The Ledes

Tuesday, October 1, 2024

Washington Post: “ John Amos, a running back turned actor who appeared in scores of TV shows — including groundbreaking 1970s programs such as the sitcom 'Good Times' and the epic miniseries 'Roots' — and risked his career to protest demeaning portrayals of Black characters, died Aug. 21 in Los Angeles. He was 84.” Amos's New York Times obituary is here.

New York Times: “Pete Rose, one of baseball’s greatest players and most confounding characters, who earned glory as the game’s hit king and shame as a gambler and dissembler, died on Monday. He was 83.”

The Ledes

Monday, September 30, 2024

New York Times: “Kris Kristofferson, the singer and songwriter whose literary yet plain-spoken compositions infused country music with rarely heard candor and depth, and who later had a successful second career in movies, died at his home on Maui, Hawaii, on Saturday. He was 88.”

~~~ The New York Times highlights “twelve essential Kristofferson songs.”

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Public Service Announcement

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Click on photo to enlarge.

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

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

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

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Publisher & Editor: Marie Burns


Sunday
Sep092018

The Commentariat -- September 10, 2018

Afternoon Update:

Hahahahaha. Emily Goldberg of Politico: "... Donald Trump promised Monday that he would 'write the real book' to set the record straight on his administration, once again lashing out against veteran Washington reporter Bob Woodward, whose incendiary book about the Trump White House will be released this week. 'The Woodward book is a Joke -- just another assault against me, in a barrage of assaults, using now disproven unnamed and anonymous sources. Many have already come forward to say the quotes by them, like the book, are fiction,' Trump tweeted on Monday morning. 'Dems can't stand losing. I'll write the real book!' Trump added on Twitter, 'The White House is a 'smooth running machine.' We are making some of the biggest and most important deals in our country's history -- with many more to come! The Dems are going crazy!'"

Courtney Cube & Carol Lee of NBC News: "As ... Donald Trump issues a steady stream of praise for Kim Jong Un in interviews and on Twitter, a steady stream of evidence that North Korea is still making nuclear weapons has pushed his administration to take a much more aggressive stance toward Pyongyang. The newest intelligence shows Kim's regime has escalated efforts to conceal its nuclear activity, according to three senior U.S. officials. During the three months since the historic Singapore summit and Trump's proclamation that North Korea intends to denuclearize, North Korea has built structures to obscure the entrance to at least one warhead storage facility, according to the officials." ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: Yes But. As we found out last week, Trump needs Kim as a character witness.

Mark Landler of the New York Times: "The Trump administration threatened the International Criminal Court with sanctions if it pursued an investigation of American troops in Afghanistan, opening a harsh new attack on an old nemesis of many on the political right. 'The United States will use any means necessary to protect our citizens and those of our allies from unjust prosecution by this illegitimate court,' President Trump's national security adviser, John R. Bolton, said in a speech on Monday in Washington.... Mr. Bolton also announced that the United States would shut down the Palestine Liberation Organization's office in Washington -- a decision linked to the International Criminal Court, which he said was being prodded by the Palestinians to investigate Israel." Related Bloomberg story linked below.

One of Republicans' favorite voter suppression mechanisms:

Senate Race. How perceptions of health insurance have changed:

Mrs. McCrabbie: I could have done this myself, but not as well as Akhilleus did, so I'm going with his take: "Florida goobernatorial candidate Ron DeSantis has announced that he is stepping down from his do-nothing job in the Confederate House so that he might have more time for some high quality -- and quantity -- racist tweeting." ...

... Speaking of Goobernatorial Candidates. Natasha Korecki of Politico: "There’s every reason to believe this is the beginning of the end for Scott Walker.... The signs that Walker is ripe to be taken down are everywhere. His opponent, Schools Superintendent Tony Evers, has a slight lead in recent polls and there's evidence that critical suburban voters are shifting leftward. Three former Walker aides have even turned on the governor, with two cutting ads for Evers.... A career educator, Evers presents a crisp contrast with Walker, who's held elected office for more than two decades. Democrats have seized on a 'Walker fatigue' message that blames him for a teacher shortage, deteriorating roads ('Scottholes' as one group calls them) and rising health care costs."

*****

Jonathan Swan of Axios: It's hard to overstate the extremity and variety of pressures bearing down on President Trump and his understaffed White House.... Trump's 'fine-tuned machine' is creaking under this stress.... Trump's former personal lawyer Michael Cohen and campaign chairman Paul Manafort are going to prison. Federal prosecutors in the Southern District of New York have granted immunity to Allen Weisselberg, the Trump Organization's chief financial officer.... Trump has grown to resent and distrust his White House Counsel, Don McGahn.... McGahn leaves this fall and he leaves behind an office unprepared to deal with the blizzard of subpoenas, investigations and possible impeachment proceedings that likely await it next year.... Bob Woodward's book hits the stands on Tuesday..., and the president now knows that some of his previously trusted White House aides play starring roles in Woodward's narrative.... The New York Times published an op-ed from an anonymous 'senior administration official' who claims to be part of a wide-reaching resistance to Trump's presidency.... The White House press and communications teams are very thin.... They are wrestling with a firehose of bad news."

David Martin of CBS News interviews Bob Woodward:

There Are No Adults in the Room

The Set-up. He's not a detail guy. Never put more than one page in front of him. Even if he'll glance at it, he.s not going to read the whole thing. Make sure you underline or put in bold the main points ... you'll have 30 seconds to talk to him. If you haven't grabbed his attention, he won't focus. -- Zach Fuentes, assistant to John Kelly, cited in Woodward's book Fear ...

... ** The Pay-off. Isaac Chotiner of Slate: "... Fuentes wasn't talking about Donald Trump; no, he was talking about John Kelly. And Woodward&'s book -- which arrived at around the same time as the already infamous, still-currently anonymous New York Times op-ed about the men and women in the executive branch supposedly working to protect America from Donald Trump -- is as much a portrait of the craven, ineffective, and counterproductive group of 'adults' surrounding Trump as it is a more predictable look into the president's shortcomings.... Fear will make plain to the last optimist that, just as Republicans in Congress are unlikely to save us, neither are the relative grown-ups in the Trump administration.... Moreover, many of these aides are tasked with -- or see their roles as -- not preventing policy decisions, but instead as putting the nicest, non-Trumpy face on Trumpism; the ethics of this deserves its own debate." ...

     ... Mrs. Bea McCrabbie: If you have been buying into the hype-du-jour about Woodward's being an "impeccable journalist," do read Chotiner's review. Woodward is an "impeccable journalist" to the extent he can get the interviews others can't (tho he couldn't get Trump, could he?), & he has the tenacity to get substantive quotes from his subjects, but as an analyst, he sucks. P.S. He's a Republican. ...

... Quint Forgey of Politico: "Vice President Mike Pence on Saturday denied participating in any conversation about invoking the 25th Amendment in a bid to oust ... Donald Trump. 'No. Never,' Pence told Margaret Brennan of CBS News in an interview to be broadcast Sunday on 'Face the Nation.'... [Anonymous] asserted that Trump's cabinet considered invoking the 25th Amendment early on in his administration because of the 'instability many witnessed.'" Mrs. McC: What with Karen Pence having long since finished sewing up new calico curtains for the Oval, I find that hard to believe. ...

... Axios: "Former White House staffer Omarosa Manigault Newman claimed on MSNBC Sunday that she and other members of the Trump administration texted each other the hashtag '#tfa,' referring to the 25th Amendment, 'more than 100 times' during her tenure to discuss President Trump's 'unhinged' actions."

Andrew Restuccia, et al. of Politico: "Increasingly isolated and prone to conspiracy theories, President Donald Trump in recent weeks has become fixated on the idea that the country's largest tech giants -- Google, Facebook and Twitter -- are silencing his conservative base. Trump has come to view his supposed mistreatment at the hands of Silicon Valley as emblematic of a wide-reaching campaign to undermine his presidency.... Even though he doesn't use a computer and is seen by those around him as a tech neophyte, the president knows a powerful wedge issue when he sees one.... The president's embrace of anti-Silicon Valley rhetoric has been shaped by advisers who see it as the latest front in the country's long-running culture wars and believe it has the potential to rally conservative voters ahead of the midterms and the president's own reelection campaign in 2020." --safari

Jonathan Swan & Lauren Meier of Axios: "President Trump is expected to declassify, as early as this week, documents covering the U.S. government's surveillance of Trump campaign adviser Carter Page and the investigative activities of senior Justice Department lawyer Bruce Ohr, according to allies of the president.... Republicans on the House Intelligence and Judiciary committees believe the declassification will permanently taint the Trump-Russia investigation by showing the investigation was illegitimate to begin with. Trump has been hammering the same theme for months." ...

