;)
The Commentariat -- August 28, 2020
Afternoon Update:
Lolita Baldor of the AP: "The U.S. armed forces will have no role in carrying out the election process or resolving a disputed vote, the top U.S. military officer told Congress in comments released Friday. The comments from Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, underscore the extraordinary political environment in America, where the president has declared without evidence that the expected surge in mail-in ballots will make the vote 'inaccurate and fraudulent,' and has suggested he might not accept the election results if he loses. Trump's repeated complaints questioning the election's validity have triggered unprecedented worries about the potential for chaos surrounding the election results. Some have speculated that the military might be called upon to get involved, either by Trump trying to use it to help his reelection prospects or as, Democratic challenger Joe Biden has suggested, to remove Trump from the White House if he refuses to accept defeat. The military has adamantly sought to tamp down that speculation and is zealously protective of its historically nonpartisan nature."
Trump & the Not-Ready-for-Prime-Time Players. Matt Wilstein of the Daily Beast: "The president was telling his closest aides that he was determined to beat his rival Joe Biden in the TV ratings. He was requesting daily ratings for the Democratic National Convention and insisted that his RNC spectacle would demolish their 'pathetic' numbers, according to a senior administration official. In the end, apparently not even all of the unethical pomp and circumstance of a Trump-branded White House as the backdrop of his big speech Thursday night could draw more viewers than Biden's solemnly rousing speech to an empty auditorium. According to initial Nielsen numbers, President Trump's speech Thursday night drew 14.1 million viewers across the three broadcast networks and three major cable news networks. That is more than three million fewer viewers than the 17.5 million who tuned in to watch Biden's speech one week earlier. When those numbers are expanded out across nine broadcast and cable networks, Biden still beat Trump by a fairly wide margin, 23.6 million to 21.6 million. Biden's DNC beat Trump's RNC across the board on all four nights.... None of this stopped Trump from tweeting Friday morning, ;Great Ratings & Reviews Last Night. Thank you!':
A Green-Screen Canvas. Andrew Limbong of NPR: "When first lady Melania Trump appeared at the last night of the RNC Thursday, she wore a Valentino dress in a lime green shade -- a green screen green, of sorts. And as she walked down the steps of the White House, everyone who spent the past four nights hate-watching the proceedings saw their time to shine. Images referencing the more than 180,000 Americans dead from the coronavirus pandemic, President Trump's relationship with Jeffrey Epstein, as well as the immigration crisis at the border were plastered onto the dress, online, last night." With images.
The New York Times' live updates of coronavirus developments Friday are here. The Washington Post's live updates for Friday are here: "Groups representing nearly every public health department called Friday for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to reverse 'haphazard' changes the agency recently made to its public testing advice. The CDC's decision to stop recommending that asymptomatic people who were exposed to the virus get tested is 'bad policy' that 'costs lives and livelihoods,' the groups wrote -- a striking rebuke of the premiere U.S. health authority by towns and cities across the country. ~~~
~~~ "Nearly all of the California Senate's Republican caucus is now under mandatory quarantine after being exposed to one senator -- a skeptic on government statistics about the coronavirus -- who tested positive, state lawmakers said this week."
Sheila Kaplan & Katie Thomas of the New York Times: "Two senior public relations experts advising the Food and Drug Administration have been ousted from their positions after fumbled communications about a blood plasma treatment for Covid-19. President Trump and the head of the F.D.A. had erroneously boasted on the eve of the Republican National Convention that the treatment sharply lowered mortality from the disease. On Friday, the F.D.A. commissioner, Dr. Stephen M. Hahn, removed Emily Miller, the agency's chief spokeswoman. The White House had installed Ms. Miller, who had previously worked in communications for the re-election campaign of Senator Ted Cruz and as a journalist for One America News, the conservative cable network, in this post just 11 days ago. Ms. Miller's removal came one day after the F.D.A.'s parent agency, the Department of Health and Human Services, terminated the contract of a public relations consultant [-- Wayne Pines --] who had advised Dr. Hahn to correct misleading comments about the benefits of blood plasma for Covid-19."
At the Unmasked Ball. James Poniewozik of the New York Times: "Donald J. Trump could not truthfully appear at the Republican National Convention as a president who got America safely through the Covid-19 pandemic. But he could play one on TV.... Mr. Trump sandwiched the virus discussion among his preferred topics, as if it were a speed bump.... This is a technique first articulated by the political strategy guide 'Seinfeld.' 'This administration accomplished great things through 2019, yada yada yada, we'll do great things in 2021.'... The mostly maskless guests [of the show] seated cheek by jowl for hours, like the teeming crowd for the big finale of a pandemic reality show: The Celebrity Appestilence."
Toluse Olorunnipa of the Washington Post: "For more than 10 hours this week, President Trump and his allies used the unfiltered platform of a national political convention to paint a portrait of two Americas that do not exist. In one -- a misrepresentation of life under Trump -- the coronavirus has been conquered by presidential leadership, the economy is at its pre-pandemic levels, troops are returning home, and the president is an empathetic figure who supports immigration and would never stoke the nation's racial grievances. In the other -- a hypothetical preview of a Joe Biden presidency that mischaracterizes many of his proposals -- police are defunded, taxes are increased, infanticide is legal, suburbs are abolished and cities burn as violence spreads nationwide.... While Trump, a former reality television star, has long trafficked in mistruths and innuendo, the broad cast of characters who took up his tactics during prime-time speeches underscores how his brand of politicking has taken root in the GOP."
