The Ledes

Friday, October 11, 2024

Washington Post: “Floridians began returning to damaged and waterlogged homes on Thursday after Hurricane Milton carved a path of destruction and grief across the state, the second massive storm to strike Florida in as many weeks. At least 14 storm-related deaths were attributed to the hurricane, which made landfall south of Sarasota at 8:30 p.m. Wednesday, officials said. Six of them were killed when two tornadoes touched down ahead of the storm in St. Lucie County on Florida’s central Atlantic coast. The deadly tornadoes, rising waters, torrential rain and punishing winds battered the state from coast to coast as Milton churned eastward before heading out to sea early Thursday.”

Washington Post: “Twelve people were rescued from an inactive Colorado gold mine after they were trapped 1,000 feet underground for about six hours following an elevator malfunction. One person was killed in the accident, which happened about 500 feet underground at the Mollie Kathleen Gold Mine near Cripple Creek, Colo., Teller County Sheriff Jason Mikesell said at a Thursday news conference. The site is a tourist attraction. Eleven other people aboard the elevator at the time, including two children, were rescued shortly after the mechanical malfunction, which Mikesell said 'created a severe danger for the participants.' He said four suffered minor injuries.... Twelve others in a separate group remained trapped in a mine shaft 1,000 feet underground for several hours after the incident, before they were rescued Thursday evening, Colorado Gov. Jared Polis said.”

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The Ledes

Thursday, October 10, 2024

CNBC: “The pace of price increases over the past year was higher than forecast in September while jobless claims posted an unexpected jump following Hurricane Helene and the Boeing strike, the Labor Department reported Thursday. The consumer price index, a broad gauge measuring the costs of goods and services across the U.S. economy, increased a seasonally adjusted 0.2% for the month, putting the annual inflation rate at 2.4%. Both readings were 0.1 percentage point above the Dow Jones consensus. The annual inflation rate was 0.1 percentage point lower than August and is the lowest since February 2021.”

The New York Times' live updates of Hurrucane Milton consequences Thursday are here: “Milton was still producing damaging hurricane-force winds and heavy rainfall to parts of East and Central Florida, forecasters said early Thursday, even as the powerful storm roared away from the Atlantic coast and left deaths and widespread damage across the state. Cities along Florida’s east coast are now facing flash flooding, damaging winds and storm surges. Some had already been battered by powerful tornadoes spun out by the storm before it made landfall on the Gulf Coast on Wednesday as a Category 3 hurricane. In [St. Lucie] county [Fort Pierce], several people in a retirement community were killed by a tornado, the police said.... More than three million customers were without power in Florida as of early Thursday.” ~~~

     ~~~ Here are the Weater Channel's live updates.

CNN: “The 2024 Nobel Prize in literature has been awarded to Han Kang, a South Korean author, for her 'intense poetic prose that confronts historical traumas and exposes the fragility of human life.' Han, 53, began her career with a group of poems in a South Korean magazine, before making her prose debut in 1995 with a short story collection. She later began writing longer prose works, most notably 'The Vegetarian,' one of her first books to be translated into English. The novel, which won the Man Booker International Prize in 2016, charts a young woman’s attempt to live a more 'plant-like' existence after suffering macabre nightmares about human cruelty. Han is the first South Korean author to win the literature prize, and just the 18th woman out of the 117 prizes awarded since 1901.” The New York Times story is here.

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Public Service Announcement

Washington Post: "Americans can again order free rapid coronavirus tests by mail, the Biden administration announced Thursday. People can request four free at-home tests per household through covidtests.gov. They will begin shipping Monday. The move comes ahead of an expected winter wave of coronavirus cases. The September revival of the free testing program is in line with the Biden administration’s strategy to respond to the coronavirus as part of a broader public health campaign to protect Americans from respiratory viruses, including influenza and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), that surge every fall and winter. But free tests were not mailed during the summer wave, which wastewater surveillance data shows is now receding."

Washington Post: “Comedy news outlet the Onion — reinvigorated by new ownership over this year — is bringing back its once-popular video parodies of cable news. But this time, there’s someone with real news anchor experience in the chair. When the first episodes appear online Monday, former WAMU and MSNBC host Joshua Johnson will be the face of the resurrected 'Onion News Network.' Playing an ONN anchor character named Dwight Richmond, Johnson says he’s bringing a real anchor’s sense of clarity — and self-importance — to the job. 'If ONN is anything, it’s a news organization that is so unaware of its own ridiculousness that it has the confidence of a serial killer,' says Johnson, 44.” ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: I'll be darned if I can figured out how to watch ONN. If anybody knows, do tell. Thanks.

