;)
The Commentariat -- October 15, 2020
Afternoon Update:
Lauren Leatherby of the New York Times: "The number of new coronavirus cases in the United States is surging once again after growth slowed in late summer. While the geography of the pandemic is now shifting to the Midwest and to more rural areas, cases are trending upward in most states, many of which are setting weekly records for new cases.... 'We are headed in the wrong direction, and that's reflected not only in the number of new cases but also in test positivity and the number of hospitalizations,' said Caitlin Rivers, an epidemiologist at Johns Hopkins University. 'Together, I think these three indicators give a very clear picture that we are seeing increased transmission in communities across the country.'"
Erica Werner & Jeff Stein of the Washington Post: "President Trump called Thursday for even more stimulus spending than the $1.8 trillion proposed by Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin in his talks with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, injecting yet more chaos into the unruly negotiations as the election nears. 'I would take more. I would go higher,' Trump said in an interview on Fox Business Network, repeating his directive from earlier in the week to 'Go big or go home!!!['] Trump said he’s communicated his views to Mnuchin. 'I've told him. So far he hasn't come home with the bacon,' the president said." Mrs. McC: Trump's advocacy for a bigger stimulus package deal is B.S. Obviously, he wouldn't have to twist Mnuchin's arm to get him to up the administration's offer. Usually, the devil is in the details, but I'd say here the devil is in the Oval. And you don't complain that a Jewish person hasn't brought home the bacon. Idiot. ~~~
~~~ MEANWHILE. Dan Primack of Axios: "Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said Thursday that he would not put a potential $1.8 trillion+ deal struck by Democrats and the Trump administration on the Senate floor. 'My members think half a trillion dollars, highly targeted is the best way to go,' he said." Mrs. McC: I expect McConnell knows or fears that a majority would vote for such a bill as in extremis Republican senators peel off & vote with Democrats to pass the bill.
Trump-o-nomics. Jason DeParle of the New York Times: "After an ambitious expansion of the safety net in the spring saved millions of people from poverty, the aid is now largely exhausted and poverty has returned to levels higher than before the coronavirus crisis, two new studies have found. The number of poor people has grown by eight million since May, according to researchers at Columbia University, after falling by four million at the pandemic's start as a result of an $2 trillion emergency package known as the Cares Act. Using a different definition of poverty, researchers from the University of Chicago and Notre Dame found that poverty has grown by six million people in the past three months, with circumstances worsening most for Black people and children.... The recent rise in poverty has occurred despite an improving job market, an indiction that the economy has been rebounding too slowly to offset the lost benefits."
~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: "Descended into rants"? I wonder if the POTUS* realizes that the paper of record, the realm of the Gray Lady, is happy to publish news stories -- not opinion pieces -- that more-or-less describe him as a raving lunatic. It is a remarkable evolution.
Chelsea Janes & Sean Sullivan of the Washington Post: "Democratic vice-presidential nominee Kamala D. Harris canceled her travel through this coming weekend after two people who were around her tested positive for the coronavirus Wednesday night.... Harris ... tested negative for the virus Wednesday and will be tested again Thursday, the campaign said. Harris has not been in close contact recently with either communications director Liz Allen or the other person who tested positive, a flight crew member who is not a campaign staff member, aides said. Former vice president Joe Biden..., also has not been in contact with those affected, according to a statement from campaign manager Jen O’Malley Dillon."
Margaret Sullivan of the Washington Post: "When NBC News drew fire for scheduling Thursday night's town hall with President Trump directly opposite an ABC News town hall with Joe Biden, the excuse was parity.... I'd describe that gambit with an entirely different word: specious. It may sound plausible, but it is wrong. In fact, NBC News is doing what so much of mainstream media has done time and again: allowed Trump to steal the spotlight and command attention on his terms. 'I am dismayed -- more like disgusted -- by NBC's decision to air Trump's "I won't play by the rules so let me make my own rules" town hall opposite Biden's,' wrote a former NBC News executive, Cheryl Gould. She wasn't alone. MSNBC marquee host Rachel Maddow obliquely signaled her unhappiness with the decision.... More than a hundred actors and producers from NBC's entertainment division are protesting the move in a letter to top executives, as well."