AP: "A crowd of protesters surrounded U.S. Sen. Rand Paul as he was leaving the White House following the Republican National Convention early Friday, shouting for the lawmaker from Kentucky to acknowledge the shooting of Breonna Taylor. Video posted on social media showed dozens of people confronting Paul and his wife, who were flanked by Metro Police, in a Washington street after midnight. Protesters could be heard shouting 'No Justice No Peace' and 'Say Her Name' before one appears to briefly clash with an officer, pushing him and his bike backward, sending the officer into Paul's shoulder.... After the encounter Friday morning, Paul tweeted that he 'got attacked' by a 'crazed mob' one block away from the White House, later thanking police for 'saving his life.' It was not clear whether any protesters made physical contact with Paul. The senator and his wife kept walking and did not appear to have suffered any injuries."~~~
~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: In fairness to Paul, he did write a bill titled "Justice for Breonna Taylor Act," which would prohibit no-knock warrants, the type of warrant that led to her killing. The confrontation Thursday night might have been a good time for him to mention that.
The Great Lego Mystery. Martin Belam of the Guardian: During her convention speech "On Thursday [Ivanka Trump] said: 'When Jared and I moved with our three children to Washington..., my son Joseph promptly built grandpa a Lego replica of the White House. The president still displays it on the mantel in the Oval Office and shows it to world leaders, just so they know he has the greatest grandchildren on earth.'... Andrea Bernstein, a WNYC reporter who wrote the book American Oligarchs about the Trumps, noted that in 2007 Ivanka said she had once made a Lego model of Trump Tower for her father, only to have it criticised by him several days later because it wasn't accurate enough. Bernstein also cast doubt about the veracity of the earlier story.... There is, however, photographic evidence that, as recently as March 2019 at least, there was a Lego model of the White House in the White House." Mrs. McC: Joseph would have been not quite 3-1/2 years old when Trump became president. I would be really surprised if a child that young could build a Lego replica of the White House.
Aaron Morrisson & Kat Stafford of the AP: "Capping a week of protests and outrage over the police shooting of a Black man in Wisconsin, civil rights advocates began highlighting the scourge of police and vigilante violence against Black Americans at a commemoration of the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. An estimated thousands have gathered Friday near the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, where the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered his historic 'I Have A Dream' address, a vision of racial equality that remains elusive for millions of Americans." ~~~
~~~ The Washington Post is live-updating the event.
We Are Amused. Melissa Eddy of the New York Times: "Asked during her annual summer news conference about a claim made by Richard Grenell, the former U.S. ambassador to Germany, that he had 'watched President Trump charm the chancellor of Germany,' [Angela] Merkel drew her eyebrows together, tilted her head and leaned toward the reporter. 'He did what?' she asked. 'Charmed,' repeated Marina Kormbaki, a journalist with the German reporting collective R.N.D. 'Ah, OK,' Ms. Merkel said. Then she added with a laugh, 'I don't talk about internal discussions.'... [Grenell's] comment [-- made during a speech at the Republican convention --] sparked outrage over social media ... and brought derision on both sides of the Atlantic."
~~~~~~~~~~
Presidential Race
T-R-U-M-P Corrupts, Lies About Everything.* Philip Rucker, et al., of the Washington Post: "President Trump delivered a scathing and wholesale attack on Democrat Joe Biden and fiercely defended his stewardship of a nation buffeted by historic crises on Thursday night, appealing to voters for a second term in an election he said would either preserve or destroy the 'American way of life.' In formally accepting the Republican presidential nomination from the South Lawn of the White House, Trump cast himself as an insurgent rather than the incumbent he is, railing against Biden as eminence of 'the failed political class.' He blamed the former vice president and his Democratic Party for the nation's chronic socioeconomic problems as well as for the anger and unrest coursing through the country today.... Trump spoke from a red-carpeted stage adorned with American flags and bookended by massive campaign signage, with the White House's grand portico illuminated against the night sky as his backdrop. After his 70-minute speech, among the longest acceptance speeches in history, fireworks exploded over the Mall, some of the blasts bearing the president's name, T-R-U-M-P. And as the coronavirus pandemic still rages coast to coast, an estimated 1,500 guests gathered on the South Lawn flouting social distancing recommendations and mostly forgoing face masks -- exemplifying the convention's aim to falsely portray the virus as fading away."
* Generic headline.
Alexander Burns & Maggie Haberman of the New York Times: "In a 70-minute speech on the South Lawn of the White House, Mr. Trump repeatedly misrepresented his own record on the coronavirus, part of a broader attempt to minimize his lapses in office and turn a harsh light toward his opponent, Mr. Biden, a moderate Democrat. The president also accused his rival and Democrats of failing to take on rioters, though Mr. Biden has condemned recent acts of violence, and of harboring designs to restructure the American economic system along socialist lines. Mr. Trump, by contrast, adopted the role of a defender of traditional American values and an unbending ally of the police.... Much of the night was given over to unusually explicit rebuttals to Mr. Trump's vulnerabilities: Seldom if ever has a political party spent so much time during a convention insisting in explicit terms that its nominee was not a racist or a sexist, and that its standard-bearer was, perhaps despite public appearances, a person of empathy and good character.... The program took on an atmosphere of pomp and celebration with Mr. Trump's arrival late in the evening, as he and the first lady, Melania Trump, made their entrance down the White House stairs like the guests of honor at a gala. And when Mr. Trump concluded his speech, the atmosphere of festivity erupted again in the form of a bellowing opera singer and exploding fireworks that put an exclamation point on a convention determined not to be overtaken by a continuing crisis of mass death and economic adversity.... Mr. Trump spoke from a prepared text.... Underscoring the scripted nature of the speech, Mr. Trump misspoke in a high-profile, symbolic moment: 'I profoundly accept this nomination,' he declared, though the word in his prepared text was 'proudly.'"
