The Commentariat -- September 4, 2018

Senate confirmation hearings for Brett Kavanaugh are scheduled to begin at 9:30 am ET today.

Massachusetts is holding primary elections today.

Late Morning/Afternoon Update:

Yvonne Sanchez & Maria Polletta of the Arizona Republic: "Gov. Doug Ducey on Tuesday publicly chose Jon Kyl, once one of the most powerful Republicans in the U.S. Senate, to succeed the late Sen. John McCain.... Kyl could be sworn in as early as Tuesday night, though Wednesday is more likely, according to a governor's aide. He has agreed to serve at least through the end of the year.... If Kyl opts to step down after the end of the session, the governor would be required to appoint another replacement." Mrs. McC: It goes without saying that Kyl will vote to confirm Kavanaugh.

New York Times reporters are liveblogging the Kavanaugh hearings. "Judge Brett M. Kavanaugh's hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday began with a bang, as Democrats moved angrily to adjourn to consider newly released documents and protesters screamed in support. Senator John Cornyn, Republican of Texas, called it 'mob rule.'" ...

... Chris Geidner of BuzzFeed News: "After two days of questions about how it was decided that more than 100,000 pages of Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh's White House work would be withheld from the Senate Judiciary Committee's review, the Justice Department took responsibility for the decision on Monday night.... The news that the documents were being kept from the public and the committee was reported on Friday night.... Lawyers for [George W.] Bush, led by William Burck of Quinn Emanuel, reviewed the documents requested and then provided the presidential records they found to the Justice Department for review.... Both career lawyers and political appointees in the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel and Office of Legal Policy reviewed those documents, electronically tagging the documents that they believed should not be turned over as 'withhold for executive privilege.' Ultimately, that decision was reached with 27,110 documents, amounting to 101,921 pages."

The Lunatic in the White House: A (Mostly) Nonfiction Book. Philip Rucker & Robert Costa of the Washington Post: In his new book, Bob "Woodward depicts Trump's anger and paranoia about the Russia inquiry as unrelenting, at times paralyzing the West Wing for entire days.... The 448-page book was obtained by The Washington Post.... A central theme of the book is the stealthy machinations used by those in Trump's inner sanctum to try to control his impulses and prevent disasters, both for the president personally and for the nation he was elected to lead.... The ... forthcoming book ... paints a harrowing portrait of the Trump presidency, based on in-depth interviews with administration officials and other principals. Woodward writes that his book is drawn from hundreds of hours of interviews with firsthand participants and witnesses that were conducted on 'deep background,' meaning the information could be used but he would not reveal who provided it. His account is also drawn from meeting notes, personal diaries and government documents." Read on. ...

... Kaitlan Collins of CNN: "... Donald Trump has become increasingly exasperated in recent weeks that he wasn't interviewed by Bob Woodward ahead of the publication of his upcoming book, three sources with knowledge of the President's concern tell CNN. Trump's irritation reflects a heightened sense of unease in the West Wing about next week's release of the veteran reporter's book 'Fear: Trump in the White House,' which details life in the Trump administration.Woodward made several attempts to interview Trump, CNN is told.... But the interview never panned out.... Multiple people close to Trump have speculated that part of the reason an interview never happened was because of a policy instituted by chief of staff John Kelly after the January publication of [Michael] Wolff's 'Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House,' which portrayed Trump as an ill-equipped leader who refused to read even one-page briefing papers."

Brad Reed of the Raw Story: "The hosts of 'Fox & Friends' on Tuesday appeared visibly deflated after legal analyst Andrew Napolitano told them that ... Donald Trump's latest tweets attacking Attorney General Jeff Sessions would provide 'fodder' for special counsel Robert Mueller's probe. In particular, Napolitano turned a critical eye to Trump's tweet attacking Sessions for letting the Department of Justice file charges against Reps. Chris Collins (R-NY) and Duncan Hunter (R-CA), who were respectively indicted on charges related to insider trading and campaign finance fraud.... '... there can't be two standards: One for members of Congress -- Republican members of Congress -- and one for others. It is the duty of the Justice Department to prosecute crimes when they find them and to bring indictments when a grand jury has decided there's enough evidence there,' [Napolitano said]."

Gone But Not Forgotten. Stephanie Ebbs of ABC News: "The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency did not justify increased spending on former Administrator Scott Pruitt's 24-hour security detail, which grew by almost $2 million in less than a year, the EPA's watchdog said. 'Failure to properly justify the level of protective services provided to the Administrator has allowed costs to increase from $1.6 million to $3.5 million in just 11 months,' the agency's inspector general said in a long-awaited report ... released Tuesday."

Gubernatorial Race. Kansas. Hunter Woodall of the Kansas City Star: "Republicans in Kansas further splintered Tuesday as the last moderate member of the party to hold the governor's office in Kansas endorsed a Democrat for governor over Kris Kobach, the GOP nominee. In a statement, former Kansas governor Bill Graves said he planned to support [state] Sen. Laura Kelly in the November election. Kelly is running against Kobach and independent Greg Orman. 'Laura Kelly is the only Democrat I have ever endorsed for public office,' Graves said in the statement."

*****

Catherine Lucey of the AP: "... Donald Trump escalated his attacks on Attorney General Jeff Sessions on Monday, suggesting the Department of Justice put Republicans in midterm jeopardy with recent indictments of two GOP congressmen. In his latest broadside against the Justice Department's traditional independence, Trump tweeted that 'Obama era investigations, of two very popular Republican Congressmen were brought to a well publicized charge, just ahead of the Mid-Terms, by the Jeff Sessions Justice Department.' He added: 'Two easy wins now in doubt because there is not enough time. Good job Jeff......' The first two Republicans to endorse Trump in the Republican presidential primaries were indicted on separate charges last month: Rep. Duncan Hunter of California on charges that included spending campaign funds for personal expenses and Rep. Chris Collins of New York on insider trading. Both have proclaimed their innocence. Another blow in Trump's long-running feud with Sessions, the president's complaint fits with his pattern of viewing the Department of Justice less as a law enforcement agency and more as a department that is supposed to do his political bidding." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

The United States is not some banana republic with a two-tiered system of justice -- one for the majority and one for the minority party. These two men have been charged with crimes because of evidence, not because of who the president was when the investigations began. -- Sen. Ben Sasse (R-Neb.) ...

