The Commentariat -- July 8, 2019
Late Morning/Afternoon Update:
Noam Levey of the Los Angeles Times: "As they push a federal court to repeal the Affordable Care Act, Trump administration lawyers are arguing the law is no longer workable because Congress eliminated a penalty on people who don't have health insurance. But for months, senior administration officials and lawyers have been making the exact opposite case in other settings, a review of government reports, court filings and public statements made by Trump appointees shows. In fact administration officials, including White House economists, this year repeatedly have hailed the strength of insurance marketplaces created by the 2010 law. And in stark contrast to their claims in federal court in New Orleans, they have stressed that the 2017 legislation eliminating the so-called mandate penalty has had little to no impact on markets and consumers, let alone on the broader healthcare law, often called Obamacare or the ACA.... University of Michigan law professor Nicholas Bagley, who has closely tracked litigation related to the healthcare law, said federal courts are usually reluctant to pry too deeply into inconsistencies in how government officials justify their actions. The Trump administration, however, is testing the limits of this restraint, he said. 'Courts can get pushed to the point where they say this is too much to swallow.'" ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: For an even better explanation of this doubletalk, see Akhilleus's commentary below. See also Ian Millhiser's post below. And you wonder why DOJ attorneys are jumping ship.
Ali Watkins & Vivian Yang of the New York Times: "Federal prosecutors unsealed the new charges on Monday accusing [Jeffrey] Epstein, 66, of running a sex-trafficking operation that lured dozens of underage girls, some as young as 14, to his Upper East Side home and to a mansion in Palm Beach, Fla., according to an indictment. Mr. Epstein, 66, is accused of engaging in sex acts with minors, some as young as 14, during naked massage sessions, then paying them hundreds of dollars in cash, the indictment said. He also asked some of the girls to recruit other underage girls. 'In this way, Epstein created a vast network of underage victims for him to sexually exploit in locations including New York and Palm Beach,' the indictment said." The indictment, via the NYT, is here. (This is an update of a story linked below.) Mrs. McC: In a press conference, U.S. Attorney Geoffrey Berman said he would ask the court that Epstein be detained because he is "an extreme flight risk." Berman also acknowledged that "investigative journalists" were instrumental in bringing the new charges. Epstein will appear in court later today. ...
.... CNN liveblogged Berman's press conference.
Juan Cole: "The United States is already at war with Iran, squeezing its economy down to nothingness. If another country tried to do this to the US just on a whim and with no UN or international-law basis, the US would certainly launch a war over it.... Trump did this to Iran despite Iran's adherence to the 2015 nuclear deal or Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).... In 2019, Iran's economy under US sanctions will shrink an incredible 6%. Aljazeera English reports that 'the rial, plummet[ed] by about 60% over the past year. Inflation is up to 37% and the cost of food and medicine has soared by 40% to 60%, according to EU figures.' Note that Trump's sanctions are unilateral. They haven't even been approved by Congress, and are actively rejected by the United Nations Security Council." --s
Ian Millhiser of ThinkProgress: "Late last month, the Supreme Court determined that the Trump administration lied about its real reason for wanting to add a question to the 2020 census form asking if each respondent is a U.S. citizen. Less than two weeks later, as a team of lawyers led by the ACLU laid out in remarkable brief filed in a federal district court, Trump's Justice Department is entangled in an entirely different web of deceit. The brief, moreover, references a forthcoming motion for sanctions against the government attorneys who litigated this case.... Ultimately, the fate of any sanctions against these lawyers -- and of the citizenship question itself -- is likely to be decided by Chief Justice John Roberts." --s ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: Hmmm. I think we now know why the lawyers on the case quit & Bill Barr had to come up with a new "team" to pursue the cases.