How fitting that Trump accepted his renomination with a mass violation of the rule of law And an intentional mass Covid exposure event. The two core failures that history will remember him for.... Literally thousands of Hatch Act violations-- one for every federal official who helped with or participated in this revolting display. The greatest mass Hatch Act transgression in US history. Even the fireworks are a violation. -- Norm Eisen, in tweets
Caitlin Oprysko of Politico: "... Donald Trump formally accepted the Republican presidential nomination on Thursday night, directly countering Joe Biden's own convention address, as the sound of racial justice protesters echoed in the background.... Here are the key moments from the Republican National Convention's final night."
As usual, Stephen Colbert provides a good summary and analysis of the latest Trumpisode:
Daniel Dale, et al., of CNN: "... Donald Trump is a serial liar and he serially lied during his speech accepting the Republican nomination. CNN counted more than 20 false, exaggerated or misleading claims from Trump on Thursday night. That's in addition to a number of falsehoods from other speakers. Trump's dishonesty touched on a range of topics, from the economy to his administration's performance during the coronavirus pandemic. Some of Trump's most egregious false claims were directed at ... Joe Biden.... Here's a look at a selection of false and misleading claims from the final night of the Republican National Convention." ~~~
"A Volcano of Lies." Fred Kaplan of Slate: "The profusion of falsehoods from Tom Cotton, Rudy Giuliani, and Ivanka Trump provided a fitting setup for the big man at the Republican National Convention." Kaplan runs down some of the most blatant lies delivered during the final episode of the Fantasy Trump Show.
From the New York Times' live updates of Black Lives Matter developments Thursday: "President Trump made only a glancing reference to Kenosha, Wis., in his speech on Thursday accepting the Republican nomination for a second term, linking it to other American cities where protests against systemic racism and police brutality have sometimes turned violent. Mr. Trump's mention of Kenosha, the scene of several chaotic nights of demonstrations this week, and the other cities was shorthand for what he claims is a creeping lawlessness that will blanket the United States if his Democratic opponent, Joseph R. Biden Jr., is elected. But, like Vice President Mike Pence, who hit the same theme on Wednesday, Mr. Trump did not say what touched off the unrest in Kenosha: the shooting of a Black man, Jacob Blake, by a white police officer in an episode that has drawn widespread condemnation and is being investigated by state authorities and the Justice Department."
The New York Times' live updates of the Trump Circus & the Ringmaster-in-Chief are here. Times reporters' snark analysis is here, & includes a video livefeed to the convention.
The Washington Post's live updates are here: Yay! Rudy Giuliani is one of the speakers. Trump will speak on the South Lawn. "More than 1,000 people are to be in attendance, and the overwhelming majority will not be tested for the novel coronavirus." ~~~
~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: I unmuted the video for Rudy, and here's my advice to anyone who finds herself in his vicinity: Get out! He will spit on you.
The Guardian's live updates are here.
Trolling Trump. Dominic Patten & Ted Johnson of Deadline: "..., the Biden campaign has a two-minute 'Keep Up' ad that will air on ABC, NBC, CBS and Trump's beloved Fox News Channel just before the incumbent speaks tonight. Here it is:" ~~~
Matt Viser of the Washington Post: "Joe Biden on Thursday blamed President Trump for the racial unrest that has roiled the country and in recent days has gripped Kenosha, Wis., saying the president is fomenting animosity and cheering on a spasm of violent protests to benefit himself politically.... 'I think he [Trump] views it as a political benefit,' Biden said on MSNBC. 'He's rooting for more violence, not less.'... Sen. Kamala D. Harris (D-Calif.), the first Black woman on a major-party ticket, also delivered her most detailed remarks on the Kenosha protests, saying that 'we must always defend peaceful protest and peaceful protesters' but also that 'we should not confuse them with those looting and committing acts of violence.... The reality is the life of a Black person in America has never been treated as fully human.'" ~~~
~~~ Mrs. Bea McCrabbie: In case you think Joe is making up stuff, see Philip Bump's analysis, linked under "Black Lives Matter" below.
Adam Edelman & Dareh Gregorian of NBC News: "A Joe Biden administration would address systemic racism and tackle police reform, Sen. Kamala Harris said on Thursday, invoking the 'sickening' shooting of Jacob Blake in Wisconsin as further evidence for the need to address racial injustice in the U.S.... She also noted that the topic of racial justice has been avoided at the Republican convention.... Harris spoke hours before ... Donald Trump is set to formally accept his party's nomination for re-election at the final night of the Republican National Convention, pre-emptively criticizing the president for his response to the coronavirus pandemic.... 'Instead of rising to meet the most difficult moment of his presidency, he froze. He was scared. He was petty and vindictive,' Harris said."