... Josh Dawsey of the Washington Post: "The tweet indicated that his attorney general should base law enforcement actions on how it could affect the president and the Republican Party's electoral success. It also seemed to indicate that electoral popularity should influence charges. A few minutes after the tweet on Sessions, Trump added a second tweet attacking former FBI director James B. Comey.... 'The Democrats, none of whom voted for Jeff Sessions, must love him now. Same thing with Lyin' James Comey. The Dems all hated him, wanted him out, thought he was disgusting - UNTIL I FIRED HIM! Immediately he became a wonderful man, a saint like figure in fact. Really sick!'" ...

... Ben Dreyfuss of Mother Jones: "With Monday's tweets, Trump united the two big political dramas -- the midterm elections and the Mueller investigation -- and made clear that he views any actions by the Justice Department through the prism of how it pertains to him, his party, and their shared fortune." ...

... Asawin Suebsaeng of the Daily Beast: "... Donald Trump has a proven track record of paying extremely close attention to his favorite TV shows, to the point that a Fox guest or host's televised advice can trigger him to dramatically upend his own party and team's calculated strategy and stance. These are television shows that often have more direct influence and impact on Trump than many of his senior staffers or top officials. And now, many of the president's all-time favorite hosts and media personalities are telling him, over and over again, to get rid of Attorney General Jeff Sessions as quickly as humanly possible.... For her Labor Day weekend episode of Justice With Judge Jeanine, Fox News host Jeanine Pirro dedicated her opening monologue to personally and professionally trashing Trump's attorney general as a witless 'shill' and as a pathetic enabler of supposed 'corruption by the Democrats.'" And so forth. ...

... Jonathan Swan of Axios: "With a tweet complaining that indictments of two congressmen 'by the Jeff Sessions Justice Department' put GOP seats at risk, President Trump guaranteed a confirmation minefield for any future attorney general.... A senior Justice Department official said: 'It was a very concerning tweet. It shows how POTUS thinks DOJ should be used: As a weapon against enemies and a tool to win elections.' Referring to the two congressional indictments, the official said: 'Both cases are not even close, the facts are very bad.' One of Washington's most respected Republican lawyers said: 'Like everything else, he shoots first and then asks questions later. So in his ... mind he thinks he can find someone to take the job who will be confirmable and rein in Mueller. So he'll force out Sessions and then find there's no one who will take the job who the Senate Republicans can support.'" Emphasis original. Mrs. McC: Swan is more a breathless headline peddler than an analyst, but he might be right about this.

... Gene Robinson: "President Trump's incoherence grows to keep pace with his desperation. These days, he makes less sense than ever -- a sign that this malignant presidency has entered a new, more dangerous phase.... Trump is taking a page from the playbook of totalitarian dictators: Believe only me. Reality is what I say it is. Anyone who claims otherwise is an Enemy of the People. Trump desperately wants an attorney general who will shut Mueller down. The incumbent, Jeff Sessions, cannot do so because he is recused from the matter. Republican senators who once warned Trump not to dare fire Sessions now seem resigned to the fact that Trump will do just that. It makes sense for Trump to make his move after the election. If Republicans still control Congress, he'll get away with it. If Democrats take charge, he won't. If anyone asks you what's at stake in November, tell them democracy and justice."

Trump Is Killing His Own Voters (and They Don't Live on Fifth Avenue). Ellen Knickmeyer & John Raby of the AP: "... Donald Trump picked [West Virginia] to announce his plan rolling back Obama-era pollution controls on coal-fired power plants. Trump left one thing out of his remarks, though: northern West Virginia coal country will be ground zero for increased deaths and illnesses from the rollback on regulation of harmful emission from the nation's coal power plants. An analysis done by his own Environmental Protection Agency concludes that the plan would lead to a greater number of people here dying prematurely, and suffering health problems that they otherwise would not have, than elsewhere in the country, when compared to health impacts of the Obama plan.... Nationally, the EPA says, 350 to 1,500 more people would die each year under Trump's plan. But it's the northern two-thirds of West Virginia and the neighboring part of Pennsylvania that would be hit hardest, by far, according to Trump's EPA." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Post-truth Trump/Putin convergence --safari

     ... "They're asserting that they are not constrained by reality." Mrs. McC: Watch the video. It's really good.

POtuS Trashes Labor Leader on Labor Day. Jeff Stein of the Washington Post: "President Trump criticized the leader of the nation's largest union federation on Monday, escalating the feud between the administration and organized labor amid crucial negotiations for both sides over the North American Free Trade Agreement. Richard Trumka, president of the AFL-CIO, had on Sunday disputed the White House's strategy for renegotiating the NAFTA trade pact and argued that Trump had 'done more to hurt workers than to help' them since taking office. Those comments elicited a sharp counterattack from Trump, who blasted Trumka as an ineffectual leader just as union members across the country prepared for Labor Day celebrations. 'Trumka, the head of the AFL-CIO, represented his union poorly on television this weekend,' Trump said in a tweet. 'Some of the things he said were so again[s]t the working men and women of our country, and the success of the U.S. itself, that it is easy to see why unions are doing so poorly.'" (Also linked yesterday.) ...

... Justin Wise of the Hill: "'Happy Labor Day!' Trump tweeted [this morning]. 'Our country is doing better than ever before with unemployment setting record lows. The U.S. has tremendous upside potential as we go about fixing some of the worst Trade Deals ever made by any country in the world. Big progress being made!" he added." Emphasis added. Mrs. McC: But we're so poor we can't afford to give federal workers a measly COL increase because of, um, a "national emergency or serious economic conditions." (See Vox report, linked below.) (Also linked yesterday.)

Jessica Tyler of Business Insider: "Of his 590 days in office, Trump has gone to Trump properties on 196 days and Trump golf properties on 153 days, according to NBC's tracker. That adds up to 25% of his 590 days in office spent at least in part.... Trump once said that, as president, he was 'not going to have time to go play golf.' He also spent years attacking former President Barack Obama for golfing and taking vacations while in office. But during his first 100 days in office, Trump found more time for golf than than each of his last three predecessors, totaling 90 days in his first year alone, compared to Obama's one day golfing during his first year in office."

Campbell Robertson & Jim Tankersley of the New York Times: "Mr. Trump rode to office in part by promising economic revival to sputtering towns across America. Economic growth has accelerated since he took office, from the final year of President Barack Obama's administration, and Mr. Trump frequently claims credit for it. But the growth under Mr. Trump has not helped everywhere. It has lifted wealthy areas ... which were already growing before he took office. And it has left the most economically troubled swaths of the country, the ones that Mr. Trump promised to revitalize, waiting for their share of the good times. The divide is pronounced between the high- and low-income counties that helped deliver Mr. Trump the White House."

