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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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."
Orlando Sentinel: "A shooting at Pulse Orlando nightclub has resulted in mass casualties. Dozens of emergency vehicles surrounded the chaotic scene at the club at 1912 S. Orange Ave. after the 2 a.m. shooting and rescue squads were transporting multiple victims to area hospitals.... Police reported just before 6 a.m. that the shooter inside the club was dead." CW: This is a breaking story (at 6 am ET).
... New Lede: (9:10 am ET) "Twenty people are dead after a shooting at Orlando's Pulse nightclub in what investigators are calling an act of terrorism, Orlando Police Chief John Mina said at a morning news conference.... Officers killed the gunman, who has not been identified, in a shoot out and referred to him as a "lone wolf." He was carrying an assault rifle, a handgun and was possibly wearing an explosive 'device.'... The Federal Bureau of Investigation is leading the investigation. Agent Ron Hopper said they cannot rule this out as an act of domestic terrorism and that the suspect, who is not from Orlando, may have leanings toward extreme Islamic ideologies." -- CW ...
... New Lede: (11:30 am ET) "A lone gunman armed with a pistol and an assault rifle killed 50 people and injured 53 more at a gay Orlando nightclub early Sunday morning in one of the deadliest mass shootings in American history. Federal and local authorities are investigating the massacre as a possible terrorist attack and say the gunman may have ties to extremist Islamic ideologies. The man, whom officials have identified as 29-year-old Omar Mateen of Port St. Lucie, was killed after a shootout with Orlando police." -- CW ...
... The New York Times has live updates here. -- CW
... CW: For the record, I favor some system of superdelegates, although I'm not sure how their votes should best be weighted. In a representative democracy, it isn't horrible for elected representatives to have an outsized roll in choosing the party's candidate for president. If the GOP had more than a few superdelegates, it's likely we wouldn't have "presumptive presidential nominee Donald J. Trump."
The Insult Campaign, Ctd. Jose DelReal of the Washington Post: In Tampa, Florida, "Donald Trumpcalled for the Republican Party to fall in line behind his presidential bid Saturday during campaign swings through Florida and Pennsylvania, attacking skeptical members of his own party along with Democratic rival Hillary Clinton." -- CW
Tom Boggioni of RawStory: "The most powerful media companies in the U.S. have joined forces in a lawsuit asking a California court to release videotaped depositions given by Donald Trump taken as part of a fraud lawsuit related to his failed Trump University. According to LawNewz, CNN, CBS, ABC, NBC, The Washington Post and The New York Times filed suit late Friday, requesting access to the videos of Trump speaking under oath which were recorded between December 10 and January 21." --safari
** He Took the Money & Ran. Robert Buettner & Charles Bagli of the New York Times: "On the presidential campaign trail, Mr. Trump ... often boasts of his success in Atlantic City.... A central argument of his candidacy is that he would bring the same business prowess to the Oval Office, doing for America what he did for his companies.... But a close examination of regulatory reviews, court records and security filings by The New York Times leaves little doubt that Mr. Trump's casino business was a protracted failure.... Even as his companies did poorly, Mr. Trump did well. He put up little of his own money, shifted personal debts to the casinos and collected millions of dollars in salary, bonuses and other payments. The burden of his failures fell on investors and others who had bet on his business acumen." -- CW
Liar-in-Chief, Ctd. Ben Schreckinger of Politico: "When Donald Trump boasted in an interview aired on Sunday that he 'made a lot of money' in a 2009 deal to rent a New York-area estate to Libya's then-dictator, Muammar Qadhafi, he did not specify what he did with that money. But back in 2011, when pressed on the matter, Trump assured a reporter that the money had all gone to charity, a claim that Politico has been unable to verify and that his campaign is unwilling to confirm. The episode adds to a series of unverified or exaggerated claims of charitable giving that have been dogging the presumptive Republican nominee.... Trump's past pledges that the proceeds of his ill-fated vodka line, Trump Vodka, and of his 2015 campaign book, 'Crippled America,' would go to charity are now also coming under scrutiny because of a lack of evidence that he followed through on them." -- CW
Cautionary Tales. Carlos Lozado of the Washington Post: "... two novels depicting homegrown strongmen have become ways to interpret Trump's campaign and to imagine his presidency. Sinclair Lewis's 'It Can't Happen Here' (1935) features a populist Democratic senator named Berzelius 'Buzz' Windrip who wins the White House 'in the late 1930s on a redistributionist platform -- with a generous side order of racism -- and quickly fashions a totalitarian regime purporting to speak for the nation's Forgotten Men.... Philip Roth's 'The Plot Against America' (2004) offers a similarly harsh vision of that era, imagining the slow implosion of a working-class Jewish family when the Republican Party nominates aviator Charles Lindbergh for the presidency in 1940. The victorious Lindy strikes a pact with Hitler, launches federal programs that break apart and resettle Jewish communities, and promotes anti-Semitic thuggery.... Reading these works in this moment, it is impossible to miss the similarities between Trump and totalitarian figures in American literature -- in rhetoric, personal style and even substance." -- CW
... Robert Becker of Salon comparesDonald Trump to "Charles Foster Kane, the impulsive, narcissistic target of satire in Orson Welles' classic 'Citizen Kane.'" Thanks to Nancy for the link.