Trip Gabriel, et al., of the New York Times: "With polls showing the president behind Mr. Biden nationally and in key states, Mr. Trump has descended into rants about perceived enemies, both inside and outside his administration, triggering in his staunchest supporters such fears for the outcome -- possibly a 'stolen' election, maybe a coup by the far left -- that he is emboldening them to disrupt the voting process, according to national security experts and law enforcement officials.... None of [the right-wing violence] has stopped Mr. Trump from fear-mongering about leftist violence. 'Biden will disarm law abiding Americans,' the president told supporters in suburban Virginia last month. 'At the same time, they'll have riots down your street and that's just fine.'... It was notable, national security experts said, that none of the nation's top officials from the Justice Department or the F.B.I. spoke at the news conference to announce the arrests in the Whitmer case." ~~~
~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: If you ever wonder what happened to the ugly misfit rowdy boys who dropped out of your high school class, it seems they got uglier & rowdier, are packing rifles & are dressed up in camo.
Mrs. McCrabbie: The New York Post has another story out about Hunter Biden today. Didn't read it, not gonna, not linking it. ~~~
~~~ Alex Kaplan of Media Matters: "A user on TheDonald.win, a far-right message board, was hinting at and promoting a series of dubious articles from the New York Post about Hunter Biden days before they were published. The user also claimed to know the people involved with the articles.... In the days leading up to October 14 (a Wednesday), an account on TheDonald.win called 'Freedom_USA_88' had repeatedly posted threads that claimed that a 'massive' story about Biden was coming out that day. As noted by the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), '88' is 'a white supremacist numerical code for "Heil Hitler."' The account's username also has exactly 14 characters, a reference to the white nationalist '14 Words' slogan that is often combined with '88,' as noted by the ADL.... The user claimed that they [he] had been 'authorized to drop a hint about Wednesday's story' and 'know the parties involved.'" Mrs. McC: That's actually believable, not only because he was right but also because he's a Nazi aficionado; IOW, just Rudy's type.
~~~~~~~~~~
Stacking the Court
The New York Times' live updates of Amy Coney Barrett's Judiciary Committee hearing Wednesday are here. They include live video of the proceedings, but you can shut down the audio. The Washington Post's live video for Wednesday are here. Live video also included, but you have to activate it. (Also linked yesterday.)
Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) tries to explain to dumb-as-a-rock Chuck Todd the right-wing dark money conspiracy that is funding the push for right-wing judges & justices. There's a related story linked under "Presidential Race":
The Court Proposes, Trump Disposes. Mrs. McCrabbie: Despite her pretense that she won't be a "pawn" for Trump, it is beginning to appear that Judge Amy, like many a Republican witness, is testifying for an audience of one. Here's an excerpt from the Washington Post's live coverage of Wednesday's hearing: "Barrett stated unequivocally Wednesday morning that 'no one is above the law' -- but she warned that the Supreme Court has no real recourse to make sure people, including the president, obeyed its orders.... Sen. Patrick J. Leahy (D-Vt.) had asked Barrett whether a president could refuse to comply with a court order. Barrett's bleak assessment, in a word, was yes. 'The Supreme Court can't control what the president obeys,' she said flatly. When Leahy then asked whether the president could pardon himself for a crime, Barrett was circumspect. 'So far as I know, that question has never been litigated,' she said. 'That question may or may not arise, but it's one that calls for legal analysis about what the scope of the pardon power is.'" (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Derek Hawkins, et al., of the Washington Post: "Judge Amy Coney Barrett faced the final day of questions from the Senate Judiciary Committee on Wednesday.... In her testimony, the conservative jurist declined to share her legal views on abortion rights, voting rights and the Affordable Care Act, seeking to separate her academic writings from how she might rule if confirmed. She also declined to say whether she thought it was wrong to separate migrant children from their parents to deter immigration to the United States. 'That's a matter of hot political debate in which I can't express a view or be drawn into as a judge,' Barrett said in response to a question from Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.)." ~~~
~~~ Mark Sherman of the AP: "Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett invoked Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg at her Senate confirmation hearing Tuesday in refusing to discuss her view of gay rights and the Constitution. 'Justice Ginsburg with her characteristic pithiness used this to describe how a nominee should comport herself at a hearing. No hints, no previews, no forecasts. That had been the practice of nominees before her. But everybody calls it the Ginsburg rule because she stated it so concisely,' Barrett said.... It's become a standard response by Republican high court nominees to recite Ginsburg's words from her own confirmation hearing. Ginsburg ... did utter those words 27 years ago, saying 'A judge sworn to decide impartially can offer no forecasts, no hints for that would show not only disregard for the specifics of the particular case, it would display disdain for the entire judicial process.' But she also said much more on a range of hotly debated issues, including abortion, that went well beyond the rule that bears her name. Here's Ginsburg on abortion in 1993, shortly before the Senate voted 96-3 to confirm her: 'The decision whether or not to bear a child is central to a woman's life, to her well-being and dignity. It is a decision she must make for herself. When Government controls that decision for her, she is being treated as less than a fully adult human responsible for her own choices.'" ~~~
~~~ Mrs. Bea McCrabbie: For one thing, you can bet Ginsburg would not have stonewalled a question about whether or not voter intimidation was legal.
