The Commentariat -- October 16, 2018
Afternoon Update:
Yer Inspirational Quote of the Day:
... Erin Donnelly of Yahoo! News: "Ivanka Trump was up bright and early Tuesday morning to share an inspiring message: 'The secret of change is to focus all of your energy, not on fighting the old, but on building the new.'... The Socrates Trump is quoting is actually a character who appears in author, self-help coach, and former gymnast Dan Millman's writing. A quick Google search shows the quote -- which has been altered in later editions of the book -- originating from Millman's Way of the Peaceful Warrior, in which it is uttered by a spiritually minded gas station attendant nicknamed Socrates. Nick Nolte played this Socrates in a 2006 film adaption of the book.... In the spirit of 'building the new,' the first daughter deleted her original tweet and reposted the quote with a note clarifying that it didn't come from that Socrates [by adding, '(note: a fictional character not the philosopher)'].... This isn't the first time the White House adviser has faced fallout after tweeting a quote. In June, she quoted a 'Chinese proverb' that turned out to be fake." Thanks to PD Pepe (note: a real character & something of a philosopher) for the lead. ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: In my extensive research on the subject, I found this citation, attributed to just plain Socrates, on quite a number of "inspirational" Websites. For $4.95 + shipping, you can even buy a fridge magnet with the misattribution. Also, see Akhilleus' (note: a pseudonym for a real person not the fictional character) commentary in today's thread.
Fifty years. It's a long time. -- Donald Trump (note: a despicable character not the philosopher)
... Mark Landler of the New York Times: "In what has become a recurring ritual of the fall, President Trump and the first lady, Melania Trump, traveled [to Lynn Haven, Florida,] on Monday to survey the destruction of another hurricane, this one named Michael, which last week laid waste to the Florida Panhandle. 'This was beyond any winds we've seen for -- I guess -- 50 years,; Mr. Trump said, before he and Mrs. Trump handed out plastic water bottles to storm victims at an aid distribution center in this hard-hit town. 'They say that 50 years ago, there was one that had this kind of power.'... 'We've seen mostly water. And water can be very damaging and scary, when you see water rising 14 or 15 feet. But nobody's ever seen anything like this. This is really incredible.' Still, for someone whose presidency has been interrupted repeatedly by these freakish storms, Mr. Trump remains stubbornly unwilling to acknowledge the threat of climate change."
Carol Morello & Erin Cunningham of the Washington Post: "BREAKING NEWS: President Trump says Saudi's crown prince 'totally denied any knowledge' of what happened at the consulate in Turkey, and promises answers 'shortly' on Jamal Khashoggi's disappearance. This is a developing story and will be updated. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo pressed Saudi leaders Tuesday to move quickly with a 'transparent' investigation of the disappearance of Jamal Khashoggi, even as Turkish officials sifted through possible evidence at the last place the journalist was seen alive.... Pompeo also plans to travel to Turkey's capital, Ankara, on Wednesday to meet with Turkish leaders for an update on the probe." ...
... Ben Hubbard & Daniel Victor of the New York Times: "Turkey's president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, told reporters in Ankara on Tuesday that investigators who searched the [Saudi] consulate on Monday and Tuesday were looking into 'toxic materials, and those materials being removed by painting them over.' Turkish news outlets, citing unnamed sources, have reported that Mr. Khashoggi was drugged, and that parts of the consulate and the nearby consul's residence were repainted after the journalist's disappearance. Later in the day, the Saudi consul, Mohammed al-Otaibi, left the country, the Turkish Foreign Ministry said. (This is an update of a story linked this morning.)
Jordan Fabian of the Hill: "President Trump on Tuesday called adult-film star Stormy Daniels 'Horseface' and threatened to 'go after' her after he won a court victory over his alleged mistress. '"Federal Judge throws out Stormy Danials [sic] lawsuit versus Trump. Trump is entitled to full legal fees." @FoxNews Great, now I can go after Horseface and her 3rd rate lawyer in the Great State of Texas. She will confirm the letter she signed! She knows nothing about me, a total con!" he tweeted. The tweet comes one day after a federal judge in California threw out Daniels's defamation lawsuit against Trump and ordered Daniels to repay the president's legal fees."
