To keep the Conversation going, please help me by linking news articles, opinion pieces and other political content in today's Comments section.
Link Code: <a href="URL">text</a>
OR here's a link generator. The one I had posted died, then Akhilleus found one, but it too bit the dust. He found yet another, which I've linked here, and as of September 23, 2024, it's working.
OR you can always just block, copy and paste to your comment the URL (Web address) of the page you want to link.
Note for Readers. It is not possible for commenters to "throw" their highlighted links to another window. But you can do that yourself. Right-click on the link and a drop-down box will give you choices as to where you want to open the link: in a new tab, new window or new private window.
Thank you to everyone who has been contributing links to articles & other content in the Comments section of each day's "Conversation." If you're missing the comments, you're missing some vital links.
New York Times: “Hvaldimir, a beluga whale who had captured the public’s imagination since 2019 after he was spotted wearing a harness seemingly designed for a camera, was found dead on Saturday in Norway, according to a nonprofit that worked to protect the whale.... [Hvaldimir] was wearing a harness that identified it as “equipment” from St. Petersburg. There also appeared to be a camera mount. Some wondered if the whale was on a Russian reconnaissance mission. Russia has never claimed ownership of the whale. If Hvaldimir was a spy, he was an exceptionally friendly one. The whale showed signs of domestication, and was comfortable around people. He remained in busier waters than are typical for belugas....” ~~~
~~~ Marie: Oh, Lord, do not let Bobby Kennedy, Jr., near that carcass. ~~~
~~~ AP Update: “There’s no evidence that a well-known beluga whale that lived off Norway’s coast and whose harness ignited speculation it was a Russian spy was shot to death last month as claimed by animal rights groups, Norwegian police said Monday.... Police said that the Norwegian Veterinary Institute conducted a preliminary autopsy on the animal, which was become known as 'Hvaldimir,' combining the Norwegian word for whale — hval — and the first name of Russian President Vladimir Putin. 'There are no findings from the autopsy that indicate that Hvaldimir has been shot,' police said in a statement.”
New York Times: Botswana's “President Mokgweetsi Masisi grinned as he lifted the diamond, a 2,492-carat stone that is the biggest diamond unearthed in more than a century and the second-largest ever found, according to the Vancouver-based mining operator Lucara, which owns the mine where it was found. This exceptional discovery could bring back the luster of the natural diamond mining industry, mining companies and experts say. The diamond was discovered in the same relatively small mine in northeastern Botswana that has produced several of the largest such stones in living memory. Such gemstones typically surface as a result of volcanic activity.... The diamond will likely sell in the range of tens of millions of dollars....”
Click on photo to enlarge.
~~~ Guardian: "On a distant reef 16,000km from Paris, surfer Gabriel Medina has given Olympic viewers one of the most memorable images of the Games yet, with an airborne celebration so well poised it looked too good to be true. The Brazilian took off a thundering wave at Teahupo’o in Tahiti on Monday, emerging from a barrelling section before soaring into the air and appearing to settle on a Pacific cloud, pointing to the sky with biblical serenity, his movements mirrored precisely by his surfboard. The shot was taken by Agence France-Presse photographer Jérôme Brouillet, who said “the conditions were perfect, the waves were taller than we expected”. He took the photo while aboard a boat nearby, capturing the surreal image with such accuracy that at first some suspected Photoshop or AI."
Washington Post: “'Mary Cassatt at Work' is a large and mostly satisfying exhibition devoted to the career of the great American artist beloved for her sensitive and often sentimental views of family life. The 'at work' in the title of the Philadelphia Museum of Art show references the curators’ interest in Cassatt’s pioneering effort to establish herself as a professional artist within a male-dominated field. Throughout the show, which includes some 130 paintings, pastels, prints and drawings, the wall text and the art on view stresses Cassatt’s fixation on art as a career rather than a pastime.... Mary Cassatt at Work is on view at the Philadelphia Museum of Art through Sept. 8. philamuseum.org”
New York Times: “Bob Newhart, who died on Thursday at the age of 94, has been such a beloved giant of popular culture for so long that it’s easy to forget how unlikely it was that he became one of the founding fathers of stand-up comedy. Before basically inventing the hit stand-up special, with the 1960 Grammy-winning album 'The Button-Down Mind of Bob Newhart' — that doesn’t even count his pay-per-view event broadcast on Canadian television that some cite as the first filmed special — he was a soft-spoken accountant who had never done a set in a nightclub. That he made a classic with so little preparation is one of the great miracles in the history of comedy.... Bob Newhart holds up. In fact, it’s hard to think of a stand-up from that era who is a better argument against the commonplace idea that comedy does not age well.”
Washington Post: “An early Titian masterpiece — once looted by Napolean’s troops and a part of royal collections for centuries — caused a stir when it was stolen from the home of a British marquess in 1995. Seven years later, it was found inside an unassuming white and blue plastic bag at a bus stop in southwest London by an art detective, and returned. This week, the oil painting 'The Rest on the Flight into Egypt' sold for more than $22 million at Christie’s. It was a record for the Renaissance artist, whom museums describe as the greatest painter of 16th-century Venice. Ahead of the sale in April, the auction house billed it as'the most important work by Titian to come to the auction market in more than a generation.'”
Washington Post: The Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington, D.C., which houses the world's largest collection of Shakespeare material, has undergone a major renovation. "The change to the building is pervasive, both subtle and transformational."
Here's an e-mail I received Friday evening from my close personal friend Hillary. (How close, you ask? Well, as you can see, we're on a first-name basis. For reasons of national security I can't say much more, but you wouldn't be wrong if you guessed my Windows Live mailbox is full of baby pix of Chelsea's kids and quite a few e-mails marked "Top Secret.") -- Constant Weader
Marie --
I'm thrilled to share this news: I've chosen Tim Kaine as my running mate.
Tim is a lifelong fighter for progressive causes and one of the most qualified vice presidential candidates in our nation's history.
But his credentials alone aren't why I asked him to run alongside me.
