;)
The Commentariat -- July 1, 2020
Late Morning Update:
The Washington Post's live updates of coronavirus developments Wednesday are here. The New York Times' live updates for Wednesday are here: "Health officials are urging Americans to scale back Independence Day plans after virus case levels reached disheartening new highs on Tuesday, with eight states setting single-day reporting records. The Oregon Health Authority warned that 'the safest choice this holiday is to celebrate at home.' In Nebraska, state leaders suggested that holiday cookout hosts keep guest lists to make contact tracing easier. In Los Angeles County, where 10,000 new cases have been announced since Friday, the public health department ordered beaches closed and fireworks shows canceled. Elsewhere, the pleas were similar: Skip the party. Stay home. Don't make a bad situation worse."
Susan Rice, in a New York Times op-ed: "As a former national security adviser, I find it exceedingly difficult to believe that no one told Mr. Trump about this intelligence [about Russia paying the Taliban bounty for killing U.S. soldiers].... If Mr. Trump was told about Russian actions, why did he not respond? If he was not told, why not?... A perilous pattern persists that underscores Mr. Trump's strange propensity to serve Russian interests above America's.... Now Mr. Putin knows he can kill Americans with impunity.... At best, our commander in chief is utterly derelict in his duties, presiding over a dangerously dysfunctional national security process that is putting our country and those who wear its uniform at great risk. At worst, the White House is being run by liars and wimps catering to a tyrannical president who is actively advancing our arc adversary's nefarious interests."
Axios: "President Trump attacked New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio on Wednesday for reallocating $1 billion from the NYPD's budget and ordering a large Black Lives Matter mural to be painted on Fifth Avenue, condemning it in a tweet as a 'symbol of hate.'... It's yet another example of the president digging in on racial issues that explicitly appeal to his base, even as his poll numbers continue to spiral in the wrong direction months ahead of the election."
Mark Berman of the Washington Post: "Seattle police moved to clear a protest zone early Wednesday morning that had drawn national attention and has been marred by multiple shootings, including one that killed a teenager early this week. Police said they began taking action after Mayor Jenny Durkan (D) issued an executive order calling for the area to be vacated, aiming to end the weeks-long occupation around a police precinct. Officers began making a wave of arrests as they moved to enforce that directive, they said, and warned that anyone who remained in the area or returned could be taken into custody.... Seattle Police Chief Carmen Best issued a statement early Wednesday saying that she supports peaceful protests and would continue her department's work to engage with activists. 'But enough is enough,' Best said in a statement. 'The CHOP has become lawless and brutal. Four shootings -- two fatal -- robberies, assaults, violence and countless property crimes have occurred in this several block area. My job, and the job of our officers, is to protect and serve our community.'" A New York Times report is here.
~~~~~~~~~~
The New York Times' live updates of coronavirus developments Tuesday are here. "More than 48,000 coronavirus cases were announced across the United States on Tuesday, the most of any day of the pandemic. Officials in eight states -- Alaska, Arizona, California, Georgia, Idaho, Oklahoma, South Carolina and Texas -- also announced single-day highs.... Tuesday was the fourth time in a week that the United States posted a new single-day case record. The number of new cases in the United States has shot up by 80 percent in the past two weeks, according to a New York Times database.... The increase in infections came as the leaders of the most populous counties in Texas pleaded with Gov. Greg Abbott to allow them to issue stay-at-home orders.... California’s case count has exploded in recent days -- leading the governors of New York, New Jersey and Connecticut to tell travelers from California to quarantine for 14 days, joining the ranks of travelers from other hard-hit states." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ The Washington Post's live updates for Tuesday are here. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ The New York Times has state-by-state data here.
See also story about Joe Biden's speech, linked under "Elections 2020."
Jessie Hellmann of the Hill: "Anthony Fauci, the nation's top infectious disease expert, warned members of Congress on Monday that the U.S. could reach 100,000 new COVID-19 cases per day if the country does not get a handle on the pandemic. Speaking before the Senate health committee, Fauci said..., 'We're going in the wrong direction if you look at the curves of the new cases.... We need to do something about that and we need to do it very quickly.'" (Also linked yesterday.) Update: The New York Times' story is here. ~~~
~~~ Republicans Go Medieval. Dana Milbank followed the hearing & heard Sen. Rand Paul (R-Quack) advise, "'We just need more optimism.'... Not for the first time, it feels as though 21st-century America is 14th-century Europe, reacting with all manner of useless countermeasures to the plague.... The president ridicules mask wearing as politically correct and unmanly. His campaign staff tears down social distancing signs at his mass rally. Governors of hard-hit states tamper with data, sideline public health experts and blame the spread on Latino farmworkers, civil rights demonstrations and increased testing -- anything but their reckless and premature relaxing of restrictions. And then there's Vice President Pence, head of the White House coronavirus task force. 'I'd just encourage every American to continue to pray,' he said at Friday's task force briefing."
Phil Mattingly of CNN: "The US Senate, just hours before the expiration of the small business loan Paycheck Protection Program, passed an extension of the program to August 8. The move to keep the application process for the program open comes as it was set to expire with more than $130 billion in allocated funds that remain unused. The program was designed to offer small business loans to bridge the shutdowns and help businesses keep employees in their jobs -- and in turn, the loans taken out would be forgiven, essentially shifting into a grant.... Tuesday's extension came as a surprise, even to Democrats who forced the action on the floor.... The bill, proposed by Senate Democrats, was passed by unanimous consent. The Democratic-led House would still need to act on the extension."
