'bad for him and the phony Democrats in Congress who have done nothing but waste time on this ridiculous Witch Hunt.' The president's tone was echoed by his aides.... But even as the president railed against Mr. Mueller online and in person, he also sought to continue his criticism of four Democratic congresswomen of color after a week in which his tweets about them dominated news coverage.... 'The "Squad" is a very Racist group of troublemakers who are young, inexperienced, and not very smart,' Mr. Trump wrote. 'They are pulling the once great Democrat Party far left, and were against humanitarian aid at the Border...And are now against ICE and Homeland Security. So bad for our Country!'... Mr. Trump went on to claim that 'there's no racial tension' in the United States.... 'It's nonsense, O.K.,' he said, referring to the Russia inquiry but then mentioning last week's vote. 'They tried an impeachment vote and they got slaughtered last week. They got absolutely slaughtered. It was the most ridiculous -- I didn't even know they were going to do it.'" And so forth. ...

... Gail Collins & Bret Stephens of the New York Times argue about whether Trump is a vile, evil schemer or "just a raving imbecile." Mrs. McC: I'm going with both. ...

... Stifling Mueller. Bill Barr's DOJ Is at It Again. Eliana Johnson, et al., of Politico: "Justice Department officials have communicated to Robert Mueller that the department expects him to limit his congressional testimony this week to the public findings of his 448-page report, according to one current and one former U.S. official familiar with the preparations. In extensive discussions since the former special counsel was subpoenaed to testify on June 25, department officials have emphasized that they consider any evidence he gathered throughout the course of his investigation to be 'presumptively privileged' and shielded from public disclosure. The Justice Department is 'taking the position that anything outside the written pages of the report are things about which presidential privilege hasn't been waived,' the former U.S. official said. The White House and the Justice Department, meanwhile, have signaled they don't intend to place lawyers in the room during Mueller's highly-anticipated testimony...." (Also linked yesterday.) ...

... Oh, Wait. It Gets Worse. David Shortell, et al., of CNN: In the letter, Associate Deputy AG Bradley "Weinsheimer told Mueller that DOJ policy prevents him from commenting on the legal conclusions his office made 'with respect to uncharged individuals, other than information contained within the portions of your report that already have been made public.' Weinsheimer also said Mueller should not testify about portions of the public report that have been redacted or about uncharged third parties." Mrs. McC: So nothing about Trump Sr., Trump Jr., Jared Kushner, etc., etc. ...

... Fox "News" has Weinsheimer's letter here. ...

... Rebecca Fishbein of Splinter: "So, as expected, everyone glued to their TVs at 8:30 a.m. on Wednesday will more or less get a rehash of Amazon's #17 bestseller mashed up with a rotating series Congresspeople trying to shove in their 15 minutes (Mrs. McC: I think that's 5 minutes, but whatever). Democrats say they hope Mueller reiterating the report on live television will at least get people talking about impeachment again, but since the House's summer recess starts just a few days after Mueller testifies, that's probably a pipe dream. And in the end, after all this, President Trump will get to tweet some nonsense about how even dragging Mueller in front of Congress hasn't gotten him in any trouble. Anyway, Mueller would like everyone to know that he really doesn't want to do this, so thanks for fucking up his retirement." ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: Maybe Mueller will surprise us, but he is a No Surprises kind of guy, so the odds are long. Mueller has a history of doing "thorough" investigations & writing reports signifying little or nothing. I'd say Rod Rosenstein hired Mueller with Mueller's NFL whitewash in mind. Mueller knows who's paying his tab & he acts accordingly. The people the special counsel prosecuted were people of no consequence to Trump: a campaign manager & a national security advisor Trump had fired, a personal lawyer who "ratted," factotums whose names Trump probably can't remember (or spell), a bunch of Russian hackers who will never go to trial. If you think the fix was in from the get-go, you're probably not a ridiculous cynic or conspiracy theorist.

International Policy by Bluster. Jordan Fabian of the Hill: "President Trump said Monday he could end the war in Afghanistan 'in a week,' but that doing so would cause millions of deaths. Instead, the president said during a White House meeting with Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan that he wants Pakistan's help to bring an end to the nearly 18-year-old conflict.... 'If I wanted to win that war, Afghanistan would be wiped off the face of the earth.... It would be over in -- literally, in 10 days.'" ...