Andrew Kaczynski & Em Steck of CNN: "Public calendars from the University of Notre Dame's law school show at least seven additional talks not listed on Judge Amy Coney Barrett's Senate paperwork, including one with the law school's anti-abortion group, according to a CNN KFile review.... Barrett is required to disclose to the Senate Judiciary Committee all public talks she has given in her professional career...."
Caitlin Oprysko of Politico: “Sen. Lindsey Graham on Wednesday clarified that he was being sarcastic when he referred to the 'good old days of segregation' and blasted his opponent for seeking to capitalize on the comments. During a recess in the confirmation hearing for Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett, Graham (R-S.C.) insisted to reporters that his comments were made in jest and accused Jaime Harrison of launching a disingenuous attack. 'It was with deep sarcasm that I suggested that some legislative body would want to yearn for the good old days of segregationism,' the senator said. 'The point that I'm trying to make, there's nobody in America in the legislative arena wanting to take us back to that dark period in American history and for my opponent to suggest that says far more about him than me.'" Here's the clip from Wednesday morning's hearing. Given the context, I think he was being sarcastic. You decide: (Also linked yesterday.)
Tom Jackman of the Washington Post: "A coalition of more than 60 state prosecutors and attorneys general from across the country declared Wednesday that they would not enforce laws that criminalize abortion, even if the Supreme Court overturned the 1973 decision that legalized it nationwide. The declaration comes amid the Supreme Court confirmation hearings for Judge Amy Coney Barrett, a conservative who many believe would vote to reverse Roe v. Wade if elevated to the high court.... The prosecutors' statement invokes the power of prosecutorial discretion, which some prosecutors have used to reduce or eliminate prosecution of marijuana charges and other misdemeanors to reduce the disproportionate harm they can cause to nonviolent offenders. 'It is imperative,' the prosecutors declared in their statement, 'that we use our discretion to decline to prosecute personal healthcare choices criminalized under such laws.' Citing the 47 years of legal precedent established by Roe, the prosecutors said that 'women have a right to make decisions about their own medical care including, but not limited to, seeking an abortion.'"
Hannah Jones of (Minneapolis/St. Paul) City Pages: In a Facebook post, former "Prairie Home Companion" host Garrison Keillor wrote, "'It seems clear that Judge Barrett will sit on the Supreme Court and this will mean the reversal of Roe v. Wade and some deep dents in the Affordable Care Act... I don't think Roe v. Wade is worth fighting for anymore.' Keillor thinks guaranteeing the right to a safe abortion has 'torn the country asunder,' and wondered, 'to what good?... We can accept a system of states' rights, whereby abortion is legal in some states, illegal in others, same as you have a death penalty in some states, not in others,' Keillor wrote.... Let South Dakota be South Dakota and if they wish to criminalize LBGTQ, then they can deal with the consequences. Let's give the cultural war a rest and focus on the economy and tax policy and environment.' The post ... has since been removed.... Keillor posted again to 'clarify' his thoughts later that morning." ~~~
~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: It's worth remembering that Keillor is not the wry & pleasant folksy guy he played on the radio. Minnesota Public Radio fired him specifically because of "inappropriate behavior" toward a woman, which Keillor claimed was "nothing more than having placed his hand on a woman's back to console her." But MPR reporters write that Keillor allegedly made many other uninvited sexual advances over the years.
Presidential Race, Etc.