Washington Post: “First came the surprising discovery that Earth’s atmosphere is leaking. But for roughly 60 years, the reason remained a mystery. Since the late 1960s, satellites over the poles detected an extremely fast flow of particles escaping into space — at speeds of 20 kilometers per second. Scientists suspected that gravity and the magnetic field alone could not fully explain the stream. There had to be another source creating this leaky faucet. It turns out the mysterious force is a previously undiscovered global electric field, a recent study found. The field is only about the strength of a watch battery — but it’s enough to thrust lighter ions from our atmosphere into space. It’s also generated unlike other electric fields on Earth. This newly discovered aspect of our planet provides clues about the evolution of our atmosphere, perhaps explaining why Earth is habitable. The electric field is 'an agent of chaos,' said Glyn Collinson, a NASA rocket scientist and lead author of the study. 'It undoes gravity.... Without it, Earth would be very different.'”

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.”

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Tuesday
Jun232020

The Commentariat -- June 24, 2020

Afternoon Update:

The New York Times' live updates for coronavirus developments Wednesday are here. "More than 35,000 new coronavirus cases were identified across the United States on Tuesday, according to a New York Times database, the highest single-day total since late April and the third-highest total of any day of the pandemic. As the United States continues to reopen its economy, case numbers are rising in more than 20 states, mostly in the South and West. Florida on Wednesday reported a new daily high of 5,508 cases. Texas reported more than 5,000 cases on Tuesday, its largest single-day total yet. Arizona added more than 3,600 cases, also a record. And in Washington State, where case numbers are again trending upward, the governor said residents would have to start wearing masks in public." ~~~

~~~ The Washington Post's live updates for Wednesday are here.

Nomaan Merchant & Juan Lozano of the AP: "Hospital administrators and health experts warned desperately Wednesday that parts of the U.S. are on the verge of becoming overwhelmed by a resurgence of the coronavirus, lamenting that politicians and a tired-of-being-cooped-up public are letting a disaster unfold. The U.S. recorded a one-day total of 34,700 new COVID-19 cases, the highest in two months, according to the count kept by Johns Hopkins University. The number of new cases per day is now running just short of the nation's late-April peak of 36,400."

Seung Min Kim of the Washington Post: "Senate Democrats on Wednesday blocked a Republican-drafted bill aimed at overhauling the nation's policing practices ... spelling a potential death knell to efforts at revisions at the federal level in an election year. In a 55-to-45 vote, the legislation written primarily by Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.) failed to advance in the Senate, where it needed 60 votes to proceed. Most Democratic senators said the bill fell far short of what was needed to meaningfully change policing tactics and was beyond the point of salvageable.... GOP senators privately offered amendment votes meant to address several criticisms of the bill that [Minority Leader Chuck] Schumer and Sens. Kamala D. Harris (D-Calif.) and Cory Booker (D-N.J.) laid out in a letter to [Majority Leader Mitch] McConnell on Tuesday. The Democrats turned down that offer, according to two GOP officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss procedural deliberations, and also rejected a subsequent offer of more amendment votes. Scott privately told Democrats that if they did not get votes on amendments they sought, that he, too, would help them filibuster his own bill...."

Charlie Savage of the New York Times: "A divided federal appeals court panel ordered an immediate end on Wednesday to the case against Michael T. Flynn, President Trump's former national security adviser -- delivering a major victory to Mr. Flynn and to the Justice Department, which had sought to drop the case. In the ruling, two of three judges on a panel for the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia ordered the trial judge overseeing the matter, Judge Emmet G. Sullivan, to immediately dismiss the case without further review. The third accused his colleagues of 'grievously' overstepping their powers, and the full appeals court has the option of reviewing the matter. The order -- a so-called writ of mandamus -- was rare and came as a surprise, taking its place as yet another twist in the extraordinary legal and political drama surrounding the prosecution of Mr. Flynn, who twice pleaded guilty to lying to F.B.I. agents in the Russia investigation about his conversations in December 2016 with the Russian ambassador to the United States." A Politico story is here. Mrs. McC: You don't have to be a genius to guess which judges were Republican appointees & which was an Obama appointee.

Alexander Mallin & Luke Barr of ABC News: "Two Justice Department whistleblowers appeared before the House Judiciary Committee Wednesday to outline a series of allegations regarding what they described as political meddling in department affairs under ... Donald Trump and Attorney General William Barr. Aaron Zelinsky, a department attorney who withdrew from the prosecution of Trump-ally Roger Stone after Barr intervened in the sentencing process, and John Elias, a former acting chief of staff in the antitrust division under Assistant Attorney General Makan Delrahim, both testified that they felt department leadership had wrongfully intervened in typically-sensitive law enforcement matters purely to benefit Trump's interests. ~~~

~~~ Zelinksy Names Names. Kyle Cheney of Politico: "A federal prosecutor offered lawmakers on Wednesday a roadmap to investigate alleged political interference in the sentencing of longtime Donald Trump confidant Roger Stone. Aaron Zelinsky, one of four lead prosecutors in the Stone case, told the House Judiciary Committee that senior officials -- including the head of the Justice Department's public corruption unit -- freely discussed concerns that they were being pressured to go easy on Stone during sentencing."

