The Commentariat -- May 30, 2018

Afternoon Update:

Trump Complains ABC Is Nicer to Valerie Jarrett than to Him. Bob Iger of ABC called Valerie Jarrett to let her know that 'ABC does not tolerate comments like those' made by Roseanne Barr. Gee, he never called President Donald J. Trump to apologize for the HORRIBLE statements made and said about me on ABC. Maybe I just didn't get the call? -- Donald Trump, in a tweet

Fox Foils Loon. Samantha Schmidt of the Washington Post: "... three voices on Fox News pushed back against the president's most recent conspiracy theory. A Fox News guest, commentator and anchor all rebuked claims from the president and his allies that the FBI planted a 'spy' in his campaign in an effort to undercut his candidacy. Outgoing Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-S.C.), the House Oversight Committee chairman and a Trump supporter, said in an interview on Fox that the FBI was justified in using a secret informant to assist in the Russia investigation. Gowdy, a member of the House Intelligence Committee, attended a classified Justice Department briefing last week on the FBI's use of the confidential source, identified as Stefan A. Halper.... Fox News legal analyst Andrew Napolitano (better known and often quoted by Trump as Judge Napolitano) said claims that the FBI placed an undercover spy on Trump's campaign 'seem to be baseless.'... Napolitano's reluctance to back Trump's claims was surprising in part because of Napolitano's previous tendency to peddle conspiracy theories with no evidence.... Also on Fox News on Tuesday, anchor Shepard Smith ripped apart the president's 'conspiracy theories' that Mueller and his team are meddling in the midterms, calling the allegations 'unfounded, not based in fact or reason, with no evidence to support them.'" Fortunately for Trump, Hannity is still solidly in Trump Conspiracy World.

Lachlan Markay & Asawin Suebsaeng of the Daily Beast on White House feuds: "Leaks ... have decimated morale. But factionalism was the real poison, with aides growing more and more convinced that enemies within are spreading gossip and innuendo to enhance their own standing.... sources close to the president suggested that firings would come sometime soon and that they would be targeting members of the communications team."

Ivanka Got Her Fee-Fees Hurt. Maggie Haberman of the New York Times: "Ivanka Trump abruptly left a conference call on Tuesday about a coming fitness event after receiving questions about her company's trademarks in China and her father's exercise regimen. White House officials insisted that she had always been scheduled to leave."

Betsy Woodruff of the Daily Beast: "The Senate intelligence committee has asked to interview Roger Stone, Donald Trump's longtime political adviser and self-described dirty trickster. Stone's lawyer, Grant Smith, told The Daily Beast that the committee last week sent them an email with a list of search terms for communications to use to determine which electronic communications to turn over to the Senate Intelligence Committee. At the same time, according to Smith, the committee said its members would like to question Stone after receiving the documents. Smith said the process has been amicable and that the interview date has not yet been set."

John DiStaso of WMUR (Manchester, NH): "An exhaustive review by state election officials, including a first-time comparison of voter information shared with 27 other states, has turned up virtually no evidence of possible voter fraud in New Hampshire, those officials said Tuesday.... In February 2017, less than a month after taking office, President Trump, in a private meeting with officials, including former Sen. Kelly Ayotte, claimed without evidence that he and Ayotte lost in New Hampshire in the 2016 general election because thousands of people were 'brought in on buses' from Massachusetts to 'illegally' vote in New Hampshire.... Gov. Chris Sununu, as a candidate in October 2016, charged in an interview with Boston radio talk show host Howie Carr that Democrats 'gamed the system to their advantage' because, he charged, 'when Massachusetts elections are not very close, they're busing them in all over the place' to the Granite State. Sununu, after being elected, later walked back the claim and said there was no voter fraud in the 2016 election.... [Associate Attorney General Anne Edwards said] that in fact there were buses from out-of-state in the 2014 midterm election, but the people they carried were legitimate New Hampshire voters."

Amie Ferris-Rotman of the Washington Post: "A fierce Kremlin critic and prominent Russian war correspondent, Arkady Babchenko, showed up alive at a press conference on Wednesday in Kiev, one day after he was reportedly shot and killed in the same city. Ukraine's chief of security services, Vasyl Gritsak, said Babchenko had faked his own death as a ruse to foil a real plot against his life. Babchenko, 41, fled his native Russia for Ukraine last year after receiving death threats for criticizing Russian military involvement in Syria. He told reporters Wednesday that his fake death was part of an operation with the security services in Ukraine that took two months to prepare. Russia had demanded on Tuesday that Ukraine conduct a full investigation into his death, though many suspected that Moscow was behind the attack." Mrs. McC: Nothing in the story indicates whether or not the ruse worked. ...

... Here's the Answer. Dmytro Vlasov & Nataliya Vasilyeva of the AP: "The movie-like twist came as Gritsak convened the news conference to announce that the security agency and the police had solved Babchenko' reported slaying.... Before ushering Babchenko into the room, Gritsak said investigators had identified a Ukrainian citizen who allegedly was paid $40,000 by the Russian security service to organize and carry out the hit. The unidentified Ukrainian man in turn allegedly hired an acquaintance to be the gunman, Gritsak said. The man allegedly paid to organize Banchenko's killing was detained Wednesday, he said, showing a video of the arrest."

William Cummings of USA Today: "Jesse Duplantis, a televangelist with viewers across the globe, says God told him he needs a new jet. Specifically, God told Duplantis he needs a Dassault Falcon 7X, a three-engine private jet capable of carrying 12 to 16 passengers at speeds up to 700 miles per hour. The Falcon 7X, which would be the fourth plane owned by Jesse Duplantis Ministries, has a range of almost 6,000 miles and costs about $54 million new, according to SherpaReport (although used ones are listed online for as little as $20 million).... He showed off a photo of the three planes currently owned by his ministry, bearing the caption, 'It's not about possessions, it's about priorities.'" Cummings reports Duplantis's conversations with God.

*****

This Russia Thing, Etc., Ctd.
A Bad Day for Trumpkin

Michael Schmidt & Julie Davis of the New York Times: In March 2017, Attorney General Jeff Sessions flew to Mar-a-Lago to talk to President Trump "about a pressing decision on his travel ban.... Mr. Trump [would not talk] ... about the travel ban.... Mr. Trump, who had told aides that he needed a loyalist overseeing the [Russia] inquiry, berated Mr. Sessions [for recusing himself] and told him he should reverse his decision, an unusual and potentially inappropriate request. Mr. Sessions refused. The confrontation, which has not been previously reported, is being investigated by the special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III, as are the president's public and private attacks on Mr. Sessions and efforts to get him to resign. Mr. Trump dwelled on the recusal for months, according to confidants and current and former administration officials who described his behavior toward the attorney general. The special counsel's interest ... suggests that the obstruction investigation is broader than it is widely understood to be -- encompassing not only the president's interactions with and firing of the former F.B.I. director, James B. Comey, but also his relationship with Mr. Sessions.... Before the recusal, the president and his attorney general were friends, often sharing meals and talking on the phone. Today, they rarely speak...." ...

... Jonathan Chait: "Whatever the legal consequences, his demands that Sessions take the extraordinary step of reversing a recusal that was obviously needed show how deeply Trump believes the law does not apply to him." ...

... NEW. John Wagner of the Washington Post: "President Trump said Wednesday that he wished he had picked someone other than Jeff Sessions to be attorney general, renewing a slight of the former senator who recused himself from the investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 presidential campaign." ...

... Mrs. McCrabbie: Trump is tweeting this morning, citing Trey Gowdy to berate Jeff Sessions once again: (1) "Rep.Trey Gowdy, 'I don't think so, I think what the President is doing is expressing frustration that Attorney General Sessions should have shared these reasons for recusal before he took the job, not afterward. If I were the President and I picked someone to be the country's.... (2) ...chief law enforcement officer, and they told me later, 'oh by the way I'm not going to be able to participate in the most important case i the office, I would be frustrated too...and that's how I read that - Senator Sessions, why didn't you tell me before I picked you..... (3) ....There are lots of really good lawyers in the country, he could have picked somebody else!' And I wish I did!"

David Boucher of the Tennessean: "Despite a Twitter pledge Tuesday morning from ... Donald Trump 'to start focusing my energy' on policy, Trump lambasted the ongoing federal investigation into his campaign during a rally Tuesday evening in Nashville. Trump repeated an incorrect claim the FBI tried to infiltrate his campaign -- something he calls 'spygate' -- in an attempt to undermine the investigation of U.S. Department of Justice Special Counsel Robert Mueller. 'So how do you like the fact they had people infiltrating our campaign? Can you imagine? Can you imagine people infiltrating our campaign?' Trump said to cheers from several thousand people at Municipal Auditorium in downtown Nashville.... The comments came moments after The New York Times reported U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions is a focal point of the obstruction investigation by Mueller."

