The Commentariat -- July 14, 2019

Late Morning/Afternoon Update:

What's Wrong with These People? Oh. They're Sociopaths. Kevin Fitzpatrick of Vanity Fair: "Speaking with Sunday Morning Futures host Maria Bartiromo on Fox Business Network, Senator Lindsey Graham vehemently disagreed with humanitarian concerns raised by Vice President Mike Pence's recent tour of a migrant detention facility in Texas. 'I don't care if they have to stay in these facilities for 400 days, we're not going to let those men go that I saw,' said Graham. 'It would be dangerous.' Graham was referring to now-viral footage of Pence's tour, which saw the vice president blithely overlooking a fenced room filled to capacity with migrants protesting unsanitary conditions. Pence subsequently claimed over Twitter that the men 'were in a temporary holding area because Democrats in Congress have refused to fund additional bed space,' and derided CNN for allegedly 'ignoring the excellent care being provided to families and children' in a separate facility.... Donald Trump likewise tweeted on Sunday that 'Friday's tour showed vividly, to politicians and the media, how well run and clean the children's detention centers are. Great reviews!'... Graham, meanwhile, emphasized that the facility was 'overwhelmed,' and claimed 'all of [the detained migrants] broke our law.'"

Will Bunch of the Philadelphia Inquirer: "She had them at 'hello.' No, seriously. After applauding performatively for anti-Trump red meat tossed out by New York Sen. Kirsten Gillbrand ... and former Cabinet secretary Julian Castro..., more than 3,000 politically left activists at the Convention Center went wild the instant that Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren took her first stride onto the Netroots Nation stage.... With her slam-dunk performance Saturday, Elizabeth Warren became president ... of the American progressive movement, anyway.... The current frontrunner ... Joe Biden, whose national headquarters is just a few blocks away in Center City, chose instead to campaign in New Hampshire rather than face what might have been tough questioning of his more moderate stances."

Bianca Quilantan & David Cohen of Politico: "... Donald Trump on Sunday called out progressive Democratic congresswomen in xenophobic terms, saying: 'Why don't they go back and help fix the totally broken and crime infested places from which they came.'... While the president didn't mention them by name in his tweets, it appears he was attacking Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.), a native of Somalia, and possibly Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.), whose family is Palestinian. Both have been outspoken when it comes to Trump's administration and the conditions of migrant detention centers on the border. 'So interesting to see "Progressive" Democrat Congresswomen, who originally came from countries whose governments are a complete and total catastrophe, the worst, most corrupt and inept anywhere in the world (if they even have a functioning government at all), now loudly and viciously telling the people of the United States, the greatest and most powerful Nation on earth, how our government is to be run,' the president wrote on Twitter."

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: Obviously Trump is unaware that telling "us" how "our" government is to be run is part of these Congresswomen's job description. BTW, they are "us," something else Trump can't bear to face. ...

     ... Update. Justin Wise of the Hill: "Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) on Sunday condemned President Trump for telling a group of progressive lawmakers to go back to where they came from, saying the 'xenophobic' comments reaffirmed that Trump's plan is about 'making America white again.'" ...

... Katie Rogers & Nicholas Fandos of the New York Times: "Broadly, Mr. Trump's attack was meant for members of the so-called squad, a group engaged in an existential and generational war of words with Ms. Pelosi: Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, Rashida Tlaib of Michigan and Ayanna S. Pressley of Massachusetts.... Only one of the women, Ms. Omar, who is from Somalia, was born outside the United States. Ms. Ocasio-Cortez was born in the Bronx to parents of Puerto Rican descent. Ms. Pressley, who is black, was born in Cincinnati and raised in Chicago. And Ms. Tlaib was born in Detroit to Palestinian immigrants.... Mr. Trump's attack came after days of Fox News coverage that centered on Ms. Omar.... 'Like some of my Democratic colleagues, I’m young, from an immigrant family, also very critical of Trump,'[Rep. Brendan] Boyle [D-Pa.] wrote on Twitter. 'Funny thing though, he never tells me to "go back where I come from." Hmm I wonder why?'... He is white."

During yesterday's Midtown blackout, Mayor Bill De Blasio was MIA in Iowa, but after the power outage forced the show "Come from Away" to close, the cast took to the streets to keep the peace:

Forrest M. sent this along to cheer us up, but I'm afraid many of you will be ever so upset at the implied disrespect to the Addams family.~~~~~~~~~~

Tom Hilton in No More Mister Nice Blog: "We're in a situation that is completely untenable, that cannot be allowed to continue, but that absolutely will continue until (at least) January 20, 2021. Trump has to be removed; Trump will not be removed.... But the point isn't that the situation is shitty (it is) and isn't going to change for a while (it won't). The point is the toll this shitty situation is taking. And maybe it would be a good idea to recognize that toll when we interact with each other. To understand that we're all stressed and anxious right now;... To treat each other with kindness and patience, and to refuse to let small differences escalate into acrimony. Because we're all in this together unless we aren't. And if we aren't, the enemy will go on winning long after January 2021." --s

Trevor Hughes of USA Today: "Fear and anxiety spread through immigrant communities nationwide over anticipated federal raids aimed at detaining and deporting thousands of people accused of remaining illegally within the United States. Immigration reform advocates said that communities around Atlanta, Baltimore, Chicago, Denver, Houston, Los Angeles, Miami, New York and San Francisco were being targeted by raids expected to start Sunday and last through at least Thursday.... Many large U.S. cities, including Los Angeles, Denver, Seattle and Miami, have declared themselves 'sanctuaries' for undocumented immigrants, and adopted policies barring local government workers from cooperating with federal immigration authorities.... In Denver, Mayor Michael Hancock said city police officers would avoid helping ICE agents but said city human service workers were on alert to assist any minor children left behind if their parents are arrested.... San Francisco Mayor London Breed reiterated that the city's police would not cooperate with any ICE operations and that the city was gearing up to protect its immigrants." ...

... AP: "Several thousand protesters have marched through downtown Chicago to protest the Trump administration's immigration policies, including planned sweeps in several American cities, including Chicago, over the weekend.... Police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi says the protest was peaceful and that there were no arrests. He says there were an estimated 5,000 protesters at its peak." ...

Daily Kos: "On Friday evening, The Wall Street Journal reported that agents had made their first foray to homes in New York City, but when agents arrived in Harlem and Brooklyn without warrants, the residences they visited stayed resolutely shut. So the agents retreated. For now." (Link is to the WSJ story.)

... Andy Borowitz of the New Yorker (satire): "Donald Trump was reportedly 'hopping mad' on Saturday after a surprise ICE raid left his Mar-a-Lago retreat with no employees.... A spokesman for Mar-a-Lago called the situation 'dire,' warning that the resort had lost almost as many staff members as the White House."

Brian Contreras & Paige Cornwell of the Seattle Times: "Tacoma[, Washington,] police said they shot at an armed man early Saturday who was attacking the Northwest Detention Center, the holding facility in Tacoma for federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The man died at the scene.... Police said [Willem] Van Spronsen tossed lit objects at vehicles and buildings, causing one car fire, and unsuccessfully tried to ignite a propane tank.... Four responding officers all opened fire and then took cover, uninjured. After medical aid arrived, officers found Van Spronsen dead. He had multiple gunshot wounds, according to the Pierce County Medical Examiner's office."

Rachel Frazen of the Hill: "Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) said Saturday that she will create a commission to investigate 'crimes committed by the United States against immigrants' if she is elected president." Mrs. McC: This is a good idea. Maybe McConnell will propose it to Pelosi (ha ha), and we can get a truth commission started right away.

Jonathan Blitzer of the New Yorker: "Early next week, according to a D.H.S. official, the Trump Administration is expected to announce a major immigration deal ... with Guatemala.... According to a draft of the agreement obtained by The New Yorker, asylum seekers from any country who either show up at U.S. ports of entry or are apprehended while crossing between ports of entry could be sent to seek asylum in Guatemala instead.... Under this new arrangement, most of these migrants will no longer have a chance to make an asylum claim in the U.S. at all.... The biggest, and most unsettling, question raised by the agreement is how Guatemala could possibly cope with such enormous demands. More people are leaving Guatemala now than any other country in the northern triangle of Central America. Rampant poverty, entrenched political corruption, urban crime, and the effects of climate change have made large swaths of the country virtually uninhabitable." ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: This plan, then, is insane. According to someone who has read the agreement, it "reads like it was drafted by someone's intern." My guess: the "intern" is named Stephen Miller.