Alex Isenstadt of Politico: "During a question-and-answer session with CNN anchor Wolf Blitzer before around 250 Republican donors gathered [in Park City, Utah,] for the Romney-hosted Experts and Enthusiasts summit..., [Mitt Romney] said this year's group of [Republican] primary candidates misplayed their hand. By spending months attacking each other and ignoring Trump, he argued, they made a severe tactical error that allowed Trump -- who Romney has criticized as a 'con man' and a 'fraud' -- to escape unharmed.... Romney reserved particular scorn for Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, who Romney endorsed late in the primary process. The Texas senator, he pointed out, spent extensive time during the campaign praising Trump. He also said Ohio Gov. John Kasich had divided the anti-Trump vote by remaining in the race long after it had become clear he didn't have a realistic pathway to the nomination -- a message he said had relayed personally to the Ohio governor. And Romney chided Right to Rise, the $100 million-plus Jeb Bush super PAC that spent heavily to tear down Bush rivals other than Trump." -- CW
... Ines de la Cuetara of ABC News: "Republican donor Meg Whitman, the high-profile Hewlett PackardEnterprise president and CEO, indicated at Mitt Romney's closed-door summit on Friday that she would likely be supportingHillary Clinton in November, according to multiple sources who were in the room.... Whitman served as Romney's finance co-chair in 2012." -- CW ...
... Theodore Schleifer of CNN: "Republican fund-raisers are beginning to fret that Donald Trumpdoes not comprehend the magnitude of the challenge before him, warning that if he fails to execute the basic tasks of fund-raising during a critical six-week stretch, he will find himself badly outgunned this fall." -- CW ...
... Chas Danner of New Yorkprovides a good summary of the fractious meetings at the Romney event. ...
... ANDmore of the same from Philip Rucker of the Washington Post. CW: It appears the lords of the castle were sleeping when the pitchforks forged in their own factories surrounded their fortress, & the crude battering rams of the raging hordes smashed down the doors of their smug complacency as the effete Prince Rebus & Sir Paul de Ryan attempted in vain to broker the peace.
Beyond the Beltway
Caitlin Dineen of the Orlando Sentinel: "Singer Christina Grimmie, who was shot and killed after her show in Orlando[, Florida,] Friday night, did not know the man who shot her, Orlando police said. The 27-year-old man, who police identified as Kevin James Loibl of St. Petersburg, travelled to The Plaza Live theater with two small-caliber handguns Friday night.... Grimmie's brother, Marcus Grimmie, immediately tackled the suspect. The suspect then shot and killed himself, [Orlando Police Chief John] Mina said." -- CW
... The Cowboy & the Bicycle Thief. Julia Moore of KDRF-TV: "Police say that a woman was yelling about her bike being stolen [in front of an Eagle Point, Oregon, WalMart] and a nearby man [-- Robert Borba --] unloaded a horse from a trailer, lassoed the man and pulled him back toward the store.... Eagle Point Police arrived on scene and arrested the man, identified as 22-year-old Victorino Arellano-Sanchez. He was lodged in the Jackson County Jail." Includes video. CW: Outstanding. Fewer guns, more lassoes, please.