Colby Itkowitz of the Washington Post: Joe "Biden announced on Twitter that his campaign and the Democratic National Committee raised $383 million in September, a massive sum that leaves him flush with cash in the final weeks before the election. The amount raised in one month beat the Democrats' record-shattering haul in August of $364.5 million. The former vice president on Wednesday tweeted a video of him calling a grass-roots donor named Trimicka, a special-education teacher, to personally thank her and tell her first about the sum raised." The story, part of the Post's election blog, is free to non-subscribers.
Kyle Cheney & Natasha Bertrand of Politico: "Joe Biden's campaign is punching back at a New York Post story that alleged a direct link between the Democratic presidential nominee and his son's business dealings. Top Biden advisers who staffed him during his vice presidency, citing their own recollections as well as a review of Biden's official schedules, sharply rejected the Post's suggestion that Biden met with a representative of Ukrainian energy company Burisma Holdings in 2015. And social media companies throttled sharing of the article on their platforms, fueling complaints from conservatives that information critical of the Bidens was being censored.... The story, which ran on the front page of the New York tabloid under the banner headline 'Biden Secret E-mails,' accused the then-vice president of meeting Vadym Pozharskyi, a top adviser to Burisma, whose board Biden's son had joined at the time. Allies of the president seized on the purported revelation.... There was no immediate indication of Russian involvement in the release of emails that the Post obtained, but its general thrust mirrors a narrative that U.S. intelligence agencies have described as part of an active Russian disinformation effort aimed at the 2020 election." ~~~
~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: The underlying New York Post story is BIG NEWS in right-wing world, but I'm not linking it. This is a Rudy Giuliani/Steve Bannon production. Josh Kovensky of TPM explains the ways the story is so bogus, starting with maybe the funniest part: the supposed "source": "The story claims that a Delaware computer repair shop owner received a laptop full of Hunter Biden's emails last year for data extraction and repair. After the client never paid or came to pick up the laptop, the anonymous store owner supposedly said, the Apple computer repair man went to both the FBI and Rudy Giuliani with the information." Very believable. ~~~
~~~ So Then. Jordan Howell & Erin Banco of the Daily Beast: A gaggle of reporters interviewed the supposed computer repair shop owner. Other than that the guy couldn't get his story straight, said he has a medical condition that prevented him from seeing who dropped off the laptop, & ended the interview with, "Ah shit" he seems really credible! ~~~
~~~ Katie Glueck, et al., of the New York Times: "Hours after the Post published its article, Facebook said on Wednesday that it had decided to limit the distribution of the story on its platform so it could fact-check the claims. Twitter said it was blocking the article because it included people's personal phone numbers and email addresses, which violated their privacy rules, and because the article violated their policy on hacked materials. Facebook's and Twitter's actions immediately provoked strong reactions from Republicans that the social media platforms were censoring them, an outcry that grew louder later on Wednesday when the Trump campaign said the personal account of the White House press secretary, Kayleigh McEnany, had been locked because she had posted the New York Post story." ~~~
~~~ In case you were thinking Rudy & the Not-Ready-for-Prime-Time Conspiracy Fabricators could not get more clownish ~~~
~~~ Justin Baragona & Sam Stein of the Daily Beast: "... Rudy Giuliani was caught mocking Asians and even pantomiming a bow in video footage his team accidentally posted to his YouTube page on Wednesday. The remarks came well after Giuliani had finished interviewing former White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer for his podcast.... For several minutes on the extended YouTube version [of the podcast], the screen was black and silent. Then Spicer appeared briefly only to quickly sign out, leaving Giuliani at his desk speaking with individuals off-screen.... After a few moments of small talk with an assistant who appears to be Jayne Zirkle, an animated Giuliani started affecting a stereotypical Chinese accent.... After asking others in the room what they wanted for dinner, Giuliani continued to say Zirkle's name in the mocking accent. He then started pantomiming a bow while repeating her name...." Includes video. ~~~
~~~ Asawin Suebsaeng, et al., of the Daily Beast: "In recent weeks, Donald Trump was made aware of an alleged secret trove of material about Hunter Biden's foreign dealings and private life, and was keen on getting it out into the public domain as soon as possible, according to two sources familiar with the matter.... The ongoing efforts by Giuliani, Trump, and other prominent Republicans to push unverified dirt on the Biden family not only illustrates the degree to which nefariously obtained documents and rumor and disinformation have become a form of modern campaign currency; but also, just how comfortable the president and his team are peddling it."