Daniel Politi of Slate: "... Donald Trump is getting an early start in bashing former special counsel Robert Mueller as he came up with a deal to testify in the House Intelligence and Judiciary Committees on July 24.... Trump went back to a favorite talking point Saturday, accusing Mueller and his team of carrying out 'illegal deletion' of text messages that were exchanged between former FBI officials Peter Strzok and Lisa Page.... Needless to say, the president has not presented any evidence to back up his explosive claim.... Trump also retweeted several [nutty] messages from Judicial Watch...." ...

... Mrs. McCrabbie: Trump didn't "present any evidence" because of course there isn't any. As Tal Axelrod of the Hill reminds us, "Strzok was swiftly removed from Mueller's team after the texts were unearthed, and a Justice Department investigation found that while the messages did go missing for a time, their absence was attributed to a technical error rather than any malicious intent." But Trump doesn't need to worry much about the hearing, IMO. Mueller will be dry as burnt toast, his interrogators will be silly, and Nancy Pelosi will continue to quash impeachment proceedings. (The only hope on Pelosi is that she's waiting to open impeachment hearings until after (and if) the courts force Trump officials & toadies to testify before Congress. That would make sense.)

Molly Beck & Mary Spicuzza of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: "... Donald Trump raised $3 million in Wisconsin cash on Friday touring Milwaukee to promote a new trade deal.... But ... the president downplayed the suffocation felt by Wisconsin dairy farmers because of Trump's own tariffs.... Trump told a crowd at Derco Aerospace on Milwaukee's northwest side, '... We're over the hump. We're doing really well.' Trump said the new trade agreement would help Wisconsin dairy farmers by providing access to Canada's market, painting an optimistic picture of the future of the Wisconsin industry -- which is losing two dairy farms a day. Nearly 700 Wisconsin farms were shut down last year by owners used to enduring a brutal workload and hard times, calling it quits in a downturn now headed into its fifth year. In 2018, for the third straight year, Wisconsin led the nation in farm bankruptcies. If he's saying farmers are over the hump, he would be badly mistaken, said Darin Von Ruden..., dairy farmer ... and president of the Wisconsin Farmers Union."

BBC News: "Donald Trump abandoned the Iran nuclear deal to spite Barack Obama, according to a leaked memo written by the UK's former ambassador to the US. Sir Kim Darroch described the move as an act of 'diplomatic vandalism', according to the Mail on Sunday.... The paper reports that Sir Kim wrote a memo to [Boris] Johnson, saying: 'The outcome illustrated the paradox of this White House: you got exceptional access, seeing everyone short of the president; but on the substance, the administration is set upon an act of diplomatic vandalism, seemingly for ideological and personality reasons - it was Obama's deal. Moreover, they can't articulate any "day-after" strategy; and contacts with State Department this morning suggest no sort of plan for reaching out to partners and allies, whether in Europe or the region.'"

** Bill Browning of LGBTQ Nation: "Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has announced a new commission that he said will decide which human rights are more important to U.S. foreign policy.... Every member ... is an anti-LGBTQ activist.... Pompeo said that the commission would conduct 'one of the most profound reexaminations of the unalienable rights in the world since the 1948 Universal Declaration' of Human Rights. The group will focus, he said, on 'natural law.' Natural law is a philosophical thought that says that certain rights are inherent to being human, usually endowed by God, insisting that universal moral truths can be arrived at by examining religious texts or an imagined 'state of nature.' Natural law as a concept is often used by the right to argue against women's and LGBTQ people's rights." Mrs. McC: You can be pretty sure that if you're a white, straight, Christian, professional Republican male adult American citizen, you've got "natural" rights. The majority of us -- not so much.

Annals of "Journalism," Ctd. Nobody told the New Republic editors that gay-bashing is "inappropriate" until after they published an opinion piece by a gay writer that bashed Pete Buttigieg as "'the gay equivalent of Uncle Tom,' and referred to him as 'Mary Pete.'"

Lloyd Green in the Guardian: "Tim Alberta, Politico's chief political correspondent, has written a masterful must-read. Across 600-plus pages [of American Carnage], he chronicles more than a decade of transformation and turmoil within what was once but is no longer the party of Abraham Lincoln.... Like the deity on the sixth day of creation, Donald Trump has recast the Republican party in his own image. Aggrieved and belligerent is the new normal. The soul of the party has migrated from the sun belt to the Bible belt, from the suburbs to rural America, from a message suffused with upward arc to one brimming with resentment." ...

... Politico publishes an excerpt of the book, which covers how Trump survived release of the "Access Hollywood" tape. ...

... Oh, and here's more reaction from Trumpelthinskin to Alberta's interviews of former Speaker Paul Ryan. Christian Vasquez of Politico: "... Donald Trump on Saturday broadened his attack on Paul Ryan, saying conservatives like the former speaker 'almost killed the Republican Party' because they were 'weak, ineffective & stupid.'"

Burgess Everett of Politico: "Republicans have no real plan to establish a new health care system if the courts strike down the Affordable Care Act before the 2020 election. But plenty of them are rooting for its demise anyway -- even if it means plunging the GOP into a debate that splits the party and leaves them politically vulnerable. After a decade of trying to gut Obamacare, Republicans may finally get their wish thanks to a Trump administration-backed lawsuit. Its success would cause chaos not only in the insurance markets but on Capitol Hill. And Republican senators largely welcome it -- even if they don't know what comes next."

Jodi Kantor, et al., of the New York Times: "A strange thing happened when Jeffrey Epstein came back to New York City after being branded a sex offender: His reputation appeared to rise. In 2010, the year after he got out of a Florida prison, Katie Couric and George Stephanopoulos dined at his Manhattan mansion with a British royal. The next year, Mr. Epstein was photographed at a 'billionaire&'s dinner' attended by tech titans like Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk. A page popped up on Harvard University's website lauding his accomplishments, and superlative-filled news releases described his lofty ambitions as he dedicated $10 million to charitable causes."

Mrs. McCrabbie: So if you're not booked up for September, you may want to block out the days around Friday, September 20, because that's the day "all of us" are going to storm Area 51, the U.S. Air Force facility in the Nevada desert, so we can "see them aliens." Apparently, the whole "plan" is a satire, but that hasn't stopped 600,000+ people from signing up. Since the base is super-restricted, the instigators have reckoned with the danger of getting shot dead by asserting, "If we naruto run, we can move faster than their bullets." Here's a demo, so practice. It sure seems as if it would work:

Beyond the Beltway

Idaho. Cynthia Sewell of the Idaho Statesman: "Former Idaho GOP chairman and lobbyist Jonathan Parker now has three pending criminal charges. The latest charge, misdemeanor unlawful entry, stems from Parker allegedly entering a woman's Meridian home without her consent. Parker pleaded not guilty to that charge on July 3, marking his third court appearance on three separate charges over the course of about one month. Parker resigned from his GOP post Feb. 18, with more than two years left in his term." --s

News Lede

AP: "Weakened but still potent, Barry inundated the Gulf Coast but appeared unlikely to deluge New Orleans as it continued its slow advance.... New Orleans had been braced for heavy rains Saturday, but instead had intermittent bands of moderate showers and occasional sunshine. Though Barry will continue to dump rain throughout the weekend, forecasters downgraded rainfall estimates for the city through Sunday to between 2 to 4 inches (5 to 10 centimeters). Forecasters had earlier said New Orleans could get up to 20 inches (50 centimeters) of rain...."

The Commentariat -- July 13, 2019

** Prelude to Sunday's Day of Terror. This, unbelievably, is what passes for a Trump administration photo op:

... Michael Collins & John Moritz of USA Today:"With television cameras in tow, Vice President Mike Pence toured a pair of Border Patrol facilities in Texas on Friday as Republicans pushed back on reports that migrants detained in such centers are being held in deplorable and dangerous conditions. On his first stop, at a processing center for migrants just outside McAllen, Texas, Pence said he 'couldn't be more impressed' by what he described as 'the compassionate work' by Border Patrol agents. 'Every family that I spoke with told me they were being well cared for,' he said. The other stop, at an outdoor portal at the McAllen Border Station, offered a starkly different picture. A reporter traveling with Pence described a horrendous stench in the facility and said that nearly 400 men were housed in sweltering cages so crowded it would have been impossible for all of them to lie down. Some of the detainees shouted to reporters that they had been held 40 days or longer and complained that they were hungry. 'This is tough stuff,' Pence said at a news conference later. 'I was not surprised by what I saw,' he said. 'I knew we'd see a system that was overwhelmed.'" ...

... Mary Papenfuss of the Huffington Post has most or all of Josh Dawsey's pool report on conditions at McAllen here. Dawsey's Twitter feed is here for some additional commentary.

