The Ledes

Thursday, September 19, 2024

New York Times: “A body believed to be of the suspect in a Kentucky highway shooting that left five people seriously injured this month was found on Wednesday, the authorities said, ending a manhunt that stretched into a second week and set the local community on edge. The Kentucky State Police commissioner, Phillip Burnett Jr., said in a Wednesday night news conference that at approximately 3:30 p.m., two troopers and two civilians found an unidentified body in the brush behind the highway exit where the shooting occurred.... The police have identified the suspect of the shooting as Joseph A. Couch, 32. They said that on Sept. 7, Mr. Couch perched on a cliff overlooking Interstate 75 about eight miles north of London, Ky., and opened fire. One of the wounded was shot in the face, and another was shot in the chest. A dozen vehicles were riddled with gunfire.”

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The New York Times lists Emmy winners. The AP has an overview story here.

New York Times: “Hvaldimir, a beluga whale who had captured the public’s imagination since 2019 after he was spotted wearing a harness seemingly designed for a camera, was found dead on Saturday in Norway, according to a nonprofit that worked to protect the whale.... [Hvaldimir] was wearing a harness that identified it as “equipment” from St. Petersburg. There also appeared to be a camera mount. Some wondered if the whale was on a Russian reconnaissance mission. Russia has never claimed ownership of the whale. If Hvaldimir was a spy, he was an exceptionally friendly one. The whale showed signs of domestication, and was comfortable around people. He remained in busier waters than are typical for belugas....” ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Oh, Lord, do not let Bobby Kennedy, Jr., near that carcass. ~~~

     ~~~ AP Update: “There’s no evidence that a well-known beluga whale that lived off Norway’s coast and whose harness ignited speculation it was a Russian spy was shot to death last month as claimed by animal rights groups, Norwegian police said Monday.... Police said that the Norwegian Veterinary Institute conducted a preliminary autopsy on the animal, which was become known as 'Hvaldimir,' combining the Norwegian word for whale — hval — and the first name of Russian President Vladimir Putin. 'There are no findings from the autopsy that indicate that Hvaldimir has been shot,' police said in a statement.”

New York Times: Botswana's “President Mokgweetsi Masisi grinned as he lifted the diamond, a 2,492-carat stone that is the biggest diamond unearthed in more than a century and the second-largest ever found, according to the Vancouver-based mining operator Lucara, which owns the mine where it was found. This exceptional discovery could bring back the luster of the natural diamond mining industry, mining companies and experts say. The diamond was discovered in the same relatively small mine in northeastern Botswana that has produced several of the largest such stones in living memory. Such gemstones typically surface as a result of volcanic activity.... The diamond will likely sell in the range of tens of millions of dollars....”

Click on photo to enlarge.

~~~ Guardian: "On a distant reef 16,000km from Paris, surfer Gabriel Medina has given Olympic viewers one of the most memorable images of the Games yet, with an airborne celebration so well poised it looked too good to be true. The Brazilian took off a thundering wave at Teahupo’o in Tahiti on Monday, emerging from a barrelling section before soaring into the air and appearing to settle on a Pacific cloud, pointing to the sky with biblical serenity, his movements mirrored precisely by his surfboard. The shot was taken by Agence France-Presse photographer Jérôme Brouillet, who said “the conditions were perfect, the waves were taller than we expected”. He took the photo while aboard a boat nearby, capturing the surreal image with such accuracy that at first some suspected Photoshop or AI." 

Washington Post: “'Mary Cassatt at Work' is a large and mostly satisfying exhibition devoted to the career of the great American artist beloved for her sensitive and often sentimental views of family life. The 'at work' in the title of the Philadelphia Museum of Art show references the curators’ interest in Cassatt’s pioneering effort to establish herself as a professional artist within a male-dominated field. Throughout the show, which includes some 130 paintings, pastels, prints and drawings, the wall text and the art on view stresses Cassatt’s fixation on art as a career rather than a pastime.... Mary Cassatt at Work is on view at the Philadelphia Museum of Art through Sept. 8. philamuseum.org”

New York Times: “Bob Newhart, who died on Thursday at the age of 94, has been such a beloved giant of popular culture for so long that it’s easy to forget how unlikely it was that he became one of the founding fathers of stand-up comedy. Before basically inventing the hit stand-up special, with the 1960 Grammy-winning album 'The Button-Down Mind of Bob Newhart' — that doesn’t even count his pay-per-view event broadcast on Canadian television that some cite as the first filmed special — he was a soft-spoken accountant who had never done a set in a nightclub. That he made a classic with so little preparation is one of the great miracles in the history of comedy.... Bob Newhart holds up. In fact, it’s hard to think of a stand-up from that era who is a better argument against the commonplace idea that comedy does not age well.”

Washington Post: “An early Titian masterpiece — once looted by Napolean’s troops and a part of royal collections for centuries — caused a stir when it was stolen from the home of a British marquess in 1995. Seven years later, it was found inside an unassuming white and blue plastic bag at a bus stop in southwest London by an art detective, and returned. This week, the oil painting 'The Rest on the Flight into Egypt' sold for more than $22 million at Christie’s. It was a record for the Renaissance artist, whom museums describe as the greatest painter of 16th-century Venice. Ahead of the sale in April, the auction house billed it as 'the most important work by Titian to come to the auction market in more than a generation.'”

Washington Post: The Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington, D.C., which houses the world's largest collection of Shakespeare material, has undergone a major renovation. "The change to the building is pervasive, both subtle and transformational."

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Publisher & Editor: Marie Burns


Monday
Aug222016

The Commentariat -- August 23, 2016

Afternoon Update:

The latest on pipe smoking, ascot wearing former head of Faux News: Kalli Holloway of Alternet: "...former network host Andrea Tantaros has filed a lawsuit in Manhattan Supreme Court against top executives from the network. In her complaint, Tantaros alleges that Fox higher-ups punished her for complaints about [Roger] Ailes' behavior by demoting, and then removing, her from the air. The suit describes persistent sexual harassment by Ailes and others -- including Bill O'Reilly, who has been previously accused of similar behavior by others -- and states that 'Fox News masquerades as a defender of traditional family values, but behind the scenes, it operates like a sex-fueled, Playboy Mansion-like cult, steeped in intimidation, indecency and misogyny.'" -- Akhilleus

If it's good enough for a Kenyan born, Muslim usurper, it's good enough for Trump: Sahil Kapur & Jennifer Jacobs of Bloomberg: "Donald Trump is backing away from his call for mass deportations of undocumented immigrants, and even some of his rally-going supporters say they're fine with it." -- Akhilleus

Chapter 456 of Rich, Privileged White Guys Have it Tough. Romy Varghese of Bloomberg: "Rhode Island struck a settlement with Wells Fargo & Co. and Barclays Plc, agreeing to accept about $26 million to drop litigation over a municipal-bond sale that benefited the video-game startup led by former baseball pitcher Curt Schilling that later failed. The deal with the banks, who deny wrongdoing, must be approved by Rhode Island Superior Court.... The economic development agency is still pursuing lawsuits with other defendants over the $75 million bond offering.... In 2010, Schilling's company was developing a multi-player online game that it estimated it would need at least $75 million to complete, according to an SEC statement in March. When 38 Studios couldn't obtain additional financing following the bond sale, it failed to produce the game and defaulted on the loan." ...

