The Ledes

Thursday, September 19, 2024

New York Times: “A body believed to be of the suspect in a Kentucky highway shooting that left five people seriously injured this month was found on Wednesday, the authorities said, ending a manhunt that stretched into a second week and set the local community on edge. The Kentucky State Police commissioner, Phillip Burnett Jr., said in a Wednesday night news conference that at approximately 3:30 p.m., two troopers and two civilians found an unidentified body in the brush behind the highway exit where the shooting occurred.... The police have identified the suspect of the shooting as Joseph A. Couch, 32. They said that on Sept. 7, Mr. Couch perched on a cliff overlooking Interstate 75 about eight miles north of London, Ky., and opened fire. One of the wounded was shot in the face, and another was shot in the chest. A dozen vehicles were riddled with gunfire.”

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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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The Commentariat -- July 7, 2016

Missy Ryan & Karen DeYoung of the Washington Post: "President Obama announced revised troop plans for Afghanistan on Wednesday, keeping 8,400 U.S. troops in the country when he steps down early next year, the clearest indication yet of his inability to end the long war there.... He had hoped to leave a force of 5,500 in early 2017." -- CW ...

Mike Lillis of the Hill: "Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) had hoped to move an 'anti-terror' package in response to last month's mass shooting in Orlando -- a package that included legislation designed to make it tougher for suspected terrorists to buy firearms. But Republican leadership is facing opposition from the members of the conservative Freedom Caucus, who deem the measure a violation of constitutional protections. Because Democrats are overwhelmingly opposed to the bill, judging it too lax, Ryan and GOP leaders don't have the 218 votes needed to move the bill through the lower chamber." -- CW

Linda Greenhouse: "The takeaway from the term that ended last week seems to be that by the time the Supreme Court, short-handed and stumbling in the wake of Justice Antonin Scalia's death, finally got its act together at the end of June, it had -- lo and behold -- turned liberal. Count me a skeptic.... To reject a conservative extreme doesn't make the court liberal. Rather, it puts the court -- increasingly over the dissent of the chief justice, it's worth noting -- in the zone of mainstream reasonableness." -- CW

Annals of "Journalism," Ctd. Michael Grynbaum & John Koblin of the New York Times: "Gretchen Carlson, the longtime Fox News anchor, filed a lawsuit on Wednesday saying that Roger Ailes, the powerful chairman of Fox News, fired her from the network last month after she refused his sexual advances and complained to him about discriminatory treatment in the newsroom.... The lawsuit ... portrays the Fox chairman as a serial sexual harasser, charging that he ogled Ms. Carlson in his office, called her 'sexy' and frequently made sexually charged comments about her physical appearance. Ms. Carlson ... charges that during a meeting last fall to discuss her concerns about what she considered ill treatment, Mr. Ailes told her: 'I think you and I should have had a sexual relationship a long time ago and then you'd be good and better and I'd be good and better.'" Story includes copy of the complaint. -- CW (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... Louis Nelson of Politico: "Fox News CEO Roger Ailes is denying allegations made in a bombshell lawsuit Wednesday that he sexually harassed a former on-air host for the network, Gretchen Carlson.... Minutes [before Ailes issued a statement -- 'defamatory ... offensive ... wholly without merit ... will be defended vigorously,' etc. --], Fox News' parent company, 21st Century Fox, issued its own statement announcing an internal review into Carlson's allegations -- an unprecedented move that also extended to her former 'Fox & Friends' co-host Steve Doocy, who was not named in the lawsuit." -- CW ...

... Brian Stelter of CNN, in an interview: "I just spoke with one of the attorneys involved in Carlson's suit. They say that ten women have called the law firm today, wanting to speak with the law firm because they say they also have stories to share about treatment by Roger Ailes. I want to be careful with that though because that doesn't mean they are alleging anything, any wrongdoing, and they are not suing, Right now it is only Carlson who is suing." -- CW

Presidential Race

Cristiano Lima of Politico: "Bernie Sanders confirmed on Wednesday night that he is in discussions with the Hillary Clinton campaign about a potential endorsement of her candidacy, adding that he anticipates a 'coming together' of the two campaigns. Appearing on MSNBC's 'All In With Chris Hayes,' Sanders was pointedly asked whether mounting reports that he is finally getting ready to endorse his longstanding Democratic primary rival had any validity. 'You're not denying the report that there are talks about a possible endorsement?' Hayes asked. Sanders replied: 'That's correct.'" -- CW ...

