The Commentariat -- August 19, 2019

Afternoon Update:

Elana Schor & Josh Funk of Politico: "... Elizabeth Warren offered a public apology Monday to Native Americans over her past claim to tribal heritage, directly tackling an area that's proved to be a big political liability. 'Like anyone who has been honest with themselves, I know I have made mistakes,' the Massachusetts senator said at a forum on Native American issues in this pivotal early-voting state. 'I am sorry for the harm I have caused.' Monday's remarks were an effort to move past the fallout from her past claims of tribal ancestry, which culminated in a widely criticized release of a DNA analysis last year. The issue nearly derailed her campaign in the early days as ... Donald Trump began derisively referring to her as 'Pocahontas.'... The detailed policy agenda to help Native Americans that she released last week helped her secure a warm reception from attendees at the tribal forum."

"I Call the Shots at Fox." Bianca Quilantan of Politico: "... Donald Trump on Sunday slammed his preferred news network over recent unfavorable poll results, saying: 'There's something going on at Fox [News], I'll tell you right now. And I'm not happy with it.' Trump's comments to reporters in New Jersey were in response to a question about the network's recent survey showing the president losing head-to-head matchups against four of the top Democratic presidential primary candidates.... He also ... signaled a warning about the the general election cycle. 'And I think Fox is making a big mistake,' the president said when asked about the polling and the network's leadership. 'Because, you know, I'm the one that calls the shots on that -- on the really big debates.'" Missed this yesterday.

Chris Rodrigo of the Hill: "Attorney General William Barr on Monday announced he had removed the acting director of the Federal Bureau of Prisons one week after the death of Jeffrey Epstein. Dr. Kathleen Hawk Sawyer, who previously occupied the role between 1992 and 2003, will take over as the new director. The death of Epstein, who was accused of sex trafficking, has led to scrutiny of the Metropolitan Correctional Center where he was in custody."

Ashley Southall of the New York Times: "The New York City police officer whose chokehold was partly blamed for Eric Garner's death in police custody in 2014 was fired from the Police Department on Monday, ending a bitter, five-year legal battle that had cast a shadow over the nation's largest police force and the city it protects. The police commissioner, James P. O'Neill, dismissed the officer, Daniel Pantaleo, just over two weeks after a police administrative judge found him guilty of violating a department ban on chokeholds. Mr. Garner died on July 17, 2014, after Officer Pantaleo tackled him from behind, then, along with other officers, pressed him down on the pavement. Captured on video, the arrest and Mr. Garner's last words -- 'I can't breathe' -- gave impetus to the Black Lives Matter movement." Here's the Daily Beast story. ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: So what it takes to get fired from the NYPD is murdering a person in broad daylight on a public street, with numerous witneses & a video camera rolling for a misdemeanor, non-violent offense (selling loose cigarettes).

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A commenter is no longer receiving notifications of his own & follow-up comments. If you are having the same trouble, please let me know, either in today's Comments section or via e-mai to constantweader@gmail.com  I'll see if Squarespace can correct the glitch. Problem self-corrected. Looks as if it was a lo-o-o-ong Squarespace delay. -- Thank you, Mrs. Bea McCrabbie

Maggie Haberman of the New York Times: "President Trump, confronting perhaps the most ominous economic signs of his time in office, has unleashed what is by now a familiar response: lashing out at what he believes is a conspiracy of forces arrayed against him. He has insisted that his own handpicked Federal Reserve chair, Jerome H. Powell, is intentionally acting against him. He has said other countries, including allies, are working to hurt American economic interests. And he has accused the news media of trying to create a recession.... The president's broadsides follow a long pattern of conspiratorial thinking.... Mr. Trump was frustrated by the news media's coverage of his rally in New Hampshire. He repeatedly complained about misleading pictures of empty seats, or that attendance at the arena had beat Elton John's record crowd there, but no one was covering it." ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: Yes, Haberman makes Trump seem like a petulant whiney-baby. But, for the most part, all she had to do was string together a list of Trump's most recent childish, false complaints.

Allan Smith of NBC News: "Top White House economic advisers on Sunday dismissed growing concerns that the U.S. economy is headed for a recession. National Economic Council Director Larry Kudlow and White House Director of Trade and Manufacturing Policy Peter Navarro appeared on a series of Sunday political talk shows to defend the president's handling of the economy -- particularly the ongoing trade war with China -- and to downplay recent warning signs that the economy could be headed towards a downturn.... 'Meet the Press' host Chuck Todd pointed out that in [December] 2007, just before the onset of the Great Recession, Kudlow wrote that 'there's no recession coming' and the pessimistas were wrong.'"

"How I Spent My Summer Vacation" By Donnie Trump "I Mostly Played Board Games."

Last Week, Trump Played "Monopoly." Zack Budryk of the Hill: "White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow confirmed on Sunday that the Trump administration is 'looking at' purchasing Greenland following reports of its interest last week." The Washington Post story is here. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

     ... Jan Olsen of the AP: "Greenland is not for sale and ... Donald Trump's idea of buying the semi-autonomous Danish territory in the Arctic from Denmark is 'an absurd discussion,' Denmark's prime minister said. Mette Frederiksen, who was visiting the world's largest island to meet Premier Kim Kielsen, told reporters: 'Greenland is not Danish. Greenland is Greenlandic. I persistently hope that this is not something that is seriously meant.' Frederiksen said Sunday that the Arctic, with resources that Russia and others could exploit for commercial gain, 'is becoming increasingly important to the entire world community.'... Trump is expected to visit Denmark Sept. 2-3 as part of a trip to Europe." ...