Akhilleus: And why is this important? Curt Schilling is the Next Donald Trump. Matt Taibbi of Rolling Stone: "If you think the white-guy grievance movement will die after Donald Trump's likely landslide defeat this November, think again. There will be plenty of filterless, self-pitying dunces to carry the torch in Trump's place. [Curt] Schilling is a leading candidate.... Soon after his playing career ended, he blew his $50 million fortune on a failed video game venture, a fiasco that cost Rhode Island taxpayers $75 million.... A hardcore religious conservative, Schilling can't stop posting crazy stuff online. Like Trump, he is a meme fanatic, learning much of what he knows about the world from bite-size informational crap-dumplings shared on Facebook. He's railed against everything from evolution ('Hey clown, why don't apes still evolve into humans if that is the path?') to Hillary Clinton ('She should be buried under a jail somewhere') to Black Lives Matter (a 'terrorist' group)...." ...

     ... Akhilleus: Now this asshole is bragging that he will run against, and beat, Elizabeth Warren in next go 'round. Schilling, who routinely bellows about undeserving brown skinned types who get stuff for nothing, went to the state of Rhode Island, demanded money to fund his ego video game project, was handed $75 million of taxpayers money, then failed to hold up his end of the bargain. Result? Rhode Island on the hook for his money, leaving him free to rail against poors who get stuff for nothing. But, as Taibbi makes clear, "Don't bet against him winning a Senate seat in my home state of Massachusetts, either. His would be a victory for the cause of ignorance and tone-deafness perhaps even exceeding Trump's capture of the Republican nomination."

*****

Presidential Race

Nick Gass of Politico: "Campaigning in Reno, Nevada, on Thursday, Hillary Clinton will address Donald Trump's recent campaign hires and what her campaign termed in an announcement as 'his advisors' embrace of the disturbing "alt-right" political philosophy.' 'This "alt-right" brand is embracing extremism and presenting a divisive and dystopian view of America which should concern all Americans, regardless of party,' the campaign said in a statement." -- CW

October Surprise? Mark Landler & Steven Myers of the New York Times: "... thousands of emails that [Hillary] Clinton did not voluntarily turn over to the State Department last year could be released just weeks before the election in November. The order, by Judge James E. Boasberg of Federal District Court, came the same day a conservative watchdog group separately released hundreds of emails from one of Mrs. Clinton's closest aides, Huma Abedin, which put a new focus on the sometimes awkward ties between the Clinton Foundation and the State Department." -- CW ...

... Spencer Hsu of the Washington Post: "The FBI's year-long investigation of Hillary Clinton's private email server uncovered 14,900 emails and documents from her time as secretary of state that had not been disclosed by her attorneys, and a federal judge on Monday pressed the State Department to begin releasing emails sooner than mid-October as it planned. Justice Department lawyers said last week that the State Department would review and turn over Clinton's work-related emails to a conservative legal group.... On Aug. 5, the FBI completed transferring what Comey said were several thousand previously undisclosed work-related Clinton emails that the FBI found in its investigation for the State Department to review and make public.... It is unclear how many documents might be attachments, duplicates or exempt from release for privacy or legal reasons." -- CW (Also linked yesterday.) ...

... Rosalind Helderman, et al., of the Washington Post: A cache of e-mail "exchanges, among 725 pages of correspondence from [Hillary] Clinton aide Huma] Abedin disclosed as part of a lawsuit by the conservative group Judicial Watch, illustrate[s] the way the Clintons' international network of friends and donors was able to get access to Hillary Clinton and her inner circle during her tenure running the State Department.... The disclosures also cast new doubts on Clinton's past claim that she turned over all her work-related email from her private server to the State Department for eventual release to the public." -- CW

Lisa Lerer of the AP: Appearing on the Jimmy Kimmel show, Hillary Clinton said conspiracy theories about her precarious health 'are part of a 'wacky strategy' by GOP rival Donald Trump and an 'alternative reality' that's not focused on the kinds of issues that are most important to voters." -- CW ...

David Smith of the Guardian: "Bill Clinton will quit the board of his charitable foundation but not disband it if Hillary Clinton wins the US presidency, he said on Monday, as Republicans pressed allegations of a conflict of interest. The announcement came as newly disclosed emails revealed how Huma Abedin coordinated a meeting for a Bahraini prince with officials at the Clinton Foundation during Hillary Clinton's tenure as secretary of state." -- See related stories by Rosalind Helderman above & Jenna Johnson below.) -- CW

Amy Chozick & Matt Flegenheimer of the New York Times: "... with [Donald] Trump's appointment of Stephen K. Bannon ... as his new campaign chief, [Hillary] Clinton and her extended orbit have sensed an unfamiliar opportunity: The so-called vast right-wing conspiracy might actually be lending her a hand.... Yet after more than two decades of attacks from conservatives -- some seizing on Mrs. Clinton's own missteps..., but most generally groundless -- others worry that an even darker turn is possible, given the advisers now guiding Mr. Trump's campaign.... In addition to Mr. Bannon, Mr. Trump is relying on the advice of Roger Ailes, the founder and recently ousted chairman of Fox News, and Roger J. Stone Jr., whose 2015 book ... accused Mrs. Clinton of being a lesbian, shaming her husband's sexual accusers and playing a role in the death of Vincent W. Foster Jr...." -- CW


Jenna Johnson of the Washington Post: "After spending a few days reflecting on his immigration stances and consulting with Hispanic supporters, Donald Trump on Monday detailed how he would deal with the millions of immigrants illegally living in the United States: Enforce laws that are already on the books and continue to do what President Obama is doing, although 'perhaps with a lot more energy.' This strategy marks a sudden change for the Republican nominee, who has presented himself as a politically incorrect outsider who is not afraid to take extreme measures to combat illegal immigration, such as deporting 11 million people or constructing a massive wall along the Southern border. For more than a year, Trump insisted that all illegal immigrants 'have got to go' and that he would create a 'deportation force' to carry out the task." CW: So Trump is borrowing his new immigration "plan" from President Obama?? That should do over well with his alt-right racist base. ...

... But Then. Cristiano Lima of Politico: "Speaking to O'Reilly, Trump insisted that his calls for mass deportation could in fact be carried out under existing U.S. law, comparing his plans to that of Presidents Barack Obama and George W. Bush. Trump added that if laws are executed properly, immigrants that 'go around killing people and hurting people' are 'gonna be out of this country so fast your head will spin.'" CW: My head isn't spinning exactly; it's turning back-and-forth, tennis-game style, watching Trump speak out of both sides of his mouth. ...

... The Great Deportation Scam. Greg Sargent: "Donald Trump is currently running an ad in four swing states that graphically depicts the southern border as being overrun by dark hordes. It flatly states that in Hillary Clinton's America, the borders will be 'open.'... But in an interview with Bill O'Reilly, in which he responded to reports that he's backing off of his vow of mass deportations -- a promise he's made many times -- Trump basically admitted the whole story he's been telling about immigration for the last year is a big scam." -- CW

... Alan Rappeport of the New York Times: "Donald J. Trump, tempering the tone of his hard-line approach to tackling immigration reform, said on Monday that he wants to come up with a plan that is 'really fair' to address the millions of undocumented immigrants now in the country" -- CW (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... CW: I gather from this Politico piece by Nick Gass that the immigrants Trump wants to be "fair" to are those who come to the country legally: "We have a lot of people that want to come in through the legal process and it's not fair for them." Trump told Fox "News" he isn't flip-flopping. It sounds as if that's true. ...

