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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Jul152024

The Conversation -- July 16, 2024

Tyler Pager & Michael Scherer of the Washington Post: "President Biden is finalizing plans to endorse major changes to the Supreme Court in the coming weeks, including proposals for legislation to establish term limits for the justices and an enforceable ethics code, according to two people briefed on the plans. He is also weighing whether to call for a constitutional amendment to eliminate broad immunity for presidents and other constitutional officeholders, the people said.... The announcement would mark a major shift for Biden, a former chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, who has long resisted calls to reform the high court. The potential changes come in response to growing outrage among his supporters about recent ethics scandals surrounding Justice Clarence Thomas and decisions by the new court majority that have changed legal precedent on issues including abortion and federal regulatory powers." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Of course none of this can happen without Congressional approval, so nothing will happen unless the angels step in and re-elect Biden, and give Democrats solid majorities in the House & Senate for the next term.

Nandita Bose & Jarrett Renshaw of Reuters: "President Joe Biden promised Black voters on Tuesday that he was 'all in' to seek reelection on Nov. 5 and assailed Donald Trump's record as president, in his first political speech since his Republican rival's attempted assassination. Biden was greeted by chants of 'four more years' as he spoke to the NAACP's annual convention in Las Vegas, a major gathering of Black voters.... He scolded Trump for initially contending that former President Barack Obama was not an American citizen and for his reference to 'Black jobs' [which Trump claimed immigrants were taking] at the Trump-Biden debate on June 27." MB: Biden said he knew what "Black jobs" were: POTUS (Obama), VPOTUS (Harris) and Supreme Court Justice (Jackson).

** Salvador Rizzo & Shayna Jacobs of the Washington Post: "Sen. Bob Menendez was convicted Tuesday of taking bribes from three businessmen who showered him and his wife with cash, gold bars and a Mercedes-Benz, an extravagant bounty for his help securing deals with foreign officials and trying to derail several criminal investigations in New Jersey. The jury in Manhattan federal court found the once-powerful New Jersey lawmaker guilty on all 16 felony counts. They include bribery, extortion, wire fraud, conspiracy, obstruction of justice and acting as a foreign agent for Egypt from 2018 to 2022, when Menendez was at the height of his influence in Washington, serving as chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee or as the panel's top Democrat while his party was in the minority. The two co-defendants in the trial, real estate developer Fred Daibes and businessman Wael 'Will' Hana, were also convicted.... [Menendez's] team is expected to appeal, and legal experts say he could be helped by the Supreme Court's rulings in recent years narrowing the scope of federal bribery laws.z' ~~~

     ~~~ The New York Times is liveblogging developments. ~~~

Nicholas Fandos: "Senator Robert Menendez is the first senator ever charged with acting as an agent of a foreign power, and the first in the Senate's 235-year history to face accusations of bribery on two separate occasions. (His first bribery trial ended with a hung jury in 2017.)... This resounding verdict is likely to ratchet up pressure on Menendez to resign before his term ends. But there is nothing in the Constitution and Senate rules that requires him to give up a seat post-conviction. If he refuses, senators' only option is to hold a rare expulsion vote."

Ben Weiser: "The judge set sentencing for Oct 29."

Fandos: "Senator Chuck Schumer, Democrat of New York and the majority leader, promptly called on Menendez to step down.... The question now is whether Menendez will listen or whether Schumer will have to force his hand with the threat of an expulsion vote."

Tracey Tully: "Governor [Phil] Murphy [D] called on Menendez to resign immediately. 'In the event of a vacancy,' Murphy said in a statement, 'I will exercise my duty to make a temporary appointment to ensure the people of New Jersey have the representation they deserve.'"

Maria Cramer: "Menendez told reporters outside the courthouse that he plans to appeal. 'I'm deeply disappointed by the jury's decision,' he said. 'I have never violated my public oath. I've never been anything but a patriot of my country and for my country.'... Menendez said the jury's verdict would put 'at risk every member of the United States Senate in terms of what they think a foreign agent should be.'"

Fandos: "The leaders of the bipartisan Senate Ethics Committee issued a statement saying they would take up an investigation into Senator Menendez. 'The committee will consider the full range of disciplinary actions,' they wrote."~~~

~~~ Sahil Kapur, et al., of NBC News: "Democrats are turning up the heat on Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.J., as more senators call on him to resign, with some threatening to expel him after he was found guilty Tuesday on 16 federal counts.... 'I strongly reiterate my call for him to step down.... Now if only my Republican colleagues would apply the same standards to the convicted felon who is running for President of the United States as their nominee,' [Sen. Patty] Murray [D-Wash.] said in a statement."