... Now Trump Is Playing "Battleship." Jonathan Swan of Axios: "President Trump has suggested to national security officials that the U.S. should station Navy ships along the Venezuelan coastline to prevent goods from coming in and out of the country, according to 5 current and former officials who have either directly heard the president discuss the idea or have been briefed on Trump's private comments.... Trump has been raising the idea of a naval blockade periodically for at least a year and a half, and as recently as several weeks ago, these officials said. They added that to their knowledge the Pentagon hasn't taken this extreme idea seriously, in part because senior officials believe it's impractical, has no legal basis and would suck resources from a Navy that is already stretched.... Trump has publicly alluded to a naval blockade of Venezuela. Earlier this month he answered 'Yes, I am' when a reporter asked whether he was mulling such a move. But he hasn't elaborated on the idea publicly."

Daniel Lippman of Politico: "Tom Barrack and Donald Trump have been friends and confidants for more than three decades.... But the intimate relationship between the wealthy California investor and the president has fractured so badly that the two no longer speak, current and former White House officials say. The key issue driving the two men apart: Barrack's role as chairman of the president's 2017 inauguration fund, which is under investigation by prosecutors.... 'The president was really surprised to read all about the inauguration and who was trying to buy access and how, because the president doesn't get any of that money,' said [an] official." Emphasis added. Mrs. McC: Quite a touching story.

Who Knew International Law Could Be So Complicated? Megan Specia of the New York Times: "An Iranian oil tanker held for six weeks after being impounded left Gibraltar on Sunday, days after the authorities there rejected a request from American officials to turn the vessel over to them.... The [U.S.] Justice Department said that multiple parties affiliated with the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps of Iran, which the United States has designated a foreign terrorist organization, were believed involved.... But on Sunday, the Gibraltar government rejected the American request. It said that the warrant had relied on broad United States sanctions against Iran that were not applicable in the European Union.... It was unclear whether the United States intended to seize the vessel now that it has left Gibraltar." The Reuters story is here.

Andrew Kaczynski of CNN: "Ken Cuccinelli, the acting director of US Citizenship and Immigration Services, was a founding member of a group more than a decade ago that described undocumented immigrants as 'foreign invaders' responsible for 'serious infectious diseases, drug running, gang violence, human trafficking, terrorism.' The group, State Legislators for Legal Immigration, was established in 2007, when an immigration revamp was being hotly debated in Congress. Its founding principle was that undocumented immigration represented an invasion of the United States on par with foreign invasion that should justify invoking war powers under the Constitution -- extreme rhetoric Cuccinelli has continued to use in recent years, and that has been adopted by ... Donald Trump and other Republicans." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Eric Schlosser in The Atlantic: "The immigration raid last week at seven poultry plants in rural Mississippi was a perfect symbol of the Trump administration's racism, lies, hypocrisy, and contempt for the poor. It was also a case study in how an industry with a long history of defying the law has managed to shift the blame and punishment onto workers.... According to a recent study by the Center for a Livable Future at Johns Hopkins University, 'The industrial produce and animal production and processing systems in the U.S. would collapse without the immigrant and migratory workforce.' The handful of multinational companies that dominate our food system are hardly being forced to employ immigrant workers. These firms have for many years embraced the opportunity to exploit them for profit.... What Trump has described as an immigrant 'invasion' was actually a corporate recruitment drive for poor, vulnerable, undocumented, often desperate workers." --s

Azam Ahmed of the New York Times: "... a ... staggering number of Central Americans [are] fleeing violence and dysfunction -- and ... the Trump administration is waging ... a dogged fight to keep them out. Across Latin America, a murder epidemic is underway. Most years, more than 100,000 people are killed, largely young men on the periphery of broken societies, where gangs and cartels sometimes take the place of the state. The turmoil has forced millions to flee the region and seek refuge in the United States, where they confront a system strained by record demand and a bitter fight over whether to accept them.... Violence against women, and domestic violence in particular, is a powerful and often overlooked factor in the migration crisis. Latin America and the Caribbean are home to 14 of the 25 deadliest nations in the world for women.... And Central America, the region where most of those seeking asylum in the United States are fleeing, is at the heart of the crisis.... Former Attorney General Jeff Sessions ... issued a decision last year to try to halt victims of domestic violence, among other crimes, from seeking asylum.... Then, last month ... William P. Barr, went further" and determined to halt whole families.

John Timmer of ArsTechnica: "This week, the US Department of Energy released a report that looks back on the state of wind power in the US by running the numbers on 2018. The analysis shows that wind hardware prices are dropping, even as new turbine designs are increasing the typical power generated by each turbine. As a result, recent wind farms have gotten so cheap that you can build and operate them for less than the expected cost of buying fuel for an equivalent natural gas plant.... 2018 saw about 7.6 GigaWatts of new wind capacity added to the grid, accounting for just over 20 percent of the US' capacity additions. This puts it in third place behind natural gas and solar power." --s

Pat Rynard of Iowa Starting Line interviews the only person who attended Rep. Steve King's town hall Saturday -- a hung-over student who is a Democrat & declined to have her picture taken with King "mostly because I plan to run for office and I don't need a picture of Steve King and I [me!] shaking hands...."

Presidential Race

M.J. Lee & Gregory Krieg of CNN: Elizabeth "Warren's efforts to make amends and rebuild her relationships with the Native American community ... have gone far beyond ... apologies, according to CNN's interviews with almost a dozen people. They have included private meetings with tribal leaders, seeking counsel from Native Americans friends, and, on Friday, the release of a set of ambitious policy plans aimed at helping Native people. That outreach will unfold in public on Monday, when Warren speaks at length alongside tribal leaders at a conference hosted by the Native voting rights group, Four Directions, in Sioux City, Iowa." ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: In case you've forgotten, this is what a leader is supposed to do, and often does, when he's made a mistake & inadvertently insulted someone or some group.

