The Commentariat -- June 30, 2020

Late Morning Update:

The New York Times' live updates of coronavirus developments Tuesday are here. The Washington Post's live updates for Tuesday are here.

Eric Bradner of CNN: "... Joe Biden lambasted ... Donald Trump's handling of the coronavirus pandemic Tuesday, saying that Trump is 'in retreat' with more 125,000 Americans dead and the virus worsening in many states. In a speech in Wilmington, Delaware, the former vice president recounted what he cast as Trump's missteps, from Trump's early dismissals of the virus to his more recent refusals to wear a mask in public appearances. Pointing to Trump in March declaring himself a wartime president in battling the coronavirus, Biden said: 'What happened? Now it's almost July, and it seems like our wartime president has surrendered -- waved the white flag and left the battlefield.' Biden's speech tied together proposals he has issued in recent months, including calls for a national board to oversee a "massive surge" in coronavirus testing.He framed most of his remarks as directly addressing Trump, urging the President to adopt Biden's proposals immediately."

Jessie Hellmann of the Hill: "Anthony Fauci, the nation's top infectious disease expert, warned members of Congress on Monday that the U.S. could reach 100,000 new COVID-19 cases per day if the country does not get a handle on the pandemic. Speaking before the Senate health committee, Fauci said..., 'We're going in the wrong direction if you look at the curves of the new cases.... We need to do something about that and we need to do it very quickly.'"

Your European Vacation Has Been Cancelled. Bill Chappell of NPR: "U.S. travelers won't be among those allowed to visit the European Union when the bloc begins opening its external borders on July 1. EU ambassadors endorsed a list of 15 travel partners on Tuesday, including South Korea, Japan and China -- countries that were hit early by the pandemic but have been able to bring the coronavirus under control. The U.S. was seen as a long shot to make the travel list, which requires that only those countries with epidemiological situations -- taking into account both the infection rate and current trends -- that are equal to or better than the EU's can send tourists and other nonessential visitors to the open-border region." ~~~

     ~~~ CNN has the graph that explains why.

Kentucky Senate Race. James Arkin of Politico: "Amy McGrath has fended off Charles Booker to clinch the Democratic nomination for Senate in Kentucky, setting up an expensive showdown with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell in November. McGrath had 45 percent of the vote, compared to 43 percent for Booker when The Associated Press called the race on Tuesday -- a week after the primary which saw historic turnout and significant use of absentee ballots. Though she was the frontrunner throughout the race, McGrath faced a spirited challenge from Booker, a liberal first-term state representative who surged in momentum in just three short weeks to turn the race from a sleepy affair into one of the most closely-watched Senate primaries this year. Booker's rise began late last month as he took part in protests against police brutality in his hometown of Louisville." The New York Times report is here.

** They Followed the Money. Charlie Savage, et al., of the New York Times: "American officials intercepted electronic data showing large financial transfers from a bank account controlled by Russia's military intelligence agency to a Taliban-linked account, which was among the evidence that supported their conclusion that Russia covertly offered bounties for killing U.S. and coalition troops in Afghanistan, according to three officials familiar with the intelligence. Though the United States has accused Russia of providing general support to the Taliban before, analysts concluded from other intelligence that the transfers were most likely part of a bounty program that detainees described during interrogations."

Adam Liptak of the New York Times: "The Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that states must allow religious schools to participate in programs that provide scholarships to students attending private schools. The decision, a victory for conservatives, was the latest in a series of Supreme Court rulings that the free exercise of religion bars the government from treating religious groups differently from secular ones. It opens the door to more public funding of religious education. Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. wrote the majority opinion in the 5-to-4 ruling. The court's four more liberal members dissented.... At the same time, writing for four justices, Chief Justice Roberts emphasized the narrowness of the court's decision. 'This case involves express discrimination based on religious identity with respect to playground resurfacing,' he wrote. 'We do not address religious uses of funding or other forms of discrimination.'"