Matt Viser of the Washington Post: "Joe Biden often crosses himself and looks toward the sky when saying something he jokingly might need to apologize for, regularly referring to the nuns who taught him during 12 years in Catholic school. Now, several recent TV ads from Biden's campaign show him standing with Pope Francis or huddled with a Jesuit priest. He's reading from a pulpit, bowing his head in prayer, or standing solemnly in front of a church's stained-glass window. And a radio spot includes a parishioner from Biden's home church talking about how the Democratic presidential nominee is a regular at Sunday Mass.... In the final stretch of a campaign in which Catholic voters are seen by both parties as a decisive bloc in several battleground states, Biden's campaign has increasingly highlighted his direct connection to the faith -- and his potential to make history as the country's second Catholic president, 60 years after John F. Kennedy became the first. The strategy comes as President Trump and his allies have sought to portray Democrats as anti-Catholic...." (Also linked yesterday.)
Josh Dawsey & Yasmeen Abutaleb of the Washington Post: "President Trump is using his recovery from covid-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus, to reinforce the message that the pandemic is receding and Americans should return to work -- resisting entreaties to change his tone and behavior three weeks ahead of the presidential election. Despite the outbreak at the White House that also infected the first lady, their son and nearly a dozen top aides, Trump and his allies continue to downplay the virus, arguing that the country is 'turning the corner' and holding campaign events with thousands of supporters even as cases are increasing rapidly, especially in the Midwest. Several advisers hoped Trump's experience would move him to speak more empathetically about a virus that has killed at least 215,000 Americans and infected nearly 8 million. Instead, Trump has seemed further emboldened, flouting public health guidelines to convince voters that life is returning to normal, according to current and former administration officials."
"Thank You, Honey." Zeke Miller, et al., of the AP: "... Donald Trump on Wednesday sought to shore up support from constituencies that not so long ago he thought he had in the bag: big business and voters in the red state of Iowa. In a morning address to business leaders, he expressed puzzlement that they would even consider supporting his Democratic challenger, Joe Biden, arguing that his own leadership was a better bet for a strong economy. Later, the president held his third campaign rally in three nights, this time in Iowa, a state he won handily in 2016 but where Biden is making a late push.... At moments during his economic address on Wednesday his voice was raspy. His trip to Iowa comes as the state this week surpassed 100,000 coronavirus cases and has seen a recent surge in hospitalizations.... A public health emergency declared by Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds in March remains in place and requires that organizers of mass gatherings 'must ensure at least 6 feet (1.8 meters) of physical distance between each group or individual attending alone.' Trump acknowledged Reynolds' presence at the rally. 'Thank you, honey,' he said." ~~~
We’re doing our part to warn Iowans that @realdonaldtrump is in town tomorrow. This billboard is directly outside the Des Moines Airport where he will hold his hangar rally. #Superspreader #SuperspreaderTrump #covidiots pic.twitter.com/KtN9SebH4T
— Rural America 2020 (@RuralUSA2020) October 13, 2020
Origin: Daily Beast.Michael Grynbaum & Apoorva Mandavilli of the New York Times: "NBC said on Wednesday that it would broadcast a televised town hall with Mr. Trump from Miami on Thursday at 8 p.m. Eastern -- the exact time that Mr. Biden will appear on ABC for his own town-hall-style event in Philadelphia. Mr. Biden's town hall has been on the books since last week, after Mr. Trump, who had recently contracted the coronavirus, rejected plans to convert the second formal presidential debate into a virtual matchup; the debate was eventually canceled. Mr. Trump's campaign then sought its own telecast to rival Mr. Biden's, leading to a lengthy negotiation with NBC officials who wanted independent proof that the president would not pose a safety risk to other participants.... On Wednesday, NBC said the town hall would occur 'in accordance with the guidelines set forth by health officials' and proffered a statement from Clifford Lane, a clinical director at the National Institutes of Health. In the statement, Dr. Lane said he and Dr. Anthony S. Fauci ... had reviewed medical data about Mr. Trump's condition, including a P.C.R. test that the N.I.H. 'collected and analyzed' on Tuesday.... Dr. Lane concluded 'with a high degree of confidence' that the president is 'not shedding infectious virus,' NBC said." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: So Thursday night, I'm tuning the teevee to ABC, whether I listen on not, just in case the gremlins come through my tubes & wires & make note of what channel I'm watching. ~~~
~~~ Update. David Edwards of the Raw Story: "Staffers at NBC, CNBC and MSNBC were said to be angry this week after learning that ... Donald Trump was offered the opportunity to hold a solo town hall event.... Others on Twitter also lashed out at NBC for 'rewarding' Trump ... [for refusing to cooperate with the presidential debate committee's rules]." And Edward-Isaac Dovere can't figured out why the White House is willing to share so much information w/NBC about the president's health so as to make this Thursday town hall happen, but releasing when the last time pre-diagnosis that he had tested negative would violate his privacy[.]" (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Here's a related story by Maxwell Tani, et al., of the Daily Beast. Mrs. McC: To make matter worse, Trump will probably get better ratings than Biden because NBC is airing its Trump extravanganza across its platform: NBC broadcast network, "MSNBC, CNBC, and Telemundo, and their digital platforms such as NBC News NOW and the new streaming service Peacock."
