The Commentariat -- June 22, 2018

Afternoon Update:

Eileen Sullivan of the New York Times: "President Trump appeared to give up hope on Friday that the Republican-controlled Congress could succeed in passing an immigration bill this year, urging lawmakers in a Twitter post to stop 'wasting their time.' His advice is likely to kill current efforts to pass a measure that had little chance of succeeding. The president said a vote on immigration legislation should be postponed until after the midterm elections in November, when he expects Republicans to pick up more seats and create a stronger majority -- a prediction that is far from guaranteed.... But House Republicans are moving forward as planned and pushing ahead with efforts to pass immigration legislation, said Representative Steve Scalise of Louisiana, the majority whip."

Adam Liptak of the New York Times: "In a major statement on privacy in the digital age, the Supreme Court ruled on Friday that the government generally needs a warrant to collect troves of location data about the customers of cellphone companies. The 5-to-4 decision has implications for all kinds of personal information held by third parties, including email and text messages, internet searches, and bank and credit card records. But Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr., writing for the majority, said the decision was limited.... The question for the justices was whether prosecutors violated the Fourth Amendment, which bars unreasonable searches, by collecting vast amounts of data from cellphone companies showing ... movements [of the plaintiff in Carpenter v. United States, No. 16-402]." Mrs. McC: The Court's more liberal justices joined in Roberts' decision.

Daniel Bates & Karen Ruiz of the Daily Mail: "The father of the Honduran girl who became the face of the family separation crisis has revealed that he still has not been in touch with his wife or daughter but was happy to learn they are safe. Denis Javier Varela Hernandez, 32, said that he had not heard from his wife Sandra, 32, who was with his two-year-old daughter Yanela Denise, for nearly three weeks until he saw the image of them being apprehended in Texas. In an exclusive interview with DailyMail.com, Hernandez, who lives in Puerto Cortes, Honduras, says that he was told on Wednesday by a Honduran official in the US that his wife and child are being detained at a family residential center in Texas but are together and are doing 'fine.' Denis said his wife and daughter were never separated by border control agents and remain together." ...

... CBS News and Reuters have backed up the Daily Mail story. ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: Wingers are loving this story because it "proves" the Time mag cover (posted here yesterday) "is a lie" and "fake news," etc. Um, not really. The cover says nothing about the status of the child, only "Welcome to America." But let's not let the facts get in the way.

Tracy Connor & Brandy Zadrozny of NBC News: "... Michael Cohen retweeted a photo of himself with comedian Tom Arnold -- who happens to be working on a show with Vice that features him hunting for unflattering video of Trump. Arnold told NBC News early Friday that Cohen ― who is under investigation by federal prosecutors ― talked to him about the show, which is expected to air later this year. 'We've been on the other side of the table and now we're on the same side,' said Arnold, an outspoken Trump critic.... Vice announced in May that it had tapped Arnold to helm a show called 'The Hunt for the Trump Tapes,' and investigate whether rumored tapes from the past showing the president in a negative light actually exist.... Arnold would not say whether Cohen was planning to give him any tapes he might have of conversations with Trump. But he added, 'This dude has all the tapes -- this dude has everything.'"

*****

Incompetence, Malevolence, Indifference, Negligence, Chaos

Nick Miroff of the Washington Post: "The U.S. Border Patrol will no longer refer migrant parents who cross into the United States illegally with children to federal courthouses to face criminal charges, a senior U.S. Customs and Border Protection official told The Washington Post on Thursday. The about-face comes just one day after President Trump signed an executive order ending his administration's widely denounced practice of separating parents and children apprehended for illegally crossing the Mexico border. Trump's order said the government would maintain a 'zero tolerance' policy toward those who break the law, but the senior U.S. official, asked to explain how the government would change enforcement practices, said Border Patrol agents were instructed Wednesday evening to stop sending parents with children to federal courthouses for prosecution.... A spokeswoman for the Justice Department, Sarah Isgur Flores, denied that prosecutions would be suspended." Mrs. McC: If this story doesn't make sense, that's because chaos. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

     ... The story has been updated. "President's Trump's executive order to halt family separations unleashed confusion in Washington and at the Mexico border Thursday, as Customs and Border Protection said it would it stop referring such cases for prosecution and migrant parents arrived at courthouses in Texas and Arizona wearing handcuffs only to be led away without facing charges. After a senior U.S. Customs and Border Protection official told The Washington Post that the agency would freeze criminal referrals for migrant parents who cross illegally with children, Justice Department officials insisted their 'zero tolerance' policy remained in force and that U.S. attorneys would continue to prosecute those entering the United States unlawfully. On Capitol Hill, a hard-line immigration bill failed to pass and a key vote on a more moderate version of the legislation was postponed. The Pentagon, meanwhile, agreed to house up to 20,000 unaccompanied migrant children on military bases in coming months. And despite the ongoing outcry over the separation of more than 2,300 migrant children from their parents since May 5, Trump administration officials gave no assurances the families would be swiftly reunited." Mrs. McC: What a mess. ...

... Jeet Heer: "... it is clear that the Trump administration's immigration policy remains chaotic and in flux. If 'zero tolerance' was suspended, it is only as a stop-gap measure. It does nothing to address the problem of family reunification for those already separated by the policy. Further, it is a temporary measure which could be reversed once the administration has more resources in place to enact a renewed 'zero tolerance' push. But the larger story is that the White House has no real policy and different factions are making up rules willy-nilly."

Michael Shear & Helene Cooper of the New York Times: "The Pentagon is assessing how -- and where -- to house as many as 20,000 unaccompanied migrant children on American military bases, a spokesman said on Thursday. In a Pentagon statement, Lt. Col. Michael Andrews said officials from the Department of Health and Human Services have so far visited three military bases in Texas and one in Arkansas as the Trump administration seeks to provide temporary shelter for unaccompanied children entering the United States. Colonel Andrews indicated that no decisions have been made." ...

     ... The story has been updated: "The United States is preparing to shelter as many as 20,000 migrant children on four American military bases, a Pentagon spokesman said on Thursday, as federal officials struggled to carry out President Trump's order to keep immigrant families together after they are apprehended at the border. The 20,000 beds at bases in Texas and Arkansas would house 'unaccompanied alien children,' said a Pentagon spokesman, Lt. Col. Michael Andrews, although other federal agencies provided conflicting explanations about how the shelters would be used and who would be housed there. There were reports of widespread confusion on the border. It was unclear whether the military housing would also house the parents of children in migrant families that have been detained, and officials at the White House, the Defense Department and the Department of Health and Human Services said on Thursday that they could not provide details." ...

Seems nice. ...... Justin Glawe & Spencer Ackerman of the Daily Beast: "The Trump administration's plan for immigrant families on the southern border involves holding them together on military bases for a prolonged, uncertain period of time.... With Immigrations and Customs Enforcement facilities already at or near capacity, [Trump's executive] order requires the Secretary of Defense to make 'any existing facilities available for the housing and care of alien families' and to 'construct such facilities if necessary.'... Trump's order 'provides for the possibility that children will be locked up in a family unit in a jail or prison or former military base (internment camps). It places enforcement of border laws ahead of decency and is no solution to the current situation,' said Maureen Franco, head of the federal public defender's office in El Paso, in an email to The Daily Beast.... On Thursday, Attorney General Jeff Sessions filed a motion in federal court to modify the 'Flores settlement,' a 1997 federal court case that requires facilities where child immigrants are held to meet certain standards of care and prohibits detaining them for more than 20 days."

Sarah Stillman of the New Yorker: "On Wednesday afternoon, President Trump traded one border crisis for another: instead of separating immigrant children from their parents, it appears that the U.S. government will now detain moms and dads indefinitely alongside their sons and daughters." Stillman cites the case of what's happened to Pedro, who was "among the first immigrant children to be taken from a parent under the Trump Administration, in an early round of separations that began many months ago, largely outside of public view."

CBS News: "'There is currently no system in place to reunite children with parents who are in detention,' Open Society Fellow Bob Carey said. He used to run the Office of Refugee Resettlement during the Obama administration, the federal agency responsible for caring for the separated children. Carey says ORR's shelter system was designed for minors who arrived alone at the border, typically adolescent boys, and is not equipped for the influx of infants, toddlers and young children that were separated from their parents under the president's 'zero tolerance' policy. 'This is child abuse being perpetrated by a government,' Carey said. Early Wednesday morning, girls arrived at a facility in New York City, which Mayor Bill de Blasio said housed 239 separated children and that some of them arrived with contagious health issues like chicken pox and lice. 'The youngest to come here, they told us, was nine months old,' de Blasio said on Wednesday." ...

... Ian Duncan of the Baltimore Sun: "Immigration agents have sent dozens of children to Maryland since the Trump administration announced it would separate undocumented families at the southwest border, service providers here say. Some of the children, who are mostly from El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala, are being placed with foster families coordinated by an organization based in Anne Arundel County. Others are being held in dormitories in Anne Arundel and Baltimore counties, according to people involved in the process. Many of the children have come with little information. One is 18 months old. Several are too young to speak to their new caregivers or help social workers track down relatives who could take them in. Lawyers are trying to figure out how to put together asylum claims for 6-year-olds who don't know why they fled their countries." ...

... Alexandra Schwartz of the New Yorker: "It has become clear that the Trump Administration has put no protocols in place for keeping track of children and their parents as they move through separate systems, or for facilitating their eventual reunification.... The Border Patrol's gathering of identities and contact information before family separations has been haphazard at best;... some of the youngest children she has worked with at O.R.R. shelters do not know their parents' names.... On Wednesday, an anonymous O.R.R. counsellor published an open letter decrying the moral bind that the agency workers find themselves in.... In the letter, the counsellor raises a concern shared by the officials I spoke with: that indefinite family detention, Trump's alternative proposal to family separation, will put children in an even worse position than the one that they are currently in. During the Obama Administration, immigrant mothers and children were housed together in bleak, prison-like facilities..., until a judge ruled that such detention violated the child-protection standards set by the Flores case. That model of family detention is widely considered to have been a disaster." (See also the McClatchy report linked below.) ...

... ** "They Really Don't Care." Michelle Goldberg: "Part of the reason for this failure could be Trump's indifference to expertise. He appointed E. Scott Lloyd, an anti-abortion activist, to head the Office of Refugee Resettlement, the agency charged with caring for children after they're separated from their parents. Lloyd had little discernible experience working with refugees, and he has spent a significant amount of time at ORR trying to prevent pregnant underage migrants from getting abortions. Nothing in his background indicates an ability to handle the sort of complex logistical and humanitarian challenge he's now presented with."

Taige Jensen, et al., of the New York Times: "A U.S. government film from 1943 justifying the detention of Japanese-Americans in internment camps has new relevance in light of the president's immigration policies":

Thomas Kaplan & Nicholas Fandos of the New York Times: "The House rejected a hard-line immigration bill on Thursday and Republican leaders delayed a vote on a compromise measure that seemed destined to fail, then delayed it again, in the latest show of their party's disarray over immigration. The compromise, a broad immigration overhaul negotiated by moderate and conservative Republicans, was supposed to be voted on early Thursday evening. It would provide a path to citizenship for young unauthorized immigrants while keeping migrant families together at the border, in addition to funding President Trump's border wall. But with its prospects seeming dim, Republican leaders pushed the vote to Friday and huddled with their members in a last-ditch effort to stave off what would have been an embarrassing defeat. Then they delayed the vote again, to next week, as lawmakers discussed making changes to the legislation." ...

... Tara Golshan of Vox: "Just hours before the House [was] scheduled to vote on two sweeping Republican-led immigration bills..., Donald Trump managed to undermine Republicans' entire legislative process with a simple question:... 'What is the purpose of the House doing good immigration bills when you need 9 votes by Democrats in the Senate, and the Dems are only looking to Obstruct (which they feel is good for them in the Mid-Terms). Republicans must get rid of the stupid Filibuster Rule-it is killing you!'"

Oh, for Pete's Sake. Kate Bennett of CNN: "... Melania Trump touched down in McAllen, Texas, Thursday making a publicly unannounced and hastily planned trip to get a first-hand look at the crisis affecting immigrant families at the US border." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... "I REALLY DON'T CARE, DO U?" Vanessa Friedman of the New York Times: "When the first lady, Melania Trump, on a surprise humanitarian visit to a children's shelter in Texas, strode onto her airplane in an olive green Zara army jacket with those words scrawled in faux white graffiti on the back, it sent the watching world into what might be called, with some understatement, a meltdown. 'Insensitive,' 'heartless' and 'unthinking' were some of the words hurled through the digisphere about the choice. 'It's a jacket,' her communications director, Stephanie Grisham, said in a statement to reporters. 'There was no hidden message.' She's right, of course. It wasn't hidden. It was literally written on the first lady's back. The question is: Who was the intended audience?... To accept the idea she just threw the Zara jacket on in practically the same situation because -- hey, it was close at hand and she was maybe a little bit cool (or something like that) is simply unbelievable.... The jacket, after all, which is reportedly sold out and is not from the current season, retailed for $39. It may be the least expensive garment the first lady has worn while representing the administration." ...