Tyler Estep of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution: "Voting advocates and civil rights groups have homed in on Gwinnett County[, Georgia,] in a lawsuit filed over what they deem to be its 'excessive rejection of mail ballots because of voters' innocent errors and discrepancies.' The suit, filed late Monday in U.S. District Court in Atlanta, names Secretary of State Brian Kemp, [Mrs. McC: who is also the GOP nominee for governor,] the state elections board and the Gwinnett County elections board as defendants. It ... asks a judge to order that all rejected absentee ballots and absentee ballot applications be reviewed and be reinstated if at all possible. A separate letter sent to Gwinnett County officials by the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law made similar suggestions. Both actions come amid media reports, including those by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, that found Gwinnett County was throwing out a disproportionate number of such ballots. Through Sunday, Gwinnett County had rejected about 8.5 percent of absentee ballots, an AJC analysis found. Across Georgia, less than 2 percent had been rejected. Gwinnett's 390 rejected ballots accounted for about 37 percent of the total rejected ballots statewide. Analysis by the Lawyers Committee suggested that the rejections affected Asian, black and Latino voters at greater rates than white voters. More than 60 percent of Gwinnett residents are non-white." ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: An honorable secretary of state or other official who had any responsibility for election management would have recused himself from overseeing any aspect of an election in which he was a candidate. But a lot of Republicans are just not into "honorable." So it oughtta be a law.
Think Brownshirts. Kelly Weill & Will Sommer of the Daily Beast: "In a speech at [Manhattan's Metropolitan Republican Club]..., Proud Boys leader Gavin McInnes waved a sword at anti-fascist protesters and celebrated the assassination of a socialist Japanese politician. McInnes, a Vice co-founder, dressed up as the Japanese assassin who killed the politician, complete with glasses that made his eyes into a racist caricature of a Japanese person's eyes.... The Republican club's role hosting the event highlights how the Proud Boys have managed to insinuate themselves with mainstream Republicans, even as they increasingly make the news for their violence. But the New York Republicans aren't alone -- the Proud Boys have already managed to make their way into other mainstream GOP campaign events and conservative media. Representatives Mario Diaz-Balart and Devin Nunes have posed for pictures with Proud Boys on the campaign trail. Fox News anchor Tucker Carlson posed in a Fox green room with two Proud Boys and Republican operative Roger Stone earlier this year. Stone has himself taken steps to be initiated into the Proud Boys and ... used the Proud Boys as a security force at the Dorchester Conference, a Republican event in Oregon. By then, the Proud Boys were already notorious in Oregon for a series of bloody Portland brawls. But Dorchester board member and former Oregon legislator Patrick Sheehan defended the Proud Boys' attendance...."
*****
The Better to Coordinate a Cover-up. Ben Hubbard & Daniel Victor of the New York Times: "Secretary of State Mike Pompeo met with King Salman of Saudi Arabia, the crown prince and other top officials in Riyadh on Tuesday to discuss the disappearance of a prominent Saudi journalist who Turkish officials say was killed and dismembered inside the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul." ...
... Clarissa Ward & Tim Lister of CNN: "The Saudis are preparing a report that will acknowledge that Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi's death was the result of an interrogation that went wrong, one that was intended to lead to his abduction from Turkey, according to two sources. One source says the report will likely conclude that the operation was carried out without clearance and transparency and that those involved will be held responsible. One of the sources acknowledged that the report is still being prepared and cautioned that things could change." ...
... OR, as Eric Levitz puts it, "In other words: The Saudis' official defense is, reportedly, 'We only wanted to torture and kidnap the dissident journalist, but the Crown Prince's friend got a little too enthusiastic, and accidentally killed him. (In a bizarre coincidence, a doctor of forensic science and bone saw just happened to be on the scene at the consulate that day -- and, well, one thing led to another.)' If the Trump administration, K Street, and D.C.'s foreign policy Establishment cares about the reality of the Saudis' actions, this cover story won't fly. But then, if they cared about such realities, the U.S. would have cut off support to the Saudi war in Yemen years ago."