Meet Your Trump Activists. Robert O'Harrow of the Washington Post: "... the Council for National Policy [is] a little-known group that has served for decades as a hub for a nationwide network of conservative activists and the donors who support them. Members include Ginni Thomas, wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, and Leonard Leo, an outside adviser to President Trump who has helped raise hundreds of millions of dollars from undisclosed donors to support conservative causes and the nominations of conservative federal judges. Videos provided to The Post -- covering dozens of hours of CNP meetings over three days in February and three in August -- offer an inside view of participants' obsessions and fears.... The videos ... show influential activists discussing election tactics, amplifying conspiracy theories and describing much of America in dark and apocalyptic terms.... At the February meetings, attendees ... said the right will begin 'ballot harvesting,' a controversial technique that involves the collection and delivery of sealed absentee ballots from churches and other institutions. At the time of the meeting, Trump, his campaign officials and other Republicans were blasting the practice as an abuse by Democrats. 'GET RID OF BALLOT HARVESTING, IT IS RAMPANT WITH FRAUD,' Trump tweeted this spring."
Meet Your Trump Voter. Amanda Burke & Larry Parnass of the Berkshire Eagle: "In the hour before he admits he burned a political message he deplored, Lonnie Durfee stopped at a convenience store in his town.... He told another shopper he planned to set fire to hay bales across from Holiday Brook Farm that had been painted with an endorsement of the Biden-Harris presidential ticket, according to a Dalton police report. Minutes before that encounter Friday evening, he said the same thing to people inside Paddy's, a Dalton bar.... Not long after, Durfee pulled out of the Cumberland Farms on Main Street with containers of gasoline and headed for the small mountain of hay bales, and the message they displayed, though one container fell out of the back of his yellow GMC pickup onto the road, and was left behind." Read on. Thanks very much to unwashed for the link. (Also linked yesterday.) Mrs. McC: There's a country & Western song in here somewheres, along the lines of the last verse of this'un here:
Kevin Drum of Mother Jones: "In the pantheon of Republican pseudo-scandals, 'unmasking' has always been one of the dumbest.... Sadly for Republicans, the investigation turned up nothing.... The investigation basically exonerated the Obama team and probably would have hurt Donald Trump's reelection, so [AG Bill] Barr decided to keep it under wraps. This is how the Justice Department works these days: it's a PR shop for Donald Trump, not an independent agency serving the best interests of the American public." --s ~~~
~~~ Yeah But. Dartunorro Clark of NBC News (on Yahoo!): "... Donald Trump said Wednesday that he is 'not happy' with Attorney General William Barr after the Justice Department's investigation of the Obama administration found no wrongdoing and quietly concluded with no criminal charges. Trump made the comments to Newsmax TV. He also declined to say whether he would keep Barr on as attorney general for a potential second term. 'Can't comment on that. It's too early. I'm not happy, with all of the evidence I had, I can tell you that. I am not happy,' Trump said in the interview. Trump ... has used the Justice Department as a cudgel to go after perceived political enemies. Recently, news emerged that the Justice Department had concluded an investigation commissioned by Barr into the Obama-era 'unmasking' of people named in national security documents related to the Russia investigation -- a practice that Trump and conservatives pundits claimed was a political conspiracy. However, the Justice Department found no evidence of wrongdoing and declined to release its report publicly or to file any charges." ~~~
~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: IOW, unless the AG verifies a crazy Trump conspiracy theory, his head is on the chopping block. Trump not only expects the DOJ to run down rabbit holes, he expects them to pull out big fat rabbits.