... James Downie of the Washington Post: "... the draft 2016 version [of the Democratic party platform] leaked Friday shifts noticeably leftward from its 2012 counterpart in both policy and language. While not yet set in stone, the change is an encouraging sign that activists' years of work are paying off and that the party is embracing an agenda that speaks to the concerns of millions of Americans who have too often been forgotten in mainstream political debate. From the opening of the 2016 draft platform, one can see the rhetorical fingerprints of progressive movements, especially Black Lives Matter and the insurgent presidential campaign of Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.)." -- CW

Michael Shear of the New York Times: "The investigation into Hillary Clinton's email server is over, Attorney General Loretta E. Lynch said on Wednesday, issuing a brief written statement that she had accepted the F.B.I.'s recommendation that no one should be charged in the case that has engulfed Mrs. Clinton's presidential ambitions for more than a year." -- CW

"Hillary Clinton's E-mail Was Probably Hacked, Experts Say." David Sanger of the New York Times: FBI Director James "Comey described, in fairly blistering terms, a set of email practices that left Mrs. Clinton's systems wide open to Russian and Chinese hackers, and an array of others.... 'Reading between the lines and following Comey's logic, it does sound as if the F.B.I. believes a compromise of Clinton's email is more likely than not,' said Adam Segal..., who studies cyberissues at the Council on Foreign Relations.... Until Mr. Comey spoke, Mrs. Clinton and her campaign have said that her server -- there were actually several, in succession -- was never hacked." -- CW ...

... C-SPAN is carrying James Comey's testimony live, beginning at 10 am ET, on the CSPAN3 channel & on CSPAN-Radio. The radio page also has links to phone apps. The Washington Post also has a livefeed on its online front page. CW: I almost never watch or listen to CSPAN, but I'll likely make an exception today, if time & circumstance allow. ...

     ... Comey & Elijah Cummings shot down the notion (promulgated by Trump & other Republicans) that Petraeus was prosecuted for "far less" than what Clinton did. I'll get up a video of this later. Uh-oh, Comey called Clinton "negligent." He's a lawyer; he knows what that means. ...

     ... The New York Times is liveblogging the hearing. -- CW ...

... David Herszenhorn & Jonathan Martin of the New York Times: "The F.B.I. director, James B. Comey, will testify before Congress on Thursday to explain his decision to recommend no criminal charges against Hillary Clinton.... If he makes a convincing case for his decision on Thursday before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, it could make Republicans look foolish.... Democrats were quick to accuse the Republicans of refusing to accept the F.B.I.'s recommendation, despite past praise for Mr. Comey.

     "... The Senate majority leader, Mitch McConnell of Kentucky..., focused Wednesday on raising doubts about Mrs. Clinton's trustworthiness. He said Mrs. Clinton's statements to the F.B.I. should be made public to compare with her prior remarks. 'There's no particular penalty for lying to the public, unless the public gets tired of it, but there is a real penalty for lying to the F.B.I.,' Mr. McConnell said at a news conference at the Capitol. Mr. McConnell deflected a question ... about whether he believed Mr. Trump was qualified to handle classified information." -- CW ...

... David Herszenhorn: "... James B. Comey, will go before Congress on Thursday to explain his decision to recommend no criminal charges against Hillary Clinton, a House committee chairman announced Wednesday morning.... The House speaker, Paul D. Ryan, said that Mrs. Clinton should be barred from receiving classified information -- an extraordinary recommendation even if it is certain to be ignored by the Obama administration. In addition, Attorney General Loretta Lynch will appear Tuesday before the House Judiciary Committee, and that committee's chairman, Bob Goodlatte of Virginia, made it clear he would focus on Ms. Lynch's impromptu meeting with former President Bill Clinton, ahead of the F.B.I.'s announcement." -- CW (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ..." ...

... Jordan Fabian of the Hill: "The White House on Wednesday brushed aside House Speaker Paul Ryan's (R-Wis.) call to block Hillary Clinton from receiving classified intelligence briefings as punishment for the FBI's probe into her use of a private email server while secretary of State. White House press secretary Josh Earnest said it's a 'longstanding tradition' for major party presidential nominees to receive such briefings.... 'What the Office of the Director of National Intelligence [DNI] has indicated is that they expect those briefings to move forward after the party conventions.... We should leave those decisions in the hands of our intelligence professionals and not risk them being sullied by the political debate.'... Earnest noted that he's given a similar response to questions about presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump's fitness to receive classified briefings." -- CW

Julian Hattem of the Hill: "Furious congressional Republicans are launching a multipronged attack against the FBI and Hillary Clinton. A total of five congressional committees will either hold hearings with high-profile law enforcement officials over the next week or have already begun inquiries to the FBI about its investigation of the former secretary of State." -- CW ...

