The Ledes

Thursday, September 26, 2024

The New York Times:' live updates of Hurricane Helene developments today are here. “Hurricane Helene was barreling through the Gulf of Mexico on Thursday en route to Florida, where residents were bracing for extreme rain, destructive winds and deadly storm surge ahead of the storm’s expected landfall. The storm could intensify to a Category 4, if not higher, before making landfall late Thursday, and forecasters warned Helene’s anticipated large size could make its impacts felt across an extensive area. Areas as distant as Atlanta and the Appalachians are at risk for heavy rains.... Many forecast models show the storm making landfall late Thursday near Florida’s Big Bend Coast, a sparsely populated stretch....” ~~~

     ~~~ The Washington Post has forecasts for some cites in Florida, Georgia, North Carolina & Tennessee that are in or near the probable path of Helene. ~~~

     ~~~ This morning, an MSNBC weatherperson said Tallahassee (which is inland) would experience wind gusts of up to 120 m.p.h. and that the National Weather Service said expected 20-foot storm surges near the coast would be “unsurvivable.”

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The Ledes

Wednesday, September 25, 2024

The New York Times is live-updating developments in the progress of Hurricane Helene. “Helene continued to power north in the Caribbean Sea, strengthening into a hurricane Wednesday morning, on a path that forecasters expect will bring heavy amounts of rain to Mexico’s Yucatán Peninsula and western Cuba before it begins to move toward Florida’s Gulf Coast.” ~~~

~~~ CNN: “Helene rapidly intensified into a hurricane Wednesday as it plows toward a Florida landfall as the strongest hurricane to hit the United States in over a year. The storm will also grow into a massive, sprawling monster as it continues to intensify, one that won’t just slam Florida, but also much of the Southeast.... Thousands of Florida residents have already been forced to evacuate and nearly the entire state is under alerts as the storm threatens to unleash flooding rainfall, damaging winds and life-threatening storm surge.... The hurricane unleashed its fury on parts of Mexico’s Yucátan Peninsula and Cuba Wednesday.“

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The New York Times lists Emmy winners. The AP has an overview story here.

New York Times: “Hvaldimir, a beluga whale who had captured the public’s imagination since 2019 after he was spotted wearing a harness seemingly designed for a camera, was found dead on Saturday in Norway, according to a nonprofit that worked to protect the whale.... [Hvaldimir] was wearing a harness that identified it as “equipment” from St. Petersburg. There also appeared to be a camera mount. Some wondered if the whale was on a Russian reconnaissance mission. Russia has never claimed ownership of the whale. If Hvaldimir was a spy, he was an exceptionally friendly one. The whale showed signs of domestication, and was comfortable around people. He remained in busier waters than are typical for belugas....” ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Oh, Lord, do not let Bobby Kennedy, Jr., near that carcass. ~~~

     ~~~ AP Update: “There’s no evidence that a well-known beluga whale that lived off Norway’s coast and whose harness ignited speculation it was a Russian spy was shot to death last month as claimed by animal rights groups, Norwegian police said Monday.... Police said that the Norwegian Veterinary Institute conducted a preliminary autopsy on the animal, which was become known as 'Hvaldimir,' combining the Norwegian word for whale — hval — and the first name of Russian President Vladimir Putin. 'There are no findings from the autopsy that indicate that Hvaldimir has been shot,' police said in a statement.”

New York Times: Botswana's “President Mokgweetsi Masisi grinned as he lifted the diamond, a 2,492-carat stone that is the biggest diamond unearthed in more than a century and the second-largest ever found, according to the Vancouver-based mining operator Lucara, which owns the mine where it was found. This exceptional discovery could bring back the luster of the natural diamond mining industry, mining companies and experts say. The diamond was discovered in the same relatively small mine in northeastern Botswana that has produced several of the largest such stones in living memory. Such gemstones typically surface as a result of volcanic activity.... The diamond will likely sell in the range of tens of millions of dollars....”

Click on photo to enlarge.

~~~ Guardian: "On a distant reef 16,000km from Paris, surfer Gabriel Medina has given Olympic viewers one of the most memorable images of the Games yet, with an airborne celebration so well poised it looked too good to be true. The Brazilian took off a thundering wave at Teahupo’o in Tahiti on Monday, emerging from a barrelling section before soaring into the air and appearing to settle on a Pacific cloud, pointing to the sky with biblical serenity, his movements mirrored precisely by his surfboard. The shot was taken by Agence France-Presse photographer Jérôme Brouillet, who said “the conditions were perfect, the waves were taller than we expected”. He took the photo while aboard a boat nearby, capturing the surreal image with such accuracy that at first some suspected Photoshop or AI." 