Max Cohen & Matthew Choi of Politico: "Support for Joe Biden's White House bid is growing among staffers of past presidential campaigns -- Republican ones, that is. Several dozen former staffers from Sen. Mitt Romney's (R-Utah) presidential campaign, the George W. Bush administration and the campaign and Senate staff of former Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) have signed on to an effort to elect Joe Biden. For the Romney and McCain staffers, they're working to elect the same man they tried to defeat in 2012 and 2008, respectively.... In an open letter obtained by Politico, the group 'Romney Alumni for Biden' says Trump's rhetoric and actions are antithetical to the Republican Party they believe in.... The 34 total signatories include finance, operations, policy and events staffers from Romney's presidential bid. Politico also received in advance a letter from Bush alumni supporting Biden, whose signatories include former Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez, Bush domestic policy adviser Sally Canfield, former Ambassador James Glassman and former U.S. Treasurer Rosario Marin. The group praised Biden's decency and ability to work across party lines and launched a website raising money for the Delaware Democrat." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~
~~~ Rebecca Shabad & Mike Memoli of NBC News: "Several hundred former aides to President George W. Bush and Sen. John McCain announced Thursday that they are endorsing Joe Biden for president.... A political action committee, 43 Alumni for Biden, that launched last month posted a list of nearly 300 members of the Bush administration or campaigns who are publicly backing Biden.... Earlier this week, more than two dozen former Republican Congress members backed Biden for president." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Jonathan Martin of the New York Times: "More than 100 former staff members for Senator John McCain are supporting Joseph R. Biden Jr., a show of support across the political divide that they hope amplifies the 'Country First' credo of the former Arizona senator. That motto and 'his frequent call on Americans to serve causes greater than our self-interest were not empty slogans like so much of our politics today,' the group of aides, most of them still Republicans, wrote in a joint statement, praising Mr. McCain and implicitly taking aim at President Trump.... The list of signatories includes a range of people -- from chiefs of staff in Mr. McCain's Senate office to junior aides on his campaigns -- who worked for him over his 35 years in Congress and during two presidential bids. Mark Salter, Mr. McCain's longtime chief aide and speechwriter, helped organize the letter.... Coinciding with Mr. Trump's renomination acceptance speech at the Republican National Convention on Thursday and the second anniversary of Mr. McCain's death this week, the joint endorsement of Mr. Biden represents the latest effort from anti-Trump Republicans to lure conservatives and moderates away from the president." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~
~~~ Salter's letter is published as an op-ed in the Washington Post. Here's the statement by the McCain group, published in Medium, & the list of signatories. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Matthew Choi of Politico: "Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Thursday there shouldn't be any presidential debates this year between Joe Biden and Donald Trump, adding that the president would debase the debate stage with poor behavior.... Pelosi called Trump's 2016 debates with Hillary Clinton 'disgraceful,' emphasizing how he loomed behind her on the stage as she spoke. Clinton later admitted that Trump's lurking made her 'skin crawl.' 'He'll probably act in a way that is beneath the dignity of the presidency,' Pelosi said. 'He does that every day.'... Speaking with MSNBC's Andrew Mitchell, Biden said Thursday afternoon that he planned to face Trump so long as the debates remained on the docket. Still, he conceded that the president would probably use the debate stage to spread misinformation, similar to the instances of revisionism displayed at the Republican National Convention this week."
Glenn Kessler, et al., of the Washington Post: "The third night of the Republican National Convention yet again offered a cascade of false claims, especially in Vice President Pence's speech. Here are 20 claims that caught our attention." Mrs. McC: This is a remarkable lost of whoppers. All of the puppet-makers in all the world could not make enough Pinocchio marionettes to cover one GOP convention. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Mrs. Bea McCrabbie: An MSNBC pundit (David Jolly?) noted that Trump has managed to find more black people to speak at his convention than he has placed among those approximately 4,000 political-appointee jobs he can fill.
Jane Lytvynenko of BuzzFeed News (Aug. 26): "On the first night of the Republican National Convention, the party aired a segment featuring Catalina and Madeline Lauf warning of dire consequences if Democratic candidate Joe Biden is elected president. 'This is a taste of Biden's America,' one sister says in a voiceover as images of protests play onscreen. The problem is that one of the images in the segment doesn't show the US at all -- it shows Spain. As first reported by Catalonian public broadcaster CCMA and independently verified by BuzzFeed News, one of the four images of protests was filmed in October 2019 in Barcelona." Mrs. McC: Wow! Barcelona is a beautiful, vibrant city. I can hardly wait till Biden makes America look more like Barcelona. Could we have Gaudi-style apartment buildings, Joe, & public spaces like Park Guell?
Shutting the Stable Door After the Horse's Ass Has Bolted. Vivian Salama of CNN: "The Department of Homeland Security sent an agency-wide email to its employees Thursday morning reminding them not to participate in partisan politics, citing "heightened scrutiny." While directives like this are standard in election years, the warning comes days after acting Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf participated in a swearing in ceremony with ... Donald Trump for naturalized Americans as part of the Republican National Convention, raising ethics concerns.... Signed by Joseph Maher, the agency's designated ethics official, the email references the Hatch Act, which stipulates that most executive-branch officials must not engage in political activity in an official capacity at any time...." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: BTW, the official name of the Hatch Act is "An Act to Prevent Pernicious Political Activities." Nearly everything Trump does is a pernicious political activity.
The Trumpidemic, Ctd.