Heather Caygle, et al., of Politico: "Senior House Democrats left a White House briefing on Russian bounties disappointed on Tuesday, saying they were given 'no substantive information' about allegations that the Kremlin paid Taliban militants to kill U.S. troops -- and that ... Donald Trump sat on the information for months. House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.), who led a group of nearly a dozen Democrats to the White House early Tuesday, said Congress still needs to hear from the heads of various Intelligence agencies -- not White House officials -- on the stunning allegations. The Trump administration officials tasked with briefing the Democrats, Hoyer said, expressed their opinion of the allegations but didn't share the underlying evidence."

~~~~~~~~~~

** Carl Bernstein of CNN: "In hundreds of highly classified phone calls with foreign heads of state..., Donald Trump was so consistently unprepared for discussion of serious issues, so often outplayed in his conversations with powerful leaders like Russian President Vladimir Putin and Turkish President Recep Erdogan, and so abusive to leaders of America's principal allies, that the calls helped convince some senior US officials -- including his former secretaries of state and defense, two national security advisers and his longest-serving chief of staff -- that the President himself posed a danger to the national security of the United States, according to White House and intelligence officials intimately familiar with the contents of the conversations."

James LaPorta of the AP: "Top officials in the White House were aware in early 2019 of classified intelligence indicating Russia was secretly offering bounties to the Taliban for the deaths of Americans, a full year earlier than has been previously reported, according to U.S. officials with direct knowledge of the intelligence. The assessment was included in at least one of ... Donald Trump's written daily intelligence briefings at the time, according to the officials. Then-national security adviser John Bolton also told colleagues he briefed Trump on the intelligence assessment in March 2019. Bolton declined to comment.... The AP reported Sunday that concerns about Russian bounties were also included in a second written presidential daily briefing earlier this year and that current national security adviser Robert O'Brien had discussed the matter with Trump. O'Brien denies he did so."

** Charlie Savage, et al., of the New York Times: "American officials provided a written briefing in late February to President Trump laying out their conclusion that a Russian military intelligence unit offered and paid bounties to Taliban-linked militants to kill U.S. and coalition troops in Afghanistan, two officials familiar with the matter said. The investigation into the suspected Russian covert operation to incentivize such killings has focused in part on an April 2019 car bombing that killed three Marines as one such potential attack.... Moreover, a description of the intelligence assessment that the Russian unit had carried out the bounties plot was also seen as serious and solid enough to disseminate more broadly across the intelligence community in a May 4 article in the C.I.A.'s World Intelligence Review, a classified compendium commonly referred to as The Wire, two officials said.... The new information emerged as the White House tried on Monday to play down the intelligence assessment that Russia sought to encourage and reward killings -- including reiterating a claim that Mr. Trump was never briefed about the matter and portraying the conclusion as disputed and dubious....

"Top Democrats in the House and Senate demanded all members of Congress be briefed, and the White House summoned a small group of House Republicans friendly to the president to begin explaining its position. The lawmakers emerged saying that they were told the administration was reviewing reporting about the suspected Russian plot to assess its credibility, and that the underlying intelligence was conflicting, echoing comments from the White House press secretary, Kayleigh McEnany.... Late on Monday, John Ratcliffe, the recently confirmed director of national intelligence, issued a statement warning that leaks about the matter were a crime." Mrs. McC: Notice that Ratcliffe is effective confirming the multiple stories about the intelligence.

Barbara Starr & Paul LeBlanc of CNN: "The intelligence that assessed there was an effort by a Russian military intelligence unit to pay the Taliban to kill US soldiers was included in one of ... Donald Trump's daily briefings on intelligence matters sometime in the spring, according to a US official with direct knowledge of the latest information. That assessment, the source said, was backed up by 'several pieces of information' that supported the view that there was an effort by the Russian intelligence unit -- the GRU -- to pay bounties to kill US soldiers, including interrogation of Taliban detainees and electronic eavesdropping. The source said there was some other information that did not corroborate this view but said, nonetheless, 'This was a big deal. When it's about US troops you go after it 100%, with everything you got.'"

Jason Slotkin & Mark Katkov of NPR: "In a tweet late Sunday night, President Trump said the intelligence community told him he was not briefed about allegations Russia had offered the Taliban bounty payments to kill Western forces -- including U.S. troops -- because it did not find the reports credible[:] 'Intel just reported to me that they did not find this info credible, and therefore did not report it to me or @VP. Possibly another fabricated Russia Hoax, maybe by the Fake News @nytimesbooks, wanting to make Republicans look bad!!!'" Mrs. McC: What's "not credible" is Trump's tweet. In various, and sometimes multiple, forms, the New York Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, NBC News and CNN all have confirmed the reports. And the U.K.'s Sky News, relying on British intel sources, also has confirmed the story (linked below). There may be others. Moreover, the WashPo (story linked below) also has confirmed that American soldiers were killed for the Russian bounties. Flag-draped coffins are tragically "credible." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Tell Everybody But Trump. Aaron Blake of the Washington Post: "White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany held a briefing Monday amid a growing furor over bounties that U.S. intelligence says Russia placed on U.S. troops in Afghanistan.... But her answers didn't match up with President Trump's, nor did they jibe with basic logic.... Rather than say that the information wasn't credible [as Trump claimed], she instead suggested that it was merely unconfirmed.... Second, McEnany was asked whether Trump had a message for Russia.... 'No, because he has not been briefed on the matter.'... [Trump claimed] he had spoken with 'intel' about the matter and heard back that the intelligence wasn't credible.... Wouldn't speaking to 'intel' constitute a briefing of some sort?... Third..., McEnany ... said that intelligence ... needs to be verified before it will be shared with the president. But that's not generally accurate; the President's Daily Brief, or PDB, has historically shared unconfirmed or even raw intelligence with the president.... At the same time, McEnany confirmed reports that congressional leaders are being briefed on the intelligence. In addition, The Washington Post and others have reported that this intelligence was shared with British officials last week. In other words..., this is information that is being shared with plenty of people who aren't the chief executive of the United States government but for some reason not with him."

Mrs. Bea McCrabbie: Nancy Pelosi, speaking to Jake Tapper Monday afternoon, posed one plausible reason intel agencies might not have briefed Trump: they feared he would alert Putin to U.S. intel that should remain secret, like sources & methods. (See also Carl Bernstein's report, linked above.)

Jeremy Herb & Lauren Fox of CNN: "A bipartisan group of congressional leaders is demanding the Trump administration explain what it knew about reports US intelligence concluded Russia offered bounties to Taliban fighters to kill US troops.... The swift response underscored the congressional push for information about the US intelligence -- and whether ... Donald Trump was briefed on the matter, which Trump denied. [Speaker] Pelosi also said that the 'Gang of Eight,' the congressional leaders who are briefed on sensitive intelligence matters, were not told about the bounties offered to the Taliban." (Also linked yesterday.)

Adam Silverman of Balloon Juice explains the obvious to Trump's toadies: "... while we now know that the Democrats in Congress will get a briefing on this [Tuesday], doing it this way is a SERIOUS PROBLEM!!!! The reason we have a Gang of 8 -- the Speaker and Minority Leader in House, the Majority and Minority Leaders in the Senate, and the chairs and ranking members of the intelligence committees in each chamber -- is to ensure that everyone gets briefed on this stuff at the same time. This is also the reason we are supposed to have a bipartisan intelligence oversight process within both the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence (HPSCI) and the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence (SSCI).... And the reason that the Gang of 8 or the members of both parties on the intelligence committees get briefed at the same time is to prevent ... one side [from] being told something the other side isn't. To avoid the politicization of intelligence." Read on. Silverman has much more to say.

MEANWHILE. Martin Matishak of Politico: "... GOP members of the House Intelligence Committee have skipped all but one of the panel's proceedings, public and private, since before Congress went into its coronavirus-lockdown in early March. And that impasse shows no signs of ending, even as the panel takes up issues like China, Covid-19 and the annual intelligence policy bill.... Democrats say the Republicans haven't provided a good explanation about why they've withdrawn or indicated what could get them back to the table."

David Ignatius of the Washington Post: "... starting in 2018, U.S. commanders noticed ... the Russians appeared to be helping the Taliban. Gen. John 'Mick' Nicholson Jr., who commanded U.S. forces in Afghanistan for more than two years, revealed the secret Russian aid for the Taliban in a March 23, 2018, interview with the BBC. He said Afghan leaders had showed U.S. commanders Russian-supplied weapons that had been smuggled across the border to Taliban fighters. Nicholson's 2018 interview was a rare public protest by a U.S. official. Trump didn't press the Russians to stop, and so they continued.... [As] U.S. military and intelligence officials became increasingly concerned..., Trump kept up a buzz of happy talk about improving relations with Putin.... Trump is an obstacle to good policy. Either people don';t tell him the truth, or he doesn't want to hear it. Whichever way, he’s defaulting on his most basic responsibility as commander in chief."

The New York Times' live updates for coronavirus developments Monday are here. The Washington Post's live updates for Monday are here: "Jacksonville, the largest city in Florida and host of the Republican National Convention in August, announced Monday that masks will be mandatory in public and indoor locations, as the World Health Organization warned that the outbreak is far from over. The news comes as the global community marked yet another grim milestone on Sunday, with the confirmed worldwide death count from the novel coronavirus surpassing 500,000, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University." Mrs. McC: Hope the Jax police arrest Trump mid-speech, cuff him & throw him in the tank with the usual riffraff. Ugliest mugshot ever. (Also linked yesterday.)

William Feuer of CNBC: "The coronavirus is spreading too rapidly and too broadly for the U.S. to bring it under control, Dr. Anne Schuchat, principal deputy director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said Monday. The U.S. has set records for daily new infections in recent days as outbreaks surge mostly across the South and West. The recent spike in new cases has outpaced daily infections in April when the virus rocked Washington state and the northeast, and when public officials thought the outbreak was hitting its peak in the U.S."

The Art of the Deal: Trump Administration Pays about 5 Times a Fair Price for Covid-19 Drug. Hannah Denham, et al., of the Washington Post: "Gilead Sciences, the maker of the first covid-19 treatment found to have worked in clinical trials, remdesivir, said Monday it will charge U.S. hospitals $3,120 for the typical patient with private insurance. Soon after the announcement, the Trump administration said it had secured nearly all of the company's supply of the drug for use in U.S. hospitals through September, with a contract for 500,000 treatment courses, which it will make available to hospitals at Gilead's price. Other developed countries will pay 25 percent less than the United States, a discount Gilead said reflects a need to make the drug as widely available as possible throughout the world.... An independent analysis last week by the Institute for Clinical and Economic Review said Gilead could recover its costs by distributing the drug for as little as $1 to $60 per dose, or $100 to $160 per dose if all of the company's 2020 costs are taken into account. Under Monday's pricing, Gilead set the price at $520 per dose in the United States and $390 per dose in other developed countries."

California. Shawn Hubler & Thomas Fuller of the New York Times: "Over the past week California’s case count has exploded, surpassing 200,000 known infections, and forcing [Gov. Gavin] Newsom [D] to roll back the state's reopening in some counties. On Monday, he said the number of people hospitalized in California had risen 43 percent over the past two weeks. Los Angeles County, which has been averaging more than 2,000 new cases each day, surpassed 100,000 total cases on Monday, with the virus actively infecting one in every 140 people, according to local health officials.... On Sunday, Mr. Newsom shut down the bars in a half-dozen counties, including Los Angeles County and in the Central Valley, and recommended that another eight counties voluntarily close their nightspots and gathering places. On Friday, Imperial County, along the Mexican border, was told to return to a stay-at-home order.... The head start that California appeared to enjoy -- the companies that allowed employees to work from home as early as February, the governor who warned residents in daily briefings to stay home and appeared to be listened to -- was not protective enough in the long run. Younger people appear to account for the large surge in new cases, as they have in many other states."

Trump, an Unapologetic Racist. Ashley Parker & Toluse Olorunnipa of the Washington Post: Sunday morning, Donald Trump "shared a video on Twitter that included a Trump supporter shouting 'white power' at counterprotesters during a demonstration at the Villages, a retirement community in central Florida, and had called his supporters there 'great people.' Senior staffers ... began trying to reach the president to convey their concerns about the tweet. White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany, son-in-law Jared Kushner and other senior advisers spoke with [the] president.... Roughly three hours later, the president gave the go-ahead to delete his incendiary tweet -- moved, in large part, by the public calls from Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina, the Senate's only black Republican, to do just that, aides said.... But neither the president nor his team publicly condemned the racist phrase.... As protests over police brutality and racial injustice have erupted across the country in recent weeks, Trump has dialed up his inflammatory rhetoric, repeatedly turning to racist tropes."

Marissa Lang of the Washington Post: "Congress on Monday began to investigate tactics used by federal law enforcement officers to clear protesters near Lafayette Square ahead of President Trump's photo op in front of the pale yellow facade of St. John's Episcopal Church. Protesters, journalists and witnesses who were caught in clouds of chemical irritants, hit with police batons, pelted by projectiles and shoved with riot shields described their experiences and injuries to lawmakers, whose confidence in police officers' tactics seemed to splinter along party lines.... None of the witnesses heard verbal warnings issued, they testified.... No members of the Trump administration were called to testify. Park Police officials, who led the charge against protesters on June 1, declined to attend, lawmakers said, because one protester called to speak is part of a federal lawsuit alleging the administration authorized an 'unprovoked and frankly criminal attack' on demonstrators engaging in their First Amendment right to protest."

Brian Kilmeade of Fox "News" to Donald Trump: Since you have done a lot for the African-American community, what is your message to them who say, 'my ancestors were enslaved because of their...

Donald Trump: My message is that we have a great country. We have the greatest country on Earth. We have a heritage, we have a history. We should learn from the history. And if you don't understand your history, you'll go back to it again. You will go right back to it. You have to learn. Think of it -- take away that whole era, and you'll go back to it sometime -- people won't know about it. ~~~

~~~ Donald Trump, History Professor. Matt Novak of Gizmodo: "In a bizarre interview with Fox News [Sunday] night, President Trump stood next to a sculpture in the Oval Office that he said depicts former president Teddy Roosevelt, and explained that statues are vital to learning about history. Trump went on to complain that some people want to tear down statues of President Roosevelt, just like the art in his office. The only problem? The sculpture Trump was talking about isn't Teddy Roosevelt. It's an anonymous cowboy from the 1890s.... The sculpture in the Oval Office of the White House is called The Bronco Buster and was originally designed in 1895 by Frederic Remington.... Trump appears to be saying that if you don't leave up statues of slaveholders then slavery will somehow become legal again in the United States. Or something. Who knows at this point?" Mrs. McC: The Bronco Buster is well-known, and many people of Trump's generation are familiar with it.

Karoun Demirjian of the Washington Post: "The Senate is poised to challenge President Trump this week with legislation requiring the military to rename bases bearing the names of Confederate generals, a proposal that is shaping up to be one of the most contentious items in this year's annual defense bill.... The bill that emerged from the Republican-led Senate Armed Services Committee included a provision giving the Pentagon three years to come up with new names, while an amendment filed by Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and 35 other Senate Democrats last week would speed up that process, requiring the name changes within a year. Although there is still vocal opposition to removing the Confederate names -- Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) has proposed an amendment to strip the renaming requirement -- Republican support for the measure suggests that it will survive any challenges during this week's floor debate."

Kansas. The Kansas City Star: "Kansas City's mayor [Quinton Lucas, an African American] was sent text messages calling him a racial slur and saying he 'should swing from a tree' because of his order requiring face coverings to be worn in public." --s

Michigan. Timothy Bella of the Washington Post: "A largely peaceful protest in Detroit against systemic racism and police brutality turned violent on Sunday night as a police SUV plowed through a group of protesters, striking multiple people and sending a couple of demonstrators who had climbed on the hood flying from the vehicle. Police accelerated the vehicle multiple times as dozens of protesters surrounded it, according to videos of the incident posted to social media. After each acceleration, protesters could be heard shrieking in shock, pleading for the driver to stop hitting the gas while people were in front of the vehicle and being thrown from its hood.... [Ethan Ketner, a protester who filmed the scene,] wrote that 'multiple people injured' were receiving treatment at local hospitals." (Also linked yesterday.)

Missouri. Teo Armus of the Washington Post: "... as [a] peaceful crowd of about 500 [protesters calling for the removal of the city's mayor] walked along a private, gated street, a white couple ... emerged from a marble mansion.... A barefoot man in a pink collared shirt walked out from the five-story house, carrying a semiautomatic rifle as he appeared to threaten the group. A few feet away, a woman pointed a pistol at the crowd, her finger directly on the trigger.... A video of the scene on social media had been viewed almost 9 million times. President Trump retweeted it without explanation on Monday morning. The White House later declined to say why he did so." (Also linked yesterday.)