Maegan Vazquez of CNN: "... Donald Trump alleged Tuesday -- without providing any evidence -- tha special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation will meddle in the midterm elections to benefit Democrats. Trump's claim is his latest attack on the credibility of the Russia investigation as being politically motivated, though it's a significant new step in his attacks on what is intended to be an independent probe working to get to the bottom of Russia's efforts to interfere in the 2016 election. 'The 13 Angry Democrats (plus people who worked 8 years for Obama) working on the rigged Russia Witch Hunt, will be MEDDLING with the mid-term elections, especially now that Republicans (stay tough!) are taking the lead in Polls'" Trump tweeted. 'There was no Collusion, except by the Democrats!'" (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... Asawin Suebsaeng & Sam Stein of the Daily Beast: "... Donald Trump spent his long Memorial Day weekend ... lob[bing] innuendo and unfounded accusations at the man who occupied the office before him. Barack Obama, Trump declared over the course of several days, 'did NOTHING' on trade, let the sanctioned Chinese phone company ZTE 'flourish with no security checks,' employed various lawyers on special counsel Robert Mueller's Russia probe, ignored Russian election meddling, and, above all, authorized 'spying' on the Trump 2016 campaign. What stood out about the weekend's salvo was the vitriol, perhaps panic, behind it.... According to two White House officials, Trump has been privately wondering whether Obama is actively working behind the scenes to undermine or undercut his presidency.... The most senior members of successive administrations usually adopt a muted approach to one another out of a sense of professional courtesy." ...

... Byron Wolf of CNN: Trump's witch-hunt charges are working. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... Dahlia Lithwick of Slate: Trump has defined (and redefined) the word "collusion" & what is legal & illegal as it relates to "collusion." "Trump has insisted on dozens of occasions that he has been cleared of all charges of collusion and that the Mueller investigation is thus a 'witch hunt' that persists despite his proven innocence.... Now it has recently emerged that Mueller is refining what he sees as collusion, and that the scope of his investigation has sprawled beyond collusion into other areas.... Even so, some journalists -- left and right -- continue to follow Trump's cues, arguing that collusion is some pre-defined thing.... It's important to recall that this sort of claim accepts Trump's legal framing, and Trump has been wrong on that framing for more than a year."

Josh Dawsey & John Wagner of the Washington Post: "... Rudolph W. Giuliani said Tuesday that Trump will not agree to an interview with the special counsel until prosecutors allow the president's legal team to review documents related to the FBI's use of a source to interact with members of Trump's 2016 campaign. 'We need all the documents before we can decide whether we are going to do an interview,' Giuliani said in an interview with The Washington Post, using Trump's term 'spygate' to refer to the FBI actions, which former officials have said were well within bounds. Giuliani's latest demand further ratcheted up the pressure that Trump and his lawyers are trying to place on special counsel Robert S. Mueller III's team as his investigation into alleged coordination between Trump's campaign and Russia reaches a key juncture."

... But There Must Be an Explanation! Steven Dennis of Bloomberg: "Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley said Donald Trump Jr.'s lawyers should be asked about possible discrepancies between his private testimony to the committee and press reports, but he didn't endorse a Democratic proposal to bring him in for a public hearing. 'I would suggest Mr. Trump Jr.'s attorneys be asked about these press accounts,' Grassley said Tuesday in a letter to Senator Chris Coons.... 'While it is possible there could be contradictions, there are potentially innocuous explanations.'... The Democrat who serves on the committee had urged Grassley to investigate whether the president's son had lied to the panel -- a crime -- when he denied knowledge of any offers of help to his father's 2016 campaign from foreign governments or foreign nationals other than Russia. Coons cited a May 19 story in the New York Times saying that Trump Jr. met with emissaries who told him that princes who led Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates were eager to help the campaign."

Why Devin Nunes Has Disappeared. Kyle Cheney of Politico: "Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-S.C.) said last week's [classified] briefing, convened by the Justice Department under pressure from Trump, convinced him even further that the FBI's information-gathering steps were appropriate. 'I am even more convinced that the FBI did exactly what my fellow citizens would want them to do when they got the information they got,' he said in an interview on Fox News. He added that the information also suggested that the effort had 'nothing to do with Donald Trump.'... He noted that the current top officials at the agencies, including FBI Director Chris Wray and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, 'now are all Trump appointees.'... Moments after Gowdy's interview, Trump took the stage at a rally in Nashville, Tennessee, and insisted that his campaign had been 'infiltrated' by political opponents...." ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: Gowdy, the valiant knight who led the most prominent Benghaaazi! probe, is retiring, and his retirement plans seem to have begun with his taking a small dose of truth serum. His Fox "News" interview blows the lid off "Spygate." Trump is evidently ignoring Gowdy's inconvenient brush with the truth, but Nunes -- who, alongside Gowdy, attended the Extra-Special DOJ Briefing -- is laying way low.

Joe Schneider of Bloomberg: "U.S. prosecutors in Manhattan will get a vast array of data seized from three phones belonging to ... Donald Trump's personal lawyer Michael Cohen by Wednesday, according to a filing from a retired judge reviewing materials taken by the FBI."

Andrew Harris of Bloomberg: "Paul Manafort’s defense team can't review an unredacted affidavit that supported warrants used to search his Alexandria residence, a judge ruled. U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson in Washington denied a request by Manafort's lawyers to review documents that could help them challenge the legal basis for the warrant. The ruling allows Special Counsel Robert Mueller to shield the names of confidential sources." Open in private window.

Josh Gerstein of Politico: "... Robert Mueller's prosecutors indicated Tuesday that they're ready to move toward sentencing of another defendant who pleaded guilty in the ongoing probe of Russian influence in the 2016 presidential election. Prosecutors asked a federal judge to order a pre-sentencing report for Richard Pinedo, a Santa Paula, California, man who admitted in February to a felony identity fraud charge relating to the sale of bank account numbers that apparently helped Russian internet trolls pay for social media ads related to the U.S. presidential race."

Leaker-in-Chief. Eliana Johnson of Politico: "The White House has tried to avoid discussing a February skirmish between U.S. troops and Russian mercenaries in Syria, but that didn't stop ... Donald Trump from bragging about the Pentagon's performance at a recent closed-door fundraiser. The details of the battle remain classified, but speaking to donors in midtown Manhattan last Wednesday, Trump said he was amazed by the performance of American F-18 pilots. He suggested that the strikes may have been as brief as '10 minutes; and taken out 100 to 300 Russians, according to a person briefed on the president's remarks, which have not previously been reported.... According to The New York Times, which last week provided the first detailed description of the battle, the confrontation lasted four hours and left between 200 and 300 pro-Assad forces dead." Mrs. McC: The price of getting classified information? -- $50,000. Unless you're a top Russian diplomat. Then it's free.

Jacqueline Thomsen of the Hill: "President Trump went after former Tennessee Gov. Phil Bredesen (D) at a campaign rally Tuesday night, calling him a 'total tool' of Democratic leaders while attempting to boost his Republican challenger Rep. Marsha Blackburn. 'So [Rep.] Marsha [Blackburn]'s [R-Tenn.] very liberal Democrat opponent, Phil Bredesen, I never heard of this guy, who is he?' Trump said at a rally in Nashville, Tenn. 'He's an absolute total tool of Chuck Schumer ... and of course the MS-13 lover Nancy Pelosi. She loves MS-13, can you imagine,' the president continued. ...

... NEW. Julie Davis of the New York Times: "President Trump accused Democrats on Tuesday of siding with brutal immigrant gang members over American citizens and implored Republican voters to turn out in November's midterm elections or risk the safety of their country. During a raucous rally in Nashville, Mr. Trump invoked fears of crimes committed by illegal immigrants, particularly by the transnational gang MS-13, to argue for stricter border policies, including his long-promised wall, and charged that Democrats were standing in the way.... He worked his audience of about 1,000 into a frenzy by recalling the term he used this month during a discussion of how difficult it was to target suspected undocumented immigrants, including criminal gang members, for deportation. 'What was the name?' Mr. Trump asked. 'Animals!' his cheering supporters screamed back." ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: The whole idea here is to equate all Central American immigrants with inhuman/animal gang members. It's beyond disgusting. ...