... Gail Collins: "In his big press appearance Tuesday, F.B.I. Director James Comey took the now-familiar prosecutorial path of smearing the target he couldn't nail. But the bottom line was that Clinton had used less-than-secure private email servers rather than the State Department system, which was the proper procedure, albeit possibly even less less-than-secure. Worse, she did not tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth when she was cornered. It's a problem for campaign strategists, but not much of a surprise for voters." -- CW

Abby Phillip & Anne Gearan of the Washington Post: "Hillary Clinton came [to Atlantic City, New Jersey,] Wednesday in an attempt to turn the spotlight away from her handling of classified emails and back on rival Donald Trump's controversial business practices.... [Clinton] focused intently on everything but the email issue, with a speech bashing Trump and a major policy shift toward the free-college pledge promised by her primary rival, Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont. Here in this resort town where Trump built casinos that went bankrupt, Clinton pointed to one of the shuttered locations as an example of what she portrayed as a record of selfish and unethical business practices." -- CW ...

... Matt Flegenheimer of the New York Times: "Hillary Clinton's campaign announced plans on Wednesday to eliminate college tuition at in-state public colleges and universities for families with annual incomes under $125,000 -- a significant nod to a core position of Senator Bernie Sanders, who had pledged to make tuition at public institutions free for all students." -- CW (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Scott Wong of the Hill: "Donald Trump will meet with Republican lawmakers on Capitol Hill Thursday morning in a last-ditch effort to unify a fractured GOP two weeks before the party's national convention in Cleveland. Trump's back-to-back meetings -- first with House Republicans at the Capitol Hill Club, then with Senate Republicans at their campaign headquarters -- will take place amid growing anxiety among the GOP elite over whether the brash New York billionaire will be a drag on vulnerable down-ballot candidates this fall." -- CW

... Matthew Nussbaum of Politico: "Donald Trump blasted Hillary Clinton's use of a private email server in a speech in Ohio Wednesday night but spent almost as much time re-visiting the controversies that have dogged his campaign and distracted from his opponent's legal woes.... He said he regretted removing a tweet that was widely criticized as anti-Semitic.... Appearing with possible vice-presidential pick Newt Gingrich, Trump blamed the media for the uproar. 'When they told me the Star of David I said, "You've got to be kidding, how sick are they?" They're the ones with the bad tendencies when they think that way,' Trump said. 'These people are sick, folks. I'm telling you, they're sick.'" -- CW ...

     ... Update. A "Rambling and Somewhat Manic-Sounding Address." Maggie Haberman, et al., of the New York Times: "Often shouting..., Donald J. Trump on Wednesday offered a defiant defense of his campaign's decision to publish an image widely viewed as anti-Semitic -- saying he regretted deleting it -- and vigorously reaffirmed his praise of Saddam Hussein, the murderous Iraqi dictator.... It was a striking display of self-sabotage from a presumptive presidential nominee and underscored the limitations of Mr. Trump's scattershot approach during the Republican primaries -- not to mention how difficult he often makes it for his campaign team to control him." -- CW

We shouldn't have destabilized -- Saddam Hussein was a bad guy. Right? He was a bad guy. Really bad guy. But you know what, he did well. He killed terrorists. He did that so good. -- Donald Trump, speech in North Carolina, July 5

Hussein was no opponent of terrorists, certainly in the eyes of the West. Perhaps Trump is referring to Hussein's fight against internal religious extremist movements that he viewed as a threat to his regime -- a part of his overall suppression of dissent. But Trump's description -- that Hussein 'killed terrorists,' and did it 'so well' or was 'so good' at it -- is just not credible, especially given the overwhelming evidence of Hussein's long-standing record of supporting (financially and operationally) international terrorist groups. -- Michelle Lee of the Washington Post

Margaret Hartmann of New York: "It's time to reconsider the possibility that Donald Trump is a secret Hillary Clinton supporter, as opposed to merely a man whose campaign is a garbage fire." On a day when the story should have been Clinton's 'extremely careless' handling of secret correspondence, Trump took time out to praise Saddam Hussein. Trump's "admiration of Hussein is no secret. He's made the same point many times, dating back to at least 2004, when he told the Dallas Morning News, 'No matter how much you hate Saddam Hussein, and obviously he was a horror show, he kept terrorists out of Iraq.'... Now suddenly Saddam Hussein was trending on Twitter, and replacing headlines about Clinton's email scandal." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