Greg Olear in Medium: "The Republican base doesn't care about sex crimes -- unless they involve the Clintons, that is.... Not only do they not believe women, they actively seek to destroy them, as state legislatures have demonstrated in Georg[ia], Alabama, Ohio, Missouri, and elsewhere. It is unlikely that these rank misogynists will be swayed by the dalliances of the late Jeffrey Epstein, however deplorable, unless they somehow implicate Bill Clinton.... As horrible as it is to relate, the fact is that as long as the focus is on sex crimes, Trump -- and his undearly-departed chum Jeffrey Epstein -- will not be damaged. Again: his base does not care.... The only way to get selfish people to hop to is to demonstrate that Trump and his cronies are ripping off — stealing from -- the American people. From them. It's all about the money." --s

Jenna McGregor of the Washington Post: "The organization representing the nation's most powerful chief executives is rewriting how it views the purpose of a corporation, updating its decades-old endorsement of the theory that shareholders' interests should come above all else. The new statement, released Monday by the Business Roundtable, suggests balancing the needs of a company's various constituencies and comes at a time of widening income inequality, rising expectations from the public for corporate behavior and proposals from Democratic lawmakers that aim to revamp or even restructure American capitalism.... The new statement puts an official stamp on a more stakeholder-driven approach to governance that some CEOs have individually advocated for in recent years. It comes more than two decades after the lobbying group, in a 1997 document about corporate governance principles that it has periodically updated, took an explicitly shareholder-first stance." ...

     ... The CNBC story is here. Thanks to Ken W. for the link. In today's Comments, Ken seems a bit skeptical of this miraculous reform.

Stephanie Kirchgaessner of the Guardian: "A new Google policy that was meant to rein in deceptive advertising by 'crisis pregnancy centers' has a loophole that is allowing the centers to continue to post misleading ads on the search engine.... The loophole means only users who are specifically searching under the term 'abortion' will be provided information on Google's website about whether a particular health care clinic does -- or does not -- offer the procedure to women. If a user searches under other terms, like 'free pregnancy test' or 'pregnancy symptoms', no such information appears under the advertisements for the same clinics." --s

Russian Mafia Comes to Arizona. Alison Steinbach of the Arizona Republic: "A proposal to build an aluminum smelting facility ... along the highway connecting Wenden and Salome[, Arizona,] would bring a new industry to the area [and 30 jobs].... Residents, meanwhile, fear it will also bring a host of problems.... Plus, they have questions about the business owners' backgrounds.... [The aluminum company] Technocon is headed by Jacob Gitman, who is known in some legal documents as Yakov Gitman. He was born in the Soviet Union and attended university in Moscow before moving to the United States around 1990.... Jacob Gitman, his companies and his business associates have faced multiple lawsuits alleging fraudulent business dealings.... Jacob Gitman also managed until 2011 Suncoast Air Cargo with Anatoly Golubchik. In 2014, Golubchik and his business partners were convicted of laundering $100 million as part of a 'Russian-American organized crime ring' and a 'racketeering conspiracy' involving primarily Russian and Ukrainian individuals and various shell companies.... Gitman's wife Alisa is a real estate agent for Sib Realty, which sells condos at multiple Trump properties in Florida." --s

The Royal Duke of York (He had a cache of girls. He met them in New York, as Mummy clutched her pearls.) The Daily Mail publishes a video & still shots of Britain's Prince Andrew waving goodbye to a young woman at the front door of Jeffrey Epstein's Manhattan mansion in December 2010. "By then Epstein ... was on a child sex offender register, yet one observer told The Mail on Sunday that several of the women leaving and entering the home while Andrew was apparently inside 'looked very young indeed'." Via the Washington Post. ...

     ... "We Are Not Amused." Rebecca Klar of the Hill: "'The Duke of York has been appalled by the recent reports of Jeffrey Epstein's alleged crimes. His Royal Highness deplores the exploitation of any human being and the suggestion he would condone, participate in or encourage any such behavior is abhorrent,' Buckingham Palace said in a statement, according to multiple reports." Mrs. McC: "Appalling" & "abhorrent," yes. But hard to dismiss with a royal tut-tut.

Mack Lamoureux & Ben Mackuch of Vice News: "A neo-Nazi group focused on providing paramilitary-style training to far-right extremists has been conducting a massive recruitment drive and claims to have already conducted live-fire training with its members. The Base [the translation of Al-Qaeda in English], which is connected to extreme-right groups the Atomwaffen Division and the Feuerkrieg Division, has been promoting its growth on social media with photos announcing its presence in major cities across North America, including New York, Los Angeles, and Seattle, and in Europe, South Africa, and Australia.... 'The Base is particularly dangerous because of [its] focus on developing and sharing skills useful for terrorism and guerilla warfare, such as ambushes, weapons training, and making explosives,' [Joshua] Fisher-Birch [of the Counter Extremism Project, a U.S.-based terrorism watchdog] said. 'This is a radical group that not only wants violence, but is preparing for it.'" --s

Another of the "Very Fine People" at Charlottesville. Jon Haworth of ABC News: "An Ohio man has been arrested for making threats toward a local Jewish community center in New Middletown. James Reardon Jr., 20, has been charged with telecommunications harassment and aggravated menacing and is being held in the Mahoning County Jail on $250,000 bond with a court hearing planned for Monday morning. On Friday, the FBI Violent Crimes Task Force raided Reardon's house and seized a cache of weapons and ammunition, including dozens of round of ammo, multiple semi-automatic weapons, a gas mask and bulletproof armor.... Police initially became aware of Reardon on July 11 when he posted a video on Instagram of a man shooting a semi-automatic rifle with sirens and screams in the background. He tagged the Jewish Community Center of Youngstown in the post.... Reardon is an avowed anti-Semite and white nationalist and attended the deadly 'Unite the Right' rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, in 2017, according to WYTV." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... Dakin Andone, et al., of CNN: "Authorities this weekend announced they had foiled three potential mass shootings after arresting three men in different states who expressed interest in or threatened to carry them out. All three cases were brought to authorities' attention thanks to tips from the public.... In Connecticut, 22-year-old Brandon Wagshol was arrested after authorities said he had expressed interest in committing a mass shooting on Facebook, according to a statement from the FBI and the Norwalk Police Department.... Tristan Scott Wix of Daytona Beach, Florida, was arrested in a Winn-Dixie parking lot on Friday after he sent his ex-girlfriend a series of disturbing texts in which he allegedly threatened to commit a mass shooting, the Volusia County Sheriff's Office said. The ex-girlfriend alerted authorities.... And in Ohio, 20-year-old James Patrick Reardon was arrested for allegedly threatening to carry out a shooting at a Youngstown Jewish community center."