** Katelyn Polantz, et al. of CNN: "For more than three years, federal prosecutors investigated whether money flowing through an Egyptian state-owned bank could have backed millions of dollars Donald Trump donated to his own campaign days before he won the 2016 election.... The investigation, which both predated and outlasted special counsel Robert Mueller's probe, examined whether there was an illegal foreign campaign contribution.... The investigation was kept so secret that at one point investigators locked down an entire floor of a federal courthouse in Washington, DC, so Mueller's team could fight for the Egyptian bank's records in closed-door court proceedings following a grand jury subpoena. The probe, which closed this summer with no charges filed, has never before been described publicly.... In the closing weeks of the 2016 campaign, Trump and [Dictator Al-]Sisi met in New York during the United Nations General Assembly. The Republican presidential candidate hit it off with the dictator.... Sisi became the first foreign leader to call and congratulate Trump after he won the election.... CNN sent Mueller detailed questions about the Egypt investigation for this story. [s: Like a chickenshit] He declined to comment." --s
The Trumpidemic, Ctd.
Jeff Cox of CNBC: "American workers continued to hit the unemployment line in large numbers last week, with 898,000 new claims filed for jobless benefits. Economists surveyed by Dow Jones had been looking for 830,000." At 8:35 am ET, this was a breaking news story.
The New York Times' live updates of Covid-19 developments Wednesday are here. (Also linked yesterday.)
Mrs. McCrabbie: Now I think we know one big reason Trump lied from the git-go to ordinary Americans about the dangers the coronavirus was about to pose: giving insider Covid-19 information to his big donor buddies was a boon to them (and therefore to him). If this sounds like a crazy conspiracy theory borrowed from crooked Sen. Richard Burr, read on ~~~
~~~ Kate Kelly & Mark Mazzetti of the New York Times: "On the afternoon of Feb. 24, President Trump declared on Twitter that the coronavirus was 'very much under control' in the United States, one of numerous rosy statements that he and his advisers made at the time about the worsening epidemic.... But hours earlier, senior members of the president's economic team, privately addressing board members of the conservative Hoover Institution, were less confident. Tomas J. Philipson, a senior economic adviser to the president, told the group he could not yet estimate the effects of the virus on the American economy. The next day, board members -- many of them Republican donors -- got [a similar] taste of government uncertainty from Larry Kudlow, the director of the National Economic Council. Hours after he had boasted on CNBC that the virus was contained in the United States ..., Mr. Kudlow delivered a more ambiguous private message [to the board].... A hedge fund consultant who attended the three-day gathering of Hoover's board..., wrote, 'What struck me ... was that nearly every official he heard from raised the virus 'as a point of concern, totally unprovoked.'... The president's aides appeared to be giving wealthy party donors an early warning of a potentially impactful contagion at a time when Mr. Trump was publicly insisting that the threat was nonexistent." Emphasis added. Investors & money managers immediately acted on the tips to adjust their portfolios.
** Trump's Plan to Kill Millions of Americans. Epidemiologists & infectious disease experts Marc Lipsitch, Gregg Gonsalves, Carlos del Rio. & Rochelle Walensky in a Washington Post op-ed: "President Trump has long seemed fascinated with the idea that herd immunity could provide an easy end to the coronavirus pandemic, even before his own diagnosis with covid-19 and his blithe declaration after he checked himself out of the hospital that no one should be afraid of getting it. 'With time, it goes away,' he told an ABC News town hall last month. 'And you'll develop -- you'll develop herd -- like a herd mentality. It's going to be -- it's going to be herd-developed, and that's going to happen. That will all happen.'... But now, the official policy of the Trump administration will be to try to speed up the arrival of herd immunity to the novel coronavirus by letting the virus infect people faster. Without a vaccine, though, this strategy risks the deaths of millions of Americans." ~~~
~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: I must admit I am baffled by anyone who thinks killing millions of Americans will make him more popular or improve the economy or whatever it is Trump thinks killing off a sizable portion of the popular will do for him.
Caitlin Oprysko of Politico: "Barron Trump, the teenage son of ... Donald Trump, contracted coronavirus along with his father and mother earlier this month, first lady Melania Trump revealed on Wednesday.... The first lady noted that Barron, 14, exhibited no symptoms...." Mrs. McC Warning: Do not read this story while enjoying a beverage; spit-takes are inevitable & you could ruin your keyboard.