... But Wait. It Gets Worse. Jonathan Chait of New York: "India and Pakistan have been at daggers drawn over Kashmir for as long as both countries have existed.... It is, in short, a very sensitive topic. President Trump today announced, in a meeting with Pakistani prime minister Imran Khan, that Indian prime minister Narendra Modi had invited him to mediate the subject. India heatedly denied having extended such an offer, having long maintained that it will not accept outside mediation.... With Khan beside him, Trump shared his alleged private conversation with Modi. 'He actually said, "Would you like to be a mediator or arbiter?" I said, "Where?" He said, "Kashmir." Because this has been going on for many, many years. I was surprised at how long.'... Maybe Modi decided that what he needed to settle his highly delicate, decades-long, blood-soaked international rivalry was the intervention of an erratic narcissist who probably couldn't locate the disputed territory on a map."

Trump May Show off His Corruption to World Leaders. Jonathan Swan of Axios: "The Trump administration, which next year will host the leaders of the world's most powerful economies for the G7 summit, is down to its final few choices after completing site surveys of possible locations -- and Trump National Doral, President Trump's 800-acre golf club in Miami, is among the finalists." Mrs. McC: Maybe the members will kick the U.S. out of the G-7 because we now so resemble a third-world nation. (Also linked yesterday.)

While we're listening to Trump lie about everything, his minions are doing terrible stuff:

Tom Polansek of Reuters: "The Trump administration on Tuesday will propose a rule to tighten food stamp restrictions that would cut about 3.1 million people from the program, U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) officials said. Currently, 43 U.S. states allow residents to automatically become eligible for food stamps through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, known as SNAP, if they receive benefits from another federal program known as Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, or TANF, according to the USDA. But the agency wants to require people who receive TANF benefits to pass a review of their income and assets to determine whether they are eligible for free food from SNAP, officials said. If enacted, the rule would save the federal government about $2.5 billion a year by removing people from SNAP, according to the USDA.... Donald Trump has argued that many Americans now using SNAP do not need it given the strong economy and low unemployment, and should be removed as a way to save taxpayers as much as $15 billion."

Priscilla Alvarez of CNN: "The Trump administration is planning to expand a procedure to speed up deportations to include undocumented immigrants anywhere in the US who cannot prove they've lived in the US continuously for two years or more. The change casts a wider net of undocumented immigrants subject to the fast-track deportation procedure known as 'expedited removal,' which allows immigration authorities to remove an individual without a hearing before an immigration judge." (Also linked yesterday.) ...

... Ed Kilgore of New York: "Send them back" is not just a racist, xenophobic Trumpbot chant; it's policy. "According to one estimate, it would instantly expose 300,000 people to quick deportation for the first time. And because the burden of proof for establishing the time of residence is on the immigrant, it could well be applied to many more who have been in the country for much longer than two years.... The general police-state atmosphere, of course, will be significantly enhanced by the expansion of authorized expedited deportations far beyond the border.... Unsurprisingly, advocates for immigrants and their communities are gearing up for a legal battle to stop the new policy's implementation[.]" ...

... Owen Daugherty of the Hill: "The Illinois Republican County Chairmen's Association (IRCCA) shared and later apparently deleted a movie poster-style meme labeling four Democratic minority congresswomen the 'Jihad Squad.' The post was shared on the group's Facebook page early Saturday morning and featured images of Democratic Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (N.Y.), Ilhan Omar (Minn.), Ayanna Pressley (Mass.) and Rashida Tlaib(Mich.).... Mark Shaw, president of the IRCCA, issued a statement Sunday night after the post was deleted. 'I condemn this unauthorized posting and it has been deleted,' Shaw wrote in a post on the group's Facebook page. 'I am sorry if anyone who saw the image was offended by the contents.'" Mrs. McC: "I'm sorry if you're offended that we're racists." (Also linked yesterday.) ...

... Meet Your Trump Voters. Stephanie Saul & Jeremy Peters of the New York Times: "As President Trump presses his attacks against four women of color in Congress, suggesting they are unpatriotic and should leave the country, many voters in [Port Huron, Michigan,] are embracing his 'America -- Love It or Leave It' message, saying they do not see it as racist. And though they dismiss Mr. Trump's Twitter broadsides as excessive or juvenile, they voiced strong support for his re-election and expressed their own misgivings about the four women. 'They happen to be black or colored,' Dennis Kovach, 82, said of the women, as he watered the lawn of his home near the lake this weekend. 'But I don't think that viewpoint is a racist viewpoint....' ... As Mr. Trump signaled his intent last week to rely on nationalism and identity politics to propel his re-election campaign -- portraying Democrats as out of sync with American values -- his message did not appear to be backfiring with the conservative voters he hopes to bring out in force in 2020."