... Matthew Nussbaum & Christopher Cadelago of Politico: "... Donald Trump spreads misinformation. A lot of it. Really, a lot. But every once in a while he will come out guns blazing in defense of the truth, demanding corrections and consequences for spreading falsehoods told by others, and using incorrect news reports to undercut the media as a whole. He executed the well-practiced maneuver once again on Tuesday, seizing on images of detained migrant children in bare-bones holding areas that had been spread on Twitter to attack his immigration policies but turned out to have been taken in 2014 while President Barack Obama was still in office.... In recent months Trump has called for the firing of a Washington Post reporter over an inaccurate tweet, slammed the media for mischaracterizing his characterization of some immigrants as 'animals' and called for ABC to fire Brian Ross over an incorrect report concerning the Russia investigation. This kind of rhetoric is emerging as a central element of his 2018 and 2020 campaign strategies.... But whereas mainstream media outlets correct false reports, Trump and his White House refuse to back down from exaggerations, falsehoods and outright lies." ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: House Democrats should collect some of Trump's most egregious lies -- like where he claims Nancy Pelosi "loves" Mexican gangs -- and demand that Trump be censured for lying to the American public & defaming the intelligence community & members of Congress with false accusations. A censure resolution would never pass, of course, but it would create some "official noise." Remember when the Senate censured Moveon.org for an ad in which the liberal group described David Petraeus as "General Betray Us"? Ironically, a few years later it came out that Petraeus had in fact betrayed us by giving classified documents to his girlfriend.

Ana Swanson of the New York Times: "The Trump administration said on Tuesday that it would proceed with plans to impose a series of punitive trade-related measures on China in the next month, intensifying pressure on Beijing as trade talks between the countries continue. The White House said in a statement that the United States would move ahead with its plan to levy 25 percent tariffs on $50 billion of imported Chinese goods, despite recent remarks by Steven Mnuchin, the Treasury secretary, and other administration officials that the tariffs would be suspended while the countries continued their negotiations.... The White House said it would detail the final list of goods that will be subject to the tariffs by June 15, and the duties would be imposed shortly after that...." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Denuclearization, No. McDonald's, Yes. Courtney Kube, et al., of NBC News: "A new U.S. intelligence assessment has concluded that North Korea does not intend to give up its nuclear weapons any time soon, three U.S. officials told NBC News -- a finding that conflicts with recent statements by ... Donald Trump that Pyongyang intends to do so in the future.... In an odd twist, a list of potential concessions by North Korea in the CIA analysis included the possibility that Kim Jong Un may consider offering to open a Western hamburger franchise in Pyongyang as a show of goodwill, according to three national security officials.... The CIA report came as a top nuclear expert argued in a new paper that the nuclear disarmament process in North Korea could take as a long as 15 years. Siegfried Hecker, a Stanford professor who once directed the federal government's Los Alamos laboratory in New Mexico -- and who has toured North Korean nuclear facilities four times -- argued that the sprawling nature of the North Korean program means it will take a long time to dismantle."

Greg Sargent: "What's notable about [Trump's] new spin [on immigration policy] -- that Democrats are to blame for the policy change -- isn't just that it's flatly false on its face. It's also that, by making this claim, Trump and the White House are basically admitting that their own policy is a moral abomination.... What is actually driving the change is that Trump and administration officials don't want high numbers of people to be crossing the border to apply for asylum at all, no matter what they are fleeing." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... Dana Milbank: "Even by President Trump's standards, this Memorial Day weekend was memorable for the sheer volume of balderdash, bunk, poppycock and patent nonsense flowing from the White House.... Calling him a liar lets him off easy. A liar, by definition, knows he's not telling the truth. Trump's behavior is worse: With each day it becomes more obvious he can't distinguish between fact and fantasy. It's an illness, and it's spreading.... (The White House held a briefing Tuesday to support Trump's attempt to blame Democrats for immigrant family separation.) Trump may not be able to separate fact from fiction, but those who knowingly back up his falsehoods are liars." ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: The person who held that White House briefing was Stephen Miller. Ted Hesson of Politico: "White House senior policy adviser Stephen Miller bashed Democrats on Tuesday for not repealing laws and overriding court rulings that he said encourage Central American migrants to seek refuge in the United States.... But the new policy to prosecute all suspected border-crossers -- and therefore separate more families -- came directly from Trump's own administration.... During the briefing, Miller argued that Democrats 'have tried to starve the government of detention space, as part of their crusade for open borders.' But although many Democrats oppose expanding detention, funding for detention beds has risen significantly during the Trump administration." Gosh, Hesson's report makes it sound as if Miller was just lying.

Adam Liptak of the New York Times: "The Supreme Court refused on Tuesday to hear a challenge to an Arkansas law that could force two of the state's three abortion clinics to close. As is their custom, the justices gave no reasons for turning away the appeal. The case will continue to be litigated in the lower courts. The law concerns medication abortions, which use pills to induce abortions in the first nine weeks of pregnancy. The law, enacted in 2015, requires providers of the procedure to have contracts with doctors who have admitting privileges at a hospital in the state. Abortion clinics in Arkansas said they were unable to find any doctors willing to sign such contracts. After the Supreme Court's action, Planned Parenthood said it would for now stop providing medication abortions in the state." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

"That Was Quick." Daily Beast: "ABC on Tuesday afternoon announced it has canceled its popular Roseanne reboot after its eponymous star, Roseanne Barr, went on a racist Twitter tirade. 'Roseanne's Twitter statement is abhorrent, repugnant and inconsistent with our values, and we have decided to cancel her show,' ABC Entertainment president Channing Dungey said in a statement." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... David Bauder of the AP: "ABC canceled its hit reboot of 'Roseanne' on Tuesday following star Roseanne Barr's racist tweet that referred to former Obama adviser Valerie Jarrett as a product of the Muslim Brotherhood and the "Planet of the Apes." ABC Entertainment President Channing Dungey said the comment "is abhorrent, repugnant and inconsistent with our values." Barr apologized and deleted her Monday-night tweet, calling it a 'bad joke,' but the damage had already been done. Late Tuesday, Barr tweeted a second apology to the writers and co-stars of the show and urging people not to feel sorry for her. She also highlighted supporters' tweets that criticized ABC and two of its personalities, Joy Behar and Keith Olbermann. She also retweeted a meme that juxtaposed shots of ... Donald Trump next to orangutans, and an image of Jarrett next to a picture of a 'Planet of the Apes' actress."

... Tony Maglio of the Wrap: "Viacom is pulling 'Roseanne' reruns from its Paramount Network, TV Land and CMT channels, a person with knowledge of the decision told TheWrap on Tuesday.... Additionally, Laff, a digital network that programs reruns of sitcoms spanning the past few decades, has made the same call.... Later Tuesday, Hulu confirmed it would be dropping episodes of the 'Roseanne' revival." ...

... Rebecca Sun of the Hollywood Reporter: "ICM Partners [-- a top talent agency --] has dropped Roseanne Barr following her racist tweet about former Obama senior adviser Valerie Jarrett." ...

... Niraj Chokshi of the New York Times: "The racist tweet that cost Roseanne Barr her hit ABC sitcom was not the only hateful message that the actress and outspoken conservative shared on Tuesday. In a flurry of tweets and retweets, Ms. Barr dabbled in far-right conspiracy theories old and new that included falsehoods about a frequent bogeyman, George Soros, the billionaire and progressive philanthropist. In an exchange with Chelsea Clinton, Ms. Barr falsely accused Mr. Soros, 87, of being a Nazi 'who turned in his fellow Jews 2 be murdered in German concentration camps & stole their wealth.' In another tweet, Ms. Barr accused Mr. Soros of wanting to 'overthrow' the United States by backing candidates for district attorney 'who will ignore U.S. law & favor "feelings."' Ms. Barr also retweeted a user who asserted that Black Lives Matter and anti-fascist activists are Soros-sponsored front groups. The user referred to Mr. Soros as the 'terrorist in chief.' The assertions about Mr. Soros that appeared throughout Ms. Barr's timeline are baseless." ...

... Erik Wemple of the Washington Post criticizes reports that call Barr's tweet "racially charged" or have written "what some call racist." Mrs. McC: I'm certain reporters do that because they think naming a racist remark "racist" lacks "objectivity." ...

... Sally Persons of the Washington Times: "Roseanne Barr announced Tuesday she's leaving Twitter after comparing a former Obama adviser to an ape." ...