AND Justice for All Some. Katie Benner of the New York Times: "Since its founding six decades ago, the Justice Department's civil rights division has used the Constitution and federal law to expand protections of African-Americans, gays, lesbians and transgender people, immigrants and other minorities -- efforts that have extended the government's reach from polling stations to police stations. But under Attorney General Jeff Sessions, the focus has shifted to people of faith, police officers and local government officials who maintain they have been trampled by the federal government. The department has supported state voting laws that could wind up removing thousands of people from voter rolls. And it has pulled back on robust oversight of police departments found to have violated the rights of citizens in their jurisdictions."

David Leonhardt of the New York Times: "They sat in seats of honor, near the front of Washington National Cathedral.... By all appearances, they were honoring their departed colleague, Senator John Sidney McCain III, during a majestic ceremony on Saturday. And by doing so they were showing America that leaders of both parties reject the hateful, petty, law-defying politics of President Trump. They were showing America what a better nation could look like. But it was all an act -- a cynical, hypocritical act that McCain, who had a keen eye for hypocrisy, would have seen right through. It was an act for Mitch McConnell..., for Paul Ryan, the speaker of the House. It was an act, most jarringly, for Lindsey Graham, McCain's dear friend and the senior senator from South Carolina. It was an act for Orrin Hatch, Rob Portman and nearly all of the other Republican members of Congress who attended the service.... They have not kept faith with the principles that McCain held dear -- and that he himself organized his memorial service to celebrate, as a clear rebuke to Trump and Trumpism. McConnell, Ryan, Graham and the others have instead ... made possible Trump's hateful, petty, law-defying politics." ...

... Jonathan Chait: "After John McCain's death..., Chuck Schumer proposed another kind of tribute to the iconic senator and war hero: that the Russell Senate Office Building, currently named for a segregationist southern Democrat, be renamed for McCain. His Republican colleagues, however, demurred. They could not admit that their real reason for opposing the honor was that McCain had crossed Trump. Nor could they defend Senator Richard Russell's ardent white supremacy, which extended to denouncing laws to ban lynching. Instead, they flailed about, inventing pretexts on the fly.... Senate Republicans demonstrated their willingness to turn on a colleague out of fealty to Trump, and all the better for him that they did so out of transparent fear rather than conviction.... As Republicans' scant interest in inhibiting Trump has waned, his authoritarianism has grown more uninhibited.... As Trump plunges deeper into his war against the rule of law, the Republican Congress marches along beside him, unindicted co-conspirators all."

Paul Krugman: "... now McCain is gone, and with him, as far as we can tell, the only Republican in Congress with anything resembling a spine. As a result, if Republicans hold Congress in November, they will indeed repeal Obamacare. That's not a guess: It's an explicit promise, made by Vice President Mike Pence last week.... Republicans haven't rethought their ideas on health care (or, actually, anything else). Partly that's because the modern G.O.P. doesn't do policy analysis.... In the case of health care, however, there's an even deeper problem: The G.O.P. can't come up with an alternative to the Affordable Care Act because no such alternative exists.... Obamacare is the most conservative option for covering pre-existing conditions, and if Republicans really cared about the scores of millions of Americans with such conditions, they would support and indeed try to strengthen the A.C.A.... Do they imagine that voters are stupid? Well, yes. In recent rallies Donald Trump has been declaring that Democrats want to 'raid Medicare to pay for socialism.'"

Fred Barbash & Seung Min Kim of the Washington Post: "Hours before the start of hearings on Brett Kavanaugh's nomination to the Supreme Court, the lawyer for former president George W. Bush turned over 42,000 pages of documents from the nominee's service in the Bush White House, angering Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer, who issued what is certain to be a futile call to delay the proceedings. 'Not a single senator will be able to review these records before tomorrow,' Schumer (D-N.Y.) tweeted Monday evening.... A few hours later, a tweet from the committee said that the 'Majority staff has now completed its review of each and every one of these pages.'... The hearings are scheduled for 9:30 a.m. Tuesday, with opening statements by committee members. No information was released on the subject matter of the documents, and Bush's lawyer asked that they be kept from the public...."

Counting Their Chickens. Nicholas Fandos of the New York Times: "House Democrats, increasingly optimistic they will win back control in November, are mining a mountain of stymied oversight requests in preparation for an onslaught of hearings, subpoenas and investigations into nearly every corner of the Trump administration. While they continue to distance themselves from the most extreme recourse -- impeaching President Trump -- senior Democrats who stand to control key House panels could soon oversee inquiries into some of the most precarious threats to Mr. Trump's presidency. Those include whether his campaign coordinated with Russia to influence the 2016 election, if the president obstructed a federal investigation into the matter and what role Mr. Trump played in paying to silence two women in the closing weeks of the campaign.... Their scrutiny could also extend beyond Mr. Trump's legal troubles to include his administration's remaking of federal regulations and other policies that the party has disagreed with."

Journalists Looking Silly

What Were They Thinking? Sopan Deb of the New York Times: "Stephen K. Bannon ... will no longer appear as a headliner at this year's New Yorker Festival, David Remnick, the editor of The New Yorker, announced in an email to the magazine's staff on Monday evening. The announcement followed several scathing rebukes and high-profile dropouts after the festival's lineup, with Mr. Bannon featured, was announced. Within 30 minutes of one another, John Mulaney, Judd Apatow, Jack Antonoff and Jim Carrey announced on social media that they would be pulling out of scheduled events at the festival. Right around the time when Mr. Remnick announced the cancellation..., Patton Oswalt did the same.... The backlash was not limited to would-be festival attendees. The writer Roxane Gay announced that she would no longer be writing an in-progress essay that had been commissioned by the magazine." ...

... Brian Stelter of CNN in Medium, publishes David Remnick's memo to staff. Mrs. McC: It may add to public discourse to speak with someone who holds different views from yours, but only if that person offers honest arguments. Bannon -- besides being a racist nationalist -- is a malevolent shape-shifter, & there's no benefit to anyone in hearing his propaganda. ...

... Update. Steve M. "... Bannon ... bamboozles listeners ... with a firehose spew of words that sound reasonably intelligent but mostly serve as a delivery system for (a) white nationalism and (b) self-promotion. The former is reason enough not to invite him, but so is the latter. Here's a guy who lost his powerful government job, who lost his Mercer family financing, and who is now going from interviewer to interviewer looking for a way to shoehorn himself back into the public consciousness. If his racism isn't enough reason to give him a wide berth, then his current irrelevance ought to be the deciding factor. He was a noxious presence in our political life, but now he's out of the picture -- except that he's desperate to be a noxious presence again. Why help him?... I don't want to help him fulfill either of these needs. I don't know why the hell David Remnick wanted to."