Like me, Tim grew up in the Midwest. During law school, he too took an unconventional path -- he took time off and went to Honduras to work with missionaries, practicing both his faith and his Spanish.
When he returned to the states and graduated from Harvard Law, he could have done anything. But instead of going to some big corporate firm, he chose to fight housing discrimination as a civil rights lawyer in Richmond. He and his wife joined a church, built a home centered around their faith, and raised three beautiful children. Then, after 17 years of practicing law, Tim ran for city council -- and won.
Tim says his experience on city council taught him everything he knows about politics. To the people in Richmond, an underfunded school wasn't a Democratic or Republican problem. It was simply a problem that needed fixing, and his constituents were counting on him to solve it. So Tim would do it. He'd roll up his sleeves and get the job done, no matter what.
He’s a man of relentless optimism who believes no problem is unsolvable if you're willing to put in the work. That commitment to delivering results has stayed with him throughout his decades-long career as a public servant. So I could give you a laundry list of things he went on to accomplish -- as mayor of Richmond, governor of Virginia, and in the United States Senate.
But this is what’s important: Tim has never taken a job for the glory or the title. He's the same person whether the cameras are on or off. He's sincerely motivated by the belief that you can make a difference in people's lives through public service.
That quality comes through in every interaction. To know Tim is to love him. When I was talking to people about this decision, I couldn't find anyone -- Democrat or Republican -- who had a bad thing to say about him. From his staff over the last 20 years to his colleagues in the Senate, Tim's beloved.
He is a genuinely nice person, but Tim is no one's punching bag. He will fight tooth and nail for American families, and he'll be a dogged fighter in our campaign against Donald Trump and Mike Pence.
Marie, I want you to know that I didn’t make this decision lightly.
I’ve had the privilege of seeing two presidents and two vice presidents up close. I want a vice president who can be my partner in bringing this country together. I want someone who will be able to give me their best advice, look me in the eye, and tell me they disagree with me when they do.
But what matters most is a simple test that’s not so simple to meet: whether the person could step in at a moment’s notice and serve as president.
I have no doubt that Tim can do the job.
I want him by my side on the trail and in the White House.
Welcome him to our team, Marie, and let him know you're proud to have him. Chip in today: (Emphasis original.)
One-day Special! Tomorrow Only! Reality Chex will be a Trump-free Zone. -- Constant Weader
Presidential Race
** Ho-hum. Amy Chozick of the New York Times: "Hillary Clinton named Senator Tim Kaine of Virginia to be her running mate Friday, selecting a battleground state politician with working-class roots and a fluency in Spanish, traits that she believes can bolster her chances to defeat Donald J. Trump in November. Mrs. Clinton's choice, which she announced via text message to supporters, came after her advisers spent months poring over potential vice-presidential candidates who could lift the Democratic ticket in an unpredictable race against Mr. Trump. In the end, Mrs. Clinton decided Mr. Kaine, 58, a former governor of Virginia who sits on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and speaks fluent Spanish, had the qualifications and background and the personal chemistry with her to make the ticket a success." -- CW ...
... In her profile of Kaine, Sheryl Gay Stolberg of the New York Times claims, "At heart, Mr. Kaine is an old-fashioned liberal, dyed in the wool." -- CW ...
... John Wagner of the Washington Post: "... Several organizations, including some with ties to Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.)..., sharply questioned Kaine's liberal bona fides, pointing to Kaine's support of trade deals and regulations favorable to big banks.... Kaine's selection was touted by other traditional boosters of the Democratic Party, including several labor union leaders." -- CW ...
... Patrick Healy of the New York Times: "In selecting Senator Tim Kaine of Virginia as her running mate, Hillary Clinton is sending the clearest signal yet that she is confident she will win the presidential election. If she were worried, she would have chosen Senator Sherrod Brown of Ohio, who could have helped her win that critical Midwestern state.... And Mr. Brown could have energized progressives nationally.... Other picks could have helped her more on Election Day. Former Gov. Tom Vilsack of Iowa, for instance, would have turned out Democrats and independents in his swing state. Senator Cory Booker of New Jersey would have galvanized fellow African-Americans in key cities.... Tom Perez, labor secretary, and Julian Castro, housing secretary, might have boosted Hispanic voting in Florida and the West. Mr. Kaine, by contrast, doesn't bring obvious political rewards."
Mrs. Clinton also wants a vice president who would have a good relationship with Mr. Clinton, especially since the two-term president would likely have some sort of policy role and be an outside presence in the White House.... Mr. Kaine is also a relatively low-key person who understands the importance of ceding the spotlight to the Clintons, according to Democrats close to him.CW: In other words, exactly the scenario I dreaded -- Bull Clinton causing mischief again in the White House. Hillary not only expects it; she's encouraging it. ...
... Zaid Jilani of the Intercept: Shortly before Hillary Clinton announced she had chosen Kaine as her running mate, Kaine "praised the [Trans-Pacific Partnership] as an improvement of the status quo, but maintained that he had not yet decided how to vote on final approval of the agreement." -- CW ...
... Rosalind Helderman of the Washington Post: "Republicans have signaled in recent days that they will use Kaine's acceptance of [gifts from deep-pockets donors] as a line of attack against the newly selected vice presidential candidate, looking to stoke concern among Democrats that Kaine is not the progressive candidate they had hoped for. 'He followed the rules, but it's a question of whether the Democrat Party can stomach that coziness with donors,' said former attorney general Jerry Kilgore, the Republican who Kaine defeated in 2005.... There are stark differences between Kaine's gifts and [those of Gov. Bob] McDonnell's. For one, Kaine's gifts were properly disclosed; McDonnell failed to disclose some of what he received. For another, Kaine has never faced accusations of promising state action in exchange for any of his gifts." -- CW
** Fire Debbie! Michael Shear & Matthew Rosenberg of the New York Times: "Top officials at the Democratic National Committee criticized and mocked SenatorBernie Sanders of Vermont during the primary campaign, even though the organization publicly insisted that it was neutral in the race, according to committee emails made public on Friday by WikiLeaks. WikiLeaks posted almost 20,000 emails sent or received by a handful of top committee officials and provided an online tool to search through them. While WikiLeaks did not reveal the source of the leak, the committee said last month that Russian hackers had penetrated its computer system. Among the emails released on Friday were several embarrassing messages that suggest the committee's chairwoman, Representative Debbie Wasserman Schultz of Florida, and other officials favored Hillary Clinton over Mr. Sanders -- a claim the senator made repeatedly during the primaries." -- CW ...