... Levitz also explains the media attention Jamal Khashoggi's murder has received: "... no one in Washington, D.C., has ever been at a cocktail party with a starving Yemeni child, and so Riyadh's offenses against such children did not threaten the U.S.-Saudi alliance. Many in D.C. do, however, rub shoulders with Washington Post columnists -- of which Khashoggi was one -- and thus, his apparent murder has forced many American lobbyists, corporate titans, and public officials to feign shock and concern at the revelation that the totalitarian, Islamist government of Saudi Arabia does not respect the human rights of its dissidents." ...
... BUT What about Trump's New Conspiracy Theory? "Rogue Killers." Eileen Sullivan of the New York Times: "President Trump said on Monday that he spoke with the king of Saudi Arabia and that the ruler denied any knowledge of what happened to a missing Saudi dissident journalist. After the call, Mr. Trump said it was possible that 'rogue killers' were behind the disappearance of the journalist, Jamal Khashoggi.... 'It sounded to me like maybe these could have been rogue killers -- who knows,' Mr. Trump said. In introducing the possibility that another party could have been involved in Mr. Khashoggi's disappearance, the president opened a window for King Salman and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to stand by their denials.... The president said the secretary of State, Mike Pompeo, was traveling to Saudi Arabia later Monday morning to meet with King Salman.... Senator Christopher S. Murphy, Democrat of Connecticut, wrote in a Twitter post on Monday that he had heard the Saudis were pushing a 'rogue killers' theory and called it 'extraordinary' that the kingdom was able to get the president on board." Mrs. McC: A 400-pound man from New Jersey maybe? (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
... WELL. Josh Lederman of NBC News: "Saudi Arabia's government is discussing a plan to admit that missing journalist Jamal Khashoggi was killed after entering the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, three people with knowledge of the situation tell NBC News.... One ... said he was told by those close to the Saudi leadership that the kingdom will claim that rogue operatives killed Khashoggi during an interrogation or a rendition attempt that went horribly awry." Emphasis added. Mrs. McC: As Chris Hayes of MSNBC said, it appears that Trump is colluding with the Saudis to engineer a coverup. That is, the coverup of the assassination of a journalist who is Washington Post contributor. I'm not saying U.S. leadership has never before aided & abetted a murderous criminal regime, but what we're witnessing now really is extraordinary. You know, it's not easy to murder a person in cold blood & get away with it, especially when evidence of your crime abounds AND you keep changing your alibi. But if you can garner a little help from a corrupt POTUS*, evading the consequences of your heinous crime becomes a bit easier, if even more outrageous. ...
