The Commentariat -- June 21, 2019

Late Morning/Afternoon Update:

So here's the latest version of the evolving Trump-Changes-His-Mind story:

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: Get that? These generals are so stupid & careless ("Great people, these generals," Trump says facetiously) that they have given no consideration to and have no idea of what the body count is projected to be. The "generals" (no "admirals"??) have to leave the room & phone for an answer from some functionary in the Pentagon basement. Then they come back, and for the first time, tell Trump that the strikes are likely to kill 150 people. Up till 10 minutes before missiles are to be launched, no top aides or military leaders have weighed in on "collateral damage." It's up to Our Hero Donald Trump to bring up the issue at liftoff-minus-ten. Unbelievable? Youbetcha. ...

     ... Deb Reichmann, et al., of the AP: "Trump's assertion that he learned only at the last minute of his military advisers' casualty estimate does not align with the usual way a president is briefed on military attack options. An assessment of the likelihood of casualties, whether civilian or military, and a broad estimate of the number, normally are a major element of each option provided to the commander in chief.... Asked how he was weighing his options, Trump said in a meeting with congressional leaders Thursday, 'My gut,' according to a person familiar with the exchange.... Although top congressional leaders met with Trump at the White House on Thursday to discuss Iran, he apparently did not tell them an attack was imminent." Mrs. McC: Jonathan Lamire of the AP said on MSNBC that the AP's reporting indicated that Trump had received casualty estimated hours before the planned strike. ...

... Michael Shear, et al., of the New York Times: "President Trump said Friday morning that the United States military had been 'cocked and loaded' for a strike against Iran on Thursday night, but that he called it off with 10 minutes to spare when a general told him that 150 people would likely die in the attack.... The president said in a series of tweets just after 9 a.m. that he was prepared to retaliate against three sites in Iran for that country's shooting down an American drone, but that he was 'in no hurry.' He indicated that the death of 150 Iranians would not be 'proportionate to shooting down an unmanned drone.' It was unclear why Mr. Trump would have been getting information about possible casualties so late in the process of launching military action. Such information is typically discussed early in the deliberations between a president and national security officials." ...

... David Graham of the Atlantic: "There's no shame in calling back the strike.... Yet the story of how it happened, by Trump's own account, is chilling. There seem to be three possibilities. One is that Trump was railroaded by advisers who are reportedly far more hawkish on Iran than he is, and only at the last minute realized what was happening, in which case he's being ill-served by his aides. A second is that Trump was given other, more proportionate options, and estimates of the casualties each would produce, and only stopped to consider these questions as the planes were in the air -- not the sign of the sort of careful, measured decision-making one wants in national-security decisions. A third is that Trump knew exactly what he was doing and it was all a big performance. That possibility is perhaps most supported by Trump's own account and by his past history of using the military as a prop. That's also what a source told Maggie Haberman[.]" ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: See also my comment in the thread below. I still think the not-paying-attention explanation is possible. ...

... Wonkette's Five Dollar Feminist has some thoughts. ...

... Jack Crosbie of Splinter also is worried about the influence of the "Fox & Friends" National Security Council. ...

... Connor Mannion of Mediaite: "Trump tweeted out the phrasing ['cocked and loaded'], a deviation from the usual term 'locked and loaded,' while tweeting out an explanation about why he abruptly called off a major military strike against Iran that would have been in retaliation for a shot-down drone aircraft. Twitter quickly caught on and joked about the phrasing.... Tina Dupuy[:] '"Cocked and loaded" sounds like the porn version of a John Wayne film.'" Thanks to Ken W. for the link.

Helene Cooper of the New York Times: "President Trump plans to nominate Mark T. Esper, the secretary of the Army and former West Point classmate of Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, to be the next defense secretary, administration officials said on Friday. They said that Mr. Trump would send the nomination to lawmakers on Capitol Hill in the next few days. If confirmed, Mr. Esper, an Army infantryman who fought in the gulf war before becoming a lobbyist for Raytheon would succeed Jim Mattis, who resigned in December during a dispute over pulling American troops out of Syria. Mr. Esper is set to become acting defense secretary on Sunday, following the abrupt resignation of Patrick M. Shanahan, who also was nominated by Mr. Trump to the top Pentagon job. Mr. Shanahan withdrew on Tuesday amid news reports about his 2011 divorce."

Andrew Desiderio & Natasha Bertrand of Politico: "The House Intelligence Committee will issue a subpoena to Felix Sater, a former business associate of ... Donald Trump who was the chief negotiator for the failed Trump Tower Moscow project, after he failed to show up for a voluntary interview Friday morning. 'The committee had scheduled a voluntary staff-level interview with Mr. Sater, but he did not show up this morning as agreed,' said Patrick Boland, a spokesman for Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff (D-Calif.). 'As a result, the committee is issuing a subpoena to compel his testimony.' Sater told Politico that the interview is 'being rescheduled.' His attorney, Robert Wolff, said in a statement that Sater couldn't attend Friday's interview 'due to health reasons' but looks forward to voluntarily appearing once it's rescheduled." Mrs. McC: Right.

Adam Liptak of the New York Times: "A white Mississippi prosecutor violated the Constitution by excluding black jurors from the sixth trial of Curtis Flowers, a black man who was convicted of murdering four people in 1996 in a furniture store, the Supreme Court ruled on Friday. Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh, writing for a seven-justice majority, said the prosecutor, Doug Evans, had run afoul of the court's 1986 decision in Batson v. Kentucky. 'Equal justice under law requires a criminal trial free of racial discrimination in the jury selection process,' Justice Kavanaugh wrote. 'Enforcing that constitutional principle, Batson ended the widespread practice in which prosecutors could (and often would) routinely strike all black prospective jurors in cases involving black defendants. Chief Justice John G. Roberts's decision to assign the majority opinion in a high-profile case to the court's newest member may have been prompted by Justice Kavanaugh's longstanding interest in race discrimination in jury selection. When he was a law student at Yale, Justice Kavanaugh wrote an article in Yale Law Journal calling for vigorous enforcement of the Batson decision.... Justice Clarence Thomas dissented.... Justice Neil M. Gorsuch joined most of Justice Thomas's dissent. In a passage in which Justice Thomas spoke only for himself, he wrote that he had profound doubts about whether the Batson decision had been correctly decided in the first place." Mrs. McC: Yeah, Neil, that figures.

Kyla Mandel of ThinkProgress: "It is going to cost the United States at least $400 billion over the next 20 years to protect the nation's public infrastructure -- everything from roads and rail lines to bridges, airports, and sewage treatment systems -- to withstand the impacts of sea level rise.... The price tag is almost as much as it took to build the original interstate highway system, which cost $114 billion at the time ($521 billion when accounting for inflation) over 36 years and now spans over 48,000 miles.... All of this vital work would need to be done in half the amount of time it took to build the nation's highway system." --safari: You think D.C. is up to the task?

Alaska. Owen Daugherty of The Hill: "Several attendees at a government meeting open to the public in Alaska walked out in protest after an opening prayer praised Satan. The Associated Press reports the prayer, where a woman declared 'Hail Satan,' was given by Satanic Temple member Iris Fontana, who won the right to open the meeting with an invocation of her choice." --s

Georgia. Elham Katami of ThinkProgress: "Georgia state officials said Tuesday that 30,000 residents will lose their Medicaid coverage for failing to respond to renewal notices. But lawyers of many of the recipients affected say their clients were dropped from coverage without ever having received those notices.... According to the [Atlanta Journal Constitution], the [Department of Community Health] admitted that some beneficiaries did not receive renewal notices, but added that the number is small, approximately 70 people. Lawyers, however, claim that the number is in the thousands." --s

North Carolina. Will Bunch of the Philadelphia Inquirer: "[On election day in 2016]..., the electronic poll books -- records of who's eligible to vote, to be manned by workers with laptops -- had crashed, and Durham County [a democratic stronghold in North Carolina] soon took the whole system off-line. The hasty switch to printed poll books ... was a comedy of errors.... In the end ... Trump won [the state] by 173,000 votes.... Just days before the 2016 voting ... [Susan Greenhalgh, the executive director of an alliance called the National Election Defense Coalition] first reports that Russian operatives had tried to hack into an election technology company called VR Systems. She wondered that day if VR Systems was Durham's vendor. It was. Incredibly, it is just now -- 32 long months after ... that officials with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security have finally launched a serious probe into the possibility that Russian hackers crashed the computers or altered data that caused those crushing lines.... North Carolina's problems have experts worried that the real interference could come from crashing the poll books or altering addresses or voting histories to cause mass chaos on Election Day." --s

Wisconsin. Patrick Marley of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: "The Wisconsin Supreme Court upheld lame-duck laws Friday that limit the power of the state's new Democratic governor, handing Republicans a victory in one of several legal fights over the laws. Two other lawsuits over the lame-duck laws are ongoing. The state Supreme Court is considering one and a federal judge the other. In Friday's 4-3 decision, conservatives on the state's high court found lawmakers were allowed to bring themselves into session in December to trim the authority of Gov. Tony Evers and Attorney General Josh Kaul just before they took office."