John Wagner of the Washington Post: "With his presidential campaign probably nearing its end,Sen. Bernie Sandersplans to get together Sunday night in his hometown of Burlington, Vt., with a couple of dozen of his closest supporters, an aide said Friday. 'He’s bringing in some of his key supporters from around the country to get their input and advice and talk about how to move forward,' said Sanders spokesman Michael Briggs.... Sanders returned to Burlington on Thursday night after his rally in the District. It remains unclear whether he will hold any more campaign events before the polls open Tuesday in the nation’s capital." -- CW
Alan Rappeportof the New York Times: "Hillary ClintonassailedDonald J. Trump on Friday ... at a Planned Parenthood Action Fund event in Washington[, D.C.] ... as untrustworthy on women’s issues, sharpening her tone against him in her first major speech since becoming the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee." -- CW
Digby, in Salon: While Hillary Clintonhas a "deep bench" of popular, well-known surrogates -- President Obama, Vice President Biden, Sen. Elizabeth Warren, (probably) Sen. Bernie Sanders, and of course her husband Bill -- to campaign for her, Donald Trump has bupkis.
... CW: As if to make her point, shortly after Digby's column appeared, Trump told a crowd in Richmond, Virginia, that he would get sports stars like Bobby Knight & Tom Brady to speak at the GOP convention instead of boring politicians. Nick Corasaniti of the New York Times: "He said he wanted to have them all address the convention ... as examples of 'winners,' rather than 'these people, these politicians who are going to get up and speak and speak and speak.'” CW: So it's going to be less of a political convention & more of a sporting event or festival. Or maybe a Festivus, with Trump dropping in between "feats of strength" by wrestlers & ex-football stars to "air his grievances" about all "the blacks," "Mexicans," "Indians," Muslims & of course "Crooked Hillary" who have done him wrong. But, as Trump would say, believe me, the Trumptivus Maximus pole will be a huuuge 24K-gold-plated, jewel-encrusted "miracle."
Ashley Parker of the New York Times: "Donald J. Trumptried out several lines of attack againstHillary Clinton, at one point calling her 'unfit to be president,' as he delivered an otherwise noticeably restrained speech to an audience of evangelical activists [in Washington, D.C.,] Friday.... Mr. Trump again stuck mainly to a script, reading from teleprompter screens. But he still ad-libbed in his characteristically clipped syntax." CW: Wonder if his speechwriter included any more quotes from Two Corinthians.
Well, I am not a racist, in fact, I am the least racist person that you’ve ever encountered. -- Donald Trump
... When WashPo reporter Marc Fisher told Trump that his cabbie was concerned that Trump was a racist, Trump asked, right after he said he was the least racist you've ever encountered, "I’m not concerned because I don’t think people believe it. And it’s just something that — who was this taxicab, was he African American?” He goes on to make up a story that Bill Clinton "was called a racist by Obama, and very loudly and very strongly," and "to this day, Clinton, he is haunted by that." CW: Yup. Trump is the least racist person ever.
Matea Gold, et al., of the Washington Post: "The furor over Trump’s assaults on the impartiality of a Latino judge had just begun to subside when he lobbed two tweets Friday morning responding to [Elizabeth] Warren, who had lambasted him as a 'thin-skinned, racist bully' in a speech the previous evening. 'Pocahontas is at it again!' Trump wrote in one.... Trump began going after Warren’s claimed ancestry earlier this year, responding to the senator’s repeated slams of him as a 'loser' and a bully. 'Who’s that, the Indian?' he said at a March news conference when asked about Warren. 'You mean the Indian?'... 'He needs to quit using language like that,' said Rep. Tom Cole (R-Okla.), a member of the Chickasaw tribe.... 'It’s pejorative, and ... this is not something that should, in my opinion, ever enter the conversation. . . . It’s neither appropriate personally toward her, and frankly, it offends a much larger group of people.'” -- CW
Betsy Martin, et al., of Bloomberg: "Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said Thursday that Donald Trump needs to pick an experienced running mate because 'he doesn't know a lot about the issues' and strongly urged him to change course on his rhetoric.... 'I object to a whole series of things that he's said — vehemently object to them. I think all of that needs to stop. Both the shots at people he defeated in the primary and these attacks on various ethnic groups in the country.' McConnell, perhaps the most careful and strategic politician in Washington, rarely goes off script himself, and has been sending Trump the same message for weeks in hopes he'll pivot to the general election.... He wouldn't rule out rescinding his support of Trump." -- CW
Philip Rucker & Dan Balz of the Washington Post: At a summit in Park City, Utah, hosted by Mitt Romney, "House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.) faced tough questioning ... Friday for his decision to endorse Donald Trump, and he tried to explain to an audience [of GOP poobahs] hostile to the New York mogul the factors that led him to back" Trump. -- CW ...