... Philip Bump of the Washington Post: "Two overlapping things of widely divergent importance happened Monday morning that bring into clear relief President Trump's double standard on the proof he demands on political issues. The first was his response to a question about the missing Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi.... 'I just spoke with the King of Saudi Arabia, and he denies any knowledge of what took place with regards to, as he said, to Saudi Arabia's citizen,' Trump said while talking to reporters Monday morning. 'He firmly denies that.'... In each case -- Saudi Arabia, Russia, [Roy] Moore, climate change, [Brett] Kavanaugh -- there is reason to believe, if to varying degrees, that the allegations [that Trump finds inconvenient] have merit. Trump, though, seizes on any tiny argument to reject them.... [MEANWHILE.] Trump has increasingly disparaged [Elizabeth] Warren, a likely (if not probable) Democratic candidate. Among the assertions he had made is that Warren -- who[m] he disparagingly calls 'Pocahontas' -- should have to conduct a DNA test to prove her heritage. In July, he even offered to give $1 million to charity were she to do so. When he learned Monday morning that she had, his response was curt: 'Who cares?' He also denied having offered to give $1 million to charity, despite his saying it at a campaign rally.... For Trump's opponents, any offered proof is flawed, incomplete or insufficient. For his allies, any offered evidence is robust and more than enough." Bump invokes the imaginary 400-pound guy, too, as well as Obama's birth certificate. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: Warren should be demanding her $1MM loudly & often. She could donate it to Snopes. Update: Madeleine Aggeler of New York: "After the Globe published the results of her test, Warren tweeted at the president asking him to make his donation to the National Indigenous Woman's Resource Center." That's good, too. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
My family (including Fox News-watchers) sat together and talked about what they think of @realDonaldTrump’s attacks on our heritage. And yes, a famous geneticist analyzed my DNA and concluded that it contains Native American ancestry. pic.twitter.com/r3SNzP22f8
— Elizabeth Warren (@elizabethforma) October 15, 2018
... Update 1. Jordan Fabian of the Hill: "President Trump on Monday denied that he offered Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) $1 million to take a test proving her Native American heritage, even though he did just that. Trump spoke after Warren responded to the president's challenge and released the results of a DNA test showing she has a distant Native ancestor. 'I didn't say that. You'd better read it again,' Trump told reporters at the White House when asked about his $1 million offer. During a campaign rally on July 5, Trump taunted Warren for her claims of Native American ancestry, a staple of his campaign stump speeches. 'I will give you a million dollars, to your favorite charity, paid for by Trump, if you take the test and it shows you're an Indian,' Trump said at the time. 'I have a feeling she will say 'no.'" Mrs. McC: How is it that a veteran TV personality is unaware that there are tapes to disprove his lies? ...
... Update 2. Toluse Olorunnipa of Bloomberg (via Time): "... Donald Trump said he won't make good on a bet on Senator Elizabeth Warren's Native American heritage unless he can personally test her DNA." ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: What a sleazy, lying turd. Imagine having to work with this guy.
Jonathan Chait: "In his interview with 60 Minutes last night, President Trump made a number of self-incriminating comments about Russia. He downplayed Russia's certain role in conducting assassinations to a mere 'probability,' defending his skepticism by saying, weirdly, 'I rely on them, it's not in our country.'... The most revealing statement he made was when asked about Russian interference in the 2016 election.... The question [was] about Russian election interference in 2016. Trump turn[ed] it into a diatribe about China.... [An] official rollout of the new Cold War posture [highlighted by a mike pence speech & a Wall Street Journal feature story] was supposed to give Trump's hard-line stance the patina of legitimacy. But the 60 Minutes interview gives the game away. Trump is bringing up China in response to questions about Russia. The whole point of the exercise is to supply his supporters with a talking point they can use to wave away the ever-growing pile of damning evidence. The answer is to the Russia story is now, 'What about China?'" (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
This Blimp, videotaped yesterday, sure doesn't look like the svelte guy pictured in Andy Thomas's painting, posted in yesterday's Commentariat, a copy of which is now on display in the White House.
Someone Left the Wife Out in the Rain. Erika Harwood of Vanity Fair: "As the Trumps headed out for Georgia and Florida on Monday..., [Donald] was holding a large umbrella, which he never attempted to share with [Melanie]." ...
... On a somewhat more consequential note ...
A New York Times video op-ed by Jason Stanley:
... Mrs. McCrabbie: It's fair to look at most of TrumpNews -- and GOPNews -- as of a piece with fascism. Climate denial, the support for assassins, the silly contretemps with Elizabeth Warren, the devastating tax cut, whatever -- these are all predicated on obvious & audacious lies. That's what fascists do; that's how they ram through their corrupt, counterproductive measures. What remains stunning to me is that millions of people, almost all with at least decent public school educations, are willing to let the fascists lead them by their noses. Not long ago, I thought that education was the antidote to most of the world's political ills. Obviously, I was wrong about that. The triumph of fascism -- and it is currently triumphant in the former Land of the Free & Home of the Brave -- is a vast cultural disorder. (Three weeks from now we'll find out just how triumphant.) The evils of the world are as close as your next-door neighbor and your crazy Uncle Fred.