     ... Mrs. Bea McCrabbie: I don't think Melanie gets a pass on this. She's an immigrant (who possibly worked illegally in the U.S.), she got hers, & now she's saying -- like her husband -- she really doesn't care about the immigrants trying to follow her here. The fact that she wore the offensive anorak coming and going (on a hot summer day), to bookend her "humanitarian mission" to an immigrant child-internment center, tells us this was a statement about her view of those she visited. How the hell did she even get such a jacket? They certainly don't sell them at the shops she usually frequents.

Aris Folley of the Hill: "Former Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski was dropped from his speakers bureau after he refused to apologize for mocking a story about a 10-year-old girl with Down syndrome who was separated from her family at the U.S.-Mexico border. Leading Authorities Inc. cut ties with Lewandowski on Wednesday, a source familiar with the matter told CNN." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Nikki Schwab of the New York Post (June 20): "White House adviser Stephen Miller was accosted at a Mexican restaurant by a patron calling him a 'fascist' -- two nights before Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen was hounded out of another south-of-the-border eatery, sources told The Post." Mrs. McC: Miller & Nielsen went to Mexican restaurants for one reason, & it wasn't the chiles rellenos: they wanted to send a "fuck-you" message to the immigrants they are terrorizing. ...

... Lisa Belkin of Yahoo! News: "A photo of Nison (aka Max) Miller stares out from the screen, sullen and stern, in faded black and white. 'Order of Court Denying Petition' is the title of the government form dated '14th November 1932,' to which it is attached, the one in which Miller is applying for naturalization as an American citizen. And beneath the photo, the reason given for his denial: Ignorance. Nison Miller is the great-grandfather of White House adviser Stephen Miller, who has taken credit for being one of the chief architects of the administration's family separation policy.... Renee Stern Steinig, a former president of the Jewish Genealogy Society of Long Island..., [said] Miller's great-grandfather being labeled 'Ignorant' on that application was probably because he slipped up on a few questions on his citizenship test... -- an example of the same harsh, presumptive judgment that she believes is being used against today's immigrants. Eventually he retook the test and became a citizen." Read on.

Paul Krugman: "The speed of America's moral descent under Donald Trump is breathtaking. In a matter of months we've gone from a nation that stood for life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness to a nation that tears children from their parents and puts them in cages. What's almost equally remarkable about this plunge into barbarism is that it's not a response to any actual problem. The mass influx of murderers and rapists that Trump talks about, the wave of crime committed by immigrants here (and, in his mind, refugees in Germany), are things that simply aren't happening. They're just sick fantasies being used to justify real atrocities. And you know what this reminds me of? The history of anti-Semitism, a tale of prejudice fueled by myths and hoaxes that ended in genocide."

Frank Rich: "... this crisis is far from resolved.... It can never be forgotten that Trump is no outlier in his own party: While roughly two-thirds of Americans oppose his Draconian immigration measures, nearly 60 per cent of Republicans approve of them and expect their representatives in the Capitol to obey their Dear Leader.... If anything remotely good came out of this debacle, it's that for the first time Trump was forced to recognize that he cannot always refute or suppress visual evidence of his duplicity as easily as Fox News can.... Another small but useful side effect of this crisis has been to expose just how deeply the psychosis of compulsive lying has spread through the administration's ranks. The Homeland Security secretary Kirstjen Nielsen destroyed her reputation this week as her mentor John Kelly had before her with her ludicrous purported ignorance of both the origins of the separation policy and its horrendous human fallout on the border. As Aaron Blake of the Washington Post pointed out, Nielsen was already a serial liar, having previously publicly claimed that she didn't know Norway was a white-majority country when Trump said he preferred Norwegian immigrants to those from 'shithole countries' and having testified before Congress she was unaware of the American intelligence finding that Russia had tried to boost Trump in the 2016 election." ...

... Catherine Rampell of the Washington Post: "The hoax is the premise that President Trump's administration has invented to rationalize ... crimes against humanity: his narrative that America has been 'infest[ed]' with hordes of crime-committing, culture-diluting, job-stealing, tax-shirking, benefits-draining 'aliens.' No part of that description is remotely true.... Unauthorized border crossings have been falling over time.... immigrants in general, and undocumented immigrants in particular, commit crimes at far lower rates than native-born Americans. That includes violent crime.... Recent waves of immigrants have actually proved themselves reasonably adept at assimilating into American culture. Particularly those given the opportunity to escape the shadows.... Recent studies suggest that immigration (both authorized and unauthorized) actually boosts labor force participation rates, productivity and wages and reduces unemployment rates for native-born American workers.... An internal government report commissioned by Trump found that refugees brought in $63 billion more in tax revenue over the past decade than they cost the government.... With virtually no facts on his side, [Trump] has managed to fabricate a multipart border emergency, and convince a majority of his own party that this imagined emergency necessitates state-sanctioned child abuse."

Franco Ordoñez & Anita Kumar of McClatchy News: "President Barack Obama separated parents from their children at the border. Obama prosecuted mothers for coming to the United States illegally. He fast tracked deportations. And yes, he housed unaccompanied children in tent cities.... One of the most controversial measures that Obama took was to resurrect the almost-abandoned practice of detaining mothers and children to deter future illegal immigration.... Obama took other controversial steps as well, including fighting to block efforts to require unaccompanied children to have legal representation and barring detained mothers with their children from being released on bond.... For much of the country -- and ... Donald Trump -- the prevailing belief is that Obama was the president who went easier on immigrants. Neither Obama nor Democrats created Trump's zero-tolerance policy, which calls for every illegal border crosser to be prosecuted and leads to their children being detained in separate facilities before being shipped to a shelter and eventually a sponsor family. But Obama's policy helped create the road map of enforcement that Trump has been following -- and building on.... While Obama downplayed his enforcement, Trump has embraced and made it a signature issue of his presidency."

Annals of "Journalism," Ha Ha Ha. Rachel Dicker of Mediaite: "In the latest chapter of 'Sinclair Spews Conservative Propaganda on Hundreds of Television Channels,' the media conglomerate forced its networks to air a segment claiming that the outcry over the Trump administration's practice of separating children from their families and placing them in detention centers was largely just liberal histrionics. The 'must-run' segment, anchored by Sinclair Chief Political Analyst and former Trump adviser Boris Epshteyn, is slated to air on more than 100 Sinclair-owned or operated news stations across the U.S., Media Matters reports. Many of these are local news stations."

In case you were thinking the Trumpenskeeves were so filled with hatred for Central Americans that they didn't have time to dream up ways to ruin the lives of U.S. citizens, have another think:

... Glenn Thrush & Erica Green of the New York Times: "President Trump, spurred on by conservatives who want him to slash safety net programs, unveiled on Thursday a plan to overhaul the federal government that could have a profound effect on millions of poor and working-class Americans. Produced over the last year by Mr. Trump's budget director, Mick Mulvaney, it would reshuffle social welfare programs in a way that would make them easier to cut, scale back or restructure, according to several administration officials involved in the planning. Among the most consequential ideas is a proposal to shift the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, a subsistence benefit that provides aid to 42 million poor and working Americans, from the Agriculture Department to a new mega-agency that would have 'welfare' in its title -- a term Mr. Trump uses as a pejorative catchall for most government benefit programs."

"Trade Wars Are Easy to Win." Jack Ewing of the New York Times: "The European Union fought back on Friday against the Trump administration's tariffs, slapping penalties on an array of American products that target the president's political base, like bourbon, motorcycles and orange juice. The European counterattack on $3.2 billion of goods, a response to the administration's measures on steel and aluminum imports, adds another front to a trade war that has engulfed allies and adversaries around the world. China and Mexico have already retaliated with their own tariffs, and Canada, Japan and Turkey are readying similar offensives. The risk of escalation is high since Mr. Trump has promised even more tariffs. Taking aim at German car manufacturers, the president has started an investigation into automobile imports to determine whether they pose a national security concern, the same justification used for his metal tariffs." ...

... Jim Tankersley & Cade Metz of the New York Times: "On Thursday, the Trump administration [released] ... a 35-page report entitled 'How China's Economic Aggression Threatens the Technologies and Intellectual Property of the United States and the World.' It exhaustively details the steps Chinese officials take to protect and promote their domestic industries and disadvantage foreign competitors.... [The administration] has yet to detail how it plans to build America's dominance in industries that will power economic and job growth in the future, or cultivate what the administration officials call the 'crown jewels of American technology and intellectual property.'... Many economists say [the] steps [the administration is taking] are insufficient -- and possibly counterproductive -- to position American companies to compete in emerging, high-tech, globalized industries.... Instead of targeting innovation, the administration's policy efforts to date have focused largely on supporting legacy industries like coal mining and steel production.... China, meanwhile, targets support to companies that demonstrate a winning strategy for growth."

This Russia Thing, Etc., Ctd.

David Edwards of the Raw Story: "In a column for the British magazine Spectator, BBC correspondent Paul Wood revealed that Cambridge Analytica, the now-defunct company which was in charge of microtargeting voters for the Trump campaign, was in possession of Clinton's emails at least a month before WikiLeaks was known to have them.... Wood said that he had information from an 'American lawyer' who knew that Cambridge Analytica was in possession of the emails, which U.S. intelligence agencies later determined were stolen by Russian hackers." ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: Paul Wood's story in the Spectator has a lot more, including speculation that the British government has been attempting to appease Trump by slow-walking intelligence which Robert Mueller has requested. Wood has done some fine investigative reporting on the Trump-Russia scandal, so I wouldn't discount the allegations in this piece.

Sarah Ellison of the Washington Post: "During the presidential campaign, National Enquirer executives sent digital copies of the tabloid's articles and cover images related to Donald Trump and his political opponents to Trump's attorney Michael Cohen in advance of publication, according to three people with knowledge of the matter -- an unusual practice that speaks to the close relationship between Trump and David Pecker, chief executive of American Media Inc., the Enquirer's parent company. Although the company strongly denies ever sharing such material before publication, these three individuals say the sharing of material continued after Trump took office.... The Enquirer's alleged sharing of material pre-publication ... intersects with a subject that federal prosecutors have been investigating since earlier this year: Cohen's efforts to quash negative stories about Trump during the campaign." ...

... Jeet Heer: "Donald Trump deserves to be listed as Editorial Consultant on [the] National Enquirer.... Trump and his cronies would, it appears, often tweak The Enquirer's coverage, in ways small (suggesting alternative photos) and big (advocating story ideas). In particular, Trump encouraged the tabloid in 2016 to cover the health of his opponent Hillary Clinton. In September 2015, the Enquirer ran a story saying Hillary Clinton had six months to live."

Doug Baldwin, et al., in a New York Times op-ed: "President Trump recently made an offer to National Football League players like us who are committed to protesting injustice. Instead of protesting, he suggested, we should give him names of people we believe were 'unfairly treated by the justice system.' If he agrees they were treated unfairly, he said, he will pardon them.... If President Trump thinks he can end these injustices if we deliver him a few names, he hasn't been listening to us. As Americans, it is our constitutional right to question injustices when they occur, and we see them daily: police brutality, unnecessary incarceration, excessive criminal sentencing, residential segregation and educational inequality.... We must challenge these norms, investigate the reasons for their pervasiveness and fight with all we have to change them. That is what \ we, as football players, are trying to do with our activism." The writers have some suggestions.

Caitlin Dewey & Erica Werner of the Washington Post: "A deeply polarizing farm bill narrowly passed the House Thursday, a month after the legislation went down to stunning defeat after getting ensnared in the toxic politics of immigration. The legislation, which passed 213-211 with 20 Republicans joining Democrats in their unanimous opposition, includes new work rules for most adult food-stamp recipients -- provisions that are dead on arrival in the Senate. The massive legislative package overseeing more than $430 billion of food and agriculture programs over five years contains a host of measures aimed at strengthening farm subsidies, expanding foreign trade and bolstering rural development.... The most divisive element of the legislation passed Thursday are new, stricter work rules for most able-bodied adults in the food stamp program...."