I don't want to see a president of the United States saying things which change the character of the generations of Americans that are following. Presidents have an impact on the nature of our nation, and trickle-down racism, trickle-down bigotry, trickle-down misogyny, all these things are extraordinarily dangerous to the heart and character of America. -- Mitt Romney, Friday ...
... Theodore Schleifer of CNN: "Mitt Romney suggested Friday that Donald Trump's election could legitimize racism and misogyny, ushering in a change in the moral fabric of American society." -- CW ...
... AND Steve Benen: Marco Rubiostill stands by his campaign-era charge that "Donald Trump shouldn’t be given access to nuclear codes because he lacked the necessary judgment and temperament." But Marco is supporting Trump anyway. "Here’s a sitting U.S. senator, who claims an expertise on matters of foreign policy and national security, who has insisted, repeatedly and publicly, that his party’s presidential candidate simply cannot be trusted to be responsible with the planet’s most dangerous weapons.... Marco Rubio doesn’t believe Donald Trump should be president. Marco Rubio also believes Donald Trump should be president." -- CW
Jonathan Chait: "... since Donald Trump became his party’s presumptive nominee..., [it has become] clear that Trump has absolutely no idea how to run a presidential campaign and lacks the most rudimentary grasp of its basic elements, like having a reasonably sized staff, adequate funds, and knowledge of which states to campaign in.... A Trump victory is plausible only in the case of a gigantic external shock that overwhelms his incompetence: the onset of a recession, perhaps, or an indictment of Hillary Clinton. On the other hand — and it is a big other hand, with long fingers — we have learned that if those or other nightmares do transpire and Trump prevails, his presidency would be far more dangerous than seemed imaginable not long ago." -- CW
Other News & Views
Sydney Ember of the New York Times: "Gawker Media, under pressure from a $140 million legal judgment and facing a determined foe in the Silicon Valley billionaire Peter Thiel, has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy and is putting itself up for sale." -- CW
Krissah Thompson of the Washington Post: President Obama "did not speak at Malia Obama’s commencement ceremony [at Sidwell Friends School], which he and the first lady attended, along with family and friends of other graduates of the private school in Northwest Washington." -- CW
Ezra Klein: "Want to know how Republicans ended up withDonald Trump?... Sen. David Perdue [R-Ga.] ... encouraged [his] audience to [pray] for Obama.... 'Let his days be few; and let another take his office. Let his children be fatherless, and his wife a widow. Let his children be continually vagabonds, and beg: let them seek their bread also out of their desolate places....'... Comments like Perdue’s are the context in which Trump ran." CW: The Senate should censure Perdue. But it won't. ...
... David Graham of the Atlantic: Perdue led the prayer at the Faith and Freedom Coalition’s Road to Majority meeting in Washington, D.C. "... this verse — sometimes labeled 'the Obama Prayer' — has been circulating for years among conservatives.... In a statement, Perdue’s office clarified, 'He in no way wishes harm to our president and everyone in the room understood that,' and accused the media of 'pushing a narrative to create controversy.'” CW: Yup, Goober, it's the media's fault you led a prayer for the assassination of the President of the United States in front of a group of politically-active fundamentalist Christians. As to "everyone" "understanding" your meaning -- really? How the hell do you know what a bunch of people you've never met "understand"?
Beyond the Beltway
Alan Blinder of the New York Times: "Michael G. Hubbard, the speaker of the Alabama House of Representatives ... was convicted Friday on 12 felony ethics charges, leaving him stripped of power and facing the possibility of decades in prison.... Although jurors acquitted Mr. Hubbard on 11 counts, his conviction on the remaining dozen charges prompted his removal as the leader of the House. Mr. Hubbard, who was convicted of improperly soliciting benefits from lobbyists and voting in favor of a measure that helped a company for which he consulted, faces up to 20 years in prison on each count.... His conviction and automatic ouster immediately increased the political turmoil that had shadowed Alabama for months.... The chief justice of the State Supreme Court, Roy S. Moore, could be removed from office this year because of his efforts to resist same-sex marriage, and [Gov. Robert] Bentley is a subject of impeachment proceedings over an improper relationship with an aide, as well as federal and state inquiries." -- CW ...