... ** David Leonhardt of the New York Times: Donald Trump "could make his life easier if only he treated Vladimir Putin the way he treats most people who cause problems -- and cast Putin aside. Yet Trump can't bring himself to do so. This odd refusal is arguably the biggest reason to believe that Putin really does have leverage over Trump. Maybe it's something shocking.... Or maybe it's the scandal that's been staring us in the face all along: Illicit financial dealings -- money laundering -- between Trump's business and Russia. The latest reason to be suspicious is Trump's attacks on a formerly obscure Justice Department official named Bruce Ohr.... In his highly respected three-decade career in law enforcement, [Ohr] has specialized in going after Russian organized crime. It just so happens that most of the once-obscure bureaucrats whom Trump has tried to discredit also are experts in some combination of Russia, organized crime and money laundering." ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: Both Natasha Bertrand & Rachel Maddow ((and likely others) have made this point, but it bears repeating.

Jonathan Swan: "President Trump was bluffing when he tweeted that he knows the successor to White House counsel Don McGahn, and instead he is vacillating about new legal leaders.... McGahn is leaving soon, almost all of his deputies have departed and the office is nowhere near equipped for the storm that's likely coming.... Trump wants somebody who'll be unquestioningly loyal -- who'll be 'his guy' and defend him on TV, said a source familiar with his thinking." Mrs. McC: Yeah, & he wanted Jeff Sessions to do the same. The White House counsel represents the presidency, not the president. The attorney general is the government's chief lawyer, not the president's. But of course Trump can't get over his Louis XIV L'état, c'est moi monarchic view of the presidency, at least as long as he's the president.

Margaret Hartmann: "On Friday a lawyer for Essential Consultants, the company [Michael] Cohen set up to pay [Stormy] Daniels, sought to void the agreement in a legal filing, and get the $130,000 payment back. (Trump reimbursed Cohen for the $130,000, and it's unclear who would get the money if Daniels returned it.)... On Saturday, Trump's attorney Charles Harder said in a separate court filing that the president would not seek to enforce the agreement, and would not contest Daniels's 'assertion that the Settlement Agreement was never formed, or in the alternative, should be rescinded.' Harder called on Daniels to 'immediately dismiss' Trump from her lawsuit.... [Daniels' lawyer, Michael] Avenatti dismissed Trump's latest moves as an effort to avoid giving a deposition under oath, and said they would keep pursuing the case until they have 'full disclosure and accountability.'"

Juan Cole: "One of Trump's more dangerous features is his brittleness and thin skin.... But the most dangerous of all is his pettiness, the jabs at perceived enemies, no matter how minor. The treatment of 'plaid shirt guy' by Trump's staffers and the secret service assigned to him this weekend at Billings, Montana, is a case in point. Three local high schoolers attended the rally and unexpectedly ended up being very visible behind Trump. Senior Tyler Linfesty hammed it up, doing double takes or smiling knowingly when Trump told one of his famous whoppers. Trump's handlers, alarmed by the insufficiently beatific expression on Linfesty's face, came and got all three of the young students.... It is the kind of thing that happens in dictatorships all the time, though of course with worse consequences. But the difference is one of degree, not of kind." --safari


Josh Smith of Reuters: "With no long-range missiles on display, North Korea staged a military parade on Sunday focused on conventional arms, peace and economic development as it marked the 70th anniversary of the country's founding. The reduced display compared to past years earned a thank you note from ... Donald Trump, who hailed it as a 'big and very positive statement from North Korea.' Trump on Twitter quoted a Fox News description of the event without long-range nuclear missiles as a sign of North Korea's 'commitment to denuclearize.'" Mrs. McC: Once again, Trump got his daily briefing from Fox "News," not from intelligence staff. This is appalling.

Neal Boudette of the New York Times: "President Trump on Sunday suggested Ford Motor could begin making a small car in the United States instead of importing it from China. But the automaker quickly issued a statement saying it has no such plans. In August, Ford announced it had killed a plan to import the Focus Active, a roomy hatchback, saying the tariffs Mr. Trump has threatened to impose on vehicles built in China would increase costs too much for the company to hit its profit targets. Mr. Trump hailed the decision in a Twitter post on Sunday, apparently after he saw a report about the Focus Active on television. '"Ford has abruptly killed a plan to sell a Chinese-made small vehicle in the U.S. because of the prospect of higher U.S. tariffs." CNBC. This is just the beginning. This car can now be BUILT IN THE U.S.A. and Ford will pay no tariffs!'... After Mr. Trump's tweet, the company responded...: 'It would not be profitable to build the Focus Active in the U.S. given an expected annual sales volume of fewer than 50,000 units and its competitive segment.'..."...

     ... OR, as Trump's nice chief-of-staff would say, "Thanks for the advice, Mr. Prez*. You can shove it up your ass six different times."

Full Court Press. Reuters: "U.S. President Donald Trump has ordered that $25 million earmarked for the care of Palestinians in East Jerusalem hospitals be directed elsewhere as part of a review of aid, a State Department official said on Saturday.... Last month, the Trump administration said it would redirect $200 million in Palestinian economic support funds for programs in the West Bank and Gaza. And at the end of August, the Trump administration halted all funding to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA).... Palestinian refugees have reacted with dismay to the funding cuts, warning they would lead to more poverty, anger and instability in the Middle East." --safari...

... David Tweed of Bloomberg: "The Trump administration is expected to announce that it will close the Palestine Liberation Organization's office in Washington, The Wall Street Journal reported, citing unidentified White House officials. Monday's announcement is expected to be made in prepared remarks by National Security Adviser John Bolton, and is part of a widening U.S. pressure campaign on Palestinian officials amid stalled Middle East peace efforts, the paper reported." [Open in private window.] --safari

Matthew Mosk & Kaitlyn Folmer of ABC News: "George Papadopoulos, the one-time foreign policy adviser to Donald Trump who became swept up in the special counsel investigation, says members of the Trump campaign team were 'fully aware' and in many cases supportive of his efforts to broker a summit [between Trump &] Russian President Vladimir Putin." (Also linked yesterday.)


Maria Kiselyova of Reuters: "U.S. Energy Secretary Rick Perry will visit Moscow from Sept. 11 to 13, Russian media reported on Sunday, citing a diplomatic source." Mrs. McC: I was just wondering whatever happened to Rick Perry. I guess he's been brushing up on his Russian.

Juan Cole: "Environmental activists protested Saturday in 90 countries and 800 cities across the globe and the United States against inaction on the Climate Crisis in the run-up to a major climate conference in San Francisco organized by Gov. Jerry Brown for Wednesday in the wake of Trump's violation of the Paris Climate Accords." --safari

2018 Election

Edward-Isaac Dovere: "Two days in, lots of prominent Republicans have complained about Barack Obama's speech on Friday calling Donald Trump's presidency a betrayal of America and a threat to its core -- but they haven't said he's wrong. Most prominent on that list is Trump himself, who, for a man his aides have often held up as someone who punches back, has so far said less to attack Obama than he has previously about the FBI, Steve Bannon, LeBron James or pretty much anyone else." Also, too, Trump can't spell "Barack." Mrs. McC: I wonder if that's why the investigators Trump supposedly sent to Hawaii couldn't find Obama's birth certificate. If you assume (and I don't, but it's an oft-repeated claim) that Trump ran for president because Obama pissed him off by making fun of his birther campaign at the White House Correspondents' Dinner, then it could be our national nightmare is the result of a misspelling.

Gubernatorial Races

New York. New York Times Editors: "This is dirty politics, nearly as sleazy as it gets. Days before [Gov. Andrew] Cuomo's primary race for re-election on Thursday, the New York State Democratic Committee has sent voters a campaign mailer falsely accusing his challenger, Cynthia Nixon, of being 'silent on the rise of anti-Semitism.' It says she supports the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions movement against Israel over its treatment of Palestinians. She does not. It accuses Ms. Nixon of opposing funding yeshivas, private religious schools attended by many of the city's Orthodox Jews. She has never said that. 'With anti-Semitism and bigotry on the rise, we can't take a chance,' the mailer reads. 'Re-Elect Governor Andrew Cuomo.' This is the lowest form of politics, and the most dangerous, exploiting the festering wounds and fears along ethnic and religious lines. 'I didn't know about the mailer,' Mr. Cuomo said at a news conference Sunday in Manhattan.... Sorry, Mr. Cuomo, but that strains credulity. Mr. Cuomo dominates the state Democratic Party." Nixon attends a synagogue. ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: The New York Times Editors endorsed Cuomo. They are not rescinding their endorsement here. ...

... Benjamin Hart of New York has more on the fallout & backlash against the mailer. Mrs. McC: The question for New York Democrats is: would I rather have a sleazy governor or an incompetent one? If I were still a New York voter, I think I'd go for incompetent. Either would screw up, but at least the incompetent governor would (likely) do so honestly.