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: Trump boasted earlier today (see Annie Karni's report linked below) that it was his idea to send pence to the border, and Trump excoriated the NYT for making up -- "they write whatever the want" -- a fake story about horrible conditions in border refugee camps.

Tal Axelrod of the Hill: "The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals on Friday ruled in favor of the Trump administration's efforts to prioritize federal dollars for local policing to towns and cities that complied with certain immigration policies. The ruling, a split 2-1 decision, said the Department of Justice (DOJ) was within its rights to withhold Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) grants from sanctuary cities and states over their refusal to work with federal immigratio enforcement authorities and instead prioritize agencies that focused on unauthorized immigration and agreed to give Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) access to jail records and immigrants in custody."

Dara Lind of ProPublica: "An unofficial commemorative coin has been circulating among Border Patrol agents at the U.S./Mexico border, mocking the task of caring for migrant children and other duties that have fallen to agents as families cross into the U.S. On the front, the coin declares 'KEEP THE CARAVANS COMING' under an image of a massive parade of people carrying a Honduran flag -- a caricature of the 'caravan' from last fall, which started in Honduras and attracted thousands of people as it moved north. (While the caravan included many women and children, the only visible figures on the coin appear to be adult men.) The coin's reverse side features the Border Patrol logo and three illustrations: a Border Patrol agent bottle-feeding an infant; an agent fingerprinting a teen boy wearing a backwards baseball cap; and a U.S. Border Patrol van. The text along the edge reads 'FEEDING ** PROCESSING ** HOSPITAL ** TRANSPORT.'"

Ryan Deveraux of the Intercept: "When news broke that thousands of current and former Border Patrol agents were members of a secret Facebook group filled with racist, vulgar, and sexist content, Carla Provost, chief of the agency, was quick to [condemn the 'inappropriate' posts & promise to hold the writers accountable].... For Provost, a veteran of the Border Patrol who was named head of the agency in August 2018, the group's existence and content should have come as no surprise. Three months after her appointment to chief, Provost herself had posted in the group, then known as 'I'm 10-15,' now archived as 'America First X 2.' Provost's comment was innocuous ... but her participation in the group, which she has since left, raises serious questions." (Also linked yesterday.)

So great looking [4 pinocchios] and smart [4 pinocchios], a true Stable [4 pinocchios] Genius [4 pinocchios]! -- Donald Trump, actual self-description, earning 16 pinocchios in only 9 words!, as tabulated by RAS in yesterday's Comments ...

Annie Karni of the New York Times: "Speaking for over 30 minutes in the hot sun on Friday morning, President Trump lashed out at his critics in no particular order, heaping vitriol on everyone from Democrats running for president to the former Republican House speaker, not to mention a foreign ambassador and the press.... The thing that bound Mr. Trump's disparate group of targets together was their recent public airing -- intended or not -- of something negative about Mr. Trump, or what he viewed as a critical portrayal of his policies." ...

... Aaron Rupar of Vox: "President Donald Trump spoke to and took questions from the media for about 30 minutes on Friday morning across a range of topics. He lied about just about all of them.... Trump's helicopter-side news conference ... was a master class in gaslighting.... It illustrated how Trump carefully manages the settings in which he makes himself available to reporters so he can control his message, no matter how divorced from reality it may be." --s

All the Best People, Ctd.

Jonathan Swan of Axios: "President Trump has told confidants he's eager to remove Dan Coats as director of national intelligence, according to five sources who have discussed the matter directly with the president.... One potential replacement Trump has mentioned to multiple sources is Fred Fleitz, who formerly served as chief of staff to national security adviser John Bolton." ...

     ... Dan Spinelli of Mother Jones: "Fleitz, through frequent appearances on Fox News, has aligned himself much more closely with Trump, but his longtime benefactor and ideological ally is Bolton, whose relationship with Fleitz goes back nearly two decades. Fleitz served as Bolton's chief of staff in the State Department under President George W. Bush before going to work for him at the National Security Council last year, a position he left after less than six months in October. His selection as Bolton's deputy was sharply opposed at the time by Muslim and Jewish advocacy groups due to Fleitz's affiliation with the conspiratorial Center for Security Policy, where he now serves as president and chief executive. In 2015, he co-authored a report for the think tank that claimed more than 80 percent of American mosques are 'incubators of, at best, subversion and, at worst, violence.' Fleitz distanced himself from the report's most extreme policy recommendations last year -- like stripping Muslims who support 'shariah-compliant norms' of their citizenship -- but has been sharply critical of Islam in other venues."

Adios. Annie Karni & Eileen Sullivan of the New York Times: "President Trump said Friday morning that R. Alexander Acosta, his embattled secretary of labor, will resign following controversy over his handling of a sex crimes case involving the financier, Jeffrey Epstein, when he was a prosecutor in Florida. Mr. Acosta called the president this morning and informed him of his decision to resign, Mr. Trump said, as he left the White House for travel to Milwaukee and Cleveland." (Also linked yesterday.) ...

... Darlene Superville & Jill Colvin of the AP: "... Donald Trump, with Acosta at his side, made the announcement as he left the White House for a trip to Wisconsin and Ohio. The president said Acosta had been a 'great' labor secretary. 'I hate to see this happen,' Trump said. He said he did not ask Acosta to leave the Cabinet. Acosta said his resignation would be effective in seven days. Acosta said he didn't think it was right for his handling of Epstein's case to distract from his work as secretary of labor." Mrs. McC: Yes, it's sad to see somebody suffer for being extra-nice to a serial child sex abuser & child pornographer. BTW, Trump mentioned twice that Acosta was "Hispanic -- Acosta's parents were Cuban refugees; he was born in the U.S. -- a bid no doubt to Cuban-American voters. (Also linked yesterday.) ...

Labor Pick #1: Alleged wife-beater [Andy Puzder]; Labor Pick #2: Alleged child rapist protector; Labor Pick #3: Sweatshop enthusiast -- Jake Maccoby, in a tweet ...

... Meet Your New Acting Labor Secretary. David Badash of the New Civil Rights Movement: On Friday, "Trump named ... Deputy Secretary of Labor Patrick Pizzella [to become] Acting Secretary of Labor.... 'He's a good man, highly recommended by Alex,' President Trump said of Pizzella Friday. Pizzella, which few know, has a long history, going back to the late 1990's, of being a lobbyist for sweatshops, and, as Mother Jones reported, advocating to advance an economy of 'indentured workers.'... Just to be perfectly clear, the Secretary of Labor -- Acting or otherwise -- and the Dept. of Labor, are tasked with protecting workers and enforcing the laws that protect workers.... The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights in 2017 released a letter opposing Pizzella as Deputy Labor Secretary. 'Pizzella worked closely with Jack Abramoff to lobby for policies on the Commonwealth of Northern Mariana Islands that essentially allowed for unchecked slave labor to be performed with the imprimatur of the "Made in the U.S.A." label on goods and clothing.'" ...

... Here's Sen. Al Franken grilling Pizzella in confirmation hearings in 2017. Pizzella testified he didn't know nuthin' (despite Congressional hearings & extensive news reports about conditions on the Marianas), & he couldn't remember nuthin' about how he might have lobbied against labor protection laws (as Franken documented for him during a previous meeting):

     ... Via Noah Lanard of Mother Jones. Thanks to contributor Hattie for the link. ...

... Pizzella's Russia Connection. Reid Champlin & Jessica Piper of OpenSecrets: "Documents obtained by OpenSecrets show that Pizzella was one of the lobbyists who worked on behalf of a shell corporation connected to the Russian government in the late 1990s. He was listed in a 1997 lobbying disclosure form as the 'director of coalitions' for Chelsea Commercial Enterprises Ltd., a Bahamas-based organization working closely with the Russian oil company Naftasib, which was itself a close affiliate of the Russian government. Working alongside [Jack] Abramoff and others, Pizzella helped Chelsea Commercial advocate for 'various commercial business enterprises, including investments in Russian businesses.'" Mrs. McC: Oddly enough, in 2013 President Obama appointed Pizzella, a former Bush appointee, to the Federal Labor Relations Board.

... ** Frank Rich lambastes Jeffrey Epstein's elite facilitators & tries to to leave out anybody. "Compared to the Manhattan heavy hitters who went to Epstein's dinner parties, rode his private jet, and furthered the fiction that he was some kind of genius hedge-fund billionaire, the now-departed Alex Acosta was a mere flunky to be muscled (easily) by Epstein's attorneys in the Southern District of Florida." (Also linked yesterday.) ...