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: Allow me to answer for "the White House": "President Trump retweeted the video of rich white people pointing guns at peaceful protesters because he wants everyone to know that he approves of vigilantes threatening lethal force & perhaps shooting you dead for exercising your First Amendment rights. SECOND AMENDMENT!" (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ An AP story is here. "Police said they were still investigating but labeled it a case of trespassing and assault by intimidation against the couple by protesters in the racially diverse crowd.... [The barefoot man in the pink shirt] Mark McCloskey told KMOV-TV that a mob rushed toward the home as the family was having dinner and 'put us in fear of our lives.'" Mrs. McC: Well, of course the McCloskeys were in fear of their lives. They were dining at home when a 'racially diverse crowd' happened by. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

~~~ Annie Karni of the New York Times pulls no punches in her straight report on Trump's retweet: "Mr. Trump's promotion of the St. Louis confrontation was the second time in two days that the president used his social media platforms ... to exacerbate racial divisions.... The protesters were participating in a peaceful march to the home of Lyda Krewson, the Democratic mayor of St. Louis, in order to demand her resignation after she released the names and identifying details of individuals who supported defunding the police.... The confrontation, which looked like something out of a Quentin Tarantino film, was captured on video and quickly drew more than 10 million views online.... The White House did not respond to requests for comment about the president's decision to promote the clip. But in the past, Mr. Trump has positioned himself as a strong defender of Second Amendment rights. He has also failed to distinguish between peaceful protesters, whose right to assemble is protected by the Constitution, and violent looters...."

All the Best People, Ctd.

Jonathan Swan of Axios: "President Trump intends to nominate John Gibbs to run the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), according to two sources with direct knowledge of the decision.... Gibbs is a former conservative commentator who currently serves as a senior official at the Department of Housing and Urban Development. Gibbs received national media attention when CNN reported, in 2018, that he 'spread a false conspiracy theory that claimed Hillary Clinton's 2016 presidential campaign chairman took part in a Satanic ritual.'" --s

Chris D'Angelo of the Huffington Post: "...Donald Trump will formally nominate William Perry Pendley, a self-proclaimed 'sagebrush rebel' with extreme anti-environmental views and a long history of advocating for the sale of federal lands in the West, to serve as director of the Bureau of Land Management.... Pendley's first stint in government was under James Watt, President Ronald Reagan's Interior Department chief, who is widely considered among the most anti-environment Cabinet appointees in U.S. history.... Along with extreme views on federal land policy, Pendley detests the Endangered Species Act, once writing the conservation law seeks 'to kill or prevent anybody from making a living on federal land.' He has sued the federal government numerous times in the last three decades, railed often against environmental 'terrorists' and 'eco-fascists,' and compared the climate crisis to a 'unicorn' because 'neither exists.'" --s

Andrew Kaczynski & Nathan McDermott of CNN: "A Trump administration appointee at the United States' agency responsible for foreign aid has a history of inflammatory rhetoric aimed at refugees, the LGBTQ community and women. The comments come from Merritt Corrigan, the recently appointed deputy White House liaison at the US Agency for International Development, in tweets in 2019 and 2020.... Axios reported Wednesday that USAID employee groups requested to meet with John Barsa, the acting administrator of USAID, over concerns about Corrigan and several other recent appointees. On June 8, Barsa defended Corrigan and two other appointees with a history of anti-LGBTQ and anti-Muslim remarks, saying in a statement articles on their comments were 'unwarranted and malicious attacks.'"

Amy Goldstein of the Washington Post: "The House Monday passed the first significant expansion of the Affordable Care Act since its birth a decade ago, providing Democrats a high-wattage platform to castigate President Trump for his efforts to overturn the landmark law during a pandemic and an election year. The 234-179 vote, almost entirely along party lines, was a hollow exercise in terms of any chance the bill would become law and reshape federal health policy. Moments after the debate began, the White House announced the president would veto the legislation if it reached his desk, though a wall of Senate Republican opposition to the measure makes that a moot point. Still, the vote ... forced Republicans to go on the record about the ACA and showed anew the parties' highly charged ideological differences on health care -- an issue that consistently polls as a prime concern among U.S. voters."

Elections 2020

Alex Kaplan of Media Matters: "Multiple supporters of the QAnon conspiracy theory, which got its start on far-right message boards, are running campaigns for Congress in 2020.... Here are 58 current or former congressional candidates who embrace it." --safari: Surprise, they're almost all Republicans.

** Ave, Ave Stare Decisis! Adam Liptak of the New York Times: "The Supreme Court on Monday struck down a Louisiana law that could have left the state with a single abortion clinic. The vote was 5 to 4, with Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. voting with the court's four-member liberal wing but not adopting its reasoning. The chief justice said respect for precedent compelled him to vote with the majority. The case was the court's first on abortion since President Trump's appointments of two justices shifted the court to the right. The Louisiana law, which was enacted in 2014, requires doctors performing abortions to have admitting privileges at nearby hospitals." An NBC News story is here. The AP story is here. Mrs. McC: Gosh, I seem to remember when Sen. Susan Collins (Gullible-Maine) voted to put Cowardly Liar Brett Kavanaugh on the Supreme Court because he assured her that he would preserve abortion rights. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

~~~ Dahlia Lithwick of Slate: "Roberts' concurrence is classic Roberts -- cloak a major blow to the left in what appears to be a small victory for it.... He ... does essentially what he did in last year's census case and last week's challenge to the DACA rescission: He hints that essentially any old pretextual defense of an abortion law will serve; he just doesn't like when lazy litigants offer up sloppy pretexts.... As was the case in the census litigation, and the DACA litigation, the outcome here is correct, but one can easily reverse-engineer the chief justice's opinion to say, 'Come back to me with the right road map and I&'m all yours,' and in fact, he actually grabs your pencil, flips over the napkin, and sketches the map out at no extra cost.... To be sure, nobody is more grateful than I am that the chief justice has opted, yet again, this week, not to tether himself to a conservative legal project that seeks to return women's rights to the Paleozoic era (thanks, Clarence Thomas! And thanks, Susan Collins, for Brett Kavanaugh!).... But the drumbeat that fêtes Roberts as a 'liberal' or a 'moderate' or 'evolving' fails to capture what he is."~~~

~~~ Ian Millhiser of Vox: "The Supreme Court just delivered the narrowest, most temporary victory for abortion rights. Though Chief Justice John Roberts, a conservative who votes fairly consistently to uphold abortion restrictions, cast the key fifth vote to strike down a Louisiana anti-abortion law, his opinion makes it clear that his views about abortion haven't changed. The best reading of the Court's decision in June Medical Services v. Russo is that Roberts just gave the constitutional right to an abortion a potentially very brief reprieve. And he did so largely because Louisiana presented the weakest possible case in June Medical. As Justice Stephen Breyer notes in his plurality opinion, June Medical involves a Louisiana law that is 'almost word-for-word identical' to a Texas law the Supreme Court struck down four years ago in Whole Woman's Health v. Hellerstedt (2016).... 'I joined the dissent in Whole Woman's Health and continue to believe that the case was wrongly decided,' the chief justice writes. Nevertheless, 'the question today however is not whether Whole Woman's Health was right or wrong, but whether to adhere to it in deciding the present case.'... But Roberts also signals that he's open to a lawsuit challenging this right on other grounds." (Also linked yesterday.)

Adam Liptak of the New York Times: "The Supreme Court ruled Monday that the president is free to fire the director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau without cause. The decision, rejecting a federal law that sought to place limits on presidential oversight of independent agencies, was a victory for the conservative movement to curb the administrative state. The vote was 5 to 4, with the court's five more conservative justices in the majority." (Also linked yesterday.)

Robert Barnes of the Washington Post: "The Supreme Court will not take up a challenge to new federal death penalty protocols proposed by the Justice Department, which wants to resume executions as early as July for the first time since 2003. The court, without comment, declined Monday to take up the lawsuit filed by four death row inmates. As is customary, it gave no reason. Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Sonia Sotomayor said they would have accepted the case." Mrs. McC: Barr's purpose here, I suppose, is to make Trump look tough on heinous crime. (Also linked yesterday.)

Cristiano Lima of Politico: "Video streaming platform Twitch temporarily suspended ... Donald Trump's channel and social media site Reddit banned a longtime forum used by his supporters in separate actions Monday aimed at curtailing hateful content that come as the tech industry grapples with its handling of the president. Reddit CEO Steve Huffman announced in a post that the r/The_Donald forum, which boasted over 790,000 subscribers as of earlier Monday.... Twitch, a subsidiary of the e-commerce giant Amazon, confirmed on Monday that it has separately suspended Trump's campaign channel on the platform for posting videos that ran afoul of its rules against content that 'promotes, encourages or facilitates discrimination, denigration, objectification, harassment or violence' based on an individual's identity. A company spokesperson said the channel violated its rules by rebroadcasting a video of Trump's 2015 event kicking off his presidential candidacy, in which he referred to Mexican immigrants as 'rapists.'" ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: IOW, Twitch is affirming that Donald Trump was unacceptable from the git-go.

Jared Holt of Right Wing Watch: "YouTube ​banned six accounts used by high-profile white nationalists on Monday. According to YouTube, the respective channels 'repeatedly or egregiously violated our policies by alleging that members of protected groups were innately inferior to others, among other violations.' The removed accounts include those ​owned by far-right political entertainer Stefan Molyneux, white nationalist outlets American Renaissance and Radix Journal, as well as longtime Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke. YouTube also removed two associated channels: one belonging to alt-right poster boy Richard Spencer and another hosting American Renaissance podcasts."

Beyond the Beltway

California. Justin Juvenal of the Washington Post: "The man accused of being the 'Golden State Killer' pleaded guilty to 13 murders and admitted to other crimes Monday, finally bringing to a close an infamous string of long-unsolved slayings, rapes and burglaries that terrorized California during the 1970s and 1980s. Joseph James DeAngelo Jr., 74, admitted he was one of the nation's worst serial predators, as part of deal with prosecutors in a handful of California counties that spared him the death penalty. The deal calls for him to serve life in prison without parole."

Way Beyond

China/Hong Kong. Eva Dou & Shibani Mahtani of the Washington Post: "China on Tuesday adopted a contentious national security law that will allow Beijing to override Hong Kong's judicial system and target political opponents in the city, stripping the territory of autonomy promised under the handover agreement with Britain and raising the prospect of further retaliation from Washington. The move has strained China's relations with the United States and other Western nations, with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo saying on Friday that Washington would place visa restrictions on Chinese officials responsible for curtailing freedoms in Hong Kong. On Monday, China said it would impose reciprocal measures on unspecified American officials, while the U.S. Commerce Department suspended some of Hong Kong's preferential trade treatment under U.S. law."

News Lede

New York Times: "Carl Reiner, who as performer, writer and director earned a place in comedy history several times over, died on Monday night at his home in Beverly Hills. He was 98." Mrs. McC: My favorite sentence in the obit: "A photo showing Mr. Reiner, [Mel] Brooks and Annie Reiner [-- Carl's daughter]] wearing 'Black Lives Matter T-shirts' was posted on Twitter this week." A mensch till he died.

The Commentariat -- June 29, 2020

Late Morning Update:

Ave, Ave Stare Decisis! Adam Liptak of the New York Times: "The Supreme Court on Monday struck down a Louisiana law that could have left the state with a single abortion clinic. The vote was 5 to 4, with Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. voting with the court's four-member liberal wing but not adopting its reasoning. The chief justice said respect for precedent compelled him to vote with the majority. The case was the court's first on abortion since President Trump's appointments of two justices shifted the court to the right. The Louisiana law, which was enacted in 2014, requires doctors performing abortions to have admitting privileges at nearby hospitals." An NBC News story is here. The AP story is here. Mrs. McC: Gosh, I seem to remember when Sen. Susan Collins (Gullible-Maine) voted to put Cowardly Liar Brett Kavanaugh on the Supreme Court because he assured her that he would preserve abortion rights. ~~~