Now, Don't Get Confused by Another Quasi-Reversal by Another Gutless Wonder. From Thursday's NYT coronavirus updates: "The director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has scaled back the agency's recommendation advising some people not to get tested after exposure to the novel coronavirus, now saying 'testing may be considered for all close contacts of confirmed or probable Covid-19 patients.' The statement by Dr. Robert R. Redfield was issued to some news outlets late Wednesday, and more broadly Thursday morning, after a storm of criticism over the new C.D.C. guidelines -- involving potentially asymptomatic people -- which were the product of the White House Coronavirus Task Force and not C.D.C.'s own scientists. Dr. Redfield made the statement in an effort to clarify the new policy, an official said. However, the guidelines issued earlier this week remained on the C.D.C.'s website as of Thursday morning, and it appears unlikely that the agency will change them." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Ryan Reilly of the Huffington Post: "... Donald Trump's top civil rights official at the Department of Justice announced this week that he was considering launching investigations into how state-owned nursing homes responded to the coronavirus. The four states he targeted all have Democratic governors. This highly unusual public announcement of potential investigations raised alarm bells among Civil Rights Division alumni and Democrats that DOJ's move was motivated by partisan politics. Eric Dreiband, the assistant attorney general running the Civil Rights Division, sent letters to Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf, Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy and New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo on Wednesday, requesting documents and information under the Civil Rights of Institutionalized Persons Act (CRIPA) about how public nursing homes in their states responded to the COVID-19 pandemic. Cuomo and Whitmer said in a joint statement that the inquiries were 'nothing more than a transparent politicization of the Department of Justice in the middle of the Republican National Convention.' They called DOJ's move a 'nakedly partisan deflection' and questioned why Republican-run states that, based on federal guidelines, had similar rules about nursing home admissions were not being targeted."
Kate Riga of TPM: "House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) said Thursday that during a call with White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, she offered to drop the price tag on the top-line spending for COVID-19 relief legislation to $2.2 trillion, well down from the original $3.4 trillion. Meadows, Pelosi said, rejected the offer. The 25-minute phone call was the first significant contact the two have had since negotiations fell apart earlier this month."
Black Lives Matter
Adding Insult to Multiple Injuries. Edward Moreno of the Hill: "The father of Jacob Blake, the 29-year-old Black man shot seven times by a Kenosha, Wis., police officer, told the Chicago Sun-Times that his son is handcuffed to his hospital bed. 'I hate it that he was laying in that bed with the handcuff onto the bed,' Blake's father said Thursday, the day after he visited his son in the hospital. 'He can't go anywhere. Why do you have him cuffed to the bed?' Officials have not announced any charges against Blake." The Sun-Times story is here.
Adam Kilgore & Ben Golliver of the Washington Post: "A day after the Milwaukee Bucks' sudden, historic strike spread throughout the sports world, athletes continued protests of racial injustice and police brutality Thursday as the NBA suspended another night of playoff games, the WNBA remained dormant, more than a quarter of NFL teams canceled preseason practices, the NHL suspended its Thursday and Friday playoff schedule and multiple MLB games -- but not all ... -- were called off. The NBA playoffs, painstakingly constructed within a bubble on the Disney World campus, hung in the balance as players met Wednesday night and Thursday morning to determine whether they would play again this year in the wake of Jacob Blake's shooting by police in Kenosha, Wis. Players agreed to continue the season, and the NBA announced it planned to resume the playoffs either Friday or Saturday. The protests spread into politics as Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden praised players for 'moral leadership' and ... Jared Kushner told CNBC that players should seek 'actual action' to solve problems and cast athletes who short-circuited the peak of their professional career in pursuit of racial justice as lucky to get a break from work."
Dropping the Mic. Ben Strauss of the Washington Post: "About 30 minutes into a makeshift pregame show without any basketball to follow it, TNT's 'Inside the NBA' cut to former NBA star Chris Webber. Webber was supposed to call one of Wednesday night's playoffs games from the Orlando bubble. But all three games were postponed after players, led by the Milwaukee Bucks, said they would not play in protest of the shooting of Jacob Blake, the unarmed Black man, by police in Kenosha, Wis. Choking back tears, Webber delivered an impassioned monologue supporting the players' historic actions.... Webber’s words came just a few minutes after the opening moments of the show, during which Kenny Smith, a former NBA player and host, walked off the set in solidarity with the players. 'For me, I think the biggest thing now -- as a black man and a former player -- I think it's best for me to support the players and just not be here tonight,' Smith said before taking off his microphone and leaving his chair." The Colbert segment embedded yesterday has video of Smith's extraordinary protest. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Racist-in-Chief, Racist Family, Racist Staff Weigh in. Cindy Boren of the Washington Post: "President Trump on Thursday afternoon dismissed the NBA player-led protest of the police shooting of Jacob Blake, hours after Jared Kushner ... called NBA players 'very fortunate' to be 'able to take a night off from work.' 'I don&'t know much about the NBA protest,' Trump told reporters during a news briefing on Hurricane Laura. 'I know their ratings have been very bad because I think people are a little tired of the NBA. ... They've become like a political organization, and that's not a good thing.'... Also on Thursday, Vice President Pence's chief of staff called the NBA protests 'absurd' and 'silly.' Marc Short, appearing on CNN's 'New Day,' also said that he believed the Trump administration shouldn't speak out on the boycott. 'If they want to protest, I don't think we care,' he said." A Hill story is here. ~~~
~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: Ah, I remember fondly those innocent days of 2016 when we thought the stupidest thing a politician could say about basketball was that time then-presidential candidate Sen. Ted Cruz [R-Texas] called a hoop a "basketball ring" when he was speaking at Indiana's Hoosier Gym Center.