... ** Acosta Resigns. The Caligula Administration Lives on. Michelle Goldberg of the New York Times: "Even with Acosta gone..., Epstein remains a living reminder of the depraved milieu from which the president sprang, and of the corruption and misogyny that continue to swirl around him. Trump has been only intermittently interested in distancing himself from that milieu. More often he has sought, whether through strategy or instinct, to normalize it." ...

... Witness Tampering. Benjamin Weiser of the New York Times: "Just days after [the Miami Herald] expose last November drew new attention to Jeffrey Epstein's predatory behavior toward young women, he wired $350,000 to two people close to him, federal prosecutors revealed on Friday. Mr. Epstein, a financier who now faces sex-trafficking charges in New York, was using the money to try to buy the silence of possible witnesses against him, the prosecutors said. The United States attorney's office in Manhattan made the new allegations in a court filing asking that Mr. Epstein be denied bail while he awaits trial, saying the payments were evidence that he might try to influence witnesses if he were not detained.... Two days after the Herald published its expose, Mr. Epstein wired $100,000 to a person who had been named as a possible co-conspirator in his deal with Florida prosecutors a decade ago. Three days later, Mr. Epstein sent $250,000 to a person who not only had been named as a co-conspirator in the Florida agreement, but was also identified in the New York indictment as an employee who helped Mr. Epstein in his sex-trafficking scheme." ...

... Kara Scannell & Brynn Gingras of CNN: "Not long after a 14-year-old girl reported Jeffery Epstein to authorities in 2005, she says she received a warning from someone who claimed to be in contact with ...[Epstein]. The girl would be paid cash if she agreed not to cooperate with law enforcement, the person told the accuser, adding that 'those who help him will be compensated and those who hurt him will be dealt with,' according to a Palm Beach, Florida, police report reflecting the accuser's statement. The threat was one of many intimidation and bare-knuckle tactics that accusers and witnesses told police they faced after Florida authorities opened their first investigation into Epstein.... During [the Miami] probe, at least three private investigators who police believed were working on Epstein's behalf tracked down accusers and possible witnesses to the alleged attacks, according to the police reports. They sat in black SUVs outside the homes of accusers, questioned their current and former boyfriends, and chased one parent's car off the road, according to police reports and a lawyer for three accusers." Epstein also intimidated prosecutors & made false claims against a lawyer for defendants. ...

... Mike Baker & Amy Harris of the New York Times: "At the Dalton School on the Upper East Side, some students saw Mr. Epstein as an unusual and unsettling figure, willing to violate the norms in his encounters with girls.... Most remembered his persistent attention on the girls in hallways and classrooms.... None of the female students who spoke to The New York Times in recent days remembered Mr. Epstein making unwanted physical contact with them, and he has not been accused of any crimes related to his time at the school. But a few students said they had been discomfited by a close relationship he had with one of their female peers, a concern that had escalated so much that one of them had raised the issue then to a school administrator.... Mr. Epstein's time at Dalton was brief, and an administrator said it ended in a dismissal."

Ed Pilkington of the Guardian: "E Jean Carroll, the esteemed New York journalist who has alleged Donald Trump raped her in the Bergdorf Goodman department store in Manhattan in the 1990s, now sleeps with a loaded gun by her bed having received online death threats.... She said she had received so many threats that she had been forced to stop looking at her social media feeds, and for the first time in her life had bullets loaded into the handgun in her bedroom." --s

Natasha Bertrand of Politico: "Attorney General Bill Barr has ordered an investigation into whether the CIA was correct to determine that Russian President Vladimir Putin wanted to boost Donald Trump during the 2016 election. But that question has already been asked and answered at the CIA's highest levels -- by Mike Pompeo, a Trump loyalist, according to three people familiar with the matter. Just after Pompeo took over as CIA director in 2017, he conducted a personal review of the CIA's findings, grilling analysts on their conclusions in a challenging and at times combative interview, these people said. He ultimately found no evidence of any wrongdoing, or that the analysts had been under political pressure to produce their findings. 'This wasn't just a briefing,' said one person familiar with the episode. 'This was a challenging back and forth, in which Pompeo asked the officers tough questions about their work and how they determined Putin's specific objectives.' Pompeo also asked about CIA's work with the FBI on the Russia probe in 2016. Two U.S. officials further confirmed to Politico that the interview occurred and was robust." (Also linked yesterday.) ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: Wait, wait! I thought Barr was fake-investigating the oranges of the Russia investigation; Bertrand's opening graf suggests the citrus probe has been expanded to the point that Barr is about to fake-discover that Putin was not pro-Trump. I really am confused.

Erica Orden & Kara Scannell of CNN: "A federal investigation into whether Trump Organization executives violated campaign-finance laws appears to be wrapping up without charges being filed, according to people familiar with the matter. For months, federal prosecutors in New York have examined whether company officials broke the law, including in their effort to reimburse Michael Cohen for hush-money payments he made to women alleging affairs with his former boss ... Donald Trump....After Cohen made the $130,000 payment to [Stormy] Daniels, he was reimbursed, prosecutors said in court filings, by the Trump Organization. The company's executives authorized payments to him totaling $420,000, in an effort to cover his original payment, tax liabilities and reward him with a bonus, according to prosecutors, and they falsely recorded those payments as legal expenses in their books. The criminal inquiry centered on whether those payments, like the hush money Cohen gave to Daniels, violated campaign-finance law."

Jacqueline Thomsen of the Hill: "A panel of federal appeals court judges on Friday appeared deeply skeptical of President Trump's arguments against a congressional subpoena seeking his financial records. The judges on the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals heard arguments in Trump's appeal of a lower court ruling upholding a subpoena issued by House Oversight and Reform Committee Chairman Elijah Cummings (D-Md.) for the president's records from the accounting firm Mazars. The arguments stretched on for twice the amount of time they were scheduled to take.... Judge Patricia Millet, nominated by former President Obama, said that it would make sense for lawmakers to scrutinize a sitting president. 'You keep talking like they picked some individual off the street to target,' Millet said. Oversight of the president 'sounds OK to me,' she added."

Nicholas Fandos of the New York Times: "House Democrats said late Friday that they had postponed until July 24 two hearings with Robert S. Mueller III, which had been scheduled to take place next week, to allow for expanded questioning of the former special counsel. The reversal, after a day of negotiations with Mr. Mueller's associates, came as both Democrats and Republicans were deep in preparations for the testimony." ...

     ... Morgan Chalfont of the Hill: "Mueller has agreed to testify for three hours before the Judiciary panel, allowing all members the opportunity to question him." Mrs. McC: IOW, the hearing will devolve into a typically-disjointed, useless series of speeches by members of Congress preening for their local news broadcasts. Super-stupid. Democrats should have let Republicans shout about the deep state or whatever, while they -- Democrats -- assigned a professional interrogator to question Mueller.

David Shepardson of Reuters: "The Trump administration said late on Friday it was issuing final rules to suspend a 2016 Obama administration regulation that more than doubled penalties for automakers failing to meet fuel efficiency requirements."

Connor O'Brien of Politico: "House Democrats closed ranks to pass a massive $733 billion defense policy bill on Friday, teeing up a partisan clash with Senate Republicans over military funding and contentious foreign policy issues. The National Defense Authorization Act was approved 220 to 197, with all House Republicans opposing the bill -- enough to sustain a promised veto from ... Donald Trump." (Also linked yesterday.)

Ashley Killough & Clare Foran of CNN: "The House on Friday passed legislation to extend funding for the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund through 2090, weeks after the bill received nationwide attention following impassioned pleas for support from surviving first responders and comedian Jon Stewart. The bill easily cleared the House with a vote of 402-12, and will now be sent to the Senate, where timing on that vote is not yet clear, though Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has vowed to hold a vote on the legislation. Moments after the House passage, McConnell's office issued a statement that the chamber would consider 'this important legislation soon.'" (Also linked yesterday.)

Catie Edmondson of the New York Times: "The House voted Friday to curb President Trump's ability to strike Iran militarily on Friday, adopting a bipartisan provision that would require the president to get Congress's approval before authorizing military force against Tehran. The 251-170 vote reflects lawmakers' growing desire to take back long-ceded authority over matters of war and peace from the executive branch, a reclamation legislators contend has grown increasingly urgent amid escalating tensions with Iran.... Mr. Trump said last month he believes he does not need congressional approval to strike Iran. The vote Friday amounted to a pointed and bipartisan rebuttal -- led by strange ideological bedfellows, Representatives Ro Khanna, a liberal Democrat from California, and Matt Gaetz of Florida, one of Mr. Trump's most strident Republican allies in Congress." (Also linked yesterday.)