... Anne Clark of Vulture: Roseanne Barr "never deleted her account, and as soon as it was obvious the promise to leave Twitter wouldn't get her out of this one, she was back at it the same day retweeting every conspiracy theory and double-standard argument she could find to avoid taking responsibility for her show's demise." ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: In one of the tweets-after-she-quit-Twitter which Clark cites, Barr said she thought Jarrett was Saudi. An easy mistake to make: Jarrett was born in Iran to African-American parents while her father ran a hospital there. ...

... Big Pharma Made Her Do It. Now Barr has tweeted that Ambien was responsible for her racist tweet. John Berman of CNN tweeted that he didn't recall that racism was a side-effect of Ambien. Mrs. McC: So I checked out an Ambien ad, and though it does not specifically cite racism as a side-effect, its disclaimer does say, "abnormal behavior, such as being more outgoing or aggressive than normal..., agitation ... may occur." ...

... James Poniewozik of the New York Times: "Credit where due: ABC canceled its highest-rated show, a linchpin of its fall schedule, as a stand against its star's racism. That decision will probably cut into the network's advertising profits.... But it is not a step you can take for granted. Take Donald Trump.... He began peddling the birther slur -- that Mr. Obama, the first black president, was not born in the United States -- while the fourth 'Celebrity Apprentice' was on NBC. The network kept him as host for three more seasons, and aired one more on which he was executive producer. In 2013, the 'Duck Dynasty' star Phil Robertson gave an interview likening 'homosexual behavior' to bestiality and suggesting that black people in the South were more content before the civil rights movement. The A&E network suspended him for nine days before reversing its decision, less a slap than a tap on the wrist.... Even if the president, who praised 'Roseanne' to his supporters as being 'about us,' doesn't weigh in, even if Ms. Barr herself stays off Twitter, recent history tells us people will seize on the opportunity to say that the p.c. thought police are repressing us, because a rich woman lost her job for calling a black woman an ape." ...

... Mrs. McCrabbie: Neither Mrs. Huckleberry nor her boss would say anything about Roseanne yesterday. But Valerie Jarrett was Barack Obama's closest advisor. Sooner or later, Trump will blow. ...

... Casey Michel of ThinkProgress: "With reactions ranging from claims of ignorance -- including questions about how commentary about 'apes' could ever be construed as racist -- to pledges of support for whatever Barr's next venture may be, some of the most prominent voices among the conspiratorial right offered their full-throated support for Barr's racist commentary, as well as their opposition to ABC’s decision." Michel provides numerous examples, including a retweet from Donnie Jr., in which Barr pegged George Soros as a Nazi who turned Jews over to the Germans, then stole the victims' money. ...

... MEANWHILE, Megyn Kelly Is Outraged She & Her Kids Might See a Homeless Person. David Edwards of the Raw Story: "NBC host Megyn Kelly on Tuesday lashed out at Starbucks over a policy that allows anyone to sit in the store or use the bathrooms -- even if they are not paying customers.... 'For the paying customers who go in with their kids, do you really want to deal with a mass of homeless people or whoever is in there -- could be drug addicted, you don't know when you're there with your kids paying for the services of the place.'” Mrs. McC: Megyn may have left Fox "News," but Fox has not left Megyn. If you can't pop for a $5 Peppermint Mocha, you don't belong in a restroom where Megyn sets her Skinny Vanilla Latte ass. No word NBC News is upset with that. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: I find Kelly's performance worse than Barr's. Roseanne was making another of her signature tasteless "jokes," & she was doing it on her own time. Kelly was voicing her insensitive opinion on air on what is ostensibly an NBC News show. Roseanne apologized. Kelly did not. P.S. Let's ask Kelly if Jesus & Santa are still white.

Capitalism is Deadly. Barry Meier of the New York Times: "Purdue Pharma, the company that planted the seeds of the opioid epidemic through its aggressive marketing of OxyContin, has long claimed it was unaware of the powerful opioid painkiller’s growing abuse until years after it went on the market. But a copy of a confidential Justice Department report shows that federal prosecutors investigating the company found that Purdue Pharma knew about 'significant' abuse of OxyContin in the first years after the drug's introduction in 1996 and concealed that information. Company officials had received reports that the pills were being crushed and snorted; stolen from pharmacies; and that some doctors were being charged with selling prescriptions.... Prosecutors recommended that three top Purdue Pharma executives be indicted on felony charges, including conspiracy to defraud the United States, that could have sent the men to prison if convicted. But top Justice Department officials in the George W. Bush administration did not support the move.... Instead, the government settled the case in 2007.... That decision followed meetings with a Purdue Pharma defense team whose advisers included Rudolph W. Giuliani...." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Beyond the Beltway

** Mitch Smith of the New York Times: "Gov. Eric Greitens of Missouri announced on Tuesday that he will resign, bowing to months of pressure as he faced a felony charge, a scandal tied to an extramarital relationship and the threat of impeachment. Mr. Greitens, a newcomer to politics and former member of the Navy SEALs whose political fortunes rose and fell with remarkable speed, remains under indictment in St. Louis on a charge of tampering with computer data. Prosecutors contend that Mr. Greitens, a Republican, illegally obtained a donor list from a veterans' charity he founded and used it for his 2016 campaign. A separate felony invasion-of-privacy charge against Mr. Greitens was dropped just before trial in May.... Lt. Gov. Michael L. Parson, a Republican from rural southwestern Missouri who previously served as a sheriff and state senator, is next in line for the governorship." ...

... Jason Hancock & Bryan Lowry of the Kansas City Star: "Eric Greitens ... resigned Tuesday -- effective at 5 p.m. Friday -- just as abruptly as he had arrived on Missouri's political scene, his career buried under an avalanche of scandal and felony charges. Even as he announced his historic decision to step down, Greitens asserted his innocence and argued that he was the victim of a political conspiracy.... A Rhodes scholar and former Navy SEAL, Greitens was once considered one of the brightest stars in the Republican Party -- a rock star who traveled the country campaigning for his fellow GOP governors, all while building his national profile and donor base for an almost inevitable run at the White House.... His political persona was based on a pledge to rid state government of 'corrupt career politicians.'... His first year in office was dominated by a steady stream of corruption allegations, most stemming from his reliance on anonymous campaign contributions routed through secretive nonprofits."

** Sheri Fink of the New York Times: "As hurricane season begins this week, experts are still trying to count the number of deaths caused by last year's devastating Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico. The latest estimate: roughly 4,600, many of them from delayed medical care. Residents of Puerto Rico died at a significantly higher rate during the three months after the hurricane than they did in the previous year, according to the results of a new study by a group of independent researchers from Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and other institutions. The researchers say their estimate, published Tuesday in The New England Journal of Medicine, remains imprecise, with more definitive studies still to come.... The findings, which used methods that have not been previously applied to this disaster, are important amid widespread concerns that the government's tally of the dead, 64, was a dramatic undercount."

Way Beyond

Andrew Roth of the Guardian: "A dissident Russian journalist has been shot at his apartment in Kiev in a high-profile murder that police said may have been tied to his reporting. Arkady Babchenko, a veteran Russian war correspondent, was shot three times in the back as he left his apartment to buy bread. He was found bleeding by his wife. Babchenko, 41, died in the ambulance to the hospital, a government official said. The killing appeared to be targeted. The gunman had apparently lain in wait for him outside his apartment. The head of Ukraine's police force said that two motives were being considered: his 'professional work and civil position'. Police on Wednesday evening had not named a suspect, but did post a sketch of a bearded man in a baseball hat."

The Commentariat -- May 29, 2018

Afternoon Update:

"That Was Quick." Daily Beast: "ABC on Tuesday afternoon announced it has canceled its popular Roseanne reboot after its eponymous star, Roseanne Barr, went on a racist Twitter tirade. 'Roseanne's Twitter statement is abhorrent, repugnant and inconsistent with our values, and we have decided to cancel her show,' ABC Entertainment president Channing Dungey said in a statement." ...

... AP News: "Roseanne Barr has apologized for suggesting that former White House adviser Valerie Jarrett is a product of the Muslim Brotherhood and the 'Planet of the Apes.'... Meanwhile, comic Wanda Sykes, who is a consulting producer on 'Roseanne,' tweeted that she would not be returning to the show. Barr's now-deleted tweet read: 'muslim brotherhood & planet of the apes had a baby=vj.' It was part of a busy period on Twitter for Barr, who wrote tweets or retweeted attacks on Michael Moore, Chelsea Clinton and George Soros." ...