~~~ Jonathan Deinst, et al., of NBC News: "The judge presiding over the bribery trial of Sen. Bob Menendez indefinitely delayed the trial of the New Jersey Democrat's wife, Nadine Menendez, a co-defendant in the case who's undergoing cancer treatments, the court docket showed Tuesday. 'The trial of this matter is adjourned sine die,' U.S. District Judge Sidney H. Stein wrote in a brief ruling he signed Monday, using a Latin and legal term for without a date."

Lisa Lerer, et al., of the New York Times: "Leaders of the Democratic National Committee are moving swiftly to confirm President Biden as his party's presidential nominee by the end of July, according to four people.... The move would formalize Mr. Biden as the nominee at a moment when Democrats are torn over whether he should run again after his poor debate performance.... The process will effectively begin when the rules committee of the Democratic National Convention meets on a video call at 11 a.m. on Friday, followed by another party group on Sunday. All of the more than 4,000 delegates are expected to begin casting their ballots as soon as Monday, a process that is likely to take about a week. After that, the committee is expected to quickly hold the roll call, a tradition that typically occurs on the convention floor but is being held virtually this year.... Under the party's rules, [Mr. Biden] can be replaced as the nominee only if he agrees to step aside and release his delegates." ~~~

     ~~~ Update. Sarah Ferris, et al., of Politico: "Dozens of House Democrats are organizing a plan to speak out against their own party's effort to seal President Joe Biden's nomination sooner than originally planned, which they argue stifles the intense ongoing debate about his candidacy, according to a lawmaker involved in the effort. A drafted letter, circulated by Rep. Jared Huffman (D-Calif.)..., offers the first public signal from Democrats since the weekend's attempted assassination on ... Donald Trump that scores of their own members remain deeply unsettled about the future of Biden's candidacy."

Wipeout. Michael Schmidt & Mark Mazzetti of the New York Times: "Representative Adam B. Schiff, the California Democrat who is running for Senate, warned during a private meeting with donors on Saturday that his party was likely to suffer overwhelming losses in November if President Biden remained at the top of the ticket, according to two people with direct knowledge of Mr. Schiff's remarks at the meeting. If Mr. Biden remained, not only would he lose to former President Donald J. Trump, he could be enough of a drag on other Democratic candidates that the party would most likely lose the Senate and miss an opportunity to win control of the House, Mr. Schiff said at a fund-raiser in New York."

Martin Pengelly of the Guardian: "The independent presidential candidate Robert F Kennedy Jr apologised to Donald Trump on Tuesday, after Kennedy's son posted video and audio of a call between the two men in which Trump made bizarre remarks about vaccines and babies, as well as appearing to offer Kennedy some sort of political deal.... The call was apparently made before Trump and Kennedy's later meeting on Monday at the Republican national convention in Milwaukee, reportedly to discuss the possibility of Kennedy endorsing Trump." Thanks to Ken W. for the link. As Ken suggests, it's impossible to say whose views about vaccinations are nuttier: Trump's or Kennedy's.

Carol Leonnig & others of the Washington Post report more details on the security efforts at Saturday's Trump rally in rural Pennsylvania. Here's one bit: "The Secret Service counter-sniper who killed the gunman ... had him in his sights and was trying to assess whether he had a weapon and was a threat, the official said. Secret Service radio traffic had relayed that local police either spotted or were trying to find a suspicious man around that building. The counter-sniper was a veteran marksman who is considered a legend in the Secret Service because of his high ratings for accuracy at long distances. The counter-sniper who killed Crooks fired as soon as he saw Crooks lift a weapon, the official said. That counter-sniper killed Crooks in one shot, but seconds after he had fired at Trump...."

Here is the New York Times liveblog of developments Tuesday in the investigation of the shooting of Donald Trump. ~~~

"The Secret Service faced growing scrutiny on Tuesday over its failure to stop the assassination attempt of ... Donald J. Trump, including questions about how it handled warnings from crowd members of a suspicious person outside Mr. Trump's rally this weekend in Butler, Pa." This is the pinned item at 12 noon.