Florida. Beth Reinhard & Emma Brown of the Washington Post: "Rep. Ron DeSantis (R-Fla.), a gubernatorial nominee who recently was accused of using racially tinged language, spoke four times at conferences organized by a conservative activist who has said that African Americans owe their freedom to white people and that the country's 'only serious race war' is against whites. DeSantis, elected to represent north-central Florida in 2012, appeared at the David Horowitz Freedom Center conferences in Palm Beach, Fla., and Charleston, S.C., in 2013, 2015, 2016 and 2017, said Michael Finch, president of the organization. At the group's annual Restoration Weekend conferences, hundreds of people gather to hear right-wing provocateurs such as Stephen K. Bannon, Milo Yiannopoulos and Sebastian Gorka sound off on multiculturalism, radical Islam, free speech on college campuses and other issues. 'I just want to say what an honor it's been to be here to speak,' DeSantis said in a ­27-minute speech at the 2015 event in Charleston, a video shows. 'David has done such great work and I've been an admirer. I've been to these conferences in the past but I’ve been a big admirer of an organization that shoots straight, tells the American people the truth and is standing up for the right thing.'"


Ronan Farrow of the New Yorker: "Members of the board of the CBS Corporation are negotiating with the company's chairman and C.E.O., Leslie Moonves, about his departure. Sources familiar with the board's activities said the discussions about Moonves stepping down began several weeks ago, after an article published in the The New Yorker detailed allegations by six women that the media executive had sexually harassed them, and revealed complaints by dozens of others that the culture in some parts of the company tolerated sexual misconduct.... As the negotiations continue and shareholders and advocacy groups accuse the board of failing to hold Moonves accountable, new allegations are emerging. Six additional women are now accusing Moonves of sexual harassment or assault in incidents that took place between the nineteen-eighties and the early aughts. They include claims that Moonves forced them to perform oral sex on him, that he exposed himself to them without their consent, and that he used physical violence and intimidation against them. A number of the women also said that Moonves retaliated after they rebuffed him, damaging their careers." ...

... Brian Stelter of CNN: "Longtime CBS chief executive Les Moonves, facing new claims of sexual misconduct, is about to step down as part of a wide-ranging corporate settlement of a separate fight for control of CBS. The CBS board of directors is likely to announce the deal by Monday morning, according to three executives with direct knowledge of the matter. Lawyers were said to be putting the finishing touches on the settlement on Sunday. Internally, it is being called a 'global settlement,' meant to resolve months of litigation between Moonves and Shari Redstone, the controlling shareholder of CBS. Moonves and Redstone were locked in a tug of war even before July 27, when Ronan Farrow first reported on alleged harassment by Moonves. The CBS board initially resisted calls for Moonves to be suspended or forced out." ...

... Meg James of the Los Angeles Times: "Bowing to pressure brought on by a sexual harassment scandal, CBS Corp. Chairman and Chief Executive Leslie Moonves is expected to resign late Sunday, according to two people familiar with the matter.... Moonves will leave without a severance package, according to the sources. The CBS board will wait to negotiate a financial settlement until the conclusion of an investigation by two prominent law firms into allegations of misconduct. In addition, CBS' board will get a makeover. Independent board members are poised to strike a separate settlement with its controlling shareholder family -- the Redstones. The deal being hammered out is expected to lead to a dramatic overhaul of CBS' board by installing six new board members, including several who are not aligned with the Redstone family." ...

... Update. Edmund Lee of the New York Times: "Leslie Moonves, the longtime chief executive of the CBS Corporation, stepped down on Sunday night from the company he led for 15 years. His fall from Hollywood's highest echelon was all but sealed after the publication earlier in the day of new sexual harassment allegations against him."

Eliott McLaughlin of CNN: "The US Open has fined Serena Williams $17,000 for three code violations during her loss in Saturday's women's singles final, the United States Tennis Association said. Saturday's match between Williams and Naomi Osaka in New York's Arthur Ashe Stadium was marred by controversy in the second set after umpire Carlos Ramos penalized Williams a point and then an entire game. Osaka beat Williams in straight sets -- 6-2, 6-4 -- to win her first Grand Slam title." ...

... Rebecca Traister of New York on the ump's sexist calls against Serena Williams: "The point isn't about the catsuit or the shirt or the broken racket or even the U.S. Open title. It's about the ways in which women's -- and especially nonwhite women's -- dress and bodies and behavior and expression and tone are still deemed unruly if they do not conform to the limited view of femininity established by men, especially if that unruliness suggests a direct threat to male authority." (Also linked yesterday.)

Bonnie Wertheim & Choire Sicha of the New York Times: "On Sunday night, Nia Franklin was crowned Miss America 2019. A classically trained opera singer, Ms. Franklin represented New York in the competition, focusing on equal opportunity and education in her interview questions.... The annual event and its parent organization have undergone a number of changes in the wake of the #MeToo movement. Sunday's Miss America was the first to suspend a 'swimsuit competition' since the first event, in 1921. Miss America has also been rebranded as a competition, rather than a pageant -- and yes, they're calling it Miss America 2.0. These changes followed internal reorganization over the last year. In December, the previous chief executive of the Miss America Organization, Sam Haskell, resigned after vicious and misogynist emails were made public.... The competition tonight did have fresh trappings.... Participants had platforms that were described as 'social impact statements.'"

Way Beyond the Beltway

Jon Henley of the Guardian: "Sweden faces a protracted period of political uncertainty after an election that left the two main parliamentary blocs tied but well short of a majority, and the far-right Sweden Democrats promising to wield 'real influence' in parliament despite making more modest gains than many had predicted. The populist, anti-immigrant party won 17.6% of the vote, according to preliminary official results -- well up on the 12.9% it scored in 2014, but far below the 25%-plus some polls had predicted earlier in the summer. It looked highly likely, however, to have a significant role in policymaking." --safari

News Ledes

New York Times: "With Hurricane Florence swiftly gaining strength and bearing down on the Southeast, Gov. Henry McMaster of South Carolina on Monday ordered more than a million people living in eight coastal counties to evacuate inland.... Evacuations were also ordered in parts of North Carolina as the region braced for a major destructive hurricane projected to make landfall late Thursday or Friday, with damaging winds, torrential rains and a potentially destructive storm surge." ...

      ... The Times has a hurricane tracker here.

Miami Herald: "The 2018 hurricane season blew into high gear on Sunday. In its 11 p.m. Sunday advisory, the National Hurricane Center upgraded Tropical Storm Isaac to a Category 1 hurricane, with winds of nearly 75 mph. Isaac became the fifth hurricane of the 2018 Atlantic Season and the third storm being actively tracked in a busy weather weekend. But the gravest threat to the U.S. remains Hurricane Florence, which is expected to strengthen considerably by Monday night and remain 'an extremely dangerous major hurricane' through Thursday, according to the Hurricane Center."

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Saturday
Sep082018

The Commentariat -- September 9, 2018

Late Morning/Afternoon Update:

David Martin of CBS News interviews Bob Woodward:

Quint Forgey of Politico: "Vice President Mike Pence on Saturday denied participating in any conversation about invoking the 25th Amendment in a bid to oust ... Donald Trump. 'No. Never,' Pence told Margaret Brennan of CBS News in an interview to be broadcast Sunday on 'Face the Nation.'... [Anonymous] asserted that Trump's cabinet considered invoking the 25th Amendment early on in his administration because of the 'instability many witnessed.'” Mrs. McC: What with Karen Pence having long since finished sewing up new calico curtains for the Oval, I find that hard to believe.

Matthew Mosk & Kaitlyn Folmer of ABC News: "George Papadopoulos, the one-time foreign policy adviser to Donald Trump who became swept up in the special counsel investigation, says members of the Trump campaign team were 'fully aware' and in many cases supportive of his efforts to broker a summit [between Trump &] Russian President Vladimir Putin."

Rebecca Traister of New York on the Ump's Sexist Calls: "The point isn't about the catsuit or the shirt or the broken racket or even the U.S. Open title. It's about the ways in which women's -- and especially nonwhite women's -- dress and bodies and behavior and expression and tone are still deemed unruly if they do not conform to the limited view of femininity established by men, especially if that unruliness suggests a direct threat to male authority."

*****

Watergate All Over Again. Calvin Woodward & Nancy Benac of the AP: "The White House seethes with intrigue and backstabbing as aides hunt for the anonymous Deep (state) Throat among them. A president feels besieged by tormentors -- Bob Woodward is driving him crazy -- so he tends his version of an enemies list, wondering aloud if he should rid himself of his attorney general or the special prosecutor or both. For months, the Trump administration and its scandals have carried whiffs of Watergate and drawn comparisons to the characters and crimes of the Nixon era. But this week, history did not just repeat itself, it climbed out of the dustbin and returned in the flesh. There was John Dean again, testifying on the Hill, warning anew about a cancer on the presidency. Nearly every element in ... Donald Trump's trouble has a Watergate parallel. Special prosecutor Robert Mueller is leading an independent investigation sparked by a break-in at the Democratic National Committee, the same target that opened the Watergate can of worms, though this time the burglary was digital and linked to Moscow, not the Oval Office.... 'This is a president who says things publicly that we know from the tapes that Nixon said privately,' says Timothy Naftali, a New York University historian who directed the Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum."