... MEANWHILE, Megyn Kelly Is Outraged She & Her Kids Might See a Homeless Person. David Edwards of the Raw Story: "NBC host Megyn Kelly on Tuesday lashed out at Starbucks over a policy that allows anyone to sit in the store or use the bathrooms -- even if they are not paying customers.... 'For the paying customers who go in with their kids, do you really want to deal with a mass of homeless people or whoever is in there -- could be drug addicted, you don't know when you're there with your kids paying for the services of the place.'" Mrs. McC: Megyn may have left Fox "News," but Fox has not left Megyn. If you can't pop for a $5 Peppermint Mocha, you don't belong in a restroom where Megyn sets her Skinny Vanilla Latte ass. No word NBC News is upset with that. ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: I find Kelly's performance worse than Barr's. Roseanne was making another of her signature tasteless "jokes," & she was doing it on her own time. Kelly was voicing her insensitive opinion on air on what is ostensibly an NBC News show. Roseanne apologized. Kelly did not. P.S. Let's ask Kelly if Jesus & Santa are still white.

Ana Swanson of the New York Times: "The Trump administration said on Tuesday that it would proceed with plans to impose a series of punitive trade-related measures on China in the next month, intensifying pressure on Beijing as trade talks between the countries continue. The White House said in a statement that the United States would move ahead with its plan to levy 25 percent tariffs on $50 billion of imported Chinese goods, despite recent remarks by Steven Mnuchin, the Treasury secretary, and other administration officials that the tariffs would be suspended while the countries continued their negotiations.... The White House said it would detail the final list of goods that will be subject to the tariffs by June 15, and the duties would be imposed shortly after that...."

Greg Sargent: "What's notable about [Trump's] new spin [on immigration policy] — that Democrats are to blame for the policy change -- isn't just that it's flatly false on its face. It's also that, by making this claim, Trump and the White House are basically admitting that their own policy is a moral abomination.... What is actually driving the change is that Trump and administration officials don't want high numbers of people to be crossing the border to apply for asylum at all, no matter what they are fleeing."

Maegan Vazquez of CNN: "... Donald Trump alleged Tuesday -- without providing any evidence -- that special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation will meddle in the midterm elections to benefit Democrats. Trump's claim is his latest attack on the credibility of the Russia investigation as being politically motivated, though it's a significant new step in his attacks on what is intended to be an independent probe working to get to the bottom of Russia's efforts to interfere in the 2016 election. 'The 13 Angry Democrats (plus people who worked 8 years for Obama) working on the rigged Russia Witch Hunt, will be MEDDLING with the mid-term elections, especially now that Republicans (stay tough!) are taking the lead in Polls'" Trump tweeted. 'There was no Collusion, except by the Democrats!'" ...

... Byron Wolf of CNN: Trump's witch-hunt charges are working.

Capitalism is Deadly. Barry Meier of the New York Times: "Purdue Pharma, the company that planted the seeds of the opioid epidemic through its aggressive marketing of OxyContin, has long claimed it was unaware of the powerful opioid painkiller's growing abuse until years after it went on the market. But a copy of a confidential Justice Department report shows that federal prosecutors investigating the company found that Purdue Pharma knew about 'significant' abuse of OxyContin in the first years after the drug's introduction in 1996 and concealed that information. Company officials had received reports that the pills were being crushed and snorted; stolen from pharmacies; and that some doctors were being charged with selling prescriptions.... Prosecutors recommended that three top Purdue Pharma executives be indicted on felony charges, including conspiracy to defraud the United States, that could have sent the men to prison if convicted. But top Justice Department officials in the George W. Bush administration did not support the move.... Instead, the government settled the case in 2007.... That decision followed meetings with a Purdue Pharma defense team whose advisers included Rudolph Giuliani...."

Adam Liptak of the New York Times: "The Supreme Court refused on Tuesday to hear a challenge to an Arkansas law that could force two of the state's three abortion clinics to close. As is their custom, the justices gave no reasons for turning away the appeal. The case will continue to be litigated in the lower courts. The law concerns medication abortions, which use pills to induce abortions in the first nine weeks of pregnancy. The law, enacted in 2015, requires providers of the procedure to have contracts with doctors who have admitting privileges at a hospital in the state. Abortion clinics in Arkansas said they were unable to find any doctors willing to sign such contracts. After the Supreme Court's action, Planned Parenthood said it would for now stop providing medication abortions in the state."

*****

Julie Davis & Maggie Haberman of the New York Times: "Last week, President Trump promoted new, unconfirmed accusations to suit his political narrative: that a 'criminal deep state' element within Mr. Obama's government planted a spy deep inside his presidential campaign to help his rival, Hillary Clinton, win -- a scheme he branded 'Spygate.' It was the latest indication that a president who has for decades trafficked in conspiracy theories has brought them from the fringes of public discourse to the Oval Office. Now that he is president, Mr. Trump's baseless stories of secret plots by powerful interests appear to be having a distinct effect. Among critics, they have fanned fears that he is eroding public trust in institutions, undermining the idea of objective truth and sowing widespread suspicions about the government and news media that mirror his own.... Students of Mr. Trump's life and communication style argue that the idea of conspiracies is a vital part of his strategy to avoid accountability and punch back at detractors, real or perceived, including the news media.... Former aides to the president ... said paranoia predisposed him to believe in nefarious, hidden forces driving events. But they also said political opportunism informed his promotion of conspiracy theories." ...

     ... Mrs. Bea McCrabbie: "Deep inside his campaign"? Trump ran a bare-bones campaign with a teeny cadre of top staffers. So I'd like reporters to ask, "Who was the Obama/Clinton/FBI the spy?" The number of possibilities is limited. Tell us who the spy is, Mr. President*. ...

... Why Trump Will Get Worse. Jeet Heer of the New Republic: "Trump is unique in American politics in having no real institutional, ideological or partisan loyalty. He's really out for himself, which makes his threats to bring down American institutions all too plausible.... While Nixon was also willing to attack his enemies' 'witch hunt,' ultimately he was enough of a party man to realize that his fate was tied to the GOP. Once the Republican Congress turned against him in 1974, Nixon resigned.... Nixon was motivated by the fact that he could've lost his government pension if he was impeached and removed from office. For Trump, such a pension would be a minor consideration since he can make much more money through his brand, which would be best preserved by fighting as hard as possible so he keeps the loyalty of his most enthusiastic supporters.... The deeper [Trump] sinks in scandal, the more mud Trump will sling."

Happy Memorial Day! Those who died for our great country would be very happy and proud at how well our country is doing today. Best economy in decades, lowest unemployment numbers for Blacks and Hispanics EVER (& women in 18years), rebuilding our Military and so much more. Nice! -- Donald Trump, Monday morning

On Memorial Day, the president takes some time to remember that dead soldiers are grateful to him. -- Josh Barro ...

This is the most inappropriate comment that a POTUS has ever made. Self-promotion on a day to remember the fallen, and wishing those remembering their deceased loved ones a 'happy' holiday is appalling. -- VoteVets ...

... Jacqueline Thomsen of the Hill: "Social media users criticized President Trump for a Memorial Day tweet claiming that fallen service members 'would be very happy and proud at how well our country is doing today.' Trump sent the tweet on Monday to mark the holiday honoring fallen heroes, and used the opportunity to tout statistics about the economy under his administration.... Twitter users, including several journalists, quickly criticized the president, saying Trump was making the holiday about himself." ...

We can never truly repay the debt we owe our fallen heroes. But we can remember them, honor their sacrifice, and affirm in our own lives those enduring ideals of justice, equality, and opportunity for which generations of Americans have given that last full measure of devotion. -- President Barack Obama, Monday ...

... David Frum of the Atlantic: "Trump's perfect emptiness of empathy has revealed itself again and again through his presidency, but never as completely and conspicuously as in his self-flattering 2018 Memorial Day tweets. . They exceed even the heartless comment in a speech to Congress -- in the presence of a grieving widow -- that a fallen Navy Seal would be happy that his ovation from Congress had lasted longer than anybody else's.... On every Memorial Day, Americans should pray for peace. On this Memorial Day and the next, and the one after that, Americans should pray with extra fervor -- because war, if it comes, will come under the leadership of a man unequal to the job."