Juan Cole: "US Middle East envoy Jason Greenblatt has stated that next week's Bahrain economic workshop is the first part of the United State's peace plan known as 'Deal of the Century.' Greenblatt has also emphasized to the Israeli news agency 'i24NEWS' that the workshop will be concidsered [sic] as 'apolitical' due to the Palestinian Authority's decision to boycott the conference. Subsequently, no Israeli government officials would be invited nor any other foreign leaders or ministers.... [T]he current focus is on attracting investors and looking for donors to build up the Palestinian economy while garnering feedback." --s

~~~~~~~~~~

** Michael Shear, et al., of the New York Times: "President Trump approved military strikes against Iran in retaliation for downing an American surveillance drone, but pulled back from launching them on Thursday night after a day of escalating tensions. As late as 7 p.m. Thursday, military and diplomatic officials were expecting a strike, after intense discussions and debate at the White House among the president's top national security officials and congressional leaders, according to multiple senior administration officials involved in or briefed on the deliberations. Officials said the president had initially approved attacks on a handful of Iranian targets, like radar and missile batteries. The operation was underway in its early stages when it was called off, a senior administration official said. Planes were in the air and ships were in position, but no missiles had been fired when word came to stand down, the official said.... Senior administration officials said Secretary of State Mike Pompeo; John R. Bolton, the national security adviser; and Gina Haspel, the C.I.A. director, had favored a military response. But top Pentagon officials cautioned that such an action could result in a spiraling escalation with risks for American forces in the region." ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: As Ben Rhodes said on MSNBC Thursday night, "We have no foreign policy."

... Rebecca Kheel of the Hill: "Democrats told President Trump in a situation room meeting Thursday he needs to get congressional authorization before taking military action against Iran, Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) said. 'I told the president that these conflicts have a way of escalating. The president may not intend to go to war here, but we're worried that -- and the administration may bumble into a war,' Schumer told reporters at Capitol Hill after the meeting. 'We told the room that the Democratic position is that congressional approval must be required before funding any conflict in Iran,' he continued. 'One of the best ways to avoid bumbling into a war, a war that nobody wants, is to have a robust open debate and for Congress to have a real say. We learned that lesson in the run-up to Iraq.' Trump invited congressional leaders from both parties and chambers to the White House situation room to discuss Iran after Tehran shot down a U.S. drone."

Kristen Welker, et al., of NBC News: "... Donald Trump on Thursday said the public will 'find out' about a U.S. response to Iran shooting down an American military drone in the Persian Gulf that the president insisted was in international territory.... 'Iran made a very bad mistake,' the president continued. 'The drone was in international waters clearly. We have it documented.'... 'I have a feeling that someone under the command of that country made a big mistake,' he said. 'I find it hard to believe it was intentional. It could have been someone who was loose and stupid who did it.'... Trump has invited Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., to a briefing at the White House at 3:00 p.m. Thursday...." (Also linked yesterday.) ...

... Luis Martinez of ABC News: "In a major provocation, Iran shot down an unarmed and unmanned U.S. RQ-4A Global Hawk drone while it was flying in international airspace over the Strait of Hormuz on Thursday, U.S. Central Command confirmed in a statement.... Donald Trump tweeted Thursday morning that 'Iran made a very big mistake' after a top Iranian commander warned Iran was 'ready for war.'... A U.S. official confirmed to ABC News that the U.S. Navy was were working to recover the drone in a debris field the official said was located in international waters near the Strait of Hormuz." (Also linked yesterday.) More on this linked yesterday. ...

... David Axe of the Daily Beast: “The U.S. military drone Iran shot down over the Persian Gulf on Thursday was a high-flying prototype model belonging to the Navy. The Navy for years has deployed the Broad Area Maritime Surveillance Demonstrator, or BAMS-D, drones on an emergency basis, stationing the 737-size unmanned aerial vehicles to watch over Syria and Iran. The unarmed BAMS-D drone 'was shot down by an Iranian surface-to-air missile system while operating in international airspace over the Strait of Hormuz,' Navy Capt. Bill Urban, a U.S. Central Command spokesperson, told The Daily Beast via email. 'Iranian reports that the aircraft was over Iran are false,' Urban added.... A single Global Hawk sells for more than $200 million, counting the cost of its sensors. Operators control the drone from work stations on the ground, beaming commands via satellite to the pilotless aircraft." ...

... Juan Cole: "... this crisis is of Trump's making. His conviction that he could stiff Iran without consequences, all for the sake of looking tough with his MAGA base, was a serious miscalculation. It is the problem with having an ignorant and yet opinionated man at the helm of the US government. He is guaranteed to make basic mistakes that put the US on a war footing even though that appears to be the last thing Trump wants. Unfortunately, Iran will provoke again, and next time the US warmongers may win the argument." ...

... Mrs. McCrabbie: Almost all of the experts & pundits I heard on the teevee Thursday were jumping up & down in their chairs crying, "But Trump has no idea what he's doing! This is insane! Trump caused this problem in the first place! This has been a Bolton wetdream for decades! It turns out Dr. Strangelove has a walrus mustache." Or something like that.

** Cedar Attanasio, et al., of the AP: "A traumatic and dangerous situation is unfolding for some 250 infants, children and teens locked up for up to 27 days without adequate food, water and sanitation, according to a legal team that interviewed dozens of children at a Border Patrol station in Texas. The attorneys who recently visited the facility near El Paso told The Associated Press that three girls, ages 10 to 15, said they had been taking turns watching over a sick 2-year-old boy because there was no one else to look after him. When the lawyers saw the boy, he wasn't wearing a diaper and had wet his pants, and his shirt was smeared in mucus. They said at least 15 children at the facility had the flu, and some were kept in medical quarantine. The children told lawyers that they were fed uncooked frozen food or rice and had gone weeks without bathing or a clean change of clothes at the facility in Clint, in the desert scrubland some 25 miles southeast of El Paso. 'In my 22 years of doing visits with children in detention I have never heard of this level of inhumanity,' said Holly Cooper, an attorney who represents detained youth." ...

... Nicole Goodkind of Newsweek: "The Trump administration went to court this week to argue that migrant children detained at the United States-Mexico border do not require basic hygiene products like soap and toothbrushes in order to be in held in 'safe and sanitary' conditions. Trump's team also argued that requiring minors to sleep on cold concrete floors in crowded cells with low temperatures similarly fulfilled that requirement." Mrs. McC: If the government loses -- and it's a good guess it will based on the judges' outraged responses to the government's assertions -- the Trump administration lawyer said it would appeal. ...

... A Very Unhappy Anniversary. Michelle Goldberg of the New York Times: "Exactly one year ago on Thursday, after a national uproar, Donald Trump signed an executive order ending his administration's policy of separating migrant children from their parents. Six days later, a federal judge ordered the reunification of thousands of parents and children whom the American government had torn apart.... It seemed that one of the ugliest chapters of this vicious administration had ended. But if there's one thing this administration rarely backs down on, it's cruelty. Family separation, it turns out, never really stopped.... There are kids in this country being systematically brutalized by the American government, and it's hard to keep that in the forefront of your mind all the time without going mad.... People can just shut down.... I think Trump understands this as well."

The Trump Scandals, Ctd.

You might want to send these videos to your Trumpbot brother-in-law. Rob Reiner directed:

Andrew Desiderio & Kyle Cheney of Politico: "Hope Hicks refused to answer 155 questions from House Democrats on Wednesday about her tenure as communications director in the Trump White House, according to a transcript of her closed-door testimony released Thursday.... Two White House lawyers, Michael Purpura and Patrick Philbin, objected to lawmakers' and committee staffers' questions every time the inquiry touched on Hicks' service in the White House and during the presidential transition period, which pre-dates Trump's presidency.... Hicks' attorney, Robert Trout, said his client was 'simply following the guidance of the White House.'" ...

     ... Rachel Maddow read some of the more interesting parts of the Hicks interview. (Sadly, no sock puppets.):

... Andrew Desiderio: “Hope Hicks broke with ... Donald Trump during her interview with the House Judiciary Committee this week, telling lawmakers that offers of foreign assistance in U.S. elections should be 'rejected and reported to the FBI,' Chairman Jerry Nadler said on Thursday.... Nadler indicated during a Judiciary Committee hearing on Thursday that Hicks was also asked about Trump's recent comments to ABC News in which he suggested that he would accept a foreign adversary's offer of damaging information about a political opponent. According to Nadler, Hicks 'knew that the president's statement was troubling' and 'understood the president to be serious.' Nadler did not quote Hicks directly, but the transcript of her testimony is set to be released later this week." (Also linked yesterday.) ...

... Here's Jerry Nadler's Rationale on How Great the Hicks "Testimony" Was. Andrew Desiderio & Kyle Cheney: "House Democrats are planning to file a lawsuit within days to force former White House counsel Don McGahn to testify on Capitol Hill -- and they say Hope Hicks' reluctant testimony Wednesday will help deliver them a crucial win in court. Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler said Hicks' blanket refusal to tell lawmakers about her tenure in the West Wing is the real-life illustration Democrats needed to show a judge just how extreme the White House's blockade on witness testimony has become. 'It very much played into our hands,' Nadler said in an interview in his Capitol Hill office Thursday." ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: Also too, weren't House Democrats "planning to file a lawsuit within days against Don McGahn" a couple of weeks ago? There are 29,434 days between now and January 1, 2100. So one could say the new century is coming "within days."

Katelyn Polantz of CNN: "Federal prosecutors in a new court filing Thursday allege that longtime Donald Trump associate Roger Stone has violated his gag order in his criminal case with recent social media posts. 'In the past several days, Stone posted statements on social media about this case and the special counsel's investigation and appears to have specifically targeted those posts at major media outlets,' prosecutors said in a court filing Thursday. 'On or about June 18 and 19, 2019, the defendant posted to Instagram and Facebook, commenting about this case and inviting news organizations to cover the issue,' prosecutors wrote. 'This is a violation of the current conditions of release.' Stone was barred by Judge Amy Berman Jackson from making public statements about his case in February...." ...

... Natasha Bertrand of Politico: "Government investigators independently verified that Russian operatives hacked the Democratic National Committee in 2016 and did not rely on a private cyber firm's findings, federal prosecutors in the Roger Stone case in a court filing on Thursday. The prosecutors were rebutting a claim made in a prior court filing by Stone ... that the government relied only on 'an inconclusive and unsubstantiated report' written by cyber research firm CrowdStrike and did not 'collect any evidence of the DNC breach directly.'"

Jordain Carney of the Hill: "The Senate is voting Thursday to block President Trump's Saudi arms deal, paving the way for a veto clash with the White House. Senators voted 53-45 in favor of a resolution of disapproval to block one of the 22 arms sales the administration noticed to Congress, though the vote is ongoing. The Senate is expected to block the entire arms deal on Thursday with two additional back-to-back subsequent votes.... House Democrats have pledged they will also pass resolutions blocking the sale. Neither chamber is expected to be able to muster the two-thirds votes necessary to override all-but-guaranteed vetoes from Trump in response." (Also linked yesterday.) ...

     ... Update. Marianne Levine of Politico: "The Senate voted to block arms sales to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates on Thursday, rebuking ... Donald Trump's foreign policy in the aftermath of the murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi. Trump, whose administration signaled it would bypass congressional opposition to the sale of arms, is expected to veto the Senate's resolutions."

Lynn Sweet of the Chicago Sun-Times: "Rep. Jan Schakowsky, D-Ill., on Wednesday called for ... Donald Trump to be subject to an impeachment inquiry, notable since she is part of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's leadership team, and the speaker has counseled restraint. 'This is a personal decision on my part,' Schakowsky said in a video." (Also linked yesterday.) ...

... NPR has a handy "impeachment tracker" here. "Currently, 69 Democrats and one Republican in the House of Representatives support beginning an impeachment inquiry into Trump for potential obstruction of justice." The tracker has not been updated to include Schakowsky's announcement, so that would be at least 71 House members. (Also linked yesterday.)

Matt Stieb of New York: "On Wednesday, the Senate voted to confirm Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk to a lifetime federal seat, overriding the objections of all the body's voting Democrats and one Republican, Maine senator Susan Collins. With a 52-46 vote, the 42-year-old Kacsmaryk will head to the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas, bringing an alarming history of opinions questioning the rights of LGBTQ Americans and the legitimacy of Roe v. Wade." Read on. Mrs. McC: This horrible bigot is not qualified to judge a dog show, much less you & me. Shame on Senate Republicans. (Also linked yesterday.)