Washington Post: “'Mary Cassatt at Work' is a large and mostly satisfying exhibition devoted to the career of the great American artist beloved for her sensitive and often sentimental views of family life. The 'at work' in the title of the Philadelphia Museum of Art show references the curators’ interest in Cassatt’s pioneering effort to establish herself as a professional artist within a male-dominated field. Throughout the show, which includes some 130 paintings, pastels, prints and drawings, the wall text and the art on view stresses Cassatt’s fixation on art as a career rather than a pastime.... Mary Cassatt at Work is on view at the Philadelphia Museum of Art through Sept. 8. philamuseum.org”

New York Times: “Bob Newhart, who died on Thursday at the age of 94, has been such a beloved giant of popular culture for so long that it’s easy to forget how unlikely it was that he became one of the founding fathers of stand-up comedy. Before basically inventing the hit stand-up special, with the 1960 Grammy-winning album 'The Button-Down Mind of Bob Newhart' — that doesn’t even count his pay-per-view event broadcast on Canadian television that some cite as the first filmed special — he was a soft-spoken accountant who had never done a set in a nightclub. That he made a classic with so little preparation is one of the great miracles in the history of comedy.... Bob Newhart holds up. In fact, it’s hard to think of a stand-up from that era who is a better argument against the commonplace idea that comedy does not age well.”

Washington Post: “An early Titian masterpiece — once looted by Napolean’s troops and a part of royal collections for centuries — caused a stir when it was stolen from the home of a British marquess in 1995. Seven years later, it was found inside an unassuming white and blue plastic bag at a bus stop in southwest London by an art detective, and returned. This week, the oil painting 'The Rest on the Flight into Egypt' sold for more than $22 million at Christie’s. It was a record for the Renaissance artist, whom museums describe as the greatest painter of 16th-century Venice. Ahead of the sale in April, the auction house billed it as 'the most important work by Titian to come to the auction market in more than a generation.'”

Washington Post: The Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington, D.C., which houses the world's largest collection of Shakespeare material, has undergone a major renovation. "The change to the building is pervasive, both subtle and transformational."

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Jul132018

The Commentariat -- July 14, 2018

This Russia Thing Blows up in Trump's Face

Grand Jury Trolls Trump. Eileen Sullivan & Katie Brenner of the New York Times: "Rod J. Rosenstein, the deputy attorney general, on Friday announced new charges against 12 Russian intelligence officers accused of hacking the Democratic National Committee, the Clinton presidential campaign and the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. The charges came just a few days before President Trump is expected to meet with President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia in Helsinki, Finland. The 11-count indictment includes charges of conspiracy by the Russian intelligence officials against the United States, money laundering and attempts to break into state election boards and other government agencies.... Mr. Rosenstein discussed the charges during a news conference at the Justice Department in Washington as Mr. Trump met with Queen Elizabeth II in Britain, creating a bizarre split screen on cable news of presidential pomp and an ongoing investigation that has ensnared some of the president's aides.... The indictment revealed that on July 27, 2016, Russian hackers tried for the first time to break into the servers of Mrs. Clinton's personal offices. It was the same day that Mr. Trump publicly encouraged Russia to hack Mrs. Clinton's emails.... Separately, the indictment states that the hackers were communicating with 'a person who was in regular contact with senior members of the presidential campaign.' Two government officials identified the person as Roger J. Stone Jr." Story has been updated. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... A pdf of the indictment is here. ...

... This Is Not a Coincidence. Michael Schmidt of the New York Times: "In a news conference in July 2016, Donald J. Trump made a direct appeal to Russia to hack Hillary Clinton's emails and make them public.... As it turns out, that same day, the Russians ... made their first effort to break into the servers used by Mrs. Clinton’s personal office, according to a sweeping 29-page indictment.... The indictment did not address the question of whether the Russians' actions were actually in response to Mr. Trump. It said nothing at all about Mr. Trump's request for help from Russia -- a remark that had unnerved American intelligence and law enforcement officials who were closely monitoring Russia's efforts to influence the election. But the indictment did offer some clues about what happened, implying that the hacking had occurred later on the day Mr. Trump issued his invitation.... Investigators for Mr. Mueller would like to ask Mr. Trump what he knew about the hackings. The president has refused for several months to sit for an interview." ...