Eliana Johnson of Politico: "Under leadership of Don McGahn, the White House counsel's office was focused almost singularly on filling the federal bench with conservative judges, and in [Michael] Kanne [an Indiana native who sits on the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals], Trump's lawyers had spotted an opportunity to nudge out an old-timer and lock in a conservative...for decades to come.... Tom Fisher, Indiana's solicitor general and a former clerk for Kanne.... It seemed like the perfect plan -- until Vice President Mike Pence's aides got wind of it and scuttled Fisher's nomination.... As solicitor general of Indiana, Fisher had defended Gov. Mike Pence's policies in court, and aides to the now-vice president feared his nomination would dredge up events and information politically damaging to Pence." --s

Mark Landler of the New York Times leaves his gig as a White House correspondent: "Choosing a single day that epitomizes Donald J. Trump's presidency -- amid the endless tangle of jaw-dropping, reality-bending, norm-shattering days -- is a fool's errand. But for a White House correspondent departing the beat after eight years, Thursday came awfully close. From Mr. Trump's morning Twitter rant (asking how anyone could vote for a Democrat over 'what you have now, so great looking and smart, a true Stable Genius!') to his social media summit (in which he praised a room of right-wing agitators for 'the crap you think of'), to a news conference that ended with his merry band of provocateurs almost coming to blows with reporters, the White House finally surrendered itself to being a stage set for Mr. Trump's greatest reality show." A good read.

Julia Wong of the Guardian: "The Federal Trade Commission has reportedly voted to approve fining Facebook roughly $5bn to settle an investigation into the company's privacy violations that was launched following the Cambridge Analytica revelations. The Wall Street Journal and the Washington Post, both citing anonymous sources familiar with the matter, reported Friday afternoon that the settlement was approved by a 3-2 vote that broke along party lines, with Republicans in favor and Democrats opposed. The justice department is expected make a final approval of the fine." ...

... Nilay Patel of the Verge: "Facebook's stock went up after news of a record-breaking $5 billion FTC fine for various privacy violations broke [Friday].... [T]he United States government spent months coming up with a punishment for Facebook's long list of privacy-related bad behavior, and the best it could do was so weak that Facebook's stock price went up.... The largest FTC fine in the history of the country represents basically a month of Facebook's revenue ... [and] increased Mark Zuckerberg's net worth.... That's actually the real problem here: fines and punishments are only effective when they provide negative consequences for bad behavior. But Facebook has done nothing but behave badly from inception, and it has only ever been slapped on the wrist by authority figures and rewarded by the market." --s

Beyond the Beltway

Alaska. Billy Corrigher of ThinkProgress: "Alaska's legislature has until Friday at midnight to override the governor's attack on the state's judicial system.... Using a line-item veto, Gov. Mike Dunleavy (R) recently slashed the budget of the state's Supreme Court, due to its repeated protection of abortion rights. Dunleavy cut the budget of the Alaska Supreme Court and the court of appeals by 5%, as part of a sweeping set of cuts that also impacted the University of Alaska. The legislature has been unsuccessful in overriding the veto, after 22 Republicans refused to come to the state capitol to discuss the budget earlier this week.... Without a veto override, the University of Alaska is expected to fire hundreds of workers, slash its course offerings, and lose thousands of students.... But what's at stake for the state's courts is far more concerning." --s

Tennessee. Happy KKK Day. Natalie Allison of the Tennessean: "Gov. Bill Lee [R] has proclaimed Saturday as Nathan Bedford Forrest Day in Tennessee, a day of observation to honor the former Confederate general and early Ku Klux Klan leader whose bust is on display in the state Capitol. Per state law, the Tennessee governor is tasked with issuing proclamations for six separate days of special observation, three of which, including the July 13 Forrest Day, pertain to the Confederacy. Lee -- and governors who have come before him -- are also required by state law to proclaim Jan. 19 as Robert E. Lee Day, honoring the commander of the Confederate Army, as well as June 3 Confederate Decoration Day, otherwise known as Confederate Memorial Day and the birthday of Confederate President Jefferson Davis. 'I signed the bill because the law requires that I do that and I haven't looked at changing that law,' Lee said Thursday. He declined to say whether he believed state law should be changed to no longer require the governor to issue such proclamations or whether he had reservations about doing so." Mrs. McC: Obviously a governor with any guts & moral standards would just say no.

Way Beyond

Brazil. Dom Phillips of the Guardian: "Brazilian diplomats have reacted with scorn and dismay to reports that Jair Bolsonaro wants to make his son Eduardo the country's ambassador to the US, despite his lack of diplomatic experience.... On Friday Bolsonaro said the appointment would not constitute nepotism. 'That's for the supreme court to decide. It is not nepotism, I would never do that,' Bolsonaro said [sic]. That argument has failed to convince many in Brazil. 'If it's confirmed, the nomination will bring Brazil closer to becoming a banana republic,' wrote Bernardo Mello Franco in his blog for Rio's O Globo newspaper." --s

Casey Michel of ThinkProgress: "A series of reports over the past few months have [Mrs. McC: has!] pulled back the curtain on discussions about secret funding from Russia to far-right forces in Europe. Now, there are new questions about the connection the funding has with perhaps the most notorious international anti-LGBTQ group in existence -- a joint Russian-American brainchild called the World Congress of Families (WCF).... For years, the WCF has acted as the primary bridge between American Christian fundamentalists and Russian partners.... The WCF's Russian representative, Alexey Komov ... is at the heart of the burgeoning relationship between America's Christian fundamentalist contingent that looks warmly at the Kremlin and the financiers behind Russian designs, and the cultivation of far-right forces abroad. As such, it's unsurprising that Komov is also directly implicated in the new revelations [see BuzzFeed article linked yesterday] out of Italy." --s

Tom Miles of Reuters: "Saudi Arabia, Russia and 35 other states have written to the United Nations supporting China's policies in its western region of Xinjiang, according to a copy of the letter seen by Reuters on Friday, in contrast to strong Western criticism. China has been accused of detaining a million Muslims and persecuting ethnic Uighurs in Xinjiang, and 22 ambassadors signed a letter to the U.N. Human Rights Council this week criticizing its policies.... The letter supporting China commended what it called China's remarkable achievements in the field of human rights ... [and was] signed by ambassadors from many African countries, North Korea, Venezuela, Cuba, Belarus, Myanmar, the Philippines, Syria, Pakistan, Oman, Kuwait, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain." --safari: All these Muslim-majority countries supporting ethnic cleansing of Muslim minorities. Incredible.

News Ledes

New York Times: "A power failure plunged a stretch of the West Side of Manhattan into darkness on Saturday night, trapping thousands of people in subways and elevators for a time, leaving drivers to fend for themselves at intersections with no traffic signals and eerily dimming the lights of a swath of Times Square.... Con Edison said that the power failed 6:47 p.m. and that 73,000 customers were in the dark for at least two hours, mainly on the West Side. The Fire Department said the failures stretched from 72nd Street to the West 40s, and from Fifth Avenue to the Hudson River. Shortly after 10:30 p.m., Con Edison announced that six power networks had been knocked out, but that five had been restored. One between 32th and 42nd Streets still remained out, the utility said.... Mayor Bill de Blasio ... said Con Edison believed that the blackout was caused by a mechanical issue. Mr. de Blasio was speaking from Iowa, where he was campaigning for president."

The New York Times has live updates of developments re: Hurricane Barry. ...

... Weather Channel: "Tropical Storm Barry will make landfall today, possibly as a hurricane, along the northern Gulf Coast, spreading torrential rain up the lower Mississippi Valley, leading to major river flooding and flash flooding in parts of Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Arkansas and Tennessee, along with storm-surge flooding and strong winds.... While Barry may become a hurricane before landfall, its water (rain, surge) impacts are bigger concerns than wind. Let's begin by listing current watches and warnings in effect.... Regardless of whether Barry is a tropical storm or hurricane, a major threat of heavy rain and flash flooding is in play the next few days in the lower Mississippi Valley, due to Barry's slow movement."

The Commentariat -- July 12, 2019

Late Morning/Afternoon Update:

So great looking [4 pinocchios] and smart [4 pinocchios], a true Stable [4 pinocchios] Genius [4 pinocchios]! -- Donald Trump, actual self-description, earning 16 pinocchios in only 9 words!, as tabulated by RAS in today's Comments ...

... Trump has been telling more lies & insulting more people today, but I'm too sick of him to go into it, so I'll save it for tomorrow. -- Mrs. McCrabbie

Frank Rich lambastes Jeffrey Epstein's elite facilitators & tries to to leave out anybody. "Compared to the Manhattan heavy hitters who went to Epstein's dinner parties, rode his private jet, and furthered the fiction that he was some kind of genius hedge-fund billionaire, the now-departed Alex Acosta was a mere flunky to be muscled (easily) by Epstein's attorneys in the Southern District of Florida."