Your European Vacation Has Been Cancelled. Bill Chappell of NPR: "U.S. travelers won't be among those allowed to visit the European Union when the bloc begins opening its external borders on July 1. EU ambassadors endorsed a list of 15 travel partners on Tuesday, including South Korea, Japan and China -- countries that were hit early by the pandemic but have been able to bring the coronavirus under control. The U.S. was seen as a long shot to make the travel list, which requires that only those countries with epidemiological situations -- taking into account both the infection rate and current trends -- that are equal to or better than the EU's can send tourists and other nonessential visitors to the open-border region." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ CNN has the graph that explains why. (Also linked yesterday.)
Philip Rucker & Seung Min Kim of the Washington Post: "... Richard B. Cheney and his Wyoming congresswoman daughter, Liz, say wearing masks is manly. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) says there should be no stigma associated with covering one's face as public health experts advise, and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) says doing so is essential to fully reopening the economy.... And even Sean Hannity and Steve Doocy, two of Trump's most fervent and loyal boosters on Fox News Channel, have joined the chorus of mask advocates.... The president ... has used his bully pulpit to mock others who do and to cast doubt on the efficacy of masks. But with coronavirus cases soaring across the nation -- and most precipitously across Florida, Texas and other parts of so-called Trump country -- many prominent Republicans are now ... [urging] people [to] wear masks to slow the spread of the virus and help the economy reopen safely."
James Wagner of the New York Times: "... the 2020 minor league baseball season will not happen. It is the first time in the history of Minor League Baseball, which was founded in 1901, that a season has been canceled.... Technically, the season's fate was sealed when Major League Baseball informed MiLB that it would not be providing the players needed for the season because of the national emergency brought on by the coronavirus pandemic. The MiLB Board of Trustees met earlier on Tuesday to finalize what had been apparent for months. Many of the roughly 8,000 minor league players -- those who are not part of their affiliated M.L.B. team's 60-man player pool for the 2020 season -- will miss an entire year of their careers. Most M.L.B. teams have committed to paying their minor league players, many of whom earn less than $15,000 per season, $400 a week beyond June 30." ~~~
~~~ Mrs. Bea McCrabbie: Too bad. I used to regularly attend L.A. Dodgers games, and years later, I sometimes went to Durham Bulls games. The Bulls games, where spectators could get up close & personal, were way more fun.
** They Followed the Money. Charlie Savage, et al., of the New York Times: "American officials intercepted electronic data showing large financial transfers from a bank account controlled by Russia's military intelligence agency to a Taliban-linked account, which was among the evidence that supported their conclusion that Russia covertly offered bounties for killing U.S. and coalition troops in Afghanistan, according to three officials familiar with the intelligence. Though the United States has accused Russia of providing general support to the Taliban before, analysts concluded from other intelligence that the transfers were most likely part of a bounty program that detainees described during interrogations.... The disclosures further undercut White House officials' claim that the intelligence was too uncertain to brief President Trump." (Also linked yesterday.) UPI has a summary report here. ~~~
~~~ Jerry Lambe of Law & Crime: “Following bombshell allegations that the Russian government offered Taliban militants secret bounties for killing U.S. troops, the Trump administration on Monday invited a bloc of eight GOP lawmakers to the White House for a briefing where administration officials insisted that there was conflicting intelligence on the matter. However, the White House reportedly refrained from divulging a key piece of evidence [-- the money transfers --] which legal experts say casts further doubt both on the Trump administration's shifting explanations and the president's claims that the entire story is a 'hoax.... University of Texas law professor Steve Vladeck, a noted expert in national security law and military justice..., [commented], 'It's almost impressive how the Trump White House keeps making this series of scandals *worse.* It's bad enough that they lied all weekend about what they knew and when; now it turns out that they even misled the hand-picked congressional Republicans who they 'briefed' yesterday.'" Story reports other similar comments. ~~~
~~~ Heather Caygle, et al., of Politico: "Senior House Democrats left a White House briefing on Russian bounties disappointed on Tuesday, saying they were given 'no substantive information' about allegations that the Kremlin paid Taliban militants to kill U.S. troops -- and that ... Donald Trump sat on the information for months. House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.), who led a group of nearly a dozen Democrats to the White House early Tuesday, said Congress still needs to hear from the heads of various Intelligence agencies -- not White House officials -- on the stunning allegations. The Trump administration officials tasked with briefing the Democrats, Hoyer said, expressed their opinion of the allegations but didn't share the underlying evidence." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Karen DeYoung, et al., of the Washington Post: "White House officials were first informed in early 2019 of intelligence reports that Russia was offering bounties to Taliban-linked militants to kill U.S. and coalition military personnel in Afghanistan, but the information was deemed sketchy and in need of additional confirmation, according to people familiar with the matter.... At a White House briefing Tuesday, press secretary Kayleigh McEnany ... said Trump is briefed only 'when there is a strategic decision to be made.'...But several people familiar with the matter noted that information is sometimes withheld from Trump, who often reacts badly to reports that he thinks might undermine what he considers his good relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin.: ~~~
~~~ Ben Mathis-Lilley of Slate: "What was Trump doing on Feb. 27 instead of reading the brief ... that a Russian military intelligence unit may have paid bounties for killing American troops in Afghanistan...? According to the transcript of a White House Black History Month event held that Thursday, his attention was mainly occupied by the idea that he hadn't gotten enough credit for preventing a coronavirus outbreak in the United States.... On the ostensible topic of the day, Trump said that 'nobody has done more for Black people than I have' and praised himself for passing a criminal justice reform bill. The event also included minuteslong digressions about the media's alleged failure to report on the impressive size of his rally audiences, the media's alleged failure to report on Joe Biden's verbal gaffes, and CNN commentator Van Jones' failure to thank him by name for supporting the reform bill during a TV appearance.... A Feb. 27 story from the Daily Beast reported that Trump's activities that day also included a meeting, not on the official schedule, with the cast and playwright of 'a low-budget conservative play about the so-called Deep State,' the script of which drew on 'the text messages between former FBI agent Peter Strzok and former FBI lawyer Lisa Page....'"