~~~ Ian Millhiser of Vox: “The Supreme Court just delivered the narrowest, most temporary victory for abortion rights. Though Chief Justice John Roberts, a conservative who votes fairly consistently to uphold abortion restrictions, cast the key fifth vote to strike down a Louisiana anti-abortion law, his opinion makes it clear that his views about abortion haven't changed. The best reading of the Court's decision in June Medical Services v. Russo is that Roberts just gave the constitutional right to an abortion a potentially very brief reprieve. And he did so largely because Louisiana presented the weakest possible case in June Medical. As Justice Stephen Breyer notes in his plurality opinion, June Medical involves a Louisiana law that is 'almost word-for-word identical' to a Texas law the Supreme Court struck down four years ago in Whole Woman's Health v. Hellerstedt (2016).... 'I joined the dissent in Whole Woman's Health and continue to believe that the case was wrongly decided,' the chief justice writes. Nevertheless, 'the question today however is not whether Whole Woman's Health was right or wrong, but whether to adhere to it in deciding the present case.'... But Roberts also signals that he's open to a lawsuit challenging this right on other grounds.

Adam Liptak of the New York Times: "The Supreme Court ruled Monday that the president is free to fire the director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau without cause. The decision, rejecting a federal law that sought to place limits on presidential oversight of independent agencies, was a victory for the conservative movement to curb the administrative state. The vote was 5 to 4, with the court’s five more conservative justices in the majority."

Robert Barnes of the Washington Post: "The Supreme Court will not take up a challenge to new federal death penalty protocols proposed by the Justice Department, which wants to resume executions as early as July for the first time since 2003. The court, without comment, declined Monday to take up the lawsuit filed by four death row inmates. As is customary, it gave no reason. Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Sonia Sotomayor said they would have accepted the case." Mrs. McC: Barr's purpose might be to make Trump look tough on heinous crime.

Michigan. Timothy Bella of the Washington Post: "A largely peaceful protest in Detroit against systemic racism and police brutality turned violent on Sunday night as a police SUV plowed through a group of protesters, striking multiple people and sending a couple of demonstrators who had climbed on the hood flying from the vehicle. Police accelerated the vehicle multiple times as dozens of protesters surrounded it, according to videos of the incident posted to social media. After each acceleration, protesters could be heard shrieking in shock, pleading for the driver to stop hitting the gas while people were in front of the vehicle and being thrown from its hood.... [Ethan] Ketner[, a protester who filmed the scene,] wrote that 'multiple people injured' were receiving treatment at local hospitals."

Missouri. Teo Armus of the Washington Post: "... as [a] peaceful crowd of about 500 [protesters calling for the removal of the city's mayor] walked along a private, gated street, a white couple ... emerged from a marble mansion.... A barefoot man in a pink collared shirt walked out from the five-story house, carrying a semiautomatic rifle as he appeared to threaten the group. A few feet away, a woman pointed a pistol at the crowd, her finger directly on the trigger.... A video of the scene on social media had been viewed almost 9 million times. President Trump retweeted it without explanation on Monday morning. The White House later declined to say why he did so."

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: Allow me to answer for "the White House": "Mr. Trump retweeted the video of rich white people pointing guns at peaceful protesters because he wants everyone to know that he approves of vigilantes threatening lethal force & perhaps shooting you dead for exercising your First Amendment rights. SECOND AMENDMENT!" ~~~

     ~~~ An AP story is here. "Police said they were still investigating but labeled it a case of trespassing and assault by intimidation against the couple by protesters in the racially diverse crowd.... [The barefoot man in the pink shirt] Mark McCloskey told KMOV-TV that a mob rushed toward the home as the family was having dinner and 'put us in fear of our lives.'" Mrs. McC: Well, of course the McCloskeys were in fear of their lives. They were dining at home when a 'racially diverse crowd' happened by.

The New York Times' live updates for coronavirus developments Monday are here. The Washington Post's live updates for Monday are here: "Jacksonville, the largest city in Florida and host of the Republican National Convention in August, announced Monday that masks will be mandatory in public and indoor locations, as the World Health Organization warned that the outbreak is far from over. The news comes as the global community marked yet another grim milestone on Sunday, with the confirmed worldwide death count from the novel coronavirus surpassing 500,000, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University." Mrs. McC: Hope the Jax police arrest Trump mid-speech, cuff him & throw him in the tank with the usual riffraff. Ugliest mugshot ever.

Jason Slotkin & Mark Katkov of NPR: "In a tweet late Sunday night, President Trump said the intelligence community told him he was not briefed about allegations Russia had offered the Taliban bounty payments to kill Western forces — including U.S. troops -- because it did not find the reports credible[:] 'Intel just reported to me that they did not find this info credible, and therefore did not report it to me or @VP. Possibly another fabricated Russia Hoax, maybe by the Fake News @nytimesbooks, wanting to make Republicans look bad!!!'" Mrs. McC: What's "not credible" is Trump's tweet. In various, and sometimes multiple, forms, the New York Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, NBC News and CNN all have confirmed the reports. And the U.K.'s Sky News, relying on British intel sources, also has confirmed the story (linked below). There may be others. Moreover, the WashPo (story linked below) also has confirmed that American soldiers were killed for the Russian bounties. Flag-draped coffins are tragically "credible." ~~~

~~~ Jeremy Herb & Lauren Fox of CNN: "A bipartisan group of congressional leaders is demanding the Trump administration explain what it knew about reports US intelligence concluded Russia offered bounties to Taliban fighters to kill US troops.... The swift response underscored the congressional push for information about the US intelligence -- and whether ... Donald Trump was briefed on the matter, which Trump denied. [Speaker] Pelosi also said that the 'Gang of Eight,' the congressional leaders who are briefed on sensitive intelligence matters, were not told about the bounties offered to the Taliban."

~~~~~~~~~~

** Ellen Nakashima, et al., of the Washington Post: "Russian bounties offered to Taliban-linked militants to kill coalition forces in Afghanistan are believed to have resulted in the deaths of several U.S. service members, according to intelligence gleaned from U.S. military interrogations of captured militants in recent months.... The intelligence was passed up from the U.S. Special Operations forces based in Afghanistan and led to a restricted high-level White House meeting in late March.... The disturbing intelligence -- which the CIA was tasked with reviewing, and later confirmed -- generated disagreement about the appropriate path forward, a senior U.S. official said.... As more details have unfolded, the primary controversy in Washington over the weekend revolved around denials by President Trump and his aides that the president was ever briefed on the intelligence.... House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Sunday joined other lawmakers -- including leading Republicans -- in expressing concern and calling for the administration to provide Congress with an explanation. 'This is as bad as it gets, and yet the president will not confront the Russians on this score, denies being briefed,' Pelosi said on ABC's 'This Week.'... Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.), a Trump ally who golfed with the president Sunday..., said it was 'Imperative Congress get to the bottom' of the Russian offer 'to pay the Taliban to kill American soldiers with the goal of pushing America out of the region.'" ~~~

~~~ Eric Schmitt, et al., of the New York Times: "United States intelligence officers and Special Operations forces in Afghanistan alerted their superiors as early as January to a suspected Russian plot to pay bounties to the Taliban to kill American troops in Afghanistan, according to officials briefed on the matter. The crucial information that led the spies and commandos to focus on the bounties included the recovery of a large amount of American cash from a raid on a Taliban outpost.... Interrogations of captured militants and criminals played a central role in making the intelligence community confident in its assessment that the Russians had offered and paid bounties in 2019, another official has said. Armed with this information, military and intelligence officials have been reviewing American and other coalition combat casualties since early last year to determine whether any were victims of the plot.... The details added to the picture of the classified intelligence assessment, which The New York Times reported Friday has been under discussion inside the Trump administration since at least March, and emerged as the White House confronted a growing chorus of criticism on Sunday over its apparent failure to authorize a response to Russia." ~~~

~~~ Trump: I Was Clueless! Lynn Berry & Zeke Miller of the AP: "... Donald Trump on Sunday denied that he had been briefed on reported U.S. intelligence that a Russian military intelligence unit secretly offered bounties to Taliban-linked militants for killing American troops in Afghanistan, and he appeared to minimize the allegations against Moscow. American intelligence officials concluded months ago that Russian officials offered rewards for successful attacks on American service-members last year, at a time when the U.S. and Taliban were holding talks to end the long-running war, according to The New York Times. Trump, in a Sunday morning tweet, said 'Nobody briefed or told me' or Vice President Mike Pence or chief of staff Mark Meadows about 'the so-called attacks on our troops in Afghanistan by Russians.... Everybody is denying it & there have not been many attacks on us,' he said.... Trump's director of national intelligence, John Ratcliffe, also said neither the president nor vice president was 'ever briefed on any intelligence alleged' in the Times' report and he said the White House statement was 'accurate.'" (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: This is a remarkable response. Trump is downplaying the attacks as "not many" and saying that "everybody is denying it," when "everybody" = Russia & the Taliban. That is, Trump is once again taking Putin -- and even the Taliban's! -- word over the U.S. intel community's. In addition, a real president who learned that his own intel staff had not informed him of proxy acts of war against U.S. military personnel would immediately find out why, & staff heads likely would roll. ~~~

~~~ Tom Boggioni of the Raw Story: "Appearing on MSNBC early Sunday morning, [Jeremy Bash,] the former chief of staff at the U.S. Department of Defense and the Central Intelligence Agency said it was 'inconceivable' that Donald Trump was not aware that Russia has been paying a bounty for every American soldier killed in Afghanistan and said the administration's protestations 'don't add up.'... 'They don't appear to be denying the underlying intelligence,' Bash began. 'They don't appear to be denying they have intelligence that Russia and Russian intelligence paid Taliban elements to go out and kill U.S. service-members..., but they appear to be saying the president and other senior leaders at the White House were not briefed, which I find totally inconceivable and totally noncredible.'" ~~~

~~~ Juan Cole: "Director of National Security John Ratcliffe, a strong Trump supporter who is a political appointee rather than an intelligence professional, denied the report that Trump was briefed on the GRU instigation. I'll say right away that I don't find Ratcliffe's denial plausible. If the intelligence were gathered, it would have been briefed to the president.... A leak like this makes you ask questions.... The entire scenario is baffling. The most plausible thing in the story is that Trump would have been told that the Russians had harmed US troops, and that Trump should have ignored it and gone on pursuing his creepy friendship with Vladimir Putin. And, yes, you could imagine US military and intelligence analysts seeing that happen and being so frustrated that they risked their careers and possibly their freedom in order to blow the whistle." ~~~

~~~ Riley Beggin of Vox has a good summary of the reports here. ~~~

** Alistair Bunkall of Sky News: "British security officials have confirmed to Sky News that the reports about the plot are true.... The report, which was first published on Friday evening by The New York Times, is 'on the nose', according to a source briefed on the matter.... There are currently around 1,000 British troops deployed in Afghanistan, mainly in the capital Kabul, and no confirmation any have been hurt as a result of the Russian efforts." --s

~~~ J.L. Cauvin, on the other hand, says Putin did not place a bounty on our troops; after seeing Donald strongly throw the paper towels at Puerto Ricans, Putin offered to send our troops Bounty paper towels. (Also linked yesterday.)