... Elliot Smilowitz & Joe Uchill of the Hill: "Top officials at the Democratic National Committee (DNC) privately planned how to undermineBernie Sanders's presidential campaign, according to a trove of emails released by WikiLeaks on Friday." -- CW ...
... Daniel Strauss & Bianca Ocasio of Politico: DNC chair "... Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz once referred to Bernie Sanders' campaign manager Jeff Weaveras a 'damn liar' in an internal email to an aide." In other internal correspondence she called Weaver "particularly scummy" and "an ASS." -- CW ...
... Sam Biddle of the Intercept: "Among the nearly 20,000 internal emails from the Democratic National Committee, released Friday by Wikileaks and presumably provided by the hacker 'Guccifer 2.0,' [who later claimed to be the hacker] is a May 2016 message from DNC CFO Brad Marshall. In it, he suggested that the party should 'get someone to ask' ... Bernie Sanders about his religious beliefs.... It is also unclear why the Democratic National Committee, which isn't supposed to favor one Democratic candidate over another..., would have attempted to subvert the Sanders campaign on the grounds that 'he is an atheist.'" CW: Unbelievably. Marshall denied to Biddle that he was writing about Sanders; he claimed the e-mail must have referred to some other Jewish atheist, a claim for which Marshall should be awarded the Paul Manafort Prize for Today's Biggest Whopper by a Political Operative. ...
... Tom Hamburger & Karen Tumulty of the Washington Post: "The cache of emails also includes communications with journalists and discussions of news organizations, and the emails provide a new perspective on the deference shown to major donors -- and the efforts to carefully calibrate rewards based on a contributor's financial generosity." -- CW ...
... Muzzle Mika! Ben Norton of Salon: "Debbie Wasserman Schultz ... was furious when she was criticized by MSNBC hostMika Brzezinski. Wasserman Schultz called for Brzezinski to 'apologize' and told her co-worker Chuck Todd 'this must stop.' The DNC chair even complained to MSNBC's president. In May, Brzezinski held a segment on the program 'Morning Joe' in which she condemned Wasserman Schultz's 'unfair' treatment of Bernie Sanders in the Democratic primary. 'This has been very poorly handled from the start. It has been unfair, and they haven't taken him seriously, and it starts, quite frankly, with the person that we just heard speaking,' Brzezinski said, referring to Wasserman Schultz. 'She should step down,' Brzezinski added." ...
... Annals of "Journalism," Ctd. CW: "Chuck, this must stop"? Debbie is just as dismissive of a free & independent press as is Donnie the Dictator. And, Chuck Todd, who is, theoretically at least, a member of the free & independent press, seems happy to discuss "stopping" Brzezinski. [The Intercept's reproduction of the e-mail exchange shows Chuck asking a DNC staffer if an MSNBC-DNC joint call is "a good idea." So Chuck was maybe kinda wondering about journalistic ethics & all, even if he did think a political operative was the person to consult on such matters.] They're all good pals: Debbie mentions "our breakfast"; it's not clear who was breakfasting with whom, but the suggestion is that at least Debbie and MSNBC president Phil Griffin were having pancakes in their PJs. Very Fox "Newsy." Phil & Chuck should explain themselves.
Politico: "Donald Trump was up early on Saturday morning, and he had some thoughts to share about Hillary Clinton's choice of running mate.... On Friday, the Trump campaign, the Republican National Committee and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell all attackedKaine with similar messages, casting him as a continuation of the 'status quo' embodied by President Barack Obama." CW: Yeah, but Mitch didn't call Elizabeth Warren "Pocahontas" as Chief Tweets-in-the-Night did.
Alan Rappeport of the New York Times: "After bragging that he had unified the party in one of the most 'love-filled' conventions in political history [Friday morning], Mr. Trump went on an extended diatribe against Mr. Cruz, who declined to endorse him during his own convention speech on Wednesday night and urged people to vote with their conscience. The speech embarrassed Mr. Trump and cast a shadow of discord over the convention." -- CW (Also linked yesterday.) ...
... Dan Spinelli of Politico: "A day after accepting the Republican Party's nomination for president, Donald Trumprehashed a conspiracy theory that claims the man who killed President John F. Kennedy once cavorted with Ted Cruz's father. -- CW (Also linked yesterday.) ...
... Nick Gasshas more onTrump's remarks about Cruz. -- CW (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
... The Marshall Project "truth-tests" Trump on his law-and-order claims. Maybe if they grade on a curve, he could get a D-. Via Paul Waldman, linked below.
Midnight in America. Dana Milbank: "For more than an hour, [Donald Trump] shook his fists, chopped the air, stuck out his chin, bared his bottom teeth, paced behind the lectern, tugged on his lapels -- and delivered the darkest piece of rhetoric spoken by a major political figure in modern American history.... Trump's warnings of imminent catastrophe serve a purpose: In times of panic, the appeal of an authoritarian is greater. And Trump presented himself as the classic strongman." -- CW ...
... Paul Waldman: "Republicans are exploring an election day plan to post someone at every polling place who will shout 'Oh my god look behind you there's a terrorist!!!' at every voter on their way in." CW: Don't worry; Waldman is kidding. But maybe he shouldn't give the Trumpsters any ideas. ...
... CW: On that note, I don't think Apocalypse Now! will work as a campaign strategy. Americans are generally optimists, & most will quickly tire of Trump's "vision" of the U.S. as a third-world country that must turn inward & pledge allegiance to an insane despot to save itself from the savage hordes. ...