... John Frank of the Denver Post: "Donald Trump is attending a fundraiser in Colorado on Thursday but will not make a speech on immigration, his campaign now says, despite national media reports announcing the event.... The campaign told supporters in an email 'the speech (Trump) was planning on giving is still being modified.'" Via Greg Sargent, who sez, so unfairly, "It's almost as if Trump has no idea what he really stands for." -- CW

Ben Jacobs of the Guardian: "Donald Trump veered off the teleprompter on Monday night to claim that 'inner cities run by the Democrats' were more dangerous than countries such as Iraq and Afghanistan.... The intended focus of the Republican nominee's message on Monday was his call for a special prosecutor to investigate Clinton's leadership of the state department. Trump claimed that the FBI and Department of Justice could not be trusted to investigate 'Hillary Clinton's crimes'." -- CW ...

... New York Times Editors: “'Help me stop Crooked Hillary from rigging this election!' says the application form on [Donald Trump's] campaign website. There are so many lies and delusions flowing daily from the Trump campaign that it's easy to miss the times when the Republican nominee is being not just ludicrous, but dangerous. This is one. Mr. Trump has seized on the charge that Hillary Clinton plans to win by cheating. He has said it before, but he keeps on saying it. This looks like pre-emptive face-saving.... But it's worse than that.... He is setting the stage for an upwelling of right-wing outrage, cuing up a crisis of electoral legitimacy....A more immediate concern is what happens on Nov. 8, when squads of Trump volunteers fan out to defend their candidate's presumed victory." -- CW

People need to understand just how radical a departure this is from the mean of American politics. Among the values most necessary for a functioning democracy is the peaceful transition of power that's gone on uninterrupted since 1797. What enables that is the acceptance of the election's outcome by the losers. Here you have a candidate after a terrible three weeks, which has all been self-inflicted, saying the only way we lose is if it's 'rigged' or stolen -- in a media culture where people increasingly don't buy into generally accepted facts and turn to places to have their opinions validated where there's no wall between extreme and mainstream positions. That's an assault on some of the pillars that undergird our system. -- Steve Schmidt, John McCain's 2008 presidential strategist, to Politico, August 22, 2016

We need to know the full extent of Senator Obama's relationship with ACORN, who is now on the verge of maybe perpetrating one of the greatest frauds in voter history in this country, maybe destroying the fabric of democracy. -- John McCain, during a debate with Barack Obama, 2008

Other People's Money. S.V. Date of the Huffington Post: "After bragging for a year about how cheaply he was running his campaign, Donald Trump is spending more freely now that other people are contributing ―particularly when the beneficiary is himself. Trump nearly quintupled the monthly rent his presidential campaign pays for its headquarters at Trump Tower to $169,758 in July, when he was raising funds from donors, compared with March, when he was self-funding his campaign, according to a Huffington Post review of Federal Election Commission filings. The rent jumped even though he was paying fewer staff in July than he did in March." -- CW ...

     ... Akhilleus: Not only that, but the Orange Headed Scam Man is squeezing donors to foot the bill at Trump owned golf courses and restaurants. A cheap con man doesn't become legitimate because he's running for president. Also, have to wonder about RNC people who want answers about Trump's financial shenanigans but still support him. If you have to ask for anonymity but still sing in the choir, there's something wrong with you.

Jenna Johnson: "Donald Trump called on Monday for the Clinton Foundation to shut down 'immediately' and return money that was donated by countries 'they shouldn't be taking money from. [Blah blah Crooked Hillary blah blah.]'... Trump's own charity -- the much smaller Donald J. Trump Foundation -- has also taken money from corporations... Trump's campaign has yet to say if the businessman will immediately shut down his own foundation." -- CW ...

The foundation ... will restructure itself completely if Hillary Clinton is elected president. That's a pledge. Donald Trump, on the other hand, has told us nothing about how he'll deal with the conflicts posed by his business dealings, like the money his company owes to the Bank of China. And I have this to say to Donald Trump.... Before you go about attacking a charity, why don't you come clean about your own business dealings and tell the American people who you are in debt to? -- Sen. Tim Kaine, in Las Vegas, Monday

Jill Colvin of the AP: "Donald Trump and his Republican allies say Hillary Clinton is weak, lacks stamina and doesn't look presidential. Intent on undermining his Democratic rival, Trump and GOP backers are increasingly relying on rhetoric that academics and even some Republican strategists say has an undeniable edge focused on gender.... Kelly Dittmar, a scholar at ... Rutgers University..., said that, even during the primary season when Trump was competing against a field of largely men, he took on the role of strong man, demeaning his rivals with put-downs. 'His message has been: I'm the manliest candidate, I'm the strongest, I know how to protect women -- which is a pretty paternalistic take on it -- ... to the point where he's talking about the size of his own manhood... If you're trying to prove you're the manliest, then you're trying to emasculate your opponent.'... His rallies are filled with blatant misogyny. Supporters wear 'Trump vs. Tramp' political buttons, and have even harsher slogans and signs." -- CW

Anna Nemtsova of Newsweek, in Politico Magazine: Donald "Trump is already helping [Vladimir] Putin consolidate control of Ukraine.... The rhetoric in the U.S. election campaign -- especially Trump's -- is already altering policy in the region, hardening Moscow's attitude toward Ukraine and at the same time frustrating and confusing the Ukrainians who want to stand up to Putin. This is partly because the U.S. campaign is happening against the backdrop of rising tensions between Kiev and Moscow." -- CW

Trump as "Presidential" as Ever. Callum Borchers of the Washington Post: "Donald Trump escalated his feud with the hosts of MSNBC's 'Morning Joe' Monday, repeating a rumor straight off Page Six that Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski are romantically involved." Trump posted another derogatory tweet about Scarborough & Brzezinski; a nasty Twitterspat ensued between Scarborough & him.... [Trump's] laissez-faire attitude toward Ukraine's future is an articular contrast to the two previous Republican standard-bearers, Mitt Romney and John McCain, both of whom made strident statements in support of Ukraine's independence and opposed Putin's aggression.... In Russia, meanwhile, everything is reported through a pro-Trump lens." -- CW ...

... Lisa Hagen of the Hill: "Donald Trump's new campaign manager, Kellyanne Conway, defended the GOP nominee Monday night, saying he doesn't lob insults unless he's prompted. This comes one day after an interview on ABC's 'This Week' in which Conway said flat-out that Trump doesn't hurl personal insults. Conway, a former supporter of Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), criticized Trump earlier this year for doing just that and using 'vulgar' language." -- CW ...

... Aaron Blake of the Washington Post: Donald Trump's "new campaign manager Kellyanne Conway, who has been getting some credit for the New Trump..., appeared on the Sunday shows and assured viewers that Trump wasn't into name-calling. 'He doesn't hurl personal insults,' said Conway... Before 9 a.m. on Monday, Trump was picking fights with cable news hosts and a top Hillary Clinton aide [Huma Abedin].... Trump, as he often does, reacted to what he was seeing on cable news with a mix of personal insults and rumor-mongering.... Trump can't help but be bogged down in petty feuds...." -- CW ...