It was a day ending in "y", so another Trumpatrocity:

** Michael Shear of the New York Times: "President Trump on Sunday retweeted a video of one of his supporters yelling 'White power!,' once again using the vast reach of his social media platforms to inflame racial divisions in a nation roiled by weeks of protests about police brutality against black people and demands for social justice reforms. The edited racist video shows a white man riding in a golf cart bearing 'Trump 2020' and 'America First' signs during what appears to be an angry clash over the president and race between white residents of a Florida retirement community.... In response to a protester shouting 'Where's your white hood?' and other taunts, the man in the golf cart pumps his fist in the air and says 'White power!' twice. The two-minute video continues to show profane exchanges between protesters and other Trump supporters riding on more golf carts. The president retweeted the video to his millions of followers just after 7:30 a.m., thanking 'the great people of The Villages,' the Florida retirement community where the clash apparently took place. He added: 'The Radical Left Do Nothing Democrats will Fall in the Fall. Corrupt Joe is shot. See you soon!!!'... Mr. Trump deleted the tweet more than three hours after posting it."* An NPR story is here. (Also linked yesterday.)

     * Mrs. McCrabbie: No, "Mr Trump did not delete the tweet." According to NBC News, someone deleted the tweet while Trump was on the golf course with Lindsey Graham. The "White Power" yells came right at the top of the video, also according to NBC. In fairness to Trump, it does seem quite possible that he didn't notice or see anything wrong with someone yelling "White Power" twice. (An amazed protester immediately repeats it, too: "He said 'White Power.' Did you hear that?" So that's three times.) But it seems like a normal remark to Trump. Neither he nor anyone from the White House condemned the "White Power" sentiment. Judd Deere of the White House eventually put out this statement: ""President Trump is a big fan of The Villages. He did not hear the one statement made on the video. What he did see was tremendous enthusiasm from his many supporters." Big fan. A real president, of course, would be embarrassed if his supporters were doddering old white supremacists & would disavow them.

I will ALWAYS PROTECT PEOPLE WITH PRE-EXISTING CONDITIONS, ALWAYS, ALWAYS,ALWAYS!!! -- Donald Trump, in a tweet last week, after DOJ filed a brief demanding the pre-existing-condition provisions of the ACA be abolished

Trump has claimed nearly 100 times since he took office that he will 'always protect people with preexisting conditions,' but the legal brief filed by the Justice Department last week belies the president's claim. It says point blank that the entire Affordable Care Act -- including its coverage guarantee for people with preexisting conditions -- 'must fall.' -- Salvador Rizzo of the Washington Post

Mark Mazzetti, et al., of the New York Times have written (what I consider) a devastating story on how AG Bill Barr colluded with Michael Flynn's attorney Sidney Powell to drop the charge against Flynn. "Ms. Powell and her client won a significant victory on Wednesday when a divided appeals court panel -- in a surprise ruling written by Judge Neomi Rao, a former White House official whom Mr. Trump appointed to the bench -- ordered Judge Sullivan to drop the case without scrutiny. Judge [Emmet] Sullivan suspended his review but has not dismissed the charge, suggesting that the extraordinary legal and political saga is not yet over." (Also linked yesterday.)

The Trumpidemic, Ctd.

John Harwood of CNN: "... Donald Trump, ever impulsive, often acts against his own interests. But nothing tops his self-defeating resistance to mask wearing during the coronavirus pandemic. His dogged stance, mimicked by supporters, undercuts efforts by public health officials to stop the summer resurgence of coronavirus. That in turn impedes efforts to revive the US economy, now staggering under the highest unemployment rate since the Great Depression. Failures on both fronts has left Trump in a deep hole on his pre-eminent priority of winning reelection. And they leave public health experts mystified."

Felicia Sonmez, et al., of the Washington Post: "Vice President Pence on Sunday implored Americans to wear face masks, practice social distancing and stay away from senior citizens protect them amid a new spike in coronavirus infections, as the United States surpassed 2.5 million confirmed cases.... But earlier Sunday, a 'Celebrate Freedom' rally Pence attended at First Baptist Church in Dallas featured a large choir that did not wear masks while singing, despite evidence that some choir practices have served as 'superspreader' events. Members of the choir put on their masks after they finished singing, and about two-thirds of attendees were wearing masks during the event, although many were sitting side-by-side in the pews." ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: Funny how mike didn't think wearing face masks & practicing social distancing was important till the coronavirus began hitting hard in states that tend to vote Republican. You might think he didn't care when Democrats were getting sick & dying in the long, cold months of winter & spring. ~~~

     ~~~ Jamie Ehrlich of CNN: "A choir of more than 100 people performed without masks at a robustly attended event in Texas at the First Baptist Church on Sunday that featured a speech by Vice President Mike Pence. Nearly 2,200 people attended the 'Celebrate Freedom Rally,' in the Lone Star State, according to rally organizers, which has seen a severe surge in coronavirus cases since easing restrictions.... Throughout the service, the members of the choir sang at full volume, behind an orchestra.... When Pence arrived at the event, he was wearing a mask. Sen. John Cornyn, a Texas Republican, and Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson, who traveled with the vice president, also wore masks." ~~~

~~~ Justin Wise of the Hill: "... Joe Biden's campaign on Sunday denounced Vice President Pence for his scheduled trip to Dallas, saying it 'epitomizes the dismissive attitude"'the Trump administration has taken toward addressing the coronavirus outbreak. Pence, the head of the White House coronavirus task force, is set to visit Texas Sunday to receive an on-the-ground report from officials about the surge in coronavirus cases throughout the state. He is also scheduled to speak at an event at the First Baptist Dallas, a church led by Pastor Robert Jeffries, during the visit. 'Our leaders should be tackling this pandemic head on and laying out concrete recovery plans for the American people -- not jet setting across the country to hold events that go against basic public health guidance,' Biden campaign manager Kate Bedingfield said in a statement." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

~~~ Mike Morris & Zach Despart of the Houston Chronicle: "Texas Medical Center hospitals [in Houston] have stopped reporting key metrics showing the stress rising numbers of COVID-19 patients are placing on their facilities, undermining data that policy makers and the public have relied upon during the pandemic to gauge the spread of the coronavirus. The change came one day after the hospitals reported their base intensive care capacity had hit 100 percent for the first time during the pandemic, with projections showing the institutions -- which together comprise the world's largest medical complex -- were on pace to exceed their 'unsustainable surge capacity' by July 6." Oops! Firewalled.

Jamie Ehrlich, et al., of CNN: "Senior Republican Sen. Lamar Alexander said Sunday that he thinks it would 'help' if ... Donald Trump wore a mask because it would eliminate political stigma around doing so as the coronavirus continues to spread across the US. 'If wearing masks is important and all the health experts tell us that it is in containing the disease in 2020, it would help if from time to time the President would wear one to help us get rid of this political debate that says if you're for Trump, you don't wear a mask, if you're against Trump, you do,' the Tennessee Republican, who chairs the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, said on CNN's 'Inside Politics.'" (Also linked yesterday.)

Worth Remembering. Catherine Thorbecke & Arielle Mitropoulos of ABC: "At least 45 million people have filed for unemployment since the pandemic began. Yet between March 18 and June 17, as the pandemic raged, the combined wealth of the 614 U.S. billionaires increased by $584 billion[.]" --s

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

Christina Maxouris & Eliott McLaughlin of CNN: "Only two US states are reporting a decline in new coronavirus cases compared to last week: Connecticut and Rhode Island. A rise was reported in a staggering 36 states, including Florida, which some experts have cautioned could be the next epicenter for infections.... Florida reported 9,585 new coronavirus cases Saturday, a single-day record.... The number rivals those of New York's peak in early April (New York's new case tally Saturday was about 6% of Florida's)." (Also linked yesterday.)

Florida. Frances Robles of the New York Times: "On Saturday, for the second straight day, Florida crushed its previous record for new coronavirus cases, reporting 9,585 infections. Another 8,530 were reported on Sunday.... Six-hour lines formed in Jacksonville over the weekend as thousands of people flocked to get drive-through tests. Orlando has seen an explosion of coronavirus: nearly 60 percent of all cases diagnosed in that county came in just the past two weeks.... Statewide, about 20 percent of people aged 25 to 34 are testing positive, [Gov. Ron DeSantis (R)] said at a news conference Sunday.... Much of Florida's new surge in cases appears to follow from the reopening of beaches, bars, restaurants and other social activities. The state's beaches are full and throngs of revelers pack its waterways on boats.... The median age of new coronavirus patients is now 36, the Department of Health said.... Officials have done little so far to halt public interactions.

Presidential Race

Shane Goldmacher & Thomas Kaplan of the New York Times: "Former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. released statistics on the diversity of his presidential campaign staff on Saturday evening, announcing that 35 percent of his full-time staff members and 36 percent of his full-time senior staff members are people of color. A majority of Mr. Biden's staff members and senior staff members are women -- 53 percent and 58 percent, respectively.... [Donald Trump's] campaign said on Saturday that 25 percent of senior staff members are people of color.... The Trump campaign also said on Saturday that 52 percent of its full-time staff members, and 56 percent of its senior staff members, are women." (Also linked yesterday.) Mrs. McC: Re: Trump campaign, pardon my skepticism. And here's a good reason why:

     ~~~ Zoe Tillman of BuzzFeed News: There are 93 U.S. attorney positions. Trump has filled 81 of them. Of those, seven and women. Two are black: "Louis Franklin Sr. in Alabama and Kenji Price in Hawaii, who is also Asian American." (Also linked yesterday.)