Philip Bump of the Washington Post: Speaking on "Fox & Friends" Thursday, Kellyanne "Conway made explicit the strategy that the president and his team have been making obvious for months now: Trump's team sees violent protests as politically advantageous.... '... [Donald Trump is] trying to send federal reinforcements in. And you've got these governors saying, oh, no. They're putting their pride in their politics ahead of public safety.... The more chaos and anarchy and vandalism and violence reigns, the better it is for the very clear choice on who's best on public safety and law and order.'... Trump is happy to present himself as powerless here specifically because he thinks it reinforces weakness on the part of his opponents.... An administration official who spoke with The Washington Post at the time [Trump sent ... federal law enforcement officials to] Portland[, Oregon,] made clear that the White House didn't necessarily see [the escalation of violence the feds caused] as a bad thing, that the White House had wanted to amplify tension in cities for some time. 'It was about getting viral online content,' [the] official told The Post."
Sam Levin of the Guardian: "White supremacist groups have infiltrated US law enforcement agencies in every region of the country over the last two decades, according to a new report about the ties between police and far-right vigilante groups. In a timely new analysis, Michael German, a former FBI special agent who has written extensively on the ways that US law enforcement have failed to respond to far-right domestic terror threats, concludes that US law enforcement officials have been tied to racist militant activities in more than a dozen states since 2000, and hundreds of police officers have been caught posting racist and bigoted social media content."
Grifter-in-Chief. David Fahrenthold, et al., of the Washington Post: "Trump has now visited his own properties 270 times as president, according to a Washington Post tally -- with another visit planned for Thursday, when he is scheduled to meet GOP donors at his Washington hotel. Through these trips, Trump has brought the Trump Organization a stream of private revenue from federal agencies and GOP campaign groups. Federal spending records show that taxpayers have paid Trump's businesses more than $900,000 since he took office. At least $570,000 came as a result of the president's travel, according to a Post analysis. Now, new federal spending documents obtained by The Post via a public-records lawsuit give more detail about how the Trump Organization charged the Secret Service -- a kind of captive customer, required to follow Trump everywhere.... The documents show that the Trump Organization charged daily 'resort fees' to Secret Service agents guarding Vice President Pence in Las Vegas and in another instance asked agents to pay a $1,300 'furniture removal charge' during a presidential visit to a Trump resort in Scotland. In addition, campaign finance records have provided new details about the payments the Trump Organization received from GOP groups, as a result of the 37 instances in which Trump headlined a political event at one of his properties. Those visits have brought the company at least $3.8 million in fees, according to a Post analysis of campaign spending records." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~
~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie's Financial Planning Advice to Future Presidents & Vice Presidents: Buy or build an expensive resort in some isolated place in the USA & go there at every opportunity and charge the federal government exhorbitant rates for every possible thing. I'm sure Republicans wouldn't mind if Joe Biden and Kamala Harris tried this stunt.
~~~ AND There's This from the WashPo report: "In response to questions for this report, White House spokesman Judd Deere said in a statement..., 'The Washington Post is blatantly interfering with the business relationships of the Trump Organization, and it must stop.... Please be advised that we are building up a very large "dossier" on the many false David Fahrenthold and others stories as they are a disgrace to journalism and the American people.'" ~~~
~~~ Oliver Darcy of CNN: David "Fahrenthold wrote on Twitter that if anyone knows 'anything about a dossier the White House has supposedly compiled' on him, to let him know or provide him a copy. Fahrenthold won a Pulitzer Prize in 2017 for 'casting doubt' on Trump's 'generosity toward charities' in his coverage. He has also reported on Trump's businesses. Last summer, The New York Times reported that allies of the White House had compiled dossiers on hundreds of people who work for top news organizations. The White House's boasting of building a dossier on Fahrenthold and other journalists is jarring, but perhaps not surprising from an administration that has branded the press as 'the enemy of the people.' Trump and his allies have for years aimed to discredit journalists and news organizations, often through the use of lies and dishonest rhetoric." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~
~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: Jarring? Compiling dossiers on reporters & warning them off negative stories about a "leader" & his cohort are exactly what repressive dictators & their henchmen do in repressive, non-democratic regimes. I don't of an American president* who has done so and admitted to it. Richard Nixon, infamously, did have an "enemies list" (or two) that included journalists, the purpose of which was to "screw" the "enemies" with tax audits & other means. But Nixon didn't kept his tactics secret. John Dean revealed it to the Senate Watergate Committee during hearings, & journalist Daniel Schorr -- who made the list -- obtained a copy of the original list "and read names from the list live on CBS television on this day." (Schorr didn't realize he was included until he read it on TV.)