Beyond the Beltway

New York. Ashley Southall of the New York Times: "An administrative judge, in a 46-page opinion obtained by The New York Times, found [the] explanation 'Officer Daniel Pantaleo gave in explaining how he killed Eric Garner to be] 'implausible and self-serving.' The judge, Rosemarie Maldonado, who has recommended that Officer Pantaleo be fired, concluded that he had been 'untruthful' during the interview, according to the opinion that grew out of a departmental trial that ended in June." Here's a Huffington Post summary of the Times story.

Way Beyond

Hong Kong. Verna Yu & Lily Kuo of the Guardian: "An estimated 1.7 million people in Hong Kong -- a quarter of the population -- defied police orders to stage a peaceful march after a rally in a downtown park, after two months of increasingly violent clashes that have prompted severe warnings from Beijing and failed to win concessions from the city's government. Huge crowds filled Victoria Park on Sunday afternoon and spilled on to nearby streets, forcing police to block traffic in the area. Torrential rain came down an hour into the rally, turning the park into a sea of umbrellas. At the same time, protesters walked towards Central, the heart of Hong Kong's business district, and surrounded government headquarters. Police had turned down a plan for Sunday's march submitted by the Civil Human Rights Front group and gave permission only for a rally in the park. Those defying the ban risked being charged with unlawful assembly, which can lead to up to five years in prison." (Also linked yesterday.)"

U.K. Karla Adam & Hannah Knowles of the Washington Post: "An increasingly likely 'no-deal' Brexit could wreak havoc on Britain's economy, infrastructure and social fabric, the government says in classified documents leaked to a British newspaper. The costs of food and social care would rise, while medicines could be delayed, the Sunday Times reported. Border delays would interrupt fuel supplies. Ports would suffer severe disruptions and recover only partially after three months, leaving traffic at 50 to 70 percent of the current flow. Those are some of the effects predicted by 'Operation Yellowhammer,' which the newspaper said was compiled this month by Britain's Cabinet Office and available to those with 'need to know' security clearances." ...

... Rowena Mason of the Guardian: "Downing Street has reacted with fury to the leak of an official document predicting that a no-deal Brexit would lead to food, medicine and petrol shortages, with No 10 sources blaming the disclosure on a hostile former minister intent on ruining Boris Johnson's trip to see EU leaders this week. The leaked document, detailing preparations under Operation Yellowhammer, argues that the most likely scenario is severe extended delays to medicine supplies and shortages of some fresh foods, combined with price rises, if there is a no-deal Brexit on 31 October. It said there would be a return to a hard border on the island of Ireland before long and a 'three-month meltdown' at ports unable to cope with extra checks. Protests could break out across the UK, requiring significant police intervention, and two oil refineries could close, with thousands of job losses, according to the documents."

The Commentariat -- August 18, 2019

Afternoon Update:

Verna Yu & Lily Kuo of the Guardian: "An estimated 1.7 million people in Hong Kong -- a quarter of the population -- defied police orders to stage a peaceful march after a rally in a downtown park, after two months of increasingly violent clashes that have prompted severe warnings from Beijing and failed to win concessions from the city's government. Huge crowds filled Victoria Park on Sunday afternoon and spilled on to nearby streets, forcing police to block traffic in the area. Torrential rain came down an hour into the rally, turning the park into a sea of umbrellas. At the same time, protesters walked towards Central, the heart of Hong Kong's business district, and surrounded government headquarters. Police had turned down a plan for Sunday's march submitted by the Civil Human Rights Front group and gave permission only for a rally in the park. Those defying the ban risked being charged with unlawful assembly, which can lead to up to five years in prison."

The Greenland Story Is Not a Hoax. Zack Budryk of the Hill: "White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow confirmed on Sunday that the Trump administration is 'looking at' purchasing Greenland following reports of its interest last week." The Washington Post story is here.

Allan Smith of NBC News: "Top White House economic advisers on Sunday dismissed growing concerns that the U.S. economy is headed for a recession. National Economic Council Director Larry Kudlow and White House Director of Trade and Manufacturing Policy Peter Navarro appeared on a series of Sunday political talk shows to defend the president's handling of the economy -- particularly the ongoing trade war with China -- and to downplay recent warning signs that the economy could be headed towards a downturn.... 'Meet the Press' host Chuck Todd pointed out that in 2007, just before the onset of the Great Recession, Kudlow wrote that 'there's no recession coming' and the pessimistas were wrong.'"

Andrew Kaczynski of CNN: "Ken Cuccinelli, the acting director of US Citizenship and Immigration Services, was a founding member of a group more than a decade ago that described undocumented immigrants as 'foreign invaders' responsible for 'serious infectious diseases, drug running, gang violence, human trafficking, terrorism.' The group, State Legislators for Legal Immigration, was established in 2007, when an immigration revamp was being hotly debated in Congress. Its founding principle was that undocumented immigration represented an invasion of the United States on par with foreign invasion that should justify invoking war powers under the Constitution -- extreme rhetoric Cuccinelli has continued to use in recent years, and that has been adopted by ... Donald Trump and other Republicans."

Jon Haworth of ABC News: "An Ohio man has been arrested for making threats toward a local Jewish community center in New Middletown. James Reardon Jr., 20, has been charged with telecommunications harassment and aggravated menacing and is being held in the Mahoning County Jail on $250,000 bond with a court hearing planned for Monday morning. On Friday, the FBI Violent Crimes Task Force raided Reardon's house and seized a cache of weapons and ammunition, including dozens of round of ammo, multiple semi-automatic weapons, a gas mask and bulletproof armor.... Police initially became aware of Reardon on July 11 when he posted a video on Instagram of a man shooting a semi-automatic rifle with sirens and screams in the background. He tagged the Jewish Community Center of Youngstown in the post.... Reardon is an avowed anti-Semite and white nationalist and attended the deadly 'Unite the Right' rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, in 2017, according to WYTV."