Wherein Nancy Pelosi tells Wolf Blitzer he doesn't know what he's talking about (Washington Post link). ~~~
~~~ Erica Werner & Jeff Stein of the Washington Post: "Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said Wednesday that a new economic relief bill is unlikely before the election, suggesting that Democrats are unwilling to give President Trump a victory. 'I'd say at this point getting something done before the election and executing on that would be difficult, just given where we are,' Mnuchin said during an event hosted by the Milken Institute's Global Conference."
The Execution of a Suspect. Evan Hill, et al., of the New York Times: "President Trump praised the killing of Michael Reinoehl, suspected of fatally shooting a far-right protester, as 'retribution.' Our investigation found that officers may have shot without warning or seeing a gun.... On Sept. 3, about 120 miles north of Portland, Mr. Reinoehl was getting into his Volkswagen station wagon when a pair of unmarked sport utility vehicles roared through the quiet streets, screeching to a halt just in front of his bumper. Members of a U.S. Marshals task force jumped out and unleashed a hail of bullets that shattered windows, whizzed past bystanders and left Mr. Reinoehl dead in the street. Attorney General William P. Barr trumpeted the operation as a 'significant accomplishment' that removed a 'violent agitator.' The officers had opened fire, he said, when Mr. Reinoehl 'attempted to escape arrest' and 'produced a firearm' during the encounter. But a reconstruction of what happened that night, based on the accounts of people who witnessed the confrontation and the preliminary findings of investigators, produces a much different picture — one that raises questions about whether law enforcement officers made any serious attempt to arrest Mr. Reinoehl before killing him." Read on. ~~~
~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: This is what passes for "the rule of law" in an authoritarian regime.
Ryan Deto of the Pittsburgh City Paper: "Yesterday, the Baldwin home of Sean Troesch was raided by special agents from the United States Postal Service, who confiscated eight large garbage bags of suspected undelivered mail, according to KDKA. KDKA also reported that the post office said this latest haul didn't contain any discarded mail-in ballots.... According to screenshots of a Facebook page apparently belonging to Troesch, the mail carrier has been trafficking in conspiracy theories related to QAnon for at least the last several months." --s
A special report from the Institute for Research & Education on Human Rights "explores the breadth and depth of the network built by [Ammon] Bundy and named 'People's Rights.' What started in late March with a few dozen supporters in a rural Idaho warehouse has swiftly expanded to a membership base of over twenty thousand across the country. Relying on field reports, countless hours of video footage, interviews, archival material, and a massive trove of online data, report researchers have captured the first full picture of Ammon's army ... spurred by a fusion of Bundy's core of the far-right paramilitary supporters built up over years of armed standoffs with a mass base of new activists radicalized in protest over COVID-19 health directives." --s
Charles Blow of the New York Times buries his brother in a segregated cemetery.
Beyond the Beltway
UK. American exports. Shayan Sardarizadeh of BBC: "A wide-ranging conspiracy theory about elite Satan-worshiping paedophiles has migrated from the US, inspiring a series of regular street protests. How did QAnon find a British audience?... [O]utside the US, British followers lead the way. Our analysis of online data from the last three months puts the UK ahead of all European countries, followed by Germany and the Netherlands. Marc-Andre Argentino, a researcher at Concordia University in Montreal, has identified at least 114 [U.K] Facebook groups which spread QAnon content under the guise of campaigning against child trafficking. Membership of such groups has risen by more than 3,000 percent since July, he says.... [T]he upheaval of the pandemic created a perfect storm which helped QAnon find common ground with Covid-19 conspiracists." --s
Emma Briant of OCCRP: "A week before the parent company of Cambridge Analytica filed for bankruptcy, one of its employees opened a UK firm [Strategic Communication Laboratories (SCL) Group] that has since been providing similar 'behavioral modification' training to clients including the Canadian and Dutch militaries.... It's vital that scandals such as this are properly investigated to protect against unethical business practices, conflicts of interest, security issues and data rights infringements.... So far, this is not happening. Governments are failing us. Such firms continue to provide training, or engage directly, in tactics to influence the behavior of citizens. As if to underscore the negligence of U.K. authorities, the country's Information Commissioner's Office told me late last month that it had halted its investigation into data misuse, without making a public statement. It says it is no longer publishing a promised report on the content of SCL and Cambridge Analytica servers."--s
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