... David Graham of the Atlantic: "The indictment notes other examples of Russia releasing documents at times engineered to benefit the Trump campaign, though it doesn't offer any evidence that Trump aides directed, or were aware of, those releases before they happened. The indictment notes that WikiLeaks released a tranche of emails allegedly stolen by Russia on July 22, 2016 -- just three days before the DNC, a convenient stroke of timing for Trump. Then, on October 7, 2016, WikiLeaks released another batch of hacked emails within hours of the revelation of the Access Hollywood tape, in which Trump is overheard boasting about sexually assaulting women. In a statement responding to the indictment on Friday, the White House did not condemn Russian interference in the election, instead striking a purely defensive note regarding the president's 2016 victory. 'Today]s charges include no allegations of knowing involvement by anyone on the campaign and no allegations that the alleged hacking affected the election result,' a spokeswoman said. 'This is consistent with what we have been saying all along.'" ...

... Ken Dilanian of NBC News writes a good, brief summary of the indictment's implications. Fer instance, "It's a rare and major development for the Justice Department to indict officials of a foreign government. In almost every case, the president would have input into the decision, given the geopolitical implications. In this instance..., Rod Rosenstein said he briefed Trump last week on the indictment. But he didn't say he sought permission." ...

... Ronn Blitzer of Law & Crime: "Rosenstein had a lot to say during his press conference, but what he didn't say leaves a lot more questions yet to be answered.... Any time Rosenstein noted that Americans were not being accused of wrongdoing, he qualified it by saying there was nothing 'in this indictment' about that. That doesn't mean that future indictments won't include such allegations." ...

... Jonathan Chait: "The danger for Trump is the implication of collusion scattered throughout the indictments.... President Trump has been all but charged with collusion in this indictment." --safari ...

... Rosalind Helderman & Manuel Roig-Franzia of the Washington Post: "A federal indictment filed Friday accusing a dozen Russian military intelligence officers of conspiring to hack Democrats during the 2016 campaign spotlights communications between Roger Stone, a longtime adviser to President Trump, and an online persona allegedly operated by the Russians. Stone has previously acknowledged exchanging direct messages on Twitter in August and September 2016 with Guccifer 2.0, who claimed to be a Romanian hacker. Stone has said there is no proof the account was connected to the Russians. But according to criminal charges filed Friday by special counsel Robert S. Mueller III, Guccifer 2.0 was actually operated by a group of Russian military intelligence officers based in Moscow. The Russians used Guccifer 2.0's Twitter account to send multiple messages to 'a person who was in regular contact with senior members' of Trump's campaign, Mueller wrote in the indictment.... In a text message Friday from his southern Florida home, Stone told The Washington Post that his exchanges with 'someone on Twitter claiming to be Guccifer 2.0 is benign based on its content context and timing.'" ...

...Josh Marshall: "[O]ne point I want to zero in on has to do with 'Guccifer 2.0.'... The key is that it was known well before the 2016 election that Guccifer 2.0 was a Russian intelligence operative...Virtually every publication reported on the documents published by Wikileaks. But with Guccifer 2.0 many journalists were going to 'him' with specific requests or getting special deliveries right from him. Specifically, one of his go-to publications was Jared Kushner's New York Observer. And at the time Kushner was very much a hands-on owner." [no link b/c restricted access] --safari...

... Mrs. McCrabbie: If you're keeping up with fake news, you may believe Trump is in Scotland showing off his golf course, & that Rudy Giuliani is, well, someplace, but it turns out they're together in De State of De Nile:

... IT'S ALL OBAMA'S FAULT. Quint Forgey of Politico: "... Donald Trump on Saturday blamed the Obama administration for the actions of 12 Russian military officials indicted by special counsel Robert Mueller for hacking the Democratic National Committee during the 2016 campaign. 'The stories you heard about the 12 Russians yesterday took place during the Obama Administration, not the Trump Administration,' the president wrote on Twitter. 'Why didn't they do something about it, especially when it was reported that President Obama was informed by the FBI in September, before the Election?' In another tweet, Trump asked, 'Where is the DNC Server, and why didn't the FBI take possession of it? Deep State?'... [Rudy Giuliani responded to news of the indictment by saying,] 'The indictments Rod Rosenstein announced are good news for all Americans. The Russians are nailed. No Americans are involved. Time for Mueller to end this pursuit of the President and say President Trump is completely innocent.'" ...