Alan Feuer of the New York Times: "In yet another turn in a legal battle that has plagued President Trump for months, Michael D. Cohen, his longtime fixer, offered late Friday night to tear up a nondisclosure agreement with a pornographic film star who has long claimed she had an affair with Mr. Trump. It remained unclear why Mr. Cohen made the abrupt move to scrap the hush-money deal with the star, Stephanie Clifford.... But one effect of voiding the arrangement would be that it could spare Mr. Trump the embarrassment of having to give a deposition in a lawsuit related to the case. In a letter dated Sept. 7, Mr. Cohen's lawyer, Brent H. Blakely, wrote to Ms. Clifford's lawyer, Michael Avenatti, saying that Mr. Cohen had agreed 'to accept the rescission' of the deal, which was reached in October 2016, a month before the presidential election.... Shortly after the letter was filed in Federal District Court in Los Angeles, Mr. Avenatti accused Mr. Cohen on Twitter of 'playing games and trying to protect Donald Trump.'"

Spencer Hsu & Rosalind Helderman of the Washington Post: "U.S. prosecutors have acknowledged they misunderstood text messages they used to claim in court that a Russian woman traded sex for access and should be jailed pending trial on charges she was a foreign agent attempting to infiltrate the National Rifle Association and other American conservative groups. The concession came in a late-night court filing Friday in which prosecutors said Maria Butina, 29, should stay in custody as a flight risk but wrote 'the government's understanding of this particular text conversation was mistaken.'"

Josh Gerstein, et al., of Politico: "Talk show host and liberal activist Randy Credico testified for more than two hours Friday before a grand jury run by special counsel Robert Mueller's office that appears to be zeroing in on former Trump adviser Roger Stone. Credico emerged from the questioning, describing it as something of an ordeal. 'It was like sitting on an electric chair for a couple of hours,' he told Politico.... Credico is a devoted advocate for [WikiLeaks founder Julian] Assange, and Stone's contacts with Credico have led to speculation that Credico served as an intermediary of sorts between Assange and Stone." (Also linked yesterday.)


Ernesto Londoño & Nicholas Casey of the New York Times: "The Trump administration held secret meetings with rebellious military officers from Venezuela over the last year to discuss their plans to overthrow President Nicolás Maduro, according to American officials and a former Venezuelan military commander who participated in the talks. Establishing a clandestine channel with coup plotters in Venezuela was a big gamble for Washington, given its long history of covert intervention across Latin America. Many in the region still deeply resent the United States for backing previous rebellions, coups and plots in countries like Cuba, Nicaragua, Brazil and Chile, and for turning a blind eye to the abuses military regimes committed during the Cold War.... One of the Venezuelan military commanders involved in the secret talks was hardly an ideal figure to help restore democracy: He is on the American government's own sanctions list of corrupt officials in Venzuela.... American officials eventually decided not to help the plotters, and the coup plans stalled. But the Trump administration's willingness to meet several times with mutinous officers intent on toppling a president in the hemisphere could backfire politically.... The White House, which declined to answer detailed questions about the talks, said in a statement that it was important to engage in 'dialogue with all Venezuelans who demonstrate a desire for democracy.'..." ...

... Because nothing says 'desire for democracy' quite so well as a military coup. -- Schlub, in today's Comments


Elise Viebeck of the Washington Post: "President Trump will provide written answers under oath in the defamation lawsuit brought by former 'Apprentice' contestant Summer Zervos, who claims Trump sexually assaulted her in 2007, a new court filing stated."

Gideon Resnick of the Daily Beast: "In the late summer of 2016, when Donald Trump's presidential bid appeared to be in shambles, campaign chairman Paul Manafort was dismissed and [Steve] Bannon was brought on board. Bannon, the former executive chairman of Breitbart News, had to cozy up to [Reince] Priebus and the RNC out of necessity.... Bannon, [Bob] Woodward wrote, 'wanted to be sure that the RNC was not going to leave Trump' because 'there were rumors about donors fleeing and how everyone in the party was trying to figure a way out of the Trump mess.'... 'As Bannon later remarked..., "I reached out and sucked Reince Preibus' dick on August 15 and told the establishment, we can't win without you."’” Mrs. McC: Yeah, I can picture it. Ewww!


Jennifer Bendery of the Huffington Post: "For all the speculation about Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) and whether she'll vote for Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, there is an issue beyond abortion rights perhaps weighing more heavily on her...: protections for Alaska Natives. Advocates for Alaska Natives, who were crucial to Murkowski's re-election in 2010, tell HuffPost they've been flooding her office all week and urging her to oppose Kavanaugh. They're raising concerns about his record on climate change, which is already causing real damage in Alaska. As a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, Kavanaugh in 2017 held that the Environmental Protection Agency lacks the authority to regulate hydrofluorocarbons, chemicals linked to global warming. They're also unhappy with his record on voting rights. Kavanaugh voted in 2012 to uphold a South Carolina voter ID law that disenfranchised more than 80,000 minority registered voters. The most pressing matter, however, is a case the Supreme Court is reviewing on Nov. 5 that could devastate Alaska Natives' subsistence fishing rights. The case, Sturgeon v. Frost, raises questions about who has the authority to regulate water in national parks in the state ― the federal government or the state of Alaska." ...

     ... Mrs. Bea McCrabbie: Nope, not a fish fighting chilly weather (or a poet): "The case arose after Alaska resident John Sturgeon, who was on an annual moose-hunting trip, was riding a hovercraft on a river running through a national park when Park Service officials threatened to give him a citation. Sturgeon is arguing that his ability to use his hovercraft in this scenario is about states' rights and that federal authority should be eliminated." Murkowski is tougher than Susan Collins. When she lost her primary election in 2010 to a Tea Party winger, she ran as a write-in candidate, in defiance of Mitch McConnell & the gang. "Her write-in campaign was aided in large part with substantial monetary aid and assistance from the Native corporations and PACs...." ...

... digby: Alaska Natives "are also worried about health care since a large majority of Alaska natives benefit from Medicaid and Obamacare. (So do plenty of non-native Alaskans for that matter.) Breaking with the man who thinks it's funny and cool to call Elizabeth Warren 'Pocohontas' won't hurt her[.]" ...

... Joe Lawlor of the Portland (Maine) Press Herald: "Sen. Susan Collins of Maine on Friday said that she remains undecided on whether she will vote to confirm Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh. Collins acknowledged that many are lobbying her and want to know where she stands. Though she has read or watched most of Kavanaugh's testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee this week, she has yet to review all of the material presented during the hearing." Mrs. McC: Uh-huh. ...

... Mrs. McCrabbie: I meant to embed this Friday night. It's an incredible thing that answers the usually-unanswerable historical question: What would So-&-So think if s/he could see what's going on today? John Dean is not rolling over in his grave nearly half a century after his Watergate committee testimony: he's testifying:

... Jeff Toobin of the New Yorker: "The past week in Washington offered what appeared to be a startling contrast: on the one hand, tales of a President unhinged, issuing garbled, contradictory commands to appalled aides who were conspiring against him; on the other, a thoughtful Supreme Court nominee, calmly parrying the futile assaults of a frustrated senatorial minority. Donald Trump and Brett Kavanaugh looked and sounded very different, but those appearances deceived. Both men were pulling the country in the same direction, toward more inequality, more pollution, and, to put the matter bluntly, women once more dying from botched abortions."

Election 2018

Adam Nagourney of the New York Times: "Barack Obama came to the front lines of the Democratic battle to take back Congress on Saturday, describing the coming election as a pivotal moment for a divided nation and a chance 'to restore some sanity to our politics.' 'If we don't step up, things are going to get worse,' Mr. Obama said at a rally in California, a state where Democrats are hoping to capture seven seats now held by Republicans. 'Where there is a vacuum in our democracy, when we are not participating, we are not paying attention, other voices fill the void.'... From the start of his 23-minute speech, Mr. Obama, wearing a white shirt with an open collar, made clear he had set himself a different task: He was there to promote the candidacies of Democrats in California and across the country trying to win Republican seats. To that end, he named seven such Democrats running for the House, offering them brief and enthusiastic endorsements that were captured on Democratic Party cameras and that will presumably end up in candidate advertisements before long." ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: Very radical -- mentioning something about the candidates you're there to endorse instead of just talking about yourself. ...