Adam Liptak, et al., of the New York Times: "The Supreme Court on Thursday ... [ruled] that internet retailers can be required to collect sales taxes even in states where they have no physical presence. The decision, in South Dakota v. Wayfair Inc., was a victory for brick-and-mortar businesses that have long complained they are put at a disadvantage by having to charge sales taxes while many online competitors do not. And it was also a victory for states that have said that they are missing out on tens of billions of dollars in annual revenue.... In Thursday's ruling, the court effectively overturned a system that it created. In 1992, the court ruled in Quill Corporation v. North Dakota that the Constitution bars states from requiring businesses to collect sales tax unless they have a substantial connection to the state. The Quill decision helped pave the way for the growth of online retail by letting companies sell nationwide without navigating the complex patchwork of state and local tax codes.... Justices Clarence Thomas, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Samuel A. Alito Jr. and Neil M. Gorsuch joined the majority opinion by Anthony Kennedy."

Sylvan Lane of the Hill: "A federal district judge ruled Thursday that the structure of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) violates the Constitution, countering a January ruling from a federal appeals court. Judge Loretta Preska of the Southern District of New York ruled that the CFPB's creation as an independent agency with a director that could only be dismissed for wrongdoing was unconstitutional.... Thursday's ruling raises the likelihood that the Supreme Court will take up the issue of the CFPB's constitutionality in an upcoming term. The appeals courts for the 5th and 9th Circuits will also hear challenges to the CFPB's constitutionality, and a ruling against the bureau could force the high court to reconcile the conflicting opinions." Preska also ruled that a case initiated by the CFPB could go forward under the leadership of New York Attorney General Barbara Underwood (D).

Adam Bernstein of the Washington Post: "Charles Krauthammer, a Pulitzer Prize-winning Washington Post columnist and intellectual provocateur who championed the muscular foreign policy of neoconservatism that helped lay the ideological groundwork for the 2003 U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, died June 21 at 68. The cause was cancer of the small intestine, said his son, Daniel Krauthammer."

News Lede

New York Times: "A ferry that sank Monday in a lake in Indonesia, leaving as many as 192 people missing and presumed dead, was badly overloaded beyond its capacity of about 40, officials said. Emergency responders continued to search Lake Toba on the island of Sumatra, but as the possibility of rescuing survivors has faded, they have shifted their focus to finding the boat and the bodies believed to be inside."

The Commentariat -- June 21, 2018

Afternoon Update:

Nick Miroff of the Washington Post: "The U.S. Border Patrol will no longer refer migrant parents who cross into the United States illegally with children to federal courthouses to face criminal charges, a senior U.S. Customs and Border Protection official told The Washington Post on Thursday. The about-face comes just one day after President Trump signed an executive order ending his administration's widely denounced practice of separating parents and children apprehended for illegally crossing the Mexico border. Trump's order said the government would maintain a 'zero tolerance' policy toward those who break the law, but the senior U.S. official, asked to explain how the government would change enforcement practices, said Border Patrol agents were instructed Wednesday evening to stop sending parents with children to federal courthouses for prosecution.... A spokeswoman for the Justice Department, Sarah Isgur Flores, denied that prosecutions would be suspended." Mrs. McC: If this story doesn't make sense, that's because chaos. ...

... Oh, for Pete's Sake. Kate Bennett of CNN: "... Melania Trump touched down in McAllen, Texas, Thursday making a publicly unannounced and hastily planned trip to get a first-hand look at the crisis affecting immigran families at the US border."

Aris Folley of the Hill: "Former Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski was dropped from his speakers bureau after he refused to apologize for mocking a story about a 10-year-old girl with Down syndrome who was separated from her family at the U.S.-Mexico border. Leading Authorities Inc. cut ties with Lewandowski on Wednesday, a source familiar with the matter told CNN."

Trump Blinks:

Katie Rogers & Jonathan Martin of the New York Times: "Shortly after caving to political pressure and signing an executive order that ends the separation of families by detaining parents and children together at the border, President Trump flew [to Duluth, Minnesota,] on Wednesday and explained the decision to an arena full of supporters, many of whom back his hard-line stance on immigration. The trip, the president]s first to the state as president, was in part to support Rick Stauber, a Republican candidate for a House seat. But the president focused more on his own agenda. Turning to immigration, Mr. Trump said he would keep families together, but he promised that the border would be 'just as tough' as before. 'The Democrats want open borders: "Let everybody pour in, we don't care,"' Mr. Trump said, as the crowd erupted into a chant of 'Build the Wall' and mocked a handful of people who tried to protest his policy. He said of other countries, while talking about immigration: 'They're not sending their finest. We're sending them the hell back. That's what we're doing.'" ...

... Exercising the Politics of Personal Resentment. Philip Rucker & Jenna Johnson of the Washington Post: Trump spent much of the Duluth speech complaining about all the people -- especially those in the media -- who are unfair to him. "'You ever notice they always call the other side "the elite"?' Trump asked. 'The elite! Why are they elite? I have a much better apartment than they do. I'm smarter than they are. I'm richer than they are. I became president and they didn't.'... For those who have closely followed Trump for years, the night was filled with many moments of deja vu, when it felt as though it suddenly was 2016 all over again." ...

... Mrs. McCrabbie: In an unsigned post, the New Republic reports a fuller citation: "They always call the other side, and they do this sometime, 'the elite.' The elite! Why are they elite? I have a much better apartment than they do. I'm smarter than they are. I'm richer than they are. I became president and they didn't. And I am representing the greatest, smartest, most loyal people on earth, the deplorables." NR: "Unpacking Trump's statement, it turns out he's not, as populist heroes traditionally have been, the avatar or even the tribune of the common man. Rather, Trump is the true elite, a caste of one, the übermensch who is smart, rich and able to become president. His followers, meanwhile, are 'the deplorables' who are, pointedly, not elite in Trump's manner but have their own form of greatness and smartness which is displayed in their willingness to subsume themselves ('the most loyal people on earth') to Trump. This is not the creed of populism but rather of the strong man with an army of loyal followers."

Maggie Haberman & Michael Shear of the New York Times: "President Trump caved to enormous political pressure on Wednesday and signed an executive order that ends the separation of families by indefinitely detaining parents and children together at the border.... The order said that officials will continue to criminally prosecute everyone who crosses the border illegally, but will seek to find or build facilities that can hold families -- parents and children together -- instead of separating them while their legal cases are considered by the courts. Mr. Trump's executive order directed the government's lawyers to ask for a modification of an existing 1997 consent decree, known as the Flores settlement, that currently prohibits the federal government from keeping children in immigration detention -- even if they are with their parents -- for more than 20 days. But it is unclear whether the court will agree to that request. If not, the president is likely to face an immediate legal challenge from immigration activists on behalf of families that are detained in makeshift facilities. Stories of children being taken from their parents and images of teenagers in cage-like detention facilities have exploded into a full-blown political crisis for Mr. Trump and Republican lawmakers, who are desperate for a response to critics who have called the practice 'inhumane' and 'evil.'" ... (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

     ... The story has been updated to include this: "And the president's order does nothing to address the plight of the more than 2,300 children who have already been separated from their parents under the president's 'zero tolerance' policy. Federal officials said those children will not be immediately reunited with their families while the adults remain in federal custody during their immigration proceedings. 'There will not be a grandfathering of existing cases,' said Kenneth Wolfe, a spokesman for the Administration for Children and Families, a division of the Department of Health and Human Services. Mr. Wolfe said the decision about the children was made by the White House, but he added, 'I can tell you definitively that is going to be policy.'" ...

... There's Nothing This White House Can't Screw up. Justin Wise of the Hill: "The White House initially misspelled the word 'separation' in the executive order President Trump signed on Wednesday to stop his 'zero tolerance' policy from dividing families crossing the border illegally. The order was titled 'Affording Congress an Opportunity to Address Family Separation,' but originally spelled the last word 'seperation' -- a mistake people quickly seized on." Matt Yglesias wondered, "Is misspelling 'separation' like issuing an executive order with your fingers crossed behind your back?" Thanks to Ken W. for the reminder.

... HHS Blinks. Julia Manchester of the Hill: "The Administration for Children and Families (ACF) walked back comments from a spokesperson late Wednesday, revising an earlier statement that said there would be no special effort from the Trump administration to reunite migrant families separated at the border. 'An ACF spokesperson misspoke earlier regarding the Executive Order signed today by the President. It is still very early and we are awaiting further guidance on the matter,' the department's communications director, Brian Marriott, said in a statement. ACF is a division of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).... The New York Times on Wednesday

... Here's Trump blaming Democrats at a meeting with GOP members of Congress yesterday afternoon. Also, ever so sadly, he's cancelling the White House's picnic for members of Congress, which was scheduled for tomorrow:

     ... Also, see especially P.D. Pepe's comment in yesterday's thread on the Trumpaholics' praise-in for the Dear Leader. Mrs. McC: I heard part of that, too, & I was just as disgusted as was Pepe. (The part of the remarks she refers to is not included in the clip above but occurred later during the same meeting.) ...

... Michael Scherer of the Washington Post: "President Trump ... invited the news media to the Cabinet Room on Wednesday to talk at length about his own strength, an issue he has always placed at the center of the immigration debate. 'We are very strong,' he said twice to start, going on to say the word 'strong' seven more times, as if worried that allowing undocumented immigrant families to remain together might call his resolve into question.... The projection of strength ... has always been the central pillar of Trump's politics, the reason behind his constant attraction to conflict.... The tough-guy posture of a citizen politician who had encouraged fisticuffs at campaign rallies, praised murderous foreign regimes and described immigrants as snakes who might 'infest' the nation was, ultimately, more important than any single policy.... It did not even matter that his team had spent days arguing that the president did not have the power to stop separating parents from their kids, a trauma the American Academy of Pediatrics says can permanently disrupt the 'brain architecture' of children. 'The Democrats have to change their law,' Trump said Friday, just a few days before proving his own words untrue. 'It's their law.'"

... Dara Lind of Vox explains the executive order: "For weeks..., Donald Trump and his administration claimed that they would prefer to keep families together in immigration detention -- but had no choice but to separate them at the US-Mexico border so parents could be prosecuted for illegal entry. Now, Trump-s executive order -- which some in the press are reporting as a 'reversal' or 'relenting' on family separation -- simply directs the administration to do the thing they said they couldn't do: keep children along with their parents in immigration detention while the parents are prosecuted, and while the family's immigration case is resolved. The Trump administration is hoping this will result in their speedy deportation, but if not, it's now willing to detain the family indefinitely.... If Congress fails to act, it's unlikely that the federal judiciary is going to allow this order to stand in its current form -- because it appears to violate the 1997 Flores settlement that the administration cited as the reason it couldn't detain families indefinitely to begin with. The order doesn't require Trump to stop separating families at the border -- but it probably will end wide-scale family separation." ...

... But maybe Stephen Colbert is the best explainer:

Feckless. Catherine Lucey & Jonathan Lemire of TPM: "Ivanka Trump, the presidential adviser who has billed herself as a 'force for good' in the administration, remained silent for days as the firestorm over forced separations of migrant families consumed the White House.... [S]he stayed publicly quiet until Trump on Wednesday signed an executive order designed to keep families together.... Then the first daughter tweeted, 'Thank you @POTUS for taking critical action ending family separation at our border.'" --safari

... J.M. Rieger of the Washington Post: "As outrage grew over Trump's 'zero tolerance' policy on migrant family separations, White House officials could not even agree on what was happening at the southern border.First it was a deterrent. Then it wasn't. It was a new Justice Department policy. Then it wasn't. The Trump administration was simply following the law. Then it said separations weren't required by law. It could not be reversed by executive order. Then it was.... When reporters asked Trump on Friday why he would not reverse his two-month-old policy via executive order, Trump shot back, 'You can't do it through an executive order.' Five days later, Trump contradicted himself again." ...

... Aaron Blake of the Washington Post: "The Trump administration insisted it didn't have a policy of separating children from their parents at the U.S.-Mexico border. It said that it was merely following the law. And it said 'Congress alone can fix' the mess. It just admitted that all that was nonsense -- and that it badly overplayed its hand.... [The executive order Trump signed Wednesday is] at once an admission that the politics of the issue had gotten out of hand and that the administration's arguments were completely dishonest. Virtually everything it said about the policy is tossed aside with this executive action.... And it makes clear that, from Day One, this was a political gambit to force an immigration bill through. It didn't work.... This is such a course reversal that, just two days ago, the White House was saying it wasn't even onboard with Congress passing a stand-alone bill to fix the problem -- dismissing such efforts as a 'Band-Aid' that didn't deal with core immigration problems. [Wednesday], it is gladly applying the 'Band-Aid' itself -- and in a way it insisted it couldn't."