... The al.com story, by Mike Cason, is here. Thanks to P.D. Pepe for suggesting the musical accompaniment:
Paul Krugman: "... the G.O.P. was able to serve the interests of the 1 percent by posing as the defender of the 80 percent -- for that was the white share of the electorate when Ronald Reagan was elected. But demographic change ... has brought the non-Hispanic white share of the electorate down to 62 percent and falling. Republicans need to broaden their base; but the base wants candidates who will defend the old racial order. Hence Trumpism.... [Donald Trump] represents little more than the rage of white men over a changing nation. And he'll be facing a woman -- yes, gender is another important dimension in this story -- who owes her nomination to the very groups his base hates and fears." -- CW
Francis Wilkinson of Bloomberg: "In a few weeks, at the Democratic convention in Philadelphia, [President Obama] will symbolically hand over leadership of the party [to Hillary Clinton].... This transition is structured, anticipated, consistent, orderly and boring. Which is one way of saying that the Democratic Party is a coherent, well-functioning political institution that bears little resemblance to the cascading disasters that define the Republican Party and yielded Donald Trump as its likely presidential nominee." CW: Wait, wait. You're wrecking the "Democratic party in disarray" conventional storyline.
The Party Steps on Bernie's Last Hurrah. John Wagner of the Washington Post: "Making a last stand as a Democratic presidential candidate, the senator from Vermont was set to meet with President Obama and other leading Democrats and stage a show of his continuing ability to draw throngs of supporters at an outdoor rally near RFK Stadium. Only all that was eclipsed -- much like his upstart presidential campaign itself -- by Hillary Clinton and the muscle of the Democratic establishment. Shortly after Sanders emerged from his meeting with Obama, word got out that the president was going to trumpet an endorsement of his former secretary of state in a video. And then it became clear that Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), a darling of the political left and Sanders's ideological soulmate, had also chosen Thursday to throw her support behind Clinton." CW: Stupid move, people. Whoever orchestrated this (Hillary Clinton/Debbie Wasserman Schultz) is one nasty piece of work. ...
... Carrie Dann of NBC News: "Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren ..., a hero to liberal progressives ideologically aligned with Bernie Sanders' anti-Wall Street rhetoric, endorsed ... Hillary Clinton Thursday night on MSNBC's the Rachel Maddow Show." Includes video. -- CW ...
... Julie Davis of the New York Times: "President Obama on Thursday formally endorsedHillary Clinton and called her the most qualified candidate to seek the White House, imploring Democrats to come together to elect her after a bruising party primary." -- CW (Also linked yesterday.)
Everett Rosenfeld of CNBC: "President Barack Obamaofficially endorsed former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton for president on Thursday, saying he is 'fired up' for the presumptive Democratic candidate. In a prerecorded video released Thursday, Obama latched onto the Clinton campaign's slogan, letting his supporters know that 'I'm with her,' and pledging to campaign for the presumptive nominee. The president's endorsement comes eight years and two days after Clinton did the same for him." -- Akhilleus (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
I didn't hear a single word about him trying to change the fact that she's the nominee. I think he's accepted that. -- Harry Reid, on Bernie Sanders, after a meeting yesterday
Bernie is not worn down. He's not bitter. He's not angry. He wants to make sure that issues he's pushed for have vitality. -- Chuck Schumer, after meeting with Sanders yesterday
I remember when he first left. It was kind of everybody with a real smile and put their arm around him and said, "Good luck, Bernie." And then we watched as he put together an incredible campaign, not just in the fundraising but in the way that he lit up so many Democrats and even independents who came to his side. He became a force, a political force, and a positive one as far as I'm concerned. I think our party can learn from his candidacy and I think we're going to count on him to bring us across the finish line with a victory in November. -- Dick Durbin, yesterday
Compare these Senators' remarks with Hillary Clinton's performance yesterday. Clinton walked all over Sanders. The Senators made positive remarks. At the very least, Clinton is tone-deaf. But I think it's more that she's a mean girl. She enjoys kicking people when they're down, & she can't helping doing so, even when it's an impolitic thing to do. There's a difference between being forceful and being a bully. -- Constant Weader
The Bern Cools Down? Clare Foran in The Atlantic: "Bernie Sanders isn't ready to back down yet -- but the end of his campaign is in sight. Speaking outside of the White House on Thursday after meeting with President Obama, Sanders confirmed he would compete in Washington, D.C.'s Democratic primary next week. But he signaled a willingness to work with Hillary Clinton to ensure that Democrats win the White House. 'I look forward to meeting with her in the near future to see how we can work together to defeat Donald Trump and create a government, which represents all of us and not just the one percent,' Sanders said." -- Akhilleus (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
Dave Weigel & Paul Kane of the Washington Post: "Vice President Biden and Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) delivered a one-two punch Thursday toDonald Trump in speeches that signaled the increasingly coordinated effort by Democrats to push the presumptive Republican presidential nominee and his restive GOP allies on Capitol Hill." -- CW ...