Moira Donegan in the Guardian: "The talent pool for female soccer players in America appears bottomless.... The US has found itself with a huge number of phenomenally talented female soccer players: how did we get them? In large part, we got them through policy, in particular the Education Amendments Act of 1972. Shepherded into law by Congresswoman Patsy Mink of Hawaii, the title IX provision of the act was a response to feminists' push to close a loophole in the Civil Rights Act of 964 that allowed federally funded schools, colleges and universities to discriminate by sex.... Taken as a whole, title IX's success in creating discrimination-free educational environments for women and girls is spotty at best. But the athletic non-discrimination provision has been a massive success in encouraging American girls to play sports." --s
David Corn of Mother Jones: "While Americans feel 'an increasing alarm' about climate change, according to a survey conducted by the Yale Program on Climate Change Communication, scientists have been coping with this troubling data for decades -- and the grinding emotional effects from that research are another cost of global warming that the public has yet to fully confront.... Are scientists, then, canaries in a psychological coal mine? Is understanding their grief important because their anxiety could become more widespread within the general population?" With lots of interviews with climate scientists. --s
Rosanna Xia of the Los Angeles Times: "Miami has been drowning, Louisiana shrinking, North Carolina's beaches disappearing like a time lapse with no ending. While other regions grappled with destructive waves and rising seas, the West Coast for decades was spared by a rare confluence of favorable winds and cooler water.... Blinded from the consequences of a warming planet, Californians kept building right to the water's edge.... More than $150 billion in property could be at risk of flooding by 2100 -- the economic damage far more devastating than the state's worst earthquakes and wildfires. Salt marshes, home to shorebirds and endangered species, face extinction. In Southern California alone, two-thirds of beaches could vanish." --s
Philippines. Hannah Ellis-Peterson of the Guardian: "The president of the Philippines Rodrigo Duterte is carrying out a 'large-scale murdering enterprise' and should be investigated by the UN for crimes against humanity, according to a new Amnesty report into his so-called war on drugs." --s
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The Counterfactual World of Trump & Troupe. Emily Cochrane of the New York Times: “President Trump and his top immigration officials on Sunday contested reports that migrant children were being held in horrific conditions in federal detention facilities, as the administration argued that the government was enforcing oversight standards even as it struggled to house and care for an influx of migrants.... Speaking to reporters, Mr. Trump called the report about the Clint facility a 'hoax.'... The Times said in a statement that it stood by the article." ...
... Chris Rodrigo of the Hill: "President Trump on Sunday accused the media of reporting 'phony and exaggerated accounts' of conditions at migrant detention centers along the border in the wake of two bombshell reports from the Department of Homeland Security's (DHS) watchdog. 'The Fake News Media, in particular the Failing @nytimes, is writing phony and exaggerated accounts of the Border Detention Centers,' Trump tweeted.... The reports from the DHS Office of Inspector General (OIG) covered the conditions at facilities near El Paso, Texas, and in the Rio Grande Valley. The government watchdog found severe overcrowding, migrants being held too long and dirty conditions at many of the facilities. A group of lawyers who visited a Border Patrol station in Clint, Texas, made similar claims about the treatment of migrants. The Trump administration has denied reports and images of the conditions in detainment facilities." Mrs. McC: Sunday afternoon, Trump gave a chopper presser in which he elaborated on his phony charges. I'll get a report on that when one becomes available. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
... Quinn Owen of ABC News: "Acting Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kevin McAleenan said he did not accept reports of unsanitary conditions and limited food and water at U.S. Border Patrol stations, calling the situation at the border 'extraordinarily challenging' for the department, in an interview on ABC's "This Week" Sunday.... For months, McAleenan has raised alarms about the potential for disastrous conditions on the southern border while maintaining his agency has upheld government standards for housing detainees, despite evidence to the contrary. He said on Sunday that the food and water at one facility in Clint, Texas, that has faced scrutiny were 'adequate' and that migrants in holding centers had access to showers and clean living quarters.... Conditions were so severe at facilities in the Rio Grande Valley that one CBP manager described it to federal investigators as a "ticking time bomb" in the report made public this past week." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Camilo Montoya-Galvez CBS News: "The Trump administration's top official at U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) said immigration authorities are ready to identify, detain and eventually deport approximately one million undocumented immigrants with pending removal orders. 'They're ready to just perform their mission, which is to go and find and detain and then deport the approximately one million people who have final removal orders,' Acting USCIS Director Ken Cuccinelli said on 'Face the Nation' on Sunday, referring to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) branch charged with removal operations. Cuccinelli, an immigration hardliner who took the helm of the agency last month, said it is within ICE's discretion to determine who among those with final orders of deportation will be targeted in operations, suggesting the full pool of approximately one million immigrants might not face deportation after all." ...