David Lynch & Damian Paletta of the Washington Post: "President Trump is merging his national security and trade goals in a blur of tactical improvisation that risks alienating U.S. allies and opening American businesses to costly retaliation, according to several Republican lawmakers, business executives and former U.S. officials. The president last week initiated a Commerce Department investigation that could lead to tariffs of up to 25 percent on foreign cars.... The president's fluid approach to national and economic security ... has left allies and adversaries baffled over U.S. intentions, according to foreign diplomats.... He also engages in freewheeling bargaining that treats vital strategic considerations as the equivalent of commercial factors, leaving negotiating partners unsure of his true priorities.... The auto tariffs are the second time in less than three months that the president has cited national security as a justification for protectionism. Yet his recent call for leniency for ZTE, a Chinese telecom company crippled by its punishment for violating U.S. sanctions on Iran and North Korea, showed that he would bend on a genuine security threat, analysts said." ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: This sort of analysis is starting to annoy me. It treats Trump's impulsive, erratic "decisions" (which he may or may not change within 24 hours) as if there's some rational strategy or policy principle underlying his moves, rather than "saw it on Fox or CNBC," "can make money on this," and/or "makes me look all-powerful." ...

... ** That said, Paul Krugman's explanation of why Trump's proposed auto tariff is absurd & counterproductive is a must-read for anyone who knows as little about international trade law as Trump & I do.

Ashley Parker, et al., of the Washington Post: "The White House communications director's job has been vacant for two months. But in practice, it has been filled since the day Hope Hicks said farewell to her unofficial replacement -- President Trump himself. The president also has unofficially performed the roles of many other senior staffers in recent months, leaving the people holding those jobs to execute on his instincts and ideas.... Largely gone are the warring factions that dominated life at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue in the first year of Trump&'s term, replaced by solo players -- many with personal connections to the president and their own miniature fiefdoms -- laboring to do their jobs and survive.... Rather than struggling to manipulate the president to follow their personal agendas, the senior staff members of Trump's Year 2 ... focus on trying to curb his most outlandish impulses while generally executing his vision and managing whatever fallout may follow."

Kim Tong-Hyung of the AP: "... Donald Trump confirmed Tuesday that a top North Korean official is headed to New York for talks on an upcoming summit between Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, as diplomatic efforts also accelerated in Asia."

Another A-mazing Coincidence. Sui-Lee Wee of the New York Times: "China this month awarded Ivanka Trump seven new trademarks across a broad collection of businesses, including books, housewares and cushions. At around the same time, President Trump vowed to find a way to prevent a major Chinese telecommunications company from going bust, even though the company has a history of violating American limits on doing business with countries like Iran and North Korea.... Mr. Trump himself has more than 100 trademarks in China. Several United States senators have criticized these trademarks, warning it could be a breach of the United States Constitution and that foreign governments could use Mr. Trump's trademarks to influence foreign policy decisions.... The trademarks are not the only Trump-related deal that took place around the time of Mr. Trump's pledge to save ZTE. On May 15, an Indonesian company called MNC Group, which is partnering with the Trump Organization to build a six-star hotel and golf course in Indonesia, said it had struck a deal with an arm of the Metallurgical Corporation of China, a state-owned construction company, to build a theme park next door to the planned Trump properties." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... Erika Kinetz of the AP: "Ivanka Trump's brand continues to win foreign trademarks in China and the Philippines, adding to questions about conflicts of interest at the White House.... On Sunday, China granted the first daughter's company final approval for its 13th trademark in the last three months, trademark office records show. Over the same period, the Chinese government has granted Ivanka Trump's company provisional approval for another eight trademarks, which can be finalized if no objections are raised during a three-month comment period.... 'Ivanka Trump's refusal to divest from her business is especially troubling as the Ivanka brand continues to expand its business in foreign countries,' Noah Bookbinder, executive director of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, said in an email Monday. 'It raises significant questions about corruption, as it invites the possibility that she could be benefiting financially from her position and her father's presidency or that she could be influenced in her policy work by countries' treatment of her business.'... Ivanka Trump and her father ... have pursued trademarks in dozen of countries. Those global trademarks have drawn the attention of ethics lawyers because they are granted by foreign governments and can confer enormous value." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... Jim Fallows of the Atlantic on why & how the U.S. government should manage trade issues with China, whose economy will rather soon surpass the U.S. as the largest in the world. Fallows' ultimate advice: "Speak softly & carry a big stick." Funny, nothing about insults or taking bribes.

Mrs. McCrabbie: Melania Trump has not been seen in public since May 10. Reporters are beginning to wonder where she is. My guess is that whatever minor kidney surgery she may have had, the 48-year-old First Lady also had some cosmetic surgery, & her bruises are showing. I get that.

A Bronx Cheer for Rudy. Zachary Ripple of the New York Daily News: Rudy Giuliani "was at [Yankee] Stadium to celebrate his 74th birthday on Memorial Day, with the PA announcer sharing the news with the crowd and wishing him a happy birthday. The fans, however, greeted him with hearty boos."

Danielle McLean of ThinkProgress: "U.S. Customs and Border Protection is changing up its story about why one of its officers shot and killed an unarmed 19-year-old last week. Claudia Patricia Gómez González, a Guatemalan migrant hoping to earn money in the U.S., was shot and killed by an unnamed 15-year veteran of the border patrol, after crossing into the U.S. near Laredo, Texas. Initially, the federal agency claimed a group of undocumented immigrants started hitting the officer with 'blunt objects' during an unprovoked attack while he patrolled a residential street searching for 'illegal activity.' Gómez González, who was shot and fatally wounded by the agent, was named as 'one of the assailants,' of that attack according to the New York Times. But in an updated statement on Friday, the agency now says they were told by the officer that a group of immigrants 'rushed him' instead of complying with demands to get on the ground. CBP no longer refers to the deceased woman as an assailant, but merely as a 'member of the group,' the Times wrote."

Congressional Race. Laura Vozzella & Jenna Portnoy of the Washington Post: "Rep. Thomas Garrett (R-Va.) announced Monday that he is struggling with alcoholism and will abandon his run for a second term in Congress so he can focus on recovery and his family. Garrett, a member of the conservative Freedom Caucus, is the 48th Republican to retire or announce they will not seek reelection to the House this year.... The former Virginia state senator was facing a robust challenge from his Democratic challenger, journalist and author Leslie Cockburn.... In recent days, unnamed former staffers had accused him and his wife of mistreating staff who worked in his congressional office. But in a videotaped statement, Garrett said his departure from politics was spurred by his addiction.... His announcement caps a week of turmoil in Garrett's Washington office, marked by the resignation of his chief of staff, Jimmy Keady; an online news report that Garrett was thinking about dropping his reelection bid; and a news conference Thursday in which he insisted he was running."

Adam Liptak of the New York Times: "Judges appointed by Republican presidents gave longer sentences to black defendants and shorter ones to women than judges appointed by Democrats, according to a new study that analyzed data on more than half a million defendants.... 'These differences cannot be explained by other judge characteristics and grow substantially larger when judges are granted more discretion.'... The new study [by two Harvard law professors] ... find[s] that black defendants are sentenced to 4.8 months more than similar offenders of other races.... Republican appointees are tougher on crime over all, imposing sentences an average of 2.4 months longer than Democratic appointees.' (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

... Leonard Greene of the New York Daily News: "Now that the patriot police have turned what was a peaceful protest about police brutality and social injustice into a flag-waving, jingoistic shame fest, the NFL can make amends with the black players it has insulted with its new no-kneel policy by singing a different tune. For just one week of the league's 17-week season, the NFL should bench 'The Star Spangled Banner,' and replace it with -- wait for it -- 'The Negro National Anthem.' 'Lift Ev'ry Voice and Sing,' as the anthem is officially known, is every bit as patriotic as the song that kicks off every major professional sporting event in America."

Natalie Kitroeff of the New York Times: Homeownership is an impossible dream for many 20- and 30-something people burdened with large student debt.

Way Beyond the Beltway

... Saskya Vandoorne, et al., of CNN: "A young Malian migrant who rescued a child dangling from a balcony will be made a French citizen and has been offered a job by the Paris fire brigade, the office of the French presidency said. Video of the rescue showed 22-year-old Mamoudou Gassama climbing up four floors of the apartment building in just seconds to rescue the child, to cheers from onlookers. By the time Parisian emergency services arrived at the building, he had already pulled the child to safety. President Emmanuel Macron invited Gassama to the Élysée Palace on Monday, where he was given a certificate and a gold medal for performing an act of courage and dedication." Mrs. McC: I'm guessing Mali counts as a "shithole country." (Also linked yesterday.)