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Jennifer Jacobs & Jacob Sink of Bloomberg: "Some top aides to ... Donald Trump sought for months for a way to give states the power to block undocumented immigrant children from enrolling in public schools -- all part of the administration's efforts to stem illegal crossings at the southern U.S. border. Trump senior adviser Stephen Miller had been a driving force behind the effort as early as 2017, pressing cabinet officials and members of the White House Domestic Policy Council repeatedly to devise a way to limit enrollment...that could be carried out without congressional approval.... Ultimately, they abandoned the idea after being told repeatedly that any such effort ran afoul of a 1982 Supreme Court case guaranteeing access to public schools." --s

Liz Sly of the Washington Post: "The global standoff between the United States and Iran took a new turn Saturday after the United States issued a warrant for the seizure of an Iranian oil tanker detained in Gibraltar, just hours after the ship was ordered released. The legal action thrust the Grace 1 supertanker into the heart of tensions between Washington and Tehran a day after a dispute over its fate between Britain and Iran had apparently been resolved. The British navy intercepted the Grace 1 off Gibraltar last month on the suspicion that it was delivering oil to Syria in violation of European Union sanctions. The move triggered the capture by Iran two weeks later of a British oil tanker in the Persian Gulf, apparently in retaliation. A Gibraltar court ordered the release of the Grace 1 on Thursday after Britain said it had received guarantees from Tehran that the ship would not deliver oil to Syria, prompting speculation that Iran would release the British ship. Instead, the Grace 1's departure may be further delayed as authorities in Gibraltar consider whether to act on the U.S. warrant...." ...

     ... A USA Today story, by Kim Hjelmgaard, is here.

Jason DeParle of the New York Times has a long piece on how Stephen Miller became Stephen Miller. Mrs. McC: I didn't read the story, except the part about Lyndon Johnson, which once again convinces me he would have been our greatest modern president but for his monumental mistake of pursuing the Viet Nam war. Oh, I did catch the part near the top where I learned Miller's first job in D.C. was working for Michele Bachmann. ...

... Nick Miroff & Josh Dawsey of the Washington Post also write a long story on Stephen Miller. "... Miller's power in the White House is at its peak, according to top administration officials. As one of Trump's longest-tenured and most trusted aides, his influence in the West Wing is rivaled only by Jared Kushner..., they say.... Among Miller's co-workers are a few who believe he harbors racist views. 'I don't know what other principle could animate such a laserlike focus,' said one former career official at DHS. Miller bristled at the claim, calling anyone who labels him a racist 'an ignorant fool, a liar and a reprobate who has no place in civilized society." Mrs. McC: Even if you thought his nativism was the best thing since white bread, you'd want to smack him upside the head. ...

... Michael Luo of the New Yorker: "... the United States has actually been a leader in developing explicitly racist policies of nationality and immigration." Mrs. McC: As Alex Ross of the New Yorker pointed out in a review of English-language books about Nazis, "Hitler praises America as the one state that has made progress toward a primarily racial conception of citizenship, by 'excluding certain races from naturalization.'" Hitler also wrote approvingly of the white American settlers who had "gunned down the millions of redskins to a few hundred thousand."

Edward Helmore of the Guardian: "The Trump administration has fired another shot in its war with the US press, suspending the credentials of Brian Karem, White House correspondent for Playboy and an analyst for CNN. The 30-day revocation was announced on Friday and echoes hugely controversial action taken against CNN's Jim Acosta in November 2018.... Karem had his pass suspended after an altercation with former Trump aide Sebastian Gorka in the White House Rose Garden in July, around a 'social media summit' convened by Trump and attended by some of his most ardent supporters. Both men attracted criticism for their behaviour.... In a statement on Saturday, White House Correspondents' Association president Jonathan Karl said the group was 'deeply concerned', as 'such a move could have a chilling effect on working journalists'."

** Asher Stockler of Newsweek: "Senator Ron Wyden blasted the Federal Election Commission (FEC) on Friday after the agency's Republican commissioners blocked an attempt to fully investigate the National Rifle Association (NRA) over reports that Russia may have used the gun-rights group as a conduit for its election interference efforts, and possibly in contravention of campaign finance law.... Ellen Weintraub, chairwoman of the FEC, excoriated her Republican colleagues for their contrary votes which resulted in a 2-2 tie on Friday, preventing the inquiry from moving forward. 'For the Republican commissioners to apply [this] approach to a matter of such national importance, and in doing so turn a blind eye to the possibility that a foreign adversary secretly funneled tens of millions of dollars into a presidential campaign, is to bring their obstruction to a new and breathtakingly damaging level,' she said in a statement. The House Ways and Means Committee, the oversight body in the House of Representatives with jurisdiction over non-profit organizations, has so far declined to launch a formal probe of the NRA, though it is under the control of Democrat Richard Neal." --s

Mike Baker & Nicholas Bogel-Burroughs of the New York Times: "Hundreds of people gathered on Saturday for a rally at a waterfront park in Portland, Ore., where far-right groups faced off with anti-fascist counterprotesters and brought much of the downtown area to a standstill. President Trump weighed in on the tense situation in Portland on Saturday morning, calling out the anti-fascist group known as Antifa on Twitter and suggesting support for labeling it a terror organization. He did not mention any of the right-wing groups, although both they and Antifa have a history of using violence against their opponents."

If these officers felt empowered to attack a group of protesters in front of the public and the media, imagine what kind of violence must be taking place inside the prison, out of [sight], against vulnerable immigrants and people of color. -- Amy Anthony of Never Again Action (cited in the Washington Post) ...