Presidential Race 2020. Lisa Lerer & Reid Epstein of the New York Times: "A few hours [after Joe Biden said Cory Booker should apologize to him for criticizing Biden's invocation of segregationists, and] after Mr. Booker responded angrily on CNN to the former vice president, Mr. Biden called him in an effort to decrease tensions.... The tone between the men was conciliatory; still, the former vice president and his allies have stood by his remarks. For decades, Mr. Biden's garrulous political style has led to the kind of gaffes that contributed to the demise of his previous presidential aspirations. Yet Donald J. Trump's refusal to admit any misstep during his winning presidential campaign may have shifted the gaffe gauge in American politics -- as well as some Democrats' expectations about their own candidates.

Senate Race 2020. James Arkin of Politico: "Roy Moore, the controversial Republican judge who lost a 2017 Senate race in deep-red Alabama amid allegations of sexual misconduct with young girls decades ago, is defying GOP opposition and running again in 2020, he announced Thursday.... Republicans fear Moore's candidacy could be a major roadblock in the GOP's path to retaking a critical Senate seat. Figures at every level of the party, including ... Donald Trump, had urged Moore to forgo another run, fearing that he would be the only candidate who would lose to Democratic Sen. Doug Jones. But Moore was defiant on Thursday, calling out by name leadership and staff at the National Republican Senatorial Committee, as well as top advisers and allies of Majority Leader Mitch McConnell."

Christian Nation, Ctd. Nina Totenberg & Domenico Montanaro of NPR: "The U.S. Supreme Court ruled Thursday that a 40-foot World War I memorial cross can stay on public land at a Maryland intersection. The cross 'has become a prominent community landmark, and its removal or radical alteration at this date would be seen by many not as a neutral act but as the manifestation of a hostility toward religion that has no place in our Establishment Clause traditions,' the court wrote. Justice Alito wrote the majority opinion for the court.... The decision was 7-to-2, but had multiple parts and not all of the seven agreeing on every aspect. The decision reverses a lower-court ruling that said the memorial is unconstitutional because it is on public land and maintained at taxpayer expense. The high court's ruling is a major victory for religious groups and the American Legion, which warned that if this cross had to be moved, so too would other crosses that serve as war memorials.... Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, in dissent, disagreed with Alito...." According to CNN, Justice Ginsberg read her dissent from the bench. The opinions are here. (Also linked yesterday.)

Alice Ollstein of Politico: "A federal appeals court this morning said the Trump administration's family planning rules can take effect nationwide while several lawsuits play out, delivering a major blow to Planned Parenthood and states challenging the overhaul. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals granted the Trump administration's request to lift national injunctions ordered by lower federal courts in Oregon and Washington state, as well as a statewide injunction in California. A panel of three judges, all appointed by previous Republican presidents, said the administration will likely prevail in the legal battle over the Title X family planning program since the Supreme Court held up similar Reagan-era rules almost 30 years ago, though they were reversed by the Clinton administration before taking effect."

Dave Philipps of the New York Times: "In stunning testimony that may upend the war crimes trial of Chief Edward Gallagher of the Navy SEALs, a SEAL medic told the court on Thursday that he -- not the chief -- had killed a wounded captive in Iraq. The medic, Special Operator First Class Corey Scott, testified that he watched Chief Gallagher stab the prisoner, a teenage ISIS fighter, in the neck but that the stab wound did not appear to be life-threatening. After the chief walked away, Special Operator Scott told the court, he pressed his thumb over the captive's breathing tube until he died. 'I knew he was going to die anyway, and wanted to save him from waking up to whatever would have happened to him,' Special Operator Scott said, adding that he had seen other captives tortured and killed by Iraqi forces. He testified after being granted immunity from criminal prosecution for the events and actions that he would discuss on the stand.... Prosecutors said on Thursday that they would not drop the premeditated murder charge against the chief, despite the medic's testimony."

Capitalism Is Totally Awesome, Ctd. Michael Corkery of the New York Times: "For more than a decade, Walmart used middlemen to make dubious payments to governments around the globe in order to open new locations, United States prosecutors and securities regulators said in a settlement agreement on Thursday. But even as employees frequently raised alarm, the company's top leaders did little to prevent Walmart from being involved in bribery and corruption schemes. That lack of internal control led to a seven-year inquiry that culminated on Thursday with Walmart's Brazilian subsidiary pleading guilty to a federal crime. The guilty plea, and the $282 million in fines that Walmart has agreed to pay, capped one of the biggest investigations ever under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, which makes it illegal for American corporations to bribe overseas officials.... The investigation, which was conducted by the Department of Justice and the Securities and Exchange Commission, came after The New York Times revealed in 2012 that Walmart had made suspicious payments to officials in Mexico and then tried to conceal them from top executives at the company's headquarters in Bentonville, Ark.... Walmart was able to negotiate a lower fine after President Trump, who had previously criticized the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, took office." ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: As Adam Davidson of the New Yorker wrote in March 2017, the Trump Organization almost certainly violated the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act during the construction of the Trump Tower Baku in Azerbaijan by looking the other way as "The Corleones of the Caspian," with whom Trump had partnered, bribed & colluded with local officials.

Couldn't Happen to More Deserving People. Danny Hakim of the New York Times: "The palace intrigue at the National Rifle Association deepened on Thursday as the gun group suspended its second-in-command and top lobbyist, accusing him of complicity in the recent failed coup against its chief executive, Wayne LaPierre. The accusation came in a lawsuit filed Wednesday night in New York State Supreme Court against Oliver North, the N.R.A.'s former president, who led the attempt to oust Mr. LaPierre shortly before the group's annual convention in April. The complaint provides fresh detail about the effort against Mr. LaPierre, but it is the involvement of the organization's No. 2 official, Christopher, W. Cox, that will reverberate."

Beyond the Beltway

New York. Vivian Wang of the New York Times: "... on Wednesday, [state] lawmakers passed sweeping anti-harassment legislation that supporters said would make New York's laws among the most robust in the nation. The package was the result of more than a year of lobbying by women across the state ... whose years of anger were given voice by the #MeToo movement. It was also directly tied to a group of former legislative staffers, who formed the Sexual Harassment Working Group to demand hearings an craft policy ideas, many of which were ultimately approved.... [The bills] would apply statewide, not only to government employees.... Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo [D] has promised to sign the bills."

Oregon. Hillary Borrud & Chris Lehman of the Oregonian: "Oregon Republican senators have left the Capitol and scattered in various directions outside the state in order to avoid being rounded up by troopers for a high-profile climate bill vote scheduled today. 'Protesting cap-and-trade by walking out today represents our constituency and exactly how we should be doing our job,' Senate Republican Leader Herman Baertschiger Jr., of Grants Pass, said in a written statement Thursday morning. 'We have endured threats of arrest, fines, and pulling community project funds from the governor, Senate president and majority leader. We will not stand by and be bullied by the majority party any longer.'... In response to the walkout, Senate President Peter Courtney formally requested Democratic Gov. Kate Brown to dispatch Oregon State Police troopers to round up the missing Republican Senators. Brown quickly granted that request. Democrats also announced they would fine the missing lawmakers $500 per day if they don't show up at the Capitol by 11 a.m. Friday. The money would be deducted from their salary and per diem." ...

Hillary Borrud: State “Sen. Brian Boquist, R-Dallas ... suggest[ed] he would shoot and potentially kill any state trooper sent to haul him unwillingly back to the Capitol. After Senate Republican Leader Herman Baertschiger Jr. said Tuesday that his caucus was 'prepared to take actions' to prevent passage of a major climate change bill, Gov. Brown announced on Wednesday that she was ready to answer Republican stonewalling by calling lawmakers back for a special session. Brown hinted that she would be willing to send state troopers to round up Republicans if they walk out in the final days of the regular legislative session.... 'This is what I told the superintendent,' Boquist said, referring to OSP Superintendent Travis Hampton. 'Send bachelors and come heavily armed. I'm not going to be a political prisoner in the state of Oregon. It's just that simple.'... As Willamette Week has reported, Boquist is a U.S. Army veteran whose businesses include military training and an international operation that journalists described in the 1990s as a paramilitary force of armed American and Russian ex-military officers."

The Commentariat -- June 20, 2019

Late Morning/Afternoon Update:

Kristen Welker, et al., of NBC News: "... Donald Trump on Thursday said the public will 'find out' about a U.S. response to Iran shooting down an American military drone in the Persian Gulf that the president insisted was in international territory.... 'Iran made a very bad mistake.'... 'The drone was in international waters clearly. We have it documented.'... 'I have a feeling that someone under the command of that country made a big mistake,' he said. 'I find it hard to believe it was intentional. It could have been someone who was loose and stupid who did it.'... Trump has invited Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., to a briefing at the White House at 3:00 p.m. Thursday...." ...

... Luis Martinez of ABC News: "In a major provocation, Iran shot down an unarmed and unmanned U.S. RQ-4A Global Hawk drone while it was flying in international airspace over the Strait of Hormuz on Thursday, U.S. Central Command confirmed in a statement.... Donald Trump tweeted Thursday morning that 'Iran made a very big mistake' after a top Iranian commander warned Iran was 'ready for war.'... A U.S. official confirmed to ABC News that the U.S. Navy was were working to recover the drone in a debris field the official said was located in international waters near the Strait of Hormuz." More on this linked below.

Jordain Carney of the Hill: "The Senate is voting Thursday to block President Trump's Saudi arms deal, paving the way for a veto clash with the White House. Senators voted 53-45 in favor of a resolution of disapproval to block one of the 22 arms sales the administration noticed to Congress, though the vote is ongoing. The Senate is expected to block the entire arms deal on Thursday with two additional back-to-back subsequent votes.... House Democrats have pledged they will also pass resolutions blocking the sale. Neither chamber is expected to be able to muster the two-thirds votes necessary to override all-but-guaranteed vetoes from Trump in response."

Andrew Desiderio of Politico: "Hope Hicks broke with ... Donald Trump during her interview with the House Judiciary Committee this week, telling lawmakers that offers of foreign assistance in U.S. elections should be 'rejected and reported to the FBI,' Chairman Jerry Nadler said on Thursday.... Nadler did not quote Hicks directly, but the transcript of her testimony is set to be released later this week."

Lynn Sweet of the Chicago Sun-Times: "Rep. Jan Schakowsky, D-Ill., on Wednesday called for ... Donald Trump to be subject to an impeachment inquiry, notable since she is part of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's leadership team, and the speaker has counseled restraint. 'This is a personal decision on my part,' Schakowsky said in a video." ...

... NPR has a handy "impeachment tracker" here. "Currently, 69 Democrats and one Republican in the House of Representatives support beginning an impeachment inquiry into Trump for potential obstruction of justice." The tracker has not been updated to include Schakowsky's announcement, so that would be at least 71 House members.

Matt Stieb of New York: "On Wednesday, the Senate voted to confirm Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk to a lifetime federal seat, overriding the objections of all the body's voting Democrats and one Republican, Maine senator Susan Collins. With a 52-46 vote, the 42-year-old Kacsmaryk will head to the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas, bringing an alarming history of opinions questioning the rights of LGBTQ Americans and the legitimacy of Roe v. Wade." Read on. Mrs. McC: This horrible bigot is not qualified to judge a dog show, much less you & me. Shame on Senate Republicans.

Christian Nation, Ctd. Nina Totenberg & Domenico Montanaro of NPR: "The U.S. Supreme Court ruled Thursday that a 40-foot World War I memorial cross can stay on public land at a Maryland intersection. The cross 'has become a prominent community landmark, and its removal or radical alteration at this date would be seen by many not as a neutral act but as the manifestation of a hostility toward religion that has no place in our Establishment Clause traditions,' the court wrote. Justice Alito wrote the majority opinion for the court.... The decision was 7-to-2, but had multiple parts and not all of the seven agreeing on every aspect. The decision reverses a lower-court ruling that said the memorial is unconstitutional because it is on public land and maintained at taxpayer expense. The high court's ruling is a major victory for religious groups and the American Legion, which warned that if this cross had to be moved, so too would other crosses that serve as war memorials.... Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, in dissent, disagreed with Alito...." According to CNN, Justice Ginsberg read her dissent from the bench. The opinions are here.