... John Stoehr in US News on why Donald Trump can't "pivot": "To pivot is to recognize, at least rhetorically, the legitimacy of various and contrary views long enough to forge a coalition large enough for a majority. Like all narcissists, Trump does not recognize various or contrary views. Observable reality is determined by how he's feeling." Stoehr identifies strong parallels between the views of Trump & Hiram W. Evans, the Imperial Wizard (i.e., the CEO) of the Ku Klux Klan in the 1920s & '30s. -- CW

Ben Jacobs: "Lawyers for Melania Trump are pursuing legal action against the Daily Mail for reporting '100% false' rumors that she worked as an escort in the 1990s as well as raising questions about her immigration status at the time. While Donald Trump has a reputation for threatening and pursuing litigation, it is unusual for a major party nominee or their spouse to mount legal action against a publication only months before an election." -- CW

Jeff Horwitz of the AP: "Donald Trump's paid campaign staffers have declared on their personal social media accounts that Muslims are unfit to be U.S. citizens, ridiculed Mexican accents, called for Secretary of State John Kerry to be hanged and stated their readiness for a possible civil war, according to a review by The Associated Press.... The AP examined the [public] social media feeds of more than 50 current and former campaign employees.... At least seven expressed views that were overtly racially charged, supportive of violent actions or broadly hostile to Muslims.... Their judgment matters beyond the campaign because the paid staff of winning presidential candidates often receives jobs in the next administration..... The AP also reviewed the public social media accounts of more than three dozen employees of Hillary Clinton's far larger campaign staff and found nothing as inflammatory." -- CW ...

... Maybe They're All 12-Year-Olds. Katherine Krueger of TPM: Twelve-year-old Weston Imer is running "the Trump campaign's field office in Jefferson County, [Colorado,] which includes the greater Denver area.... Guardian US reporter Ben Jacobs confirmed he was the same 12-year-old who reportedly made threatening calls to try to convince anti-Trump delegates to the RNC to back" Trump. Thanks to Nancy for the link. -- CW

Other News & Views

New York Times Editors: "The first thing to know about the latest controversy over the Iran nuclear deal is that the Obama administration did not pay $400 million in 'ransom' to secure the release of three American detainees. Yet that's the story critics are peddling in another attempt to discredit an agreement that has done something remarkable -- halted a program that had put Iran within striking distance of producing a nuclear weapon.... The administration withheld the payment to ensure Iran didn't renege on its promise to free three detainees.... That's pragmatic diplomacy not capitulation.... If the administration had handed over the funds and not brought the detainees home, what would the critics be saying now?" ...

... CW: Back in the old days, most Republicans would have encouraged a Democratic administration's international negotiations for peaceful outcomes in the best interest of the U.S. & the world. Sure, Republicans would have offered their two-cents, some of it critical, on what-all the administration should do, but only far-right nutjobs -- mostly non-elected &/or obscure -- would have predicted the end of civilization when the administration made significant progress on U.S. objectives. Now, however, we have even the most "liberal" GOP senator, and one from the President's home state, accusing the POTUS of "acting like the drug dealer in chief" for bringing home American hostages & negotiated an end to a long-simmering obligation. We are living in an age of perpetual confederate outrage.

Emily Bazalon in the New York Times Magazine: "A new geography of capital punishment is taking shape, with just 2 percent of the nation's counties now accounting for a majority of the people sitting on death row.... A deep examination of the counties where the death penalty is concentrated, several [death-penalty critics] argue, reveals that in many, the justice systems are riddled with flaws, influencing the fates of countless defendants...." In his dissent in Glossip v. Gross, decided in 2015, Justice Stephen Breyer "was laying the groundwork for abolition, by making an argument, anchored in the Constitution's 'cruel and unusual' language, that the retreat of the death penalty county by county could one day persuade the court to end it everywhere." -- CW

Erik Eckholm & Alan Blinder of the New York Times: "A federal judge on Sunday blocked the Obama administration from enforcing new guidelines that were intended to expand restroom access for transgender students across the country. Judge Reed O'Connor of the Federal District Court for the Northern District of Texas said in a 38-page ruling, which he said should apply nationwide, that the government had not complied with federal law when it issued 'directives which contradict the existing legislative and regulatory text.'" O'Connor is a Bush II appointee. -- CW (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Justin Gillis of the New York Times: "By global standards, the Block Island Wind Farm [off the coast of Rhode Island] is a tiny project, just five turbines capable of powering about 17,000 homes. Yet many people are hoping its completion, with the final blade bolted into place at the end of last week, will mark the start of a new American industry, one that could eventually make a huge contribution to reducing the nation's climate-changing pollution." -- CW

Tara Parker-Pope & Rachel Peachman of the New York Times: "A steep increase in the price of the EpiPen, a lifesaving injection device for people with severe allergies, has sparked outrage among consumers and lawmakers who worry that parents won't be able to afford the pens for children heading back to school." -- CW

Raphael Satter & Maggie Michael of the AP: "WikiLeaks' global crusade to expose government secrets is causing collateral damage to the privacy of hundreds of innocent people, including survivors of sexual abuse, sick children and the mentally ill, The Associated Press has found. In the past year alone, the radical transparency group has published medical files belonging to scores of ordinary citizens while many hundreds more have had sensitive family, financial or identity records posted to the web.... The AP found that WikiLeaks also routinely publishes identity records, phone numbers and other information easily exploited by criminals." -- CW

Social Security to Pay Homeless Woman $100K+. Petula Dvorak of the Washington Post: Eighty-year-old Wanda Witter, a homeless woman who lived for years on the streets of D.C., claimed Social Security owed her a bundle. During that time, Witter tried to get them to pay out what she thought they owed her, but Social Security & others viewed her as crazy. Finally, social worker Julie Turner, who works for the Downtown Cluster of Congregations, went over the paperwork Witter had been dragging around, thought it looked credible, & got her a lawyer, Daniela de la Piedra, who specializes in Social Security disputes. de la Piedra & Social Security agreed Witter was owed more than $100,000. Social Security will be sending her a check for $99,999 in the next few days (the largest the agency can cut on short notice), & she will be getting monthly benefits of $1,464. Turner also found Witter an apartment. -- CW (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Comments Off
Sunday
Aug212016

The Commentariat -- August 22, 2016

Afternoon Update:

Erik Eckholm & Alan Blinder of the New York Times: "A federal judge on Sunday blocked the Obama administration from enforcing new guidelines that were intended to expand restroom access for transgender students across the country. Judge Reed O'Connor of the Federal District Court for the Northern District of Texas said in a 38-page ruling, which he said should apply nationwide, that the government had not complied with federal law when it issued 'directives which contradict the existing legislative and regulatory text.'" O'Connor is a Bush II appointee. -- CW

October Surprise? Spencer Hsu of the Washington Post: "The FBI's year-long investigation of Hillary Clinton's private email server uncovered 14,900 emails and documents from her time as secretary of state that had not been disclosed by her attorneys, and a federal judge on Monday pressed the State Department to begin releasing emails sooner than mid-October as it planned. Justice Department lawyers said last week that the State Department would review and turn over Clinton's work-related emails to a conservative legal group.... On Aug. 5, the FBI completed transferring what Comey said were several thousand previously undisclosed work-related Clinton emails that the FBI found in its investigation for the State Department to review and make public.... It is unclear how many documents might be attachments, duplicates or exempt from release for privacy or legal reasons." -- CW

People need to understand just how radical a departure this is from the mean of American politics. Among the values most necessary for a functioning democracy is the peaceful transition of power that's gone on uninterrupted since 1797. What enables that is the acceptance of the election's outcome by the losers. Here you have a candidate after a terrible three weeks, which has all been self-inflicted, saying the only way we lose is if it's 'rigged' or stolen -- in a media culture where people increasingly don't buy into generally accepted facts and turn to places to have their opinions validated where there's no wall between extreme and mainstream positions. That's an assault on some of the pillars that undergird our system. -- Steve Schmidt, John McCain's 2008 presidential strategist, to Politico, August 22, 2016

We need to know the full extent of Senator Obama's relationship with ACORN, who is now on the verge of maybe perpetrating one of the greatest frauds in voter history in this country, maybe destroying the fabric of democracy. -- John McCain, during a debate with Barack Obama, 2008

Alan Rappeport of the New York Times: "Donald J. Trump, tempering the tone of his hard-line approach to tackling immigration reform, said on Monday that he wants to come up with a plan that is 'really fair' to address the millions of undocumented immigrants now in the country" -- CW ...