... Providence Journal (August 16): "A correctional officer at the Donald W. Wyatt Detention Facility [-- which houses ICE-detained immigrants --] has resigned a day after being placed on administrative leave.... Captain Thomas Woodworth resigned from his position ... on Friday, August 16, 2019,' [a] statement [from the facility] said. 'The incident which occurred on August 14 remains under active investigation by the Rhode Island State Police and under internal investigation by the Wyatt.'" On Wednesday night, a guard at the facility, believed to be Woodworth, apparently purposely drove his pickup truck into a group of protesters who were demonstrating against the jailing of ICE detainees. After initially stopping, the driver pushed forward as people screamed. Never Again Action, whose members were injured & endangered, demanded that Woodworth face criminal charges & that the officers who pepper-sprayed the protesters, sending three to the hospital, also face accountability. ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: Woodworth is a big white guy who ostensibly worked for law enforcement. If he were a big black or Hispanic guy not connected to law enforcement, do you suppose he would have been able to walk away from such a violent incident while police investigated? ...

... When You Think Fox Can't Get Any Worse. Justin Baragona of the Daily Beast (August 16): "Fox Business Network host Lou Dobbs on Thursday applauded the driver who purposely ran his vehicle through a crowd of protesters at an ICE facility, saying the man was well 'within his rights' to plow through the crowd.... Airing a clip of the incident on Thursday's broadcast of Lou Dobbs Tonight, Dobbs set the scene by placing all the blame on the demonstrators." ...

     ... Mrs. McC Note to New Drivers: It is never, ever justified, moral or legal to use your vehicle as a deadly weapon to mow down people, even if you thought they were mean to you. ...

... Mrs. McCrabbie: Baragona notes that "An official told ABC News that the driver of the truck was not an ICE employee." The other day I incorrectly IDed him as an ICE officer. The Wyatt Detention Facility is a private operation which has contracted with ICE to hold detained immigrants.

Ali Watkins, et al., of the New York Times: "... an examination of [Jeffrey] Epstein's last days by The New York Times, gathered from dozens of interviews with law enforcement officials, Bureau of Prisons employees, lawyers and others, suggests that Mr. Epstein's death came after he started to realize the limits of his ability to deploy his wealth and privilege in the legal system." Mrs. McC: The Times today is devoting a big chunk of its front-page real estate to monsters, first Stephen Miller, now Epstein.

The Bad News: Ryan Prior of CNN: "Alaska has been in the throes of an unprecedented heat wave this summer, and the heat stress is killing salmon in large numbers." The Good News: Now there will be fewer salmon for Trump, the EPA & Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy to kill off with that salmon-killing mining project they approved.

Presidential Race 2020

Has Joe Biden Paid Attention to Anything This Century? Tal Axelrod of the Hill: "... Joe Biden doubled down on his vow to cooperate with Republicans should he be elected president, saying he successfully worked across the aisle as vice president. 'There's an awful lot of really good Republicans out there,' he said Saturday at a Massachusetts fundraiser. 'I get in trouble for saying that with Democrats, but the truth of the matter is, every time we ever got in trouble with our administration, remember who got sent up to Capitol Hill to fix it? Me. Because they know I respect the other team."

News Lede

AP: “The death toll from a late-night suicide bombing at a crowded wedding party in the Afghan capital rose to at least 63 on Sunday, including women and children, officials said. The local Islamic State (IS) group's affiliate claimed responsibility for what was the deadliest attack in Kabul this year. Another 182 people were wounded in the Saturday night explosion, government spokesman Feroz Bashari said. Interior Ministry spokesman Nusrat Rahimi confirmed the casualty toll as families began to bury the dead. Some helped to dig graves with their bare hands. Kabul residents were outraged as there appears to be no end to violence even as the U.S. and the Taliban say they are nearing a deal to end their 18-year conflict, America's longest war.”

The Commentariat -- August 17, 2019

Michelle Goldberg of the New York Times: "In a world spiraling towards chaos, we can begin to see the fruits of Donald Trump's erratic, amoral and incompetent foreign policy, his systematic undermining of alliances and hollowing out of America's diplomatic and national security architecture.... The whole structure is teetering. To be sure, most of these crises have causes other than Trump.... But in one flashpoint after another, the Trump administration has either failed to act appropriately, or acted in ways that have made things worse.... [The U.S.] will never again play the same leadership role internationally that it did before Trump. And that's the best-case scenario.... In foreign affairs as in the economy, the consequences of not having a functioning American administration are coming into focus."

Karen DeYoung, et al., of the Washington Post: "U.S. negotiators have made significant advances in recent talks with the Taliban, and the two sides are close to announcing an agreement on an initial U.S. troop withdrawal, along with plans to start direct discussions between the militants and the Afghan government, according to American and foreign officials. President Trump met Friday with Cabinet officials and other senior national security advisers for a briefing by Zalmay Khalilzad, the chief U.S. envoy to the talks. Attendees at the meeting, held at Trump's New Jersey golf resort, included Vice President Pence, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, Defense Secretary Mark T. Esper, Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Joseph F. Dunford Jr., CIA Director Gina Haspel and White House national security adviser John Bolton. An initial withdrawal under the proposed deal would include roughly 5,000 of the 14,000 U.S. troops in Afghanistan. In exchange, the Taliban would agree to renounce al-Qaeda and to bar it from activities such as fundraising, recruiting, training and operational planning in areas under Taliban control." ...

     ... The Time story, by Kimberly Dozier, is here.

... Lara Jakes of the New York Times: "... as the Taliban and the United States move toward a preliminary peace agreement -- which could be released in days -- there are growing fears that Afghan women will lose the gains they have made over nearly two decades.... Officials said the preliminary deal [between the U.S. & the Taliban] is not expected to include specific assurances that women will continue to have equal opportunities in education, employment and government.... Women's rights are supposed to be addressed in the future talks [between the Taliban & the Afghan government].... Experts on Afghan issues remain skeptical of Taliban claims that they support women's rights -- a declaration that, at best, is largely untested. At worst, it is defied by continued attacks, threats and oppression against women by Taliban members in local districts across Afghanistan even as their leaders say they want peace." ...