Gangsta Rap. David Corn of Mother Jones: "On December 10, 2015, Donald Trump took time off from campaigning for the Republican presidential nomination to spend hours sitting for a videotaped deposition in a lawsuit alleging that he and Trump University had defrauded people who had plunked down thousands of dollars to learn the secrets of his financial success as a developer. During a break in the proceedings, the camera continued to roll. And Trump and his attorney, Daniel Petrocelli ... were captured discussing the case. In this 13-minute hot-mic video ... Trump boasted about how his company threatened the Better Business Bureau to change the D rating it had assigned Trump University to an A. He complained about the federal judge overseeing the suit, Gonzalo Curiel, elliptically talking about how to challenge him and referring to 'the Spanish thing.' Trump also griped that he had been sued personally in this case, and Petrocelli had to explain to Trump that he, not just Trump University itself, was in the legal crosshairs because Trump had been accused of making false statements to promote the venture. And Petrocelli pointed out that the case was not a lock for Trump because some of Trump's 'guys' had been 'sloppy.'" (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
How Did Such a Dummy Get into Penn? Michael Kranish of the Washington Post: "A professor at the University of Pennsylvania has renewed a request to investigate how President Trump was admitted to the school in 1966, citing what he called 'new evidence' on secretly recorded tapes in which Trump's sister says a friend took his entrance exam. The professor, Eric W. Orts, is one of six faculty members who asked Penn's provost earlier this summer to launch an investigation into how Trump transferred into the school. He noted that the president's niece, Mary Trump, wrote in her book published in July that the president paid someone to take his SATs. The provost, Wendell E. Pritchett, replied to Orts on July 20 that 'we certainly share your concerns about these allegations.... However..., we have determined that this situation occurred too far in the past to make a useful or probative factual inquiry possible. If new evidence surfaces to substantiate the claim in the future, we will continue to be open to investigating it.'... The Washington Post on Saturday published a story that included audio of conversations Mary Trump recorded in 2018 and 2019 with Maryanne Trump Barry, the president's sister. [Barry] said Donald Trump '... got into University of Pennsylvania because he had somebody take the exams.'"
Keith Alexander of the Washington Post: "A man, who officials said had announced he was armed before he was shot by a Secret Service officer earlier in the month near the White House, was apparently holding a comb, according to new court documents. Myron Berryman, 51, was charged with one count of assault on a police officer in the incident and has been hospitalized since the Aug. 10 shooting. Berryman's first hearing on the misdemeanor charge was held Thursday afternoon in D.C. Superior Court. His lawyer said he has been moved to a psychiatric hospital. According to initial charging documents and Secret Service officials, Berryman walked up to the uniformed officer and said he was armed. Charging papers say Berryman reached along the right side of his body as if to retrieve an object, clasped his hands together and pointed his arms toward the officer. The officer then shot Berryman once in the torso. No weapon was found."
Brandon Ambrosino of Politico: "A former Liberty University student says Becki Falwell, the wife of the university's then-President Jerry Falwell Jr., jumped into bed with him and performed oral sex on him while he stayed over at the Falwell home after a band practice with her eldest son in 2008. The student was 22 at the time of the encounter, near the start of Liberty's fall semester. He said she initiated the act, and he went along with it. But despite his rejection of further advances, he said, Falwell continued pursuing him, offering him gifts and engaging in banter through Facebook messages.... The messages, screenshots of which were provided by the former student to Politico, suggest a flirtatious relationship that went beyond what might be expected of a mother communicating with her son's bandmate."
Way Beyond the Beltway
** Motoko Rich of the New York Times: "Prime Minister Shinzo Abe of Japan will resign because of ill health, he said on Friday, just four days after he exceeded the record for the longest consecutive run as leader in Japanese history. Mr. Abe, 65, had been prime minister for nearly eight years, a significant feat in a country accustomed to high turnover in the top job." An AP story is here.
News Lede
New York Times: "In a region so accustomed to epic hurricanes that residents recall them by name, Laura was one of the strongest on record to hit the U.S. mainland. It continued to carve a path of destruction and fear as it chugged north through Arkansas as a tropical depression on Thursday night, and was responsible for at least six deaths in Louisiana -- most of them caused by trees falling on homes."
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Reader Comments (15)
That punk ass little monster Jared Kushner has a lotta balls suggesting that NBA players are rich dilettantes who should just shut up and go back to entertaining the white folks.
This, from a shady twerp who’s had everything in life handed to him, who takes off anytime he pleases with his little authoritarian princess to fly off to glamorous vacation spots, protected by armed bodyguards, all paid for by you and me.
He is the century’s poster child for the worst outcomes of rank nepotism. At least NBA players had to earn their place on their teams. They didn’t have daddies and daddies-in-law Around to hand them piles of money, buy them a Harvard degree, slide them into and a cushy no-show, pretend job.
A job, by the way for which he was considered a huge security risk, but once again, his pathway was smoothed, all doors were thrown open, the roadblocks of incompetence, zero experience, and security problems cast aside by others to help him out.
He’s lucky he can take a lifetime off and still enjoy the benefits that typically accrue only to those who earn them and deserve them.
Twit.
Late yesterday afternoon it became eerily dark and within minutes fierce winds tore across our land and then came the torrential rain which lasted most of the evening. In contrast, a certain house in D.C., under clear skies, was the backdrop for the final surge of the usurper-in-chief along with his knaves and slaves and an umasked crowd of hand clappers who were exposing themselves to a deadly virus.
This display will play long after the fireworks fizzle-–its history capturing the lawlessness and sheer pomposity of a presidency of ill repute whose corruption will be held up as an example of how best to take-over a fragile democracy.
Some would say the black skies and torrential rains, if fallen there instead of here, was the act of God––whose name was uttered by every speaker–-because these are pious people who care deeply for their fellow man along with care for the planet that houses them.