~~~~~~~~~~

The Trump Scandals, Ctd.

Cover-up, Ctd. Nicholas Fandos of the New York Times: "Behind closed doors, lawmakers on the House Judiciary Committee pressed Hope Hicks, one of Mr. Trump's closest former aides, for nearly seven hours on her recollections of contacts between the Trump campaign and Russia, as well as on episodes documented by Mr. Mueller, the special counsel, in which Mr. Trump tried to assert control over investigations into those contacts. And they resurrected an older accusation against Mr. Trump: his role in an illegal scheme to make hush payments to two women during his 2016 campaign.... Ms. Hicks declined to answer nearly every question about her time working in the administration, citing instructions from the president that she was 'absolutely immune' from answering, lawmakers from both parties said.... Ms. Hicks did engage in queries about her work on the campaign, which is not subject to executive privilege or claims of immunity, discussing what she knew about contacts between Trump associates and Russia. But there was no immediate evidence that those exchanges produced meaningful new revelations. The Judiciary Committee said it intended to release a full transcript of the interview within 48 hours.... Mr. Trump seethed on Twitter, accusing Democrats of putting Ms. Hicks 'through hell' and seeking a 'Do Over' of the Mueller investigation."

... Earlier Wednesday. Kyle Cheney of Politico: "Democrats erupted Wednesday at what they said was the White House's repeated interference in their interview with Hope Hicks, a longtime confidant of ... Donald Trump who was a central witness in special counsel Robert Mueller's obstruction of justice probe. Three House Judiciary Committee lawmakers exiting the closed-door interview said a White House lawyer repeatedly claimed Hicks had blanket immunity from discussing her time in the White House. They said she wouldn't answer questions as basic as where she sat in the West Wing or whether she told the truth to Mueller. 'It's a farce,' said Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.), who said Hicks at one point tried to answer a question about an episode involving former Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski only to be cut off by counsel. 'We're watching obstruction of justice in action,' said Rep. Ted Lieu (D-Calif.). Lieu said the White House lawyers were 'making crap up' to block Hicks from testifying. He said she did answer some questions about her time on the Trump campaign that provided new information but declined to characterize her comments." (Also linked yesterday.) ...

     ... The story has been updated., with Andrew Desiderio added to the byline. There's this: “Rep. Ted Deutch (D-Fla.) said in an interview ... that the White House was not formally asserting executive privilege to block Hicks from answering certain questions; rather, the [White House*] lawyer [planted at Hicks' side] was referring to White House Counsel Pat Cipollone's Tuesday letter claiming that Hicks was 'absolutely immune' from discussing her tenure in the Trump administration." ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: It isn't clear who is paying that lawyer's salary. A couple of reports, including Politico's, indicate s/he is a White House lawyer, but in a tweet Rep. Ted Lieu (D-Calif.) described him/her as "Ridiculous DOJ Lawyer." Update: Rep. Jayapal said on CNN Wednesday night that Hicks had both a DOJ lawyer & a White House lawyer in tow, & implied Hicks had a personal attorney there, too.

... Evan Hurst of Wonkette writes some very derogatory things about Pat Cipolline's "legal theory" that everybody to whom Trump got a forever immunization shot the minute he opened his mouth. Hurst also brings up some points that Congress would have wanted Hicks to clarify -- like what she knew about Trump's order to Corey Lewandowski to tell Jeff Sessions that Mueller could investigate only future Russian election interference, which even Lewandowski seems to have known didn't make sense.

Heather Caygle & Andrew Desiderio of Politico: "Speaker Nancy Pelosi officially shut the door on censuring ... Donald Trump Wednesday but plans to view a minimally redacted version of ... Robert Mueller's report this week, her latest attempt to juggle the competing impeachment factions within her caucus. Pelosi initially rejected an offer from Attorney General William Barr in April to view the less-redacted report, rebuffing Barr's demands that only top congressional leaders have that access.... Pelosi's censure comments are significant because she is leaving the House with one option if they want to punish Trump -- impeachment. 'I think censure is just a way out. If you want to go, you gotta go,' she said. 'If the goods are there, you must impeach. Censure is nice, but it is not commensurate with the violations of the Constitution should we decide that's the way to go.'"

Andrew Desiderio & Natasha Bertrand of Politico: "Felix Sater, who served as the chief negotiator for the Trump Tower Moscow project, will testify on Capitol Hill later this week. The Russian-born businessman confirmed to Politico that he will appear behind closed doors before the House Intelligence Committee on Friday."

David Enrich, et al., of the New York Times: "Federal authorities are investigating whether Deutsche Bank complied with laws meant to stop money launderin gand other crimes, the latest government examination of potential misconduct at one of the world's largest and most troubled banks, according to seven people familiar with the inquiry. The investigation includes a review of Deutsche Bank's handling of so-called suspicious activity reports that its employees prepared about possibly problematic transactions, including some linked to President Trump's son-in-law and senior adviser, Jared Kushner, according t people close to the bank and others familiar with the matter.... [Tammy] McFadden, a former anti-money-laundering compliance officer at the bank, told The New York Times last month that she had flagged transactions involving Mr. Kushner's family company in 2016, but that bank managers decided not to file the suspicious activity report she prepared. Some of her colleagues had similar experiences in 2017 involving transactions in the accounts of Mr. Trump's legal entities, although it was not clear whether the F.B.I. was examining the bank's handling of those transactions."

Bruce Haring of Deadline: "New York Times publisher A.G. Sulzberger has accused ... Donald Trump of crossing a 'dangerous line' in his ongoing attacks on the press today in a Wall St. Journal op-ed. 'First it was the "the failing New York Times." Then "fake news." Then "enemy of the people." President Trump's escalating attacks on the New York Times have paralleled his broader barrage on American media. He's gone from misrepresenting our business, to assaulting our integrity, to demonizing our journalists with a phrase that's been used by generations of demagogues. Now the president has escalated his attacks even further, accusing the Times of a crime so grave it is punishable by death.'... Trump claimed in [two] tweets that the Times report was 'a virtual act of Treason by a once great paper so desperate for a story, any story, even if bad for our Country,' Trump tweeted."

Joshua Berlinger, et al., of CNN: "Iranian forces have shot down a United States military drone, a move that appears to have escalated the volatile situation playing out between Washington and Tehran in the Middle East. Iran's Revolutionary Guard said it had shot down an "intruding American spy drone" after it entered into the country's territory Thursday, according to state-run Press TV. A US official confirmed to CNN a drone had been shot down, but said the incident occurred in international airspace over the Strait of Hormuz, one of the world's most vital shipping routes." ...