... Philip Rucker of the Washington Post: "Before he embarked on a week of transatlantic diplomacy, President Trump sat down with Deputy Attorney General Rod J. Rosenstein, who previewed for the boss an explosive development: The Justice Department would soon indict 12 Russian intelligence officers for hacking Democratic emails.... For the first time, the United States would be charging Russian government agents with planning and executing a sustained cyberattack to disrupt America's democratic process. Yet Trump gave no sign in his commentary in Europe this week that he appreciated the magnitude of what he had been told was coming Instead, he repeated his frequent attacks on the integrity of the wide-ranging Russia probe led by special counsel Robert S. Mueller III -- while offering kind words for Russian President Vladimir Putin, who he is slated to meet here in Helsinki on Monday.... On Friday, just hours before Rosenstein announced the indictments from Justice Department headquarters in Washington, Trump stood on foreign soil -- at a news conference with British Prime Minister Theresa May ... -- and denounced the investigation that produced them. 'I would call it the rigged witch hunt,' Trump said of the Mueller probe, which so far has yielded charges or guilty pleas against 32 Russians and Americans, including former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort, who is in jail." ...

These revelations add to a body of evidence confirming an extensive plot by Vladimir Putin's government to attack the 2016 election, sow chaos and dissension among the American electorate, and undermine faith in our democracy. If President Trump is not prepared to hold Putin accountable, the summit in Helsinki should not move forward. -- Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.)

... Shannon Vavra of Axios: "Top Democratic leaders are calling on President Trump to cancel his one-on-one meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Helsinki on Monday following a federal grand jury's indictment of 12 Russian military officers for conspiring to interfere in the 2016 U.S. presidential election.... The Vice Chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee Mark Warner, Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, and Ranking Member of the House Intelligence Committee Rep. Adam Schiff, among several others, argue that the U.S. should pull out of the meeting until Russia agrees to offer evidence that it will stop interfering in American democracy." ...

... James Risen of The Intercept: "With his latest indictments on Friday, Special Counsel Robert Mueller drove a particularly sharp nail into the coffin of the conspiracy theories surrounding the cyber-attack on the Democratic Party and Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign during the 2016 election. Spoiler alert: The Russians really did do it.... But the indictment strongly suggests that even as the Russians hacked the American political system, the U.S. intelligence community was hacking the Russians in return. It includes accounts that appear to have been drawn from real-time U.S. intelligence surveillance of Russian computers watching, searching, and infecting with malware computers belonging to Democratic operatives and staffers." --safari ...

... Aaron Blake of the Washington Post: With these indictments, "yet another President Trump conspiracy theory is thoroughly repudiated by the Russia investigation. Trump has regularly cast doubt upon the idea that the Democratic National Committee was hacked by the Russians -- and that it was hacked at all. At one point he even reportedly dispatched a conspiracy theorist to meet with then-CIA Director Mike Pompeo...." ...

David Corn of Mother Jones: "The latest news from ... Robert Mueller is a stunning indictment of ... President Donald Trump and his Republican minions.... Yet many Republicans and conservatives have continued to avert their eyes from the matter -- arguably the greatest political scandal in American history.... Though the indictment does not address this particular issue, it does indirectly cast light on the sin that Trump and his henchmen have been trying to hide: They helped this Russian operation by repeatedly insisting it wasn't happening.... In between the lines, the indictment presents a grave charge: Trump abetted a serious Russian operation to undermine an American election. It also conveys an important message: This story is not over yet." --safari

... Darren Samuelsohn of Politico: “'It’s a big FU from Mueller,' a White House official said in an interview, speculating that it 'wasn't an accident' that the public rollout landed right before the Putin summit. 'This is just one more case of political malpractice,' added Barry Bennett, a former Trump campaign adviser who remains close to the White House. 'These guys all deserve to be indicted and deserve to be convicted. But to do it the Friday before the Monday meeting? Not so smart.'... Rod Rosenstein ... insisted in a news conference that the timing of the indictments was 'a function of the collection of the facts, the evidence, and the law and a determination that it was sufficient to present the indictment at this time.'" Samuelsohn goes on to cite other people's opinions on the time. Mrs. McC: But here's the thing nobody mentions: the Mueller probe has been going on for more than a year. Trump very recently made an impetuous decision to meet with Putin. If there's a timing problem, it's Trump's, not Mueller's or Rosenstein's. ...

... Matt Ford of the New Republic: "It's now clear that the Russian government will face no significant consequences for its unprecedented interference in the American political system in 2016, or at least none that will outweigh the tangible and intangible benefits it has reaped from its brazen attack on this country's democracy.... Trump has said he will discuss Moscow's efforts to meddle in American democracy. Those discussions will likely lack the hostility shown by the president towards the leaders of Canada and Germany.... 'Somebody was saying, is he an enemy?' he told reporters on Thursday, referring to Putin. 'He's not my enemy. Is he your friend? No, I don't know him very much. Hopefully, someday, he'll be a friend. It could happen.' Maybe it already has." ...