Kimiko de Freytas-Tamura< & Alan Cowell of the New York Times: "Ireland's vote on Friday to end its near ban on abortion, overwhelmingly supporting change in what used to be a bastion of Roman Catholic influence, has inspired many calls in Belfast, London and elsewhere for similar liberalization in British-ruled Northern Ireland, whose draconian laws governing the termination of pregnancy date to the 19th century.... Northern Ireland has blocked all efforts from London to liberalize its abortion law, which permits termination only if the life of the woman is endangered. There are no other exceptions -- not rape, incest or fatal fetal abnormality -- and those violating the ban could in theory ... be given a life sentence."

Apropos to some of today's commentary:

The Commentariat -- May 28, 2018

Afternoon Update:

Another A-mazing Coincidence. Sui-Lee Wee of the New York Times: "China this month awarded Ivanka Trump seven new trademarks across a broad collection of businesses, including books, housewares and cushions. At around the same time, President Trump vowed to find a way to prevent a major Chinese telecommunications company from going bust, even though the company has a history of violating American limits on doing business with countries like Iran and North Korea.... Mr. Trump himself has more than 100 trademarks in China. Several United States senators have criticized these trademarks, warning it could be a breach of the United States Constitution and that foreign governments could use Mr. Trump's trademarks to influence foreign policy decisions.... The trademarks are not the only Trump-related deal that took place around the time of Mr. Trump's pledge to save ZTE. On May 15, an Indonesian company called MNC Group, which is partnering with the Trump Organization to build a six-star hotel and golf course in Indonesia, said it had struck a deal with an arm of the Metallurgical Corporation of China, a state-owned construction company, to build a theme park next door to the planned Trump properties." ...

... Erika Kinetz of the AP: "Ivanka Trump’s brand continues to win foreign trademarks in China and the Philippines, adding to questions about conflicts of interest at the White House.... On Sunday, China granted the first daughter's company final approval for its 13th trademark in the last three months, trademark office records show. Over the same period, the Chinese government has granted Ivanka Trump's company provisional approval for another eight trademarks, which can be finalized if no objections are raised during a three-month comment period.... 'Ivanka Trump's refusal to divest from her business is especially troubling as the Ivanka brand continues to expand its business in foreign countries,' Noah Bookbinder, executive director of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, said in an email Monday. 'It raises significant questions about corruption, as it invites the possibility that she could be benefiting financially from her position and her father's presidency or that she could be influenced in her policy work by countries' treatment of her business.'... Ivanka Trump and her father ... have pursued trademarks in dozen of countries. Those global trademarks have drawn the attention of ethics lawyers because they are granted by foreign governments and can confer enormous value."

Adam Liptak of the New York Times: "Judges appointed by Republican presidents gave longer sentences to black defendants and shorter ones to women than judges appointed by Democrats, according to a new study that analyzed data on more than half a million defendants.... 'These differences cannot be explained by other judge characteristics and grow substantially larger when judges are granted more discretion.'... The new study [by two Harvard law professors] ... find[s] that black defendants are sentenced to 4.8 months more than similar offenders of other races.... Republican appointees are tougher on crime over all, imposing sentences an average of 2.4 months longer than Democratic appointees."

... Saskya Vandoorne, et al., of CNN: "A young Malian migrant who rescued a child dangling from a balcony will be made a French citizen and has been offered a job by the Paris fire brigade, the office of the French presidency said. Video of the rescue showed 22-year-old Mamoudou Gassama climbing up four floors of the apartment building in just seconds to rescue the child, to cheers from onlookers. By the time Parisian emergency services arrived at the building, he had already pulled the child to safety. President Emmanuel Macron invited Gassama to the Élysée Palace on Monday, where he was given a certificate and a gold medal for performing an act of courage and dedication." Mrs. McC: I'm guessing Mali counts as a "shithole country."

*****

Friday I looked up from my work when I heard a bugle playing taps. There was an elderly man standing by the lake across from my house, no doubt practicing for a Memorial Day observance. He reminded me of my father's service & my uncle's during World War II. Then I realized the elderly man was far younger than my father & uncle would be. He may well be a Viet Nam vet. I expect he was about my age. Old has crept up on me; I'm not quite aware of it yet. -- Mrs. Bea McCrabbie

Michael Shear & David Sanger of the New York Times: "The United States and North Korea on Sunday kicked off an urgent, behind-the-scenes effort to resurrect a summit meeting between their two leaders by June 12, racing to develop a joint agenda and dispel deep skepticism about the chances for reaching a framework for a lasting nuclear agreement in so little time. Technical and diplomatic experts from the United States made a rare visit to North Korea to meet with their counterparts, American officials said on Sunday. Before any summit meeting, the American team, led by Sung Kim, a veteran diplomat, is seeking detailed commitments from Kim Jong-un, the North Korean leader, about his regime's willingness to abandon its nuclear weapons program." ...

     ... Then Comes the Embarrassing, Childish Buffoonery: In a tweet Sunday night, President Trump confirmed the meetings in the North Korean part of Panmunjom, a 'truce village' in the Demilitarized Zone that separates the two Koreas. He also expressed his administration's newfound optimism about the meeting, further embracing the conciliatory language both sides have used since he canceled the planned meeting in a bitterly worded letter to Mr. Kim on Thursday. 'I truly believe North Korea has brilliant potential and will be a great economic and financial Nation one day,' Mr. Trump wrote on Twitter after a second straight day of golf at his Virginia club. 'Kim Jong Un agrees with me on this. It will happen!'" ...

... Anna Fifield of the Washington Post: "A team of U.S. officials crossed into North Korea on Sunday for talks to prepare for a summit between President Trump and Kim Jong Un, as both sides press ahead with arrangements despite the question marks hanging over the meeting. Sung Kim, a former U.S. ambassador to South Korea and former nuclear negotiator with the North, has been called in from his post as envoy to the Philippines to lead the preparations, according to a person familiar with the arrangements. He crossed the line that separates the two Koreas to meet with Choe Son Hui, the North Korean vice foreign minister, who said last week that Pyongyang was 'reconsidering' the talks." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Seung Min Kim of the Washington Post: "President Trump's attempt to blame Democrats for separating migrant families at the border is renewing a political uproar over immigration, an issue that has challenged Trump throughout his presidency and threatens to grow more heated as he imposes more restrictions to stem the flow of illegal immigration. In one of several misleading tweets during the holiday weekend, Trump pushed Democrats to change a 'horrible law' that the president said mandated separating children from parents who enter the country illegally. But there is no law specifically requiring the government to take such action, and it's also the policies of his own administration that have caused the family separation that advocacy groups and Democrats say is a crisis.... As he detailed the 'zero-tolerance' policy during a pair of appearances May 7, Attorney General Jeff Sessions stressed: 'If you don't want your child separated, then don't bring them across the border illegally. It's not our fault that somebody does that.'... 'He [Trump] used DACA kids as a bargaining chip, and it didn't work,' said Kevin Appleby ... of the Center for Migration Studies.... 'So now he's using vulnerable Central American families for his nativist agenda. It's shameless.'"

P.D. Pepe pointed out the New York Times' editors' Guide to Presidential Etiquette in the Age of Trump. Unfortunately, most if it is way worse than eating a New York slice with a fork. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

This Russia Thing, Etc., Ctd.

Trump Tweets Some Stuff, Ctd. Brent Griffiths of Politico: "... Donald Trump tweeted Sunday that the Russia probe has 'devastated and destroyed' the reputations of people, continuing his weekend Twitter assault against the Robert Mueller investigation.... 'Who's going to give back the young and beautiful lives (and others) that have been devastated and destroyed by the phony Russia Collusion Witch Hunt? They journeyed down to Washington, D.C., with stars in their eyes and wanting to help our nation.... They went back home in tatters,' the president wrote on Twitter." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... Rudy Says Some Stuff, Ctd. Tom McCarthy of the Guardian: "... Rudy Giuliani said on Sunday that his repeated imputations of a supposed scandal at the heart of the Robert Mueller investigation -- which Donald Trump calls 'Spygate' -- amounted to a tactic to sway public opinion and limit the risk of the president being impeached. 'Of course we have to do it to defend the president,' Trump's lawyer told CNN State of the Union host Dana Bash, who accused him of being part of a campaign to undermine the Mueller investigation.... 'It is for public opinion,' Giuliani said of his public campaign of dissimulation. 'Because eventually the decision here is going to be impeach or not impeach. Members of Congress, Democrats and Republicans, are going to be informed a lot by their constituents. And so our jury -- and it should be -- is the American people.'" ...