... Andrew O'Hehir of Salon, who was in the room, on the contrary thought the dark message resonated well enough to give Trump a victory in November. CW: O'Hehir is an astute observer, so it's worth reading his analysis. ...
... Rick Perlstein, author of Nixonland, in the New Republic, comparesDonald Trump's acceptance speech with the one he claims it was modeled on: Richard Nixon's 1968 convention speech: "... last night I sat in person through the whole damned 77-minute hot mess, and I'm here to say: Mr. Trump, I've studied Richard Nixon. And you're no Richard Nixon." -- CW ...
... Philip Bump: "Faced with a real threat, [George W.] Bush appealed to America's strengths. After building a Potemkin crisis, Trump told Americans that only he was good enough to deal with it. The question that lingers for those skeptical of Trump's view of the world is this: What would he have done if he were in Bush's place on September 11?" -- CW ...
Philip Bump of the Washington Postcan't figure out whoIvanka Trump was endorsing in her convention speech inasmuch as her claims about her father's support for equal opportunity for women is pretty much nonexistent beyond his claim to be "the best for women" & a promise to "look into [equal pay] very strongly." (CW: whatever that means). (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
... **Washington PostEditors, in a rare full-page editorial: "DONALD J. TRUMP, until now a Republican problem, this week became a challenge the nation must confront and overcome. The real estate tycoon is uniquely unqualified to serve as president, in experience and temperament. He is mounting a campaign of snarl and sneer, not substance. To the extent he has views, they are wrong in their diagnosis of America's problems and dangerous in their proposed solutions. Mr. Trump's politics of denigration and division could strain the bonds that have held a diverse nation together. His contempt for constitutional norms might reveal the nation's two-century-old experiment in checks and balances to be more fragile than we knew." -- CW
Frank Rich on the Republican convention, the Roger Ailes scandal & the future of the Republican party: "... the only defense we have against Trump is his opponent. She must make sure that the other America, the America that is appalled, victimized, and scandalized by Trump and what he represents, goes to the polls to vote "no." Is Hillary Clinton up to it? I don't know." -- CW (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Other News & Views
Mark Landler of the New York Times: "President Obama on Friday rejected what he described as Donald J. Trump's vision of America as a nation 'on the verge of collapse.'... During a White House news conference, Mr. Obama said that any 'vision of violence and chaos everywhere doesn't really jibe with the experience of most people.' Countering Mr. Trump's assertion of a crime wave in the country, offered during an acceptance speech..., Mr. Obama said the rate of violent crime had fallen to the lowest levels 'in the last three or four decades.'... Turning to Mr. Trump's assertion that the United States was being inundated with illegal immigrants, Mr. Obama said that 'we have far fewer undocumented workers crossing the border than we did in the '80s, the '90s, or when George Bush was president. That is fact.'" -- CW ...
... Nick Gass of Politico: "President Barack Obama wasted no time Friday delivering another implicit rebuke ofDonald Trump on Mexico and immigration, hours after the Republican nominee officially claimed the party mantle to take on ... Hillary Clinton in November. 'Let me start by saying something that is too often overlooked, but bears repeating -- especially given some of the heated rhetoric that we sometimes hear. The United States values tremendously our enduring partnership with Mexico and our extraordinary ties of family and friendship with the Mexican people,' Obama said at the start of a joint press conference with Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto." -- CW (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Annals of "Journalism," Ctd. Manuel Roig-Franzia, et al., of the Washington Post: "News of [Gretchen] Carlson's firing [from Fox 'News'], and the lawsuit she filed shortly thereafter, have now prompted 25 women to come forward with what they describe as similar harassment claims against [Fox 'News' chief Roger] Ailes that stretch across five decades..., according to Carlson's attorney, Nancy Erika Smith.... Many of the allegations that have become public ... are clustered in the decades long before Ailes became" CEO of Fox "News" in 1996. BUT, "'It became common knowledge that women did not want to be alone with him,' [a] former [Fox 'News'] staffer said. '... It became a locker room, towel-snapping environment. He would say things like, "She's really got the goods" and "look at the t--s on that one.'" Sometimes, the former staffer said, Ailes made 'jokes that he liked having women on their knees. The tone he set went through the organization.'" ...
... CW: My prediction: Ailes will help Trump "News" get up and running in 2017.
Beyond the Beltway
Fenit Nirappil & Jenna Portnoy of the Washington Post: Virginia "Gov. Terry McAuliffe's decision to restore voting rights to more than 200,000 felons violates Virginia's constitution, the state Supreme Court ruled Friday, dealing a major blow to the Democratic governor with implications for the November presidential race in the crucial swing state. In a 4-to-3 decision, the court ruled that McAuliffe overstepped his clemency powers by issuing a sweeping order in April restoring rights to all ex-offenders who are no longer incarcerated or on probation or parole.... A defiant McAuliffe released a statement late Friday saying that he would pick up his executive pen and restore the rights of those felons on an individual basis, even if it means signing more than 200,000 orders." -- CW
Mark Berman & Sarah Larimer of the Washington Post: "Authorities in North Miami, Fla., said Friday that they had placed a second police officer on leave as part of the investigation into a police shooting there earlier this week in which an officer shot and wounded an unarmed man. The second officer was placed on unpaid administrative leave because of 'conflicting statements given to the investigators' looking into the shooting,Larry M. Spring Jr., the North Miami city manager, said at a news conference." -- CW
Way Beyond
Rukmini Callimachi, et al., of the New York Times: "A shooting rampage outside a shopping mall in Munich on Friday evening left 10 people dead and at least 21 wounded and sent Germany's third-largest city into lockdown as the police scrambled to find what they initially said were as many as three assailants. By early Saturday, the police said the attack was probably the work of single gunman whose body was found less than a mile from the mall. Officials said he had died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head. The officials also said the police were using a robot to examine the contents of a backpack belonging to the suspect, who was not identified." -- CW ...