Georgia. Christina Carrega of ABC News: "A Georgia grand jury indicted the three men arrested and charged in connection with the alleged murder of Ahmaud Arbery. Cobb District Attorney Joyette M. Holmes announced on Wednesday that a grand jury voted to indict Gregory and Travis McMichael along with William Bryan for the felony murder and aggravated assault that resulted in Arbery death.... 'The presentation took an hour and a half and the true bill came back in 10 minutes,' Holmes said during a press conference on Wednesday afternoon."

~~~~~~~~~~~

The New York Times' live updates for coronavirus developments Tuesday are here. The Washington Post's live updates for Tuesday are here. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

** USA = Shithole Country. Matina Stevis-Gridneff of the New York Times: "European Union countries rushing to revive their economies and reopen their borders after months of coronavirus restrictions are prepared to block Americans from entering because the United States has failed to control the scourge, according to draft lists of acceptable travelers seen by The New York Times. That prospect, which would lump American visitors in with Russians and Brazilians as unwelcome, is a stinging blow to American prestige in the world and a repudiation of President Trump's handling of the virus in the United States, which has more than 2.3 million cases and upward of 120,000 deaths, more than any other country." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Quint Forgey of Politico: "... Donald Trump on Tuesday insisted he was serious when he revealed that he had directed his administration to slow coronavirus testing in the United States, shattering the defenses of senior White House aides who argued Trump's remarks were made in jest. 'I don't kid. Let me just tell you. Let me make it clear,' Trump told reporters, when pressed on whether his comments at a campaign event Saturday in Tulsa, Okla., were intended as a joke." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

~~~ Evidently, That Was a Big Fat Lie, Because ... Brianna Ehley of Politico: "The government's top infectious disease expert told a House hearing Tuesday that he and other health officials have not been told to slow coronavirus testing, just hours after ... Donald Trump again suggested he had asked for fewer tests. Anthony Fauci ... told the House Energy and Commerce Committee that the administration continues to focus on scaling up testing capacity and that, to his knowledge, none of the White House coronavirus task force members had been told to do otherwise. 'It's the opposite,' Fauci said in response to a question referencing Trump's remarks. 'We're going to be doing more testing, not less.'" (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

~~~ Sheryl Stolberg & Noah Weiland of the New York Times: "Dr. Anthony S. Fauci told Congress on Tuesday that he was seeing a 'disturbing surge' of infections in some parts of the country, as Americans ignore social distancing guidelines and states reopen without adequate plans for testing and tracing the contacts of those who get sick. Dr. Fauci's assessment, delivered during a lengthy hearing before the House Energy and Commerce Committee, painted a much grimmer picture of the coronavirus threat than the one given by President Trump, who claimed last week that the virus that had infected more than two million Americans and killed more than 121,000 would just 'fade away.' 'The virus is not going to disappear,' said Dr. Fauci, the nation's top infectious disease expert, who testified that the virus was not yet under control in the United States." ~~~

~~~ Lauren Neergaard & Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar of the AP: "The next few weeks are critical to tamping down a disturbing coronavirus surge, Dr. Anthony Fauci told Congress on Tuesday -- issuing a plea for people to avoid crowds and wear masks just hours before mask-shunning ... Donald Trump was set to address a crowd of his young supporters in one hot spot."

In Search of a Scapegoat. Nancy Cook & Adam Cancryn of Politico: "White House officials are putting a target on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, positioning the agency as a coronavirus scapegoat as cases surge in many states and the U.S. falls behind other nations that are taming the pandemic. Trump administration aides in recent weeks have seriously discussed launching an in-depth evaluation of the agency to chart what they view as its missteps in responding to the pandemic including an early failure to deploy working test kits, according to four senior administration officials.... Aides have also discussed narrowing the mission of the agency or trying to embed more political appointees in it.... Politically, Trump aides have also been looking for a person or entity outside China to blame for the coronavirus response and have grown furious with the CDC...." (Also linked yesterday.)

Scott Bixby of the Daily Beast: "With more than 50,000 confirmed cases of COVID-19 and nearly 1,400 deaths, Arizona has become the newest hot spot for the coronavirus outbreak in the United States. But inside the Dream City Church in Phoenix, where thousands of young conservatives packed shoulder to shoulder on Tuesday afternoon for ... Donald Trump's second in-person rally since March, the message from the president and his supporters on the pandemic could not have been more triumphant. 'The long, slow surrender is over,' Trump told the cheering crowd of roughly 2,900 supporters, most of them college-aged. 'We are going to be stronger than ever before, and it's gonna be soon.'" More on Trump's Arizona excursion linked under "Elections 2020" below.