Jonathan Chait: "The willingness of Trump and his administration to plunge ahead ... with a barbaric tactic is primarily a reflection of their moral emptiness.... The reversal also demonstrates the comprehensive failure of Trump's immigration agenda. Trump is facing the inevitable dilemma of a populist leader: He was elected promising easy solutions, and is discovering none exist.... Trump settled on family separation after every other method at his disposal collapsed. On the central policy promise he made, Trump is a flop, and he knows it.... The damage of Trump's horrific policy cannot be fully undone. But, in the face of his every instinct, Trump was forced to retreat. He didn't want to look weak, but he does, because he is."

... Jeet Heer of the New Republic: "Trump's immigration retreat is a victory for popular resistance.... The keeping of families indefinitely creates a new problem, since it will almost certainly be challenged in courts. Still, whatever problems there are with indefinite detention, Trump is surrendering on the hostage taking situation he created. Prior to this executive order, the White House was using separated children as leverage to force Democrats to sign a Trump-friendly immigration deal. Jailed children will no longer be leverage in the negotiations."

Gabriel Sherman of Vanity Fair: "... the president's hardline rhetoric on family separation has sowed chaos in the West Wing, two sources close to the White House told me. For the second day in a row, Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders -- already eyeing an exit, though not for months -- did not hold an on-camera briefing with reporters. 'She's tired of taking on water for something she doesn't believe in,' a friend of Sanders told me.... The absence of a coordinated policy process has allowed the most extreme administration voices to fill the vacuum. White House senior policy adviser Stephen Miller has all but become the face of the issue....'Stephen actually enjoys seeing those pictures at the border,' an outside White House adviser said. 'He's a twisted guy, the way he was raised and picked on. There's always been a way he's gone about this. He's Waffen-SS.' Making matters worse, Trump doesn't seem to have an end game for the inhumane policy that is opposed by two-thirds of Americans."

Steve M.: Trumpbots are very, very upset that Democrat leftist cultists & globalists made Trump capitulate. ...

... Peter Baker & Katie Rogers of the New York Times: "President Trump has railed against undocumented immigrants in recent days, branding many of them 'murderers and thieves' who want to 'infest our country.' Not long ago, he referred to them as 'animals,' although he insisted he meant only those who join a violent gang. The president's unpresidential language has become the standard for some on his team. This week his former campaign manager, Corey Lewandowski, made a mocking noise, 'womp womp,' when a liberal strategist raised the case of a 10-year-old girl with Down syndrome separated from her parents at the border. Mr. Trump's coarse discourse increasingly seems to inspire opponents to respond with vituperative words of their own. Whether it be Robert De Niro's four-letter condemnation at the Tony Awards or a congressional intern who shouted the same word at Mr. Trump when he visited the Capitol this week, the president has generated so much anger among his foes that some are crossing boundaries that he himself shattered long ago.... Mr. Trump's descriptions of those trying to enter the country illegally have been so sharp that critics say they dehumanize people and lump together millions of migrants with the small minority that are violent.... He has made insults the core of his presidential messaging."

Michael Biesecker, et al., of the AP: "Immigrant children as young as 14 housed at a juvenile detention center in Virginia say they were beaten while handcuffed and locked up for long periods in solitary confinement, left nude and shivering in concrete cells. The abuse claims against the Shenandoah Valley Juvenile Center near Staunton, Virginia, are detailed in federal court filings that include a half-dozen sworn statements from Latino teens jailed there for months or years. Multiple detainees say the guards stripped them of their clothes and strapped them to chairs with bags placed over their heads.... In addition to the children's first-hand, translated accounts in court filings, a former child-development specialist who worked inside the facility independently told The Associated Press this week that she saw kids there with bruises and broken bones they blamed on guards.... In court filings, lawyers for the detention facility have denied all allegations of physical abuse. Many of the children were sent there after U.S. immigration authorities accused them of belonging to violent gangs, including MS-13.... But a top manager at the Shenandoah center said during a recent congressional hearing that the children did not appear to be gang members and were suffering from mental health issues resulting from trauma that happened in their home countries -- problems the detention facility is ill-equipped to treat."

Katie Benner of the New York Times: "As federal prosecutors face skyrocketing immigration caseloads along the southwestern border, the Defense Department agreed Wednesday to help the Justice Department prosecute the cases. Twenty-one lawyers for the Defense Department 'will work full time, assisting in prosecuting reactive border immigration cases, with a focus on misdemeanor improper entry and felony illegal re-entry cases,' the department said in a statement. The assignment is to last for about six months. The Justice Department had asked for the help in anticipation of a surge in cases after Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced a 'zero tolerance' policy in April." ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: This strikes me as a direct violation of the Posse Comitatus Act, which "limit[s] the powers of the federal government in using federal military personnel to enforce domestic policies within the United States." But what do I know? I'm just a confused country girl, not the Attorney General of the United States, entrusted with enforcing the law of the land.

Bart Jansen of USA Today: "American, Frontier, Southwest and United airlines each refused Wednesday to fly immigrant children separated from their parents for the federal government, as President Trump ordered a halt to separations as part of his 'zero tolerance' policy for undocumented border crossings. All four airlines said they had no evidence that they have transported children under the policy yet. But they each said the policy runs counter to their corporate goals of connecting people." ...

... Tanya Snyder of Politico: "DHS spokesman Tyler Houlton fired backed with a statement an tweet-storm accusing the airlines of 'buckling to a false media narrative.' 'It's unfortunate that @AmericanAir , @united, and @FlyFrontier no longer want to partner with the brave men and women of DHS to protect the traveling public, combat human trafficking, and to swiftly reunite unaccompanied illegal immigrant children with their families,' Houlton wrote. 'Despite being provided facts on this issue, these airlines clearly do not understand our immigration laws and the long-standing devastating loopholes that have caused the crisis at our southern border.'... The Association of Flight Attendants also distanced itself from Trump's handling of immigrant children, saying Wednesday that it 'condemns any action to purposefully separate children from their parents.'" ...

... AND This. Adam Rawnsley & Spencer Ackerman of the Daily Beast: "The Trump administration has been paying an intelligence contractor millions of dollars to to fly immigrant children to shelters across the United States. MVM, Inc. has a contract with Immigration and Customs Enforcement to provide 'unaccompanied alien children (UAC) transportation services' worth $162 million, according to records reviewed by The Daily Beast. MVM's recent job postings show it sought to hire people to escort immigrant children from the border on commercial airlines. MVM is one of a number of defense contractors cashing in on the Trump administration's 'zero-tolerance' policy of locking up immigrant families.... Civil-rights advocates say that the Department of Homeland Security has shown a troubling lack of transparency in how it's transporting immigrant children and that defense contractors are an inappropriate choice for handling the sensitive work." ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: As one advocate -- Wells Dixon, an attorney for the Center for Constitutional Rights -- put it, "It's further evidence that President Trump thinks he's at war with immigrant families fleeing persecution, including babies. Someone has to pitch in to do his dirty work when ICE and DHS are overwhelmed with crying children."

Garance Burke & Martha Mendoza of the AP: "Trump administration officials have been sending babies and other young children forcibly separated from their parents at the U.S.-Mexico border to at least three 'tender age' shelters in South Texas.... Lawyers and medical providers who have visited the Rio Grande Valley shelters described play rooms of crying preschool-age children in crisis. The government also plans to open a fourth shelter to house hundreds of young migrant children in Houston, where city leaders denounced the move Tuesday.... Decades after the nation's child welfare system ended the use of orphanages over concerns about the lasting trauma to children, the administration is starting up new institutions to hold Central American toddlers that the government separated from their parents." (Also linked yesterday.) ...

... Troy Patterson of the New Yorker: When the POTUS* is so cruel that even seasoned TV personalities break down in tears. ...

... ** Aura Bogado, et al., of the Texas Tribune: "Taxpayers have paid more than $1.5 billion in the past four years to private companies operating immigrant youth shelters accused of serious lapses in care, including neglect and sexual and physical abuse, an investigation by Reveal and The Texas Tribune has found. In nearly all cases, the federal government has continued to place migrant children with the companies even after serious allegations were raised and after state inspectors cited shelters with deficiencies, government and other records show.... Now this web of private facilities, cobbled together to support children with nowhere else to go, is beginning to hold a new population: the more than 2,000 children who arrived with their parents but were separated from them because of a Trump administration policy." Read on. This is an alarming report. (Also linked yesterday.) ...

... Gus Bova of the Texas Observer: "In recent months, Texas officials have granted permission to at least 15 immigrant youth shelters to cram in more kids than their child-care licenses allow, according to records obtained by the Observer. Two shelters have been approved to hold almost 50 percent more children. The decisions come as the Trump administration separates more and more families at the border, funnelling children reportedly as young as 8 months into government shelters. A spokesperson for the Texas Health and Human Services Commission, John Reynolds, said the agency allows shelters to exceed capacity only after reviewing bedspace, the number of children to a bathroom, recreational space and fire inspection compliance. But child advocates argue that the decisions are likely straining staff, endangering children and amount to the state kowtowing to the federal government." (Also linked yesterday.)

Michael Fuchs in the Guardian: "Trump's family separation policy is as damaging to America as Abu Ghraib.... America's power comes from its values: freedom, the rule of law, respect for human rights.... The sounds of children crying in US jails while guards crack jokes are eerily evocative of US guards at Abu Ghraib posing smiling for pictures with naked Iraqi prisoners in humiliating positions.... Ripping children away from their family decimates America's ability to hold accountable human rights abusers.... [The Trump policy] could also become a rallying cry for America's adversaries. Like Abu Ghraib, the images of children in cages and the sounds of crying children make for powerful propaganda for anyone opposed to America -- terrorist groups, authoritarian countries, and others who seek to paint a picture of an evil America." (Also linked yesterday.)

Not All the Action Is at the Border. Colin Dwyer of NPR: "Dozens of federal agents descended on a major meat supplier in northeast Ohio on Tuesday, arresting 146 Fresh Mark employees in what the agency calls its largest workplace raid in recent history -- and its second massive raid in the state this month.... Although ICE notes that agents released several suspects for 'humanitarian concerns, such as health or family considerations,' the agency says most of the undocumented workers 'will be detained in facilities in Michigan and Ohio while awaiting removal proceedings.'... 'Unlawful employment is one of the key magnets drawing illegal aliens across our borders,' Steve Francis, HSI special agent in charge for Michigan and Ohio, said in a statement. 'Businesses who knowingly harbor and hire illegal aliens as a business model must be held accountable for their actions.'" ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: That's mighty interesting, Steve. Funny thing: there's no mention in Dwyer's story of the company's red-blooded U.S. citizen-management being goose-stepped out of the building. As Ken W. asked (rhetorically) in linking the story yesterday afternoon, "Think the man in the accompanying picture being led away in handcuffs was the employer?"

Alan Rappeport & Nicholas Fandos of the New York Times: "President Trump urged Republican lawmakers on Wednesday not to scuttle his administration's efforts to help the Chinese telecom firm ZTE, warning them that his reprieve for the company was part of a broader geopolitical negotiating strategy. Mr. Trump and Republican lawmakers met at the White House to discuss the fate of the company, which had been banned by the Commerce Department from buying American products this year as punishment for violating American sanctions. The administration has since lifted that ban at Mr. Trump's request and over the objections of lawmakers, who voted Monday to reinstate the penalties on ZTE. Mr. Trump ordered his Commerce Department to water down the penalties, which would have put ZTE out of business, after President Xi Jinping of China personally lobbied him to reconsider."

Katie Rogers & Ken Vogel of the New York Times: "At the [Trump International Hotel in Washington, D.C., Trump] spoke for an hour to 150 supporters -- about half of whom were donors who paid $100,000 to $250,000 to attend a two-day summit meeting organized by America First Action, the 'super PAC' formed to support Mr. Trump and allied candidates.... Beyond the hotel's walls, protesters blasted audio of children crying in detainment centers.... In the days before, an anti-Trump group had projected the words 'Over 3,000 children taken from their parents' onto the hotel facade." (Also linked yesterday.)

This Russia Thing, Etc., Ctd.

Eliana Larramendia & Zunaira Zaki of ABC News: "Michael Cohen ... has resigned from his post as deputy finance chair of the Republican National Committee's Finance Committee, sources close to the RNC told ABC News. In his resignation letter to Ronna McDaniel, the RNC chair, Cohen cited the ongoing special counsel investigation as one reason for his departure.... Cohen also criticized the administration's policy of separating migrant children from their parents at the southern border, the first time he's distanced himself from the president. 'As the son of a Polish holocaust survivor, the images and sounds of this family separation policy is heart wrenching,' Cohen wrote. 'While I strongly support measures that will secure our porous borders, children should never be used as bargaining chips.'" ...