Glenn Thrush: "The AR-15-type semiautomatic rifle used in the shooting was purchased in 2013 by the gunman's father -- who owns more than a dozen firearms of different types.... The gunman bought about 50 rounds of ammunition just prior to the shooting.... First responders found no identification on his body, so they sent the serial number on his rifle to the A.T.F., which traced the weapon to his father in about 20 minutes, according to law enforcement officials and an A.T.F. timeline of events. After retrieving the names of immediate family members, agents found a photograph online that matched the face of the dead gunman. It all took about 30 minutes, according to the officials and the A.T.F. timeline."

Julia Ainsley, et al., of NBC News: "Before a would-be assassin took aim at Donald Trump during a campaign rally in Pennsylvania on Saturday, local police officers notified the former president's Secret Service detail that they were looking for a suspicious person in the area, a U.S. official told NBC News. The suspicious person, later identified as Thomas Crooks, 20, was first flagged to local police officers by rallygoers on their way into the event. The attendees reported they saw Crooks pacing and behaving strangely near the magnetometers, four officials told NBC News.... It is not clear what time the Secret Service was notified and whether it was before Trump took the stage.... The timing raises questions about whether other measures could have been taken to stop Crooks."

~~~~~~~~~~

Marie: Yesterday, we briefly discussed the difference between left-wing & right-wing conspiracy theories. I argued that left-wing theories were more likely to be based in facts, so, you know, more apt to be true. As if to prove my point, Forrest M. wrote of Trump's injury in this weekend's assassination attempt, "I heard that the bullet actually went in one ear and out the other, with nothing in between to stop it."

Presidential Race

Ashley Parker & Josh Dawsey of the Washington Post: "A somber Donald Trump -- his right ear covered by a small white bandage -- strode into the Republican National Convention on Monday evening, lightly pumping his right fist and gently waving the same hand.... Trump ... was uncharacteristically subdued and visibly emotional, acknowledging the crowd with waves and fist pumps and occasional thumbs up as he repeatedly mouthed 'Thank you' and slowly climbed the stairs to the suite where his family and several friends stood waiting." The article goes on to describe the good fortune Trump has enjoyed recently, some of it self-made, some which Biden's stumbles provided. ~~~

     ~~~ Well, Some of His Family. Maegan Vazquez of the Washington Post: "But in what could be characterized as the most triumphant moment so far for Trump's 2024 campaign, there was a glaring absence among the VIPs -- his wife and the former first lady, Melania Trump.... Melania Trump is not on the list of announced convention headliners and keynote speakers. Her absence from the list of speakers is a notable break away from a decades-long tradition, in which the wives of Republican presidential nominees deliver remarks at the convention." Also MIA: Ivanka & Jared. And Barron.

Marie: Hands on hearts, please: "Ohohoh, say can you see ... Donald's former veepee?"

Marie: I don't quite remember how I've covered previous Republican conventions, because I've never been interested in them. I guess this year I'll just direct you to the New York Times' liveblog, as I did yesterday. Here are some updates from last night's liveblog:

Michael Gold: "Senator J.D. Vance of Ohio just walked into the arena at the Republican National Convention with his wife, Usha Vance, to a chorus of cheers.... Ohio's lieutenant governor, Jon Husted, formally nominated J.D. Vance as the Republicans' vice presidential nominee. In his speech at the convention, he described Vance as someone who shared Donald Trump's values and had an 'America-first attitude in his heart.'... And after a voice vote, it's official: J.D. Vance is the Republican Party's vice presidential nominee."

Nicholas Nehamas: "The Biden campaign said on a call with reporters that Vice President Kamala Harris had accepted a proposal from CBS News to debate J.D. Vance.... he debate being would take place in Washington on Aug. 13, according to a Biden campaign official. That official and another campaign official said that Vice President Harris called Senator J.D. Vance of Ohio this afternoon to congratulate him on his selection as Donald Trump's running mate...."

Michael Bender: "Donald J. Trump's decision to name Senator J.D. Vance as his running mate on Monday capped a monthslong selection process that stretched until the virtual last minute -- he didn't settle on his pick until the final 24 hours before announcing it, according to three people.... Even as the former president and his team flew Sunday on his private plane from Bedminster, N.J., to Milwaukee, Mr. Trump peppered aides and family members about the pros and cons of his selection, these people said."

Charles Homans: "Donald J. Trump supporters, including his son Donald Trump Jr., have blamed Democrats and media figures' comparisons of Trump to Hitler for Saturday's assassination attempt.... J.D. Vance mad the comparison himself in a 2016 text message that was later made public."

Shawn McCreesh: "... Monday night ... was the first time [Donald Trump] appeared in public since being rushed off a stage in Western Pennsylvania by Secret Service agents 48 hours earlier, bleeding from the ear after being shot at by a would-be assassin. A gauzy bandage covered his ear, and his slow and purposeful walk across the convention hall was filmed in the style of a boxer entering an arena."

Maya King: "An all-male lineup of Black elected officials addressed the Republican National Convention during its prime-time session on Monday night.... Five Black conservatives, including Mark Robinson, the North Carolina lieutenant governor and candidate for governor; Senator Tim Scott of South Carolina; and Representatives Byron Donalds of Florida, Wesley Hunt of Texas and John James of Michigan took the convention stage with speeches that focused largely on their personal stories, President Biden's perceived policy failures in Black communities and their unwavering support for ... Donald Trump."

Gold: "Donald Trump got another round of cheers as he left the arena, waving to the crowd as he descended the stairs from his box."

Jonathan Weisman: "Sean O'Brien, the Teamsters president, said he was the first leader of his union to address a Republican convention. While he praised Trump as 'one tough S.O.B.,' he laced his address with castigations of corporate America -- not the usual rhetoric of a Republican gathering."

Marie: I'll bet if your spouse was winged by an assassin's bullet, you would rush to his side if it was at all possible to do so. If you were a political wife and your husband was running for POTUS*, you'd put on a big show, even if you couldn't stand him. Not Melanie. She did have a publicist put out a lengthy statement, which recognizes Donald Trump as a human being. So that's good.

Ian Ward in Politico Magazine reports "55 things to know about J.D. Vance." ~~~