D'Angelo Gore of FactCheck.Org: "Contrary to President Donald Trump's repeated claims that he inherited a Strategic National Stockpile with 'empty' or 'bare' cupboards, the federal government had more ventilators in stock than it ended up distributing amid the COVID-19 pandemic, FactCheck.org has learned. The SNS had 16,660 ventilators 'immediately available for use' when the federal government began deploying the breathing machines to states to treat critically ill COVID-19 patients in March, according to a Department of Health and Human Services spokesperson. None of those ventilators was bought by the Trump administration, the spokesperson told us. In a separate email to us on June 17, another HHS spokesperson said the federal government has distributed 10,640 ventilators during the pandemic." --s (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Minnesota. So there was this warm, fuzzy Amazon ad on my teevee where this Amazon worker and loving mom personalized how proud she was to help Amazon make America safe for everyone, when I read this: Ahiza García-Hodges, et al., of NBC News: "An Amazon warehouse in Minnesota was the site of a spike in COVID-19 cases, according to newly released data from the Minnesota Department of Health. The warehouse in Shakopee, Minn., had 88 positive cases in about 70 days. It employs about 1,000 people, meaning about 1 in 12 employees contracted the virus. The cases were reported from April 4 to June 14, with most occurring between late April and mid-May. The Minnesota health department said the outbreak at the Shakopee warehouse is one of the biggest it has seen but not the worst. A meatpacking plant in Cold Spring, Minn., saw 194 cases in May. Amazon's situation has improved since implementing new state recommendations and were working to mitigate spread, according to state health officials."


** Karoun Demirjian, et al., of the Washington Post: "A federal prosecutor and another Justice Department official plan to tell Congress on Wednesday that Attorney General William P. Barr and his top deputies issued inappropriate orders amid investigations and trials 'based on political considerations' and a desire to cater to President Trump. Aaron Zelinsky, an assistant U.S. attorney in Maryland formerly detailed to Robert S. Mueller III's Russia investigation, will tell the House Judiciary Committee that prosecutors involved in the criminal trial of Trump's friend Roger Stone experienced 'heavy pressure from the highest levels of the Department of Justice to cut Stone a break' by requesting a lighter sentence, according to Zelinsky's prepared remarks. The expectation, he intends to testify, was that Stone should be treated 'differently and more leniently' because of his 'relationship with the President.'... Zelinsky will be joined by John Elias, an official in the Justice Department's Antitrust Division, who will say that Barr ordered staff to investigate marijuana company mergers simply because he 'did not like the nature of their underlying business.'..." This is a major update of a story linked yesterday afternoon. ~~~

~~~ Nicholas Fandos, et al., of the New York Times: "Senior law enforcement officials intervened to seek a more lenient prison sentence for President Trump's friend and ally Roger J. Stone Jr. for political reasons, a former prosecutor on the case is expected to testify before Congress on Wednesday, citing his supervisor's account of the matter.... [Prosecutor Aaron] Zelinsky is expected to be joined by another current Justice Department employee, John W. Elias, a senior career official in the antitrust division, who will tell the committee that under Attorney General William P. Barr's leadership, the division was forced for political reasons to pursue unjustified investigations of the fledgling legal marijuana industry and an antipollution pact between California and several automakers.... At least in the case of Mr. Zelinsky, the secondhand nature of his account of the intervention by Mr. Barr and the acting U.S. attorney in Washington[, D.C.,] at the time, Timothy Shea, could undercut some of its potential force." A Politico story is here. ~~~

~~~ Dan Friedman of Mother Jones has a facsimile of Aaron Zelinsky's prepared testimony here.