... Catie Edmondson of the New York Times: "Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials have mined state driver's license databases using facial recognition technology, analyzing millions of motorists' photos without their knowledge. In at least three states that offer driver's licenses to undocumented immigrants, ICE officials have requested to comb through state repositories of license photos, according to newly released documents. At least two of those states, Utah and Vermont, complied, searching their photos for matches, those records show.... [Harrison Rudolph of Georgetown Law's Center on Privacy and Technology, said,] 'This is a scandal.... States have never passed laws authorizing ICE to dive into driver's license databases using facial recognition to look for folks.... These states have never told undocumented people that when they apply for a driver's license they are also turning over their face to ICE. That is a huge bait and switch.'" The story was first reported by The Washington Post.
Fox "News" Program-Director-in-Chief Unhappy with Weekend Lineup. Bianca Quilantan of Politico: "... Donald Trump took a swipe at Fox News on Sunday, saying the network ... 'is now loading up with Democrats & even using Fake unsourced @nytimes a "source" of information.'... '@FoxNews is changing fast, but they forgot the people who got them there!' he said [in a tweet].... 'Watching @FoxNews weekend anchors is worse than watching low ratings Fake News @CNN, or Lyin' Brian Williams (remember when he totally fabricated a War Story trying to make himself into a hero, & got fired. A very dishonest journalist!) and the crew of degenerate Comcast (NBC/MSNBC) Trump haters, who do whatever Brian & Steve tell them to do,' the president said, presumably referring to executives Brian Roberts and Steve Burke." ..
Oh, and this: "During a live broadcast from France [aired on Fox 'News'] after the U.S. women's soccer team won the Women's World Cup, the crowd was heard loudly chanting 'F[uck] Trump' behind correspondent Greg Palkot." Thank you, soccer fans.
Mike Balsamo of the AP: "The Justice Department is shaking up the legal team fighting for the inclusion of a citizenship question on the 2020 census but offered no specifics on why the change was being made. The change announced Sunday comes days after the department vowed to continue to try to find a legal path forward to include the question on the census. ...
... Michael Wines, et al., of the New York Times: The DOJ "offered no explanation for the en masse change, which came on the heels of an extraordinary week in a yearlong clash over the issue that has raised concerns about whether the department's arguments for adding the question could be believed. And it strongly suggested that the department's career lawyers had decided to quit a case that at the least seemed to lack a legal basis, and at most left them defending statements that could well turn out to be untrue.... The change in the legal team appeared to signal even deeper problems for the administration's effort to put the question on the next census, a proposal that critics have assailed as an ill-disguised plot to manipulate the final head count in ways that would benefit the Republican Party." Read on. The "Justice" Department seems to be in nearly as big a mess as the White House, but largely because many career lawyers won't make crap arguments to defend crap policies. ...
... Annals of "Journalism," Ctd. A Citizenship Question Too Hard for the Sunday Shows. Alex Kaplan of Media Matters: "Most of the Sunday morning news shows ignored ... Donald Trump's efforts to force a question about citizenship status into the 2020 census.... Of those that didn't, none engaged substantively at all with Trump's admission [that the question was needed to give Republicans a big boost in reapportioning Congressional districts].