John Koblin of the New York Times: "The discord between NBC News and Ronan Farrow went public on Monday night. At 7 p.m., Andrew Lack, the chairman of NBC News, sent an email to network staff members arguing that Mr. Farrow's reporting last year on the film mogul Harvey Weinstein was not 'fit for broadcast.' Hours later, Mr. Farrow fired back at his ex-boss with a pointed statement that took issue with Mr. Lack's version of events. Mr. Farrow, while working on contract for NBC, spent eight months reporting on the alleged transgressions of Mr. Weinstein -- only to end up publishing an award-winning series centered on the film executive and his many accusers in The New Yorker magazine. Since then, people in media and entertainment have wondered why the network allowed the reporter to go out the door with the makings of such a big story." Mrs. McC: Looks like a war without winners, except to the extent it raises Farrow's profile.

Medlar's Sports Report. Darren Rovell of ESPN: "Colin Kaepernick ... the former NFL quarterback, who is suing NFL owners for allegedly colluding to keep him out of the league, is one of the faces of a new Nike campaign meant to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the brand's iconic 'Just Do It' motto.... The new ad, which Kaepernick shared on social media Monday afternoon, features the message: 'Believe in something. Even if it means sacrificing everything.'"

Way Beyond the Beltway

Thomas Maresca in USA Today: "Two Reuters journalists were sentenced to seven years in prison on Monday in Myanmar, convicted of possessing state secrets in a case that many supporters believe was retribution for their reporting on a massacre of 10 Rohingya men by security forces in 2017. The reporters, Wa Lone, 32, and Kyaw Soe Oo, 28, were investigating a September 2017 attack at Inn Din village in Myanmar's violence-plagued Rakhine State. They were arrested on December 12 and accused of obtaining classified documents under the Colonial-era 1923 Official Secrets Act. The pair, both Myanmar nationals, pleaded not guilty to the charges, which carried a maximum penalty of 14 years. Both claimed they had been set up, telling the court they had been given documents by police relating to their investigation and then were arrested by plainclothes policeman. During the trial, a police captain testified that he had witnessed the plot to entrap the reporters by planting the documents on them. The defense is able to appeal the decision to regional court and Myanmar's supreme court."

The Commentariat -- September 3, 2018

Late Morning/Afternoon Update:

Catherine Lucey of the AP: "... Donald Trump escalated his attacks on Attorney General Jeff Sessions on Monday, suggesting the Department of Justice put Republicans in midterm jeopardy with recent indictments of two GOP congressmen. In his latest broadside against the Justice Department's traditional independence, Trump tweeted that 'Obama era investigations, of two very popular Republican Congressmen were brought to a well publicized charge, just ahead of the Mid-Terms, by the Jeff Sessions Justice Department.' He added: 'Two easy wins now in doubt because there is not enough time. Good job Jeff......' The first two Republicans to endorse Trump in the Republican presidential primaries were indicted on separate charges last month: Rep. Duncan Hunter of California on charges that included spending campaign funds for personal expenses and Rep. Chris Collins of New York on insider trading. Both have proclaimed their innocence. Another blow in Trump's long-running feud with Sessions, the president's complaint fits with his pattern of viewing the Department of Justice less as a law enforcement agency and more as a department that is supposed to do his political bidding."

Trump Is Killing His Own Voters (and They Don't Live on Fifth Avenue). Ellen Knickmeyer & John Raby of the AP: "... Donald Trump picked [West Virginia] to announce his plan rolling back Obama-era pollution controls on coal-fired power plants. Trump left one thing out of his remarks, though: northern West Virginia coal country will be ground zero for increased deaths and illnesses from the rollback on regulation of harmful emission from the nation's coal power plants. An analysis done by his own Environmental Protection Agency concludes that the plan would lead to a greater number of people here dying prematurely, and suffering health problems that they otherwise would not have, than elsewhere in the country, when compared to health impacts of the Obama plan.... Nationally, the EPA says, 350 to 1,500 more people would die each year under Trump's plan. But it's the northern two-thirds of West Virginia and the neighboring part of Pennsylvania that would be hit hardest, by far, according to Trump's EPA."

POtuS Trashes Labor Leader on Labor Day. Jeff Stein of the Washington Post: "President Trump criticized the leader of the nation's largest union federation on Monday, escalating the feud between the administration and organized labor amid crucial negotiations for both sides over the North American Free Trade Agreement. Richard Trumka, president of the AFL-CIO, had on Sunday disputed the White House's strategy for renegotiating the NAFTA trade pact and argued that Trump had 'done more to hurt workers than to help' them since taking office. Those comments elicited a sharp counterattack from Trump, who blasted Trumka as an ineffectual leader just as union members across the country prepared for Labor Day celebrations. 'Trumka, the head of the AFL-CIO, represented his union poorly on television this weekend,' Trump said in a tweet. 'Some of the things he said were so again[s]t the working men and women of our country, and the success of the U.S. itself, that it is easy to see why unions are doing so poorly.'" ...

... Justin Wise of the Hill: "'Happy Labor Day!' Trump tweeted [this morning]. 'Our country is doing better than ever before with unemployment setting record lows. The U.S. has tremendous upside potential as we go about fixing some of the worst Trade Deals ever made by any country in the world. Big progress being made!" he added." Emphasis added. Mrs. McC: But we're so poor we can't afford to give federal workers a measly COL increase because of, um, a "national emergency or serious economic conditions." (See Vox report, linked below.)

Post-truth Trump/Putin convergence --safari

*****

** Steven Greenhouse in a New York Times op-ed: "Donald Trump promotes himself as a friend of 'forgotten' workers, but in ways large and small his administration has undermined what has traditionally been the biggest champion of workers: labor unions." Greenhouse counts a few of the ways. Thanks to PD Pepe for the link.

Emily Stewart of Vox: "Just ahead of Labor Day weekend..., Donald Trump announced he would freeze the salaries of some 2 million federal workers next year. After outcry, Trump said he'd use the long weekend to 'study' the matter. Thus far, he's spent much of the long weekend on the golf course and rage tweeting about Canada, the Department of Justice, the Russia investigation, his approval ratings, and Tiger Woods.... Trump in remarks in Charlotte, North Carolina on Friday seemed aware of the backlash.... 'People don't want to give them an increase. They haven't had one in a long time,' he said. 'I said, "I'm going to study that over the weekend. It's a good time to study it -- Labor Day."'... Trump's decision to freeze pay, especially when you look at his explanation that it's tied to 'national emergency or serious economic conditions' compared to his usual rhetoric celebrating the strength of the US economy, doesn't seem to add up.... New government data this week showed the economy grew by 4.2 percent in the second quarter -- something Trump's bragged about a lot. Republicans just passed a huge tax cut, insisting that it would translate to an economic boom. The administration said the tax bill would deliver an average $4,000 pay boost to American household annually. It hasn't yet materialized for workers.... If Trump does reverse course, it will be to address an immediate problem of his own making.” Thanks to Akhilleus for the lead. ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: Actually, his "study" is a political expediency. Even white nationalist Senate candidate Corey Stewart (R-Va.) "trusts" Trump will fix "Obama'" pay freezes. (Tweet embedded in Stewart's story."