... CW: One reason Clinton might want to choose Warren as her running mate: Warren pulls no punches in attacking Trump, Mitch McConnell, Paul Ryan, et al. She's damned good at it, too:
Joshua Green & Tim Higgins of Bloomberg: "According to Kantar Media, Clinton and Sanders aired 206,528 spots between them this year — and not one was deemed 'negative' by the analysts in Kantar's Campaign Media Analysis Group (CMAG). 'In an open presidential primary, this is probably unprecedented,' says Elizabeth Wilner, senior vice president for political advertising at Kantar.... Donald Trump ... faced roughly $62 million in attack ads during the primaries. Most of the spots were aired by fellow Republicans." CW: Which is unfaaair.
From the Facebook page of an old friend:
Ryan Lizza of the New Yorker: Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) said "that she has not ruled out supportingClinton. 'I worked very well with Hillary when she was my colleague in the Senate and when she was Secretary of State,' Collins said. 'But I do not anticipate voting for her this fall. I'm not going to say never, because this has been such an unpredictable situation, to say the least.'" -- CW
** Donald the Deadbeat. Steve Reilly of USA Today: "Donald Trump often portrays himself as a savior of the working class who will 'protect your job.' But a USA Today Network analysis found he has been involved in more than 3,500 lawsuits over the past three decades -- and a large number of those involve ordinary Americans ... who say Trump or his companies have refused to pay them. At least 60 lawsuits, along with hundreds of liens, judgments, and other government filings ... document people who have accused Trump and his businesses of failing to pay them for their work. Among them: a dishwasher in Florida. A glass company in New Jersey. A carpet company. A plumber. Painters. Forty-eight waiters. Dozens of bartenders and other hourly workers at his resorts and clubs.... Real estate brokers who sold his properties. And, ironically, several law firms that once represented him in these suits and others. Trump's companies have also been cited for 24 violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act since 2005 for failing to pay overtime or minimum wage.... In addition to the lawsuits, the review found more than 200 mechanic's liens -- filed by contractors and employees against Trump, his companies or his properties...." -- CW
CW: The Washington Post editors demand Donald Trumprelease his tax returns, which he has refused to do, relying on "nothing but flimsy excuses." Expect a steady drumbeat of such demands. As the Post editors, suggest Trump has something to hide. So I'm wondering if Trump will eventually fill the need to answer his critics by releasing fake tax returns -- showing him to have a huuuge income, to have made huuuge tax payments & to have given huuuge amounts to charity -- just as he wrote a fake doctor's report. And if his reports are fake, who would out him? Not the IRS.
With friends like these. Nick Gass of Politico: "Former Ku Klux Klan Grand Wizard David Duke defended Donald Trump on his radio show earlier this week from criticism of his comments about Judge Gonzalo Curiel, blaming 'the Jews' in the media for propagating a long-running negative agenda against the presumptive Republican nominee. The white supremacist radio host dropped the names of Fox News' Chris Wallace, along with Jake Tapper and Wolf Blitzer on CNN, who Duke said he had 'exposed ... as a Jewish agent.' Jeff Zucker, the current president of CNN Worldwide, is 'another Jewish extremist,' he remarked. 'And more recently, Fox News, the shabbat goy shiksa Megyn Kelly, 'cause they love to have some gentiles doing it.'" --safari ...