... Jen Kirby of Vox: "It's a stunning criticism fromCohen, who has billed himself as the ultimate Trump loyalist. It will likely intensify the will he/won't he guessing game about whether Cohen is about to cooperate with federal prosecutors -- and potentially flip on the president."

... Kevin Breuninger of CNBC: "American Media, the publisher of the National Enquirer, was subpoenaed by federal prosecutors for records related to a $150,000 payment made to ex-Playboy model Karen McDougal, people familiar with the matter told the Wall Street Journal. The subpoena is part of a criminal investigation of ... Michael Cohen, the Journal reported Wednesday. Cohen, who has not been charged, is currently involved in court proceedings over the raft of materials seized from his properties in raids by federal agents in April. American Media made the payment to McDougal in exchange for the rights to her story alleging she had an affair with Trump more than a decade earlier. The publisher never ran the story, in a practice reportedly known within the industry as 'catch and kill.'"

Stephanie Kirchgaessner & Luke Harding of the Guardian: "A longtime US lobbyist for the Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska visited Julian Assange nine times at the Ecuadorian embassy in London last year, according to visitor logs seen by the Guardian. Adam Waldman, who has worked as a Washington lobbyist for the metals tycoon since 2009, had more meetings with Assange in 2017 than almost anyone else, the records show.... It is not clear why Waldman went to the WikiLeaks founder or whether the meetings had any connection to the Russian billionaire, who is now subject to US sanctions. But the disclosure is likely to raise further questions about the extent and nature of Assange's alleged ties to Russia." --safari

Alex Isenstadt of Politico (not the Onion): "In a move that blindsided the West Wing and sent Hill Republicans into a tizzy, [Rudy Giuliani] is throwing his support behind an obscure House candidate in Louisiana trying to take out incumbent GOP Rep. Clay Higgins. But the bizarre tale of Giuliani's interest in an off-the-radar congressional race only begins there. It turns out the ex-New York mayor's new girlfriend, GOP fundraiser Jennifer LeBlanc, is working for the Republican challenger in the race, Josh Guillory. LeBlanc had been on Higgins' payroll until late last year when she abruptly parted ways with the congressman. 'We have a National Enquirer-type situation going on down in Louisiana's 3rd Congressional District,' said state Attorney General Jeff Landry, a Higgins backer who hails from the area.... The former mayor's foray into the race has infuriated senior party officials, who are convinced Giuliani is acting at his girlfriend's behest."

Casey Michel of ThinkProgress: "A series of interviews and never-before-seen documents, including testimonials and diaries obtained by ThinkProgress, sheds new light on how the relationship between the Religious Right and Russia first began, and how it led to several collaborative efforts in the years to come." --safari

Jenny Rowland of ThinkProgress: "Canadian mining company, Glacier Lake Resources Inc., has announced that they have acquired rights to the 'Colt Mesa' copper and cobalt mine located on lands eliminated from Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument.... Despite the evidence, Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke and other supporters of Trump's cuts -- like House Natural Resources Chairman Rep. Rob Bishop (R-UT) -- have denied that the goal of the monument reductions was for mineral or oil development.... The proposed mine would focus on cobalt, copper, and other hard rock minerals. Those minerals are governed by the outdated 1872 mining law, which allows companies to operate royalty-free. That would mean that the Canadian company would pay exactly $0 to US taxpayers for mining on national monument-quality land and potentially interfering with wildlife and outdoor recreation." --safari

Scott Pruitt Has "Tactical Pants." Lee Fang & Nick Surgey of the Intercept (not the Onion): "... Scott Pruitt has now spent more than $4.6 million from public coffers on security, according to documents obtained by The Intercept and Documented under the Freedom of Information Act. The amount represents a $1.1 million increase from Pruitt's total security costs as released in another disclosure just a month ago.... The EPA, according to three expense line items for April, spent a total of $2,749.62 on 'tactical pants' and 'tactical polos.' Since last year, shortly after his Senate confirmation, Pruitt's office began purchasing security-related items, including multiple vehicle leases, over $80,000 worth of radios, $700 in shoulder holsters for the radios, and a kit to break down doors, among other purchases."

Khorri Atkinson of Axios: "The Trump administration is set to propose a plan to Congress on Thursday to consolidate the Education and Labor departments into one federal agency -- a move that is connected to a sweeping overhaul of the executive branch, the Wall Street Journal's Michelle Hackman reports.... The New York Times also reports that the administration will propose merging all welfare programs into a single agency, and rename the Department of Health and Human Services. This massive shake-up would likely need congressional approval and, as the WSJ notes, similar efforts in the past have failed due to pushback."

Erica Werner of the Washington Post: "The Senate on Wednesday rejected billions in spending cuts proposed by the Trump administration as two Republicans joined all Democrats in voting no. The 48-50 vote rebuffed a White House plan to claw back some $15 billion in spending previously approved by Congress -- a show of fiscal responsibility that was encouraged by conservative lawmakers outraged over a $1.3 trillion spending bill in March. The House had approved the so-called rescissions package earlier this month. But passage had never been assured in the Senate, where a number of Republicans had been cool to the idea from the start. Nevertheless, Wednesday's outcome was startling because one of the opposing votes came from Sen. Richard Burr (R-N.C.), who does not normally buck the White House or GOP leadership. Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), a moderate and one of the Republicans who most frequently side with Democrats, cast the other GOP vote against the cuts."

Mike Bloomberg Has Had Enough. Alexander Burns of the New York Times: "Michael R. Bloomberg, the billionaire former mayor of New York City, has decided to throw his political clout and personal fortune behind the Democratic campaign to take control of the House of Representatives this year, directing aides to spend tens of millions of dollars in an effort to expel Republicans from power. Mr. Bloomberg -- a political independent who has championed left-of-center policies on gun control, immigration and the environment -- has approved a plan to pour at least $80 million into the 2018 election, with the bulk of that money going to support Democratic congressional candidates, advisers to Mr. Bloomberg said." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Felicia Sonmez of the Washington Post: "Republican strategist Steve Schmidt, a senior adviser to the presidential campaign of Sen. John McCain (Ariz.), announced early Wednesday that he is leaving the Republican Party, which he decried as 'fully the party of Trump' and 'a danger to our democracy and values.' In early-morning tweets, Schmidt, a vocal Trump critic, urged voters to elect Democrats in the 2018 midterm elections and harshly criticized the administration's policy of separating migrant children from their parents at the U.S. border, describing the government-run detention centers as 'internment camps for babies.'" (Also linked yesterday.)

Dylan Scott of Vox: "According to Pew, 61 percent of Democratic voters said their vote would be a vote against Trump. That is notably higher than the percentage of Republican voters who said their vote was a vote against Obama in 2010 (54 percent) and 2014 (51 percent) when the GOP made major gains in Congress, retaking the House and then the Senate.... [But] a majority of Republicans say they will be voting for Trump in 2018, a much higher share than said they were voting for Bush in 2006 and even outpacing the share of Democrats who said they would be voting for Obama in 2010 and 2014." --safari

Sabrina Tavernise of the New York Times: "Deaths now outnumber births among white people in more than half the states in the country, demographers have found, signaling what could be a faster-than-expected transition to a future in which whites are no longer a majority of the American population. The Census Bureau has projected that whites could drop below 50 percent of the population around 2045, a relatively slow-moving change that has been years in the making. But a new report this week found that whites are dying faster than they are being born now in 26 \ states, up from 17 just two years earlier, and demographers say that shift might come even sooner.... Some experts say that rapid demographic change became a potent issue in the 2016 presidential race -- and helped drive white voters to support Donald J. Trump." Includes a map that IDs the states with dropping white populations."

Joe Heim of the Washington Post: "An organizer of last year's deadly white-supremacist gathering in Charlottesville has received initial approval from the National Park Service to hold a rally across from the White House on Aug. 12, the anniversary of last year's event. Jason Kessler, who organized the 'Unite the Right' rally in Charlottesville with Richard Spencer and other white-supremacist leaders, submitted a National Mall Special Event permit request on May 8 to hold a 'white civil rights' rally in Lafayette Square 'protesting civil rights abuse in Charlottesville.'"

Julie Zauzmer, et al., of the Washington Post: "The former archbishop of Washington, Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, has been removed from ministry in response to allegations that he sexually abused a teen 50 years ago while he was a priest in New York. McCarrick, 87, was a well-known church leader in global affairs. He had said in a statement months ago that he had been made aware of teenager's allegation of sexual abuse while he was a priest in New York almost 50 years ago. He was archbishop of Washington from 2001 to 2006. McCarrick said that while he maintains his innocence, 'In obedience I accept the decision of The Holy See, that I no longer exercise any public ministry.'" (Also linked yesterday.)

Beyond the Beltway

Kira Lerner of ThinkProgress: "Two days after a federal judge overturned his documentary proof-of-citizenship law and ordered him to register eligible voters, Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach is openly defying the court's order.... Kobach's elections director instructed county clerks to continue demanding proof-of-citizenship from anyone registering to vote until they receive written instruction otherwise.... Danedri Herbert, the spokesperson for Kobach, said the judge was not clear when she instructed the secretary of state to accept voter registration applications without a document like a passport or birth certificate. 'I think 'immediately' is kind of open to interpretation,' Herbert said." --safari

AP: "FBI agents have arrested West Virginia Supreme Court Justice Allen Loughry and taken him to the federal courthouse in Charleston to face a 22-count federal indictment. U.S. Attorney Mike Stuart said Wednesday that Loughry is charged with 16 counts of mail fraud, two counts of wire fraud, one count of witness tampering and three counts of making false statements to a federal agent. Loughry was suspended over allegations he repeatedly lied about using his office for personal gain." --safari

Way Beyond

Revital Hovel of Haaretz: "Sara Netanyahu, the wife of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was indicted on Thursday for alleged 'systematic fraud' involving hundreds of thousands of shekels in connection with meal expenses incurred at the Prime Minister's Residence. Sara Netanyahu was charged along with Ezra Saidoff, a former deputy director general of the Prime Minister's Office. The two are charged in an indictment filed at the Jerusalem Magistrate's Court with aggravated fraudulent receiving of an item or items, fraud and breach of trust. Saidoff was also charged with falsification by a public servant. According to the indictment, Sara Netanyahu instructed staff at the Prime Minister's Residence in Jerusalem to order meals consumed at the residence worth a total of 350,000 shekels ($96,000) from gourmet restaurants between 2010 and 2013 in violation of rules barring the residence from ordering meals from the outside during periods when the residence had a cook on its staff."

The Commentariat -- June 20, 2018

Late Morning/Afternoon Update:

Mike Bloomberg Has Had Enough. Alexander Burns of the New York Times: "Michael R. Bloomberg, the billionaire former mayor of New York City, has decided to throw his political clout and personal fortune behind the Democratic campaign to take control of the House of Representatives this year, directing aides to spend tens of millions of dollars in an effort to expel Republicans from power. Mr. Bloomberg -- a political independent who has championed left-of-center policies on gun control, immigration and the environment -- has approved a plan to pour at least $80 million into the 2018 election, with the bulk of that money going to support Democratic congressional candidates, advisers to Mr. Bloomberg said."

Trump Blinks:

Update to All That. Maggie Haberman & Michael Shear of the New York Times: "President Trump caved to enormous political pressure on Wednesday and signed an executive order that ends the separation of families by indefinitely detaining parents and children together at the border.... The order said that officials will continue to criminally prosecute everyone who crosses the border illegally, but will seek to find or build facilities that can hold families -- parents and children together -- instead of separating them while their legal cases are considered by the courts. Mr. Trump's executive order directed the government's lawyers to ask for a modification of an existing 1997 consent decree, known as the Flores settlement, that currently prohibits the federal government from keeping children in immigration detention -- even if they are with their parents -- for more than 20 days. But it is unclear whether the court will agree to that request. If not, the president is likely to face an immediate legal challenge from immigration activists on behalf of families that are detained in makeshift facilities. Stories of children being taken from their parents and images of teenagers in cage-like detention facilities have exploded into a full-blown political crisis for Mr. Trump and Republican lawmakers, who are desperate for a response to critics who have called the practice 'inhumane' and 'evil.'" ...

     ... Also, see especially P.D. Pepe's comment in today's thread on the Trumpaholics' praise-in for the Dear Leader. Mrs. McC: I heard part of that, too, & I was just as disgusted as was Pepe.