... Hiding in Plain Sight. Frank Dale of ThinkProgress: "Here are notable conservatives, several of whom now occupy top positions in the White House, who promoted Russian propaganda during the 2016 election. None of the following tweets have been deleted.... In addition to mentioning Wikileaks 164 times in the final month of the campaign alone, then-Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump promoted the emails that were stolen by Russian intelligence agents in numerous tweets.... Donald Trump Jr.... Eric Trump... Sean Hannity... Bill O'Reilly... Kellyanne Conway... Sarah Huckabee Sanders... White House director of social media [Dan Scavino]... Fox News host [Laura Ingraham]... Michael Cohen." Includes all their still-posted tweets. --safari ...

... Kevin Hall & Tim Johnson of McClatchy D.C.: "The use of so-called cryptocurrencies in global finance are likely to come under increased scrutiny after the Justice Department announced indictments Friday against 12 Russian military intelligence officers whose alleged conspiracy used bitcoin to set up and maintain hacking activities designed to undermine U.S. elections in 2016.... The 29-page indictment detailed how the Russian intelligence agents laundered the equivalent of $95,000 'through a web of transactions structured to capitalize on the perceived anonymity of crypto currencies such as bitcoin.' 'It is a backbone of the criminal universe, and the shift happened in less than five years. Right now, nothing happens without bitcoin. It is the default currency of pretty much every cyber criminal in the world and by definition intelligence operatives as well,' said Andrei Barysevich, who leads a research team at Recorded Future, a Somerville, Mass., cybersecurity firm." --safari

Julian Barnes of the New York Times: "The nation's top intelligence officer said on Friday that the persistent danger of Russian cyberattacks today was akin to the warnings the United States had of stepped-up terror threats ahead of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. That note of alarm sounded by Dan Coats, the director of national intelligence, came on the same day that 12 Russian agents were indicted on charges of hacking the Democratic National Committee and Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign. Mr. Coats said those indictments illustrated Moscow's continuing strategy to undermine the United States' democracy and erode its institutions.... Coming just days ahead of President Trump's meeting with President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia, Mr. Coats's comments demonstrate the persistent divisions within the administration on Russia.... Mr. Coats, a former Republican senator from Indiana, has helped position the intelligence agencies in the more hard-line camp, pushing for more aggressive actions to halt cyberattacks by Russia and other nations."

All the President's Henchmen. Rachel Bade & Kyle Cheney of Politico: "House conservatives are preparing a new push to oust Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, according to three conservative Capitol Hill sources — putting the finishing touches on an impeachment filing even as Rosenstein announced the indictment of 12 Russian intelligence officers for interfering in the 2016 election. House Freedom Caucus Chairman Mark Meadows, in fact, had the impeachment document on the floor of the House at the very moment that Rosenstein spoke to reporters and TV cameras Friday.... Conservative sources say they could file the impeachment document as soon as Monday, as Meadows and Freedom Caucus founder Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) look to build Republican support in the House.... It is unclear how much support conservatives will have in their effort." ...

     ... Jeet Heer: "In announcing charges against 12 Russian officials today..., Rod Rosenstein tried to frame the ongoing investigation into 2016 election meddling as a non-partisan issue that all Americans should care about. 'When we confront foreign interference in American elections, it is important for us to avoid thinking politically as Republicans or Democrats and instead to think patriotically as Americans,' Rosenstein said.... If Rosenstein was hoping to get bipartisan buy-in for the Mueller investigation, he isn't having much luck. Even as Rosenstein made his statement, House Republicans were ramping up efforts to impeach him.... The fact that congressional Republicans are willing to go after Rosenstein after the new indictments might be an indication that they fear the outcome of the Mueller investigation. ...

... Karoun Demirjian of the Washington Post: "Republican lawmakers contend that former FBI lawyer Lisa Page provided new information during private testimony Friday that further convinces them political bias marred the investigations of Hillary Clinton's emails and the Trump campaign's alleged ties to Russia. Though they offered no specifics, several GOP congressmen characterized Page as 'cooperative,' 'forthcoming' and' 'transparent' during her interview with the House Judiciary and Oversight and Government Reform committees. The closed-door session lasted nearly five hours and was expected to resume Monday afternoon.... Page also defended herself as unbiased, GOP lawmakers said -- a characterization with which they did not agree.... GOP lawmakers threatened to hold Page in contempt of Congress before she agreed to participate in the interview on Friday and tried to get her to appear alongside [Peter] Strzok on Thursday. But after speaking with her, some said they doubted it would be necessary to subject her to a public hearing...." ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: "tried to get her to appear alongside Strzok on Thursday." Oh, Republicans would have loved that, wouldn't they? Shaming two former (I guess) lovers for 10 hours straight, carried live on C-SPAN & cable news. How about making them both wear T-shirts sporting big scarlet "A"s? Why not pose some good sex questions ala Brett Kavanaugh?