[Barr] obfuscated and misled the American public about the results of the Mueller investigation. He wrongfully interfered in the day-to-day activities of career prosecutors, and continues to do so, bending the criminal justice system to benefit the President's friends and target those perceived to be his enemies. -- 65 George Washington U. Law School Faculty Members ~~~

~~~ Chandelis Duster of CNN: "Law professors and faculty from George Washington University Law School, Attorney General William Barr's alma mater, said in a letter Tuesday he has 'failed to fulfill his oath of office to "support and defend the Constitution of the United States."' The rebuke comes after continued fallout over the departure of Geoffrey Berman, the federal prosecutor ousted over the weekend by the Trump administration, and is the latest in a chorus of criticism over Barr's actions as attorney general. Barr received his Juris Doctor degree from the law school in 1977 and while serving as attorney general under then-President George H.W. Bush he received an honorary degree from the university in 1992. In a bi-partisan statement signed by 65 faculty and professors from the law school, the group wrote that Barr's actions as attorney general 'have undermined the rule of law, breached constitutional norms, and damaged the integrity and traditional independence of his office and of the Department of Justice.' Signatories to the letter include president and CEO of the National Bar Association Alfreda Robinson and interim dean of the school Christopher Alan Bracey."


There Are Very Fine People on the White Supremacy Side. Maggie Haberman & Jonathan Martin of the New York Times: "President Trump has repeatedly pushed inflammatory language, material and policies in recent days that seek to divide Americans by race as he tries to appeal to his predominantly white base of voters four months before Election Day rather than try to broaden his support. Trailing in national polls and surveys of crucial battleground states, and stricken by a disappointing return to the campaign trail, Mr. Trump has leaned hard into his decades-long habit of falsely portraying some black Americans as dangerous or lawless. And he has chosen to do so at one of the most tumultuous periods in decades as Americans protest recent episodes of police brutality against black people.... Over the last few days the president has tweeted context-free videos of random incidents involving black people attacking white people and baselessly argued that President Barack Obama ... committed 'treason.' In an interview with the Catholic News Agency that was posted online on Monday, Mr. Trump said he planned to sign an order to protect national monuments at a time when statues of Confederate generals are being torn down across the country. 'We're going to do an executive order,' Mr. Trump said. 'We're going to make the cities guard their monuments, this is a disgrace.'" ~~~

     ~~~ Andrew Desiderio & Marianne Levine of Politico: "Senate Republicans on Tuesday distanced themselves from ... Donald Trump's claim that former President Barack Obama committed 'treason,' refusing to back up the unfounded allegation that has fueled the president's revenge campaign against his predecessor.... Accusing Obama of treason was a bridge too far, they said. 'I don't think that President Obama committed treason,' said Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), who is up for reelection this year. 'I don't know what he's talking about,' added Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.). 'I don't have any evidence to believe he committed treason.'... Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), one of Trump's more vocal GOP critics, said that she did not see the president's comments but that 'obviously, he shouldn't have said that.'"

Julie Zauzmer & Fenit Nirappil of the Washington Post: "An attempt by activists to create an 'autonomous zone' outside the White House has reignited tensions between President Trump and Mayor Muriel E. Bowser about who controls D.C. streets.... More than 100 police officers and a trash truck moved people and tents Tuesday from the autonomous zone, which is modeled after Seattle's 'Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone,' where the city had withdrawn police forces and allowed protesters to camp out.... Trump tweeted Tuesday: 'There will never be an "Autonomous Zone" in Washington, D.C., as long as I'm your President. If they try they will be met with serious force!' The mayor['s office] ... said she wanted to keep the plaza safe for demonstrators."; ~~~

     ~~~ Rachel Lerman of the Washington Post: "Twitter said [Trump's] tweet violates its policy prohibiting abusive behavior and specifically 'the presence of a threat of harm against an identifiable group.'... The warning label hides the president's tweet, and users must click in to view the text."

Catie Edmondson of the New York Times: "Senate Democrats said on Tuesday that they would block Republicans' attempts to advance a narrow bill to encourage police departments to revise their practices, rejecting the measure as 'woefully inadequate' and setting up a clash that could mark the death of a fledgling congressional effort to address racial bias in law enforcement. Their decision, outlined the day before a planned test vote on the Republican bill, reflected deep opposition to the measure among Democrats and civil rights leaders, who have dismissed the legislation as an antiquated and inadequate response to systemic racism in policing amid a national outcry for an overhaul."

Liz Clarke of the Washington Post: "NASCAR driver Bubba Wallace was not the target of a hate crime, the FBI concluded Tuesday, after completing its investigation into an incident involving a noose in the garage stall of the series' only African American driver. After 48 hours that rattled and then galvanized stock-car racing at a fraught moment for the sport and the nation, the FBI said no federal charges would be filed after it determined that the noose had been there since at least October 2019 and that 'nobody could have known' that Wallace's team would be assigned to that stall." A New York Times story is here. An AP story is here.

Kentucky. Will Wright of the New York Times: "The Louisville Metro Police Department on Tuesday fired one of the three officers involved in the fatal shooting of Breonna Taylor, the most significant action yet in a case that has drawn public outrage for the killing and the fact that no criminal charges have been filed. In a termination letter posted to the department's Twitter account, Chief Robert Schroeder accused the former officer, Brett Hankison, of violating its policy on the use of deadly force, saying he 'wantonly and blindly' fired 10 shots into Ms. Taylor's apartment on March 13."

Family Matters

Maggie Haberman of the New York Times: "President Trump's family is seeking a temporary restraining order to try to block publication of a tell-all book by the president's niece, Mary L. Trump. Ms. Trump is the daughter of the president's late brother, Fred Trump Jr., and her book, 'Too Much and Never Enough: How My Family Created the World's Most Dangerous Man,' is scheduled to be published by Simon & Schuster on July 28. Mr. Trump's younger brother, Robert S. Trump, requested the restraining order on Tuesday in a filing in Queens County Surrogate's Court, where the estate of the president's father, Fred Trump Sr., was settled." An NBC News story is here. ~~~