... CW: I gather from this Politico piece by Nick Gass that the immigrants Trump wants to be "fair" to are those who come to the country legally: "We have a lot of people that want to come in through the legal process and it's not fair for them." Trump told Fox "News" he isn't flip-flopping. It sounds as if that's true.

Social Security to Pay Homeless Woman $100K+. Petula Dvorak of the Washington Post: Eighty-year-old Wanda Witter, a homeless woman who lived for years on the streets of D.C., claimed Social Security owed her a bundle. During that time, Witter tried to get them to pay out what she though they owed her, but Social Security & others viewed her as crazy. Finally, social worker Julie Turner, who works for the Downtown Cluster of Congregations, went over the paperwork Witter had been dragging around, thought it looked credible, & got her a lawyer, Daniela de la Piedra, who specializes in Social Security disputes. de la Piedra & Social Security agreed Witter was owed more than $100,000. Social Security will be sending her a check for $99,999 in the next few days (the largest the agency can cut on short notice), & she will be getting monthly benefits of $1,464. Turner also found Witter an apartment. -- CW

*****

Presidential Race

Ben Schreckinger of Politico: "Trump's poll numbers remain dire, but he can point to at least one ray of hope for a turnaround: Republicans have continued gaining ground in recent months in voter registration in Florida, Pennsylvania, North Carolina and Iowa, while the late surge in Democratic registrations relative to Republican registrations that occurred in battleground states the final months of the 2012 election had not materialized in numbers released in early August." -- CW

Cyra Master of the Hill: "Colin Powell says Hillary Clinton's campaign has been trying to use him to help justify her use of a private email server while she was secretary of State.... [Clinton] reportedly told FBI investigators that Powell ... recommended she use a private email account.... On Sunday, Powell told the New York Post's Page Six..., 'The truth is she was using it for a year before I sent her a memo telling er what I did [during my term as Secretary of State],' he said. 'Her people have been trying to pin it on me.' But, the Post reported that 'despite appearing angered by the situation,' Powell added, 'It doesn't bother me. It's OK, I'm free.'" -- CW ...

... Margaret Hartmann: "Clinton has never publicly tried to 'pin' Emailgate on Powell.... It's actually strange that while cycling through a number of bad explanations for her private email server, Clinton never told the press that Powell suggested it. If she were more adept at scandal management, she would have blamed it on him a long time ago." -- CW

Daniel Politi of Slate: "In what looked to be at least partly a way to dodge questions about the Clinton Foundation, Hillary Clinton campaign manager Robby Mook essentially accused Donald Trump of being a Kremlin puppet." -- CW ...

... Rebecca Savransky of the Hill: "Hillary Clinton's campaign manager, Robby Mook, said they still haven't found a person to play Donald Trump in mock presidential debates. 'It's very hard to find someone to mimic the reckless temperament and the hateful instincts and divisive instincts of Donald Trump,' Mook said Sunday on CNN's 'State of the Union.'" CW: Any suggestions?

** Greg Sargent collects evidence that Trump's "plan all along ... [was] to establish a media empire with him at the helm -- one that caters, at least to some degree, to a white nationalist or 'alt-right' audience.... It's hard to predict what sort of longer term civic impact that might have, but it's hard to imagine it would be a good one." -- CW

Maggie Haberman & Matt Flegenheimer of the New York Times: "... Donald J. Trump has seized on a new argument...: that Democrats are preparing to exploit weak voter identification laws to win a 'stolen election' through fraudulent voting.... Mr. Trump's language has moved beyond his party's call for rigid identification requirements and the unfounded claims that polls are 'skewed'.... And his warnings have been cast in increasingly urgent and racially suggestive language, hinting that the only legitimate outcome in certain states would be his victory.... Last week, Mr. Trump hired as his campaign chief Stephen K. Bannon, the executive chairman of Breitbart, a conservative news website that has frequently given voice to ... perceived voter fraud and 'propaganda polls' showing Mrs. Clinton ahead. And on Friday, Mr. Trump released his first campaign ad ..., featuring an image of a polling site with the word 'rigged' flashing onscreen less than two seconds after the spot begins." -- CW

Jenna Johnson of the Washington Post: "Donald Trump's campaign wavered Sunday on whether he would continue to call for the mass deportation of 11 million illegal immigrants from the United States, the latest in a series of sometimes clumsy attempts to win over moderate GOP voters without alienating millions who have flocked to his hard-line views. After insisting for more than a year that all illegal immigrants 'have to go,' Trump met with a newly created panel of Hispanic advisers on Saturday and asked for other ideas -- making clear that his position is not finalized, according to two attendees. Any shift would represent a remarkable retreat on one of the Republican nominee's signature issues." -- CW ...

... TBD. Jenna Johnson & Ed O'Keefe of the Washington Post: "On Sunday morning, [Donald Trump's] newly installed campaign manager, Kellyanne Conway, was asked during an interview on CNN's 'State of the Union' whether Trump still wants 'a deportation force removing the 11 million or so undocumented immigrants.' 'To be determined,' said Conway, who in the past has supported creating a pathway to citizenship for the millions of immigrants illegally living in the United States." -- CW (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Jenna Johnson: "Donald Trump's campaign manager, Kellyanne Conway, said Sunday morning that she does not want the Republican presidential nominee to release his tax returns until an audit by the Internal Revenue Service is completed, abandoning a position that she took five months ago, when she didn't work for the campaign and urged Trump to "be transparent" and release the filings.... Trump is the first major presidential nominee from either party since 1976 to not release tax returns." -- CW (Also linked yesterday.)

The Scampaign, Ctd. Nicholas Confessore & Rachel Storey of the New York Times: "Donald J. Trump is leaning heavily on Republican Party organizations to provide crucial campaign functions like getting out the vote, digital outreach and fund-raising, at a time when some leading Republicans have called for party officials to cut off Mr. Trump and focus instead on maintaining control of Congress.... In July, when Mrs. Clinton spent almost $3 million to field a staff of 700 people at her Brooklyn headquarters and in swing states around the country..., Mr. Trump spent more money on renting arenas for his speeches than he did on payroll." CW: This is what a vanity campaign looks like, except few vanity candidates try to undermine the republic. ...

... Isaac Arnsdorf of Politico: "The Donald Trump campaign's boasts of a formidable fundraising month in July spooked Democrats.... But a closer inspection of the campaign finance report filed just before Saturday's midnight deadline indicates the haul came at a steep price.... Though the campaign touted an $80 million figure for its July fundraising, just $36.7 million of that total went directly to the campaign. The rest came in through joint fundraising vehicles with the Republican National Committee and state parties. At least $9.5 million of that money is off limits for spending on the election because it's designated for the RNC's convention, headquarters and legal accounts. Plus, the RNC is considering spending its money down-ballot instead of supporting Trump as tensions boil over between the party's apparatus and its defiant nominee. The money the Trump campaign raised also didn't come cheap. The campaign more than doubled its spending from the previous month to $18.5 million in July.... Most of that money went toward expanding the campaign's online fundraising operation." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... CW: Those of you who thought the Trump campaign was lying about its big haul were on the right track; not a lie, but deceptive.