Time for a Commercial Break. Katie Rogers of the New York Times: "Mr. Trump is likely to tee off this weekend, ensconced from the public and the news media, at Trump Turnberry, the luxury resort where he will be staying.... Before arriving in Scotland -- the birthplace of his mother, as well as that of Mr. Trump's preferred pastime -- the president managed repeatedly to plug Turnberry, one of two Scottish resorts that bear his name. The move has alarmed ethics experts, who say he is using his presidential platform to promote a resort that, according to financial filings, has been a burden on the family business.... At a hastily arranged news conference in Brussels..., Mr. Trump wove in a reference to Turnberry, on breathtaking bluffs and cliffs on the western coast of Scotland, calling it 'magical' and 'one of my favorite places.'... On Saturday morning, he again mentioned the resort on Twitter: 'I have arrived in Scotland and will be at Trump Turnberry for two days of meetings, calls and hopefully, some golf -- my primary form of exercise! The weather is beautiful, and this place is incredible!'... 'I view this as kind of a forced subsidy of an infomercial for his properties,' Norman L. Eisen, the chairman of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, said ... on Friday." ...

... MEANWHILE, Adam Davidson of the New Yorker is wondering where Trump got $200 million "to buy his money-losing Scottish golf club," especially since "has portrayed himself as uniquely aggressive in his use of debt.... We know very little about how money flowed into and out of these [foreign Trump] projects. All of these projects involved specially designated limited-liability companies that are opaque to outside review. We do know that, in the past decade, wealthy oligarchs in the former Soviet Union and elsewhere have seen real-estate investment as a primary vehicle through which to launder money. The problem is especially egregious in the United Kingdom, where some have called the U.K. luxury real-estate industry 'a money laundering machine.' Golf has been a particular focus of money laundering."

I think they like me a lot in the U.K. -- Donald Trump, Thursday ...

U.K., Friday:

... CBS News: "Hordes of demonstrators converged in central London on Friday, intent on mocking U.S. President Donald Trump on his only full day of business with British leaders on what has been dubbed a 'working visit' to the United Kingdom. The visual cornerstone of the anti-Trump protests on Friday -- which include several organized marches by varying groups -- is a giant balloon depicting the U.S. leader as an angry, screaming orange baby in a diaper, clutching a cell phone with Twitter on the screen." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

The First Amendment Is Situational. Michael Grynbaum of the New York Times: "President Trump was in Britain on diplomatic business. But on Friday, he often appeared focused on ... the news media.... He shouted down a question from CNN, calling the network 'fake news.' He knocked NBC News for 'such dishonest reporting.' He falsely accused the London tabloid The Sun of cherry-picking quotes from an interview and complained about a photograph in The New York Times that, he said, made it look like he had a 'double chin.'... The spectacle of a president bashing his nation's news organizations on foreign soil -- in scenes broadcast live around the world -- was a reminder of how Mr. Trump's conduct with journalists can still shock.... When Jim Acosta, the CNN correspondent who is a preferred punching bag of Trump supporters, tried to ask a question during a news conference with the British prime minister..., Mr. Trump dismissed the query with a wave. 'CNN is fake news,' the president declared. 'I don't take questions from CNN.' He then pointed at the raised hand of John Roberts, the White House correspondent for Fox News, saying, 'Let's go to a real network.' 'We're a real network, too, sir,' Mr. Acosta protested.... Mr. Trump ignored him, and Mr. Roberts moved ahead with his question. Those sympathetic to Mr. Acosta asked why Mr. Roberts or the other correspondents who asked questions afterward had not paused to publicly defend CNN or its correspondent. They invoked an episode from 2009, when the Obama administration tried to ice out Fox News reporters, and other networks, including CNN, protested in solidarity.... Mr. Trump's assertion that he does not take questions from CNN is false: a day earlier, he had answered a question from Jeremy Diamond, a CNN reporter, and he responds to CNN journalists during White House appearances." ...

... Shane Croucher of Newsweek: "... Donald Trump has dismissed his controversial interview with The Sun newspaper in which he criticized British Prime Minister Theresa May's handling of Brexit and praised her Conservative Party rival Boris Johnson, as 'fake news.' Trump and May were speaking to reporters at a press conference following bilateral talks at Chequers, the prime minister's country residence. The president suggested not all of his comments about May were printed by The Sun, and that the newspaper had omitted the positive things he said about the prime minister. In fact, the Rupert Murdoch-owned tabloid had included positive comments made by Trump about May." ...