     ... CW: For fun, read the tweeted reactions to Trump's Saddam remarks which Hartmann embedded. AND this:

Jonathan Chait: "To watch Donald Trump rant and rave uncontrollably on the stump and on Twitter -- praising Saddam Hussein for his disregard for civil liberties, insisting the anti-Semitic propaganda he inadvertently borrowed from neo-Nazis is as innocent as a Disney poster -- is to ponder the psychology of a party that would entrust supreme executive authority to a racist, nationalistic, power-worshiping demagogue.... [Trump & Adolf Hitler] have certain traits in common relative to the political environments they inhabit.... Whatever norms or bounds that we think limit the damage a president could inflict are likely to be exceeded if that president is Trump." -- CW

Matea Gold of the Washington Post: "Donald Trump raisedmore than $26 million through online and mail solicitations in June and another $25 million at events with the Republican National Committee, his campaign announced Wednesday.... The combined $51 million falls short of the $68.5 million that presumptive Democratic contender Hillary Clinton and the Democratic party collected in June, which included $40.5 million she raised directly for her campaign." -- CW (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

David Fahrenthold of the Washington Post: "Eric Trump, the son of ... Donald Trump, said in an interview Wednesday that his father gives 'millions and millions and millions' of his own money to charity -- including hundreds of thousands to Eric Trump's own charitable foundation. He did not, however, immediately provide new details to help confirm those donations.... [Eric Trump] denounced its reporting -- often in forceful, profane terms. 'I'm just saying, Jesus Christ, why is this guy trying to f[uck]ing kill us?' Eric Trump said at one point." CW: So that settles that. (Also linked yesterday.)

Robert Costa of the Washington Post: "Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.), the chairman of the powerful Senate Foreign Relations Committee who has recently emerged as a finalist in the search for Donald Trump's running mate, told The Washington Post in an interview Wednesday that he has taken himself out of consideration for the position. Corker said that he informed the presumptive Republican presidential nominee of his decision during their day together on Tuesday...." -- CW (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... Burgess Everett of Politico: "Joni Ernst all but removed herself from Donald Trump's vice presidential search, telling Politico in an interview that she wants to help Trump become president but that she's focused on Iowa and the Senate, where the freshman senator said she's 'just getting started.' The GOP senator met with Trump on Monday and received effusive praise afterward, with Trump predicting he will 'see her again.'" -- CW (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... Jonathan Chait: "Trump's intent use of the period leading up to his convention as a reality-television-style audition where he appears with a series of potential running mates and selects the most desirable is giving way to a reality in which the field is considering, and then rejecting, Trump, until he is left with no other decent options." -- CW

... Steve M.: "Well, I'm relieved.... I don't think I could have endured a Trump-Corker ticket -- if only because the media narrative would be: Bob Corker? Wow, what a serious, respectable choice! Trump really is pivoting! He's so presidential now, just because he's chosen this person we like so much! Trump will never change, but a Corker pick would have allowed Beltway journalists to continuing fooling themselves into thinking that he might. (Of course, some of them will anyway.)" -- CW (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

How to Put a Positive Light on a Selfish, Greedy, Narcissistic Bastard:

Mr. Trump believes in putting your oxygen mask on first before helping others. -- Katrina Pierson, spokesperson for Donald Trump

Senate Race

Another Rat Leaves Ship. Burgess Everett & Seung Min Kim of Politico: "First he reversed his decision to leave the Senate. Now, Marco Rubio has changed his mind about attending the Republican convention. The Florida senator will stay home to campaign for reelection in one of the country's hottest Senate races, a Rubio official confirmed Wednesday." -- CW

Beyond the Beltway

Michael Miller & Wesley Lowery of the Washington Post: "A Minnesota traffic stop turned deadly Wednesday evening as a police officer opened fire on a driver.... The bloody aftermath of the confrontation was broadcast live on Facebook by a female passenger in the car.... In the video, she says [Philando] Castile was legally licensed to carry a firearm and was reaching for his identification when the officer opened fire. 'He let the officer know that he had a firearm and he was reaching for his wallet and the officer just shot him in his arm,' [Lavish] Reynolds says in the video." -- CW

... CW: Here's the rule: In many states and municipalities it is legal to carry a firearm. Unless you are a minority. Especially black. In which case, it's a capital offense. With no appeal.