... The Guardian has live updates here. The "gunman was [an] 18-year-old German of Iranian descent." -- CW ...
... Souad Mekhennet, et al., of the Washington Post: "Munich authorities said Saturday that the gunman who went on a rampage at a shopping center Friday, leaving nine people dead, had no ties to the Islamic State or other extremist groups. Instead, police believe he was obsessed with mass killings and may have been mentally ill." -- CW
Jon Swaine of the Guardian: "Boris Johnsonappeared to distance Britain fromDonald Trump on Friday, saying that the country's decision to leave the European Union should not be likened to the Republican presidential candidate's 'America first' isolationist foreign policy. The foreign secretary also claimed European countries had shown a willingness to move quickly to reach a settlement on the terms of Britain's exit from the trade block and insisted that a 'balance can be struck' between free trade and the free movement of workers." -- CW
Coming up on Reality Chex: Trump-free Sunday. Unless Trump announces he's going to quit and release his voters to Bernie Sanders, I'm skipping all the Trump news and commentary here Sunday. So get your last blast tomorrow. I'm sure I'll have to post some retro-links in Monday's Commentariat. -- Constant Weader
Afternoon Update:
Nick Gass of Politico: "President Barack Obama wasted no time Friday delivering another implicit rebuke ofDonald Trump on Mexico and immigration, hours after the Republican nominee officially claimed the party mantle to take on ... Hillary Clinton in November. 'Let me start by saying something that is too often overlooked, but bears repeating -- especially given some of the heated rhetoric that we sometimes hear. The United States values tremendously our enduring partnership with Mexico and our extraordinary ties of family and friendship with the Mexican people,' Obama said at the start of a joint press conference with Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto." -- CW ...
Frank Rich on the Republican convention, the Roger Ailes scandal & the future of the Republican party: "... the only defense we have against Trump is his opponent. She must make sure that the other America, the America that is appalled, victimized, and scandalized by Trump and what he represents, goes to the polls to vote "no." Is Hillary Clinton up to it? I don't know." -- CW
Alan Rappeport of the New York Times: "After bragging that he had unified the party in one of the most 'love-filled' conventions in political history [this morning], Mr. Trump went on an extended diatribe against Mr. Cruz, who declined to endorse him during his own convention speech on Wednesday night and urged people to vote with their conscience. The speech embarrassed Mr. Trump and cast a shadow of discord over the convention." -- CW ...
... Dan Spinelli of Politico: "A day after accepting the Republican Party's nomination for president, Donald Trumprehashed a conspiracy theory that claims the man who killed President John F. Kennedy once cavorted with Ted Cruz's father. -- CW ...
... Nick Gasshas more onTrump's remarks about Cruz. -- CW
Philip Bump of the Washington Postcan't figure out whoIvanka Trump was endorsing inasmuch as her claims about his support for equality opportunity for women is pretty much nonexistent beyond his claim to be "the best for women" & a promise to "look into [equal pay] very strongly." (CW: whatever that means).
*****
GOP Convention & Presidential Race
I alone can fix it. -- Donald Trump, acceptance speech
Big Brother Harangues the Mole People.The Demiurge. Patrick Healy & Jonathan Martin of the New York Times on Trump's acceptance speech: "With dark imagery and an almost angry tone, Mr. Trump portrayed the United States as a diminished and even humiliated nation, and offered himself as an all-powerful savior who could resurrect the country's standing in the eyes of both enemies and law-abiding Americans." -- CW ...
... Philip Rucker & David Fahrenthold of the Washington Post: "Rather than pivoting to the political middle with an uplifting address, Trump ... focused intensively on the alleged dangers posed by immigrants and refugees, showing that on the biggest stage of his campaign he would not shy away from rhetoric that many minority voters find repulsive.... Trump spoke with so much gusto it sounded much of the time as though he were screaming, and by the end his face was notably red and glistening with sweat. The address lasted an extraordinary 76 minutes...." -- CW ...
... Glenn Kessler & Michelle Lee of the Washington Post: "The dark portrait of America that ... Trump sketched .. is a compendium of doomsday stats that fall apart upon close scrutiny. Numbers are taken out of context, data is manipulated, and sometimes the facts are wrong. When facts are inconveniently positive -- such as rising incomes and an unemployment rate under 5 percent -- Trump simply declines to mention them.... In his speech, Trump promised to present 'the plain facts that have been edited out of your nightly news and your morning newspaper.' But he relies on statistics that are ripe for manipulation.: Kessler & Lee provide "a rundown of 25 of Trump's key claims -- and how they differ from reality...." -- CW ...
... Michael Barbaro of the New York Times: "In the most consequential speech of his life..., Mr. Trumpsounded much like the unreflective man who had started it with an escalator ride in the lobby of Trump Tower: He conjured up chaos and promised overnight solutions.... He portrayed himself, over and over, as an almost messianic figure prepared to rescue the country from the ills of urban crime, illegal immigration and global terrorism.... But Mr. Trump made no real case for his qualifications to lead the world's largest largest economy and strongest military.... Speechwriters from both parties were stupefied." -- CW ...
The crime and violence that today afflicts our nation will soon -- and I mean soon -- come to an end. Beginning on January 20th 2017, safety will be restored. -- Donald Trump, acceptance speech ...
... Jeet Heer of the New Republic: "'I am the law and order candidate,' Donald Trump declared.... Despite a small uptick this year, crime in America has been in steep decline since 1992 and is currently near a four-decade low.... For Trump..., crime links together the various strands of Trump's politics that might otherwise be diffuse: immigration (enforcing the law at the border), racial resentment (supporting police in the age of Black Lives Matter), foreign affairs (a tough military stance being a form of international crime control), and partisan politics ('Crooked Hillary' being an imagined criminal).... Trump is running to be a strong man, and as such it's in his interest to stir up fear and anxiety about a world spinning out of control, which only he can bring order to.... Even if the crime and violence issue isn't a sure bet, it's something that has paid off for Trump before and just might again." -- CW ...