Ashley Killough & Karl de Vries of CNN: "Donald Trump acknowledged Saturday that the Republican Party 'must do better' in appealing to African-Americans. But in the same speech [in Fredericksburg, Va.], he again slammed an order by the state's Democratic governor, Terry McAuliffe, to restore voting rights to some convicted felons who have completed their sentences, a move McAuliffe says could help African-Americans who were disproportionally affected by laws that put lifetime bans on felons." -- CW (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

Maybe he [Trump] can sharpen his appeal by imploring African American voters to 'get off the Democrat plantation.'-- Mike in DC, Balloon Juice commenter ...

... E.J. Dionne: Particularly because of his rudeness & crudeness Donald Trump is turning Virginia blue. North Carolina and even Georgia might follow. -- CW

Paul Krugman: Donald Trump hands out Play-Doh while the world burns. Republicans' vehement "hostility to climate science seems disproportionate [to the campaign contributions they get from the fossil fuel industry]; bear in mind that, for example, at this point there are fewer than 60,000 coal miners, that is, less than 0.05 percent of the work force. What's happening, I suspect, is that climate denial has become a sort of badge of right-wing identity, above and beyond the still-operative motive of rewarding donors." -- CW ...

... ** Hairspray. Lawrence Krauss, in the New Yorker, details how Donald Trump & mike pence are the anti-science candidates.

Rebecca Morin of Politico: "Continuing with the narrative that Hillary Clinton is unfit to be president, Rudy Giuliani, an adviser with Donald Trump's campaign, claimed Sunday there are videos online that show Clinton has an illness.... The media 'fails to point out several signs of illness by her; all you gotta do is go online,' Giuliani said.... Clinton's campaign has since called those claims 'deranged conspiracy theories' and has recirculated a 2015 letter from internist Lisa Bardack that said Clinton was in good health." CW: Notice how Giuliani's claims play into the "rigged election" theme; the media are co-conspirators in a cover-up that anyone can discover "online"; i.e., on some "deranged conspiracy" Websites.

Caitlin Yilek of the Hill: "Tea Party firebrand Michele Bachmann says she is advising ... Donald Trump on foreign policy." Something, something, radical Islam. CW: This is very reassuring. She can't tell New Hampshire from Massachusetts even when she's in New Hampshire, so let's just assume her expertise lies beyond our borders.

I never claimed to be a journalist. -- Sean Hannity

... Annals of "Journalism," Ha Ha Ha. Jim Rutenberg of the New York Times: Sean "Hannity uses his show on the nation's most-watched cable news network to blare Mr. Trump's message relentlessly -- giving Mr. Trump the kind of promotional television exposure even a billionaire can't afford for long. But Mr. Hannity is not only Mr. Trump's biggest media booster; he also veers into the role of adviser.... Mr. Hannity's show has all the trappings of traditional television news -- the anchor desk, the graphics and the patina of authority that comes with being part of a news organization...." -- CW

Annals of "Journalism," Ctd. Matea Gold & Anu Narayanswamy of the Washington Post: "... ousted [Trump] campaign manager Corey Lewandowski received his regular $20,000 monthly fee on July 6 -- two weeks after he was jettisoned and had been hired by CNN as a political commentator. Trump has continued to call on Lewandowski for advice since his departure...." CW: Nice work, CNN. Fair & balanced & all.

Senate Race

Classy. Sabrina Siddiqui of the Guardian: "Republican senator Mark Kirk said on Sunday that Barack Obama was 'acting like the drug dealer-in-chief' when his administration used the delivery of a $400m payment to Iran as what it called 'leverage'. Kirk made the statement during an interview with the editorial board of the State Journal-Register, a local newspaper in his home state of Illinois." CW: Yeah, and his street name is 2 Terms, which is something you ain't gonna get, Marky. Knocking a popular president -- and in a way many white people will assume is racist -- in his home state is not a winning strategy.

Other News & Views

** The Meme Must Fit the Crime. Brian Beutler: "As a genre of political spin and analysis, 'Obama's Katrina' has been with us since the beginning of the president's administration. Anytime something tragic and abrupt happens in the country is an occasion for Republicans and media figures to compare it to President George W. Bush's famously terrible response to Hurricane Katrina in 2005. By the Washington Post's count, there have been 23 Obama's Katrinas since 2009, and that only brings us through to July 2014.... There's a reason the Obama's Katrina genre endures in futility: The unwholesome mixture of a press corps obsessed with optics and a conservative establishment reeling from its own failures." -- CW

Fernanda Santos of the New York Times: "Every week in immigration courts around the country, thousands of children act as their own lawyers, pleading for asylum or other type of relief in a legal system they do not understand.... Children accused of violating immigration laws, a civil offense, do not have the ... right [to an attorney].... A class-action lawsuit, filed by the A.C.L.U. and other civil rights organizations, is trying to change that.... Yet the government has also spent millions of dollars paying for lawyers to represent unaccompanied children in immigration courts...." Some private legal groups also represent some of the children for free. -- CW (See also Ken W.'s comment on the ACLU in yesterday's thread.)

Beyond the Beltway

Laura Vozzella of the Washington Post: "Gov. Terry McAuliffe will announce Monday that he has restored voting rights to 13,000 felons on a case-by-case basis after Republicans and state Supreme Court justices last month stopped his more sweeping clemency effort.... McAuliffe's planned action ... comes about a month after the Supreme Court of Virginia invalidated an executive order the Democratic governor issued in April. With that order, McAuliffe restored voting rights to more than 200,000 felons who had completed their sentences.... McAuliffe also will lay out his plans for restoring rights to the remainder of the 200,000." -- CW (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Phillip Ericksen of the Waco Tribune-Herald (Aug. 19): "Ken Starr has decided to leave his last remaining post at Baylor University, saying university officials wanted him out.... He remained at Baylor as a law professor after being fired as president May 26 and resigning as chancellor days later. His firing came after an independent investigation found 'a lack of institutional support and engagement by senior leadership' [CW: in relation to mishandling sexual assault allegations, especially against the school's football team] to implement Title IX, according to Baylor's board of regents." CW: I plumb forgot to link this last week; I think Akhilleus mentioned it in the Comments section. Anyhow, nice to know Starr is now available to investigate Hillary Clinton.

CW: If Team USA's post-Olympics presser is any indication, Ryan Lochte & his posse wrecked the games for the team. This "distracton," as Lochte & others like to call it, is grossly unfair to the American kids who trained for years to join the ranks of the world's best athletes.

News Lede

Minneapolis Star Tribune: "Pills marked as hydrocodone that were seized from Paisley Park after Prince's overdose death actually contained fentanyl, the powerful opioid that killed him, according to a source with knowledge of the investigation.... Investigators ... are leaning toward the theory that he took the pills not knowing they contained the drug." -- CW

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Saturday
Aug202016

The Commentariat -- August 21, 2016

Afternoon Update:

Isaac Arnsdorf of Politico: "The Donald Trump campaign's boasts of a formidable fundraising month in July spooked Democrats.... But a closer inspection of the campaign finance report filed just before Saturday's midnight deadline indicates the haul came at a steep price.... Though the campaign touted an $80 million figure for its July fundraising, just $36.7 million of that total went directly to the campaign. The rest came in through joint fundraising vehicles with the Republican National Committee and state parties. At least $9.5 million of that money is off limits for spending on the election because it's designated for the RNC's convention, headquarters and legal accounts. Plus, the RNC is considering spending its money down-ballot instead of supporting Trump as tensions boil over between the party's apparatus and its defiant nominee. The money the Trump campaign raised also didn't come cheap. The campaign more than doubled its spending from the previous month to $18.5 million in July.... Most of that money went toward expanding the campaign's online fundraising operation."...