... OR, as the WashPo headline has it, "Trump denies he said something that he said on a tape everyone has heard." Aaron Blake: "President Trump's complaints about 'fake news' are often dishonest. But rarely has it been so transparent. At a news conference with ... Theresa May in Britain on Friday, Trump claimed that a newspaper interview that quoted him criticizing May's Brexit and trade strategies was 'fake news.' 'I didn't criticize the prime minister,' he said. He went on to suggest a recording would vindicate him. The recording exists. And it completely and utterly contradicts Trump's claim." ...

... Trump Was Rude to Queen Elizabeth, too. Jennifer Hassan of the Washington Post: "It's generally quite difficult to upstage the queen of England, but President Trump might have managed to do so.... Described as 'cringeworthy' and 'uncomfortable' viewing on social media, footage of their walk together came under intense scrutiny. While touring the castle grounds, Trump maintained a relatively brisk walk, which saw the queen, at times, fall behind him as he led the way." ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: Trump's outing with Elizabeth was worse than that, IMO. The moment shows up in the video accompanying the WashPo story, beginning at about the 3:52 mark. The Trumps & Elizabeth stood on a small platform while a band played, after which Donald & Elizabeth descended three steps to review the guard. There was no handrail. Elizabeth is 91 years old. Any normal sure-footed adult would take an elderly person's arm -- even if the elderly person is QEII -- to help her down the steps. As Elizabeth carefully & deliberately descended the stairs, Trump didn't bother to help. The only acceptable excuse for this would be if Trump received instructions from the palace not to assist Elizabeth. ...

Wow, lol. Even if she wasn't the Queen, wouldn't you let an elderly lady walk ahead of you?? He acts like he was raised in a barn. -- Tee, in a tweet ... 

 

 

** Racist in Chief. Richard Wolffe of the Guardian: "There's something to be said for using a foghorn to blast your racism across the continents.... 'I think it's a very negative thing for Europe. I think it's very negative,' [Trump] said, as if we didn't hear him the first time with the foghorn. 'And I know it's politically not necessarily correct to say that. But I'll say it and I'll say it loud. And I think they better watch themselves because you are changing the culture.'... The president of the United States just threatened the safety and security of immigrants the world over.... So now we know. The reason Trump ordered the separation of thousands of immigrant children from their parents -- some never to be reunited again -- was because they better watch themselves. They are changing the culture and it better stop or else they'll get hurt.... So in the Trump spirit of saying it loud, it's time to drop the euphemisms: Trump is today's first major government to be led by the racist far right. It's not some kind of new populist politics; it's the old National Front." --safari

Carol Morello & Jan-Albert Hootsen of the Washington Post: "Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and a group of high-level White House officials met with Mexico's incoming president Friday as protesters gathered outside with signs slamming President Trump's immigration policy. In an unusual display of administration force, Pompeo came to the Mexican capital accompanied by Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and presidential adviser Jared Kushner.... After meeting with President Enrique Peña Nieto, the U.S. officials drove to the campaign headquarters of the leftist-populist victor in this month's election, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, who greeted the delegation under a drawing of Benito Juárez, a peasant who became president and is a national hero."

The Most Corrupt Administration Ever, ctd. Rachana Pradhan & Dan Diamond of Politico: "Former HHS Secretary Tom Price took 20 trips that violated federal requirements, according to a federal auditor that urged the department in a Friday report to recover at least $341,000 in wasted spending. Price, who was forced out last year following a Politico investigation into his extravagant use of private and military aircraft has already voluntarily repaid the government around $60,000. It was not immediately clear how or if he might be forced to repay the rest. A department spokesman said HHS will seek guidance from the Justice Department 'whether there is legal basis for recoupment.'"

** Reserving Rights for Racists. Josh Marshall: "This is wild. You may have heard of the British far-right activist Tommy Robinson (actually a pseudonym for Stephen Yaxley-Lennon). He's the founder of something called the English Defense League, a far-right nationalist group with a record of organized violence against British Muslims.... He's currently serving a year sentence for breaking a UK law that bars certain kinds of publicity of on-going criminal trials.... [W]hen [Sam] Brownback [President Trump's Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom] was meeting with the British Ambassador to the US recently he pressed him for better treatment of Robinson and apparently threatened that the US would go public with the criticism if his government did not.... The British were apparently bewildered by why a roving ambassador for religious freedom would lobby on behalf of a notorious anti-Muslim bigot with a record of violence in the UK." --safari: If this story pans out, I'm frankly speechless. Monsters.