Paul Krugman: "... the Trump administration and its allies -- put on the defensive by yet another deadly climate change-enhanced hurricane and an ominous United Nations report -- have been making [various] bad arguments over the past few days.... It was a reminder that we're now ruled by people who are willing to endanger civilization for the sake of political expediency, not to mention increased profits for their fossil-fuel friends.... The new strategy is to downplay what has happened.... Why, it's as if Trump were to suggest that the Saudis had nothing to do with the disappearance of Jamal Khashoggi, who vanished after entering a Saudi embassy -- that he was killed by some mysterious third party. Oh, wait.... While the arguments of climate deniers were always weak, they've gotten much weaker.... One way to think about what's happening here is that it's the ultimate example of Trumpian corruption."
Jim Tankersley of the New York Times: "The federal budget deficit swelled to $779 billion in fiscal year 2018, the Treasury Department said on Monday, driven in large part by a sharp decline in corporate tax revenues after the Trump tax cuts took effect. The deficit rose nearly 17 percent year over year, from $666 billion in 2017. It is now on pace to top $1 trillion a year before the next presidential election, according to forecasts from the Trump administration and outside analysts. The deficit for the 2018 fiscal year, which ended Sept. 30, was the largest since 2012, when the economy and federal revenues were still recovering from the depths of the recession. Administration officials attributed the deficit's rise to greater federal spending, including the military and domestic budget increases that President Trump approved this year, not the $1.5 trillion tax cut.... But the numbers ... suggest falling revenues were a far larger contributor to the rising deficit than higher spending."
Alex Wayne & Saleha Mohsin of Bloomberg: "... Donald Trump said that Sears Holdings Corp. had been mismanaged for years before it declared bankruptcy. Among those responsible for its management: his Treasury secretary. Steven Mnuchin was a member of Sears's board from 2005 until December 2016, and before that was a director for K-Mart Corp., which was acquired by Sears in 2005." Mrs. McC: Mnuchin is using the same method to manage your money. See ballooning deficit story, linked above.
Josh Gerstein of Politico: "The adult-film actress Stormy Daniels' libel suit against ... Donald Trump was thrown out Monday by a federal judge, who also ordered Daniels to pay Trump's legal fees in the case. U.S. District Court Judge S. James Otero in Los Angeles said Trump was engaged in 'rhetorical hyperbole' in April when he sent a tweet casting doubt on threats that Daniels claimed to have received in 2011 as she debated whether to go public with her claim of a sexual encounter with Trump. 'A sketch years later about a nonexistent man. A total con job, playing the fake news media for fools (but they know it),' Trump on Twitter. In a 14-page order, Otero noted that the tweet was a one-time statement by Trump and said it failed to meet the standard of a clear factual claim that Daniels had lied.... Daniels' attorney, Michael Avenatti, immediately appealed the ruling to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals."
Sarah Okeson of DCReport: "Trump health officials plan to rewrite guidelines for a federally funded family planning program to make it harder for low-income women to obtain birth control. The 32-page proposed regulation mentions contraception three times aside from the footnotes and proposes removing the requirement that family planning services be medically approved, saying it could cause confusion.... 'This policy is straight out of The Handmaid's Tale,' said Dawn Laguens, executive vice president of Planned Parenthood Federation of America..." --s ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: This is about powerful white men maintaining control over some of the most powerless women in the U.S. To put it as delicately as possible, the "health officials" who dreamed up this anti-contraception policy are sick fucks.