We are tracking down the two Anarchists who threw paint on the magnificent George Washington Statue in Manhattan. We have them on tape. They will be prosecuted and face 10 years in Prison based on the Monuments and Statues Act. Turn yourselves in now! -- Donald Trump, tweet, Tuesday morning ~~~
~~~ Wanted Posters: Trump's Re-election Plan. Josh Dawsey of the Washington Post: "President Trump returned from his Virginia golf course Saturday afternoon and turned his Twitter feed into a crime blotter. In less than five minutes, the president posted 15 fliers from the United States Park Police..., complete with grainy photos of Americans suspected of vandalism at Lafayette Square. The images hearkened to the kinds of posters one would see on the wall of a local post office. The president's messages about protesters and vandals have continued apace, often in the early hours of the morning or the late hours of the evening when he is not surrounded by aides, but sometimes in interviews and executive orders.... As the country convulses from incidents of police killings, mass protests and a rapidly spreading pandemic that has led to double-digit unemployment, the president seems most intent on inflaming an already burning culture war, using his Twitter feed to focus on vandalism by protesters and the well-being of statues that have been targeted.... In several Oval Office meetings, the president has argued that looters and rioters, which have been a small part of largely peaceful protests across the country, as well as the toppling of statues, will ultimately help him win election because people will grow tired of their behavior and appreciate his harsh rhetoric." ~~~
~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: As John Berman of CNN put it this morning, "Overnight, Trump tweeted that he would protect Robert E. Lee, but Lee has no chance of contracting the coronavirus." (Slight paraphrase.) ~~~
~~~ What If the Ole Boys of Mississippi Were More Woke Than the POTUS*? Mark Berman & Ben Guarino of the Washington Post: "Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves (R) signed a bill Tuesday abandoning the state's flag and stripping the Confederate battle flag symbol from it, capping a remarkable turnaround on a banner that had flown over the state for more than a century. With Reeves's move, Mississippi will take down one of the country's most prominent Confederate tributes, withdrawing the only state flag that still bears such an emblem. The new flag's design will be determined later, but lawmakers have barred it from including the most recognizable icon of the Confederacy, which many people associate with racism, slavery and oppression."
Missouri. Lee Brown of the New York Post: "The St. Louis lawyers who pulled weapons on protesters marching past their home are being investigated for possible criminal charges, the city's lead prosecutor has revealed. Mark and Patricia McCloskey -- who went viral after brandishing an AR-15-style rifle and a silver-colored handgun, respectively -- were the only ones to lodge a police report over Sunday's confrontation, insisting they were 'victims' of threatening trespassers who entered a gated community, the St. Louis American noted. But the husband-and-wife lawyers are being probed by police and prosecutors for possible threats against the crowd, authorities announced Monday. 'I am alarmed at the events that occurred over the weekend, where peaceful protestors were met by guns,' St. Louis Prosecutor Kimberly Gardner said...." Mrs. McC: Mind you, the couple thinks they are heroes for drawing weapons to protect their mansion from noises that disturbed their dinner.
Maggie Haberman & Alan Feuer of the New York Times: "A judge in Dutchess County, N.Y., on Tuesday temporarily blocked publication of a tell-all book by President Trump's niece Mary L. Trump that is currently scheduled for release July 28. Judge Hal Greenwald of the New York State Supreme Court issued the temporary restraining order until a hearing on July 10 to decide whether Ms. Trump's book, 'Too Much and Never Enough: How My Family Created the World's Most Dangerous Man,' violated a confidentiality agreement she signed with other members of the Trump family in connection with a dispute over the estate of Fred Trump Sr., the president's father. The judge acted in response to a court action filed by Robert S. Trump, the president's brother, against Ms. Trump and Simon & Schuster, the book's publisher. Ms. Trump is the daughter of Fred Trump Jr., who died in 1981 and was estranged from his family. A lawyer for Ms. Trump, Theodore J. Boutrous, vowed to appeal the decision." A Politico story is here.
Ken Vogel & Ben Protess of the New York Times: "A handful of major donors footed the bill for nearly $500,000 worth of Vice President Mike Pence's legal fees related to the special counsel's investigation, according to a financial filing released Tuesday. Mr. Pence listed the donations as gifts on a mandatory annual financial disclosure statement covering last year."