~~~ Mack Burke of the Commercial Observer: "The massive retail condominium owned by Kushner Companies at 229 West 43rd Street in Midtown Manhattan is headed for a Uniform Commercial Code (UCC) foreclosure auction scheduled for June 30[.]" --s (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

~~~ Wendy Siegelman in Medium (Dec 2017): "The Wall Street Journal reported Friday that Federal prosecutors in New York are looking at the loan made by Deutsche Bank to Jared Kushner's real estate company a month prior to the 2016 election related to the deal with [Soviet-born oligarch Lev] Leviev. The New York Times also reported on Friday about the subpoena issued out of the Eastern District of New York. The Brooklyn U.S. attorney's office sent a request mid-November to Kushner Companies for information related to a $285 million Deutsche Bank loan which was used to refinance the purchase of retail space at 229 West 43rd Street in the old New York Times Building." --s (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)


Bible Boy. Pranshu Verma of the New York Times: "Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, an evangelical Christian, created a commission last July to provide a new vision for human rights policy that would more closely align with the 'nation's founding principles' and uphold religious freedom as America's most fundamental value. Human rights scholars have criticized the panel, saying it is filled with conservatives intent on promoting views against abortion and marriage equality. Critics also warn the commission sidesteps the State Department's internal bureau tasked with promoting human rights abroad. And former agency officials caution that elevating the importance of religion could reverse the country's longstanding belief that 'all rights are created equal' -- and embolden countries that persecute same-sex couples or deny women access to reproductive health services for religious reasons." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Em Steck, et al., of CNN: "The White House's nominee for a top Pentagon post repeatedly spread conspiracy theories that a former CIA director tried to overthrow ... Donald Trump and even have him assassinated in newly discovered comments from radio and television appearances as well as on social media. Retired Army Brig. Gen. Anthony Tata, who was nominated to become the under secretary of defense for policy at the Department of Defense, promoted conspiracy theories that John Brennan, the former CIA director, wanted to oust Trump from office, and pushed a bogus conspiracy theory that Brennan sent a coded tweet to order the assassination of Trump in 2018." Mrs. Mc.C: "In a real administration, this revelation of course would be immediately disqualifying; in the Trump administration, it's a recommendation.

Elections 2020

Christina Cassidy, et al., of the AP: "Voters endured 90-minute waits in Kentucky's second-largest city, but the biggest hurdle in Tuesday's congressional primaries seemed to be what wasn't happening: quick counting of mail-in ballots in that state and New York. Final results in top races seemed unlikely for days. In the day's foremost contests, two young African American candidates with campaigns energized by nationwide protests for racial justice were challenging white Democratic establishment favorites for the party's nominations. First-term state legislator Charles Booker was hoping a late surge would carry him past former Marine fighter pilot Amy McGrath for the Democratic Senate nomination from Kentucky. And in New York, political newcomer Jamaal Bowman was seeking to derail House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Eliot Engel's bid for a 17th term in Congress." ~~~

~~~ The New York Times is updating some election results here. ~~~

~~~ Ally Mutnick & James Arkin of Politico, with few races called, report on early returns in high-profile races. ~~~

~~~ North Carolina. Gary Robertson of the AP: "A 24-year-old real estate investment CEO won Tuesday's Republican primary runoff for a western North Carolina congressional seat over ... Donald Trump's endorsed candidate for the nomination. Madison Cawthorn handily defeated Lynda Bennett to complete an upset for the GOP nomination in the 11th Congressional District. Bennett had received the president's backing on Twitter and the earlier endorsement of Trump Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, who until recently had held the seat. Cawthorn, who also supports Trump, won by a roughly 2-to-1 margin while handing a setback for the president, who had recorded a phone message for Bennett's campaign.... [Cawthorn will] face Democrat Moe Davis, a former military prosecutor, and other party nominees in November. The district is still considered Republican-leaning despite recent boundary changes following litigation." ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: Of course Cawthorn is a jerk, too. He "got help from a super PAC that backs candidates allied with Sen. Rand Paul."