... Erin Banco of the Daily Beast: "... Donald Trump has privately pushed his representatives to walk back their tough talk on Iran -- and reiterate that the administration is not aiming to go to war with Tehran.... Over the last several days in public testimony and in closed-door briefings, Trump administration officials have tried to calm lawmakers on Capitol Hill who are wary of the administration evading Congress to launch a military confrontation with Tehran.... It's a major change in tone from the Trump administration. As recently as a few days ago, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on CBS Face the Nation that everything was on the table when it came to Iran, including military action. And National Security Adviser John Bolton has pushed internally for a confrontation with Tehran." ...

... Peter Beinart of the Atlantic: "For more than a decade, [John Bolton has] consistently promoted war with Iran. All that has changed are the pretexts he offers to justify one."

All the Best People, Ctd.

Catherine Garcia of the Week: "Andrea Thompson, the State Department official responsible for U.S. arms control negotiations with Moscow and a former national security adviser to Vice President Mike Pence, did not disclose to lawmakers during her confirmation process last year that she had a years-long friendship with Republican operative Paul Erickson, the ex-boyfriend of convicted unregistered Russian agent Maria Butina, The Washington Post reports. Thompson, the undersecretary of state for arms control and international security affairs, also didn't reveal the relationship to her supervisors, the Post's Josh Rogin writes; three administration officials said she only told them this week after Rogin approached her about the matter. In 2017, Erickson officiated Thompson's wedding to David Gillian, a former senior Australian army officer. Erickson's attorney said Butina attended as her former boyfriend's guest."

Julian Borger of the Guardian: "The Trump administration's nominee to be the next US envoy to the United Nations has come under congressional scrutiny for absenteeism after spending more than half her time as ambassador to Canada away from her post. Kelly Craft was asked why she spent more than 300 days outside Canada since she took the position in Ottawa in October 2017. In one two-month period between March and May in 2018, Craft was absent from her post 45 out of 54 days, according to Bob Menendez, the top Democrat on the Senate foreign relations committee. 'I find this staggering amount of time away from her post very troubling and an abdication of leadership,' he said. Craft insisted that all her trips were taken according to state department regulations and argued much of the time was spent negotiating a trade deal with Canada and Mexico in Washington. However, an investigation by Politico [previously linked here] showed that a private jet registered to Craft's husband, a US coal magnate, and used by the ambassador, made 128 flights between the US and Canada during a 15-month span of her tenure in Ottawa."

Jennifer Jacobs & Saleha Mohsin of Bloomberg News: "... Donald Trump has told confidants as recently as Wednesday that he believes he has the authority to replace Jerome Powell as chairman of the Federal Reserve Board, according to people familiar with the matter. In Trump's line of thinking, he could demote Powell to be a board governor, but isn't planning to do so right now, the people added. Their account of the president's conversations emerged just hours after Powell said he intends to serve his full four-year term despite Trump's continuing criticism of Fed policy. Earlier this year, Trump asked White House lawyers to explore options for removing him, Bloomberg reported on Tuesday.... The Federal Reserve Act provides explicit protection for Fed governors against removal by the president except 'for cause.' Courts have interpreted the phrase to require proof of some form of legal misconduct or neglect of basic duties. A disagreement over monetary policy wouldn't meet that bar." ...

... Victoria Guida of Politico: "The Federal Reserve on Wednesday held interest rates steady but opened the door to a possible cut this year amid fears of a slowing economy, in a move unlikely to calm ... Donald Trump days after he suggested he might try to demote Fed Chairman Jerome Powell. The Fed's rate-setting committee said in its post-meeting statement that it still thinks 'the most likely outcomes' for the U.S. economy this year are a sustained expansion, a strong labor market and little inflation."

Lisa Friedman of the New York Times: "The Trump administration on Wednesday finalized a package of new rules to replace the Clean Power Plan, former President Barack Obama's signature effort to reduce planet-warming emissions from coal plants. The new measure, known as the Affordable Clean Energy rule, will very likely prompt a flurry of legal challenges from environmental groups that could have far-reaching implications for global warming. If the Supreme Court ultimately upholds the rule's approach to the regulation of pollution, it would be difficult or impossible for future presidents to tackle climate change through the Environmental Protection Agency.... The Obama administration interpreted that law as giving the Environmental Protection Agency broad authority to set national restrictions on carbon emissions. The Trump administration asserts that the law limits the agency to regulating emissions at the level of individual power plants." (Also linked yesterday.)

Racist to Work on Ginnie Mae Securities. Katy O'Donnell of Politico: "The Department of Housing and Urban Development has hired Eric Blankenstein, the former Consumer Financial Protection Bureau official whose racially charged blog posts sparked an uproar last year. Blankenstein has been hired by HUD's Office of General Counsel as a senior counsel working on Ginnie Mae matters, making $166,500 a year.... Democrats and civil rights activists demanded that the CFPB fire Blankenstein after the Washington Post reported in September that he had questioned the veracity of hate crimes and whether the N-word is racist, in blog posts he wrote 14 years earlier. The then-acting CFPB director, Mick Mulvaney, referred the matter to the agency's inspector general. Mulvaney had appointed Blankenstein to [a CFPB job], a post he left last month. Blankenstein will report to HUD's principal deputy general counsel starting Monday, the people said."

Sarah Jones of New York: "Acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan is not the first Trump administration official to resign over domestic violence allegations.... Rob Porter enjoyed a top spot in Trump's White House inner circle before both of his ex-wives accused him of violent physical abuse. A Trump administration speechwriter, David Sorensen, resigned after his ex-wife told the Post that he'd put out a cigarette on her and ran over her foot with a car. Police in Santa Monica, California, charged Steve Bannon with domestic violence. Andrew Puzder, Trump's original pick to be secretary of Labor, pulled out of contention after reporters unearthed his ex-wife's accusations of domestic violence. All these bad men, all linked to Trump; the incidents look like a pattern, not a coincidence.... Long before President Trump admitted to grabbing women by the pussy, his ex-wife Ivana claimed he once raped her. She's one of 23 women to accuse the president of sexual misconduct.... Misogyny is only one of the sins the Trump administration tapped into and then amplified to the world."

Ian Kullgren & Catherine Boudreau of Politico: "The Trump administration, under heavy pressure from Congress, will withdraw plans to end a U.S. Forest Service program that trains underprivileged youth, spokespersons for the Agriculture and Labor departments told Politico. The Job Corps Civilian Conservation Centers, a program within the Job Corps, trains low-income young people to to become first responders to natural disasters, to work on rural infrastructure projects, and to maintain national forests. The administration's reversal on its shuttering the centers comes after significant pushback from lawmakers of both parties -- including Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell -- and also from the union that represents USDA Forest Service employees."

Sheryl Stolberg of the New York Times: "The House waded into the decades-old debate over reparations for African-Americans on Wednesday, convening its first hearing on legislation introduced 30 years ago that would create a commission to develop proposals to address the lingering effects of slavery and consider a 'national apology' for the harm it has caused. Hundreds of spectators, mostly black, were on hand for the historic hearing by a House Judiciary subcommittee, whose witnesses included Senator Cory Booker, the New Jersey Democrat and presidential candidate, the actor Danny Glover and the writer Ta-Nehisi Coates, who took direct aim at Mitch McConnell, the Senate majority leader, for remarks he made Tuesday opposing the idea. The room grew raucous at times, with spectators hissing at Republican witnesses and Representative Mike Johnson of Louisiana, the subcommittee's senior Republican, when he spoke against the measure."

Presidential Race 2020

Speaking of Reparations..., Biden Confirms He's Still Clueless. Justin Wise of the Hill: "Former Vice President Joe Biden on Wednesday dismissed calls to apologize for invoking his working relationships with two segregationist senators as an example of 'civility,' saying that his Democratic colleagues knew better. Asked by a reporter outside a fundraiser in Maryland whether he'd apologize for his Tuesday remarks, the Democratic presidential candidate responded, 'Apologize for what?'" ...

     ... Update. CBS News: "'Apologize for what? Cory [Booker] should apologize to me,' Biden said, referring to fellow presidential contender Booker, who said earlier he was 'disappointed' Biden didn't apologize.... Biden insisted Booker should apologize because 'he knows better ... there's not a racist bone in my body.'" ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: I'm sorry, but you don't criticize a black man when he complains about your joking about not being called "boy" any more than you call a black man "the first mainstream African-American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy." Not a racist bone in your body? I think there's at least a tibia or a femur in there somewhere. You seem to be one of the many white men who resent "giving" black people equal rights.

... Gideon Resnick of the Daily Beast: "Joe Biden's nostalgic invocation of two southern segregationist senators at a fundraiser on Tuesday night has sparked the most heated exchanges to date in the 2020 Democratic primary, with competitors launching frontal attacks on the former vice president just a week before the first debate.... The comments, which were reportedly something Biden’s own advisers had warned him not to make, provoked a sharp response from Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ), one of three African-Americans seeking the 2020 presidential nomination. 'You don't joke about calling black men "boys,"' Booker said in a statement on Wednesday. 'Men like James O. Eastland used words like that, and the racist policies that accompanied them, to perpetuate white supremacy and strip black Americans of our very humanity.'... Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) told the Washington Post: 'I'm not here to criticize other Democrats, but it's never okay to celebrate segregationists. Never.' And Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA), who would be the party's first African-American female nominee responded, 'It concerns me deeply. If those men had their way, I wouldn't be in the United States Senate and on this elevator right now.' Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) tweeted that he agreed with Booker's statement. And New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, whose wife is African-American, also lit into Biden in a tweet featuring a picture of his family." ...

    ... The New York Times story which reported Biden's remarks is here (also linked yesterday). ...

... Martin Longman in the Washington Monthly on an essential element of the good ole days that Biden failed to factor in: "So long as the segregationists were still Democrats, Congress was able to function and there was enough ideological overlap between the two parties to allow for some civility.... When the Democratic Party was divided between north and south, they could hash out most of their internal disagreements and keep the country's lights on. But now that the two parties are divided north and south, this is no longer a fraternal and often amicable dispute. Senators Eastland and Talmadge needed people like Joe Biden in order to keep themselves in the majority and keep their committee gavels. Today, the senators from Mississippi and Georgia have no such use for the current senators from Delaware.... The current Republican Party is a southern party." ...