Trent Spiner of Politico: Vice President "Pence abruptly canceled his trip to Manchester, N.H., earlier this month but never said why he was pulled from Air Force Two at the last minute.... Among the problems was a federal law enforcement probe involving individuals Pence would likely encounter ..., [at least one of whom] was under investigation by the Drug Enforcement Administration for moving more than $100,000 of fentanyl from Massachusetts to New Hampshire. Jeff Hatch ... a former New York Giants player ... who agreed in federal court Friday to plead guilty and will face up to four years in prison, works for an opioid addiction treatment center in southern New Hampshire that Pence was set to visit." Mrs. McC: Aah, I still think pence was called off the tarmac because Trump wigged out & staff thought it might be 25th Amendment time (just kidding).

... Neil Vigdor of the New York Times: "A Facebook post by a Louisiana police officer suggesting that Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez 'needs a round' drew criticism on Sunday from officials in the city where he works. The officer, Charlie Rispoli, a 14-year veteran of the police department in Gretna, La., referred to Ms. Ocasio-Cortez, Democrat of New York, in a post on Thursday as 'this vile idiot.' The post continued, saying she 'needs a round -- and I don't mean the kind she used to serve,' a reference to her past work as a bartender, according to a screenshot of his comment obtained by The Times-Picayune of New Orleans." (Also linked yesterday.)

     ... ** See Nisky Guy's comment in yesterday's thread. The Snopes report Nisky Guy cites is here. Mrs. McC: I tweeted Vigdor & e-mailed the NYT editors to bitch about it. I expect a response (and I have not received one as of 9:30 pm ET Monday, nor has the story been corrected). This omission is a real candidate for the "Annals of 'Journalism,' Ctd." header. ...

... Update. Adios. Chad Calder of the Times-Picayune: "The Gretna Police Department fired two officers Monday, just days after one of the officers posted a comment on social media that suggested U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez should be shot. The author of the Facebook post, Charlie Rispoli, and another officer who 'liked' the post, Angelo Varisco, were both fired for violating the department's social-media policy, Gretna Police Chief Arthur Lawson announced at a press conference.... Ocasio-Cortez tweeted about the local incident for the first time Monday afternoon, saying, 'This is Trump's goal when he uses targeted language & threatens elected officials who don't agree w/ his political agenda. It's authoritarian behavior.'"

Presidential Race 2020

Déjà vu All Over Again. Michael Sallah, et al., of BuzzFeed News: "Two unofficial envoys reporting directly to Donald Trump's personal lawyer have waged a remarkable back-channel campaign to discredit the president's rivals and undermine the special counsel's inquiry into Russian meddling in US elections. In a whirlwind of private meetings, Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman -- who pumped hundreds of thousands of dollars into Republican campaigns and dined with the president -- gathered repeatedly with top officials in Ukraine and set up meetings for Trump's attorney Rudy Giuliani as they turned up information that could be weaponized in the 2020 presidential race. The two men urged prosecutors to investigate allegations against Democratic frontrunner Joe Biden. And they pushed for a probe into accusations that Ukrainian officials plotted to rig the 2016 election in Hillary Clinton's favor by leaking evidence against Paul Manafort, Trump's campaign chair, in what became a cornerstone of the special counsel's inquiry. They also waged an aggressive campaign in the United States, staying at the Trump International Hotel in Washington, DC, and meeting with key members of Congress as they joined in a successful push that led to the removal of the ambassador to Ukraine after she angered their allies in Kiev." (Also linked yesterday.)

Congressional Races 2020

Abby Livingston of the Texas Tribune: "Former Texas state Sen. Wendy Davis is running for Congress. Early Monday morning, Davis announced her candidacy for the Democratic nomination in Central Texas' 21st District. She is challenging U.S. Rep. Chip Roy, a freshman Republican from Austin.... Davis is a fierce national advocate for abortion rights, while Roy has built his reputation in his first six months in Congress as a conservative firebrand. Davis lives in Austin but spent much of her adult life in Fort Worth, where she served on the City Council and in the state Senate. In 2013, Davis became a national figure when she filibustered an omnibus anti-abortion bill. Later that fall, she announced her campaign for Texas governor. Despite strong fundraising, she lost to Republican Greg Abbott by over 20 percentage points."

Alex Seitz-Wald of NBC News: "Alex Morse, the mayor of Holyoke, Massachusetts, announced Monday that he will mount a primary challenge against Rep. Richard Neal, D-Mass., the chairman of the tax-writing Ways and Means Committee who has been criticized by progressives for not pushing harder for the release of ... Donald Trump's tax returns." (Also linked yesterday.)

Jared Holt of Right Wing Watch IDs the Claremont Institute, a right-wing think tank, as increasingly going all white nationalist. The Institute has granted a fellowship to "One America News Network pundit Jack Posobiec, a notorious 'Pizzagate' conspiracy theorist with past ties to extreme-right figures...." Nonetheless, Claremont is pretty mainstream in Trump World: "In May, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo addressed the organization's 40th Anniversary Gala in California." Oh, and Claremont is the go-to place for conservatives "opposing LGBTQ equality and immigration issues...."