Alexander Burns, et al., of the New York Times: "Joseph R. Biden Jr. has taken a commanding lead over President Trump in the 2020 race, building a wide advantage among women and nonwhite voters and making deep inroads with some traditionally Republican-leaning groups that have shifted away from Mr. Trump following his ineffective response to the coronavirus pandemic, according to a new national poll of registered voters by The New York Times and Siena College. Mr. Biden is currently ahead of Mr. Trump by 14 percentage points, garnering 50 percent of the vote compared with 36 percent for Mr. Trump. That is among the most dismal showings of Mr. Trump's presidency.... Mr. Trump has been an unpopular president for virtually his entire time in office. He has made few efforts since his election in 2016 to broaden his support beyond the right-wing base that vaulted him into office with only 46 percent of the popular vote and a modest victory in the Electoral College." Message from Hillary: Don't count your chickens.... ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: Hope Sulzberger is ready for a cease-and-desist letter from the Trump campaign for publishing a totally fake poll.

The Fierce Urgency of Now. Matt Viser of the Washington Post: President "Obama and [Vice President] Biden made their first joint appearance in years, the former partners allied as they attempt to defeat President Trump. Obama was the main draw at a virtual fundraiser for Biden, raising more than $7.6 million from 175,000 individual donors, according to Biden's campaign. The campaign collected another $3.4 ;million at a separate event held for high-dollar donors.... Obama launched into an in-depth criticism of Trump, without mentioning him by name...."

Tim Reid of Reuters: "Dozens of Republican former U.S. national security officials are forming a group that will back Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden, people familiar with the effort said, in a further sign that ... Donald Trump has alienated some members of his own party. The group will publicly endorse Biden in the coming weeks and its members plan to campaign for the former vice president who is challenging Trump in the Nov. 3 election, the sources said. It includes at least two dozen officials who served under Republican Presidents Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush, with dozens more in talks to join, the sources added. They will argue that another four years of a Trump presidency would endanger U.S. national security and that Republican voters should view Biden as the better choice despite policy differences, the sources said."

Jonathan Lemire & Aamer Madhani of the AP: "... Donald Trump drew something closer to the jam-packed audience of political supporters he's been craving as hundreds of young conservatives filled a Phoenix megachurch Tuesday to hear his call for them to get behind his reelection effort. The crowded Dream City Church for the gathering of Students for Trump offered a starkly different feel compared to Trump's weekend rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma, his first of the coronavirus era, which drew sparser attendance. Trump hailed the 'patriotic young Americans who stand up tall for America and refuse to kneel to the radical left.... You are the courageous warriors standing in the way of what they want to do and their goals,' he told the boisterous crowd. 'They hate our history. They hate our values, and they hate everything we prize as Americans.'" ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: Yes, yes "they" do. Because the history you "stand up tall" for is slavery. Because the values you espouse are white supremacy, fundamentalist Christian bigotry & anti-science mumbo-jumbo. And because everything you prize is mean & moronic.

Way Beyond the Beltway

Juan Cole: "As if the coronavirus pandemic, depression-era unemployment, and Mad President in the White House were not enough, Mother Nature has decided to remind us what the Big Kahuna really is. It is the climate emergency.... The small Siberian town of Verkhoyansk had a temperature of 100.4° F. on Sunday, something that has never happened since Thomas Edison's incandescent light bulb was first used outside in 1880, and likely hasn't happened for millions of years. AP reports that 680,000 acres are on fire. In.The.Arctic. These fires are not just a summer phenomenon, and are being called 'Zombie fires' because they have kept being rekindled since last winter." --s (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Comments Off

Reader Comments (13)

My comment on the latest from the timrous beastie in the White House, who of course has nothing to hide:

How many times has this self-proclaimed "warrior"--I mean bully-- hidden behind a legal wall or cowered in a judicial bunker?

June 23, 2020 | Unregistered CommenterKen Winkes

Mrs. McC: I'm bringing forward this comment by Hattie from yesterday's thread as anecdotal evidence of how well voting went in NYC in yesterday's state primary:

By Hattie:

ABSENT(ee) BALLOTS / JUNE 23rd 2020

Today’s New York’s Primaries.
I live in NYC.
My ballot finally arrived late this afternoon.

Called Jerry Nadler(my Senator)’s office and was told ‘The Board of Elections messed up big-time’. Called The Board and was informed, since my P.O. had now closed, that I was out-of-luck: today’s postmark was needed. Only by conversation’s end was it suggested - off-handedly - that I might try stopping by my voting site (where I had planned to avoid). Thankfully, my ballot was accepted there. Learned from our Block Association’s V.P. that many have not recieved their ballots.

I fear (anticipate) more of the same come November.
Will be thrilled if my pessimism’s proven wrong.

June 23, 2020 | Registered CommenterMarie Burns

Have the sense that Edsell gets paid by the word. He does go on and on, but I thought parts of this one were worth the slog.

America really does have a low wage problem.

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/24/opinion/wages-coronavirus.html?action=click&module=Opinion&pgtype=Homepage

June 24, 2020 | Unregistered CommenterKen Winkes

@Hattie: Sorry you had to go through such rigamarole, but liked the way you persevered.