Payments for Dead People, Not for Live Children. Michelle Singletary of the Washington Post: "IRS officials initially told the GAO that up to 450,000 low-income people did not receive the money they were due for dependent children. During testimony to the Senate Finance Committee on Tuesday, IRS Commissioner Charles Rettig revised the figure down to 365,000.... A recent report from the U.S. Government Accountability Office found that the IRS made $1.4 billion in stimulus payments to dead people. The report also revealed that from April 10 to May 17, some stimulus payment calculations did not include additional money for qualifying children, even though the recipients had correctly submitted information about their dependents to the IRS. The incomplete payments went to people who aren't required to file a federal tax return because of their low income.... The IRS told the GAO it was 'working to identify and adjust the accounts' and would make the missing payments for dependent children by the end of July."
Elections 2020
Eric Bradner of CNN: "... Joe Biden lambasted ... Donald Trump's handling of the coronavirus pandemic Tuesday, saying that Trump is 'in retreat' with more 125,000 Americans dead and the virus worsening in many states. In a speech in Wilmington, Delaware, the former vice president recounted what he cast as Trump's missteps, from Trump's early dismissals of the virus to his more recent refusals to wear a mask in public appearances. Pointing to Trump in March declaring himself a wartime president in battling the coronavirus, Biden said: 'What happened? Now it's almost July, and it seems like our wartime president has surrendered -- waved the white flag and left the battlefield.' Biden's speech tied together proposals he has issued in recent months, including calls for a national board to oversee a 'massive surge' in coronavirus testing. He framed most of his remarks as directly addressing Trump, urging the President to adopt Biden's proposals immediately." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Video of the full speech is here.
Trump, Allies Encourage Foreign Intervention in Election. Paul Sonne, et al., of the Washington Post: "Last week, a Ukrainian lawmaker who was once affiliated with a pro-Russian political party and has met with [Rudy] Giuliani released 10 edited snippets of what appeared to be Biden's official vice presidential phone calls with Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko in 2016. It was the second cache of recordings the lawmaker, who studied under the KGB in Moscow in the early 1990s, has released since May.... Efforts to promote the recordings in Ukraine and the United States -- and pledges by other Trump allies to release more in the coming months -- suggest a new push by foreign forces to sway American voters in the run-up to the 2020 election, one welcomed by ... Giuliani.... The developments further illustrate Trump's willingness to benefit from foreign intervention in U.S. elections, even after being impeached for pressuring Ukraine to launch investigations into his political rivals." ~~~
~~~ Robyn Dixon & David Stern of the Washington Post: "Andriy Yermak, the chief of staff for Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, said the administration plans a new law that would make it a crime to publish secretly taped conversations of officials. The changes, he told The Washington Post in an interview by video link from Kyiv, seeks to end the 'malicious practice,' adding this was necessary to 'protect state security.' 'I want to emphasize that we regard this as a direct violation of the national security of our country,' he said." ~~~
~~~ MEANWHILE. Trump's Wiseguys. Jeremy Herb of CNN: "The Senate will incorporate the annual intelligence policy legislation into the National Defense Authorization Act -- but only after stripping language from the intelligence bill that would have required presidential campaigns to report offers of foreign election help. Sen. Mark Warner of Virginia, the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, said Tuesday that Senate Republicans forced the removal of the election reporting provision as a condition to include the intelligence bill on the must-pass defense policy legislation. Earlier this month, the Senate Intelligence Committee approved an amendment on an 8-7 vote from Warner and GOP Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, which added a provision to the Intelligence Authorization Act requiring campaigns to notify federal authorities about offers of foreign election help."
Kaitlin Collins & Kevin Liptak of CNN: "... Donald Trump's campaign has scrapped plans to hold a rally in Alabama next weekend.... Trump was slated to travel to the state ahead of the Senate race between his former attorney general Jeff Sessions and the former Auburn University football coach Tommy Tuberville, but plans were called off as state officials voiced concerns about a mass gathering and campaign officials ultimately decided against it. A person close to the campaign said there are currently no rallies on the horizon, but aides are scoping out possible venues for when they decide to host them again."
Colorado. John Wagner of the Washington Post: "BREAKING: Colorado Democrats nominated John Hickenlooper on Tuesday to challenge Sen. Cory Gardner [R] in race that could decide control of U.S. Senate[.] The two-term former governor and onetime Denver mayor stumbled in recent weeks, as he apologized for racially insensitive comments and as an independent ethics panel found he violated Colorado's gift ban on two occasions. But the former presidential candidate prevailed over former Colorado House speaker Andrew Romanoff in the primary. Democrats see Gardner as vulnerable in the Democratic-leaning state. This story will be updated."
Kentucky. James Arkin of Politico: "Amy McGrath has fended off Charles Booker to clinch the Democratic nomination for Senate in Kentucky, setting up an expensive showdown with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell in November. McGrath had 45 percent of the vote, compared to 43 percent for Booker when The Associated Press called the race on Tuesday -- a week after the primary which saw historic turnout and significant use of absentee ballots. Though she was the frontrunner throughout the race, McGrath faced a spirited challenge from Booker, a liberal first-term state representative who surged in momentum in just three short weeks to turn the race from a sleepy affair into one of the most closely-watched Senate primaries this year. Booker';s rise began late last month as he took part in protests against police brutality in his hometown of Louisville." The New York Times report is here. (Also linked yesterday.)
Oklahoma. Max Greenwood of the Hill: "Oklahoma voters narrowly approved a ballot measure on Tuesday to expand Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act (ACA), defying Republican state and federal officials who have long opposed such a move. The ballot measure passed by only a few thousand votes, prevailing by 50.5 percent to 49.5 percent who opposed it. Still, it makes Oklahoma the fifth state controlled by Republicans to approve Medicaid expansion through a ballot measure, joining the ranks of Idaho, Maine, Nebraska and Utah."