Trump's Harsh Immigration Policies Are Good for ... Canada. Nelson Schwartz & Steve Lohr of the New York Times: "The Trump administration is using the country's vast and nearly opaque immigration bureaucracy to constrict the flow of foreign workers into the United States by throwing up new roadblocks to limit legal arrivals. The government is denying more work visas, asking applicants to provide additional information and delaying approvals more frequently than just a year earlier. Hospitals, hotels, technology companies and other businesses say they are now struggling to fill jobs with the foreign workers they need.... Seasonal industries like hotels and landscaping are having to turn down customers or provide fewer services. Corporate executives worry about the long-term impact of losing talented engineers and programmers to countries like Canada that are laying out the welcome mat for skilled foreigners."

Jeff Toobin, in the New Yorker, profiles Rudy Giuliani, concentrating on his role as Trump's lawyer, or as the headline writer (and the illustrator Barry Blitt) puts it, "Trump's clown": "He has, in effect, become the legal auxiliary to Trump's Twitter feed, peddling the same chaotic mixture of non sequiturs, exaggerations, half-truths, and falsehoods. Giuliani, like the President, is not seeking converts but comforting the converted.... At times, Giuliani's arguments have verged on thuggish irrationality." A pleasant read if you can stomach reading about Rudy.

Matthew Rosenberg, et al., of the New York Times: Accused Russian operative Maria Butina -- who "had no experience in the oil business" -- tried to put together a huge deal for the sale of Russian jet fuel in the U.S. "Ms. Butina's efforts to deal in Russian jet fuel, detailed in hundreds of pages of previously unreported emails, were notable ... for who they involved: David Keene, a former president of the National Rifle Association and a prominent leader of the conservative movement, who has advised Republican candidates from Ronald Reagan to Mitt Romney. They also involved Mr. Keene's wife, Donna, a well-connected Washington lobbyist, and Ms. Butina's boyfriend, Paul Erickson, who ran Patrick J. Buchanan's 1992 presidential campaign and who moved in rarefied conservative circles despite allegations of fraud in three states." There were others involved in the odd scheme, as well. "All of them seemed out of their depth, each projecting confidence and deep knowledge of the jet fuel business while seeming not to grasp the basics." Butina apparently tried using her feminine wiles to secure Russian backers. Mrs. McC: These are not very bright people.

Avery Anapol of the Hill: "Former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort]s daughter has filed paperwork to officially change her last name, a move that would distance herself from her father, a convicted felon. Jessica Manafort filed name-change paperwork in the Manhattan Supreme Court on Friday, according to multiple reports. She is seeking to take her mother's maiden name, Bond.... 'I am a passionate liberal and a registered Democrat and this has been difficult for me,' she told the [Los Angeles Times]."

John Cassidy of the New Yorker: "As his legal troubles have deepened in recent weeks, the President's anti-media rhetoric has become even more inflammatory and personal.... Some of Trump's associates are open about the fact that his effort to discredit the media, which in recent days has expanded to attacking tech companies like Google, is now central to his survival strategy. But political expediency provides no excuse whatsoever for demonizing journalists and describing them as the public enemy. That is the language of dictators and despots." Cassidy reprises some of Trump's recent remarks & details some murderous threats Americans have made against members of the press.

Diplomacy in the Age of a POtuS* Who Is a Crude, Racist Bigot. Gardiner Harris of the New York Times: "... few [irritants] have been as perplexing to New Delhi, or left as bitter a taste, as President Trump's tendency to mock Prime Minister Narendra Modi's accent in English. A video of Mr. Trump imitating Mr. Modi has gone viral in New Delhi. So have reports that Mr. Trump often mimics his Indian counterpart in internal discussions. 'There's a general understanding here that Modi is not sure he can do business with Trump,' said Suhasini Haidar, foreign affairs editor of The Hindu. 'India is just now coming to terms with the idea that Trump will not treat India with the same kind of benevolence that previous presidents have.' This is the diplomatic headache that Secretary of State Mike Pompeo will confront when he arrives in the Indian capital on Wednesday with Defense Secretary Jim Mattis. Tiptoeing around the president's indiscretions is one in a suddenly long list of challenges to a relationship that, according to senior State Department officials, Mr. Pompeo would very much like to preserve -- and even improve."

"Bloody Battle in Affghanistan" -- Herman Melville, Moby Dick. Mujib Mashal of the New York Times: General John W. Nicholson Jr., the commander of the American and NATO forces in Afghanistan, said, "'It is time for this war in Afghanistan to end.'... The general called on the Taliban to 'stop killing your fellow Afghans,' but he also referred indirectly to regional players -- particularly Pakistan, where the militants enjoy sanctuary -- who have complicated the fight.... His departure [from Afghanistan] comes as the war seems to spiral deadlier even as it recedes from American attention -- General Nicholson did not meet once with President Trump in the 20 months since he moved into the White House.... Like his predecessor, John F. Campbell, General Nicholson is likely to retire immediately, a diplomat with ties to the general said, a sign that the posting is no longer a springboard to more senior roles...."

Thomas Gibbons-Neff & Eric Schmitt of the New York Times: "The Pentagon is considering withdrawing nearly all American commandos from Niger in the wake of a deadly October ambush against a Green Beret team that killed four United States soldiers. Three Defense Department officials said the plans, if approved by Defense Secretary Jim Mattis would also close military outposts in Tunisia, Cameroon, Libya and Kenya, as well as seven of the eight American elite counterterrorism units operating in Africa. The shift in forces is part of the Pentagon's defense strategy to focus on threats from China and Russia. But they represent a more severe cut of Special Operations forces in Africa than initially expected, leaving a lasting, robust military presence primarily in Somalia and Nigeria."

Alayna Treene of Axios: "Omarosa taped nearly every conversation she had while working in the White House, including ones with 'all of the Trumps,' a source who watched her make many of the tapes tells Axios. Omarosa did this with a personal phone, almost always on record mode."