David Cay Johnston of DCReport: "Donald Trump's tweets telling the super-rich to expect another big tax cut if Republicans hold onto the House and Senate is paying off for the GOP. National Republican fundraising continues to run well ahead of Democrats, who are saddled with debt, new Federal Election Commission reports show. Republicans have raised $1.1 billion this year, while the parallel Democratic Party organizations have yet to break the billion dollar mark. The Democrats are also saddled with 11 times as much debt as the GOP.... Money alone does not win elections, but it helps." --safari (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

MEANWHILE, Democrats have to win BIG. Carol Anderson, in a chapter from her book & published in the New York Times writes, Republicans have been working hard to suppress Democratic votes since at least the 1980s. And they've convinced their own voters that extraordinary measures are necessary: as Rick Perlstein & Livia Gershon wrote in an essay appearing in TPM & linked here yesterday, "... almost three quarters [of Republicans] said voter fraud happens 'somewhat' or 'very often.'" If you're inclined not to vote for local & state offices because you don't know who the candidates are & you're afraid you'll vote in a dummy, vote for the dumb Dem anyway. As long as Republicans control the election apparatus, they'll find multiple ways to suppress Democratic votes -- maybe even yours next time. It's not as simple as gerrymandering & voter IDs, as Anderson makes clear.


Sonia Rao of the Washington Post: "When asked on Friday, the final night of the preliminary competition [of the Miss America pageant], what she believed was the most serious issue facing the nation, Madeline Collins, Miss West Virginia..., [said] 'Donald Trump is the biggest issue facing our country today.'... Collins continued: 'Unfortunately, he has caused a lot of divide in our country, and until we can trust in him and the choices that he makes for our country, we cannot become united.' Because each contestant was given only 20 seconds to respond, Collins did not go into more detail.... On Thursday, when asked how the NFL should handle players kneeling during the national anthem, Miss Virginia, Emili McPhail, emphasized that the protests are not anti-patriotic, but are 'absolutely about police brutality.' 'Kneeling during the national anthem is absolutely a right that you have, to stand up for what you believe in, and to make the right decision that's right for you,' she said."

Capitalism Is Awesome, Ctd. Eric Levitz of New York: Dr. Richard Sackler made billions on the opioid OxyContin, which he invented & marketed with deceptive ads & other propaganda vehicles claiming OxyContin was not addictive. "Thus, Sackler created immense value for his shareholders -- while providing the American people with a product they value so greatly, demand for it has remained robust, even as opioids began killing upwards of 40,000 Americans a year.... So, after creating billions of dollars in value by selling patented opioids, he's poised to make millions selling an innovative form of buprenorphine, a mild opiate that reduces cravings for harder opioids like OxyContin." (Also linked yesterday.) ...

     ... But, but, Eric. He's a philanthropist! (You may not be surprised to learn that Rudy Giuliani was one of Sackler's defense lawyers.) (Also linked yesterday.)

Medlar's Sports Report. Sally Jenkins of the Washington Post: "Chair umpire Carlos Ramos managed to rob not one but two players in the women's U.S. Open final. Nobody has ever seen anything like it: An umpire so wrecked a big occasion that both players, Naomi Osaka and Serena Williams alike, wound up distraught with tears streaming down their faces during the trophy presentation and an incensed crowd screamed boos at the court. Ramos took what began as a minor infraction and turned it into one of the nastiest and most emotional controversies in the history of tennis, all because he couldn't take a woman speaking sharply to him.... When Williams ... busted her racket over losing a crucial game, Ramos docked her a point. Breaking equipment is a violation, and because Ramos already had hit her with [a] coaching violation, it was a second offense and so ratcheted up the penalty.... Williams vented, 'You stole a point from me. You're a thief.' There was absolutely nothing worthy of penalizing in the statement.... [But] he gave Williams that third violation for 'verbal abuse' and a whole game penalty, and now it was 5-3, and we will never know whether young Osaka really won the 2018 U.S. Open or had it handed to her by a man who was going to make Serena Williams feel his power." Ramos has taken worse from at least one male player-- Rafael Nadal -- & let it slide.

Beyond the Beltway

His Tinfoil Hat Has Shorted Out. Laura Vozzella of the Washington Post: "Fresh off a sit-down with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, Virginia state Sen. Richard H. Black turned up on an Arab TV channel last week [to claim that] ... Britain's MI6 intelligence service was planning a chemical weapons attack on the Syrian people, which it would then blame on Assad. 'Around four weeks ago, we knew that British intelligence was working toward a chemical attack in order to blame the Syrian government, to hold Syria responsible,' Black said on Al Mayadeen, an Arab news channel based in Beirut. Black (R-Loudoun) said later that he meant the British were planning not to carry out an attack themselves, but to either direct rebels to do so or stage a phony attack, with actors posing as victims. Black also said some chemical attacks previously reported to have occurred in Syria were British fakes, pulled off with help from volunteer first responders known as White Helmets.... The State Department flatly rejected Black's allegations, which echoed what it called 'outrageous' Russian and Assad-regime claims that Britain and the United States have carried out chemical attacks with help from the White Helmets. ... Black, a decorated Vietnam War veteran and retired Pentagon lawyer, regards Assad as a protector of Syrian Christians and a buffer against Islamist extremism.... Five Democrats are competing to take him on next year in elections that will determine whether Republicans hold on to their two-seat majority in the Senate." ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: If you are planning a Diogenes-type mission to find the dumbest person in the U.S.A., you could save some time by checking out Republicans in state legislatures.

Way Beyond

Vogue photograph.

... Maureen Dowd: New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern "is part of the club of young, progressive leaders, along with Justin Trudeau and Emmanuel Macron, trying to counter President Trump's ugly impulses against the environment and multilateralism."

News Ledes

Weather Channel: "Florence has strengthened back into a hurricane and is forecast to rapidly intensify and could pose a serious danger for the U.S. East Coast where a direct strike is increasingly likely by mid- to late week. If you are near the U.S. East Coast, develop or review your hurricane preparedness plan and be ready to implement it if necessary." ...

... Washington Post Update: "Hurricane Florence is tracking toward the East Coast [link fixed] with invariability rarely seen in storms several days away from landfall. While forecasters were careful to cite 'high uncertainty' and 'low model confidence' last week, their tone changed after watching the storm's eventual path barely shift from what they had considered to be the worst-case scenario. On Sunday evening, the National Hurricane Center was forecasting Florence to become a strong Category 4 just prior to making landfall somewhere on the Southeast or Mid-Atlantic coast on Thursday."

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Friday
Sep072018

The Commentariat -- September 8, 2018

Late Morning/Afternoon Update:

Mrs. McCrabbie: I meant to embed this last night. It's an incredible thing that answers the usually-unanswerable historical question: What would So-&-So think if s/he could see what's going on today? John Dean is not rolling over in his grave nearly half a century after his Watergate committee testimony: he's testifying:

Josh Gerstein, et al., of Politico: "Talk show host and liberal activist Randy Credico testified for more than two hours Friday before a grand jury run by special counsel Robert Mueller's office that appears to be zeroing in on former Trump adviser Roger Stone. Credico emerged from the questioning, describing it as something of an ordeal. 'It was like sitting on an electric chair for a couple of hours,' he told Politico.... Credico is a devoted advocate for [WikiLeaks founder Julian] Assange, and Stone's contacts with Credico have led to speculation that Credico served as an intermediary of sorts between Assange and Stone."

Capitalism Is Awesome, Ctd. Eric Levitz of New York: Dr. Richard Sackler made billions on the opioid OxyContin, which he invented & marketed with deceptive ads & other propaganda vehicles claiming OxyContin was not addictive. "Thus, Sackler created immense value for his shareholders -- while providing the American people with a product they value so greatly demand for it has remained robust, even as opioids began killing upwards of 40,000 Americans a year.... So, after creating billions of dollars in value by selling patented opioids, he's poised to make millions selling an innovative form of buprenorphine, a mild opiate that reduces cravings for harder opioids like OxyContin." ...

     ... But, but, Eric. He's a philanthropist! (You may not be surprised to learn that Rudy Giuliani was one of Sackler's defense lawyers.)