Alabama. Elaina Plott has a long piece in the New York Times Magazine on Jeff Sessions, who is running to reclaim his old Senate seat because, well, nobody would give him a job. He's currently in a runoff with former Auburn University football coach Tommy Tuberville, whom Donald Trump has endorsed. He came in second to Tuberville in the primary. Accompanied by a portrait photo of Sessions with a weird expression on his face. The article is titled "The Fall of Jeff Sessions...," a reminder that everyone who attaches himself to Donald Trump is toast.
California. Eric Hananoki of Media Matters: "Writer and GOP-backed House candidate Mike Cargile has frequently posted bigoted content on Facebook, including writing a racist rant in which he used the n-word and told Black people to 'quit blaming white folks for your problems. Take your black ass out there and show them kids there's a better way than husslin' on the street.' Cargile has also shared memes which questioned whether Muslim members of Congress are working with terrorists; stated that '2 illegal aliens having an anchor baby does not produce an American' and suggested that LGBTQ people are leading to the end of days. (Cargile has shared his personal Facebook page on his campaign's Facebook page.)... He is running in California's 35th Congressional District against incumbent Democratic Rep. Norma Torres."
Maine. Susan Collins Is Often "Disappointed" in Donald Trump. Josh Israel of the American Independent: Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) "has voted with [Donald Trump] more than two-thirds of the time, according to FiveThirtyEight's tracker. She voted to give lifetime appointments to the vast majority of Trump's 200 judicial appointees, including Supreme Court Justices Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh. She also backed the confirmation of Cabinet appointees such as Attorney General William Barr, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, and Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar. She voted to acquit Trump in February during his impeachment trial, suggesting that he had learned a 'pretty big lesson' and 'would be more cautious in the future.' She later walked back that assessment, admitting it was 'more aspirational on my part.' A review of Collins' public statements finds at least 24 instances of her expressing concern, dismay, or disagreement with Trump." Israel lists every instance.
Wisconsin. Jonathan Sadowski of Up North News: "More than 80 percent of Wisconsin's Republican legislators voted absentee in April, even though the party has continually opposed Democrats' attempts to expand mail-in voting. Proponents of mail-in voting argue that it should be easier to cast absentee ballots due to health concerns amid the coronavirus pandemic, but Republicans often make false claims that mailed ballots greatly increase the risk of fraud. The Associated Press first reported on the Republicans' voting records after liberal group A Better Wisconsin Together provided the information to the publication.... The absentee voting fraud rate is about 0.0025 percent, or just 372 possible cases out of 14.6 million votes analyzed by the Washington Post."
Adam Liptak of the New York Times: "The Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that states must allow religious schools to participate in programs that provide scholarships to students attending private schools. The decision, a victory for conservatives, was the latest in a series of Supreme Court rulings that the free exercise of religion bars the government from treating religious groups differently from secular ones. It opens the door to more public funding of religious education. Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. wrote the majority opinion in the 5-to-4 ruling. The court's four more liberal members dissented.... At the same time, writing for four justices, Chief Justice Roberts emphasized the narrowness of the court's decision. 'This case involves express discrimination based on religious identity with respect to playground resurfacing,' he wrote. 'We do not address religious uses of funding or other forms of discrimination.'" (Also linked yesterday.)
Capitalism Is Awesome, Ctd. Tiffany Hsu & Mike Issac of the New York Times: "Last Tuesday, Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook's chief executive, attended a virtual meeting with some of the company's top advertising partners [and said] ... the social network [would] keep hate speech unaltered and accessible on its site.... But over the past week, Facebook's attitude has changed. Marketing giants like Unilever, Coca-Cola and Pfizer announced that they were pausing their Facebook advertising. That outcry has grown, hitting the company's wallet. To contain the damage, Facebook began holding daily calls and sending emails to advertisers to soothe them, advertising executives said. [This] Tuesday morning, [in] another video meeting with advertisers..., [company executives] took a more conciliatory tone.... Yet even as Facebook has labored to stanch the ad exodus, it is having little effect. Executives at ad agencies said that more of their clients were weighing whether to join the boycott, which now numbers more than 300 advertisers and is expected to grow.... The big-name brands that have pulled back are recognizable and may create a trickle-down effect, analysts said." ~~~
~~~ Ben Collins & Brandy Zadrozny of NBC News: "Facebook announced Tuesday that it is removing groups dedicated to the Boogaloo extremist movement one month after federal officials alleged the anti-government network's adherents used the platform to plan the murder of a federal agent. The social media giant said it removed 220 Boogaloo Facebook groups and 95 Instagram accounts that violated its policies against organized violence. It said 400 additional groups that were tangentially associated with the movement would be taken down, too.... The Boogaloo is a heavily armed, mostly conservative libertarian militia movement with extreme anti-government views that advocates for a violent uprising targeting mostly law enforcement. The movement, which has strong ties to current and former military members, grew to tens of thousands of followers since January, mostly in Facebook groups." ~~~
Here's why Facebook is so reluctant to drop hate groups: ~~~
~~~ Ryan Mac & Caroline Haskins of BuzzFeed News: "As right-wing extremists have used [Facebook]'s tools to organize, the world's largest social network has also profited from ads pushing for white supremacy.... On Sunday, [for instance,] the @docscustomknives Instagram account placed an ad on the popular photo-sharing social network advocating that people 'join the militia, fight the state.'... The account that ran the Instagram ad was not among those that the company removed [on Tuesday]."