Natasha Bertrand of Politico: "Attorney General Bill Barr has ordered an investigation into whether the CIA was correct to determine that Russian President Vladimir Putin wanted to boost Donald Trump during the 2016 election. But that question has already been asked and answered at the CIA's highest levels -- by Mike Pompeo, a Trump loyalist, according to three people familiar with the matter. Just after Pompeo took over as CIA director in 2017, he conducted a personal review of the CIA's findings, grilling analysts on their conclusions in a challenging and at times combative interview, these people said. He ultimately found no evidence of any wrongdoing, or that the analysts had been under political pressure to produce their findings. 'This wasn't just a briefing,' said one person familiar with the episode. 'This was a challenging back and forth, in which Pompeo asked the officers tough questions about their work and how they determined Putin's specific objectives.' Pompeo also asked about CIA's work with the FBI on the Russia probe in 2016. Two U.S. officials further confirmed to POLITICO that the interview occurred and was robust." ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: Wait, wait! I thought Barr was fake-investigating the oranges of the Russia investigation; Bertrand's opening graf suggests the citrus probe has been expanded to the point that Barr is about to fake-discover that Putin was not pro-Trump. I really am confused.

Ryan Deveraux of the Intercept: "When news broke that thousands of current and former Border Patrol agents were members of a secret Facebook group filled with racist, vulgar, and sexist content, Carla Provost, chief of the agency, was quick to [condemn the 'inappropriate' posts & promise to hold the writers accountable].... For Provost, a veteran of the Border Patrol who was named head of the agency in August 2018, the group's existence and content should have come as no surprise. Three months after her appointment to chief, Provost herself had posted in the group, then known as 'I'm 10-15,' now archived as 'America First X 2.' Provost's comment was innocuous ... but her participation in the group, which she has since left, raises serious questions."

Connor O'Brien of Politico: "House Democrats closed ranks to pass a massive $733 billion defense policy bill on Friday, teeing up a partisan clash with Senate Republicans over military funding and contentious foreign policy issues. The National Defense Authorization Act was approved 220 to 197, with all House Republicans opposing the bill -- enough to sustain a promised veto from ... Donald Trump."

Ashley Killough & Clare Foran of CNN: "The House on Friday passed legislation to extend funding for the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund through 2090, weeks after the bill received nationwide attention following impassioned pleas for support from surviving first responders and comedian Jon Stewart. The bill easily cleared the House with a vote of 402-12, and will now be sent to the Senate, where timing on that vote is not yet clear, though Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has vowed to hold a vote on the legislation. Moments after the House passage, McConnell's office issued a statement that the chamber would consider 'this important legislation soon.'"

Catie Edmondson of the New York Times: "The House voted Friday to curb President Trump's ability to strike Iran militarily on Friday, adopting a bipartisan provision that would require the president to get Congress's approval before authorizing military force against Tehran. The 251-170 vote reflects lawmakers' growing desire to take back long-ceded authority over matters of war and peace from the executive branch, a reclamation legislators contend has grown increasingly urgent amid escalating tensions with Iran.... Mr. Trump said last month he believes he does not need congressional approval to strike Iran. The vote Friday amounted to a pointed and bipartisan rebuttal -- led by strange ideological bedfellows, Representatives Ro Khanna, a liberal Democrat from California, and Matt Gaetz of Florida, one of Mr. Trump's most strident Republican allies in Congress."

Adios. Annie Karni & Eileen Sullivan of the New York Times: "President Trump said Friday morning that R. Alexander Acosta, his embattled secretary of labor, will resign following controversy over his handling of a sex crimes case involving the financier, Jeffrey Epstein, when he was a prosecutor in Florida. Mr. Acosta called the president this morning and informed him of his decision to resign, Mr. Trump said, as he left the White House for travel to Milwaukee and Cleveland." ...

... Darlene Superville & Jill Colvin of the AP: "... Donald Trump, with Acosta at his side, made the announcement as he left the White House for a trip to Wisconsin and Ohio. The president said Acosta had been a 'great' labor secretary. 'I hate to see this happen,' Trump said. He said he did not ask Acosta to leave the Cabinet. Acosta said his resignation would be effective in seven days. Acosta said he didn't think it was right for his handling of Epstein's case to distract from his work as secretary of labor." Mrs. McC: Yes, it's sad to see somebody suffer for being extra-nice to a serial child sex abuser & child pornographer.