... BUT. Matt Yglesias of Vox: "For a candidate who just delivered an entire high-profile speech on the supposedly sky-high crime rates in the US, he doesn't seem to have very many ideas about fixing them.... The reason Trump doesn't have anything to say about [crime-abatement policy] is that he's too lazy to look into it and come up with anything." -- CW ...
... CW: I'll disagree with Yglesias on the cause of Trump's vagueness. I think Trump does have plans to quash what he thinks of as crime. The problem is that they're all extra-Constitutional. He would ignore all of the guarantees of the First Amendment, not to mention the Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, Seventh & Eighth. Trump may not know or care about this, but at least his speechwriter or other vetters knew better than to let him spell them out. ...
... ** Greg Sargent: Donald Trump "has explicitly said he is modeling his campaign onNixon's 1968 effort.... If Trump set out to emulate Nixon, and to draw a link between our times and the tumultuous late 1960s, Trump ended up proving to be more divisive, demagogic, hateful, xenophobic, ethno-nationalist, and overtly authoritarian than Nixon ever was." -- CW ...
... Make America White Again. Jonathan Chait: "What makes his acceptance speech new and different is that he offers more than just himself as the solution. He offers his supporters a restoration of the social order Obama inverted. Trump's election will not only make Trump the president, it will represent white America attaining the necessary level of collective consciousness, rising as one." -- CW ...
... David Fahrenthold, et al., of the Washington Post: "The prepared text of Trump's remarks, released ahead of his speech, shows he will paint a dire and frightening vision of an America besieged by hostile forces abroad and unrest at home -- and cast Hillary Clinton, his presumptive Democratic opponent, as unfit to face those dire times." -- CW ...
... Philip Bump & Aaron Blake of the Washington Post: "Donald Trump's prepared remarks accepting the Republican nomination in Cleveland on Thursday night were provided on an embargoed basis. The embargo was broken by other news organizations; therefore we are posting them here. A note: These remarks can and likely will change before Trump delivers them Thursday night. We will update them as necessary, and note what changed." -- CW ...
... A Mole in the Trump Campaign. Ken Vogel & Julia Ioffe in Politico: "A super PAC backing Hillary Clinton on Thursday night mysteriously obtained and leaked drafts ofDonald Trump's nomination speech -- and those of several other convention speakers -- hours before the night's proceedings were set to kick off, sending the Trump campaign scrambling on the final night of what has been a chaotic convention.... Correct the Record [-- founded by Clinton ally David Brock --] sent the text of Trump's draft speech to its press list a little after 6 p.m., gloating 'as if this convention hasn't been enough of a failure for Trump, somehow he let US get a hold of his full remarks before the speech.'" -- CW ...
... The Washington Post's liveblog of tonight's convention is here. The New York Times' liveblog, which is usually funnier, is here. ...
... Maureen Dowd: Ivanka Trump "was glossy, both in how she looked and how she spoke. She glossed over all of her father's ugly rhetoric and incitements, his erratic behavior and lack of any policy depth or even any policy, and offered a gauzy, idealized vision of a Bobby Kennedy-style figure as her father channeled Richard Nixon in '68." -- CW ...
... Tony Romm of Politico: "Technology investor [CW: and obsessed Gawker avenger] Peter Thiel implored Republicans from the convention stage on Thursday against waging 'culture wars' on lesbian, gay and transgender communities, mere days after the GOP approved a national platform that defines marriage as between 'one man and one woman.'... He said attempts to require transgender Americans to use particular bathrooms is a 'distraction from our real problem.' And in a first for a GOP convention, the Facebook board member and PayPal co-founder drew attention to his own sexuality: 'I am proud to be gay, I am proud to be a Republican, but most of all, I am proud to be an American,' he said." ...
... CW: For some reason, there weren't any speakers imploring Republicans not to wage "cultural wars" against non-Christian religions or against non-white people.
Ezra Klein: [Thursday] night, Donald J. Trump will accept the Republican Party's nomination for president of the United States. And I am, for the first time since I began covering American politics, genuinely afraid.... Trump is the most dangerous major candidate for president in memory. He pairs terrible ideas with an alarming temperament; he's a racist, a sexist, and a demagogue, but he's also a narcissist, a bully, and a dilettante. He lies so constantly and so fluently that it's hard to know if he even realizes he's lying. He delights in schoolyard taunts and luxuriates in backlash.... He has continued to retweet white supremacists, make racist comments, pick unnecessary fights, contradict himself on the stump, and show an almost gleeful disinterest in building a real campaign or learning about policy." ...
... CW: My fear is that Trump will be elected for the same reason motorists slow down to gawk at car accidents. Shocking, messy, gruesome -- these are entertaining. The hope is that more Americans than not will realize that in voting for Trump, they're not just driving by; they will be the victims of the car wreck, their lives forever diminished by a momentary lapse. ...
... Tim Egan: "The man who couldn't manage his own convention, the creator of a 'university' built on fraud, bet his shot at the top job in the world on a panicked public and collective amnesia of his serial misdeeds. 'I will restore law and order to our country, believe me, believe me,' he said. And the instigator of four corporate bankruptcies, the man who stiffed plumbers and carpenters, the failed casino owner, promised to use his dark arts to 'make our country rich again.'" -- CW ...