... Connor O'Brien of Politico: "Asked in an interview with CNN's 'State of the Union' if he believed special counsel Robert Mueller's probe was legitimate, [Rudy] Giuliani responded, 'Not anymore.' 'I did when I came in, but now I see Spygate,' Giuliani told host Dana Bush...." ...

... Cheyenne Haslett of ABC News: "Republican Sen. Marco Rubio said he sees 'no evidence' to support President Trump's claims that the FBI used an informant to gather information on his campaign, but that instead the federal probe was focused on 'individuals with a history of links to Russia that were concerning.'" (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... Jacqueline Thomsen of the Hill: "Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) fact-checked President Trump's tweet claiming that special counsel Robert Mueller's probe is 'phony,' noting that it has led to several indictments and guilty pleas. 'I hate repeating myself Mr. President, but let me remind you again: Special Counsel Mueller's investigation has either indicted or secured guilty pleas from 19 people and three companies -- that we know of,' Schumer tweeted Sunday." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... Karoun Demirjian of the Washington Post: "The top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee on Sunday called on voters to 'throw the bums out' of Congress whom he has accused of trying to help President Trump undermine the special counsel's Russia probe. 'The only thing tha makes this possible is a Congress that is complicit,' Rep. Adam B. Schiff (D-Calif.) said on ABC News's 'This Week,' naming several conservative leaders in the Republican Party and accusing 'a weak' Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.) of refusing to 'stand up for the independence of the Justice Department.' 'As long as there's a majority in Congress that is willing to do this president's will and as long as we have a deeply unethical president, there's only one remedy,' Schiff said."

Everything Is Going Very Smoothly, Ctd. Jonathan Swan of Axios: "Shortly after word leaked that Kelly Sadler had taken a nasty shot at John McCain, President Trump convened a meeting in the Oval Office for a tiny group of communications staffers, according to sources familiar with the gathering. Sadler, Mercedes Schlapp, Raj Shah, and John Kelly all gathered ... for a conversation with Trump about the leaking problem. They were the only people in the room, though the door to the outer Oval was open.... The president told Sadler she wouldn't be fired for her remark. He added, separately in the conversation, that he's no fan of McCain. Then Trump ... told Sadler he wanted to know who the leakers were. Sadler then stunned the room: To be completely honest, she said, she thought one of the worst leakers was Schlapp, her boss. Schlapp pushed back aggressively and defended herself in the room.... Sadler went on to name other people she also suspected of being leakers. The allegation -- like a previous internal meeting to deal with leaking -- ultimately got leaked to us."

All the Best People, Ctd. David Pittman of Politico: "The White House official who will shape a large part of the administration's drug price plan worked on many of the same issues as an industry lobbyist, raising questions about whether he violated ... Donald Trump's ethics rules. Joe Grogan -- who has sweeping authority over drug pricing, entitlement programs and other aspects of federal health policy at the Office of Management and Budget -- didn't obtain a waiver from a directive Trump issued during his first week in office that imposed a two-year cooling-off period between lobbying and regulating on the same 'specific issue area.' Grogan worked as the top lobbyist for Gilead Sciences until he arrived at OMB last March, dealing with issues including how much federal health programs would pay for its medicines. Gilead was the company that in 2014 effectively set off the drug price controversy with Sovaldi, its breakthrough hepatitis C cure that cost $1,000 per pill and triggered a lengthy and highly critical Senate Finance Committee probe." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Keith H. points to a story that, um, everybody missed. Jim Dean of Veterans Today: "Congress stepped up to the plate with a surprise unanimous vote [in the House] attaching an amendment to a Defense authorization bill stating that 'no law exists which gives the president power to launch a military strike against the Islamic Republic.'" As the National Iranian American Council noted, "The amendment could be stripped out in negotiations with the Senate...." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Darryl Fears of the Washington Post: "Across [New Jersey's] Atlantic Coast strip, mayors in nearly every city teamed with council members, conservationists, business leaders and residents to craft resolutions that denounced the [Trump administration's] proposal to widen federal offshore leasing to 90 percent of the outer continental shelf, an effort that began just days after Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke announced the plan in January. They helped put New Jersey at the forefront of resistance to Trump's 'energy dominance' agenda.... Last month, New Jersey became the first Atlantic state to adopt a legal barrier to offshore drilling. Lawmakers passed a bill, signed by Gov. Phil Murphy (D), that prohibits oil exploration in state waters, which extend three miles from shore. An amendment to the law went further, barring the construction of infrastructure such as a pipeline to deliver oil and natural gas from drilling platforms in federal waters that start where state waters end.... And a Republican state senator in Delaware submitted a bill in mid-May that mirrors those of the state's northern neighbors. Some chamber of commerce estimates put the economic impact of coastal Atlantic beach tourism at $95 billion a year."

"The Trump Effect." Noah Berlatsky at NBC News: "Political scientists Steven V. Miller of Clemson and Nicholas T. Davis of Texas A&M have released a working paper ... [on a] study [which] finds a correlation between white American's intolerance, and support for authoritarian rule. In other words, when intolerant white people fear democracy may benefit marginalized people, they abandon their commitment to democracy.... For instance, people who said they did not want to live next door to immigrants or to people of another race were more supportive of the idea of military rule, or of a strongman-type leader who could ignore legislatures and election results.... The Founders supported democracy as long as it was restricted to white male property holders.... The GOP has increasingly been embracing a politics of white resentment tied to disenfranchisement.... The growing concentration of intolerant white voters in the GOP ... has created a party which appears less and less committed to the democratic project."

Millions of Republicans Are Delusional/Suckers. Kyle Balluck of the Hill: "Almost half of the Republican respondents in a new poll said they believe millions of voters illegally cast ballots in the 2016 presidential election, as President Trump has claimed. Forty-eight percent of Republicans in the HuffPost/YouGov poll said they believe as many as 5 million votes were cast illegally, compared to 17 percent who said they do not. More than one-third of Republican respondents, 35 percent, said they are unsure." (Also linked yesterday.) ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: I do think this poll result speaks to the larger point that one has to be delusional (or really, really rich) to vote Republican. Democracy cannot function if one of the two major political parties is fundamentally dishonest.

No, You're Not Getting a Raise. Steve Levine of Axios: "Very few Americans have enjoyed steadily rising pay beyond inflation over the last couple of decades, a shift from prior years in which the working and middle classes enjoyed broad-based wage gains as the economy expanded.... Now, executives of big U.S. companies suggest that the days of most people getting a pay raise are over, and that they also plan to reduce their work forces further.... This was rare, candid and bracing talk from executives atop corporate America, made at a conference Thursday at the Dallas Fed.... To cash in, workers will need to shift to higher-skilled jobs that command more income."

Louis Lucero of the New York Times: "Hoping to thwart a sophisticated malware system linked to Russia that has infected hundreds of thousands of internet routers, the F.B.I. has made an urgent request to anybody with one of the devices: Turn it off, and then turn it back on. The malware is capable of blocking web traffic, collecting information that passes through home and office routers, and disabling the devices entirely, the bureau announced on Friday. A global network of hundreds of thousands of routers is already under the control of the Sofacy Group, the Justice Department said last week. That group, which is also known as A.P.T. 28 and Fancy Bear and believed to be directed by Russia's military intelligence agency, hacked the Democratic National Committee ahead of the 2016 presidential election, according to American and European intelligence agencies."

Way Beyond the Beltway

Angela Giuffrida, et al., of the Guardian: "A standoff over Italy’s future in the eurozone has forced the resignation of the populist prime minister-in waiting, Giuseppe Conte, after the country’s president refused to accept Conte's controversial choice for finance minister. Sergio Mattarella, the Italian president who was installed by a previous pro-EU government, refused to accept the nomination for finance minister of Paolo Savona, an 81-year-old former industry minister who has called Italy's entry into the euro a 'historic mistake'.... Italy has been without a government since elections on 4 March ended in a hung parliament. The country is now expected to go to the polls again in the autumn. The president's move to quash Savona's nomination was unprecedented in recent history...." ...

... Update. Giada Zampano of Politico: "Italy's President Sergio Mattarella on Monday asked Carlo Cottarelli to try and form a government after an attempt to forge a populist coalition failed. Cottarelli, 64, a former International Monetary Fund senior official known as 'Mr. Scissors' for making cuts to public spending, would lead a technocratic government. But he faces an uphill task getting the necessary support. He will face staunch opposition from the two populist forces that won most votes in the March 4 election -- the anti-establishment 5Star Movement and the far-right League. Silvio Berlusconi's Forza Italia, which had previously promised its support to a government backed the president, said Monday it will vote against the new Cabinet."