David Cay Johnston of DCReport: "Donald Trump's tweets telling the super-rich to expect another big tax cut if Republicans hold onto the House and Senate is paying off for the GOP. National Republican fundraising continues to run well ahead of Democrats, who are saddled with debt, new Federal Election Commission reports show. Republicans have raised $1.1 billion this year, while the parallel Democratic Party organizations have yet to break the billion dollar mark. The Democrats are also saddled with 11 times as much debt as the GOP.... Money alone does not win elections, but it helps." --safari

*****

Trump Takes Another Shot at the First Amendment. Mark Landler of the New York Times: "President Trump said on Friday that he wanted Attorney General Jeff Sessions to investigate the source of an anonymous Op-Ed essay published in The New York Times, intensifying his attack on an article he has characterized as an act of treason. Speaking to reporters on Air Force One as he traveled to Fargo, N.D., Mr. Trump said, 'I would say Jeff should be investigating who the author of that piece was because I really believe it's national security.' Mr. Trump said he was also considering action against The Times, though he did not elaborate.... In a statement on Friday, The New York Times said any such investigation would be an abuse of power.... Mr. Trump also escalated his attack on a new book by Bob Woodward, describing it as a 'total fraud' and arguing, 'I don't talk that way.' The president said libel laws should be toughened to go after Mr. Woodward for what Mr. Trump claimed was a pattern of falsehoods." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... Peter Baker & Maggie Haberman of the New York Times: "As President Trump tries to refute the portrayal in the latest attention-grabbing book, he has not only denied saying the things attributed to him, he has denied that he has ever said anything like them. The problem for Mr. Trump is that, in some cases at least, the record shows that he has. 'The Woodward book is a scam,' Mr. Trump wrote on Twitter on Friday morning.... 'I don't talk the way I am quoted. If I did I would not have been elected President. These quotes were made up.' In particular, Mr. Trump has denied that he called Attorney General Jeff Sessions 'mentally retarded' or a 'dumb Southerner,' as the book reports. 'I said NEITHER, never used those terms on anyone, including Jeff, and being a southerner is a GREAT thing,' the president wrote earlier this week. But, in fact, Mr. Trump has used the phrase 'mentally retarded' on recorded radio shows that have been unearthed this week. And in a previously unreported incident, a journalist who used to interact with Mr. Trump during his days as a real estate developer in New York said this week that he even used the phrase 'dumb southerner' to describe his own in-laws." He told New York Post gossip columnist Jeane MacIntosh that he was divorcing Marla Maples because "'she was constantly surrounded "by an entourage of dumb Southerners."' He even adopted a fake southern accent to mimic Ms. Maples's mother, Ms. MacIntosh said." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... The Whodunit Game. Gabriel Sherman of Vanity Fair: "With Trump so far unable to execute a strategy to stanch the drip-drip-drip of damaging disclosures, Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump have taken the lead in getting control of the crisis.... Earlier this week, they told Trump they were deeply troubled by the accounts in [Bob] Woodward's book and blamed Chief of Staff John Kelly for many of the leaks, an outside adviser close to them told me. '"He's destroying your presidency,"' Ivanka told her father, the outside adviser, who was briefed on the conversation, said. Their hunt for the author of the Times op-ed may bring them into the final chapter of their long-running feud with Kelly.... [Javanka's theory:] the op-ed was written by Zachary Fuentes, the deputy chief of staff, at the direction of Kelly." A spokesman for Abbe Lowell, Kuschner's attorney denied the story. ...

     ... William Saletan of Slate: "... the most likely author, based on the op-ed's content and style, is the U.S. ambassador to Russia, Jon Huntsman. Huntsman is an obvious suspect for several reasons. The article's themes are classic Huntsman: effusive about conservative policies, blunt about low character.... The topic that gets the most space and detail in the piece is Huntsman's current area, Russia. (As Slate's Fred Kaplan points out, Trump has been circumventing and undermining Huntsman.) The prose, as in Huntsman's speeches and interviews, is flamboyantly erudite. The tone, like Huntsman's, is pious. And the article's stated motive -- 'Americans should know that there are adults in the room' -- matches a letter that Huntsman wrote to the Salt Lake Tribune in July." Saletan goes on to analyze content & style.

This Should Go Well. Mark Landler & Maggie Haberman: "Three weeks from now, in New York, President Trump will find himself in the setting he most relishes: seated at the head of a polished table, calling on those seated around him, rewarding those he likes and cutting off those who displease him.... Mr. Trump will be presiding at the United Nations Security Council, a rotating role that falls to the United States this month. His star turn is prompting anxiety among people, inside and outside the administration, who worry that the president will bring reality-TV antics to the world stage." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Philip Bump of the Washington Post: "During a flight from Montana to North Dakota on Friday..., reporters ... [asked Trump] about Mueller and the investigation." Bump provides an annotated transcript, based on a recording by the Washington Post's Josh Dawsey. "Number one, there is no obstruction.... Number two, there was no obstruction, there was no collusion.... Everyone has given up at collusion.... . It's so hard for us to deal with other countries including Russia because of that witch hunt. It endangers our country.... . It's really unfair for our midterms. Really, really unfair for the midterms." He doesn't know George Papadopoulos; 17 angry Democrats cried at Hillary's funeral (i.e., election night), blah blah.

Mark Mazzetti & Sharon LaFraniere of the New York Times: "George Papadopoulos, a former Trump campaign adviser, was sentenced on Friday to 14 days in prison for lying to the F.B.I. about his contacts with Russian intermediaries before the 2016 election, with the judge saying he wanted to send a message to the public about the consequences of impeding an inquiry of national import. Mr. Papadopoulos, who pleaded guilty last year, is the first Trump campaign adviser to be sentenced as part of the continuing investigation by the special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III. Three others pleaded guilty or were convicted of felonies and await sentencing. Though lying to federal investigators is not typically punished by incarceration, United States District Judge Randolph D. Moss said that Mr. Papadopoulos deserved prison time because he had deceived investigators probing 'a matter of grave national importance.' He also fined him $9,500 and ordered him to complete 200 hours of community service and one year of probation after his release." ...

... New York Times: "Mr. Papadopoulos spoke with The New York Times this week and discussed a wide range of issues -- including his foreign contacts and his interactions with the Trump campaign. The following are excerpts from that interview, as prepared by The Times.... 'My biggest regret, actually, is not telling the U.S. intelligence community what [Joseph] Mifsud told me actually the minute after I left that meeting in London with him. The stupidest thing I did was actually gossiping about it with foreign diplomats. Allegedly, the Australian and for sure with the Greek. And not telling the U.S. intelligence community until I was interviewed.... And we [he & Mifsud] met at the Andaz hotel by Liverpool Street Station. And at that infamous meeting is where he told me that he had information that the Russians had thousands of Hillary Clinton's emails. I never heard the word 'Podesta,' 'DNC.' I just heard 'Hillary Clinton's emails.'... [On arranging a meeting between Trump & Putin:] Though he wasn't committed either way, but he nodded and deferred to Jeff Sessions who I remember being actually quite enthusiastic about a potential meeting between then-candidate Trump and Putin." Worth a read. ...

... Marshall Cohen of CNN: "Former Trump campaign adviser George Papadopoulos says he doesn't remember telling anyone on the campaign that Russia had damaging emails about Hillary Clinton, but 'can't guarantee' that he kept the bombshell from his campaign colleagues.... In April 2016, when Papadopoulos met Maltese professor Joseph Mifsud, [Mifsud] told him that the Russians had 'thousands of emails' about Clinton. These emails burst into public view two months later with the first WikiLeaks releases. Papadopoulos described Mifsud's comments as a 'momentous statement' and not an explicit offer of assistance. He says he didn't take the bait or express any interest in the emails."

David Voreacos & Neil Weinberg of Bloomberg: "Paul Manafort's lawyers have talked to U.S. prosecutors about a possible guilty plea to avert a second criminal trial set to begin in Washington this month, according to a person familiar with the matter.... The negotiations over a potential plea deal have centered on which charges Manafort might admit and the length of the sentence to be recommended by prosecutors working for Special Counsel Robert Mueller.... It's not clear whether Manafort might cooperate in Mueller's investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 election.... Trump, who said he was 'very sad' after Manafort's conviction, could still pardon him."

Justin Miller & Lachlan Cartwright of the Daily Beast: "A major Republican fundraiser allegedly demanded that his Playboy playmate mistress have an abortion. That's according to accusations leveled by the mistress, Shera Bechard, and revealed in a document unsealed in court on Friday. Bechard suedElliott Broidy, the former deputy finance chairman of the Republican National Committee, for allegedly breaching their hush-money agreement that saw the former Playboy playmate receive $1.6 million for her silence about their extramarital affair. Broidy's attorneys filed a motion in July to redact parts of Bechard's complaint that contain explosive allegations against him. A judge agreed and redacted portions of Bechard's complaint this summer. Broidy's motion, however, contains the redacted allegations. They include Bechard's claim that Broidy compelled to her to have an abortion; that he refused to wear a condom; and that he had sex with Bechard 'without telling her he had genital herpes.' In addition, Broidy allegedly told Bechard he had prostate cancer and that he was unwilling to have his prostate removed 'because it would stop him from having sex, which he told her was more important to him than life itself.'" There's more. Mrs. McC: Broidy is so repulsive, he sounds like ... Donald Trump.

How to Treat the U.S.'s Closest Ally. Daniel Dale of the (Toronto) Star: "... Donald Trump warned Friday that he would cause the 'ruination' of Canada if he imposed tariffs on Canadian-made cars. Trump issued the threat during another day of North American Free Trade Agreement negotiations that did not produce a deal between the U.S. and Canada. Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland continued to describe the talks as constructive but provided no details." ...

Don De Lusional. You know when Abraham Lincoln made the Gettysburg Address speech, the great speech, you know he was ridiculed? Fifty years after his death they said it may have been the greatest speech ever made in America. I have a feeling that's going to happen with us. In different ways, that's going to happen with us. -- Donald Trump, at a rally in Montana, Thursday

Our ancestors built the railroads, linked the highways. And they proudly planted an American flag on the face of the moon, which is not shown in that movie. -- Donald Trump, same rally

... this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom and ... you know they really need to install a telegraph system in the White House. -- Abraham Lincoln, Gettysburg Address, Trump-style, courtesy of Gail Collins

In addition to thinking his rambling, incoherent, narcissistic speeches are on a par with the Gettysburg Address, Don De Lusional uses the royal "we," because unlike Abe Lincoln, who was born in a log cabin he helped his father build, Don is American royalty. -- Mrs. Bea McCrabbie

In public and in private, President Trump shows a preference for autocrats and dictators, such as President Vladimir Putin of Russia and North Korea's leader, Kim Jong-un. -- Anonymous, New York Times op-ed, Sept. 5 ...