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Reader Comments (24)
I'm certain he is up to no good: Washington Post: "... Richard B. Cheney and his Wyoming congresswoman daughter, Liz, say wearing masks is manly."
@citizen625: Here's the tweet Liz Cheney sent picturing Darth wearing a mask & an expensive-looking cowboy hat.
Self-certified Eye-poker Attacks Real Doctor
Little Sen. Whataboutmeeee? is at it again. Serious projection this time, calling Dr. Anthony Fauci, a paragon of circumspect caution, arrogant and presumptuous. The littlest self promoting murderer would prefer that people get out and go to packed foitball stadiums and ballparks and continue the Trump-approved spread of a deadly virus. I’m sure Fauci took the Hippocratic oath, not the Hypocritic oath, like Aqua Buddha.
Clearly “Optamizm” isn’t cutting it. Even states run by moronic Trump toadies, like Texas and Florida, that rushed to reopen according to the demands of president* Kill’m’All are rethinking things. Tennessee, another state run by a Fatty mini-me, yesterday reported 2,100 new cases—just since Friday!!
How’s that for Optamizm, Typhoid Randy, you toxic little prick?
What’s next? Garlic balls worn around the neck? Baths in holy water? Dances around the mulberry bush? If there’s ever been a more arrogant, pompous, Pecksniffian poltroon deserving of having his ability to practice medicine (or whatever mumbo-jumbo bullshit he practices) forever impeached, it’s this vicious, poisonous little snake. Of course it wouldn’t take. He’d just borrow Fatty’s Sharpie and scrawl a new license for himself.
It’s one thing, like most R’s, to sit by quietly doing nothing while Americans die for Trump. It’s another to set up a sign by the roadside that says “This Way to the Pit”.
Optimism. Jesus.
I fear I must disagree with Joe Biden’s characterization of the leader of the ☠️Party as being in retreat on the war on COVID-19, and having “left the battlefield”. Sorry, Joe. To leave the battlefield you have to be there in the first place. To be in retreat, you have to have been, at some point, actively engaged in the fight.
Trump has never been engaged and he couldn’t find that battlefield with a Geiger counter and an army of airport runway guys waving orange batons in the right direction.
He is a coward. And a liar. A very small, cowardly loser. Even if he had no real idea of what to do, he could have at least given it a shot, tried something. But as with his cowardly excuse for avoiding the draft, he lied and sat his fat ass down. And did nothing.
It’s a nice metaphor, Joe, but to wave the white flag, you have to at least be in sight of the enemy. Cadet Bone a Spurs is doing what he always does. Waddling away. And blaming others for not doing his job.
Speaking of running away, I heard an interview yesterday on NPR with Jeremy Bash, former Chief of Staff at both the Pentagon and the CIA. He was asked about who is responsible for making sure the president (even a president*) is aware of vital intel involving national security and the state of US forces in hot spots around the globe. Here’s what he said:
“First, it's his responsibility. He's the commander in chief. He's the one who sends our troops, ultimately, into harm's way, and so he shoulders the responsibility for keeping them safe and for making sure he has the information. Second, I would say, his senior national security team, which includes his national security adviser. If there's something in the daily briefing that the president should have a further discussion about, the national security adviser should go to him and say, Mr. President, we want to have a briefing for you. The fact that either they didn't want to tell him about it because maybe they're afraid to present Russia-based information to him shows you, I think, Mary Louise, just how warped and distorted this national security decision-making inside this White House has become.”
And how dangerous.
Mr. I’m Not Responsible. Making America Great. Again.
It has been said that generals are always planning how to fight the last was. It would appear republicans are preparing to fight the last campaign. In a full page ad in this Mornings Florida Times-Union the opening line is "Hillary and Obama want Trump defeated!". Four years on and they're still terrified of that woman.
One of the best take-downs of the Aqua Boo-da bastard thanks to Akhilleus whose distain for this creep knows no bounds.
I envision Carl Reiner coming out of the womb cracking jokes. One of my favorite people throughout all these years––-and so great that he lasted so long–-almost a century of yes, Marie, a true blue Mensch!
@Akhilleus: Let's say Trump had no idea Russia was putting a bounty on U.S. soldiers heads until Friday, despite evidence appearing in his daily briefing & despite reports that he received at least two oral briefings since the guy who knows the best words can't read 'em.
What has Trump done since Friday to reassure the troops and their families that he has their backs? Zip. He called the news a hoax & said "everyone" agreed with that, where "everyone" was Putin & some Taliban guy. But god bless Robert E. Lee and White Power. The disgrace never ends.
Fatty gave himself a new nickname–– and the twitter feed went ballistic.
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/trump-lone-warrior-nickname_n_5efbe81dc5b6acab28487fd9
Akhilleus,
Thought last night when reading the Milbank column that those who cheerlead for optimism in the face of disaster can be downright depressing.
At first wasn't sure if Randy had been reading too much Kipling in his "If" mode, but then saw he took his clownish inspiration from Hayek, and sent this off before retiring...
"Sad to see a self-certified ophthalmologist so blind to reality, but blindness is required in the fantasyland Paul inhabits.