** Annals of "Journalism," Ctd. James Gordon of The Daily Mail: "Bob Woodward, the investigative journalist most famous for his original reporting on the Watergate scandal in 1972, was apparently going to publish a story exposing Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh as being an anonymous source in his 1999 book Shadow: Five Presidents and the Legacy of Watergate ... while serving as a lawyer on [Ken] Starr's team.... Kavanaugh publicly denied ever being a source for Woodward's book in a letter to the Washington Post in 1999.... The fact that Kavanaugh had lied on record enraged Woodward, who was prepared to expose the judge using evidence that he had indeed contributed to the 1999 book.... Woodward's article was due to come out just as he was to be nominated to the Supreme Court in 2018.... The New York Times described the article by two Post journalists who read it as being 'explosive'.... Ultimately, the executive editor of the Washington Post, Martin Baron, stepped in and urged Woodward not to breach his 19-year-old confidentiality agreement and to protect Kavanaugh's anonymity. The piece was ultimately spiked." --s ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: Emphasis added. Lying under oath, as he did in his confirmation hearings, is just one step up from lying on record. Kavanaugh was, is & ever shall be a bald-faced liar. Here's the New York Times story, by Ben Smith, titled "Marty Baron made the Post Great Again. Now the News Is Changing." "The revival of The Post by Mr. Baron and its owner, the Amazon founder, Jeff Bezos, is perhaps the greatest news business success story of the past decade. But that journalistic revival has in some ways masked a messier story, one of many contradictions.... Mr. Baron's opposition to Mr. Woodward's story, people who work with him said, wasn't about favoring Mr. Kavanaugh, or being afraid of a fight. Publishing the article would simply violate the traditional principle that sources should be protected." It's worth reading.

Elizabeth Dwoskin, et al., of the Washington Post: Largely in an effort to accommodate Donald Trump's incendiary posts, "Facebook has constrained its efforts against false and misleading news, adopted a policy explicitly allowing politicians to lie, and even altered its news feed algorithm to neutralize claims that it was biased against conservative publishers, according to more than a dozen former and current employees and previously unreported documents obtained by The Washington Post. One of the documents shows it began as far back as 2015, when as a candidate Trump posted a video calling for a ban of Muslims entering the United States. Facebook's executives declined to remove it, setting in motion an exception for political discourse. The concessions to Trump have ... paved the way for a growing list of digitally savvy politicians to repeatedly push out misinformation and incendiary political language to billions of people. It has complicated the public understanding of major events such as the pandemic and the protest movement, as well as contributed to polarization."

Beyond the Beltway

Mississippi. Rick Rojas of the New York Times: "Mississippi lawmakers voted on Sunday to bring down, once and for all, the state flag dominated by the Confederate battle emblem that has flown for 126 years, adding a punctuation point to years of efforts to take down relics of the Confederacy across the South. The flag, the only state banner left in the country with the overt Confederate symbol, served for many as an inescapable sign of Mississippi's racial scars and of the consequences of that history in defining perceptions of the state.... The vote in the Mississippi House was 91 in favor of removal and 23 opposed. The vote in the Senate was 37-14. The measure now goes to Gov. Tate Reeves, a Republican, who has said he will sign it." ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: It's probably worth noting that Mississippi also was the last state to ratify the 13th Amendment, abolishing slavery. The state did not do so until -- wait for it -- 2013.

Way Beyond

Good News Network: "Ocean Voyages Institute says it made history this week, returning to the port of Honolulu Tuesday, after successfully removing 103 tons of fishing nets and consumer plastics from the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. It more than doubled its own record-setting results from a 25-day stint last year during this 48-day expedition. And, Mary Crowley, the group's founder and executive director, says they are headed back to sea in two days to collect more debris.... The team is committed to 0% ending up in any landfill and is sending the sorted debris to recycling companies to be turned into insulation, energy, etc.... Ocean Voyages Institute is launching a second voyage that will depart in two days to continue clean-up of the area, but its length (between 25-30 days) will be determined by donations and fundraising. You can donate by check, paypal, or other method on their website." --s

China. AP: "The Chinese government is taking draconian measures to slash birth rates among Uighurs and other minorities as part of a sweeping campaign to curb its Muslim population, even as it encourages some of the country's Han majority to have more children. While individual women have spoken out before about forced birth control, the practice is far more widespread and systematic than previously known.... The campaign over the past four years in the far west region of Xinjiang is leading to what some experts are calling a form of 'demographic genocide.' The state regularly subjects minority women to pregnancy checks, and forces intrauterine devices, sterilization and even abortion on hundreds of thousands, the interviews and data show." --s

The Commentariat -- June 28, 2020

Late Morning/Afternoon Update:

It's a day ending in "y", so another Trumpatrocity:

** Michael Shear of the New York Times: "President Trump on Sunday retweeted a video of one of his supporters yelling 'White power!,' once again using the vast reach of his social media platforms to inflame racial divisions in a nation roiled by weeks of protests about police brutality against black people and demands for social justice reforms. The edited racist video shows a white man riding in a golf cart bearing 'Trump 2020' and 'America First' signs during what appears to be an angry clash over the president and race between white residents of a Florida retirement community.... In response to a protester shouting 'Where's your white hood?' and other taunts, the man in the golf cart pumps his fist in the air and says 'White power!' twice. The two-minute video continues to show profane exchanges between protesters and other Trump supporters riding on more golf carts. The president retweeted the video to his millions of followers just after 7:30 a.m., thanking 'the great people of The Villages,' the Florida retirement community where the clash apparently took place. He added: 'The Radical Left Do Nothing Democrats will Fall in the Fall. Corrupt Joe is shot. See you soon!!!'... Mr. Trump deleted the tweet more than three hours after posting it."* An NPR story is here.

     * Mrs. McCrabbie: No, "Mr Trump did not delete the tweet." According to NBC News, someone deleted the tweet while Trump was on the golf course with Lindsey Graham. The "White Power" yells came right at the top of the video, also according to NBC. In fairness to Trump, it does seem quite possible that he didn't notice or see anything wrong with someone yelling "White Power" twice. (An amazed protester immediately repeats it, too: "He said 'White Power.' Did you hear that?" So that's three times.) But it seems like a normal remark to Trump. Neither he nor anyone from the White House condemned the "White Power" sentiment. Judd Deere of the White House eventually put out this statement: "President Trump is a big fan of The Villages. He did not hear the one statement made on the video. What he did see was tremendous enthusiasm from his many supporters." Big fan.

Lynn Berry & Zeke Miller of the AP: "... Donald Trump on Sunday denied that he had been briefed on reported U.S. intelligence that a Russian military intelligence unit secretly offered bounties to Taliban-linked militants for killing American troops in Afghanistan, and he appeared to minimize the allegations against Moscow. American intelligence officials concluded months ago that Russian officials offered rewards for successful attacks on American service-members last year, at a time when the U.S. and Taliban were holding talks to end the long-running war, according to The New York Times. Trump, in a Sunday morning tweet, said 'Nobody briefed or told me' or Vice President Mike Pence or chief of staff Mark Meadows about 'the so-called attacks on our troops in Afghanistan by Russians.... Everybody is denying it & there have not been many attacks on us,' he said.... Trump's director of national intelligence, John Ratcliffe, also said neither the president nor vice president was 'ever briefed on any intelligence alleged' in the Times' report and he said the White House statement was 'accurate.'" ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: This is a remarkable response. Trump is downplaying the attacks as "not many" and saying that "everybody is denying it," when "everybody" = Russia & the Taliban. That is, Trump is once again taking Putin -- and even the Taliban's! -- word over the U.S. intel community's. In addition, a real president who learned that his own intel staff had not informed him of proxy acts of war against U.S. military personnel would immediately find out why, & staff heads likely would roll. ~~~

~~~ J.L. Cauvin, on the other hand, says Putin did not place a bounty on our troops; after seeing Donald strongly throw the paper towels at Puerto Ricans, Putin offered to send our troops Bounty paper towels.

Mark Mazzetti, et al., of the New York Times have written (what I consider) a devastating story on how AG Bill Barr colluded with Michael Flynn's attorney Sidney Powell to drop the charge against Flynn. "Ms. Powell and her client won a significant victory on Wednesday when a divided appeals court panel -- in a surprise ruling written by Judge Neomi Rao, a former White House official whom Mr. Trump appointed to the bench -- ordered Judge Sullivan to drop the case without scrutiny. Judge [Emmet] Sullivan suspended his review but has not dismissed the charge, suggesting that the extraordinary legal and political saga is not yet over."

Shane Goldmacher & Thomas Kaplan of the New York Times: "Former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. released statistics on the diversity of his presidential campaign staff on Saturday evening, announcing that 35 percent of his full-time staff members and 36 percent of his full-time senior staff members are people of color. A majority of Mr. Biden's staff members and senior staff members are women '' 53 percent and 58 percent, respectively.... [Donald Trump's] campaign said on Saturday that 25 percent of senior staff members are people of color.... The Trump campaign also said on Saturday that 52 percent of its full-time staff members, and 56 percent of its senior staff members, are women." Mrs. McC: Re: Trump campaign, pardon my skepticism. And here's a good reason why:

     ~~~ Zoe Tillman of BuzzFeed News: There are 93 U.S. attorney positions. Trump has filled 81 of them. Of those, seven and women. Two are black: "Louis Franklin Sr. in Alabama and Kenji Price in Hawaii, who is also Asian American."

Justin Wise of the Hill: "... Joe Biden's campaign on Sunday denounced Vice President Pence for his scheduled trip to Dallas, saying it 'epitomizes the dismissive attitude"'the Trump administration has taken toward addressing the coronavirus outbreak. Pence, the head of the White House coronavirus task force, is set to visit Texas Sunday to receive an on-the-ground report from officials about the surge in coronavirus cases throughout the state. He is also scheduled to speak at an event at the First Baptist Dallas, a church led by Pastor Robert Jeffries, during the visit. 'Our leaders should be tackling this pandemic head on and laying out concrete recovery plans for the American people -- not jet setting across the country to hold events that go against basic public health guidance,' Biden campaign manager Kate Bedingfield said in a statement."

Jamie Ehrlich, et al., of CNN: "Senior Republican Sen. Lamar Alexander said Sunday that he thinks it would 'help' if ... Donald Trump wore a mask because it would eliminate political stigma around doing so as the coronavirus continues to spread across the US. 'If wearing masks is important and all the health experts tell us that it is in containing the disease in 2020, it would help if from time to time the President would wear one to help us get rid of this political debate that says if you're for Trump, you don't wear a mask, if you're against Trump, you do,' the Tennessee Republican, who chairs the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, said on CNN's 'Inside Politics.'"

The New York Times' live updates for coronavirus developments Sunday are here. The Washington Post's live updates for Sunday are here.

Christina Maxouris & Eliott McLaughlin of CNN: "Only two US states are reporting a decline in new coronavirus cases compared to last week: Connecticut and Rhode Island. A rise was reported in a staggering 36 states, including Florida, which some experts have cautioned could be the next epicenter for infections.... Florida reported 9,585 new coronavirus cases Saturday, a single-day record since the start of the pandemic. The number rivals those of New York's peak in early April (New York's new case tally Saturday was about 6% of Florida's)."