AP: "A Louisiana police officer shot and killed a man following a confrontation outside a Baton Rouge convenience store, authorities said. An autopsy shows Alton Sterling, 37, of Baton Rouge, died Tuesday of multiple gunshot wounds to the chest and back, said East Baton Rouge Parish Coroner Dr. William Clark.... The owner [of the store] said Sterling did not have a gun in his hand at the time but he saw officers remove a gun from Sterling's pocket after the shooting." -- CW (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... Radley Balko of the Washington Post: "The witness to the shooting -- the owner of the convenience store -- said the cops seemed aggressive from the start. The witness also said that Sterling was complying with the officers, and that he wasn't holding the gun, nor did he have a hand near the gun when he was shot.... From what we know right now, this appears to be another case of police officers deploying lethal force that was likely legal, but was also unnecessary.... Was it legal? is the question we ask when deciding whether or not to prosecute. Was it preventable? is the question we need to ask to save lives." -- CW ...

... Jarvis DeBerry of the New Orleans Times-Picayune: "The Baton Rouge Police Department -- like so many other departments across the country -- is notorious for its brutal treatment of black people." -- CW ...

... Brandon Patterson of Mother Jones: "Louisiana Governor John Bel-Edwards announced Wednesday morning that the Department of Justice's civil rights division will open an investigation into the police shooting death of Alton Sterling, a 37-year-old black man shot multiple times by a Baton Rouge police officer early Tuesday morning. The FBI and the U.S. attorney's office for the Middle District of Louisiana will assist the investigation, Bel-Edwards said." -- CW (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... Update. Zack Kopplin & Justin Miller of the Daily Beast embed a second video, provided by Abdullah Muflahti, the owner of the convenience store in front of which he police shot & killed Alton Sterling: "Muflahi's video does not appear to support the officer's claim that Sterling's gun represented an active threat: it appears to have been in a pocket and never reached his hand. Instead, the video shows Sterling pinned down, shot twice in the chest, and then shot four more times. After mortally wounding him, one of the officers removes an object from Sterling's right pants pocket. (Police during a Wednesday press conference refused to comment on whether Sterling had a gun.)" -- CW

Emma Ockerman of Time: "A 37-year-old man who had previously been charged with providing support to Al-Qaeda was handed a three-count indictment in Toledo, Ohio on Wednesday for soliciting the murder of the federal judge presiding over his case. Yahya Farooq Mohammad was charged with attempted first-degree murder of a federal officer, solicitation to commit a crime of violence and use of interstate commerce facilities in commission of murder for hire, according to a news release from the U.S. Department of Justice. He was accused of soliciting someone to kidnap and murder U.S. District Court Judge Jack Zouhary after he told an inmate at a county jail in April that he was willing to pay $15,000 to carry out the act, the Toledo Blade reports." -- CW

Way Beyond

Luke Harding of the Guardian: "A defiant Tony Blair [-- the former British PM --] defended his decision to go to war in Iraq in 2003 following the publication of a devastating report by Sir John Chilcot, which mauled the ex-prime minister's reputation and said that at the time of the 2003 invasion Saddam Hussein 'posed no imminent threat'. Looking tired, his voice sometimes croaking with emotion, Blair described his decision to join the US attack as 'the hardest, most momentous, most agonising decision I took in 10 years as British prime minister'." CW: The Guardian is updating developments & analyses here.

Comments Off

Reader Comments (23)

Democrats should be delighted James B. Comey is being called to testify before a committee. Every thing he says in defense of his decision will show Hillary in a better light. Comey, an outstanding lawyer, will dominate the stage.
Peeved, he may go out of his way to show up the committee, not a difficult job. A bonus will be if he points out that the individual messages he reported as referring to secret and top secret items may not have been designated as classified when received or transmitted.
There is no win here for the Republicans except caressing the base that they already own.

July 6, 2016 | Unregistered Commentercarlyle

I don't mean to wander out in the weeds and be a movie critic here but, I just watched "Trumbo" and it was quite unsettling to see the McCarthy Era revisited. After Trump's call to organize a nation of snitches, I have a sickening feeling it could happen again. The trampling of rights in the name of freedom will not stand.
Forgive me it's late and I'm tired and I'll show myself out.

July 6, 2016 | Unregistered CommenterDan Lowery

@carlyle wrote: "A bonus will be if he points out that the individual messages he reported as referring to secret and top secret items may not have been designated as classified when received or transmitted."

In his prepared remarks, Comey said, "Only a very small number of the e-mails containing classified information bore markings indicating the presence of classified information. But even if information is not marked 'classified' in an e-mail, participants who know or should know that the subject matter is classified are still obligated to protect it."

In other words, "a very small number" of the e-mails Clinton received (or sent) were in some way marked classified or included a notation that the correspondence contained classified info.