... ** Andrew Restuccia of Politico: "Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen is working with White House lawyers to draft an executive action that will end the Trump administration's practice of separating migrant families at the border, according to a source familiar with the matter. The action will direct the Department of Homeland Security to keep families together and will instruct the Department of Defense to help house the families because many of the detention centers are at capacity, the source said... Donald Trump is expected to sign the action, the source added." ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: Which is ever so odd because way last Friday Trump said the family separation was all the fault of an unnamed Democratic law & he couldn't fix it with an executive order. ...

... Jordan Fabian of the Hill: "President Trump on Wednesday said he will sign 'something' intended to end his administration's controversial practice of separating children from their parents who illegally cross the southern border. 'I'll be signing something in a little while that's going to do that,' he told reporters at the White House. 'I'll be doing something that's somewhat preemptive and ultimately will be matched by legislation I'm sure.'" ...

... Here's Trump blaming Democrats a short while ago. Also, ever so sadly, he's cancelling the White House's picnic for members of Congress, which was scheduled for tomorrow:

... Andrea Mitchell of MSNBC is saying there will be a signing ceremony at 2 pm ET. Mrs. McC: I have a doctor's appointment at that time & won't be back till late this afternoon, but will try to catch up then.

Garance Burke & Martha Mendoza of the AP: "Trump administration officials have been sending babies and other young children forcibly separated from their parents at the U.S.-Mexico border to at least three 'tender age' shelters in South Texas.... Lawyers and medical providers who have visited the Rio Grande Valley shelters described play rooms of crying preschool-age children in crisis. The government also plans to open a fourth shelter to house hundreds of young migrant children in Houston, where city leaders denounced the move Tuesday.... Decades after the nation's child welfare system ended the use of orphanages over concerns about the lasting trauma to children, the administration is starting up new institutions to hold Central American toddlers that the government separated from their parents." ...

... ** Aura Bogado, et al., of the Texas Tribune: "Taxpayers have paid more than $1.5 billion in the past four years to private companies operating immigrant youth shelters accused of serious lapses in care, including neglect and sexual and physical abuse, an investigation by Reveal and The Texas Tribune has found. In nearly all cases, the federal government has continued to place migrant children with the companies even after serious allegations were raised and after state inspectors cited shelters with deficiencies, government and other records show.... Now this web of private facilities, cobbled together to support children with nowhere else to go, is beginning to hold a new population: the more than 2,000 children who arrived with their parents but were separated from them because of a Trump administration policy." Read on. This is an alarming report. ...

... Gus Bova of the Texas Observer: "In recent months, Texas officials have granted permission to at least 15 immigrant youth shelters to cram in more kids than their child-care licenses allow, according to records obtained by the Observer. Two shelters have been approved to hold almost 50 percent more children. The decisions come as the Trump administration separates more and more families at the border, funnelling children reportedly as young as 8 months into government shelters. A spokesperson for the Texas Health and Human Services Commission, John Reynolds, said the agency allows shelters to exceed capacity only after reviewing bedspace, the number of children to a bathroom, recreational space and fire inspection compliance. But child advocates argue that the decisions are likely straining staff, endangering children and amount to the state kowtowing to the federal government."

Michael Fuchs in the Guardian: "Trump's family separation policy is as damaging to America as Abu Ghraib.... America's power comes from its values: freedom, the rule of law, respect for human rights.... The sounds of children crying in US jails while guards crack jokes are eerily evocative of US guards at Abu Ghraib posing smiling for pictures with naked Iraqi prisoners in humiliating positions.... Ripping children away from their family decimates America's ability to hold accountable human rights abusers.... [The Trump policy] could also become a rallying cry for America's adversaries. Like Abu Ghraib, the images of children in cages and the sounds of crying children make for powerful propaganda for anyone opposed to America -- terrorist groups, authoritarian countries, and others who seek to paint a picture of an evil America."

Katie Rogers & Ken Vogel of the New York Times: "At the [Trump International Hotel in Washington, D.C., Trump] spoke for an hour to 150 supporters -- about half of whom were donors who paid $100,000 to $250,000 to attend a two-day summit meeting organized by America First Action, the 'super PAC' formed to support Mr. Trump and allied candidates.... Beyond the hotel's walls, protesters blasted audio of children crying in detainment centers.... In the days before, an anti-Trump group had projected the words 'Over 3,000 children taken from their parents' onto the hotel facade."

Felicia Sonmez of the Washington Post: "Republican strategist Steve Schmidt, a senior adviser to the presidential campaign of Sen. John McCain (Ariz.), announced early Wednesday that he is leaving the Republican Party, which he decried as 'fully the party of Trump' and 'a danger to our democracy and values.' In early-morning tweets, Schmidt, a vocal Trump critic, urged voters to elect Democrats in the 2018 midterm elections and harshly criticized the administration's policy of separating migrant children from their parents at the U.S. border, describing the government-run detention centers as 'internment camps for babies.'"

Julie Zauzmer, et al., of the Washington Post: "The former archbishop of Washington, Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, has been removed from ministry in response to allegations that he sexually abused a teen 50 years ago while he was a priest in New York. McCarrick, 87, was a well-known church leader in global affairs. He had said in a statement months ago that he had been made aware of teenager's allegation of sexual abuse while he was a priest in New York almost 50 years ago. He was archbishop of Washington from 2001 to 2006. McCarrick said that while he maintains his innocence, 'In obedience I accept the decision of The Holy See, that I no longer exercise any public ministry.'"

*****

Michael Shear, et al., of the New York Times: "Republican senators moved on Tuesday to defuse a political crisis by seeking passage of legislation that would swiftly bring an end to President Trump's practice of separating children from their parents when families cross into the United States illegally. Senator Mitch McConnell, the majority leader, said that 'all of the members of the Republican conference support a plan that keeps families together,' endorsing an approach that would provide legal authority to detain parents and children together while their legal status in the country is assessed by the courts. Asylum claims would be expedited by adding more immigration judges or allowing families to be processed before others, Republican senators said. Mr. McConnell said he planned to reach out to Democrats to support the effort.... But Senator Chuck Schumer of New York, the Democratic leader, immediately shot down the Republican approach, saying that Mr. Trump could -- and should -- use his executive authority, not legislation, to quickly end the family separations. 'There are so many obstacles to legislation, and when the president can do it with his own pen, it makes no sense,' Mr. Schumer said.... In an afternoon speech, Mr. Trump continued to falsely blame Democrats for causing the family separations and dismissed as 'crazy' several of the Republican proposals to address the issue by hiring hundreds of new immigration judges.... In a series of tweets on Tuesday morning, Mr. Trump continued to falsely blame Democrats for forcing the separations...." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... Mike DeBonis, et al., of the Washington Post: "President Trump implored anxious House Republicans to fix the nation's broken immigration system but did not offer a clear path forward amid the growing uproar over his administration's decision to separate migrant families at the border. Huddling with the GOP at the Capitol on Tuesday evening, Trump stopped short of giving a full-throated endorsement to legislation meant to unite the moderate and conservative wings of the House Republican caucus. Instead, Trump told Republicans in the closed-door strategy session that he would support either of the bills slated for votes later this week.... The impetuous president also often veered off into other unrelated matters during the meeting with House Republicans, as he mused on trade and North Korea policy, people inside the room said. He also mocked Rep. Mark Sanford (R-S.C.), whose primary loss last week was blamed mainly on his criticisms of the president." ...

     ... As the Worms Turn. House Republicans Boo Trump. Josh Dawsey of the Washington Post: "'I want to congratulate him on running a great race!' Trump said [of Mark Sanford] sarcastically, to awkward silence from more than 200 of his Republican colleagues. Hearing silence from the room, Trump then ... said, 'What, nobody gets it,' and added that Sanford is a 'nasty guy.' There were boos -- a rarity for Trump in a room where he is largely loved.... Trump did not take questions from the lawmakers." ...

... Torturing Children Is a Winning Issue, Trump Says. Catherine Lucey, et al., of the AP: "Calling the shots as his West Wing clears out..., Donald Trump sees his hard-line immigration stance as a winning issue heading into a midterm election he views as a referendum on his protectionist policies. 'You have to stand for something,' Trump declared Tuesday, as he defended his administration's immigration policy amid mounting criticism over the forced separation of children from their parents at the U.S.-Mexico border.... Trump remains confident that projecting toughness on immigration is the right call, said five White House officials and outside advisers who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly.... Several White House aides, led by adviser Stephen Miller, have encouraged the president to make immigration a defining issue for the midterms." ...

... Miller Assumes Americans Are as Cruel as He & Trump. McKay Coppins of the Atlantic: "... when we talked [in March, Stephen] Miller also made it clear to me that he sees immigration as a winning political issue for his boss.... In Miller's view of the electoral landscape, the president is winning anytime the country is focused on immigration -- polls and bad headlines be damned.... For Miller, the public outrage and anger elicited by policies like forced family separation are a feature, not a bug." ...

     ... OR, as the Onion "reports" (satire): "Claiming that the publication of such a brief, tantalizing bit of audio was a breach of their journalistic responsibility, a furious Stephen Miller told reporters Tuesday that he was outraged at ProPublica for only releasing seven minutes of immigrant children sobbing.... Miller added that the one silver lining was the likelihood that other outlets would soon broadcast hours of comprehensive, high-quality footage of immigrant children being tormented."

Ed Kilgore: Trump's "coarse and violent language ... [is] really, really getting out of hand, [link fixed] as a tweet today illustrated:... 'Democrats are the problem. They don't care about crime and want illegal immigrants, no matter how bad they may be, to pour into and infest our Country, like MS-13....' Josh Marshall makes the unavoidable historical connection: 'The use of the word "infest" to talk about people is literally out of the Nazi/anti-Semites' playbook for talking about the Jewish threat....'... However you want to explain the meaning of his words or their intent, this is a rhetorical line that should never be crossed, regardless of its precise application. As Marshall notes, this is standard racist rhetoric with a deep and disreputable history.... [In a tweet yesterday, Trump wrote,] 'The people of Germany are turning against their leadership as migration is rocking the already tenuous Berlin coalition. Crime in Germany is way up. Big mistake made all over Europe in allowing millions of people in who have so strongly and violently changed their culture!' Lecturing Germans on how to maintain their cultural purity is not a good look for anyone." ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: AND, as we learned yesterday, crime is NOT way up in Germany. It's down.

Eric Boehlert of Shareblue: "Denouncing the 'damage he is currently causing to immigrants, particularly children and families,' 640 members of Attorney General Jeff Sessions' United Methodist Church community, including key church leaders, have signed a letter accusing Sessions of child abuse and racial discrimination as he carries out Trump's radical and hateful immigration policies.... Citing Paragraph 2702.3 of the 2016 United Methodist Book of Discipline, the group formally charged Sessions 'with the chargeable offenses of' child abuse, immorality, and racial discrimination.... The stunning church censure follows Sessions' ridiculous attempt to use a passage in the Bible to justify the administration willfully tearing families apart, a move that was nearly universally condemned by religious leaders."

Amanda Arnold of New York: "On Tuesday afternoon, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo [D] announced the state's intention to file a multi-agency lawsuit against the Trump administration's family-separation policy.... According to Cuomo's statement, at least 70 of those 2,000 separated children reside in detention centers in New York state -- a number that will only grow as border agents separate more families. To prevent this practice from continuing, Cuomo is reportedly directing the Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance, the Department of Health, and the Office of Children and Family Services to commence legal action against the administration for violating the human rights of asylum-seekers.... This announcement comes just one day after the governor declared that New York will not send National Guard troops to the U.S-Mexico border because the state 'will not be complicit in a political agenda that governs by fear and division.'" ...

... Steve Thompson & Mark Berman of the Washington Post: "Maryland's Republican governor [Larry Hogan] has joined the outrage over the Trump administration's separation of migrant children from their parents, ordering a National Guard helicopter and its crew to return from New Mexico and vowing not to deploy state resources to the border until the separations stop.... Many Democratic governors have made similar pledges. On Tuesday, Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam (D) recalled four Virginia National Guard soldiers and a helicopter.... Connecticut Gov. Dannel Malloy (D) compared the separation policy to the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II and said he would 'not condone the use of our military reservists to participate in any effort at the border that is connected to this inhumane practice.'" (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

** Franco Ordoñez & Anita Kumar of McClatchy News: "The Trump administration has likely lost track of nearly 6,000 unaccompanied migrant children, thousands more than lawmakers were alerted to last month, according to a McClatchy review of federal data. Federal officials acknowledged last month that nearly 1,500 unaccompanied minors arrived on the southern border alone without their parents and were placed with sponsors who did not keep in touch with federal officials, but those numbers were only a snapshot of a three- month period during the last fiscal year.... The reality is the Trump administration -- and the Obama administration beforehand -- has lost track and continues to lose track of thousands of unaccompanied minors while [the Office of Refugee Resettlement] does not appear to be trying to keep track of the children once they're placed with sponsors."