~~~ Scott Lemieux in LG&$: "I'll repeat what I said when it first became apparent that Vance was a serious candidate to be the vice presidential nominee: 'Should [he] be named to the ticket I'm sure some pundits will once again try to assure themselves that the "real" Vance is the one who acted like an anti-Trump moderate when he was trying to shill his awful book and get mainstream media gigs. As always, 1)never assume that the persona a liar and grifter has when he's pandering to you is the "real" one, and 2)he has been full MAGA in the Senate and would be in any other office, so what he "really" thinks is also beside the point.'" ~~~

~~~ Hitler's Running Mate. Gram Slattery & Helen Coster of Reuters look at J.D.'s amazing transformation from Trump critic to Trump lackey. ~~~

~~~ The Careless Punk. Suzanne Lynch of Politico: "'This is a disaster for Ukraine.' Those are the words of one senior EU official today as Europe reacted to Donald Trump's choice of Ohio senator J.D. Vance as his running mate. While Europe was already panicked about a second Trump presidency and its implications for U.S. foreign policy, the addition of Vance to the GOP ticket has raised further questions about a potential new administration's commitment to Ukraine and the transatlantic alliance. Vance has made his views on Ukraine clear. In 2022, he told Steve Bannon in an interview 'I got to be honest with you, I don't really care what happens to Ukraine one way or another.' In February 2024, when Vance made his first appearance at the Munich Security Conference, he told Politico that the U.S. needed to reassess its support for Ukraine and skipped a meeting with the Ukraine delegation and other senators. His rhetoric has toughened since...."

Rachel Bade & Ryan Lizza of Politico: "... Donald Trump met [Monday] morning in Milwaukee with Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to discuss the possibility of the independent candidate endorsing the Republican nominee, according to multiple people familiar with the huddle. Asked about the meeting and a potential endorsement, Kennedy denied that he plans to drop out of the race."

One Reason No One Should Have So Much Money. Nick Robertson of the Hill: "Tech billionaire Elon Musk said he will commit $45 million per month to a new political action committee backing former President Trump, The Wall Street Journal reported Monday.... Potentially crossing into hundreds of millions of dollars, Musk's promised spending would be unprecedented."

David Fahrenthold, et al., of the New York Times: "The building from which a gunman fired at former President Trump on Saturday was -- at least in hindsight -- an obvious security risk. Its rooftop offered an ideal sniper's perch, with a close, elevated and unobstructed view of Mr. Trump. But when the Secret Service drew up plans for Saturday's rally, it left that building outside its security perimeter. Instead, local law enforcement officials in Butler, Pa., were given responsibility for that building, and no police officers were stationed on the roof itself. The building, used as a warehouse by equipment manufacturer AGR International, has become a focal point of myriad investigations into the shooting.... The first question is why the building, about 450 feet from the stage, was left out of the perimeter. A Secret Service advance team visited the site and made the determination, and a supervisor would have had to approve it.... The Secret Service has not said whether local law enforcement officers made service agents aware of a suspect or whether those officers were up to the task of dealing with the situation....