"White Power" Priorities. Frank Dale of ThinkProgress: "President Donald Trump's Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has 'quietly' spent millions of dollars on private security for Confederate cemeteries since the violent 'Unite the Right' rally in Charlottesville, Virginia in August 2017.... [A]ccording to a new report from the Associated Press..., the VA has already spent almost $3 million on round-the-clock private security for at least eight Confederate cemeteries." --s
Election 2018
Florida. Mark Stern of Slate: "Florida’s Republican governor, Rick Scott, will not be able to name three new justices to the Florida Supreme Court after his term has ended, that court ruled on Monday. Its decision denies Scott the ability to shift the court rightward for a generation, thwarting his plan to make 'midnight appointments.' Instead, it ensures that the next governor will be able to fill those seats. The stakes of the Florida gubernatorial race, in other words, just got even higher: Whoever wins the election will enter office with three vacancies to fill on the state's highest court." --s
Minnesota. Meet Your Racist GOP. Danielle McLean of ThinkProgress: "Karin Housely, a Republican running for a U.S. Senate seat in Minnesota, once compared Michelle Obama to a chimp on Facebook in 2009, according to the Huffington Post.... White people comparing black people to monkeys, apes, or chimps has a long racist history, and one that has commonly been made by Republicans when discussing the Obama family or other African American Democrats. Most recently, in August, Ron DeSantis, a Republican running for governor in Florida, told voters not to 'monkey this up' by electing his African American challenger Andrew Gillum. And in May, ABC abruptly cancelled its successful reboot of the show 'Roseanne,' after actress Roseanne Barr compared former Obama administration senior adviser Valerie Jarrett to an ape on Twitter.... Housley is a state Senator" --s...
Jamelle Bouie of Slate: No, it isn't true that the Founding Fathers favored "minority rule" & baked it into the Constitution for the good of future wingers. "... key voices [like James Madison & Benjamin Franklin] anticipated the problems the Senate might pose for governance and democratic representation. That future Americans, to whom the Framers entrusted the republic and its maintenance, might seek reform to solve those problems is not an attack on the intent of the Constitution. It is in keeping with the debates around its creation.... Calls to transform the Senate, or create new states, or even 'pack the court' aren't attacks on norms; they are Americans doing the hard work of crafting a democracy that works for them, of taking seriously the idea that the Constitution exists for us, not us for the Constitution." Thanks to PD Pepe for the link. See also David Leonhardt's column, linked yesterday. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
... ** Michael Klarman in Take Care: "Even before the appointment of Justice Kavanaugh, the Supreme Court -- which has always been a political institution -- had become an adjunct of the Republican Party.... When progressives win back political power at the national level, which will happen one day, we will be confronted with the most conservative Supreme Court in nearly a century. It is easy to imagine that Court concocting constitutional arguments against virtually every measure a progressive administration might pursue.... [One] solution -- expanding the size of the Court once Democrats regain control of Congress and the presidency -- will inevitably appear partisan (though, rightly understood, it is not).... Figuring out how to behave in a world where one party no longer adheres to the basic norms of democracy is extremely challenging.... However, on this occasion, there is an obvious response to the concern that if Democrats pack the Court, Republicans will just pack in further in their favor at the next opportunity: Republicans are already packing the courts.... In that political context, for Democrats not to respond in kind is to commit political suicide." Read the whole post. --s ...
** "The Rigging of American Politics." Ezra Klein of Vox: "American politics is edging into an era of crisis. A constitutional system built to calm the tensions of America's founding era is distorting the political competition between parties, making the country both less democratic and less Democratic.... It is not difficult to imagine an America where Republicans consistently win the presidency despite rarely winning the popular vote, where they control both the House and the Senate despite rarely winning more votes than the Democrats, where their dominance of the Supreme Court is unquestioned, and where all of this power is used to buttress a system of partisan gerrymandering and pro-corporate campaign finance laws and strict voter ID requirements and anti-union legislation that further weakens Democrats' electoral performance.... If this seems outlandish, well, it simply describes the world we live in now, and assumes it continues forward.... How long will a Democratic coalition that has more numbers but less political power accept this system? And what will happen when they fight back?" safari: Very interesting article.
Donald Daters Doxes Doofuses. Zack Whittaker of Tech Crunch: "A new dating app for Trump supporters that wants to 'make America date again' has leaked its entire database of users -- on the day of its launch. The app, called 'Donald Daters,' is aimed at 'American-based singles community connecting lovers friends, and Trump supporters alike' and has already received rave reviews and coverage in Fox News, Daily Mail and The Hill. On its launch day alone, the app had a little over 1,600 users and counting.... Elliot Alderson, a French security researcher, shared the database with TechCrunch, which included users' names, profile pictures, device type, their private messages -- and access tokens, which can be used to take over accounts." Mrs. McC: My heart is not breaking.