LET US COUNT THE WAYS:

The possible blocking of Americans from entering European countries because...

The Beast of Burden declaring that he sure-nuff weren't joking when he said "I told my people to slow down the testing"––( his "People" deny he told them) then...

Putting people's lives in danger by holding rallies and ignoring safe guards...

Blame everyone or anyone other than the real culprit for fucking up everything and anything ...

Talk only to his base and continue to disparage the rest of Americans...

And we cried out in fury, asking–-no pleading–-for some Deus ex Machina to arrive fully formed and ready to save the day. We had a few taking up the slack–-going on the stage and bemoaning the situation–––"yummer, yummer, yummer!" as my mother used to say, but NOTHING gets done–-nothing changes until–––––

it does. And since the protests there is a different smell in the air; we are seeing plenty of yesterday's heroes falling, literally, off their pedestals. We are seeing a reevaluation of police departments–-something that should have been done years ago. Today we are having a hearing with three SOJ officials giving us important info ; yesterday we had the letter from George Washington U. Law School professors and faculty saying "Barr has failed to fulfill his oath of office."

So–-maybe–-just maybe, we can breathe better, she says with a song in her heart.

June 24, 2020 | Unregistered CommenterPD Pepe

So while the House hears detailed testimony from Justice Dept. lawyers about Barr's egregious behavior, this from an Appeals Court:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/legal-issues/appeals-court-orders-judge-to-dismiss-criminal-case-against-michael-flynn/2020/06/24/7f2caba4-b0c1-11ea-8758-bfd1d045525a_story.html

.....confirming what is probably Barr's most noteworthy abomination.

Anyone know how an appeals court decides whether or not to rehear a panel's decision en banc? I'm hoping this one does.

June 24, 2020 | Unregistered CommenterKen Winkes

More about Jimmy Kimmel's (and others) blackface: https://www.vulture.com/2020/06/jimmy-kimmel-blackface-apology.html#comments. If I was Putin and I wanted to sow discord and chaos, I'd push this story along and along and along. Republicans only stand to gain from this story. Everyone else loses. As the Repubs have long done: it's better to win than to do right. Ask Roger Stone.

June 24, 2020 | Unregistered Commentercitizen625

Miami's mayor, (R) says that depending on the C-19 situation, the second presidential debate could be held without an audience. Will the RNC go looking for another sucker to act as host? Could Trump use this as an excuse not to participate? Interesting possibilities.

June 24, 2020 | Unregistered CommenterBobby Lee

My son tells me answer to my question posed above is the the entire appeals court votes, and the majorty rules whether to accept or reject a request for en banc consideration

Still uncertain who initiates the process...and he wasn't sure in this case who would/could..

June 24, 2020 | Unregistered CommenterKen Winkes

A Georgia House committee today voted to prohibit election officials from mailing absentee ballot requests to voters as was done in this months primary election. Under the proposed bill the requests for an absentee or mail ballot must be initiated by the voter.

June 24, 2020 | Unregistered CommenterBobby Lee

@Ken Winkes: Judge Sullivan also could ask the full Appeals Court to hear the matter. According to Charlie Savage of the NYT (story linked above), "The outcome raised the question of whether Judge Sullivan, who has a lawyer representing him in the appeals court, will ask the full appeals court to reverse the order — or whether the full court might use a rarely invoked rule that permits it to order a rehearing on its own, without any petition, if the judges deem the matter to involve 'a question of exceptional importance.'”

It seems to me that whether or not a judge has the power to question or even reverse a decision by prosecutors -- when the prosecutors are suspected (and in this case, even accused by fellow prosecutors under oath) of corrupt intent -- is "a question of exceptional importance."

June 24, 2020 | Registered CommenterMarie Burns

This from my friend in D.C.

"When filling out my primary election ballot, I used a felt tip pen. As I was putting it in the envelope to mail, I noticed that the ink had bled through putting extraneous marks on the other side. As it was too late to request a new ballot by mail, I had to drive to the Board of Elections office. This was a bit of a hassle as they had access restrictions due to COVID...

Please share this experience with as many voters as possible. Use a ballpoint pen and check for bleed through on a separate piece of paper."

June 24, 2020 | Unregistered CommenterPD Pepe

@PD, I hope that friend of yours wasn't MOOM with his Sharpie :-)

June 24, 2020 | Unregistered Commenterunwashed

Bea,

Thanks for the additional information on the en banc appeals process.

Would recommend this quick trip through the history of riot reports by Jill Lepore in "The New Yorker.'

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2020/06/22/the-history-of-the-riot-report

Opened new doors and refreshed some memory for me.

With their policing reforms, looks like the Senate Republicans were attempting another--whitewash.

June 24, 2020 | Unregistered CommenterKen Winkes
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