... Maybe Afghan women's rights would have received proper consideration if not for this guy: ...

... Wesley Morgan of Politico: "Trump has repeatedly made it known he wants to remove all U.S. troops from the 18-year-old Afghan conflict, a topic he returned to Friday afternoon as his advisers briefed him on the status of peace talks with the Taliban. But his public statements and leaks of his closed-door demands have weakened the hand of his negotiators by making it clear just how desperately the president wants a deal, according to multiple current and former U.S. officials with direct knowledge of the deliberations."

One Night in New Hampshire

As the Worm Turns. Matthew Choi of Politico: "... Donald Trump on Thursday advocated the return of more mental health institutions to combat gun violence, while also throwing his support behind background checks for gun purchases. Speaking with reporters in New Jersey before heading to a campaign rally in New Hampshire, Trump said that mental health was an under-considered factor in gun violence and that his administration would examine it 'at a level that hasn't been done before.... These people are mentally ill,' Trump said of mass shooters, 'and nobody talks about that.' Mental illness is a frequent talking point among Republican lawmakers when dealing with gun violence.... 'We have to start building institutions again because, you know, if you look at the '60s and '70s, so many of these institutions were closed, and the people were just allowed to go onto the streets,' Trump said on Thursday. 'That was a terrible thing for our country.' Trump reiterated his views during a rally in Manchester, N.H, later Thursday night, using dated terms such as 'insane' and 'deranged.' Rather than proposing methods for treatment, he spoke about the need to keep those with mental illnesses isolated and off the street." (Also linked yesterday.) ...

... Jessica Taylor of NPR: "At his first campaign rally after mass shootings in El Paso, Texas, and Dayton, Ohio, President Trump appeared to back away from supporting a possible expansion of background checks in favor of a push for more attention to mental illness. 'There is a mental illness problem that has to be dealt with. It's not the gun that pulls the trigger -- it's the person holding the gun,' Trump said to roars and a standing ovation from the Manchester, N.H., crowd.... In the weeks since [the massacres in El Paso & Dayton, Ohio], the president has urged Congress to strengthen background checks, despite opposition from the National Rifle Association.... But at the rally, Trump didn't mention any of those policies." (Also linked yesterday.) ...

... Steve Contorno of the Tampa Bay Times: "Congressional Republicans recently circulated talking points on gun violence that falsely described the El Paso massacre and other mass shootings as 'violence from the left.' A document obtained by the Tampa Bay Times and sent by House Republicans provides a framework for how to respond to anticipated questions... The answers are boilerplate Republican arguments against tougher gun restrictions. But it also included this question: 'Do you believe white nationalism is driving more mass shootings recently?' The suggested response is to steer the conversation away from white nationalism to an argument that implies both sides are to blame. '...We also can't excuse violence from the left such as the El Paso shooter, the recent Colorado shooters, the Congressional baseball shooter, Congresswoman Giffords' shooter and Antifa.'" ...

"Man of the Year." Tara Subramaniam, et al., of CNN: "At a campaign rally in New Hampshire on Thursday..., Donald Trump made a handful of false claims, including returning to a claim he's made since the final days of the 2016 campaign. He said he was once named Michigan's 'Man of the Year.'... Neither we nor anyone else has been able to find a single detail. CNN has reached out to the White House and the Trump campaign about the claim, but has not heard back.... Trump has repeated versions of the claim at least six times since [November 6, 2016], including at a roundtable with corporate leaders in Michigan in 2017 and a rally in Wisconsin this April.... During the rally, Trump also repeated several of the false claims he's been touting throughout his 2020 campaign events, including those around China and tariffs, VA Choice, and payments to Iran." The writers "look at the facts." (Also linked yesterday.) ...

Trump Fat-Shamed His Own Fan. Philip Bump of the Washington Post: "The man Trump mocked as heavyset at his New Hampshire rally was a Trump supporter.... The man to whom Trump appeared to be referring was sitting near [the protesters] and quickly leaped into action. He grabbed one banner from a protester and threw it into a nearby entryway. He grabbed the second and, after a brief struggle, threw it over the edge of the balcony where it fluttered into the crowd below.... The crowd cheered the man who'd grabbed the banners.... Update: The Daily Mail's David Martosko reports that Trump was in fact referring to the man who confronted the protesters, identified as Frank Dawson. Trump later called and spoke with him." The NBC News story, by Lauren Egan, is here. ...

Frank Rich: "When the American buck is faltering, the buck always stops with the president.... As last night's rambling, repetitive, and often incoherent 90-minute rant at a rally in New Hampshire indicated, Trump is in full panic that a recession may be coming.... We now have a president whose economic 'team' consists of Fox News talking heads like Larry Kudlow, sycophants like Steve Mnuchin, and nutjobs like Peter Navarro, the White House trade-war guru who this week could be found on television likening the right-wing editorial page of Rupert Murdoch's Wall Street Journal to the Chinese Communist organ, the People's Daily." Rich also comments on the Jeffrey Epstein case & the Democratic primaries. (Also linked yesterday.) ...

... Josh Boak & Jonathan Lamire of the AP: "Though a pre-election recession here is far from certain, a downturn would be a devastating blow to the president, who has made a strong economy his central argument for a second term. Trump advisers fear a weakened economy would hurt him with moderate Republican and independent voters who have been willing to give him a pass on some his incendiary policies and rhetoric." Mrs. McC: I'm sorry, anyone who is willing to accept Trump's white supremacist "polices & rhetoric" cannot be a "moderate."

Barak Ravid of Israel's Channel 13 News (in Axios): "Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) said Friday that she will not enter Israel due to the 'oppressive conditions' placed upon her visit, despite the Israeli government's permission to enter Israel on humanitarian grounds to visit her family in the occupied West Bank, including her 90-year-old grandmother." Related stories linked below. (Also linked yesterday.) ...