Heather Murphy of the New York Times: "Curtis Rogers, 80, a retired businessman..., and John Olson, 67, a transportation engineer from Texas ... began [a genealogical database] as a side project, [which] has unintentionally upended how investigators across the country are trying to solve the coldest of cold cases. Within three years, the DNA of nearly every American of Northern European descent -- the primary users of the site -- will be identifiable through cousins in GEDmatch's database, according to a study published on Thursday in the journal Science.... [So far,] GEDmatch had provided essential clues leading to a suspect in a murder or sexual assault case [in 15 cold cases], starting with the arrest in April of Joseph James DeAngelo, a former police officer, for the rapes and murders committed across California in the 1970s and 1980s by the notorious Golden State Killer." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Beyond the Beltway
Kelly Weill & Pervaiz Shallwani of the Daily Beast: "The New York Police Department announced Monday that it has enough evidence to charge nine members of the right-wing group Proud Boys and three protesters with various counts of rioting, assault, and attempted assault. The brawl between the two sides erupted a few blocks from the Metropolitan Republican Club after a speech by Proud Boys leader Gavin McInnes on Friday. NYPD Chief of Detectives Dermot Shea said Monday that police recovered multiple videos of the incident and have spoken to witnesses and sources as they work to put together what took place in the moments after Proud Boys and associates left the Manhattan club." ...
... Kelly Weill & Will Sommer of The Daily Beast: "The Republican club's role hosting the event highlights how the Proud Boys have managed to insinuate themselves with mainstream Republicans, even as they increasingly make news for violence. But the New York Republicans aren't alone -- the Proud Boys have already managed to make their way into other mainstream GOP campaign events and conservative media.... Fascist skinhead groups have wreaked havoc in the U.S. for decades, but scholars of fascism have noted that those groups pose limited political threats -- unless a mainstream political party embraces them." --s
Armed & Dangerous ... But Totally Legal. Gordon Friedman of the Oregonian: "Members of the right-wing group Patriot Prayer stationed themselves on a downtown Portland rooftop with a cache of guns prior to a summer protest, city officials announced for the first time Monday -- the same day Mayor Ted Wheeler learned about it, his aides said.... Berk Nelson, a senior mayoral aide, later said the weapons included 'long guns.'... Police officers seized the weapons found on the rooftop that day, but they were later given back. No arrests were made because the protesters had not broken any laws and all had licenses to carry concealed weapons, [a police official] said."
Tony Marrero of the Tampa Bay Times: Police in Lakeland, Florida, released surveillance video that shows Lakeland City Commissioner Michael Dunn, 47, shooting dead Christobal Lopez, 50. "According to police, Lopez tried to pocket a hatchet inside the store. Dunn, a co-owner of the business, confronted him, asking if he was going to pay for the item.... 'Just from the video it doesn’t look like Mr. Dunn was in fear and wasn't justified in shooting Mr. Lopez as he was leaving,' said Bill Loughery, a former prosecutor with the Pinellas-Pasco State Attorney's Office. 'It appeared that, because he had his gun, Mr. Dunn was in charge of the situation from the standpoint he was directing Mr. Lopez what to do.' [Tim] Hessinger, [a] Tampa defense attorney who is also is a former Pinellas-Pasco prosecutor, said it appears Lopez was trying to flee when he was shot and there's no evidence in the video that he tried to use the hatchet as a weapon or gain control of Dunn's gun. 'It appears in the video that all the force is being used by the commissioner,' Hessinger said.... Dunn, an adamant supporter of gun ownership, hosted a July rally at his store to counter a nearby March for our Lives rally on the same day. March for our Lives is an advocacy group formed by Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School students seeking stricter gun-control laws."