~~~~~~~~~~

The Trumpidemic, Ctd.

** Toluse Olorunnipa, et al., of the Washington Post: "Six months after the novel coronavirus was first detected in the United States, a record surge in new cases is the clearest sign yet of the country's historic failure to control the virus -- exposing a crisis in governance extending from the Oval Office to state capitals to city councils. President Trump -- who has repeatedly downplayed the virus, sidelined experts and misled Americans about its dangers and potential cures -- now finds his presidency wracked by an inability to shepherd the country through its worst public health calamity in a century. The dysfunction that has long characterized Trump's White House has been particularly ill-suited for a viral outbreak that requires precision, focus and steady leadership, according to public health experts, administration officials and lawmakers from both parties.... On Friday, Vice President Pence used the first White House coronavirus task force briefing in almost two months to praise Trump's handling of the virus and cast aside concerns about a record spike in new infections.... Later Friday, the United States recorded more than 40,000 new coronavirus cases -- its largest one-day total." ~~~

~~~ Sabrina Tavernise, et al., of the New York Times: "More than four months into fighting the coronavirus in the United States, the shared sacrifice of millions of Americans suspending their lives -- with jobs lost, businesses shuttered, daily routines upended -- has not been enough to beat back [the novel coronavirus].... The result has been a realization for many Americans that however much they have yearned for a return to normalcy, their leaders have failed to control the coronavirus pandemic.... Months of mixed messages have left many exhausted and wondering how much of what they did was worth it.... A lack of federal leadership also meant that states lacked a unified approach.... Just as the country needed to stay shut down longer, many states -- mostly with Republican governors -- took their foot off the brake, and Mr. Trump cheered them on.... And there is little clarity on what comes next."

The New York Times' live updates of coronavirus developments Saturday are here. "As the United States reached its third consecutive day with a record number of new reported coronavirus infections, officials were urgently rethinking their strategies to head off new infections. The U.S., which leads the world in total confirmed cases and deaths, reported more than 45,000 new infections on Friday, according to a Times database. Before this week, the country's largest daily total had been 36,738 on April 24." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

~~~ The Washington Post's live updates for Saturday are here. "Across the United States, health departments reported 44,782 new coronavirus infections on Saturday -- surpassing the previous single-day record of 43,715, which was set on Friday. It is the fifth straight day the country has hit a new single-day record.... Saturday's U.S. record of new single-day cases did not include numbers from Louisiana and Rhode Island, which did not report their daily cases." ~~~

~~~ "Facing a surge of new coronavirus cases, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott expressed regret for allowing bars to reopen so early, saying Friday that he did not realize how fast the virus would spread." Mrs.McC: That's what happens, Greg, when you align yourself with a stupid, narcissist POTUS*. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

~~~ Edward Moreno of the Hill: "The U.S. reached over 2.5 million confirmed coronavirus cases on Saturday as several states experience record-breaking spikes of infections amid efforts to reopen the economy. According to a count by Johns Hopkins University, as of Saturday, 2,501,244 have tested positive for the coronavirus in the U.S. and 125,435 people have died." Mrs. McC: AND Donald Trump, who doesn't want to talk about it, went golfing. I wish a reporter, at the next opportunity, would ask him, "Since you don't want to do your job, Sir, why don't you quit?"

** Joshua Partlow & Josh Dawsey of the Washington Post: "In the hours before his rally in Tulsa, President Trump's campaign directed the removal of thousands of 'Do Not Sit Here, Please!' stickers from seats in the arena that were intended to establish social distance between rallygoers, according to video and photos obtained by The Washington Post and a person familiar with the event. The removal contradicted instructions from the management of the BOK Center, the 19,000-seat arena in downtown Tulsa where Trump held his rally on June 20. At the time, coronavirus cases were rising sharply in Tulsa County, and Trump faced intense criticism for convening a large crowd for an indoor political rally, his first such event since the start of the pandemic.... The actions by Trump's campaign were first reported Friday by Billboard Magazine." Includes short video of campaign workers removing stickers. Mrs. McC: Dear Trumpbots: Your Dear Leader, who called you "warriors" at the Tulsa rally, doesn't mind if you warriors die for the noble cause of providing him a slightly-better campaign picture. Chumps. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

~~~ Protection for Trump But Not for You Chumps. Kevin Liptak & Kaitlan Collins of CNN: "... the measures meant to protect [Donald Trump] from catching the [corona]virus have scaled up dramatically. As he seeks to insert rival Joe Biden's health into the presidential campaign, Trump has voiced escalating concern about how it would appear if he contracted coronavirus and has insisted on steps to protect himself, even as he refuses to wear a mask in public and agitates for large campaign rallies where the virus could spread. When he travels to locations where the virus is surging, every venue the President enters is inspected for potential areas of contagion by advance security and medical teams, according to people familiar with the arrangements. Bathrooms designated for the President's use are scrubbed and sanitized before he arrives. Staff maintain a close accounting of who will come into contact with the President to ensure they receive tests. While the White House phases out steps such as temperature checks and required mask-wearing in the West Wing -- changes meant to signal the country is moving on -- those around the President still undergo regular testing." (Also linked yesterday.)

I was going to go to Bedminster, New Jersey, this weekend, but wanted to stay in Washington, D.C. to make sure LAW & ORDER is enforced.... -- Donald Trump, Friday

Apparently Trump can see protesters at Black Lives Matter Plaza in Washington, D.C. from his golf course in Potomac Falls. -- Mrs. Bea McCrabbie  ~~~

~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: In light of Trump's disappearing act Friday, I thought maybe he was sick with something -- like Covid-19. But no. Guardian: "Donald Trump visited one of his own private golf courses in Virginia on Saturday as America continued to see fallout from a rapid surge in coronavirus cases. The trip came a day after the US president said he would stay in Washington DC to 'make sure law and order is enforced' amid ongoing anti-racism protests.... On Friday night Trump tweeted that he was cancelling a weekend trip to his Bedminster, New Jersey golf course because of the protests which have rocked the capital, including taking down statues of confederate figures." A trip to Bedminster, with staff, would have violated New Jersey's quarantine rule, though Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy said Trump was welcome as an "essential worker." How a fat man golfing is an essential worker beats me.

Evan Semones of Politico: "Vice President Mike Pence has postponed campaign events in Florida and Arizona 'out of an abundance of caution' as both states experience a spike in coronavirus cases, a Trump campaign spokesperson confirmed Saturday. Pence was set to make stops in each state this coming week as a part of his 'Faith in America' tour, and will also not appear at an additional Florida event Thursday organized by pro-Trump group America First Policies."

"60 Minutes"/CBS News: "Federal officials failed to immediately stop the distribution of many COVID-19 antibody tests they knew were flawed, leading to inaccurate data about the spread of the virus. Congress is now investigating why the FDA did not review the tests it allowed to be distributed widely throughout the U.S.... The FDA said it would allow the antibody tests to enter the US market and would do so without a formal review. Over 200 companies hit the market with the tests.... It took 50 days for the FDA to reverse its course on antibody tests.... By then, many American municipalities had already used the tests to determine whether they could send essential workers like EMTs, policemen and firemen back to work.... In May, [the FDA] began requiring test developers to apply for emergency authorization and submit data to show their tests worked. It was too late, says Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi."

New York Times: "At least 54,000 residents and workers have died from the coronavirus at nursing homes and other long-term care facilities for older adults in the United States, according to a New York Times database. As of June 26, the virus has infected more than 282,000 people at some 12,000 facilities.... While 11 percent of the country's cases have occurred in long-term care facilities, deaths related to Covid-19 in these facilities account for more than 43 percent of the country's pandemic fatalities.... In 24 states, the number of residents and workers who have died accounts for either half or more than half of all deaths from the virus." The article includes numerous charts & graphs. ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McC: New Hampshire, where I live, is the worst: 80% of deaths are associated with nursing homes, but other states are nearly as bad. What the article does not document is how many people live & work in nursing homes. According to this and other sites, about 1.5 million Americans live in nursing homes. If we assume, generously, that another 500K work in these homes, we can bump up the number of those associated with nursing homes to 2 million. The population of the U.S. is 328.2, so that would mean that only 0.6% (that is, less than one percent) of Americans live or work in nursing homes.

Michigan. Sheena Jones of CNN: "People who visited a bar in East Lansing, Michigan, are being asked to self-quarantine because roughly 85 people contracted Covid-19 after visiting the establishment this month, a health official says. That number is up from the 34 reported Wednesday and is expected to rise, Ingham County Health officer Linda S. Vail told CNN."

Texas. Moore Stupid Republican Tricks. Meena Venkataramanan of the Texas Tribune: "Harris County, where Houston is located, has the highest number of coronavirus cases and deaths in the state, but the Texas GOP plans to press forward with plans to hold an in-person convention from July 16-18 in the city's George R. Brown Convention Center.... The Texas GOP convention is expected to draw about 6,000 attendees, roughly half of what it would expect for such a convention in normal times, according to [Texas Republican party executive director Kyle] Whatley. The party's website brands its annual convention as the 'largest political gathering in the free world.' Whatley said registrations are 'increasing exponentially.'..."

Patriots Take a Knee for Justice. Molly Hensley-Clancy of the New York Times: "Before the [National Women's Soccer League's] first game of its rebooted season, every starter from the Portland Thorns, the league's most popular team, and the North Carolina Courage, the league's defending champion, took a knee during the national anthem. The players said the action, which they had debated this week in their locker rooms -- and which gave each player the choice to take part or not -- was a protest against 'racial injustice, police brutality and systemic racism against Black people and people of color in America.'... When the N.W.S.L. became the first professional team sports league in the United States to return to play, kicking off a monthlong tournament in Utah, it did so with Black Lives Matter shirts and armbands, and with players on one knee."

** David Leonhardt of the New York Times: "Despite decades of political change '' the end of enforced segregation across the South, the legalization of interracial marriage, the passage of multiple civil rights laws and more -- the wages of black men trail those of white men by as much as when Harry Truman was president. That gap indicates that there have also been powerful forces pushing against racial equality.... The traditional statistics on the black-white wage gap ... examine only people with earnings. As social scientists put it, the traditional numbers ignore the 'zero values' [men who have given up looking for work or are incarcerated]."

Trump Tweets "Wanted" Posters. Rebecca Falconer of Axios: "Four men have been charged with destruction of federal property for allegedly trying to tear down the Andrew Jackson statue outside the White House this week, the Department of Justice said in a statement on Saturday night.... The announcement came hours after President Trump retweeted images of 15 people the U.S. Park Police said they and the FBI Washington Field Office's Violent Crimes Task Force were seeking to identify for 'vandalizing' the statue and 'other related crimes.' Trump signed an executive order on Friday to denounce protesters who vandalized Civil War and World War II monuments. Most statues that have been torn down in recent weeks have been symbols of the Confederacy, Axios' Orion Rummler notes."

Kentucky. Austin Ramzy of the New York Times: "One man was killed and another person was injured in a shooting Saturday evening in a park where protesters against police violence have gathered for weeks in Louisville, Ky., the authorities said. Videos posted online showed a man standing on the edge of Jefferson Square Park firing more than a dozen shots that sent protesters scrambling for shelter among tents and park benches. One man died at the scene, and another person who was shot was found across the street at the Hall of Justice and taken to a hospital with non-life-threatening injuries, the Louisville Metro Police Department said in a statement."

Mississippi. Rick Rojas of the New York Times: On Saturday, "both chambers of [Mississippi's] Republican-led Legislature voted, with the support of supermajorities, to push ahead with legislation that would remove the [state] flag ... embedded with the blue bars and white stars of the Confederate battle flag ... and lay the framework for replacing it.... The flag, the only state banner left in the country with an overt Confederate symbol, has been the target of opposition that crosses racial, partisan and cultural divides.... Gov. Tate Reeves, a Republican, said on Saturday morning that he would sign a bill to change the flag. The announcement signals a marked evolution in the governor's thinking on the subject, as he had previously said that any decision over changing the flag should be made directly by voters, not lawmakers." A Mississippi Today story is here. ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: Kayleigh Skinner, who was the lead reporter on the Mississippi Today story, said on MSNBC last night that what appears to have turned the tide was major corporations like WalMart urging legislators to ditch the Confederate flag. Makes me wonder if it wouldn't be useful for activists to do more lobbying of corporations on this as well as on other matters. If big campaign contributors withheld contributions from recalcitrant legislators, they would abandon their reprehensible "principles" in a Mississippi minute.

New Jersey. Laura Aratani of the Washington Post: "Princeton University's board of trustees has voted to remove Woodrow Wilson's name from its school of public and international affairs, saying the late president's segregationist policies make him an 'especially inappropriate namesake' for a public policy school.... The school will now be known as the Princeton School of Public and International Affairs. In addition, trustees voted to change the name of a residential college that had been named for Wilson to First College." Politico's story is here.

White House: Trump & Pence Knew Nothing. Edward Moreno of the Hill: "White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany denied a Friday report from the New York Times President Trump and Vice President Pence were briefed on American intelligence findings that Russian military operatives offered bounties to Taliban-linked militants to kill coalition forces in Afghanistan, including US troops, amid peace talks. Citing White House officials briefed on the matter, the Times reported that Trump and Pence were briefed on the intelligence findings and that the White House's National Security Council held a meeting about the issue in late March. McEnany denied any such briefing, saying in a statement Saturday that, 'While the White House does not routinely comment on alleged intelligence or internal deliberations, the CIA Director, National Security Advisor, and the Chief of Staff can all confirm that neither the President nor the Vice President were briefed on the alleged Russian bounty intelligence.'"

     ~~~ The New York Times report, also linked yesterday, is here. The Guardian/Observer now has a good summary report of the Times story. The Washington Post also has independently reported the story. The Post story does not specifically state that Trump & Pence were briefed. But if Trump was not briefed, why the hell not? Russians killing American soldiers by proxy is a very big deal. The Wall Street Journal report puts it this way: "The intelligence assessment regarding Russia's actions in Afghanistan was delivered to the White House earlier this spring, and until recently had been known only to a handful of officials, a person familiar with it said." If we are to believe both Mac-a-Ninny & "a person familiar," then White House staff kept it from Trump. ~~~