Aw, Another Crack in the "Special Relationship." Emma Anderson of Politico: "... Donald Trump on Sunday blasted Britain's ambassador to Washington [Kim Darroch], saying he was not a 'big fan' after reports of leaked memos in which the diplomat called Trump and his administration 'dysfunctional' and 'inept.' 'The ambassador has not served the U.K. well, I can tell you that,' Trump told reporters in New Jersey.... The Telegraph, a British newspaper, reported that Trump aides have called for Darroch to be fired since the leak." ...
... Update. "It Is, of Course, a Matter of Regret." Michael Holden & William James of Reuters: "Britain said on Monday it had contacted Washington to express regret for the leak of confidential memos in which its ambassador described ... Donald Trump's administration as 'dysfunctional and 'inept'.... 'Contact has been made with the Trump administration, setting out our view that we believe the leak is unacceptable,' Prime Minister Theresa May's spokesman told reporters. 'It is, of course, a matter of regret that this has happened.' Trade minister Liam Fox, who is visiting Washington, told BBC radio he would apologize to Trump's daughter Ivanka, whom he is due to meet." Mrs. McC: French may be the language of diplomacy, but the Brits are veddy, veddy good at using it to twist the knife a little deeper. I'm hearing delighted snickers at Ten Downing Street. We are so amused.
Mary Papenfuss of the Huffington Post: “An artist blasted by the Anti-Defamation League for creating a 'blatantly anti-Semitic cartoon' has been invited to the White House by ... Donald Trump. Cartoonist Ben Garrison proudly tweeted his invitation to join a 'Social Media Summit' this coming Thursday at the White House.... Trump's Social Media Summit is expected to address the president's complaints that social media platforms' policies against threats and hate speech are blocking conservative voices.... Two years ago, Garrison created an inflammatory cartoon depicting Jewish billionaire philanthropist George Soros using puppet strings to control then-Gen. H.R. McMaster, who was serving as Trump's national security adviser at the time, and retired Gen. David Petraeus. The image was a nod to an anti-Semitic conspiracy theory that a secretive international Jewish cabal controls the world. In the cartoon, Soros is being controlled by a hand labeled the 'Rothschilds,' a famous Jewish banking family. The ADL wrote at the time that the 'thrust of the cartoon is clear: McMaster is merely a puppet of a Jewish conspiracy.'" (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
David Kirkpatrick & David Sanger of the New York Times: "Iran said on Sunday that within hours it would breach the limits on uranium enrichment set four years ago in an accord with the United States and other international powers that was designed to keep Tehran from producing a nuclear weapon. The latest move inches Iran closer to where it was before the accord: on the path to being able to produce an atomic bomb." Mrs. McC: Thanks, Trump! (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
If the Bees Die, We Die. Sam Fossum of CNN: "The US Department of Agriculture has suspended data collection for its annual Honey Bee Colonies report, citing cost cuts -- a move that robs researchers and the honeybee industry of a critical tool for understanding honeybee population declines, and comes as the USDA is curtailing other research programs. It's also another step toward undoing President Barack Obama's government-wide focus on protecting pollinators, including bees and butterflies, whose populations have plummeted in recent years."
Robert Burns of the AP: "The four-star admiral set to become the Navy's top officer on Aug. 1 will instead retire, an extraordinary downfall prompted by what Navy Secretary Richard Spencer on Sunday called poor judgment regarding a professional relationship. The sudden move by Adm. William Moran may add to the perception of turmoil in the Pentagon's senior ranks, coming less than a month after Pat Shanahan abruptly withdrew from consideration to be defense secretary after serving as the acting secretary for six months.... Moran had been vetted for promotion to the top uniformed position in the Navy, nominated by ... Donald Trump and confirmed by the Senate in May to succeed Adm. John Richardson as chief of naval operations and as a member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.... [Officials said] Moran ... recently [took] public affairs counsel from Chris Servello, who ... was accused of making unwanted sexual passes while dressed as Santa at [a 2016 Navy Christmas] party.... Servello had previously worked for Moran as a public affairs officer."