Emily Birnbaum of the Hill: "After a week of emotional and bipartisan celebrations commemorating the late Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), the Senate giant has been laid to rest at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md. McCain ... was buried in a plot of land next to his Naval Academy classmate and lifelong friend Adm. Chuck Larson, who died of leukemia in 2014, the Associated Press reported. Mourners and the senator's family walked behind a horse-drawn caisson carrying his casket from the Naval Academy chapel to the cemetery after the ceremony, the AP reported. Students from McCain's 1958 graduating class also joined. McCain's son Jack McCain, Gen. David Petraeus and Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) delivered remarks at the private ceremony."

Senate Race. Texas. Avery Anapol: "Activists in Texas have raised thousands of dollars to place an anti-Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) billboard in the state. A GoFundMe page organized by USA Latinx, a political group focused on supporting Latinx candidates, topped its $6,000 fundraising goal, raising nearly $10,000 in less than 24 hours. Parkland, Fla., school shooting survivor and gun control advocate David Hogg and Claude Taylor, the chairman of the liberal Mad Dog PAC, helped promote the effort on social media.... The proposed sign will feature a February 2016 tweet from Trump...[:] 'Why would the people of Texas support Ted Cruz when he has accomplished absolutely nothing for them,' Trump's tweet reads. 'He is another all talk, no action pol!'"

Congressional Races. Why Not to Go to a Seahawks Game. Jim Brunner of the Seattle Times: "Billionaire Seahawks owner and Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen this year has made his largest-ever foray into congressional politics, donating $100,000 to a group aiming to keep Republicans in control of the U.S. House of Representatives."

Gubernatorial Race. Florida. Courtesy of Cleve Wootson of the Washington Post, here's some of the text of that racist robo-call against Democratic gubernatorial nominee Andrew Gillum that the Tallahassee Democrat refused to publish in a story we linked last week: 'Well, hello there,' the call begins as the sounds of drums and monkeys can be heard in the background.... 'I is Andrew Gillum. We Negroes ... done made mud huts while white folk waste a bunch of time making their home out of wood an' stone.' The speaker goes on to say he'll pass a law letting African Americans evade arrest 'if the Negro know fo' sho' he didn't do nothin'.'... In a statement emailed to The Washington Post, Gillum's spokesman, Geoff Burgan said: 'This is reprehensible -- and could only have come from someone with intentions to fuel hatred and seek publicity. Please don't give it undeserved attention.'" The campaign of Gillum's GOP opponent also has condemned the call.

Presidential Election 2020. Axios: "An 'exhaustive review' of Sen. Elizabeth Warren's professional history by the Boston Globe found that her claim to Native American ancestry was never a consideration during her hiring process for Harvard Law School or throughout her rise in the legal profession." The Globe story is firewalled, but click on the link if you're a subscriber. Mrs. McC: I'm sure Trump will quit calling Warren "Pocahontas" now. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Beyond the Beltway

** David Roberts of Vox: "California is one signature away from committing to 100 percent clean electricity. If it does so, it will become the most significant political jurisdiction in the world to take that step, by a wide margin. (It is the world's fifth-largest economy!) The state is on the verge of making history -- again. SB 100, the bill sponsored by state Sen. Kevin de León, would set a target of 100 percent carbon-free electricity by 2045. It passed the California Senate last year, passed the state Assembly on Tuesday, and was reconciled by the Senate on Thursday. All that remains is a signature from Gov. Jerry Brown." --safari

Adam Peck of ThinkProgress: "Lawmakers in California passed new legislation that will restore virtually all of the net neutrality protections first introduced during the Obama administration. The bill is the most sweeping state legislation since current FCC chairman Ajit Pai led a campaign to repeal those Obama-era regulations.... Predictably, the industry's largest lobbying group came out forcefully against California's new bill, which now goes to the desk of Democratic Gov. Jerry Brown for his signature or veto. He has yet to indicate whether he will sign the measure." --safari

Way Beyond

Dom Phillips of the Guardian: "Brazil's oldest and most important historical and scientific museum has been consumed by fire, and much of its archive of 20m items is believed to have been destroyed.... 'It was the biggest natural history museum in Latin America. We have invaluable collections. Collections that are over 100 years old,' Cristiana Serejo, one of the museum's vice directors [said].... Luiz Duarte, another vice-director ... said that governments were to blame for failing to support the museum and letting it fall into disrepair. At its 200th birthday in June, not one state minister appeared.... Duarte also said that the museum had just closed a deal with the Brazilian government's development bank, BNDES, for funds that included a fire prevention project. 'This is the most terrible irony,' he said." --safari

Benjamin Haas of the Guardian: "South Korea's capital and largest city, Seoul, is set to begin daily checks for hidden cameras in public toilets in response to growing public outrage over an epidemic of 'spy-cam porn'. South Korea is in the middle of a battle against videos secretly filmed in places such as toilet stalls and changing rooms. Police have said more than 26,000 victims between 2012 and 2016 have been identified, but many cases go unreported.... But experts and activists have criticised sweeps of public bathrooms, saying they were little more than a show and most cameras were installed in homes and offices." --safari ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: Wait, wait. They're installing spy-cams to spy on people who installed spy-cams? Okaaaay.

The Commentariat -- September 2, 2018

Afternoon Update:

Axios: "An 'exhaustive review' of Sen. Elizabeth Warren's professional history by the Boston Globe found that her claim to Native American ancestry was never a consideration during her hiring process for Harvard Law School or throughout her rise in the legal profession." The Globe story is firewalled, but click on the link if you're a subscriber. Mrs. McC: I'm sure Trump will quit calling Warren "Pocahontas" now.

*****

New York Times: "Senator John McCain is receiving a full-fledged Washington send-off on Saturday as former Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama lead an invitation-only service at Washington National Cathedral. A motorcade carrying Mr. McCain's coffin left Capitol Hill around 8:40 a.m. and stopped along the way at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, where Cindy McCain laid a wreath in honor of her husband, a naval aviator who was held for five and a half years as a prisoner of war. The memorial service at the Cathedral began shortly after 10 a.m. Meghan McCain, one of his daughters, delivered an emotional tribute to her father that included a steely rebuke to President Trump. Former Senator Joseph Lieberman, independent of Connecticut, and former Secretary of State Henry A. Kissinger also made remarks." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... Benjamin Hart & Chas Danner of New York: "... often by simply articulating the values [John McCain] stood for, [the speakers at his memorial service] created a powerful contrast between the man they were eulogizing and the current commander-in-chief. Below, some of the notable remarks and scenes from the event[.]" ...