... Steve M. looks both at Biden's comments at the fundraiser about his friendships with segregationists AND his promise to wealthy potential donors. From the NYT story: "Biden told affluent donors Tuesday that he wanted their support and -- perhaps unlike some other Democratic presidential candidates -- wouldn't be making them political targets because of their wealth.... '... No one's standard of living would change. Nothing would fundamentally change,' he said." Steve concludes, "He'd still be better than Trump, on a hundred different issues. But he shouldn't be the nominee." ...

... Jonathan Chait essentially agrees with Longman & with Steve M.: "At first blush, Biden's segregationist riff is disturbing. When you poke below the surface, gets even more disturbing. It suggests that he has not grasped any of the tectonic changes in American politics, and that he is equipped neither for the campaign nor the presidency.... Biden came of political age during the period when polarization had reached its historic nadir[.]... The era of bipartisanship was built on suppressing racial conflict. The white South could only be cajoled into a coalition that supported bigger government by preventing African Americans from voting and, at times, outright denying them the benefits of government altogether.... Biden is attempting to tout his ability to work across the aisle, but he's citing friendships with members of his own party.... There were divides, but bridging divides within your own party is not actually a monumental achievement.... The most inexplicable thing about the segregationism riff is that it calls attention to a subject Biden should be trying to avoid: his antiquated record on race.... If he truly believes he can lead the Democratic Party by restoring the bygone habits of the system that bred him, he is unqualified to lead either his party or his country in a transformed era." ...

... digby has some thoughts on Joe Biden's boasting about the good ole days when he made friends with segregationist senators: Sen. "James Eastland [D-Mississippi] was a stone cold racist.  For a Democratic presidential candidate in 2019 to extol racists for their 'civility' (much less the fact that he didn't call a white Senator 'boy' [-- Eastland called Biden 'son,' according to Biden --] demonstrating his total misapprehension of what that means) is insulting to a vast number of Democratic voters. To imply that being able to work with someone like Eastland at times is more than just a matter of necessity but rather a belief that people like Eastland are actually good folks you could have a drink with after work is stunningly obtuse. Biden rightly excoriated Trump for his remarks after Charlottesville in his announcement video. Doesn't he realize that his own comments are basically saying that there are 'very fine people' on both sides?" Mrs. McC: Evidently a rhetorical question. ...

... "Both Sides." Trump Makes His Appeals to Segregationists/White Nationalists Directly. Asher Stockler of Newsweek: "... Donald Trump on Tuesday suggested that the innocence of Central Park Five -- long exonerated for their involvement in the 1989 rape of a Central Park jogger, for which they received a combined decades in prison -- may still be in dispute. 'You have people on both sides of that,' he said in response to a question from White House reporter April Ryan, who asked about Trump's infamous full-page ad in the New York Daily News calling for the boys' execution. 'They admitted their guilt.'" Mrs. McC: As former Sen. Claire McCaskill said on MSNBC Wednesday, this was another (obvious) dogwhistle to Trump's racist supporters.

Michael Grynbaum of the New York Times: "Five anchorwomen at NY1, one of the country’s most prominent local news channels, sued the network on Wednesday over age and gender discrimination, alleging a systematic effort by managers to force them off the air in favor of younger, less experienced hosts. The suit, filed in Federal District Court in Manhattan, portrays a newsroom at odds with the friendly image that has made NY1 a beloved institution among New Yorkers. And it publicized tensions that have long afflicted the TV news business, where older women's careers often fade as male counterparts thrive."

Alexander Mallin of ABC News: "The Department of Justice announced the arrest of a Syrian refugee on Wednesday in connection with an Islamic State-inspired terrorist attack on a Christian church in Pittsburgh. Mustafa Mousab Alowemer, 21, was accused by federal prosecutors in court documents filed on Wednesday of planning to attack a church on the north side of Pittsburgh, the Legacy International Worship Center, "to support the cause of ISIS and to inspire other ISIS supporters in the United States."

Andrew Kramer of the New York Times: "International prosecutors on Wednesday said that four men, including three with close ties to the Russian military and intelligence, would face murder charges in the downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 over Ukraine five years ago, killing 298 people. Fred Westerbeke, the chief prosecutor of the Netherlands, said that the trial would begin in the Netherlands on March 9, 2020. The accused are unlikely to be present, however, since three are in Russia and the fourth is believed to be in the breakaway region in Ukraine." (Also linked yesterday.)

David Kirkpatrick & Nick Cumming-Bruce of the New York Times list key takeaways from a United Nations report on the assassination of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

The Commentariat -- June 19, 2019

Late Morning Update:

Kyle Cheney of Politico: "Democrats erupted Wednesday at what they said was the White House's repeated interference in their interview with Hope Hicks, a longtime confidant of ... Donald Trump who was a central witness in special counsel Robert Mueller's obstruction of justice probe. Three House Judiciary Committee lawmakers exiting the closed-door interview said a White House lawyer repeatedly claimed Hicks had blanket immunity from discussing her time in the White House. They said she wouldn't answer questions as basic as where she sat in the West Wing or whether she told the truth to Mueller. 'It's a farce,' said Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.), who said Hicks at one point tried to answer a question about an episode involving former Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski only to be cut off by counsel. 'We're watching obstruction of justice in action,' said Rep. Ted Lieu (D-Calif.). Lieu said the White House lawyers were 'making crap up' to block Hicks from testifying. He said she did answer some questions about her time on the Trump campaign that provided new information but declined to characterize her comments."

Lisa Friedman of the New York Times: "The Trump administration on Wednesday finalized a package of new rules to replace the Clean Power Plan, former President Barack Obama's signature effort to reduce planet-warming emissions from coal plants. The new measure, known as the Affordable Clean Energy rule, will very likely prompt a flurry of legal challenges from environmental groups that could have far-reaching implications for global warming. If the Supreme Court ultimately upholds the rule's approach to the regulation of pollution, it would be difficult or impossible for future presidents to tackle climate change through the Environmental Protection Agency.... The Obama administration interpreted that law as giving the Environmental Protection Agency broad authority to set national restrictions on carbon emissions. The Trump administration asserts that the law limits the agency to regulating emissions at the level of individual power plants."