"Complete Chaos." Nick Miroff of the Washington Post: "Under the Trump adminisation's separation system, parents who are prosecuted and held in immigration detention to await deportation cannot regain custody of their children. Those who are released may spend weeks or even months trying to get them back.... The process requires coordination between Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), which holds many of the parents, and HHS, which takes custody of children and places them with adult 'sponsors.' Usually those sponsors are close relatives, but sometimes they are foster homes hundreds of miles away. 'There is complete chaos,' said Lee Gelernt, an ACLU attorney whose organization is suing to force the government to promptly return children to their parents.... 'In America, when you get out of jail, you get your kid back,' he said. Migrant parents face significantly more bureaucratic hurdles once they lose legal custody to the U.S. government." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... Julia Ainsley of NBC News: "The former head of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement [John Sandweg] told NBC News that migrant parents separated from their children at the border are sometimes unable to relocate their child and remain permanently separated.... While a parent can quickly move from detention to deportation, a child's case for asylum or deportation may not be heard by a judge for several years because deporting a child is a lower priority for the courts, Sandweg explained.... 'You could be creating thousands of immigrant orphans in the U.S. that one day could become eligible for citizenship when they are adopted,' Sandweg explained." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: So under this scenario, "zero tolerance" means admitting traumatized, troubled children -- Trump-brand "orphans" -- while rejecting families with a parent or parents who are able to work & improve the U.S. economy almost immediately. But, hey, it's a great 2018 campaign ploy. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... Benjamin Carey of the New York Times: "The longer children remain in institutional settings, the greater their risk of depression, post-traumatic stress and other mental health problems.... The risk of mental health consequences also depends on the holding facility itself -- the staff, the turnover, whether children know where their parents are, and how long they'll be held.... Institutions -- even the best and most humane -- by their nature warp the attachments children long for, the visceral and concentrated exchange of love, tough and otherwise, that comforts, supports and shapes a child's heart and mind.... Kalina Brabeck, a psychologist at Rhode Island College who works with immigrant children who lose their parents to deportation or for other reasons, said that the experience of loss often leads to a form of post-traumatic stress -- the paralyzing vigilance, avoidance and emotional gusts first identified in war veterans. Most of the children held on the border will have accumulated traumas, Dr. Brabeck said. Even before their parents were detained, many already had run the gauntlet of immigration itself, fleeing with little resources from often violent communities." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

... Fernando Ramirez of the Houston Chronicle: "A recently leaked image shows dozens of immigrants in orange jumpsuits, their hands and feet shackled, undergoing a 'mass trial' in Pecos, Texas, a small town roughly 70 miles southwest of Odessa. Rapid fire trials like the one seen in the image are not an anomaly, but few Americans know what the controversial practice looks like since photographing federal court proceedings is forbidden. Debbie Nathan, the reporter who came across the image while covering mass trials in Texas for The Intercept, said the photo was floating around the Pecos legal community and was apparently snapped by someone who felt morally conflicted by the effects of the Trump administration's new 'zero tolerance' policy." ...

... Debbie Nathan of the Intercept: "... mass trials have been occurring off and on since 'Operation Streamline' was first introduced in 2005. But on May 7, Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced that the U.S. government will prosecute '100 percent of illegal southwest border crossings.' He added that people who were 'smuggling a child' will be prosecuted 'and that child will be separated from you as required by law.' In practice, this means that even parents fleeing violence to protect their young children will be deemed smugglers -- that is, criminals.... The anguish that parents communicated..., and the spectacle of dozens of migrants being convicted and sentenced en masse, in proceedings lasting just a few minutes and with only the most perfunctory legal representation, has shocked courthouse employees." Read on. ...

... "Frontier 'Justice.'" Miriam Jordan of the New York Times: "Multiple-defendant immigration hearings have been held for years in Arizona and Texas.... Assembly-line justice, known as Operation Streamline, started under President George W. Bush and persisted under President Barack Obama as deportations and other immigration cases were on the rise. But the Trump administration's new policy of prosecuting cases that previously were most often not a priority is pushing thousands of new defendants into the federal court system." Read on. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

That Was Then; This Is Now. David Graham of the Atlantic: "... on July 21, 2016, Donald Trump stood at a lectern in Cleveland and made a solemn vow. 'Nobody knows the system better than me, which is why I alone can fix it,' he said.... Candidate Trump was clear that he was talking, in large part, about immigration, which had been the central issue of his campaign[.]... Where that politician has gone is anybody's guess, but he's not the one who's in the White House now. Trump now faces a mushrooming political crisis over his administration's policy of separating children of unauthorized immigrants from their parents at the border.... This is a rare case where Trump alone really can fix it. With a single word, he could reverse the policy, which his administration implemented last month. Instead, however, Trump has spent days railing at Democrats and claiming that they are to blame. Late Monday afternoon, Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen stood in the White House briefing room and echoed Trump's comments in Cleveland -- but flipped 180 degrees. 'Congress and the courts created these problems, and Congress alone can fix it,' she said." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Hunter Walker of Yahoo! News: "President Trump's controversial child separation policy is being carried out with the help of private businesses who have received millions of dollars in government contracts to help run the shelters where young migrants are being held away from their parents. The government has released few photos of the shelters where the children are being detained and at times declined to allow media and even elected officials access to the facilities. Amid this secrecy, many of the businesses participating in the program have remained behind the scenes without being identified. However, by reviewing publicly available contracts data, Yahoo News was able to identify five companies that are participating in the operation of the shelters, including two companies that have not previously been tied to the program. And in response to inquiries, one of the companies said it would cease participation in a program that required it to 'maintain readiness' to transport young migrants to government facilities."

How Clueless/Callous Is the Trump Administration?

... Satoshi Sugiyama of the New York Times: "It might not have been the most opportune time for the State Department to hold a Facebook Live chat on how to travel with children. In the midst of the Trump administration's crackdown on the southern border that has separated crying children from their parents..., the State Department's consular affairs unit held a question-and-answer session via Facebook on Tuesday intended for American families going abroad.... The responses spoke volumes. 'Do you recommend cage training for children to get them used to arriving in the US?,' Facebook user Matt Schneider commented.... Theresa Rowe, asked: 'What is the process for getting my children back once the US Government has separated them from me and incarcerated them?'" ...

... Wait, Wait. This Is Worse. Meagan Flynn of the Washington Post: "Protesters entered a Mexican restaurant in Washington, D.C., Tuesday evening to heckle Secretary of Homeland Security Kirstjen Nielsen. She appeared to sit quietly with her head down for more than 10 minutes listening to the protesters chanting 'Shame!' and 'End family separation!' Protesters, roughly 10 to 15 of them, entered MXDC Cocina Mexicana about 8 p.m. while Nielsen finished her meal with one other person. The restaurant's general manager, Thomas Genovese, told The Washington Post that Nielsen had been dining for about an hour when the heckling began. She did not come with a reservation, he said. The eatery is about two blocks east of the White House.... Nielsen's security detail stood calmly in front of her table, and the U.S. Secret Service told The Post in a statement that no arrests were made. Witnesses standing at the bar said that the protesters remained nonviolent and were not aggressive. Brent Epperson, a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Alberta visiting Washington for work, said that random customers in the restaurant, including him, even started clapping along with the protesters at their tables.... Just a few hours earlier, Nielsen had retweeted President Trump's praise for the 'fabulous job' she did at a press conference explaining the administration's policy." ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: Other than that, Ms. Nielsen, how were the enchiladas?

Josh Lederman of the AP: "Republican Sen. John McCain and Democratic Sen. Chris Coons called on ... Donald Trump's administration Tuesday to withdraw its nominee for a key State Department position over his 'lack of empathy' for immigrants.... In a letter to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, the pair wrote that Ronald Mortensen, Trump's nominee for assistant secretary of state for Population, Refugees and Migration, 'has spread misinformation about immigrants.' They said they strongly oppose his nomination, accusing Mortensen of displaying 'a lack of empathy for innocent men, women, and children fleeing violence and oppression.'... Mortensen, a retired foreign service officer and U.S. Agency for International Development official, was nominated in May. If confirmed by the Republican-controlled Senate, he would oversee the State Department unit that deals with refugee resettlement and assistance to displaced people, including those fleeing conflict. He is known for his outspoken views on immigration, including as a fellow at the Center for Immigration Studies, a think tank that the Southern Poverty Law Center ... has deemed a hate group." ...

... Katy O'Donnell of Politico: "Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) said today she will put a hold on the nomination of Kathy Kraninger to lead the CFPB until she turns over all documents about any role she played in families being separated at the border. In her current position as an associate director at OMB, Kraninger oversees the budgets for the Justice Department and the Department of Homeland Security -- meaning she 'helps oversee the agencies that are ripping kids from their parents,' Warren tweeted this morning. Warren and Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), the top Democrat on the committee responsible for approving the nomination, noted in a letter that Kraninger's OMB oversight role includes providing 'ongoing policy and management guidance' and overseeing 'implementation of policy options' at the agencies in her portfolio." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

AND this is how Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Md.) responds to another hearing on The E-Mails! Mrs. McC: Thanks to unwashed for reminding me:

     ... I read that President Obama was counseling potential 2020 presidential candidates. I hope he is advising them to learn to speak Black Preacher, because that's what Obama did & I'm convinced that's why he became POTUS. So far the only presidential candidate I'm aware of who knows how to do that is Bernie Sanders, & I really think we need a president who's at least 20 years younger than Bernie & Donnie Despicable.

Annals of "Journalism," Ctd. John Koblin & Tiffany Hsu of the New York Times: "For years, the Murdoch family has been able to maintain a separation between its Fox News network and its sprawling entertainment empire. But that corporate buffer seems to be disintegrating, with several prominent creators of hit TV shows expressing disgust in recent days with the 24-hour news channel's coverage of the Trump administration's border security policy. Steve Levitan, the creator of 'Modern Family,' which airs on ABC but is produced by Fox's television studio, wrote on Twitter on Tuesday that he was 'disgusted to work at a company that has anything whatsoever to do with @FoxNews.' The film director Paul Feig echoed those sentiments, writing that he had made two films for the 20th Century Fox movie studio but 'cannot condone the support their news division promotes toward the immoral and abusive policies and actions taken by this current administration toward immigrant children.' Those tweets came several days after Seth MacFarlane, the creator of 'Family Guy,' said he was 'embarrassed' to work at 21st Century Fox after the Fox News host Tucker Carlson told viewers not to trust other news networks."

Annals of "Journalism," Ctd. Bill Goodykoontz of the Arizona Republic: "Outrage over the Trump administration's policy of separating children from their parents at the border is clearly growing, and it looks as if the media are a driving force behind it.... Media outlets have finally gone all Howard Beale (no doubt because their audiences have). They're mad as hell, and they're not going to take it anymore.... Finally, we seem willing to call a lie a lie -- sorry, a falsehood if you're the The New York Times -- something that's been carefully avoided since ... Donald Trump first began running for office. Finally, we seem willing to look beyond he said, she said false equivalencies, the anchor that's been dragging down meaningful reporting for far too long." ...

... AND Right on Cue ... Ashley Parker of the Washington Post: "President Trump ... has been outdoing even himself with falsehoods in recent days, repeating and amplifying bogus claims on several of the most pressing controversies facing his presidency. Since Saturday, Trump has tweeted false or misleading information at least seven times on the topic of immigration and at least six times on a Justice Department inspector general report into the FBI's handling of its investigation into Hillary Clinton's private email server. That's more than a dozen obfuscations on just two central topics -- a figure that does not include falsehoods on other issues, whether in tweets or public remarks. The false claims come as the president -- emboldened by fewer disciplinarians inside the West Wing -- indulges in frequent Twitter screeds. A Washington Post analysis found that in June, Trump has been tweeting at the fastest rate of his presidency so far, an average of 11.3 messages per day."

This Russia Thing, Etc., Ctd.

Money-Launderer-in-Chief. Allegedly. Anita Kumar of McClatchy News: "Buyers connected to Russia or former Soviet republics made 86 all-cash sales -- totaling nearly $109 million -- at 10 Trump-branded properties in South Florida and New York City, according to a new analysis shared with McClatchy. Many of them made purchases using shell companies designed to obscure their identities. 'The size and scope of these cash purchases are deeply troubling as they can often signal money laundering activity," said Rep. Adam Schiff of California, the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee and a former federal prosecutor. 'There have long been credible allegations of money laundering by the Trump Organization which, if true, would pose a real threat to the United States in the event that Russia were able to leverage evidence of illicit financial transactions against the president.'" (Also linked yesterday.)