Kim Jong Un of North Korea proclaims 'unwavering faith in President Trump.' Thank you to Chairman Kim. We will get it done together! -- Donald Trump, in a tweet, responding to Anonymous

How to Manage a Demented President*. Damian Paletta, et al., of the Washington Post: "The top two Republicans in Congress arrived at the White House this week armed with props aimed at flattering and cajoling President Trump out of shutting down the government at the end of this month. House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (Wis.) showed the president glossy photos of a wall under construction along the U.S.-Mexico border. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.) brought an article from the Washington Examiner that described Trump as brilliantly handling the current budget process, and portrayed the GOP as unified and breaking through years of dysfunction. Their message, according to two people briefed on the meeting: The budget process is going smoothly, the wall is already ­being built, and there's no need to shut down the government. Instead, they sought to persuade Trump to put off a fight for more border wall money until after the November midterm elections, promising to try then to get him the outcome he wants, according to the people, who spoke on the condition of anonymity...." ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie Alternatives. (1) Persuade mike pence & the Cabinet to invoke the 25th Amendment. (2) Let Trump veto it, & override the veto with a budget that both sides can embrace. (Even less likely than [1].)

Michael Kranish of the Washington Post: "Sen. Patrick J. Leahy (D-Vt.) said Friday that Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh was 'not truthful' when he denied knowing that he had received documents that Leahy said had been 'stolen' from him and other Democrats. Leahy said that emails disclosed during Kavanaugh's nomination hearing this week buttress his case that Kavanaugh knew, or should have known, that he had received documents that Republican staffers took from a computer jointly shared with Democrats. Kavanaugh, asked during this week's hearing whether he ever suspected the material was taken from Democrats, responded, 'No.'... The allegation is one of several from Democrats who say Kavanaugh has not been completely forthcoming during his confirmation hearings, both for the federal bench years ago and during this week's Supreme Court hearings." Kranish lays out the details of Leahy's charge. ...

... Liar, Liar. Liar, Liar. "But His Emails." Jay Michaelson of the Daily Beast: "For over a month, Democrats (and this writer) have complained that the confirmation process of Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh is fatally flawed because the records of Kavanaugh's White House tenure were being redacted by his former deputy, then redacted again by the Trump White House, then redacted a third time by Judiciary Committee chair Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa).... On Thursday, with the release of a half dozen emails by Grassley and several more by Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ), the Democrats have been proven right. Brett Kavanaugh has misled the Senate at least four times [under oath], and the censored emails have been withheld not because of national security or executive privilege, but, at least in part, because they make Kavanaugh look bad." Do read on. (Also linked yesterday.) ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: Should a Supreme Court justice have a record of committing perjury at his confirmation hearings? Let me think. Maybe Republicans got used to it after the infamous Clarence Thomas hearings. Of course Thomas's well-known lies were about sexual abuse, and boys will be boys, heh-heh. Kavanaugh's lies are about everything. ...

... Lisa Graves, in Salon: Judge Brett Kavanaugh should be impeached from the federal judiciary.... Newly released emails show that while he was working to move through President George W. Bush's judicial nominees in the early 2000s, Kavanaugh received confidential memos, letters, and talking points of Democratic staffers stolen by GOP Senate aide Manuel Miranda. That includes research and talking points Miranda stole from the Senate server after I had written them for the Senate Judiciary Committee as the chief counsel for nominations for the minority.... Kavanaugh should be removed because he was repeatedly asked under oath as part of his 2004 and 2006 confirmation hearings for his position on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit about whether he had received such information from Miranda, and each time he falsely denied it.... During the hearings on his nomination to the D.C. Circuit a few months after the Miranda news broke, Kavanaugh actively hid his own involvement, lying to the Senate Judiciary Committee by stating unequivocally that he not only knew nothing of the episode, but also never even received any stolen material." ...

    ... Mrs. McCrabbie: I'm with Graves. If Democrats win control of the House, they can practice the impeachment process by starting with Kavanaugh. It's true the Senate won't convict him (conviction requires a super-majority) even though it was Senators to whom he lied. But it would be fitting for Kavanaugh to be saddled with that impeachment asterisk for the rest of his, sadly, long future career. He's already stuck with the Trump-nominee label. ...

... HOWEVER, Dylan Matthews of Fox interviews law professors who say Kavanaugh's lies don't "meet the high bar for a perjury prosecution." ...

... AND Scott Lemiuex in LG&$: ": I'm not sure there would be a Senate supermajority to convict Kavanaugh if it could be proven that he shot a man in Reno just to watch him die, and certainly for any lesser offense there's a 0% chance. What valuable about bringing this out is that it makes Republicans more politically toxic, which since the only remedy is at the ballot box is critically important."

... Seung Min Kim of the Washington Post: "John Dean, the former Nixon White House counsel who played a crucial role in the Watergate scandal, testified Friday that confirming Judge Brett M. Kavanaugh as a justice will lead to the 'most presidential-powers friendly' Supreme Court in the modern age. The sharp criticism was laid out in Dean's remarks before the Senate Judiciary Committee on the last day of Kavanaugh's confirmation hearings. More than two dozen witnesses testified in favor of and against President Trump's Supreme Court pick. Dean argued in his testimony that conservatives have 'slowly done a 180-degree turn' on executive power and that a Supreme Court that is overly deferential to the president is 'deeply troubling,' wit Republicans controlling both the House and Senate. 'Under Judge Kavanaugh's recommendation, if a president shot someone in cold blood on Fifth Avenue, that president could not be prosecuted while in office,' Dean told senators, a reference to Trump's oft-repeated campaign line that he could act that way and not lose support. Dean elaborated on his prepared testimony to the committee, in which he said: 'There is much to fear from an unchecked president who is inclined to abuse his powers. That is a fact I can attest to from personal experience.'" ...

... Paige Lavender of the Huffington Post has a rundown to Friday's witnesses & their testimony. Mrs. McC: Oddly, Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) did not follow up on her strong suggestion that Kavanaugh had discussed the Russia investigation with an attorney from the firm of Marc Kasowitz, Trump's former lawyer. This was a big wind-up for a pitcher who never released the ball. ...

... Brett Is Really Creepy. David Brock in an NBC News opinion piece: "... I want to tell any senator who cares about our democracy: Vote no. Twenty years ago, when I was a conservative movement stalwart, I got to know Brett Kavanaugh both professionally and personally.... Brett and I were part of a close circle of cold, cynical and ambitious hard-right operatives being groomed by GOP elders for much bigger roles in politics, government and media. And it's those controversial associations that should give members of the Senate and the American public serious pause.... Kavanaugh took on the role of designated leaker to the press of sensitive information from [Ken] Starr's operation.... While Ted [Olsen] was pushing through the Arkansas Project conspiracy theories claiming that Clinton White House lawyer and Hillary friend Vincent Foster was murdered (he committed suicide), Brett was costing taxpayers millions by pedaling the same garbage at Starr's office.... He was cherry-picking random bits of information from the Starr investigation -- as well as the multiple previous investigations -- attempting vainly to legitimize wild right-wing conspiracies. For years he chased down each one of them without regard to the emotional cost to Foster's family and friends, or even common decency." ...

... ** Al Franken, in a USA Today op-ed: "... in his opening remarks at the White House ceremony announcing his nomination, Judge Kavanaugh praised ... Donald Trump's diligence, declaring that 'no president has ever consulted more widely, or talked with more people from more backgrounds, to seek input about a Supreme Court nomination.' This was extremely untrue. President Barack Obama, for example, had taken a month or close to it to pick both Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan. Trump had taken just 12 days to make his pick. And, of course, he made that pick from a list of 25 names presented to him by the right-wing Federalist Society. If judgment matters..., a big, fat, easily debunked lie like Kavanaugh's should have been instantly disqualifying.... It's time for all of us on the left to recognize that Republicans have already destroyed the independence of our judicial system and turned it into yet another partisan battlefield...." Franken lays into Chuck Grassley, Susan Collins & all those other GOP senators who are busy packing the courts with winger judges.