Manu Raju & Jeremy Herb of CNN: "The House Judiciary Committee is discussing delaying former special counsel Robert Mueller's public testimony one week until July 24 to allow more time for Mueller to testify. Lawmakers are still negotiating." This is a breaking story; that's all there is, but it is to be updated.

~~~~~~~~~~

Surrender! Katie Rogers & Adam Liptak of the New York Times: "President Trump on Thursday abandoned his battle to place a question about citizenship on the 2020 census, and instructed the government to compile citizenship data from existing federal records, a significant retreat in the president's wider crackdown on undocumented immigration.... Just last week, Mr. Trump insisted that he 'must' pursue that goal. He instead said he was issuing an executive order instructing federa departments and agencies to provide the Census Bureau with citizenship data immediately.... Even that order appears merely to accelerate plans the Census Bureau had announced last year, making it less a new policy than a means of covering Mr. Trump's retreat from the composition of the 2020 census form.... Mr. Trump's climb down came just days after his attorney general, William P. Barr, said that the court's ruling was 'wrong' and that the citizenship question could still appear on the census, whose mass printing must begin soon.... Even as he waved a white flag on substance, Mr. Trump was still firing angry rhetorical shots. 'As shocking as it may be, far-left Democrats in our country are determined to conceal the number of illegal aliens in our midst,' he said." (This is an update of a story linked yesterday.) ...

     ... Mrs. Bea McCrabbie: Trump's & Barr's bluster was pretty funny. As he effectively waved a white flag, Trump tried to pretend he was still doing so much winning. Barr, when he took his turn at the podium, congratulated Trump twice for an executive order that was (a) unnecessary & (b) a clear surrender, but Barr too characterized as so much winning. You can watch the performance here. The good news is that Barr seems to have talked Trump out of shredding the Constitution by ignoring a Supreme Court ruling. ...

... BUT. Ari Berman of Mother Jones: "The decision is a major victory for voting and immigrant rights groups, who argued that the question would depress response rates among immigrant communities and jeopardize the accuracy and fairness of the entire decennial census. However, Trump's decision could still pose problems for voting rights. Trump ordered the Census Bureau to gather existing data on citizenship from administrative records, and ordered other federal agencies to turn over their citizenship data to the Commerce Department, which oversees the bureau. The administration could then use this information to draw districts based on citizenship rather than total population during the next redistricting cycle in 2021 -- something some Republicans have been advocating. That would shift political power to whiter and more Republican areas with fewer immigrants.... 'Some states may want to draw districts based on voter eligible population,' Trump said Thursday.... 'There is a legal dispute about whether illegal aliens can be included for apportionment purposes,' [AG Bill] Barr said, referring to a lawsuit from Alabama seeking to exclude undocumented immigrants from counting toward congressional appointment." ...

... How Not to Behave at a Rose Garden Event. Nikki Schwab & Ben Feuerherd of the New York Post: "President Trump's Social Media Summit on Thursday almost descended into a brawl when Sebastian Gorka got into a brief shouting match with a White House reporter in the Rose Garden. Gorka, a former adviser to Trump, was sitting near the front row with several social media provocateurs during Trump's announcement about the census. When Trump finished his remarks..., Gorka walked past the White House press pool where he got into a brief shouting match with Playboy correspondent Brian Karem. Gorka called Karem a 'punk' during the dust-up.... In a brief interview before the scuffle, Gorka referred to reporters as 'asshats.'" ...

The crap you think of is unbelievable. -- Donald Trump, to wingers at the White House ...

... Kevin Freking & Marcy Gordon of the AP: "... Donald Trump used a White House conference Thursday to applaud far-right social media provocateurs even as he conceded that some of them are extreme in their views. Trump, who has weaponized social media to eviscerate opponents and promote himself, led a 'social media summit' of like-minded critics of Big Tech, excluding representatives from the very platforms he exploits. The president used the event to air grievances over his treatment by Big Tech, but also to praise some of the most caustic voices on the right, who help energize Trump's political base. 'Some of you guys are out there,' he told them. 'I mean it's genius, but it's bad.'... The meeting represented an escalation of Trump's battle with companies like Facebook, Google and even his preferred communications outlet, Twitter, where he has an estimated 61 million followers. The president has claimed, without evidence, that the companies are 'against me' and even suggested U.S. regulators should sue them on grounds of anti-conservative bias." ...

... Will Sommer of the Daily Beast:"The president spent much of the event complaining that his tweets get fewer retweets than they used to, suggesting that this was proof of a conspiracy against him -- claiming that he had been 'shadowbanned' by Twitter executives. Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey met with Trump earlier this year to explain that Trump had lost followers in routine bot purges, but Trump also alleged on Thursday that Twitter was deliberately depressing his follower count.... Trump frequently veered off-topic, returning multiple times to his complaints about the management of The Apprentice, the NBC reality show he hasn't hosted for years. But he also used the event to pump up his online personalities for the 2020 election.... The event included a number of people who elevate conspiracy theories for a living, including YouTuber Tim Pool, who has promoted the Seth Rich conspiracy theory, and Bill Mitchell, an online video personality who has promoted QAnon, a ludicrous idea that posits that the Democratic Party is run by pedophile cannibals." ...

Donald Trump Explains the First Amendment. To me free speech is not when you see something good [like me!] and then you purposely write bad [Trump critics]. To me that's very dangerous speech, and you become angry at it. But that's not free speech. -- Donald Trump, at the social media soiree ...

... Jonathan Chait: "Trump's invocation of 'free speech' is consistent: His entire goal is to promote supportive views and suppress hostile ones. And the willingness of virtually the entire conservative movement to support or tolerate his cynical conscription of free speech to intimidate the media reveals how little they, too, care about freedom." ...

Trump Had Another Morning Twittertantrum Thursday. Caitlin Oprysko of Politico: "... Donald Trump on Thursday laid into congressional Democrats over their investigations into his administration and 2016 campaign.... The tweets, which came as part of a larger spree of almost two dozen tweets over the course of the morning, came moments before the House Judiciary Committee gathered to vote on authorizing subpoenas to 12 witnesses in the Mueller investigation." Mrs. McC: I'd guess the cause of the tantrum was Trump's anticipated cave on the census citizenship question. (Also linked yesterday.) ...

... Inae Oh of Mother Jones: "'A big subject today at the White House Social Media Summit will be the tremendous dishonesty, bias, discrimination and suppression practiced by certain companies,' [Trump] lashed out before launching into a chaotic thread that included more jokes about him serving past two terms, a timely Thursday throwback to his 2016 presidential launch, and another racist attack against Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.). The tweetstorm concluded with an unabashed moment of self-praise. 'So great looking and smart, a true Stable Genius!' the president called himself."

"Trump's Day of Terror." Matt Ford of the New Republic: "Sunday's planned arrests of more than 2,000 [immigrant] families are a pitch-perfect sop to [Trump's] base as he gears up for re-election.... Thousands of lives are about to change so the president can hear how well he's doing on Fox News.... The Trump administration forecasts its deportation raids not to make them more successful, but to instill fear in disfavored communities and to signal to his supporters that he's doing just that. Trump constantly strives to slake his base's unquenchable thirst for harsher policies toward immigrants. Trump isn't actually trying to solve an immigration problem." ...

... Jamie Ehrlich of CNN: "Nine major United States cities are bracing for impact following reports that Immigration and Customs Enforcement will move forward with an operation targeting migrant families with court-ordered removals that was previously called off in June. The mayors of the nine cities are speaking out as questions linger about whether city law enforcement will play a part in the raids that the administration has called a method of 'deterrence.' The New York Times first reported on the raids, saying they are expected to take place in at least 10 cities, will occur 'over multiple days' and will include 'collateral' deportations in which 'authorities might detain immigrants who happened to be on the scene, even though they were not targets of the raids.' ICE has suspended its plans for New Orleans because of the storm. The article includes remarks from the mayors of Chicago, Miami, New York, Houston, Denver & San Francisco. As Matt Ford of the New Republic noted in the story linked above, "Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Thursday urged House Democrats to inform their undocumented constituents about their right to refuse to allow ICE agents into their homes."

Dan Friedman of Mother Jones: "Since Donald Trump was sworn in as president, his frequent visits to Mar-a-Lago, his private Palm Beach club, have raised counterintelligence concerns:... On Wednesday, a federal judge in Florida suggested there was indeed reason to worry. Overseeing the case of a Yuijing Zhang, a Chinese woman arrested at the club in March for trespassing and lying to a federal agent (and who was found to have an array of electronic devices in her possession), US District Court Judge Roy Altman issued an extraordinary order that federal prosecutors can submit to him classified evidence about Zhang without sharing it with her. He said this was because disclosure of this material 'could cause serious damage to the national security of the United States.' In other words, this case -- according to the prosecutors -- was not a simple trespassing case; it somehow involved secret information." --s

Nick Martin of Splinter: "The Washington Post has a report out today on American Carnage, a forthcoming book from Tim Alberta that details the turmoil in the Republican Party under ... Donald Trump. Complete with reporting dating back to before the 2016 election, Alberta very much got The Goods, in the sense that he's got first-hand quotes from Trump saying things like how he loves Christianity not so much for that Jesus guy but for all the Evangelical votes he got. Alberta also apparently has pages and pages exhaustively detailing repeated instances of one-time Never-Trump Republicans eating absolute shit just to cling to power. It's bad and horrifying -- these are the people running our government, after all -- but it also makes plain the spinelessness of each and every card-carrying member of the GOP establishment member when presented with any sort of Trump-related conflict." Read on. OR, read the Trump cares about the appearance of criticism more than the criticism itself. His unheralded genius is not in insulting his critics but in co-opting them -- or at least in coming to mutually beneficial truces of the sort that suggests Trump's social-media histrionics are more calculated than they seem. After all, Trump has essentially stocked his entire government with formerly vehement critics, many of whom said far, far worse things about him than the British Ambassador did."

Laura Bassett in GQ: "[W]hen is America going to reckon with the alleged serial sexual abuser in the White House? Donald Trump has not only been accused of rape and sexual misconduct by more than 20 women over the past several decades, but he regularly uses his power to threaten survivors who come forward and to protect and promote men who abuse women.... Trump's connections to Epstein's sex trafficking may go beyond merely superficial. In 2016, 'Jane Doe' filed a lawsuit against Trump alleging a 'savage sexual attack in 1994, when she was 13 years old, in which he tied her to a bed at Epstein's house, raped her, and struck her in the face. The account was corroborated by a witness who claimed to have seen the child perform sexual acts on both Trump and Epstein.... Jane Doe dropped the lawsuit in November 2016, days before Trump's election, after her attorney, Lisa Bloom, cited 'numerous threats' against her client.... [W]hen the puzzle pieces are assembled, the full picture of Trump's alleged sexual misconduct and the fact that he's gotten away with it for so long are actually quite shocking at a time when the country is supposed to be reckoning with its own rape culture. It's not just the idea of a possible rapist sitting in the Oval Office that's disturbing -- it's the ripple effect of a presidency that silences and devalues women and girls while elevating the men who harm them. " --s ...