     ... Update: Here's the New York Times' story, by David Halbfinger. (Also linked yesterday.)

Ha Ha Ha. Andy Borowitz reports on Denmark's counteroffer to Trump's inquiries into purchasing Greenland. Perfect! (Again, satire has lost its punch. Borowitz's imaginary response sounds appropriate.) Thanks to Islander for the link. (Also linked yesterday.)

"NO SCAN, NO PAY." Anya Litvak of the Pittsburgh Post-Express: "The choice for thousands of union workers at Royal Dutch Shell's petrochemical plant in Beaver County was to either spend Tuesday standing in a giant hall waiting for ... Donald Trump to speak, or to take the day off with no pay. 'Your attendance is not mandatory,' read the rules that Shell sent to union leaders a day ahead of the visit to the $6 billion construction site. But only those that showed up at 7 a.m., scanned their cards, and prepared to stand for hours -- through lunch but without lunch -- would be paid. 'NO SCAN, NO PAY,' the rules said."

Mrs. Bea McCrabbie: Oh, I'll just leave you with the headline: "A New Species of Leech Is Discovered Near Washington, D.C." I think that should be "in Washington, D.C."

Dominic Holden of BuzzFeed News: "The Trump administration on Friday took one of its most aggressive steps yet to legalize anti-transgender discrimination by telling the Supreme Court that federal law allows firing workers solely for being transgender, arguing a Michigan funeral home could fire a transgender woman because she wanted to wear women's clothing on the job.... The latest court filing asks the nation's top court to establish federal case law in a potentially sweeping setback for LGBTQ rights nationwide.... The Justice Department's brief on Friday contends the word ['sex' in Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964] refers to a person's 'biological sex' and, further, that transgender discrimination isn't addressed by a 1989 Supreme Court ruling that found Title VII bans sex stereotyping." Mrs. McC: Other than cruelty, there seems to be no reason for the DOJ's position.

Appeals Court Okays Jerking around Migrants. Nomann Merchant of the AP: "A federal appeals court on Friday cleared the way for the U.S. government to forbid Central American immigrants from seeking asylum at the two busiest stretches of the southern border in a partial legal victory for the Trump administration. The ruling from the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals allows ... Donald Trump to enforce the policy in New Mexico and Texas, rejecting asylum seekers who cross from Mexico into either state. Under Friday's ruling, U.S. District Judge Jon Tigar's July 24 order stopping the policy would apply only in California and Arizona, which are covered by the 9th Circuit. The two busiest areas for unauthorized border crossings are in South Texas' Rio Grande Valley and the region around El Paso, Texas, which includes New Mexico. Nearly 50,000 people in July crossed the U.S. border without permission in those two regions, according to the U.S. Border Patrol. The policy would deny asylum to anyone who passes through another country on the way to the U.S. without seeking protection there."

Appeals Court Okays Jerking around Women. AP: "A U.S. appeals court has declined once again to immediately halt new Trump administration rules that bar taxpayer-funded clinics from referring patients for abortions. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals late Friday rejected a request from more than 20 states, Planned Parenthood and the American Medical Association to block the rules from taking effect while the case proceeds. A three-judge panel and an 11-judge panel have already said the rules can take effect while the administration appeals lower court rulings that blocked them. Oral arguments are next month."

Occam's Razor, Hanlon's Razor & Sampson's Scalpel. Ali Watkins & Michael Gold of the New York Times: "The New York City medical examiner said on Friday that Jeffrey Epstein's death in a federal jail cell was a suicide, confirming he had hanged himself. Mr. Epstein's death had set off a wave of unfounded conspiracy theories, as people speculated online, without evidence, that he might have been killed to keep him from providing information to prosecutors about others in his social circle, including President Trump, former President Bill Clinton and Prince Andrew of Britain. But the chief medical examiner in New York City, Dr. Barbara Sampson, ruled out foul play. She released a terse statement saying that, after an autopsy and a 'careful review of all investigative information,' she had determined the cause of Mr. Epstein's death was 'hanging' and the manner was 'suicide.' Three of Mr. Epstein's lawyers, Martin G. Weinberg, Reid Weingarten and Michael Miller, challenged the findings and vowed to conduct their own investigation." ...

     ... The NBC News story, by Tom Winter & others, is here.

But She Does Look Lovely. Betsy Woodruff of the Daily Beast: "The NRA spent tens of thousands of dollars bringing hair and makeup artists around the country for [Susan LaPierre,] the wife of its CEO [Wayne LaPierre], two sources told The Daily Beast. The expenses -- which included plane flights and luxury hotel stays for the stylists -- are bound to fuel an already-raging debate over what some see as a spendthrift culture in the NRA's upper echelons. The NRA, meanwhile, called it a 'non-story,' and said their ex-ad firm was responsible for any such expenses." (Also linked yesterday.)

P. R. Lockhart of Vox: "Of the many myths told about American slavery, one of the biggest is that it was an archaic practice that only enriched a small number of men.... I recently spoke with [historian & author Edward] Baptist about how cotton slavery transformed the American economy, how torture, violence, and family separations were used to maximize profits, and how understanding the economic power of slavery impacts current discussions of reparations. A transcript of our conversation has been edited for length and clarity." --s

Way Beyond the Beltway

Australia/Fiji. Kate Lyons of the Guardian: "Scott Morrison has been accused of causing an extraordinary rift between Australia and Pacific countries by the prime minister of Fiji, who said the Australian prime minister's insulting behaviour while at the Pacific Islands Forum in Tuvalu would push nations closer to China.... Frank Bainimarama, the prime minister of Fiji and a political heavyweight in the region, said Morrison's approach during the leaders' retreat on Thursday was 'very insulting and condescending'.... Bainimarama also commented on the deputy prime minister Michael McCormack's comments that Pacific island nations affected by the climate crisis would continue to survive 'because many of their workers come here to pick our fruit', saying they were insulting and disrespectful." --s