... ** Francis Wilkinson of Bloomberg: "Trump's convention has been a fiasco.... leaving the rationales for [his] candidacy in tatters.... Incompetence is everywhere. Seats throughout the arena are empty in prime time. The schedule has run late, causing key speakers to miss valuable television slots.... And, of course, there was the epic plagiarism in Melania Trump's speech. The series of blatant untruths the campaign produced to try to quell the controversy was amateurish even for this group. Worse, the speech plagiarized Michelle Obama of all people. Worse again, it plagiarized a passage on the Obama family values -- which Donald Trump had gone to great lengths to portray as alien and un-American. ('There's something going on there.') -- CW
Trump's Idea of a Charm Offensive. Alex Isenstadt, et al., of Politico: "Just hours before accepting the Republican Party's presidential nomination, Donald Trumptaunted his party on Thursday, ripping into his rivals and joking that, had he run as an independent, he could have defeated the GOP.... Trump said the way the audience reacted to [Ted] Cruz showed the party is united, lambasting the media for suggesting otherwise.... He also continued his assault on Ohio Gov. John Kasich, who has refused to endorse Trump or appear at this week's convention...." -- CW
Jordain Carney of the Hill: "Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) says Donald Trumpwas wrong to suggest the U.S. wouldn't defend a NATO ally if they are attacked. '... I thought what he said about NATO yesterday was ... not accurate,' McConnell said Thursday during a Facebook Live interview with The New York Times. 'I'm willing to kind of chalk that up to a rookie mistake.'" ...
... CW: Sorry, Mitch, a "rookie mistake" is something like thinking you're speaking in private & saying "they cling to their guns and religion," not telling the NYT the U.S must "always be prepared to walk" out on NATO. ...
... Nahal Toosi of Politico: "The comments [on NATO] drew scorn not only from American allies but also from several top Republicans, undermining the party's efforts to project unity during its national convention.... The international blowback was swift.... Trump's comments were especially unnerving to smaller NATO countries, such as the Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, who in recent years have begun to fear Russia's military aims.... 'Ronald Reagan would be ashamed. Harry Truman would be ashamed. Republicans, Democrats and Independents who help build NATO into the most successful military alliance in history would all come to the same conclusion: Donald Trump is temperamentally unfit and fundamentally ill-prepared to be our commander in chief,' [Hillary] Clinton senior policy adviser Jake Sullivan said in the statement." -- CW ...
... David Corn of Mother Jones: "Trump's remarks [about NATO] were so potentially damaging to his campaign that when I asked Paul Manafort, Trump's campaign manager, about the interview, he falsely claimed that the Times reporters -- David Sanger and Maggie Haberman — had made up the damning quotes. Trump's majordomo was trying to BS his way through another Trump controversy." -- CW ...
... Washington PostEditors: "Trumpwould wreck, not restore, America's standing in the world.... What's astonishing about Mr. Trump ... is the obvious casualness with which he muses about such matters [as abandoning NATO] -- as if the words of even a potential commander in chief do not influence world affairs the moment they are uttered." -- CW ...
... Steve M.: "Trump wants to destabilize NATO and doesn't care if World War III starts. Hillary Clinton wants to appoint left-centrist judges to the Supreme Court. Verdict from the vast majority of Very Serious Republicans: 'The choice is clear! Hillary's too dangerous!'" -- CW ...
... "The Siberian Candidate." Paul Krugman: "... the Trump campaign's recent behavior has quite a few foreign policy experts wondering just what kind of hold Mr. Putin has over the Republican nominee, and whether that influence will continue if he wins." CW: Krugman's column echoes conspiracy theorist language, and the evidence he piles up is a bit sketchy. But it's a big enough pile that the aggregate makes the theory look highly plausible.
On the Menu: Green Eggs & A Ham. Matt Flegenheimer & Jonathan Martin of the New York Times: "Facing jeers even from many of his own constituents, Senator Ted Cruz of Texas on Thursday defended his non-endorsement of Donald J. Trump, talking down hecklers at a fractious breakfast forum the morning after his performance onstage upended the Republican National Convention. In an extraordinary display of party division -- at a typically staid Texas state delegation breakfast that is held with the intentions of exemplifying convention-week harmony -- Mr. Cruz strained to manage the vitriol directed his way, stressing that he had not said a cross word about Mr. Trump.... 'I am not in the habit of supporting people who attack my wife and attack my father,' he said...." -- CW (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
... David Brooks' column is almost worth reading today: "I'm not a Cruz fan, but his naked ambition does fuel amazing courage. As the Republican Party is slouching off on a suicide march, at least Cruz is standing athwart history yelling 'Stop!' When the Trump train implodes, the docile followers who are now booing and denouncing Ted Cruz will claim they were on his side all along." -- CW
... Tony Cook of the Indianapolis Star: "Sen. Dan Coats [R-Ind.] issued a blistering rebuke Thursday of fellow Sen. Ted Cruz... Coats told IndyStar, 'He only thinks of himself, he doesn't think about party. He's a wrecking ball.... He's the most self-centered, narcissistic, pathological liar I've ever seen -- and you can quote me on that,' he said." ...
... CW: Well, yeah, that's true enough, but the description fits Donald Trump even better.
"Make American Afraid Again." David Maraniss in the Washington Post on how the GOP convention is going: "More talk about who and what they wanted to undo, dismantle, destroy, obliterate or send off to the clink than create and build and empower. More boilerplate speeches in a half-empty hall by third-rate celebs and second-tier pols than the showbiz glitz and glam promised by the man who hates to be bored.... And most noticeable of all, more disharmony than unity." -- CW
Joon Suh of Third Way: "'My tax plan is going to cost me a fortune,' Donald Trump said at press conference in Trump Tower last September. It won't. One lesser-noticed section of Trump's tax plan would bestow a $7.1 billion tax cut on the Trump family dynasty. That's just through his proposed elimination of the federal estate tax -- not counting breaks on capital gains and income that would also disproportionately favor the wealthy and, altogether, increase the national debt by $9.5 trillion in just 10 years." -- CW
Are You a "Real American"? CW: I'm Not. Nate Silver: Republican "politicians, implicitly and often explicitly, usually have certain people in mind when they refer to 'real Americans.' They often mean white people without college degrees.... They usually mean practicing Christians. Their examples usually refer to people in the South or the Midwest — not East Coast elites or West Coast hippies.... To be a 'real American' means that a lot of people are left out. Overall, 'real Americans' made up only 20 percent of the electorate in 2012. And 'real American' men were just 9 percent of it." -- CW ...