Jim Mustian & Desmond Butler of the AP: "A federal grand jury in New York is investigating top Republican fundraiser Elliott Broidy, examining whether he used his position as vice chair of ... Donald Trump's inaugural committee to drum up business deals with foreign leaders, according to documents obtained by The Associated Press and people familiar with the matter.... The Brooklyn probe appears to be distinct from an inquiry by Manhattan federal prosecutors into the inaugural committee's record $107 million fundraising and whether foreigners unlawfully contributed. It followed a request last year by Democratic U.S. Sens. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut that the Justice Department investigate whether Broidy 'used access to President Trump as a valuable enticement to foreign officials who may be in a position to advance Mr. Broidy's business interests abroad.'"
Jamie Ehrlich of CNN: "Newly independent Rep. Justin Amash, the only congressional Republican to have publicly argued that ... Donald Trump has engaged in impeachable conduct, told CNN that high-level party officials have thanked him behind closed doors for his stance on impeachment proceedings against Trump. 'I get people sending me text messages, people calling me, saying "thank you for what you're doing,'" Amash told CNN's Jake Tapper in a wide-ranging interview on 'State of the Union' Sunday....In the same interview, Amash said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi should start impeachment proceedings against Trump. 'From a principled, moral position, she's making a mistake. From a strategic position, she's making a mistake,' Amash said." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Edward Helmore of the Guardian: "Congressional approval for funds for the Trump administration to spend at the southern border has triggered open warfare between a 'squad' of high-profile progressive House Democrats and party leaders they accuse of caving to a White House determined to mistreat migrant children.... On Saturday [Speaker Nancy] Pelosi [said] in a New York Times interview, [with Maureen Dowd, also linked in yesterday's Commentariat] taking aim at The Squad for voting against 'our bill'. 'All these people have their public whatever and their Twitter world,' she said. 'But they didn't have any following. They're four people and that's how many votes they got.' In a tweeted response, [Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said: 'That public "whatever" is called public sentiment. And wielding the power to shift it is how we actually achieve meaningful change in this country.' She also defended her use of social media. The progressive-moderate split is becoming more evident and bitter." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.);
Presidential Race 2020. Because We Need Another Billionaire Prez. Daniel Lippmann & Daniel Strauss of Politico: "Tom Steyer, the billionaire environmental activist who toyed with a 2020 presidential run before deciding against it, has told people he plans to announce that he's entering the race for the Democratic nomination, according to three people familiar with his plans. Steyer had said in January that he was passing on a 2020 run."
Ali Watkins & Vivian Wang of the New York Times: "Federal prosecutors appear to have resurrected a federal sex crimes case against the billionaire financier Jeffrey Epstein by focusing on accusations that he sexually assaulted girls at his mansion in Manhattan -- more than a decade after a widely criticized plea deal shielded him from similar charges in Florida.... Mr. Epstein is charged with using his vast network of contacts and associates to bring a constant stream of underage girls to his Manhattan townhouse, one law enforcement official said. He is accused of shuttling the girls between the townhouse and his home in Palm Beach, Fla., paying them in cash and urging them to recruit other underage girls to visit his home.... [Epstein's New York City] mansion, which runs along East 71st Street between Fifth and Madison Avenues, has been called one of the largest townhouses in Manhattan. It contains at least seven floors and covers 21,000 square feet."
Julie Brown of the Miami Herald: "Jeffrey Epstein spent a second night in a New York jail cell Sunday, with a federal indictment expected to be unsealed Monday, charging him with sex offenses involving underage girls he and others allegedly trafficked in New York and Florida, sources have told the Miami Herald.... Although details of the case remain undisclosed, there are indications that others involved in his crimes could be charged or named as cooperating witnesses.... Epstein's arrest could open a window to expose other influential people who knew about or participated in his crimes. The question is what evidence or information does Epstein have against them and how might he use it?" ...