Paul thinks individuals, making up their own rules, is the best way to fight a war. If we had followed that prescription during WWII, "The Man in the High Castle" might not be fiction.
I wonder what Hayek would think of Paul, who casts himself as a mini-Hayek.
Hayek's trust in the infallible market to make sensible decision has always been amusing. Never as rational as he gave it credit for, the market never has made the sense he claimed for it, but I wonder if the obvious changes the world has experiened since he theorized, like the near eight billion people that now inhabit the planet and the immese pressure they put on the planet's depleting resources, might have added a layer of complexity to his woefully naive wishful thinking.
Goodness knows, we don't have to wonder about Rand Paul. He hasn't noticed much at all."
Thanks, Bea. Even with a mask and 3/4 of his face covered, the evil, soulless bastard who is Dick Cheney shows. He's a guy who thrives and moves assuredly through the chaos of Trump-virus times.
I Googled this one, "european travel ban and domestic us tourism expectations". Almost no hits.
From the Daily Missoulian, "Norma Nickerson, the director of the Institute for Tourism and Recreation Research at the University of Montana, told members of the Economic Affairs Interim Legislative Committee on Tuesday that she estimates there’ll be 50% less statewide bed tax collections for fiscal year 2021, which runs from July 1, 2020, through June 30, 2021. She’s also projecting 75% less visitation in the third quarter of 2020."
Please don't travel, everyone. Quanrantine. One quick guess where Texas and Florida people are traveling? It's not North Dakota. And Europe doesn't want them either, of course.
@Bea: Susan Rice made a similar point at the beginning of her interview with Rachel Maddow the other evening, setting aside when or whether the OOO knew about the Russian bounties, what has been done since the news broke Friday? Zilch. Nada.
I say impeach the fucker again.
https://youtu.be/phlkI63vb4M
And the whole thing about giving Democrats and Confederates separate briefings? The only useful information the Democrats are getting is "Don't trust the Confederates" which they already know. Joint briefings or no briefings.
@Nisky Guy: If I were Joe Biden & could pick the best veep instead of the most politically-palatable one, I would pick Susan Rice.
The first time I saw her was on MSNBC in 2007. I had never heard of her. She was on representing Barack Obama's campaign to address some complicated topic having to do with foreign affairs.
I had heard Hillary had snapped up all the sharp advisors from the Clinton administration, so when Rice was introduced, what went through my head was, "Oh please let her be smart enough to come up with an answer that at least doesn't sound profoundly stupid."
Well, the joke was on me. Rice's answer was deep, nuanced, and broad. She spat it out without hesitation & really fast! Whatever it was, it was an answer I could never, ever have come close to matching if I'd been given the topic & a week to study up. "Guess Hillary didn't get all the good ones," thought I, with relief. She continues to impress.
I ventured out to Stop and Shop for the first time since the pandemic showed its deadly face months ago. Joe has been doing all the shopping so far but today I needed mucho toiletries and didn't want him to have to scrounge around trying to find them. Well––what a pleasant experience: Very few people in the store––it was about 8.30–-EVERYONE was wearing masks and some like me, were wearing gloves. Shields were up at the check-out–-only two people at a time in the recycling center–-shoppers all distanced themselves. If this is any indication of how CT. has adhered to the rules of the road then no wonder we are one of the states that has done the best. Gov. Lamont has also mandated that travelers from other states quarantine themselves for 14 days. I'm not clear how that can be monitored if coming by car but by plane they are instructed to be housed in a nearby hotel.
If by chance you do decide to do a bit of a road trip and you come across the Lone Warrior ( see above link for reference), you may just want to stop and give him a finger or two. Of course, knowing how he interprets things, he may think you are saluting him––thanking him for the stupendous job he's done.
It's so hard to come to terms with the cards we have been dealt. The King keeps coming up when we want desperately to rid ourselves of that royal schmuck and finally get an Ace in the hole. Will we be the ones to throw the Bounty this time?
Bea,
Precisely why the yahoos on the Right just hate Ms. Rice. Mostly the same reasons they hate Obama.
Competent, smart, articulate, rational, civilized, and worse, not white and, oops, female. That, too.
Ken,
One needs look no further than the Pavlovian reaction of Hayek’s “sage” markets to big lies from the Blight House. Trump drops a whopper and the market goes nuts. Of course a few days later, realizing they’ve been had, again, there’s another reaction. Not necessarily a correction, mind you, because there’s a new lie coming every day to try to jimmy the market.
I was heartily weary of this Wisdom of the Marketplace canard about the third time St. Ronald of Reagan spouted off about it. Markets can be, and are, fixed. On a regular basis. There is no such thing as a pure market that serves as some kind of Delphic Orifice of capitalism. It’s an orifice alright, just not the Delphic kind.
I’m reminded of the term cinema vérité, the idea behind which is that one can get an unvarnished look at the world using this technique. It just ain’t so. You put a camera on your shoulder and walk into a room and everything changes. People react differently when they know someone is watching.
It’s like when one of my bands would be rehearsing and some outsider would show up. Even if it was the drummer’s girlfriend. All of a sudden, it ain’t practice anymore. It’s a performance. And everyone responds accordingly. It’s human nature. And because markets are controlled by humans, they can be manipulated. It ain’t a market anymore. It’s a scam.
And so is everything uttered by the Littlest Scammer.
Marie,
Hey girl, didn’t realize you were such a big baseball fan! Good to know.