Patricia Cohen of the New York Times: "Corporate profits have rarely swept up a bigger share of the nation's wealth, and workers have rarely shared a smaller one. The lopsided split is especially pronounced given how low the official unemployment rate has sunk.... Hourly earnings have moved forward at a crawl, with higher prices giving workers less buying power than they had last summer. Last-minute scheduling, no-poaching and noncompete clauses, and the use of independent contractors are popular tactics that put workers at a disadvantage. Threats to move operations overseas, where labor is cheaper, continue to loom. And in the background, the nation's central bankers stand poised to raise interest rates and deliberately rein in growth if wages climb too rapidly.... The United States may be leading other big industrialized countries in economic growth, but its labor force does not fare well in comparison. American workers' share of their country's total output fell much sharper and faster than the average reported by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. The United States also had a larger proportion of low-wage workers than nearly every other member." ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: This is not accidental; it's all part of the Republican plan: the Trump tax break for the rich; the weakening of labor unions by every branch of the federal government as well as by state GOP-controlled legislatures; the hike in medical costs because of the gutting of ObamaCare; attacks on the social safety network; the Trump trade wars, etc. They'd make things much worse if they could; for instance, their continued calls for a balanced-budget amendment to the Constitution, which would tie their own hands during recessions.

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Reader Comments (5)

There may be no witch hunt but a whole pack of Russian WARLOCKS done get caught in that large net that had lots of room for many others.

EVIL HAS WON: Pro-American Germans feel betrayed: Michelle Goldberg--NYT

Cem Ozdemir, a member of the German Bundestag from the center left Green Party, the first politician of Turkish decent, and is sometimes referred to as the German Obama said this:

"It reminds me of a James Bond movie, you have a guy, Putin, who has a clear plan. Step 1, step 2; It's Brexit, it's President Trump, it's having Europe stumbling, it;'s having authoritarian regimes getting stronger on a daily basis, it's escalation in Syria. He gets everything he wants. But while the world seems to be ruled by Bond villains, there is NO JAMES BOND."

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/13/opinion/trump-germany-transatlantic-alliance-russia.html?rref=collection%2Fsectioncollection%2Fopinion&action=click&contentCollection=opinion&region=rank&module=package&version=highlights&contentPlacement=9&pgtype=sectionfront

And I was so hoping the Queen would haul off and smack HIM on the tush with her purse.

July 14, 2018 | Unregistered CommenterPD Pepe

Can't wait to find out which unnamed "Congressional candidate" asked the Russians for dirt on his/her opponent, and got it in return. Could this info., which is obviously going to be uncovered, be another source of the desperate floppy sweat coming from the GOP? We don't know if the mystery candidate is sitting in Washington D.C. right now or not, but I guarantee some poor soul's asshole puckered up real tight yesterday, if they hadn't already got a visit by the Feds (a very real possibility).

To quote MLK Jr., I have a dream. Please let it be McConnell or Lyin' Ryan.

July 14, 2018 | Unregistered Commentersafari

@safari: Alex Daugherty of the Miami Herald, w/some help from the Florida Democratic party, suggests the candidate who asked Guccifer 2.0 & got damaging info against an opponent was a Florida Republican .

Since it's against the law to get (or even try to get) foreign entities to aid U.S. election bids, I think there's a chance the unnamed candidate will get his or her very own special indictment. There's still a possibility that won't happen, either because (a) it would be inconveeenient to this administration's DOJ, or (b) DOJ will decide it's not worth revealing sources & methods to nab the candidate, especially if s/he didn't win the election.

July 14, 2018 | Registered CommenterMarie Burns

@Bea

Thanks for the update. I knew neither McConnell or Ryan could be the traitor cuz they would've blown up the Mueller investigation on Day 1 to cover their tracks. I still dream of the Turtle in handcuffs one day though....

July 14, 2018 | Unregistered Commentersafari

Look for the attacks by Confederate traitors and the little king and his retainers to amp up considerably now that the ship is clearly on fire. The move to dump Rosenstein, heretofore considered a political plank walk, may now appeal to R’s and the traitor in the White House as an acceptable move out of spite after yesterday’s embarrassing split screen that drew attention away from his royal lowness King Trumpy as he, sort of, inspected the queen’s palace guards. Having his moment in the British Sun (so to speak) occluded by indictments handed down to his Russian pals must surely irk the jerk.

July 14, 2018 | Unregistered CommenterAkhilleus
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