~~~ Spencer Kimball of CNBC: "Joe Biden has accused Donald Trump of betraying his duty as president, after a report claimed the White House knew for months Russian intelligence offered Afghan militants bounties to kill U.S. soldiers but did not punish Moscow. 'His entire presidency has been a gift to Putin, but this is beyond the pale,' Biden said during a virtual town hall Saturday. 'It's betrayal of the most sacred duty we bear as a nation to protect and equip our troops when we send them into harm's way. It's a betrayal of every single American family with a loved one serving in Afghanistan or anywhere overseas.... President Trump, the commander in chief of American troops serving in a dangerous theater of war, has known about this for months according to the Times and done worse than nothing. Not only has he failed to sanction or impose any kind of consequences on Russia for this egregious violation of international law, Donald Trump has continued his embarrassing campaign of deference and debasing himself before Vladimir Putin.... He has had this information according to the Times and yet he offered to host Putin in the United States and sought to invite Russia to rejoin the G7.'" Update: A New York Times story is here.

Luke Broadwater of the New York Times: "The House tried and failed on Friday to invalidate stringent rules imposed by the Trump administration on student loan forgiveness, falling short of overriding a veto by President Trump. The override effort, which would have revived bipartisan legislation to overturn regulations put in place last year by Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, failed by a vote of 238 to 173, lacking the two-thirds majority it would have needed to pass. Six Republicans joined every Democrat in voting to defy Mr. Trump's position." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Presidential Race

Maureen Dowd of the New York Times: "In the last election, Trump milked white aggrievement to catapult himself into the White House. But even Republicans today recognize that we have to grapple with systemic racism and force some changes in police conduct '' except for our president, who hailed stop-and-frisk in [an interview with Sean Hannity Thursday]. The other scary narrative is about our 'protean' enemy, as Tony Fauci calls Covid-19, which Trump pretends has disappeared, with lethal consequences.... The president showed off his sociopathic flair by demanding the repeal of Obamacare -- just because he can't stand that it was done by Barack Obama. Millions losing their jobs and insurance during a plague and he wants to eliminate their alternative? Willful maliciousness. And this at the same time he has been ensuring more infections by lowballing the virus, resisting more testing because the numbers would not be flattering to him, sidelining Dr. Fauci and setting a terrible example."

Alex Isenstadt of Politico: "Donald Trump knows he's losing. The president has privately come to that grim realization in recent days, multiple people close to him told Politico, amid a mountain of bad polling and warnings from some of his staunchest allies that he's on course to be a one-term president.... What should have been an easy interview with Fox News host Sean Hannity on Thursday horrified advisers when Trump offered a rambling, non-responsive answer to a simple question about his goals for a second term. In the same appearance, the normally self-assured president offered a tacit acknowledgment that he might lose when he said that Joe Biden is 'gonna be your president because some people don't love me, maybe.'... Trump has time to rebound, and the political environment could improve for him. But interviews with more than a half-dozen people close to the president depicted a reelection effort badly in need of direction -- and an unfocused candidate who repeatedly undermines himself." ~~~

~~~ Trump's Second Term Agenda: Me, Myself and I. Evan Semones of Politico: "Sen. Chuck Grassley laid blame on Fox News -- and ... Donald Trump -- on Saturday over failing to articulate what his administration's second term priorities would be during a recent interview with the news organization. The Iowa Republican tweeted that Trump got 'off point' when asked by Fox's Sean Hannity what his goals would be if re-elected, but appeared vexed at Hannity for helping the president 'digress' instead of helping Trump form a more intelligible answer. 'Does FOXNews want Trump Re-elected?' Grassley wrote. Trump was widely criticized for his meandering answer to the softball question, in which he promoted his experience and attacked former national security adviser John Bolton instead of focusing on initiatives and policies he'd promote if given another four years in office." Mrs. McC: Because it's the purpose of a "news" network to support Trump's campaign.

Donald Trump Steals Things. You Can't Always Get What You Want. AP: "The Rolling Stones are threatening Donald Trump with legal action for using their songs at his rallies despite cease-and-desist directives. The Stones said in a statement on Sunday that their legal team was working with the BMI music rights organisation ... to stop the use of their material in Trump's reelection campaign.... The 1969 classic You Can't Always Get What You Want was a popular song for his events. It was played again at the close of Trump's recent rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma, an indoor event criticised for its potential to spread coronavirus. Other musicians and their representatives have also complained about having their music associated with Trump's events. The family of the late Tom Petty said it had issued a cease-and-desist order after his song I Won't Back Down was used in Tulsa."

There's a Sucker Born Every Minute. Cecilia Kang & Sheera Frenkel of the New York Times: PizzaGate is back. Since the nutty conspiracy theory took hold among right-wingers in 2016, "Facebook, Twitter and YouTube managed to largely suppress PizzaGate. But now, just months before the next presidential election, the conspiracy theory is making a comeback on these platforms -- and on new ones such as TikTok -- underlining the limits of their efforts to stamp out dangerous speech online and how little has changed despite rising public frustration.... The theory has morphed. PizzaGate no longer focuses on [Hillary] Clinton and has taken on less of a political bent. Its new targets and victims are a broader assortment of powerful businesspeople, politicians and celebrities, including [Justin] Bieber, Bill Gates, Ellen DeGeneres, Oprah Winfrey and Chrissy Teigen, who are lumped together as part of the global elite. For groups like QAnon, PizzaGate has become a convenient way to foment discontent."

Way Beyond the Beltway

Ed O'Loughlin of the New York Times: "Ireland's Parliament appointed Micheal Martin, a center-right politician, as prime minister on Saturday as the country deals with the coronavirus and fallout from a housing crisis. Mr. Martin replaces Leo Varadkar, a doctor who drew acclaim for his handling of the coronavirus outbreak but who had been a caretaker prime minister since a February general election delivered a loss of seats for his party but no clear winner. The new government, the result of more than four months of negotiations, will be the first to include the country's two rival center-right political movements -- Fianna Fail, led by Mr. Martin, and Fine Gael, led by Mr. Varadkar. The two parties have alternated in power since the foundation of the modern Irish state in 1922." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)"

News Lede

New York Times: "Charles Webb, who wrote the 1963 novel 'The Graduate,' the basis for the hit 1967 film, and then spent decades running from its success, died on June 16 in East Sussex, England. He was 81.... Mr. Webb's novel, written shortly after college and based largely on his relationship with his wife, Eve Rudd, was made into an era-defining film, directed by Mike Nichols and starring Dustin Hoffman and Anne Bancroft, that gave voice to a generation's youthful rejection of materialism."