Andrew Kramer of the New York Times: "International prosecutors on Wednesday said that four men, including three with close ties to the Russian military and intelligence, would face murder charges in the downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 over Ukraine five years ago, killing 298 people. Fred Westerbeke, the chief prosecutor of the Netherlands, said that the trial would begin in the Netherlands on March 9, 2020. The accused are unlikely to be present, however, since three are in Russia and the fourth is believed to be in the breakaway region in Ukraine."

~~~~~~~~~~

All the Best People, Ctd.

And Another One Bites the Dust. Michael Shear & Helene Cooper of the New York Times: "President Trump on Tuesday pulled the nomination of Patrick M. Shanahan to be the permanent defense secretary, saying on Twitter that Mr. Shanahan would devote more time to his family. The move leaves the Pentagon without a permanent leader at a time of escalating tensions with Iran after attacks on oil tankers in the Persian Gulf. The Trump administration has blamed Iran for the explosions that damaged the two tankers. Mr. Trump named Mark T. Esper, the secretary of the Army and a former Raytheon executive, to take over as acting secretary of defense. He did not say whether Mr. Esper would be nominated for the permanent position. In a Twitter post, the president said the withdrawal was the decision of Mr. Shanahan, who has served for six months as acting defense secretary." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... Kate Riga & David Taintor of TPM: "Shanahan's withdrawal is not completely unexpected, as Yahoo News reported [also linked below] Monday that his confirmation process was being hampered by a longer-than-usual FBI background check, which included a domestic violence episode that resulted in his ex-wife's arrest. He addressed that and some other grisly familial incidents with the Washington Post in a story published nearly simultaneously with Trump's tweets. In November 2011, Shanahan's then-17-year-old son William beat his mother with a baseball bat, rendering her unconscious in a pool of her own blood. She sustained skull fractures and internal injuries so severe that they required surgery.... Shanahan ... addressed the event that ended in his wife's arrest, claiming that she started punching him in the face while he tried to sleep and proceeded to attempt to light his possessions on fire before the police arrived and observed his injuries." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... Tom Vanden Brook & Kevin Johnson of USA Today: "The FBI has been examining a violent domestic dispute from nine years ago between acting Defense Secretary Patrick M. Shanahan and his then-wife as part of a background investigation.... The incident, in which Shanahan and his then-wife Kimberley both claimed to the police that they had been punched by the other, did not surface when Trump nominated Shanahan to be the Pentagon's second-in-command two years ago, or when he was selected to be the interim defense chief this year. Shanahan said he 'never laid a hand on his former wife. His former wife, who now goes by the name Kimberley Jordinson, said she stands by her account. The episode could have been a potential roadblock for Shanahan if Trump formally nominated him for the secretary's post, which requires Senate confirmation, because a key lawmaker and Senate aides said it could have raised questions about his ability to combat longstanding problems of violence against women in the military." ...

... Five Dollar Feminist of Wonkette: "Safe bet that Shanahan's nomination as Father of the Year is on ice as well amid allegations of spousal abuse and his disgraceful behavior after his teenage son cracked his mother's skull with a baseball bat in 2011 after which Shanahan successfully argued that the 17-year-old should get a deferred adjudication and disappeared the kid's phone, which may or may not have contained evidence of an illegal sexual relationship with a much older woman. YES, THAT'S JUST THE START.... It's absofuckinglutely reprehensible that he was so thirsty for the Sec Def job that he put his family in the awful position of having this all come out again." The Washington Post story, that first detailed the Shanahan Family Troubles, is here.

Eliana Johnson & Marianne Levine of Politico: "A little more than a year ago, moments after he fired Secretary of State Rex Tillerson by tweet..., Donald Trump ... told reporters, 'I'm really at a point where we're getting very close to having the Cabinet and other things that I want.' It hasn't quite worked out that way. Instead, Trump has a Cabinet by default, with many of its members simply being the last person standing after others pulled out of the running, declined the president's offers or couldn't get through their confirmation hearings.... If there's a thread running through them all, it's a president with a penchant for choosing many top appointees based on instinct -- and without regard for prior government experience -- plus a White House whose vetting operation is far from thorough and a thin Republican Senate majority with little room for error." Mrs. McC: As if to prove that everything he says is 100 percent meaningless, Trump said Tuesday, "We have a very good vetting process. You take a look at our Cabinet and our secretary it's very good. But we have a great vetting process."

Saleha Mohsin & Jennifer Jacobs of Bloomberg News: "The White House explored the legality of demoting Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell in February, soon after ... Donald Trump talked about firing him, according to people familiar with the matter The White House counsel's office weighed the legal implications of stripping Powell of his chairmanship and leaving him as a Fed governor, the people said, in what would be an unprecedented move. A replacement would have to be nominated by Trump and confirmed by the Senate. Trump's team conducted the legal analysis and came to a conclusion that has remained closely held within the White House.... It isn't clear whether Trump directed the legal review, and the people didn't describe the outcome.... Fed spokeswoman Michelle Smith said in an email: 'Under the law, a Federal Reserve Board chair can only be removed for cause.'" (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Geneva Sands of CNN: "Katharine Gorka, a political appointee at the Department of Homeland Security who has stirred controversy for her views on terrorism and her role in the department's efforts to combat violent extremism in the US, is expected to be the new press secretary at Customs and Border Protection.... Gorka is married to Sebastian Gorka, the former deputy assistant to Trump, who was an outspoken and combative defender of the President's national security agenda, known for his dire warnings of Islamic terrorism while writing for Breitbart.... Both Gorkas wrote for Breitbart...."

Andy Borowitz of the New Yorker: "A leading candidate to replace the White House press secretary, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, was disqualified after telling the truth repeatedly on his job application, the White House has confirmed." ...

     ... Contributor forrest wants to know, "When did Andy Borowitz switch from satire to actual facts
reporting?"

Tessa Berenson of Time: "Facing twin challenges in the Persian Gulf..., Donald Trump said in an interview with Time Monday that he might take military action to prevent Iran from getting a nuclear weapon, but cast doubt on going to war to protect international oil supplies.... Last week, U.S. officials blamed Iran for attacks against Norwegian and Japanese oil tankers in the Gulf of Oman. Trump described those and other recent attacks attributed by administration officials to Iran as limited. 'So far, it's been very minor,' Trump told Time." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Jonathan Landay & Matt Spetalnick of Reuters: "Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has blocked the inclusion of Saudi Arabia on a U.S. list of countries that recruit child soldiers, dismissing his experts' findings that a Saudi-led coalition has been using under-age fighters in Yemen's civil war, according to four people familiar with the matter. The decision, which drew immediate criticism from human rights activists and a top Democratic lawmaker [Bob Menendez (N.J.)], could prompt new accusations that ... Donald Trump's administration is prioritizing security and economic interests in relations with oil-rich Saudi Arabia, a major U.S. ally and arms customer. Pompeo's move followed unusually intense internal debate. It comes amid heightened tensions between the United States and Iran, the Saudis' bitter regional rival." Mrs. McC: Maybe a part of the Kushner Kickback. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Ivan Nechepurenko of the New York Times: "The Kremlin warned on Monday that reported American hacking into Russia's electric power grid could escalate into a cyberwar with the United States, but insisted that it was confident in the system's ability to repel electronic attacks. Dmitri S. Peskov, President Vladimir V. Putin&'s spokesman, also raised concerns that President Trump was reportedly not informed about the effort, which was the subject of a New York Times report on Saturday that detailed an elaborate system of cybertools deployed by the United States inside Russia's energy system and other targets." Mrs. McC: Apparently Vlad finds the NYT more reliable than Trump, who said the Times story was "NOT TRUE!" (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Nick Wadhams & Saleha Mohsin of Bloomberg: "The Trump administration is weighing three sanctions packages to punish Turkey over its purchases of the Russian S-400 missile-defense system, according to people familiar with the matter. The most severe package under discussion ... would all but cripple the already troubled Turkish economy, according to three people familiar with the matter.... So far, Turkey been defiant over the sanctions threat because trust in Washington has broken down, according to three Turkish officials." --s ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: In view of Trump's affinity for Turkey's president Recep Erdogan, I'd advise the "Trump administration" to follow its Don't-Tell-Trump policy.

Zolan Kanno-Youngs & Michael Shear of the New York Times: "Immigration and Customs Enforcement in recent days has bulked up the branch responsible for carrying out deportations in preparation for the mass arrests of undocumented immigrants, two Department of Homeland Security officials said on Tuesday, adding that the agency could not immediately deport 'millions of illegal aliens' as President Trump had promised the night before.... On Tuesday afternoon, Mr. Trump repeated that immigration officials planned to conduct a deportation operation next week. 'They know. They know,' Mr. Trump said as he left for Florida."

Hamed Aleaziz of BuzzFeed News: "The newly appointed leader of US Citizenship and Immigration Services, Ken Cuccinelli, sent an email to staffers Tuesday in which he appeared to push asylum officers to stop allowing some people seeking refuge in the country passage at an initial screening at the border.... '... USCIS must, in full compliance with the law, make sure we are properly screening individuals who claim fear but nevertheless do not have a significant possibility of receiving a grant of asylum or another form of protection available under our nation's laws,' he said. Cuccinelli added that officers have tools to combat 'frivolous claims' and to 'ensure that [they] are upholding our nation's laws by only making positive credible fear determinations in cases that have a significant possibility of success.' One official at the Department of Homeland Security -- of which USCIS is a part -- said the email was 'insane,' while former officials said the email was clearly a threat." ...

Lauren Fox & Phil Mattingly of CNN: "The top two appropriators in the US Senate have reached an agreement on a $4.6 billion funding package to address the influx of migrants at the southern border that has been deemed a "humanitarian crisis," according to three people familiar with the deal. The agreement between Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Richard Shelby, an Alabama Republican, and Vermont Sen. Patrick Leahy, the top Democrat on the panel, includes $2.88 billion for the Department of Health and Human Services to be directed to the Office of Refugee Resettlement, which administration officials warned lawmakers would run out of money by the end of this month without the emergency cash infusion. The Senate Appropriations Committee will mark up the agreement on Wednesday and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has said he plans to put it on the Senate floor by the end of next week."

Seth Borenstei & Nicky Forster of the AP: "After decades of improvement, America's air may not be getting any cleaner. Over the last two years the nation had more polluted air days than just a few years earlier, federal data shows.... There were 15% more days with unhealthy air in America both last year and the year before than there were on average from 2013 through 2016, the four years when America had its fewest number of those days since at least 1980.... Donald Trump has repeatedly claimed just the opposite, saying earlier this month in Ireland: 'We have the cleanest air in the world, in the United States, and it's gotten better since I'm president.'... The Trump administration is expected to replace an Obama-era rule designed to limit emissions from electric power plants on Wednesday." ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: BUT Joe Romm has some bad news for the Dirty-Liar-in-Chief & good news for Earth. See story linked below.

Vera Bergengruen of Time: "A new lawsuit filed on Tuesday alleges that Secretary of State Mike Pompeo broke the law by allowing ... Donald Trump to seize the notes from a key meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin and failing to take any steps to preserve records of their other face-to-face meetings. The lawsuit filed by American Oversight and Democracy Forward, two progressive non-profit government watchdog organizations, says that the Federal Records Act requires Pompeo to preserve the meeting notes prepared by State Department employees.... Tuesday's lawsuit comes a week before the next G20 summit, which will take place in Osaka, Japan, on June 28 and 29."