Martin Farrer of the Guardian: "Donald Trump has said he has a new tranche of tariffs ready to place on virtually all Chinese goods.... A package of tariffs was already close to being imposed on $200bn worth of Chinese goods imported to the US, Trump said, while suggesting a further package, worth $267bn, could also be imposed, which would sharply escalate his trade war with China. Economic tensions between the two countries were heightened further on Saturday when official data showed that China's trade surplus with the US widened to a record level in August." --safari

Kyla Mandel of ThinkProgress: "Trump administration officials at the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced in a quietly released statement on Thursday that 234,000 acres of land near a popular Minnesota wilderness area will officially open to mining.... Critics, however, say this decision ignores 'science and facts' because the department did not conduct an adequate study into the environmental, social, and economic impacts that may occur as a result of lifting a temporary suspension on mining in the area.... The Boundary Waters area is a hugely popular wilderness area with over 1,000 lakes, providing more than 1,000 miles of canoe routes and numerous hiking trails.... These areas were set to be banned to industry activities under the Obama administration." --safari

Amerikan Baby Snatchers. Tom Hals of Reuters: "Immigrant parents separated from their children by the Trump administration and returned to their homes are refusing to be reunited with their children because their countries are so dangerous, an attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union told a court on Friday.... Lee Gelernt of the ACLU told a federal judge in San Diego[,] 'As much as they want to be with their child, and it's heartbreaking, they feel it's too dangerous.' Gelernt told the court that he had spent time over the past week in Guatemala trying to locate parents of some of the roughly 300 children in U.S. care and found about two-thirds were refusing to have their child returned to them." --safari

Election 2018

Peter Baker of the New York Times: "Former President Barack Obama assailed President Trump on Friday as a 'threat to democracy' as h emerged from a period of political silence to kick off a campaign blitz intended to help Democrats take control of Congress in the November midterm elections. In a speech meant to frame his message on the campaign trail over the next two months, Mr. Obama offered a stinging indictment of his successor, sometimes by name, sometimes by inference, accusing him and his Republican supporters of practicing a 'politics of fear and resentment,' cozying up to Russia, emboldening white supremacists and politicizing law enforcement agencies." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... Vox has the full transcript of President Obama's speech. ...

Ezra Klein of Vox: "In his speech Friday, Barack Obama offered a succinct explanation for the rise of Donald Trump.... The right reacted to this with outrage, but also with an alternative explanation, one even simpler than Obama's. Conservative pundit Ben Shapiro put it most succinctly: [Obama lecturing us is LITERALLY how you got Trump]. You see this on the right a lot, and I've come to think it the most revealing argument in conservative politics right now. It shows how desperate conservatives are to absolve their movement of responsibility for Trump, but it's also, in an important sense, true -- it's just a truth the right (and sometimes the left) refuses to follow to its obvious conclusions.... Donald Trump capitalized on fears triggered by demographic, technological, economic, social, religious, and civic change, and nothing represented or activated those fears as powerfully as Obama himself." --safari ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: So Shapiro's argument is, "All those saccharine kumbaya speeches made me vote for Trump." Goes along with, "I can't stand Grandma because she's so nice to me so I set her house on fire."

... Paul Waldman & Greg Sargent of the Washington Post: "In his speech, Obama offered a scathing indictment of Trump's racism and ethnonationalism -- 'how hard can that be, saying that Nazis are bad?' -- and he called for a 'restoration of honesty and decency and lawfulness in our government.' He insisted, in the face of the rage and polarization coursing through our politics, that 'common ground exists. I have seen it. I have lived it.'... No one can say Obama didn't regularly call Americans to be their best selves.... One remarkable thing about Trump is that he never appeals to the better angels of our nature.... What he does instead is appeal to what is worst in people, like their fear and hatred and bigotry.... The undercurrent of realism here, one that Obama did not directly address but was plainly on his mind, is that this civic awakening, that backlash, is about to collide with the GOP's structural advantages in this election, which are rooted in geography and gerrymandering. The winner of this clash will determine whether the damage Trump is inflicting will continue in its current form or get much worse, or whether we will achieve something approaching real oversight and accountability that puts a check on it." ...

... Juan Cole: "The country is in the midst of a constitutional crisis. Asked about its resolution, former Secretary of State John Kerry urged that the solution is to elect a Democratic Congress, and if possible, senate -- the solution is for voters to vote.... The problem is gerrymandering.... The long and the short of it is that even if Democratic voters dutifully come out in droves, so many voting districts have been gerrymandered to have a permanent Republican majority that there is no guarantee that we can produce a congressional democratic majority.... Everyone who is worried for our country has to pull out all the stops. The inertia is with Trump." --safari

** A History of "Voter Fraud". Rick Perlstein & Livia Gershon in TPM: "Numerous studies have found that voter fraud ... is vanishingly rare.... And yet, as of last summer, 68 percent of Republicans thought millions of illegal immigrants had voted in 2016, and almost three quarters said voter fraud happens 'somewhat' or 'very often.' Trump may have brought the Republican Party into a new era, but such attitudes long predate Trump. For decades, complaints about 'voter fraud' have been a core component of Republican right-wing folklore — and one of their most useful election-year tools, particularly in places where winning the white vote isn't enough to win elections. The story begins in Chicago...." Read on. --safari...

Kansas Gubernatorial Race. Voter Frauds. Kira Lerner of ThinkProgress: "An election integrity activist in Kansas filed an objection Thursday to Kris Kobach's candidacy for governor, claiming elections officials illegally rejected more early ballots than Kobach’s margin of victory. Davis Hammet, the director of the Kansas-based organization Loud Light, told ThinkProgress that the rejected advance mail ballots throw Kobach's extremely narrow primary win into question. Kobach defeated current Gov. Jeff Colyer (R) in August's primary by just 343 votes.... There's no way to know exactly how many ballots were illegally rejected across the state. Kansas elections are run at the county level, and county officials are not required to report why they reject provisional ballots in a primary election." --safari: If Colyer had any backbone at all, he'd follow up on this. My educated guess? TheKochs will cut him a check and he'll lounge in cozy chairs the rest of his unprincipled life. ...

... Kansas Congressional Race. Bryan Lowry of McClatchy News: "A fearful mother stares into a camera and warns that Democratic [Congressional] candidate Sharice Davids will put her four children at risk. In a new ad from a super PAC linked to House Speaker Paul Ryan, Alana Roethle of Leawood, Kansas, calls Davids 'too risky for Kansas families.' What Roethle does not say in the ad is that she is secretary of the Kansas Republican Party and a member of the Kansas Lottery Commission, who was appointed to her seat by then-Gov. Sam Brownback in 2015.... Roethle has long-standing ties to both the state and national GOP."


Alan Pyke of ThinkProgress: "Cities cannot arrest or cite a person for sleeping outdoors unless it can prove it had a shelter bed or other indoor housing option available at the time, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals found almost a decade after a group of homeless people in Idaho sued over Boise's ban on 'sleeping rough.'... More than 30 different cities and towns outlawed sleeping in public between 2006 and 2016, according to a National Law Center on Homelessness and Poverty report that found dramatic increases in laws criminalizing homelessness in 187 towns around the country.... This week's ruling will not annul every one of those laws. But cities in the Ninth Circuit's jurisdiction -- Montana, Arizona, Idaho, Nevada, Oregon, Washington, Alaska, and California -- will have to abandon or amend their policies." --safari

Jack Nicas of the New York Times: "Late Friday, Apple removed [Alex Jones'] Infowars app from its App Store, eliminating one of the final avenues for Mr. Jones to reach a mainstream audience. An Apple spokeswoman said it was removed under company policies that prohibit apps from including content that is 'offensive, insensitive, upsetting, intended to disgust or in exceptionally poor taste.'... Apple had removed Mr. Jones's show from its podcast service on Aug. 5, leading Facebook, YouTube and other tech companies to also eliminate Mr. Jones and his Infowars site from their services. Those moves have cut off Mr. Jones from a wider audience; social media was his primary channel for finding new viewers. After those removals, downloads of the Infowars mobile app spiked, and Mr. Jones has recently been directing his followers to find his show through Infowars’ website and app. Apple's move does not affect iPhone users who had already downloaded the Infowars app, but it limits any more users from downloading it. The app is still available on smartphones that run Google's Android software, which backs roughly 80 percent of the world's smartphones."

Beyond the Beltway

Rachel Cohen of The Intercept: "One in 10 eligible voters in Florida are effectively disenfranchised, thanks to a draconian law that bars former felons from voting and a broken clemency system. When it comes to black voters, the numbers are even more grim: More than 20 percent of otherwise eligible black voters from Florida cannot cast a ballot. In total, more than a quarter of all disenfranchised felons in the entire country are in the Sunshine State. But this November, Florida voters will have a chance to reverse that by weighing in on Amendment 4, a constitutional ballot measure to restore voting rights to an estimated 1.5 million Floridians who have fully completed their felony sentences. Florida is just one of three states in the U.S. that indefinitely bans citizens with felony convictions from voting." --safari

AP: "A Dallas police officer returning home from work shot and killed a neighbor [26-year-old Botham Jean] after she said she mistook his apartment for her own, authorities said on Friday. The officer called dispatch to report that she had shot the man on Thursday night, police said. She told responding officers that she believed the victim's apartment was her own when she entered it.... She will be placed on administrative leave[.]" --safari

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