... CW: Those of you who thought the Trump campaign was lying about its big haul were on the right track; not a lie, but deceptive.

Ashley Killough & Karl de Vries of CNN: "Donald Trump acknowledged Saturday that the Republican Party 'must do better' in appealing to African-Americans. But in the same speech [in Fredericksburg, Va.], he again slammed an order by the state's Democratic governor, Terry McAuliffe, to restore voting rights to some convicted felons who have completed their sentences, a move McAuliffe says could help African-Americans who were disproportionally affected by laws that put lifetime bans on felons." -- CW

TBD. Jenna Johnson & Ed O'Keefe  of the Washington Post: "On Sunday morning, [Donald Trump's] newly installed campaign manager, Kellyanne Conway, was asked during an interview on CNN's 'State of the Union' whether Trump still wants 'a deportation force removing the 11 million or so undocumented immigrants.' 'To be determined,' said Conway, who in the past has supported creating a pathway to citizenship for the millions of immigrants illegally living in the United States." -- CW

Jenna Johnson: "Donald Trump's campaign manager, Kellyanne Conway, said Sunday morning that she does not want the Republican presidential nominee to release his tax returns until an audit by the Internal Revenue Service is completed, abandoning a position that she took five months ago, when she didn't work for the campaign and urged Trump to "be transparent" and release the filings.... Trump is the first major presidential nominee from either party since 1976 to not release tax returns." -- CW

Laura Vozzella of the Washington Post: "Gov. Terry McAuliffe will announce Monday that he has restored voting rights to 13,000 felons on a case-by-case basis after Republicans and state Supreme Court justices last month stopped his more sweeping clemency effort.... McAuliffe's planned action ... comes about a month after the Supreme Court of Virginia invalidated an executive order the Democratic governor issued in April. With that order, McAuliffe restored voting rights to more than 200,000 felons who had completed their sentences.... McAuliffe also will lay out his plans for restoring rights to the remainder of the 200,000." -- CW

*****

Pete Willliams of NBC News: "Holding defendants in jail because they can't afford to make bail is unconstitutional, the Justice Department said in a court filing late Thursday -- the first time the government has taken such a position before a federal appeals court." CW: This is such a no-brainer that one wonders why an advocacy group hadn't brought it up years ago. I suspect it's because even organizations like the ACLU work on behalf of poor people only when there's something in it for elites -- e.g., voting rights.

John Eligon & Robert Gebeloff of the New York Times: "Affluent black families, freed from the restrictions of low income, often end up living in poor and segregated communities anyway. It is a national phenomenon challenging the popular assumption that segregation is more about class than about race, that when black families earn more money, some ideal of post-racial integration will inevitably be reached." The writers, using anecdotal evidence, examine the reasons more affluent blacks often don't move out of their poor, segregated neighborhoods. CW: See also stories linked below on Donald Trump's "outreach" to African-Americans.

Presidential Race

Anne Gearan, et al., of the Washington Post: "Hillary Clinton's increasingly confident campaign has begun crafting a detailed agenda for her possible presidency, with plans to focus on measures aimed at creating jobs, boosting infrastructure spending and enacting immigration reform if current polling holds and she is easily elected to the White House in November." -- CW

Amy Chozick & Steve Eder of the New York Times: "For years the Bill, Hillary and Chelsea Clinton Foundation thrived largely on the generosity of foreign donors and individuals who gave hundreds of millions of dollars to the global charity. But now, as Mrs. Clinton seeks the White House, the funding of the sprawling philanthropy has become an Achilles' heel for her campaign and, if she is victorious, potentially her administration as well.... The Clinton Foundation has accepted tens of millions of dollars from countries that the State Department -- before, during and after Mrs. Clinton's time as secretary -- criticized for their records on sex discrimination and other human-rights issues. The countries include Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Kuwait, Oman, Brunei and Algeria." CW: See Also Jonathan Chait's commentary, linked yesterday.

Jessie Hellmann of the Hill: "Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) will be returning to the campaign trail next month to stump for ... Hillary Clinton.... 'I feel very strongly that Donald Trump would be a disaster for the country. I want to do everything I can to see that Secretary Clinton wins.'" CW: One way to do that, Bernie, is to stop calling her "Secretary Clinton." You have to pretend you and "Hillary" are BFFs.

Nikita Vladimirov of the Hill: "Hillary Clinton's campaign is questioning the sincerity of Donald Trump's new tone, highlighting in a video ad the times he has refused to apologize for his inflammatory rhetoric. The video released Saturday, titled 'No Regrets,' intersperses Trump's Thursday speech expressing 'regret' for not choosing 'the right words' at times with clips of his insults of various people an groups":

Judd Legum of Think Progress: "Trump continued his multi-day effort to court the African-American vote with an appearance Saturday night on Fox News. [CW: Which is hilarious, right there, but it's Trump, so it gets worse:]... Trump told Fox News' Jeanine Pirro that blacks in America have 'no health care, no education, no anything.' He described the lives of African-Americans as 'a total catastrophe.' Pressed on what he would actually do for African-Americans, Trump said that he would 'get jobs,' without elaborating. Trump also promised to bring 'spirit' to African-Americans by being a 'cheerleader.' Trump's argument ignores that the vast majority of African-Americans have jobs, health insurance and do not live in poverty." -- CW

Adrian Carrasquillo of BuzzFeed: In a Saturday meeting with his newly announced Hispanic advisory council, Donald Trump suggested he is interested in figuring out a 'humane and efficient' manner to deal with immigrants in the country illegally, according to three sources. Trump, however, stressed that any new announcements will still be in line with the border security-focused approach that has invited intense opposition from Latinos and immigrants since he launched his campaign.... In a statement, Steven Cheung [CW: another Steve!] with the Trump campaign dismissed the BuzzFeed News account of the meeting as 'clickbait journalism' and disputed attendee' claim that he opened the door to legalization behind closed doors." CW: So apparently what Trump meant by "humane and efficient" was that his Enforcement Patrol would not kick in your door and throw you to the floor if "self-deport" first. It's the Romney approach, but with thugs.

Susanne Craig of the New York Times: "... an investigation by The New York Times into the financial maze of Mr. Trump's real estate holdings in the United States reveals that companies he owns have at least $650 million in debt -- twice the amount that can be gleaned from public filings he has made as part of his bid for the White House. The Times's inquiry also found that Mr. Trump's fortunes depend deeply on a wide array of financial backers, including ... the Bank of China .... and Goldman Sachs.... A substantial portion of his wealth is tied up in three passive partnerships that owe an additional $2 billion to a string of lenders.... He is ... quick to stress that these days his companies have very little debt." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

     ... CW: This puts Hillary Clinton's conflict of interest re: the Clinton Foundation in perspective. A President Trump would be unable to sign anything other than Mothers' Day proclamations without affecting his own financial interests.

You live in your poverty, your schools are no good, you have no jobs, 58 percent of your youth is unemployed. What the hell do you have to lose? -- Donald Trump, addressing black voters, Friday, speaking to a nearly all-white crowd in a town that is 93 percent white (and 90 minutes from Detroit, which is not)

... He Doesn't Know Any Better. Philip Bump of the Washington Post: "Most black Americans don't live in poverty, just as most white Americans don't." Black unemployment is higher than white, as it has been for decades, but the disparity is not nearly as great as Trump would have it. "There are any number of reasons that black Americans might view Trump unfavorably, starting with his 2011 effort to cast suspicion on Obama's place of birth. Or, probably, starting with his full-page ad calling for the death penalty against five black teenagers in New York City who were accused of rape -- wrongly, as it turned out. Or perhaps thanks to the support his current candidacy is getting from people like former Ku Klux Klan grand wizard David Duke.... One adviser said on CNN that Trump making his appeal in a mostly white town wasn't a big deal and that 'maybe it would have been nice if he went and had a backdrop with a burning car.'" -- CW ...