While some of her correspondents may not have known they were writing to her unsecured e-mail address, Hillary Clinton knew.

And this strikes me as odd. Comey went on to say, "... we also developed evidence that the security culture of the State Department in general, and with respect to use of unclassified e-mail systems in particular, was generally lacking in the kind of care for classified information found elsewhere in the government." Hillary Clinton has a rep as a very secretive person. How come her State Department was so lax in its handling of, well, state secrets?

According to Comey, Clinton's e-mail was less secure than your g-mail account.

Marie

July 7, 2016 | Registered CommenterMarie Burns

The Carlson/Roger Ailes issue reminded me of this. My apologies:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n1-zihbZpC0

July 7, 2016 | Unregistered CommenterPatrick

@Dan Lowery: same here...know our fearless leader does not like us to go off track, but after a long wait to see "The Big Short" (I've been a big Michael Lewis fan for years)I also have a movie comment to make. By the way, I did watch "Trumbo" and concur with your take.

After finally seeing "The Big Short" (book better than movie) late last night's binge, I thought it focused too much on the so-called "good" guys and not enough on the pricks who brought us the 2008 recession. Pricks still out there, never prosecuted, never charged...and who still continue to live a wonderful life.

Christian Bale's performance was outstanding. Steve Carrell
was a surprise in his role.

But, but, but...we still have a BIG BANK liability TBTF
I was disappointed that the film did not call out Dick Fuld, James Cayne, Maurice Greenberg, and others in a harsher way.

July 7, 2016 | Unregistered CommenterMAG

The anti-semitic issue about the Trump post had essentially gone away. But Trump realized that it would require that he admitted he made a mistake. That is impossible. So the mentally ill idiot starts the issue all over again. And the timing makes it clear that making sure he is perfect is far more important than an attack on Clinton's email issue.
The best part is the response in the brains of the Republican party. It's official, they can't control is totally irrational behavior.

July 7, 2016 | Unregistered CommenterMarvin Schwalb

Louis Begley, when asked to comment about Bill Clinton sexual scandal said:

"I take it as an unshakable postulate that for many men (though by no means all) the abject availability of a woman makes her irresistible –- the man's goüt de la boue locks in. From then on, when she's at hand, ready to be used however the man wants, it's easier to to separate two dogs in an ally than to keep him off of her."

It appears that Roger Alles fits neatly into that package. Interesting that Gretchen managed to stay as long as she did between those two ferns feeling as strongly as she did about being the "female put upon." Good luck there, Gretchen––powerful adversary you got there, but do some hard kicking with those legs of yours.

Yes, strange everyone is saying, why Trump didn't zero in on all this email business and instead ranted about mistaken symbols and a "bad" dictator. Just as strange that everyone hasn't come to the conclusion the man is unfit to be president because the man is seriously unhinged. The Republican Party needs to say stop!––this is not a viable candidate and usher in some kind of do-over. The convention should be one for the books.

But I must stop with the dreaming. Newt is on my mind. He makes a lot of money with his load of books for sale and his scammy certificate of something or other––a real business guru. Back in the days when he was Speaker it was said that he got rid of old customs that produced a degree of collegiality and of the idea that members of Congress should have a meaningful expertise on issues, assigning them to committees based less on their knowledge of and interest in issue areas than on their ability to raise money from groups with business before the committees in question. And looking back to those days with Tom Delay swinging his dick around and Newt telling members to leave their families back in their districts which changed the way members then operated (for the worst–- it broke down traditions.) And someone said at the time, that you can't run Congress like that, you can't run any institution like that. And the institution broke down.

So–––Gingrich as Trump's running mate makes perfect sense for an all out catastrophe.

Goody, goody gumdrops as Lord Granville would say.

July 7, 2016 | Unregistered CommenterPD Pepe

James Comey says they " should have known". In a large department with hundreds communicating, who "should have known" I suggest that there is a whole lot of "should have known" traffic going on this minute in many government departments,
Colin Powell and Condoleezza Rice were probably swamped with "should have known" messages
May I remind the pious that Hillary is all that stands between America and " Oh My God."

July 7, 2016 | Unregistered Commentercarlyle

Patrick,

Very funny. I saw this bit when it first aired. My brother and I laughed about it for weeks. It's still one of the funniest things SNL ever did.

The big difference between Ailes and either Bob and/or Ray is that Bob and Ray were funny. Ailes is an extremely unfunny, repulsive asshole who no doubt seems to think he's Cary Grant. Or maybe Rod Stewart.

"...just reach out and touch me..." ewwwww.