"Anthony Guglielmi, a Secret Service spokesman, said on Sunday that local law enforcement had been notified of a suspicious person by rally visitors before the event started. In an interview on Monday, he said that local police officers were in contact through radio with the agency before the shooting, including about the concerned warnings from the passers-by.... On Monday, the leaders of the Senate's Homeland Security Committee announced their own investigation into Saturday night's shooting. Senators Gary Peters, Democrat of Michigan, and Rand Paul, Republican of Kentucky, told the Secret Service in a letter that they wanted to know 'how the suspect was able to get this close to a Secret Service protectee.'"

David Botti, et al., of the New York Times: "Video taken by a bystander shows people pointing to the man suspected of shooting at ... Donald J. Trump at a rally in Pennsylvania and frantically warning law enforcement, just two minutes before the first burst of gunfire rang out, according to an analysis of the footage by The New York Times. 'Someone's on top of the roof,' one person is heard saying. 'There he is, right there.' 'He's on the roof!' says another, calling to an officer. 'Right here, right on the roof.' The footage shows the suspected gunman lying prone on the roof of a white structure, which The Times previously identified as the location from which shots were fired."

Nick Miroff & Maria Sacchetti of the Washington Post: "U.S. Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle, facing deepening scrutiny over an assassination attempt against ... Donald Trump, took responsibility Monday for her agency's failure to prevent the attack but said she would not resign. 'It was unacceptable,' Cheatle told ABC News in an interview, her first public remarks since Saturday's bloodshed.... 'The buck stops with me.' Cheatle's statements were published hours after Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas called the shooting a security 'failure' but stopped short of assigning blame -- telling reporters at the White House that he had '100 percent confidence' in the U.S. Secret Service and its director.... The agency's failure to secure the rooftop used by the gunman -- one of the most basic preparations for public speaking events -- has raised questions about staffing, strategy and leadership.... The House Oversight Committee will receive a briefing on the assassination attempt Tuesday, according to a person familiar with the planning....