** Jane Mayer of the New Yorker does an autopsy on Al Franken's resignation from the Senate. It was a hit job, & a number senators who called for his resignation admit now they made a big mistake. "A big part of Franken's political problem was the way the story broke. KABC-AM released [Leeann] Tweeden's material on its Web site, giving it the look of a proper news story. In reality, the station, which is owned by Cumulus Media, was a struggling conservative talk-radio station whose survival plan was to become the most pro-Trump station in Los Angeles." (Also linked yesterday.)

Beyond the Beltway

Puerto Rico. Frances Robles & Alejandra Rosa of the New York Times: "Hundreds of thousands of people swept through the capital of Puerto Rico on Monday, shutting down a major highway and paralyzing much of the city in the latest in a series of furious protests over the island's embattled governor, Ricardo A. Rosselló. The protest was one of the largest ever seen on the island, as Puerto Ricans streamed into the capital on buses -- and some on planes from the mainland -- in a spontaneous eruption of fury over the years of recession, mismanagement, natural disaster and corruption that have fueled a recent exodus." ...

... The Interview Did Not Go Well. Justin Baragona of the Daily Beast: "During his first television interview since the scandal broke out over leaked private chats that have resulted in near-unanimous calls for his resignation, Puerto Rico Gov. Ricardo Rosselló struggled to come up with a single name when Fox News anchor Shepard Smith pressed him to offer up anyone who currently supports him. With hundreds of thousands of Puerto Ricans taking to the streets of San Juan on Monday to demand Rosselló's resignation after the governor said he wouldn't step down on Sunday, Smith pointed out that 'corruption is rampant' on the island before highlighting why the profanity-laced leaked chats have caused such backlash." ...

... Frances Robles & Patricia Mazzei of the New York Times are liveblogging the protests in San Juan, Puerto Rico. "Thousands of Puerto Ricans shut down traffic on a major highway in San Juan early on Monday, assembling for what is expected to be one of the largest protests the island has ever seen against Gov. Ricardo A. Rosselló, who has resisted persistent calls for his resignation. People arrived by the busload hours before the demonstration was scheduled to begin, carrying Puerto Rican flags, protest signs and whistles. They broke into chants demanding the ouster of Mr. Rosselló, who said on Sunday that he will not seek re-election in 2020 but will remain in office -- and face possible impeachment." (Also linked yesterday.)

Way Beyond

Austin Ramzy of the New York Times: "A brazen overnight attack by a mob of men with sticks and metal bars who were apparently targeting antigovernment protesters raised tensions in Hong Kong to new levels on Monday after weeks of demonstrations, prompting fears of violence spiraling beyond the authorities' control. Dozens of people, including journalists and a pro-democracy lawmaker, were injured in the assault in and around a train station in Yuen Long, a satellite town in northwestern Hong Kong near the border with mainland China." (Also linked yesterday.) ...

... With a Wink & a Nod from Trump. Jen Kirby of Vox: "It's unclear who exactly the train station attackers were, but many suspect them of having ties to Hong Kong's powerful triads: organized criminal gangs often referred to as the 'Chinese mafia.' There is also speculation among activists the attackers were at the very least encouraged by the Chinese central government in Beijing, which backs Carrie Lam's government and has been trying to quell these protests for weeks. The lackluster police response to emergency calls from victims during the mob attack is adding to the perception that the Hong Kong government and its Chinese backers sanctioned the assault as a way to send a strong message to demonstrators.... President Xi Jinping asked ... Donald Trump to curb his criticism of China over the Hong Kong protests as a condition for restarting trade talks. On Monday, answering questions from reporters, Trump said that Beijing has behaved 'very responsibly.' 'I hope that President Xi will do the right thing,' the president added. 'But it has been going on a long time.'"

** U.K. BBC: "Boris Johnson has been elected new Conservative leader in a ballot of party members and will become the next UK prime minister." Mrs. McC: Now don't tell me Britain's Conservative party isn't packed with numnits. ...

... Here's the Guardian's story, by Heather Stewart.

News Lede

AP: "Behind America's late leap into orbit and triumphant small step on the moon was the agile mind and guts-of-steel of Chris Kraft, making split-second decisions that propelled the nation to once unimaginable heights. Kraft, the creator and longtime leader of NASA's Mission Control, died Monday in Houston, just two days after the 50th anniversary of what was his and NASA's crowning achievement: Apollo 11's moon landing. He was 95."

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