I hope Carlson doesn't settle. I'm sure Rupert will dig deep to try to help his sexual predator BFF but she should hold their bunions to the blaze. Make 'em squirm. Unfortunately, what will work against this much desired outcome is that the rest of the industry might decide such a hard line would make her a problematic hire. Playing nice, taking her money and not causing too big a stink might be the politic thing to do if she wants to stay in the game (although she's probably already damaged goods).

I'm thinking of a scene from a 1999 Michael Mann film, "The Insider" about a Big Tobacco exposé on 60 Minutes in 1995. An obscure legal issue seems to threaten a CBS merger and Mike Wallace (played by Christopher Plummer) decides against going forward with a full scale attack so as not to buck the media powers. "You think I want to spend my final years wandering in the wilderness of National Public Radio?" he sputters (a reference to the great Daniel Schorr).

Yeah, it's a movie, and Wallace disputed the actual words, but does anyone believe this sort of thing isn't taken into consideration by those in the business? And unlike Wallace, Carlson is not a journalist. She was Miss America eye candy hired by Ailes from her position as a news reader and happy talk host on CBS's morning show. She seems like a smart lady (studied at Stanford and Oxford) but we all know that an impressive educational background doesn't guarantee either honesty or integrity (see Cotton, Tom).

I dunno, maybe she'll be pissed enough to do it, but I'll wait and see. Nonetheless, any sort of agita, no matter how fleeting, that can be injected into the smug, rapacious, malevolent world of Roger Ailes makes me happy.

And so does seeing Bob and Ray again. Happiness can come in many forms, right kids?

July 7, 2016 | Unregistered CommenterAkhilleus

Dan,

Haven't seen the film yet but Dalton Trumbo has long been one of my heroes. His work is exemplary but his life even more so. When so many knuckled under, gave in or gave up, he stuck to his principles and never complained about it, never portrayed himself as a victim as so many do today, and never demanded that he get special treatment. You do the right thing because it's right, not because you hope to get something out of it.

And yes, the current Trumpotheosis is bringing about a return to the days of civil rights trampling. But today it's even worse. First, Confederates have worked mightily for a generation to erode our civil rights (all except the Second and Tenth amendments, that is). Just look at the field day The Decider and his pet shark had with civil liberties. During McCarthy's heyday, reputations were ruined by appearances before his committee. Many innocent people were destroyed, many simply for going to a meeting out of curiosity. Today, reputations can be destroyed in a nanosecond. The propulsive, ravening news cycle can wring a person out once an hour for a week then move on to the next meal.

And leave us not forget who helped train the younger Drumpf in the ins and outs of ratfucking: Joe McCarthy's personal ratfucker, Roy Cohn. Talk about fruit of the poisonous tree...

But thanks for the reminder of Dalton Trumbo. While blacklisted, Trumbo wrote the script for what I consider one of the top two or three B movie film noirs, "Gun Crazy" about a kid who learns to be a gun fondler from an early age. Like almost all noir films, the protagonists die (in a hail of bullets), but so do lots of other people.

Guns, violence, murder, and a "nation of snitches" as you say. The world Trump and all Republicans (he raised $51 million recently; so much for all those right-wingers who claim that he doesn't represent them) would have us live in.

July 7, 2016 | Unregistered CommenterAkhilleus

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/james-comeys-abuse-of-power/2016/07/06/7799d39e-4392-11e6-8856-f26de2537a9d_story.html?wpisrc=nl_heads-draw6&wpmm=1

The above is an opinion piece that challenges the integrity of Comey's press conference attack, indictment, and conviction of HRC and her emails. I completely concur with the opinion piece.

What an arrogant asshat.

July 7, 2016 | Unregistered CommenterHaley Simon

So Donaldo puts "...his oxygen mask on first" before "helping" others? Did he have 6,000 oxygen masks available to help everyone who lost their jobs in Atlantic City after he ran the place into the ground? Not only did he put on his oxygen mask and let everyone else suffocate, he absconded with whatever he could grab while the place was coming down around them.

Try as they might, any attempts to portray this avaricious sociopath as a benefactor and do-gooder are doomed to the same fate as his Atlantic City casinos, shuttered and in ruins.

But let's run with this oxygen mask thing. Say Donaldo was in a plane where the cabin depressurized and the masks dropped down. I can see him demanding that the crew shut off all the other oxygen so there'd be enough for him. "Don't you know who I am???" Of course, he'd ply them with promises of "amazing riches" once they landed and then stiff them. If that didn't work, he'd be pulling the masks off the kids sitting around him to conserve as much as possible for himself. Any concern this guy shows for other human beings has to be in direct relationship to what they can do for him. That's it.