"In her interview with ABC News, Cheatle appeared to shift some of the blame to local authorities, who coordinated with the Secret Service on Saturday. She said agents moved quickly to stop the shooter after rallygoers spotted him atop a building just outside the security perimeter, but that police officers were inside that structure while the gunman, identified as 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks, was on the roof.... 'There was local police in that building -- there was local police in the area that were responsible for the outer perimeter of the building,' she told ABC News." ~~~

~~~ CNN reported on-air that a local sniper unit was stationed inside the building.

Glenn Thrush of the New York Times: "The motives of the young man [Thomas Crooks] who tried to assassinate ... Donald J. Trump remain a mystery, even after the F.B.I. gained access to his cellphone on Monday and began analyzing its contents for clues, law enforcement officials said.... Technicians are in the middle of analyzing all of the gunman's electronic devices, not just his phone, for his communications, browser history and social media activity, officials [said].... Along with his phone, investigators sent the AR-15-type rifle found near the gunman's body -- the weapon had been purchased by his father -- to the bureau's lab [in Quantico, Va.], as well as several explosive devices discovered in his car and home.... F.B.I. officials said Mr. Crooks did not have a history of mental illness or criminal activity. He does not appear to have left behind any written statement that could easily explain his motivations or provide clues to any external connections or influences, according to a senior law enforcement official.... F.B.I. officials said Mr. Crooks did not have a history of mental illness or criminal activity."

Michael Shear of the New York Times: "President Biden said on Monday it was 'a mistake' to say that he wanted to put ... Donald J. Trump in 'a bull's-eye' but defended his descriptions of his rival in the 2024 election as a threat to the foundations of the nation's democracy. 'How do you talk about the threat to democracy, which is real, when a president says things like he says?' Mr. Biden asked NBC's Lester Holt in a 20-minute interview broadcast in prime time.... Mr. Biden told Mr. Holt that 'it was a mistake to use the word.' He added: 'I didn't, I didn't say cross hairs. I meant bull's-eye. I meant focus on it. Focus on what he's doing.'" ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: As is common, the interview was pretty much a disaster. This from Shear's report: "Mr. Biden also said he was not surprised that the federal judge overseeing Mr. Trump's classified documents case threw out all of the charges against him on Monday, but he struggled to make his point clearly. 'I had an independent prosecutor to look at me,' Mr. Biden said. 'They spent months on mine, going through -- and I was totally cooperative -- in and out of my house. And I'll never, I don't know.' At the end of his answer, Mr. Biden noted that the prosecutor cleared him of any wrongdoing, and then added: 'But my generic point is that it's um, well.' He was quiet for several moments before explaining that he disagreed with a Supreme Court opinion by Justice Clarence Thomas related to the issue." ~~~

     ~~~ Watch the interview on YouTube here, and draw your own conclusions. Here's the transcript, via NBC News.

Michael Scherer, et al., of the Washington Post: "Democratic lawmakers and strategists inside the effort to reelect President Biden have grown concerned in recent days that he is listening to a small number of aides who are limiting the data he receives.... The calls for broader advice come as Democratic lawmakers are raising new doubts about what Biden has been told about his support, after a Zoom call Saturday when Biden argued without evidence that he was leading in national polls outside the typical margin of error.... 'The polling data we're seeing nationally and on the swing states has been essentially where it was before,' Biden said. 'You noticed the last three polls, nationally, they had me up four points....' The list of head-to-head national polls maintained by the 538 website shows no polls since June with Biden up by four percentage points. A Washington Post average of public polls since the debate shows Biden trailing Donald Trump nationally by more than two points, a loss of almost two points from his pre-debate standing in the same polls."


Welcome to the Lawless States of America (unless it looks as if you did something wrong): ~~~

** Devlin Barrett & Perry Stein of the Washington Post: "The federal judge overseeing the classified documents charges against ... Donald Trump has dismissed the indictment, on the grounds that special counsel Jack Smith was improperly appointed, according to a new court filing Monday. U.S. District Judge Aileen M. Cannon's ruling is a remarkable win for Trump, whose lawyers have thrown longshot argument after longshot argument to dismiss the case. Other courts have rejected similar arguments to the one that he made in Florida about the legality of Smith's appointment. Even if Cannon is later overruled by a higher court, the decision to dismiss Trump's indictment adds to a string of legal victories for him in recent weeks, including a sweeping Supreme Court ruling that gives former presidents broad immunity for their official acts while in office. Trump's legal team has long considered the classified document case to be the strongest of the four criminal cases against him.... The legal theory that Smith was illegally appointed and funded has generally been considered far-fetched.... But the legal argument gained more steam earlier this month after Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas wrote in the presidential immunity case that the special counsel's office needs to be established by Congress and that Smith needed to be confirmed by the Senate." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ From an update to the story: "Smith's office vowed to appeal the ruling, saying the judge's legal reasoning was at odds with past decisions on the issue." ~~~

     ~~~ The AP's report is here. Politico's report is here. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ The New York Times has a liveblog here. (Also linked yesterday. See also yesterday's Conversation for a few of the reporters' entries.)

Charlie Savage of the New York Times: "Judge Aileen M. Cannon cut against decades of decisions by higher courts in declaring on Monday that the appointment of Jack Smith as a special counsel was illegitimate, throwing out the indictment against ... Donald J. Trump in the classified documents case. A Trump appointee at the U.S. District Court in South Florida, Judge Cannon had previously shocked legal experts by intervening in his favor during the investigation -- only to be reversed in two scathing rulings by a conservative appeals court. The question now is whether the appeals court will rule that she got the law wrong -- again erring in Mr. Trump's favor -- and whether Mr. Smith, when he appeals the decision, will also gamble on asking for the case to be reassigned to another judge.... Judge Cannon said ... laws did not authorize the appointment of a special prosecutor who came from outside the government. Others, she noted, have been sitting U.S. attorneys who were [already] Senate-confirmed presidential appointees when they were selected to oversee particularly sensitive cases. Her decision contradicted what the Supreme Court said in a landmark ruling in 1974 in upholding a subpoena by [Leon] Jaworski seeking President Richard M. Nixon's Oval Office tapes during the Watergate scandal. While a former Justice Department official, Mr. Jaworski was in private practice when the acting attorney general, Robert H. Bork, appointed him to take over the case. In a unanimous ruling, Chief Justice Warren E. Burger, a Nixon appointee, cited those statutes in broaching Mr. Jaworski's appointment."

Philip Bump of the Washington Post: "What is most revealing about the Cannon decision ... is not that Trump will not face trial before the election. She had already seen to that. What it reinforces, instead, is the way that the system of accountability that the judiciary is supposed to represent can instead serve as insulation. It was made possible by Trump's first term in office -- the Supreme Court majority, Cannon's initial appointment -- and is a preview of what another four years would look like. Imagine a judiciary more fully stocked with people loyal to Trump's politics, working alongside a government bureaucracy rebuilt to accommodate more political functionaries. Imagine more people, in more places of power, who see their jobs as protecting one political party or one political leader.... At some point, such porousness becomes unfixable."