M.J. Lee, et al., of CNN: "Donald Trump's personal attorney Michael Cohen has signaled to friends that he is 'willing to give' investigators information on the President if that's what they are looking for, and is planning on hiring a new lawyer to handle a possible indictment from federal prosecutors. 'He knows a lot of things about the President and he's not averse to talking in the right situation,' one of Cohen's New York friends who is in touch with him told CNN. 'If they want information on Trump, he's willing to give it.' Cohen is planning to hire Guy Petrillo, a former chief of the criminal division of the US attorney's office in Manhattan and an experienced trial lawyer, a source familiar confirmed. The source said all the paperwork and retainer may not have been finalized just yet. The shift in legal strategy and signals of potential cooperation with investigators come as Cohen feels increasingly isolated from the President, whom he has been famously loyal to for more than a decade." ...

... Emily Fox of Vanity Fair: "News of Cohen's legal shake-up has inevitably fanned speculation about whether he would flip. The conjecture appeared to weigh on Donald Trump, who distanced himself from his former personal attorney when asked by reporters outside the White House last week if he thought Cohen would cooperate with the government. 'I always liked Michael,' he told reporters. The use of the past tense was not lost on those close to Cohen. These people say that Trump has been foolishly careless with how he has publicly talked about Cohen, who they believe holds all the cards in the situation." ...

... Nick Visser of the Huffington Post: "Michael Cohen ... has complained to friends about his mounting legal fees and grown frustrated that his former boss isn't footing the bill, The Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday.... In recent months, Cohen has reportedly said that he feels the legal debts are 'bankrupting' him and that Trump owes him for his years of service, unnamed associates told the newspaper."

Michael Schmidt & Adam Goldman of the New York Times: "President Trump's personal lawyer Rudolph W. Giuliani was questioned this year in an inquiry into whether he was told about the F.B.I.'s reopening of the Hillary Clinton email investigation before it was disclosed to Congress and the public, he confirmed on Tuesday. During an hourlong interview in Washington in February, Mr. Giuliani said, he told investigators for the Justice Department's inspector general that he had not learned anything before the public did. Mr. Giuliani ... made statements in late October 2016 on Fox News hinting that a surprise was coming about Mrs. Clinton before Election Day. The inspector general is examining leaks from the F.B.I. during the presidential campaign, including what prompted Mr. Giuliani's statement.... He said he told investigators that he had only spoken with retired F.B.I. agents during the campaign about how Mr. Comey had handled the email investigation but that they did not share with him any sensitive information about the inquiry." Giuliani claimed the "surprise" was a planned Trump speech Trump, not info he got from FBI agents.

Matt Zapotosky of the Washington Post: "The FBI agent who was removed from the special counsel investigation for sending anti-Trump texts was escorted from the FBI building Friday and effectively relieved of work responsibilities -- though he technically remains an FBI agent, his lawyer said. Peter Strzok already had been reassigned to the FBI's Human Resources Division after he was taken off special counsel Robert S. Mueller III's team, though the move last week effectively took him off even that assignment. The move put Strzok on notice that the bureau intends to fire him, though he has rights to appeal that are likely to delay that action. His lawyer, Aitan Goelman, said in a statement, that Strzok was 'being put through a highly questionable process' and that the public should be concerned about how politics had 'been allowed to undermine due process and the legal protections owed to someone who has served his country for so long.'"

Ana Swanson of the New York Times: "President Trump's threat to impose tariffs on almost every Chinese product that comes into the United States intensified the possibility of a damaging trade war, sending stock markets tumbling on Tuesday and drawing a rebuke from retailers, tech companies and manufacturers. The Trump administration remained unmoved by those concerns, with a top trade adviser, Peter Navarro, insisting that China has more to lose from a trade fight than the United States. He also declared that Mr. Trump would not allow Beijing to simply buy its way out of an economic dispute by promising to import more American goods.... But [the administration's approach] has spooked companies, investors and markets, which are increasingly worried that the United States has no other strategy to resolve a stalemate with China over its trade practices. Several rounds of trade talks with top Chinese officials in Washington and Beijing produced little agreement, and no additional official negotiations are scheduled, administration officials said. On Tuesday, Mr. Trump suggested he was ready for a fight, saying China would no longer take advantage of the United States." ...

... Fred Imbert & Alexandra Gibbs of CNBC: "Stocks fell sharply on Tuesday after ... Donald Trump's latest threat to China increased fears of an impending trade war between the world's largest economies. The Dow Jones industrial average fell 275 points, with Boeing, DowDuPont and Caterpillar as the worst-performing stocks in the index. The 30-stock index also erased all of its gains for the year and was on pace to post a six-day losing streak, its longest since March 2017. The S&P 500 dropped 0.6 percent, with materials, industrials and tech all falling more than 1 percent. The Nasdaq composite dropped 0.8 percent." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Carol Morello of the Washington Post: "The Trump administration withdrew from the United Nations Human Rights Council on Tuesday in protest of what it perceives as an entrenched bias against Israel and a willingness to allow notorious human rights abusers as members. U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley, who has sought major changes on the council throughout her tenure, issued a blistering critique of the panel, saying it had grown more callous over the past year and become a 'protector of human rights abusers and a cesspool of political bias.' She cited the admission of Congo as a member even as mass graves were being discovered there, and the failure to address human rights abuses in Venezuela and Iran.... The decision to leave the 47-nation body was more definitive than the lesser option of staying on as a nonvoting observer. It represents another retreat by the Trump administration from international groups and agreements whose policies it deems out of sync with American interests on trade, defense, climate change and, now, human rights. And it leaves the council without the United States playing a key role in promoting human rights around the world." ...

... Nick Wadhams of Bloomberg: "The Trump administration plans to announce its withdrawal from the United Nations Human Rights Council on Tuesday, making good on a pledge to leave a body it has long accused of hypocrisy and criticized as biased against Israel, according to two people familiar with the matter. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and U.S. Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley plan to announce the withdrawal at the State Department in Washington at 5 p.m., the people said. They asked not to be identified discussing a decision that hadn't yet been made public. The 47-member council, based in Geneva and created in 2006, began its latest session on Monday with a broadside against ... Donald Trump's immigration policy by the UN's high commissioner for human rights. He called the policy of separating children from parents crossing the southern border illegally 'unconscionable.'" (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Today in Trump's Super-Corrupt Cabinet:

Ben Lefebvre & Nick Juliano of Politico: "A foundation established by Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke and headed by his wife is playing a key role in a real-estate deal backed by the chairman of Halliburton, the oil-services giant that stands to benefit from any of the Interior Department's decisions to open public lands for oil exploration or change standards for drilling. A group funded by David Lesar, the Halliburton chairman, is planning a large commercial development on a former industrial site near the center of the Zinkes' hometown of Whitefish.... The development would include a hotel and retail shops. There also would be a microbrewery -- a business first proposed in 2012 by Ryan Zinke and for which he lobbied town officials for half a decade. The Whitefish city planner, David Taylor, said in an interview that the project's developer suggested to him that the microbrewery would be set aside for Ryan and Lola Zinke to own and operate.... Meanwhile, a foundation created by Ryan Zinke is providing crucial assistance. Lola Zinke pledged in writing to allow the Lesar-backed developer to build a parking lot for the project on land that was donated to the foundation to create a Veterans Peace Park for citizens of Whitefish.... The Zinkes [also] ... own land on the other side of the development, and have long sparred with neighbors about their various plans for it."

Mike McIntire of the New York Times: "Commerce Secretary Wilbur L. Ross Jr. shorted stock in a shipping firm -- an investment tactic for profiting if share prices fall -- days after learning that reporters were preparing a potentially negative story about his dealings with the Kremlin-linked company. The transaction, valued between $100,000 and $250,000, took place last fall after Mr. Ross became aware that journalists investigating offshore finances were looking at his investments in the shipper Navigator Holdings, whose major clients included a Russian energy company. The New York Times emailed a list of questions about Navigator to Mr. Ross on Oct. 26. Three business days later, Mr. Ross, a wealthy investor, opened a short position in Navigator, according to filings released on Monday by the Office of Government Ethics. The company's stock price slid about 4 percent before Mr. Ross closed his position on Nov. 16, eleven days after the articles were published by The Times and the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists as part of the 'Paradise Papers' project. The transaction was first reported on Monday by Forbes." Ross has offered a nonsensical defense. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Peter Baker & Maggie Haberman of the New York Times: "Joseph W. Hagin, a deputy chief of staff to President Trump and one of the most seasoned government veterans on a team populated mainly by newcomers with little if any prior experience in the White House, plans to step down next month. Mr. Hagin has run White House operations for Mr. Trump for 17 months, overseeing the daily administration of a building often whipsawed by chaos generated by the president. Just this month, Mr. Hagin led a delegation of officials in Singapore who arranged the logistics of Mr. Trump's landmark summit meeting with Kim Jong-un, the North Korean leader.... A senior White House official ... said Mr. Hagin had been repeatedly targeted by others in Mr. Trump's orbit, both inside and outside the building, who questioned his loyalty given his ties to the Bush family." ...

      ... Mrs. McCrabbie: For more on "seasoned" Joe Hagin, see this BuzzFeed story, which safari linked Monday. As safari wrote, "The whole story is twisted."

Devlin Barrett, et al., of the Washington Post: "Republicans and Democrats sparred for a second day Tuesday over an internal Justice Department report that sharply criticized former FBI director James B. Comey for the bureau's work investigating Hillary Clinton in 2016. Inspector General Michael Horowitz answered questions for more than five hours at a joint hearing of the House Judiciary and Oversight committees, a day after he testified before a Senate panel about his 500-page report.... Republicans sought to use the [report's] findings to cast doubt upon the fairness of the ongoing special-counsel probe into Russia's interference in the 2016 election and whether any of President Trump's associates coordinated with the Kremlin to influence its outcome.... Horowitz tried to beat back suggestions from Republicans that his office had gone easy on the FBI, saying, 'We didn't pull any punches.'"

Jonathan Swan & Alayna Treene of Axios: "Donald Trump Jr. and George P. Bush had formed an unlikely alliance despite their fathers, Donald Trump and Jeb Bush, loathing each other -- with Don Jr. backing George P. in his re-election campaign for Texas land commissioner, and even planning to headline a New York fundraiser for him on June 25.... Two sources close to Don Jr. tell Axios that he has decided to pull out of the fundraiser due to the Bush family's opposition to his father. Most recently, Jeb Bush tweeted that 'children shouldn't be used as a negotiating tool' and that President Trump should end his 'heartless policy' of family separation." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Erica Werner of the Washington Post: "House Republicans released a proposal Tuesday that would balance the budget in nine years -- but only by making large cuts to entitlement programs, including Medicare and Social Security, that President Trump vowed not to touch. The House Budget Committee is aiming to pass the blueprint this week, but that may be as far as it goes this midterm election year. It is not clear that GOP leaders will put the document on the House floor for a vote, and even if it were to pass the House, the budget would have little impact on actual spending levels. Nonetheless the budget serves as an expression of Republicans' priorities at a time of rapidly rising deficits and debt. Although the nation's growing indebtedness has been exacerbated by the GOP's own policy decisions -- including the new tax law, which most analyses say will add at least $1 trillion to the debt -- Republicans on the Budget Committee said they felt a responsibility to put the nation on a sounder fiscal trajectory." Mrs. McC: Read on for more detail on Republicans' great ideas, which they borrowed from Paul Ryan's great idea.

This Is Nuts! Hiroko Tabuchi of the New York Times: "In cities and counties across the country -- including Little Rock, Ark.; Phoenix, Ariz.; southeast Michigan; central Utah; and [in Nashville,] Tennessee -- the Koch brothers are fueling a fight against public transit, an offshoot of their longstanding national crusade for lower taxes and smaller government. At the heart of their effort is a network of activists who use a sophisticated data service built by the Kochs, called i360, that helps them identify and rally voters who are inclined to their worldview. It is a particularly powerful version of the technologies used by major political parties.In places like Nashville, Koch-financed activists are finding tremendous success. Early polling here had suggested that the $5.4 billion transit plan would easily pass....But the outcome of the May 1 ballot stunned the city: a landslide victory for the anti-transit camp, which attacked the plan as a colossal waste of taxpayers' money."

Beyond the Beltway

Brendan King of CBS 6 Richmond, Va.: "In a majority six to one vote, the Richmond Public School board voted Monday night to change the name of J.E.B. Stuart Elementary to Barack Obama Elementary School.... Earlier this year the Richmond School Board voted 8-1 to rename the Northside school that honored the Confederate general." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)