Oxygen mask, my ass.

July 7, 2016 | Unregistered CommenterAkhilleus

I'm collection $ to buy thousands of oxygen masks to pass out to the
attendees at the republican convention in Cleveland. These will be,
however, connected to canisters of Nitrous Oxide to liven up the
party. Come to think of it, they may not need Nitrous Oxide at all
when trump and his sports figures take the stage.

July 7, 2016 | Unregistered Commenterforrest morris

Looks like there may be only two people willing to be Trump's VP, Piss Christie and Nut Gingrich.

July 7, 2016 | Unregistered CommenterMarvin Schwalb

Today's Knee Slapper

Mitch McConnell, calling for honesty and transparency.

No, that's the not the joke, although it is pretty hysterical.

What he said is the really funny part: "There’s no particular penalty for lying to the public..." Ha! Don't you know it Mitchy! Don't you know it. Isn't that the motto of the Republican controlled congress?

July 7, 2016 | Unregistered CommenterAkhilleus

Forrest,

Nitrous may not be necessary but smelling salts should be on hand. The Trump Carnaval (can't you picture painted girls in bikinis sporting gigantic headresses and marching bands leading Donaldo to the podium as he's toted in by black and Mexican bearers on a gold painted palanquin with TRUMP embossed on the side?) will likely make the absurd spectacle of Clint Eastwood lecturing an empty chair look like the halcyon days of refined and sober political discourse.

Got the popcorn ready. Should be a jaw dropper.

July 7, 2016 | Unregistered CommenterAkhilleus

One thing Hilary has to thank the Republicans and the media for was an understanding that the FBI had found 'classified' material (not classified later) in her email trove. When she went to the interview with the FBI she could answer with less fear of being caught in a lie with all the published information of what the FBI knew.
I am amazed that the Secretary of State would have had 'only' 3 partials of marked classified material and 107 streams discussing issues that were 'classified' for her four years and over 50,000 emails. She had to have had some other way of receiving and discussing classified material than her email.

July 7, 2016 | Unregistered Commenterbrownie

@brownie: I agree. The "small number" of classified documents, according to Comey's testimony today, turned out to be three! and even then, the markings were only this: a "(C)" typed at the front of three paragraphs in those tens of thousands of e-mails. There was no "Top Secret!!!!" splashed across the documents. One could easily miss (or misinterpret that (C); maybe she & other readers read it quickly & thought it meant "Paragraph (C)."

So, world's tiniest molehill made into giant mountain of crap.

Marie

July 7, 2016 | Unregistered CommenterMarie Burns

Poor Donny, when will people finally understand that he's not a bigot. It's just that he is a connoisseur neo-nazi clip art.

July 7, 2016 | Unregistered CommenterRAS

"Neo-Nazi clip art"....very funny.

But not so funny, there probably is such a thing. Can't wait until the FBI starts digging into Donaldo's e-mail and text messages. He probably uses white supremacist emojis to punch up the intermittent solecisms.

July 7, 2016 | Unregistered CommenterAkhilleus

James Fallow agrees with many here: Trump is a sick man. Fallows highlights the mosquito remark.

http://www.theatlantic.com/notes/2016/07/trump-time-capsule-34-i-dont-like-mosquitos/490268/

July 8, 2016 | Unregistered CommenterHaley Simon

With a nod to the NYT commenter Socrates today, a bumper sticker suggestion:
D for Drive, R for Reverse.
I also liked Obama's "Reach for the Future".

I agree with Gail Collins and many commenters that HRC really needs to be authoritative, ignore the bovine boor, and push a strong, democratic vision. She has an increasingly progressive manifesto on her web site, so tie it together in a bold, audacious message. Blair's tactic for handling the fall out from the Chilcot report was stamina. Blair stood there and answered questions for as many hours as it took for the press to run out of questions. If HRC could craft her message and give press conferences as Collins suggests, she could overcome criticisms of being opaque, secretive and remote by all but the Reverse base. She would simultaneously draw such a contrast with the twitter twit. HRC achieved much kudos for her performance in the Bengaaaazi, Bengaaaazi, Bengaaaazi hearings, and it would be gruelling, but she is smart and tough enough to do this from the Convention till November, energise voters and win by winning.

July 8, 2016 | Unregistered CommenterGloria

Sorry - Benghaaaazi, Benghaaaazi, Benghaaaazi!!!

July 8, 2016 | Unregistered CommenterGloria
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