Rubbing Salt in the Wound. John Bresnahan of Politico: "House Democrats will vote next week on criminal contempt charges against Attorney General William Barr and Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross for failing to comply with a congressional subpoena over the 2020 census, Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced Thursday. The vote -- the second time a sitting attorney general would be found in criminal contempt by the House -- has little real-world impact as Barr almost certainly won't face criminal charges from the Justice Department over efforts to include a citizenship question.... 'Next week, the full House will vote on a resolution of criminal contempt for Attorney General Barr and Secretary Ross so we can enforce our subpoenas and get the facts,' Pelosi told reporters. House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) said in a statement that the vote would take place Tuesday."

Morgan Chalfont & Olivia Beavers of the Hill: "The House Judiciary Committee voted along party lines Thursday to authorize subpoenas for documents and testimony from a dozen current and former Trump administration officials and associates related to the panel's investigation into alleged obstruction of justice by President Trump. The committee also voted to authorize subpoenas for documents and testimony related to the Trump administration's immigration policies, amid massive outrage by Democrats over conditions in detention facilities at the southern border. The committee approved the resolution authorizing the slew of subpoenas in a 21-12 vote after a contentious markup Thursday, during which Republicans and Democrats sparred over the setup of ... Robert Mueller's impending testimony and the immigration crisis." (Also linked yesterday.)

Sean Wilentz in the New Yorker: On the matter of impeachment, Nancy "Pelosi's normally acute political judgment is failing her, and the historical precedent she is evidently relying on -- the impeachment of President Bill Clinton -- is not analogous. In fact, based on the past half century of political history, suppressing an impeachment inquiry seems more likely to help insure Trump's reëlection. If this happens, Pelosi's formidable reputation, based on a lifetime of public service and her role as the first female Speaker of the House, will suffer.... Pursuing a fully justified impeachment inquiry, however, would turn Trump's demagogy against him. It would reframe the division on constitutional terms, not with empty insults but with hard evidence, televised daily -- the kind of evidence that could turn crucial independent opinion and energize a Democratic base.... Such proceedings would also accentuate the now-or-never importance of the 2020 election." --s ...

... "A Constant Dereliction of Duty." Charles Pierce: "Right now, at this very moment, the United States government is committing crimes against humanity on its southern border at the command of a certifiable vulgar talking yam. The opposition party controls exactly one center of power in the tripartite government and two seats -- occasionally, three -- on the Supreme Court. And under the leadership of Speaker Nancy Pelosi, the Democratic leadership in the House of Representatives has chosen to do precisely squat about the situation, choosing instead to pick a fight with its youngest and most charismatic members who, by the way, are pretty much the only members of the House who have gone to see the atrocities first hand."

Presidential Race 2020. Mark Murray of NBC News: "Former Vice President Joe Biden and Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., lead the Democratic presidential field, according to the national NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll's opening measure of the 2020 horse race. Biden gets the support of 26 percent of voters who say they will participate in next year's Democratic primaries or caucuses, while 19 percent back Warren. They're followed by Sens. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., and Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., who are tied at 13 percent. South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg gets support from 7 percent of Democratic primary voters, and former Texas Congressman Beto O'Rourke and entrepreneur Andrew Yang are at 2 percent."

He's So Black. Original photo left, NRCC version right.... Congressional Races 2020. Hunter Walker of Yahoo! News: "Former NFL star Colin Kaepernick did not look like himself in a fundraising email that was sent by the National Republican Congressional Committee on Wednesday. The message included a picture of Kaepernick that appeared noticeably altered to make his skin darker.... In an email to Yahoo News, NRCC communications director Chris Pack insisted, 'The photo was not darkened.'... Political ad makers have previously been accused of darkening African-Americans' skin in photographs to appeal to racist sentiment.... Hillary Clinton was also accused of darkening Obama's skin in ads [as was McCain].... There is a wide body of evidence indicating racial prejudice is stronger against African-Americans with darker skin, and ... that some voters respond negatively to candidates with darker skin." --s

Paul Krugman: "There are, I'd say, two main implications of [the lawsuit attempting to invalidate ObamaCare]..., a suit brought by 18 state attorneys general, and backed by the Trump administration.... The first is that right-wing partisanship has already corrupted much of the judiciary. At this point it's clear that there are many judges who will rule in favor of whatever the G.O.P. wants, no matter how weak the legal arguments. The second is that even though Obamacare is now part of the fabric of American life, even though many of the beneficiaries are Republican voters -- think about those numbers for Kentucky and West Virginia -- Trump and his party are as determined as ever to destroy it. And what this means in turn is that the 2020 election will be another referendum on health care. If you're an American who suffers from a pre-existing condition, or doesn't have a job that comes with health benefits, you should know that if Trump is re-elected, he will, one way or another, take away your health insurance."

Julie Brown & David Smiley of the Miami Herald: "At least a dozen new victims have come forward to claim they were sexually abused by Jeffrey Epstein.... Following Epstein's arrest Saturday in New Jersey, four women have reached out to New York lawyer David Boies, and at least 10 other women have approached other lawyers who have represented dozens of Epstein's alleged victims in the past. Jack Scarola, a Palm Beach attorney, said at least five women, all of whom were minors at the time of their alleged encounters with Epstein, have reached out to either him or Fort Lauderdale lawyer Brad Edwards. 'The people we are speaking to are underage victims in Florida and in New York. They are not individuals whose claims have previously been part of any law enforcement investigation," Scarola said." --s ...

... Benjamin Weiser of the New York Times: Jeffrey "Epstein asked the court to release him o substantial bond and pledged to put up his palatial Manhattan townhouse and his private jet as collateral. He also proposed he be allowed to remain under house arrest in his Upper East Side house, and said he would agree to electronic monitoring of his location. He said he would surrender his passport and ground his jet. In addition, his lawyers proposed that Mr. Epstein would hire private round-the-clock security guards who would 'virtually guarantee' that he would not flee his house and would show up for court.... Judge [Richard] Berman of Federal District Court in Manhattan is scheduled to take up Mr. Epstein's bail proposal at a hearing on Monday." (Also linked yesterday.) ...

     ... Ed Kilgore of New York: "... Epstein's lawyers argue that Berman's decision in that case raised 'equal protection' concerns, unduly punishing the rich simply because they happen to be rich." Mrs. McC: Making rich people sit in jail when they can put up security worth millions & millions is totally unconstitutional.

... Barbara McQuade in New York: "From a legal perspective, Labor Secretary Alexander Acosta's explanation of what occurred in the 2007 criminal case against Jeffrey Epstein was woefully inadequate.... First, he suggested that state prosecutors were to blame for his actions.... But ... Acosta was not bound by any decisions made by the state prosecutor.... Second, Acosta failed to adequately explain why the agreement was kept a secret from the victims.... Third, Acosta did not give a satisfactory explanation for a provision in the agreement that federal prosecutors would not charge Epstein's co-conspirators." (Also linked yesterday.)

Joe Romm of ThinkProgress: "... a major new study led by Yale researchers finds that just discussing [climate change] with friends and family leads them to learn more facts about the climate crisis, which in turn leads to greater understanding and concern about the issue.... In other words, talking about the climate crisis to family and friends motivates them to learn about the overwhelming scientific consensus that global warming is happening and humans are the cause -- along with other key facts. Increased understanding of the consensus in turns leads to an increase in understanding and concern about the climate.'" --s

Beyond the Beltway

Kentucky. Josh Israel of ThinkProgress: "Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin (R), who earlier this year endorsed Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) for a seventh six-year term, recently took to the airwaves to -- unintentionally -- make a compelling case for why the Senate majority leader should in fact step down.... In a radio interview last week..., Bevin argued that remaining in public office for too long led officials to become inefficient at their jobs. --s

Oklahoma. Ordinary Life in Flyover Country. Cassandra Sweetman of News 4 Oklahoma City: "Two people were arrested after a traffic stop of a stolen car revealed the two had a rattlesnake, radioactive uranium, and an open bottle of Kentucky Deluxe. Stephen Jennings is charged with possession of a stolen vehicle, transporting an open container of liquor, operating a vehicle with a suspended license, and failure to carry security verification form. Rachael Rivera is charged with possession of a firearm after a former felony conviction." Wahoo!

Way Beyond

Alberto Nardelli of Buzzfeed: Three Russian and three Italian men met October 19, 2018, at "Moscow's iconic Metropol Hotel, to discuss plans for a 'great alliance.' ... Their nominal purpose was an oil deal; their real goal was to undermine liberal democracies and shape a new, nationalist Europe aligned with Moscow. BuzzFeed News has obtained an explosive audio recording of the Metropol meeting in which a close aide [Gianluca Savoini] of Europe's most powerful far-right leader -- Italian Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini -- and the other five men can be heard negotiating the terms of a deal to covertly channel tens of millions of dollars of Russian oil money to Salvini's Lega party.... Salvini -- described enthusiastically by the Russians on the tape as the 'European Trump' -- did not attend the meeting himself, but he was in Moscow at the time." A long investigative piece. --s

Carlotta Gall of the New York Times: "The first shipment of a sophisticated Russian surface-to-air missile system arrived in Turkey on Friday, the Turkish Defense Ministry announced, a process that is expected to incur United States sanctions and will test the NATO alliance. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey has been insistent in his determination to purchase the S-400 system, Russia's most advanced antiaircraft weaponry, despite warnings from the United States. Washington has cautioned that the deal will lead to economic penalties against Turkey, a fellow NATO member, and cancellation of Turkey's purchase of American F-35 fighter jets. The United States has been unyielding in its opposition to Turkey's acquisition of the S-400. American officials have argued that the missile system is incompatible with NATO equipment, and that having Turkey operating both the Russian weapons and the F-35 could give Russia access to the American jets' secret stealth technology."

News Lede

AP: "Tropical Storm Barry's wind and rain began hitting parts of Louisiana early Friday as New Orleans and coastal communities braced for a drenching from what's expected to be the first hurricane of the season. A hurricane warning was in effect along the Louisiana coast, with forecasters predicting landfall as a hurricane by early Saturday. The storm's rains are expected to pose a severe test of New Orleans' improved post-Katrina flood defenses. Barry is forecast to bring more than a foot and a half (0.5 meters) of rain to parts of the state as it moves slowly inland."