... Jim Fallows: "Trump ostensibly made his argument to black voters, asking 'what do you have to lose?' But if you watch the clip you'll see that in context he is talking about black people, to an audience that was mainly white. (Audience composition is something you can control, or at least foresee and influence, if you're running a national campaign. Where you hold the event, where you drum up attendance, whom you seat in the prominent on-camera places behind the candidate and in the front of the crowd -- these all have an effect and can be tuned.)" -- CW

Patrick Condon of the Minneapolis Star Tribune: "Donald Trump ... made his first visit to [Minnesota] as the Republican presidential candidate for a private nighttime fundraiser at the Minneapolis Convention Center. Dozens of protesters gathered out front ahead of the event and marched around the large building. Later in the evening, a smaller contingent grew unruly. Some fundraiser attendees were pushed and jostled, spit on and verbally harassed as they left the convention center. Trump never appeared in public, and did not grant media interviews or hold a news conference. The fundraiser was closed to the media, but a person in attendance broadcast Trumps remarks on the live-streaming app Periscope. 'If I could win a state like Minnesota, the path is a whole different thing,' Trump told the cheering crowd. 'It becomes a much, much different race. We're going to give it our ­greatest shot.'... Minnesota last went for the Republican in the presidential race in 1972 when President Richard Nixon defeated George McGovern [CW: in a race in which McGovern won only one state: Massachusetts]."

Maureen Dowd thinks up a bunch of things Donald Trump is sorry for. Droll. -- CW (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

In Hillary Clinton's America, 'illegal immigrants .. [are] collecting Social Security benefits, skipping the line. -- Voice-over in a Donald Trump campaign ad, released Aug. 19

[Donald Trump] makes a bizarre claim that undocumented immigrants will collect Social Security under a Clinton presidency.... [Even] people who obtain lawful status under DACA need to work for at least 10 years, pay taxes and reach retirement age before they are eligible to receive Social Security benefits.... We would have liked to see the nominee finally stick closer to the facts in his first general-election ad. Unfortunately, this ad is -- to borrow a line from its script -- 'more of the same.' -- Michelle Lee of the Washington Post

Jonathan Swan of the Hill: "Rep. Scott Rigell (R-Va.) on Friday ripped Donald Trump's character.... 'There is not one character trait in Donald Trump I would want my son to emulate,' Rigell told Time Magazine on Friday. 'I'm so embarrassed to be identified with him and in fact, I couldn't be.' Rigell, who came to office in the 2010 Tea Party wave, represents Virginia's 2nd Congressional District, which has a large military constituency." -- CW

Dave Weigel of the Washington Post: "When Trump made Breitbart News CEO Steve Bannon his campaign's chief executive last week, [white nationalist Jared] Taylor found reasons to celebrate. It was the latest sign for white nationalists, once dismissed as fringe, that their worldview was gaining popularity and that the old Republican Party was coming to an end.... [Trump's] strategy now resembles the alt-right dream of maximizing the white vote -- even as polling shows his standing with white voters falls short of Mitt Romney's in 2012." -- CW ...

... Kurt Bardella, formerly of Breitbart "News," in a Hill op-ed: "What eventually caused me to terminate my relationship with Breitbart was Steve [Bannon]'s guidance of Breitbart to become the de facto propaganda machine for Donald Trump.... Whatever reprehensible thing Trump did or said would be defended and supported by the daily content of Breitbart.... This is one of those times where the best interests of the whole outweigh any partisan allegiances or any specific issue. It's why I've made the personal choice to vote for Hillary Clinton> in November." -- CW

Congressional Races

Alex Isenstadt of Politico: "Republicans, worried about preserving their House and Senate majorities in the face of fierce headwinds, are accelerating their plans to distance themselves from Donald Trump -- and may soon concede, if only implicitly, his defeat. Party strategists are mapping out blueprints for down-ballot candidates, in TV ads and on the campaign trail, to present themselves as checks on a Hillary Clinton presidency. It's an approach that would essentially admit a Trump loss." -- CW

Beyond the Beltway

Isabelle Khurshudyan & Dave Sheinin of the New York Times: "In an interview with NBC's Matt Lauer that aired in part Saturday evening, swimmer Ryan Lochte attempted to explain his role in falsely portraying a late-night incident involving him and three teammates at a Rio de Janeiro gas station last weekend.... 'I over-exaggerated that story,' Lochte told Lauer on Saturday. 'If I had never done that, we would never be in this mess.... It was my immature behavior.'" CW: For the record, "over-exaggerated" is not a word; it's a joke.

Frank Wilkenmeyer of Winning Democrats: "Christians" invent another Malia Obama "scandal" and use it as an excuse for spewing more racial slurs. Where he can, Wilkenmeyer names the names of the Jesus- and Trump-loving "authors." CW: Wilkenmeyer is on the right track: shaming the low-lifes who write this crap. Let's hope some of their neighbors give these scum what-for. Thanks to Jeanne B. for the link.

Way Beyond

** Andrew Kramer of the New York Times: "Used extensively in the Soviet era, political murders are again playing a prominent role in the Kremlin's foreign policy, the most brutal instrument in an expanding repertoire of intimidation tactics intended to silence or otherwise intimidate critics at home and abroad.... Muckraking journalists, rights advocates, opposition politicians, government whistle-blowers and other Russians who threaten [the] image [of Russia that Vladimir Putin wants to project] are treated harshly -- imprisoned on trumped-up charges, smeared in the news media and, with increasing frequency, killed.... No other major power employs murder as systematically and ruthlessly as Russia does against those seen as betraying its interests abroad." ...

... CW: Bear in mind that Donald Trump admires Putin for his "leadership." Notice, too, as is pretty clear in the linked conversation, Trump doesn't know how to distinguish between killing (a) foreign operatives who are allegedly backing violent actions against a particular nation, and (b) citizen-protesters, whistleblowers & other dissidents: 'He's running his country and at least he's a leader, unlike what we have in this country,' Trump said when asked by ... Joe Scarborough about Putin's alleged killing of journalists and political opponents. 'I think our country does plenty of killing also, Joe, so you know. There's a lot of stupidity going on in the world right now, a lot of killing, a lot of stupidity,' he said. Finally, when asked whether he would condemn Putin's alleged brutal tactics, Trump responded: 'Sure, absolutely.'" Trump's inability to see the difference between clearly distinguishable acts & motives is part of what I mean when I say he's stupid. So, yeah, Donaldo, there is "a lot of stupidity going on," starting with you.

News Ledes

Washington Post: "Donald 'D.A.' Henderson, an American epidemiologist who led the international war on smallpox that resulted in its eradication in 1980, the only such vanquishment in history of a human disease and an achievement that was credited with saving tens of millions of lives, died Aug. 19 at a hospice facility in Towson, Md. He was 87." -- CW

New York Times: "... a suspected suicide bombing tore through the site of [a wedding] ceremony in southeastern Turkey late Saturday, killing at least 50 people and wounding more than 90, in the latest in a string of attacks to strike the restive region in the past week. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey said in a statement that the Islamic State militant group was probably behind what appeared to be a suicide attack on Saturday in the city of Gaziantep, and that its aim was to sow divisions among ethnic groups in the country and 'spread incitement along ethnic and religious lines.'" -- CW

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