... Transitional Family Values. The Geisha & the Businesswoman. Jill Filipovic in a New York Times op-ed: "Convention-goers ... [will] witness how the Trump family embodies a very old sexist hypocrisy: Men who want one thing for their wives and another for their children.... Mr. Trump ... blames giving his wife too much responsibility in his business for his first divorce, and his wife's wanting him to spend too much time at home with her and their daughter for his second.... Melania Trump ... emphasizes that her role as a mother comes before all else; Mr. Trump has spoken disparagingly of working women, does little in the way of child care, and expects women to be more aesthetically appealing than intellectually substantive.... By contrast, Mr. Trump took out a campaign ad featuring Ivanka, and said of her: 'I am so proud of Ivanka. She is a terrific person, a devoted mother and an exceptional entrepreneur.'" -- CW
Eric Levitz of New York: Tim Kaine, reportedly the Clintons' favorite for veep, has given liberals quite a few reasons not to like him. "This week, Kaine provided left Democrats with two fresh reasons to see his selection as a repudiation of their agenda. On Monday, the senator added his name to two letters urging the federal government to scale back regulations on community and regional banks.... According to the Intercept'sDavid Dayen, the rule Kaine proposes 'could allow community banks and credit unions to sell high-risk mortgages or personal loans without the disclosure and ability to pay rules in place across the industry.' Such bad loans may not take down our financial system, but they could ruin the lives of the families that receive them." ...
... CW: Kaine is very much Bill Clinton-style. He reminds me of Bill's choosing Al & Al's choosing that whiney prick Joe Lieberman. We'll see if Hillary is wearing the pants in the Clinton family or just the pantsuit when we learn her veep pick. If she chooses Kaine, we can pretty much count on Clinton II being just that. ...
... Amy Chozick of the New York Times has more on the many reasons liberals will be disappointed if Clinton chooses Kaine. ...
... CW Update: Here's the disheartening new lede to Chozick's story: "Democrats close to Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign signaled strongly Thursday that she would choose Senator Tim Kaine of Virginia as her running mate, rounding out the ticket with a popular politician from a battleground state." So it's Clinton II: Change You Can Forget About. Bank deregulation? Check. TPP? Check. Reproductive rights? Meh. ...
... Daniel Strauss & Zachary Warmbrodt of Politico: "A few days before Hillary Clinton is expected to unveil her running mate, a group of progressives are lashing out at Sen. Tim Kaine, widely seen as the frontrunner for the spot, over his support for loosening bank regulations." -- CW
Other News & Views
** Adios, Mo-Fo. John Koblin, et al., of the New York Times: "Roger Ailesstepped down on Thursday as chairman and chief executive of Fox News after a sexual harassment scandal, ending a 20-year reign as head of the cable network he built into a ratings juggernaut and an influential platform for Republican politics. Rupert Murdoch, the 85-year-old media mogul who started Fox News with Mr. Ailes, will assume the role of chairman and will be an interim chief executive of Fox News channel and Fox Business Network until a permanent replacement for Mr. Ailes is found. Mr. Ailes will receive about $40 million as part of a settlement agreement, according to two people briefed on the matter, which essentially amounts to the remainder of his existing employment contract through 2018." -- CW ...
... Jim Rutenberg, et al., of the New York Times: "Executives at 21st Century Fox decided to end the tenure of Roger Ailes after lawyers they hired to investigate an allegation of sexual harassment against him took statements from at least six other women who described inappropriate behavior from Mr. Ailes, two people briefed on the inquiry said Wednesday.... In interviews, several current and former Fox News employees said inappropriate comments about a woman’s appearance and her sex life were frequent in the newsroom." -- CW (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
... BFFs. Brian Stelter of CNN: "Even as he was negotiating the end of his time leading Fox News, Roger Aileswas still talking with ... Donald Trump. The two counseled each other in multiple phone calls this week, two Trump aides told CNNMoney." -- CW
Beyond the Beltway
Scott Cacciola of the New York Times: "The National Basketball Association announced on Thursday that it would not hold the 2017 All-Star Game in Charlotte, N.C., the most significant fallout yet from state legislation that eliminated specific anti-discrimination protections for lesbians, gays and bisexuals." -- CW
We're Incompetent & Trigger-Happy But Not Racist! Alex Harris, et al., of the Miami Herald: "The North Miami police officer who shot an unarmed, black mental health worker caring for a patient actually took aim at the autistic man next to him, but missed, the head of the police union said Thursday." Both the supposedly intended victim & the shooter are Hispanic, so it's all okay. The police union claims the cops couldn't hear the victim repeatedly shouting that all the autistic man had was a toy truck. -- CW
Way Beyond
Dom Phillips of the Washington Post: "Brazilian police have arrested 10 people suspected of planning terrorist attacks during the Rio Olympics, Brazilian prosecutors in the southern state of Parana said Thursday. The 10, all Brazilians, had declared loyalty to the Islamic State and were communicating via cellphone messenger services Telegram and WhatsApp to plan attacks during the Summer Games, which open Aug. 5, Justice Minister Alexandre de Moraes told reporters in the capital, Brasilia." -- CW (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Elaine Ganley & Thomas Adamson of the AP: "The truck driver who killed 84 people on a Nice beachfront had accomplices and appears to have been plotting his attack for months, the Paris prosecutor said Thursday. Prosecutor Francois Molins said five suspects currently in custody are facing preliminary terrorism charges for their alleged roles in helping 31-year-old Mohamed Lahouaiej Bouhlel in the July 14 attack...." -- CW (Also linked yesterday.)
Max Bearak of the Washington Post: Air strikes on Tuesday -- which may have been led by the U.S. coalition -- killed dozens of Syrians fleeing ISIS, but no ISIS fighters. "If Tuesday's airstrikes were indeed by coalition jets, and not Russian or Syrian government warplanes, this would easily be the highest civilian toll from any action by the coalition since it formed in 2014. Faced with the likelihood of a grave error by the coalition, U.S. officials responded cautiously, emphasizing the need to verify what had happened." -- CW (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
;)
Share Article 