... Susan Glasser of the New Yorker: "This was ... a meeting of the Resistance, under vaulted ceilings and stained-glass windows.... Midway through [Meghan McCain's] remarkable speech, a pool report from the White House was released. Trump, wearing a white 'Make America Great Again' hat, and having tweeted his morning complement of bile, directed at Hillary Clinton, Robert Mueller, and his own Justice Department, had departed to play golf.... In any other context, maybe it would not seem to be a stinging criticism to hear [President] Obama praise the 'rule of law.' But Trump is the inescapable context of these times in Washington. 'Perhaps above all, [President] Bush [II] said, 'John detested the abuse of power.'" ...

... Charles Pierce: "John McCain was given a national send-off in a National Cathedral and there was a great gathering of emotion that was almost frightening in its intensity because you knew that it was aimed at a solitary, angry, unbalanced man left back at the White House, at someone who nonetheless is the president* of the United States, with all the powers inherent to his office, a man who has created a situation in which he is an object of dislike and disrespect, because that is all that he's given to the world in return.... We let the customs, manners, norms and institutions weaken through neglect and now we are in open conflict with an elected president and, make no mistake about it, John McCain's funeral was a council of war.... He wanted a pageant of everything this administration* has trashed and put up for sale, and that's what he got Saturday -- a morality play shot through with Shakespearian portent and foreshadowing, a pageant of democracy's vengeance." ...

** Eric Levitz: "McCain's loved ones deserve to take pride in the sacrifices he made at the 'Hanoi Hilton.' But we, as a nation, do not. The United States asked John McCain to risk his life -- and kill other human beings -- for a war built on lies. We asked him to give some of his best years on Earth -- and the full use of his arms -- to an illegal, unwinnable war of aggression. The story of McCain's time as a prisoner of war should inspire national shame. It is a story about our government abusing the trust of one its most patriotic citizens. But it's (almost) never presented as such. Instead, in stump speeches, op-eds, and obituaries, McCain's service is typically framed as a testament to our nation's greatness, or an affirmation of its finest values." ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: In his truth-telling -- and you should read Levitz' entire post -- he writes one thing that may have been true at the time McCain was in service, but at least over time it ceased to be true. Levitz: "There is no reason to doubt that McCain believed he was in Vietnam to risk his life -- and then, to endure a living hell -- in defense of our nation's highest ideals." ...

     ... But Charles Pierce, in his post linked above, writes that in 1998 he asked McCain "if there was someone he couldn't forgive, or at least talk to, about" his imprisonment. "He got all quiet and took a long time to answer. 'McNamara,' he finally said. 'That's the worst to me -- to know you've made a mistake and to do nothing to correct it while, year after year, people are dying and to do nothing to stop it, to know what your public duty is and to ignore it. I don't think any conversation we could have would be helpful now.'" ...

... The Little Man Who Wasn't There. David Nakamura of the Washington Post: "President Trump ... found himself more isolated than ever Saturday, airing his latest grievances and retreating to his private golf course in Virginia as his peers gathered to pay homage to the late senator John McCain.... Trump issued threats to terminate the North American Free Trade Agreement and promoting a false conspiracy theory alleging government misconduct in its surveillance of one of his former campaign aides [Carter Page]. 'I love Canada, but they've taken advantage of our Country for many years!' Trump wrote in one tweet.... 'If we don't make a fair deal for the U.S. after decades of abuse, Canada will be out,' Trump wrote. 'Congress should not interfere w/ these negotiations or I will simply terminate NAFTA entirely & we will be far better off.' The sharp dichotomy of Trump's pugilistic posts and the dignified memorial service, broadcast live by cable news stations and online, underscored the president's unwillingness to embrace the traditional duties of office and his scorn of Washington's protocols and conventions, which he has delighted in undermining." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: This is, of course, exactly the kind of behavior that cost Trump an invitation to a service where a "normal" sitting president -- especially one of the same political party -- would be an honored guest, but that's something Trump either can't or won't comprehend. ...

... Lorraine Woellert of Politico: "... Donald Trump's allies went on the counterattack Saturday after tributes to the late Sen. John McCain took pointed aim at the president.... And they privately chastised Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner ... for attending the senator's memorial service. '@realDonaldTrump ran for @POTUS ONE time and WON,' tweeted Katrina Pierson, an adviser to Trump's campaign. 'Some people will never recover from that.'" Mrs. McC: Extremely classy, Mizz Pierson.

This Russia Thing, Etc., Ctd.

All the President's Crooks. Larry Buchanan & Karen Yourish of the New York Times: Since President Trump's inauguration, numerous campaign and administration officials have been convicted of or pleaded guilty to crimes. Others were found to have violated federal ethics rules, or were forced to resign over security clearance issues. The criminal charges were all connected to the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election by the special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III." The reporters compile a nice list, with notes & diagrams. Criminal Convictions: Michael Cohen, Paul Manafort, George Papadopoulos, Rick Gates, Michael Flynn. Cabinet Officials Who Misspent Taxpayer Dollars or Violated Ethics Rules (or Both!): Scott Pruitt, Ben Carson, David Shulkin, Wilbur Ross, Tom Price, Brenda Fitzgerald, Nikki Haley. White House Staff with Security or Ethics Issues (or Both!): Rob Porter, Dan Scavino, Kellyanne Conway, John McEntee.  And counting.

Ken Vogel & Matthew Rosenberg of the New York Times: "Between 2014 and 2016, the F.B.I. and the Justice Department unsuccessfully tried to turn [Russian oligarch Oleg] Deripaska into an informant. They ... were hoping for information on Russian organized crime and, later, on possible Russian aid to President Trump's 2016 campaign, according to current and former officials and associates of Mr. Deripaska. In one dramatic encounter, F.B.I. agents appeared unannounced and uninvited at a home Mr. Deripaska maintains in New York and pressed him on whether Paul Manafort, a former business partner of his..., had served as a link between the campaign and the Kremlin.... Two of the players in the effort [to flip Derispaska & other oligarchs] were Bruce G. Ohr, the Justice Department official who has recently become a target of attacks by Mr. Trump, and Christopher Steele.... The systematic effort to win the cooperation of the oligarchs, which has not previously been revealed, does not appear to have scored any successes.... Mr. Deripaska ... told the American investigators that he disagreed with their theories about Russian organized crime and Kremlin collusion in the campaign...; Mr. Deripaska even notified the Kremlin about the American efforts to cultivate him." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: As nearly as I can tell, this story is a leak in response to leaks. House Republicans who interviewed Ohr last week have been leaking, as they are wont to do, "selected tidbits" of info about the many meetings between Ohr & Steele -- the Deep State Duo. In response, somebody has leaked this story to explain why Ohr & Steele had so many meetings.