... Vivian Wang: "The case [against Jeffrey Epstein] could shed new light ... on the extent to which officials who have been linked to Mr. Epstein -- including, most notably, President Trump and his labor secretary, Alexander Acosta -- knew about or downplayed them.... [Epstein's] circle of friends and acquaintances included many high-profile figures, including Mr. Trump, former President Bill Clinton, Prince Andrew of Britain and Leslie Wexner, a business mogul who owns Victoria's Secret and other retail brands. Mr. Clinton flew on Mr. Epstein's private plane dozens of times, according to flight records, and Prince Andrew has attended parties with Mr. Epstein. Mr. Trump told New York magazine in 2002 that Mr. Epstein was a 'terrific guy' whom he had known for 15 years. 'He's a lot of fun to be with,' the president said at the time. 'It is even said that he likes beautiful women as much as I do, and many of them are on the younger side.'... One of Mr. Epstein's accusers, Virginia Giuffre, said in court documents that she was recruited to give Mr. Epstein massages while she was working at Mar-a-Lago, Mr. Trump's Florida resort. Mr. Epstein has been photographed with Mr. Trump at Mar-a-Lago.... Federal prosecutors in Miami initially drafted a 53-page indictment against Mr. Epstein. But in 2008, those prosecutors -- led by Mr. Acosta, then the region's United States attorney, and now Mr. Trump's labor secretary -- struck a deal with Mr. Epstein's lawyers that allowed him to avoid federal charges.... Mr. Acosta's office also agreed to help shield the deal from public scrutiny, according to The [Miami] Herald." ...
Here are Trump, Melania, Epstein & Ghislaine Maxwell at Mar-a-Lago in February 2000. According to Julie Brown of the Herald, Maxwell, heir to a British publishing fortune, "could be charged or named as cooperating witnesses.... [She] has been accused of working as Epstein's madam.... Maxwell has denied the claim and has never been charged":
... From the Small World (of Sleazebags) Department. Todd Neikirk of the Hill Reporter (May 4): "In 1973, [Attorney General William] Barr's father Donald, the headmaster at Manhattan's Dalton School, hired [Jeffrey] Epstein as a calculus and physics teacher.... Epstein had not earned a college degree ... [and] was only 20 years of age.... During ... Barr's confirmation hearing..., Senator Ben Sasse (R-NE) ... asked Barr about the lenient sentence given out to billionaire pedophile, Jeffrey Epstein.... The future Attorney General told Sasse that he would look into the matter." Thanks to MAG for the lead. ...
... AND "Look into the Matter," He Did. Frank Rich (in a tweet July 6): "Little noted was that William Barr's Justice Dept a week ago upheld Jeffrey Epstein's secret wrist-slap 2007 Florida plea deal, engineered by fellow Trump cabinet member Alex Acosta."
Spencer Kimball of CNBC: "Deutsche Bank announced Sunday that it will pull out of global equities sales and trading, scale back investment banking and slash thousands of jobs as part of a sweeping restructuring plan to improve profitability. Deutsche will cut 18,000 jobs for a global headcount of around 74,000 employees by 2022. The bank aims to reduce adjusted costs by a quarter to 17 billion euros ($19 billion) over the next several years. The German bank's decision to scale back investment banking comes just two days after investment banking chief Garth Ritchie stepped down by 'mutual agreement.'... The German lender once sought to compete with America's big banks on Wall Street, but has been pummeled by scandals, investigations and massive fines stemming from the financial crisis and other issues in recent years.... Deutsche has come under renewed scrutiny in the U.S. over its business relationship with ... Donald Trump."
Way Beyond the Beltway
Greece. Matina Stevis-Gridneff of the New York Times: Greece's "Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, a former firebrand leftist, was defeated in a landslide [Sunday]. Greeks turned instead to the resurgent center-right New Democracy party led by Kyriakos Mitsotakis, a Harvard-educated former banker and son of a 1990s prime minister. His party secured almost 40 percent of the vote and a comfortable majority of 158 seats in the 300-seat Parliament.... It is a reminder that even as Britain moves to leave the European Union, voters in other parts of the bloc appear committed to sticking with it."
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