Ken Vogel of the New York Times: "A Ukrainian-Russian developer who wanted access to President Trump's inauguration filed a lawsuit on Tuesday saying he was bilked out of the $200,000 he paid for what he thought would be V.I.P. tickets to the event. The developer, Pavel Fuks, who once discussed a Moscow real estate project with Mr. Trump, said in the lawsuit, filed in the United States District Court for the Central District of California, that he had paid the money to a firm at the direction of Yuri Vanetik, a prominent Republican fund-raiser and sometime lobbyist. But, the lawsuit said, Mr. Vanetik failed to come through with the promised tickets, and Mr. Fuks ended up watching the inauguration from a Washington hotel bar.... Mr. Fuks's lawsuit is seeking a refund from Mr. Vanetik, plus damages.... The lawsuit sheds new light on efforts to accommodate foreign politicians and business executives who sought to attend Mr. Trump's inauguration to press their agendas, curry favor or make influential connections with the incoming administration. It is illegal for foreign nationals to buy tickets from the committees that host the official parties and other events around United States presidential inaugurations...."

Presidential Race 2016. Frances Robles & Jim Rutenberg of the New York Times have a long piece on the the Trump campaign's successful efforts to gain the endorsement of Jerry Falwell, Jr. in 2016. A "complicated narrative is emerging about the behind-the-scenes maneuvering in the months before that important endorsement. That backstory, in true Trump-tabloid fashion, features the friendship between Mr. Falwell, his wife and a former pool attendant at the Fontainebleau hotel in Miami Beach; the family's investment in a gay-friendly youth hostel; purported sexually revealing photographs involving the Falwells; and an attempted hush-money arrangement engineered by the president's former fixer, Michael Cohen. The revelations have arisen from a lawsuit filed against the Falwells in Florida; the investigation into Mr. Cohen by federal prosecutors in New York; and the gonzo-style tactics of the comedian and actor Tom Arnold.... New details ... show how deeply Mr. Falwell was enmeshed in Mr. Cohen's and Mr. Trump's world."

Presidential Race 2020

Rallying Like It's 2016. White People Bussed into Orlando. Maggie Haberman, et al., of the New York Times: "President Trump delivered a fierce denunciation of his rivals, the news media and the political establishment on Tuesday as he rallied a huge crowd of raucous supporters in Florida to officially open his re-election campaign, evoking the dark messaging and personal grievances that animated his 2016 victory." ...

     ... According to CNN's liveblog of the rally, "... it was short on fresh material, the President repeatedly slammed 2016 rival Hillary Clinton." He twice mentioned Joe Biden briefly. Mrs. McC: BTW, when I tuned into CNN at maybe 8:15 pm, the network was carrying Trump's rally speech live, so a return to 2016 on CNN's part, too. ...

... "2016 All Over Again." Maggie Haberman & Annie Karni of the New York Times: "Die-hard supporters bussed in from across the state on Tuesday to celebrate the 'official' kickoff of Mr. Trump's 2020 campaign appeared frozen in time, reliving Mr. Trump's surprise victory over Hillary Clinton.... He mentioned Hillary Clinton more than half a dozen times before he even acknowledged a single Democratic candidate running for president in 2020." ...

... "Bizarro World." Jeff Greenfield in Politico: "The President's strongest case for re-election is the current state of the economy. And he stayed resolutely on message for perhaps a minute and a half, until he returned to a theme he far prefers -- his 2016 election victory, which he called 'a defining moment in American history' -- and then pointed to the rear of the hall where the media were stationed, and said: 'Ask them -- right there! By the way, that's a lot of fake news right there.'... If you scrape away the paranoid rants, you can find a few shards of what the campaign operatives and speechwriters had in mind. And that is a doubling down on the populist-conspiratorial themes that were a key to his 2016 win."

... Orlando Sentinel Editors: "Donald Trump is in Orlando to announce the kickoff of his re-election campaign. We're here to announce our endorsement for president in 2020, or, at least, who we're not endorsing: Donald Trump.... Enough of the chaos, the division, the schoolyard insults, the self-aggrandizement, the corruption, and especially the lies. So many lies -- from white lies to whoppers -- told out of ignorance, laziness, recklessness, expediency or opportunity.... Trump's successful assaul on truth is the great casualty of this presidency, followed closely by his war on decency.... Trump has diminished our standing in the world. He reneges on deals, attacks allies and embraces enemies.... Except for Lyndon Johnson in 1964, the Sentinel backed Republican presidential nominees from 1952 through 2004, when we recommended John Kerry over another four years of George W. Bush." (Also linked yesterday.)

Gabriel Sherman of Vanity Fair: "... Trump family members have already been sounding alarms that Republican mega donors aren't stepping up.... Trump has lost the financial support of one of his biggest backers in 2016: the Mercers. With their ties to Steve Bannon, Breitbart, and Cambridge Analytica, Robert Mercer and his daughter Rebekah were superstars last cycle. According to half a dozen sources familiar with the reclusive family's political activities, the Mercers have drastically curtailed their political donations in recent months and will likely not play a significant role in 2020."

Dareh Gregorian of NBC News: "NBC on Tuesday announced the candidate positions on the stage for the two-night [first Democratic debate] event [in Miami, Florida,] on June 26 and 27, and it will feature the contenders who've been leading in the polls in the middle of the stage. That means on Night One, Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and former Rep. Beto O'Rourke of Texas will be in the middle, while Night Two will feature former Vice President Biden and [Sen. Bernie] Sanders, the Vermont senator, standing side-by-side at center stage.... The podium placements were based on each of the candidates' qualifying public polling through Wednesday, June 12."

Katie Glueck of the New York Times: "Joseph R. Biden Jr., defending himself on Tuesday night against suggestions that he is too 'old fashioned' for today's Democratic Party, invoked two Southern segregationist senators by name as he fondly recalled the 'civility' of the Senate in the 1970s and 1980s." Mrs. McC: Ah, yes, the good old days when a young senator accorded deep respect to overt racists.

** Joe Romm of ThinkProgress: "A new study reveals just how stunningly rapid the clean energy transition is. Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF) reported on Tuesday that renewables are now the cheapest form of new electricity generation across two thirds of the world.... Yet just five years ago, renewables were the cheapest source of new power in only 1% of the world.... Equally remarkable, BNEF projects that by 2030, wind and solar will 'undercut existing coal and gas almost everywhere.' In other words, within a decade it will be cheaper to build and operate new renewable power plants than it will be to just keep operating existing fossil fuel plants -- even in the United States.... The result is that we are shifting from a world today where two thirds of power generation is from fossil fuels to one three decades from now where two thirds is zero carbon. As BNEF puts it, we are 'ending the era of fossil fuel dominance in the power sector.'" --safari: Next step is uprooting the dirty energy lobbies from the D.C. swamp. ...

... AND Not a Moment Too Soon.

Reuters: "Permafrost at outposts in the Canadian Arctic is thawing 70 years earlier than predicted, an expedition has discovered, in the latest sign that the global climate crisis is accelerating even faster than scientists had feared ... [as] a succession of unusually hot summers had destabilised the upper layers of giant subterranean ice blocks that had been frozen solid for millennia." --s

Oliver Darcy & Lauren del Valle of CNN: "A Connecticut judge on Tuesday sanctioned right-wing conspiracy theorist Alex Jones for suggesting that a lawyer for the Sandy Hook families, who are suing the InfoWars founder for his past claims that the 2012 shooting was staged, tried to frame him with child pornography. The ruling, handed down from Bridgeport Superior Court Judge Barbara Bellis, came after attorneys representing several Sandy Hook families in their lawsuit against Jones filed a motion on Monday asking the judge to review footage of Jones lambasting one of the attorneys in a Friday segment. Bellis called Jones' behavior on the broadcast 'indefensible,' 'unconscionable,' and 'possibly criminal behavior.' Bellis sanctioned Jones by denying the defense the opportunity to pursue special motions to dismiss moving forward in the lawsuit. The court will also award attorneys fees and filing fees to the Sandy Hook families' lawyers related to the issue...."

Nic Robertson of CNN: "Saudi Arabian journalist Jamal Khashoggi was the victim of a 'deliberate, premeditated execution,' a United Nations special rapporteur has concluded in the first independent investigation into his death. In a much anticipated report, released Wednesday, UN extrajudicial executions investigator Agnes Callamard said that Saudi Arabia was responsible under international law for Khashoggi's 'extrajudicial killing.' A prominent writer and Washington Post columnist, Khashoggi died after entering the Saudi consulate in Istanbul in October 2018. While Riyadh initially denied any knowledge of the incident, Saudi officials later claimed that a group of rogue operators, many of whom belong to Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman's inner circle, were responsible for the journalist's death. The Saudi attorney general later acknowledged that Khashoggi was killed in a premeditated murder. The special rapporteur does not make any conclusions on the guilt of the Saudi Crown Prince and King. Instead, Callamard says that there is 'credible evidence meriting further investigation by a proper authority" as to whether the "threshold of criminal responsibility has been met.'"

Annals of "Journalism," Ctd. Ryan Mac & Joseph Bernstein of BuzzFeed News: "A former Republican operative notorious for his connections to white nationalists has established himself as an opinion contributor for several national publications, including the Wall Street Journal, while writing under a thinly veiled pen name, BuzzFeed News has learned. Marcus Epstein, who worked for former Colorado congressman Tom Tancredo and founded a nativist political club with white nationalist Richard Spencer, has written more than a dozen opinion pieces for the Journal, the Hill, Forbes, US News and World Report, and the National Review over the past two years. His pieces, which mainly focus on the regulation of the technology industry, were published under the byline 'Mark Epstein.' In six different pieces for the Journal, Epstein is identified as an 'antitrust attorney and freelance writer' and addresses topics including the supposed threat to conservative speech posed by Google and Facebook, and the ways regulation and antitrust might be used to ensure 'viewpoint neutrality' and consumer protection, respectively. They make no mention of his past, which includes contributions to the white nationalist site VDare and charges that he assaulted a black woman, after racially abusing her, in 2007." Epstein entered an Alford plea on the assault charge.

Beyond the Beltway

Indiana. Olivia Messer of the Daily Beast: Four "named statehouse employees filed a new federal lawsuit against [Indiana's secretary of state Curtis] Hill [R] on Tuesday morning. The 11-count complaint against Hill and the state of Indiana alleges sexual harassment, retaliation, gender discrimination, battery, defamation, and invasion of privacy, according to a draft viewed Monday evening by The Daily Beast." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Way Beyond

Japan. Justin McCurry of the Guardian: "Women have outperformed their male counterparts in entrance examinations for a medical school in Japan that last year admitted rigging admission procedures to give men an unfair advantage. Juntendo University in Tokyo said that of the 1,679 women who took its medical school entrance exam earlier this year, 139, or 8.28%, had passed. The pass rate among 2,202 male candidates was 7.72%." --s ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: Wow! That's a tough exam.

Rebecca Ratcliffe of the Guardian: "The number of people forced to flee their homes across the world has exceeded 70 million for the first time since records began, the UN's refugee agency has warned.... The figure of 70.8 million displaced people includes 25.9 million refugees, 41.3 million people displaced within their own borders and 3.5 million asylum seekers. Globally, children make up about half of the refugee population." --s

Sarah Boseley of the Guardian: "A global survey of attitudes towards science has revealed the scale of the crisis of confidence in vaccines in Europe, showing that only 59% of people in western Europe and 50% in the east think vaccines are safe, compared with 79% worldwide. Around the globe, 84% of people acknowledge that vaccines are effective and 92% say their child has received a vaccine. But in spite of good healthcare and education systems, in parts of Europe there is low trust in vaccines. France has the highest levels of distrust, at 33%." --s

News Lede

New York Times: "David Ortiz, the former Boston Red Sox slugger, was not the intended target of a shooting in the Dominican Republic that seriously injured him last week, the authorities in the country said in a news conference Wednesday. It was a stunning revelation in a wild case that has captivated many in the baseball-crazed nation, and across the world. Jean Alain Rodríguez, the country's top prosecutor, said Ortiz, who was shot in the back and underwent emergency surgery that night before being transported to Boston, was wearing similar clothing to a friend, Sixto David Fernandez, who was the intended target of the shooting. Fernandez was sitting at the same table as Ortiz at the Dial Bar and Lounge, a regular hangout for Ortiz in the eastern part of Santo Domingo. Rodríguez also revealed for the first time the man suspected of organizing the entire operation: It was Victor Hugo Gomez, he said, a wanted criminal in the U.S. and member of the Gulf Cartel."