Spencer Hsu & Rosalind Helderman of the Washington Post (via the Portland [Maine] Press Herald): "A Maine native and longtime Washington political consultant who advised a Ukrainian political party and worked with a co-defendant of Paul Manafort pleaded guilty Friday to failing to register as a foreign lobbyist while working on behalf of a Ukrainian political party. W. Samuel Patten, 47, was charged with one count of violating the Foreign Agents Registration Act for failing to register with the Justice Department when he represented the Ukrainian opposition bloc from 2014 to 2018." Thanks to MAG for the link. Mrs. McC: A lovely bio of a lovely man, I'm sure. Except for that Ukrainian stuff & accidentally forgetting to register as a foreign agent & buying those inaugural tickets for a Kremlin fave & lying to Congress & what-not. This is a guy, BTW, who had all the advantages, la creme de la crum. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Rob Tibbetts, in a Des Moines Register op-ed: "Ten days ago, we learned that Mollie would not be coming home.... At the outset, politicians and pundits used Mollie's death to promote various political agendas. We appealed to them and they graciously stopped.... Sadly, others have ... chosen to callously distort and corrupt Mollie's tragic death to advance a cause she vehemently opposed.... But do not appropriate Mollie's soul in advancing views she believed were profoundly racist. The act grievously extends the crime that stole Mollie from our family and is, to quote Donald Trump Jr., 'heartless' and 'despicable.'... The person who is accused of taking Mollie's life is no more a reflection of the Hispanic community as white supremacists are of all white people." ...

... Mrs. McCrabbie: Rob Tibbetts is being facetious about Junior. What Junior actually wrote in an op-ed for the Register (published August 31) was, "The reaction from some Democrats and others on the left to the murder of Mollie Tibbetts is as despicable as it is revealing. The mask is off and the true radical face of the Democrats has been exposed. They are seemingly more concerned with protecting their radical open-borders agenda than the lives of innocent Americans." And off he goes. Junior is, to borrow from Rob Tibbetts now, "extending the crime." Here's hoping the next publication by Donnie Junior is titled "Letter from Ossining Jail." P.S. to prosecutors: Junior is a flight risk. He has places to stay all over the world. At his arraignment, ask the judge to lock him up.

** What John Roberts & His Buddies Did. Mark Niesse, et al., of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution: "When a passionate crowd rallied to save polling places in rural Randolph County, it won a high-profile battle for voting access. But voters trying to preserve their local precincts are losing the war as voting locations are vanishing across Georgia. County election officials have closed 214 precincts across the state since 2012, according to an analysis by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. That figure means nearly 8 percent of the state's polling places.... These precincts have been eliminated without federal government oversight. A U.S. Supreme Court ruling in 2013 removed requirements under the Voting Rights Act for some local governments to obtain federal clearance before making changes to voting practices, such as closing precincts. The requirement was created specifically to prevent discrimination in mostly Southern communities.... The state doesn't monitor the closure of polling places either.... Across the South, hundreds of polling places have closed since the Supreme Court struck down part of the Voting Rights Act five years ago. At least 868 polling places in seven Southern states have closed since the decision, according to a Leadership Conference Education Fund study in 2016 of some areas previously covered by the Voting Rights Act."

Gubernatorial Race. Kansas. Ha Ha Ha. Peter Hancock of the Lawrence (Kansas) Journal-World: "Douglas County (Kansas) will have to summon a citizen-initiated grand jury to investigate allegations that Secretary of State Kris Kobach's office mishandled voter registration information during the 2016 election, the Kansas Supreme Court said Friday. In a one-page order signed by Chief Justice Lawton Nuss, the court denied Kobach's request to review a Kansas Court of Appeals decision in June that said Lawrence resident Steven Davis had met the legal requirement for circulating petitions to summon a grand jury.... Davis, a Lawrence resident who ran unsuccessfully for the Kansas House in the 2016 and 2018 Democratic primaries, circulated petitions following the 2016 elections, calling for a grand jury to investigate whether Kobach or others in his office had engaged in 'destroying, obstructing, or failing to deliver online voter registration.'... While the case was pending at the Court of Appeals, Attorney General Derek Schmidt's office withdrew the state as a party to the case.... Kobach himself, who is now the Republican nominee for governor, has dismissed the allegations as politically motivated.... Kansas is one of only six states that allow citizen-initiated grand juries."

Loose Canon

Laurie Goodstein & Jason Horowitz of the New York Times: "A week ago, Archbishop [Carlo Maria] Viganò released an explosive letter saying that [Pope] Benedict had ordered Cardinal [Theodore] McCarrick to retire to a life of prayer and penance and had barred him from celebrating Mass in public, traveling for church business, giving lectures and participating in public meetings.... However..., during the years he was supposedly restricted under Benedict ... he visited seminaries and ordained new priests, officiated at Masses and traveled the world representing the church.... After Francis became pope, in 2013, he lifted the sanctions and made the cardinal a trusted adviser, the letter claimed.... One explanation given by church analysts is that he had been under sanctions, but that they were not taken seriously because the accusations against him were of sexual misconduct with adults, not children.... Both popes could clear up the confusion created by the letter. Neither one has." ...

... Jason Horowitz: Carlo Maria Viganò "has escalated his offensive with new, detailed accusations that put increasing pressure on a pontiff who the archbishop and his supporters say has misled the faithful and should resign.... In a new letter published late Friday by the conservative website LifeSiteNews, the archbishop gave his version of events leading up to the pope’s controversial September 2015 meeting with Kim Davis, the Kentucky clerk who refused to issue same-sex marriage licenses. His description contradicted the Vatican's own account of that private meeting, maintaining that Francis' lieutenants lied to the public about the encounter, which threatened to eclipse the pope's entire trip to the United States that month.... A Chilean abuse survivor, Juan Carlos Cruz..., said Francis had told him that Archbishop Viganò sneaked Ms. Davis into the Vatican Embassy in Washington for a private meeting in 2015 and that the pope did not know who she was or why she was controversial.... Archbishop Viganò writes in the new letter: 'One of them is lying: either Cruz or the pope? What is certain is that the pope knew very well who Davis was, and he and his close collaborators had approved the private audience.'" ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie's Sunday Advice: if an institution is going to get all hung up on its members' sex lives, to the point it tells its lieutenants that they can't have sexual relations at all, and that many of the rank & file can't have relations with their preferred partners, expect problems. Terrible problems.