~~~~~~~~~~

Russia. Neil MacFarquhar of the New York Times: "A Moscow court on Monday sentenced in absentia Masha Gessen, the Russian-born American journalist, author and New York Times staff member, to eight years in prison over comments they made about atrocities that the Russian military has been accused of committing in Ukraine. Russian law enforcement officials charged Mx. Gessen, who lives in the United States and uses the pronoun they, in August over a 2022 interview they gave to Yuri Dud, a popular online Russian journalist. They were put on a wanted list in December. In the interview -- which was broadcast on YouTube and has been viewed more than 6.6 million times -- they discussed the apparent massacre by Russian forces of hundreds of people in the eastern Ukrainian city of Bucha and others." MB: This kind of "justice" is what the MAGAts say they want for the U.S. And they may get their wish.

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Reader Comments (10)

Data collection

"The family of Trump’s would-be assassin Thomas Crooks was among millions of voters profiled by Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign

The owner of the rifle used to shoot at Donald Trump had been identified by the former president’s campaign as a strong republican, likely gun owner and “hunter”, as revealed today by Channel 4 News.

In 2016 the Trump campaign built a database profiling millions of voters in key battleground states – including the family of Trump’s would-be assassin Thomas Crooks."

July 16, 2024 | Unregistered CommenterRAS

Timothy Snyder

"Political Violence
Reflections from the 1920s and 1930s"

July 16, 2024 | Unregistered CommenterRAS

Seth Meyers on the last couple days

July 16, 2024 | Unregistered CommenterRAS

Memories of the books my father had on his book shelf as his politics shifted to the hard right back in the early 1960's haunt me this morning. I woke with Phyllis Schlafly and Barry Goldwater on my mind.

Specifically, the phrase "a choice, not an echo," the title I think of Goldwater's campaign biography, came to mind.

We sure have a choice this time around.

Goldwater, the man who didn't support the Civil Right Act, was crushed in 1964. This year his politics is in the ascendant.

So this year in America: both a choice AND an echo.

July 16, 2024 | Unregistered CommenterKen Winkes

I haven't seen much in the news about either party's platform.
As if any politician would follow through on promises made.
But it might help sway a number of undecided voters.

The reason we haven't seen Melanie with hubby lately, I would surmise
she asked for fifty million dollars to be put in an offshore account, but
Donald could only come up with five million.
If you're going to be 'kept', you want to be 'kept' in style.

July 16, 2024 | Unregistered CommenterForrestMorris

The name 'James David Vance' is most unusual, since the was born
'James Donald Bowman' according to Wickipedia.
Vance is his wife's name and he now goes by the name 'J.D. Vance'.
Interesting.

July 16, 2024 | Unregistered CommenterForrestMorris

A brief confab between two nuts:

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/article/2024/jul/16/rfk-jr-trump-phone-call-video-recording

With leaders like these....

July 16, 2024 | Unregistered CommenterKen Winkes

@Forrest Morris: Young J.D. had a number of different identities. As you say, he was born "James Donald Bowman." Then, according to Ian Ward of Politico (linked above, "He was later adopted by his mother’s new husband, Bob Hamel, and changed his name to James David Hamel. The name change preserved his nickname, J.D." His grandparents, Jim and Bonnie Vance, were his primary caregivers.

He didn't change his name to "Vance" until 2014, according to Wikipedia.

This is all to say, his political flip-flops are entirely consistent with his life as a chameleon. He doesn't know who he is, and it doesn't matter.

July 16, 2024 | Registered CommenterMarie Burns

CNN RNC fact checks

July 16, 2024 | Unregistered CommenterRAS

Donald Trump having trouble staying awake for a celebration of himself. Droopy Don.

July 16, 2024 | Unregistered CommenterRAS
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