Your reference to baseball in Durham, NC brought back memories of visiting that park a couple of times to watch the Bulls. I have a picture (somewhere) of that bull out in right field blowing smoke out his nostrils after a home run was hit. It was always a highlight of a trip to that park.
Which got me thinking...maybe, as a public service, a’course, we should place a giant bull in front of the White House. And every time Fatty or one of his flunkies told Americans a lie, the bull could shoot crap out its ass, as a warning.
Oh, wait. Never mind. The entire White House lawn and several blocks around it would be buried in crap after about three days.
Play bull!
Marie,
You raise an excellent point (my auto correct somehow changed that to “pint”, and while raising an excellent pint is a good thing, we’re talking about quite awful things here.)
Even if the Orange Menace wasn’t told (still think that’s a huge lie) about Putin paying cash for American scalps, why hasn’t he said anything about it since? His pattern is to lie and keep lying, try to brazen it out. But this is not something you can bull your way through. Trump’s daddy and handler has been murdering Americans and he says nothing about it?
This, of course, lets Putin know he can shoot Americans on Fifth Ave. and get away with it, and naturally, by Trump’s lights (dim as they are), this should show the Russians that they can trust their lapdog to do their bidding and will line up to help him steal another election.
And now, to top it off, we have confederates sniffing that the whole thing is “irrelevant”, gearing up to support Trump in his latest and most heinous act of treason.
And make no mistake, this action, or inaction, as the case may be, is THE textbook definition of treason: aiding the enemy in a war against your own people. And this IS war. Fatty loves to prance around and preen and primp, presenting himself as a wartime president. And he is. Just not for the United States.
In Ancient Rome there were only two crimes for which a Roman citizen could be put to death. Treason was one (patricide was other; I guess matricide was okay...).
I’m thinking that punishment should be revived. Then it really would be time to raise an excellent pint.
Consistency may or may not be the hobgoblin of small minds--can't make up my own on this one; liberal that I am, I'd say it depends--but we know in his disorganized pursuit of a second term inconsistency is definitely the hobgoblin of the Pretender's very small one:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/07/01/trumps-ugly-new-spin-russia-bounties-actually-incriminates-him/
Don't know if the whole thing started out that way when the Pretender first began wooing the deplorables, possibly seeing them as only another easy mark, but he's now so married to them that everything he does or says binds him ever closer to whom he imagines they are and what he hopes pleases them; and since the deplorables are all feeling and no thought, nonsense is all we get from him.
The fake polls strongly suggest that people beyond his shrinking base are noticing.
Columnists are writing as if DiJiT's defeat in November is all but done.
And that he is making it worse for himself by ratcheting up the lies, hate, and base-fondling.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/01/opinion/trump-lose-2020-election.html?action=click&module=Opinion&pgtype=Homepage
He CAN'T lose in November. If the popular and Electoral numbers run against him and Biden is sworn in, DiJiT can go back to his original game plan ... bitch moan complain accuse and get $ from his die-hard suckers. He is probably correct to assume that once he is out, most people won't want him around, and therefore won't push for his indictments and convictions. The man has no shame and as long as he has money and his picture in the papers, he'll be like Roy Cohn, full of denial, crap and nastiness until his last day.
And as long as he lives in West Palm Beach, he'll always fit right in.
@Patrick: Just for the record Trump doesn't live in WPB. That's the city of the poor benighted commoners on the mainland to the west. He resides in Palm Beach, the barrier island of the wealthy and famous.
Patrick,
Had mixed feelings about hounding the feckless Dubya after he left office (none about Darth), but have to say I'd hope that in the event of a Pretender loss in November, his successors in and out of the White House and (again) Justice Dept. pursue the SOB to his grave.
Anything less would invite more of the same, an eventuality our already deeply shaken polity could not survive.
As General Amherst repeatedly said of the Indians, he must be "extirpated."
Forget and not forgive is not enough.
37 states at or above the Rt redline...
An observation on Digby’s site brought me up short. The writer points out a headline in the WaPo concerning confederate droolers incensed about John Roberts siding with progressives on the court and against the haters and homophobes. The point is that right wing outrage always seems to garner gallons of ink; liberal outrage (even, or especially, genuine and warranted outrage), gets barely a mention.
“For some reason, major media outlets find it not newsworthy to report liberal/progressive dismay at the state this country is in unless people take to the streets. And even then, our concerns are under-reported unless crowds are immense — and even then, not always (I remember millions marching around the world against the Iraq War and that Sunday, not a single mention on the talk shows).“
This is all too accurate. Five disgruntled Trump supporters sitting in a coffee shop in Peoria munching donuts and whining about how Obama wrecked the country and how liberals hate real Americans merit a 20 page cover story in The Sunday Times Magazine, but progressives protesting actual treason on the part of the president* and his flunky party are lucky to grab a paragraph on page 12 of the Nation section. Under the fold. And when huge numbers of liberals come out in force against systemic racism or Wall St. perfidy, there is always the obligatory conditional caveats about how “some people” consider them thugs or tramps or dangerous commie traitors.
Trump can still win this. A few stories about how “some people” are still “concerned” about Hunter Biden, and Joe’s groping a woman years ago, along with two or three Republican led “investigations” and maybe a last minute Clinton e-mail type thing, along with the usual vote suppression and electoral shenanigans can pull this out for the forces of evil.
The Times will have a special report on it.
https://digbysblog.net/2020/07/implicit-media-bias/