And somewhere a black man, shot seven times in the back, lay in a hospital bed, at death's door, handcuffed. There are no more words–-there is only action.
Maybe Becki should change her name to Beajay.
Don't know how the rest of you are doing this morning, but things are not so hunky-dory here in my head.
Last night as I flipped channels heard a few brief moments of the Pretender's boring recitation of the same ole crap and a little of the MSNBC followup commentary--and turned the TV off. Couldn't take it any more.
Tho' I happened to catch the poor teleprompter reading, the profound in lieu of proud moment that was neither and watched a rerun as he came down the steps to the podium, gingerly, holding on to the railing, my disgust with the man and the whole scene, with a country that could have spawned such a travest, overweighed the pleasure I admit to have occasionally taken in watching such a pretentious, pathetic fuck unravel in public.
No pleasure at all. Not a bit.
Just a deep and "profound" sadness at it all, a sadness directed mostly at those empty, deluded souls who believe or pretend that this husk of a man is somehow the best hope of the nation but reserving a little for myself, my family and the people I love, because I have lived long enough to see the country I had so many reasons to admire decay to such a rotten state and now see little hope, regardless of the election's outcome, of escape from the mess we stupidly have created for ourselves.
It’s hard, in this era of wanton lawlessness on the part of the Traitor-in-Chief and his crooked cronies, to be surprised by much, but handcuffing a man whom police shot in the back seven times (and leave us not forget what those manly men from the Old West used to say about “backshooters”), and who is now paralyzed from the waist down, likely for the rest of his life, to his hospital bed, constitutes an authentic jaw dropper. Seriously, my mouth fell open reading that.
Are those brave backshootin’ Kenosha cops afeared that the guy will hop out of bed and walk on his hands out the front door? The one in handcuffs should be the creep who shot him.
Unwashed,
...and ol’ Jerry could be Mr. Peepers. Beajay and the Peeper. Sounds like a great new (un)reality show for right-wing Evangelical TV.
Tune in next week to “Beanay and the Peeper” to watch “Return of the Pool Boy!”
@ Ken
In full transparency, I've been experiencing a mild depression for a good while now. We're living through incredibly shitty times, and as the magic 8 ball says, "Outlook not so good". Unless the GOP deradicalizes, there's no way out of this political impasse. It's important to be able to identify mental health issues and acknowledge them. It was good of Michelle Obama to have come out and said as much as well before the Democratic convention.
There is a reason for optimism with the emerging anti-Trump coalition that seems broad enough to take down this monstrous white nationalist, pseudo-fascist movement in November. I have been really skeptical about any conservative anti-trumper movement, but the Lincoln Project has been merciless and the fact that past Republican operatives are now lending public support and service to Biden is a pretty incredible turnaround.
That said, all of the rising blue wave only crashes through IF fair and free elections take place and all votes are actually counted, without ballots being lost, election servers wiped clean, no DOJ October surprise, no Supreme Court fuckery, etc.
The most important thing is to do as Elizabeth Warren did, and persist in the good fight.
Beatrif, you may sink you want to lif in a plaith like Barthelona, but after zey jumble all your dipthongs you vill sink uzzerwithe.
Thanks, Akhilleus, for the nicely verbalized and well-deserved take-down of the Twit-in-Chief.
Aww, Ken, we know. We feel the same. I vacillate wildly from total rage, fizzing all over the place, sending things from various places to sympatico friends and relatives, wondering what in the hell happened to the folks that are NOT sympatico, who flock to this demented piece of crap, and support him figuratively and practically literally (...see the Presidential Musk Ox attempt to walk like a person...) Then, I am sad, traumatized, pessimistic, scared, disgusted and all the rest, like Ken (and Michelle O) and safari, and diagnose myself as a bit depressed also. The only antidotes to all of this is a Democratic victory and people paying attention to the still rampant COVID 19-- and even if it is MAYBE going to go our way, who knows when that will happen.
On the bright side, my root canal today was okay, and better than the RNC CONvention! Now I will go out for an ice cream purchase... Have a good weekend, RCers, and thanks for all the great info today.
@Patrick: It isn't just the Spanish. My husband and I were leaving Barcelona once, and we stopped in a restaurant just up the coast. As often happened -- because we spoke to each other in English -- the waitress asked us, in Spanish, if we wanted the menu in both languages. We said yes, and she obliged: the brought us a menu in -- Spanish & Catalan.
Marie,
What, no Esperanto?
Jeanne,
"Trump Coronation Worse Than Root Canal."
A classic comparison of the painful RNC lie-a-thon, to which I'd add "worse than a root canal without anesthetic".
I picture the whole disgusting, treason and pain filled affair as similar to that torture scene in the film "Marathon Man", when the Nazi torturer (no, not Trump, but just like him), played with evil gusto by Larry Olivier, gouges Dustin Hoffman's teeth to make sure that "It's Safe".
Fatty is demanding to know the same thing. "Is my stolen election safe?"
If you've seen "Marathon Man", you know the answer to that.
@Akhilleus: re your comment on the Kenosha "lawmen".
Watched a video of the Kenosha police chief (could have been an imposter) in full racist rant about how "they" should be rounded up and warehoused. If it really was the chief it would go a long way to explain their actions. Definitely NOT a town or state for coloured folk.
Hear the Kenosha sheriff for yourself on Rolling Stone. Strong stomachs only
https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/kenosha-sheriff-racism-people-that-arent-worth-saving-aclu-1050971/