...Sasha Abramsky of The Nation: "For days now, prominent Republican Party figures have been trying to work out how to respond to Trump's racially toxic denunciations of federal judge Gonzalo Curiel.... Trump,Gingrichtold CNN yesterday in response to the uproar, was a 'gifted amateur' who was learning the ropes as a candidate for the most powerful job on earth incredibly quickly...Let's call that out for the cretinous gibberish it so obviously is.... How much more of this 'amateur' verbal knife play will it take before Newt Gingrich and Trump's other GOP apologists realize that they are supporting not a well-meaning amateur but a very professional, and very dangerous, shit-smearer?" --safari
Jim Newell of Slate: "Plenty of people have vaguely surmised that Donald Trump's nomination marks the end of the Republican Party as we knew it. But what is even the mechanism for that? Is there some sort of vehicle through which the death of one of America's two major parties is processed? Of course there is: bankruptcy.... Profound financial mistakes are going to be made with the moneyTrump is able to siphon from wealthy GOP donors. And that's most likely how the GOP goes out of business." --safari...
...safari note: Trump has perfected the art of ripping off the little man, but it hadn't occurred to me that now he's positioned himself to sucker in the GOP big rollers to blow their own ill-gotten gains on his ego trips, too. World's greatest conman?
Tim Egan: "Trump lies about big things (there is no drought in California) and small things (his hair spray could not affect the ozone layer because it's sealed within Trump Tower). He lies about himself, and the fake self he invented to talk about himself. He's been shown to lie more than 70 times in a single event. Given the scale of Trump's mendacity and the stakes for the free world, it's time that we go into the fall debates with a new rule -- an instant fact-check on statements made by the candidates onstage.... It's up to the debate commission, as they set the rules for the fall, to ensure that truth has a place on the stage." ...
... CW: This is a good idea. When the candidates haggle about the terms of the debate, Clinton should insist upon it. I would, however, definitely recommend the use of a buzzer each time the factcheckers catch a candidate in a lie.
Greg Grandin of The Nation: "Is Donald Trump a fascist? It's an interesting question that has generated insightful commentary over the past few months, with the best answers situating Trumpian illiberalism within America's long history of racial oppression, slavery, Jim Crow apartheid, and the ongoing backlash to the loss of white privilege. But a key concept is missing from this discussion: empire." --safari note: I'm not entirely convinced, but it's a thought I haven't seen brought up yet...
...Jonathan Chait: "Donald Trump has attained his wild popularity among Republicans by tapping into their pervasive feeling of racial victimization. The right-wing view of Obama as a crafty manipulator of racial tension comes through in Ben Shapiro's column in National Review. While rejecting Donald Trump's argument that only white men are fit to judge his fraud trial, Shapiro insists that Trump is merely recapitulating Obama's sin of 'tribalism.'... That the first black president could proclaim over and over that his country can (and has, and will continue to) progress toward racial harmony, and yet be portrayed in the elite conservative media as a hectoring prophet of racial doom, tells you everything you need to know about why Trumpism has prevailed." --safari
Blast to the Trump Past. Max Rosenthal of Mother Jones: "Believe Donald Trump, folks: There is an anti-asbestos conspiracy. In his 1997 book, The Art of the Comeback, Trump warned America not to buy the crusade against 'the greatest fire-proofing material ever used.' He claimed the movement to remove asbestos -- a known carcinogen -- was actually the handiwork of the mafia.... Polish construction workers who worked on the construction of Trump Tower sued Trump, with some telling the New York Times that 'they often worked in choking clouds of asbestos dust without protective equipment.' The contracting company used by Trump hired the Poles -- undocumented immigrants were working off the books -- at only $4- to $5-an-hour..." --safari
What about the kids? Rory Carroll of the Guardian: "Tracey Iglehart, a teacher at Rosa Parks elementary school in Berkeley, California, did not expect Donald Trump to show up on the playground.... That has not stopped some children from channeling and adopting ... [Trump]'s xenophobic rhetoric in playground spats and classroom exchanges. 'They said things like "you'll get deported", "you weren't born here" and "you were born in a Taco Bell",' said Iglehart, 49. 'They may not know exactly what it means, but they know it's powerful language.'" --safari
Other News & Views
Derek Thompson of The Atlantic: "A new report from the Congressional Budget Office on household income since 1979 reaches two stark and significant conclusions. Inequality is growing. But so are government efforts to combat it -- and they're working. First, the bad news. The distribution of income in the United States has been more unequal under Obama's presidency than any time since the 1930s, according to the Gini Index, a conventional measure of the inequality.... The upshot is that the federal government is doing more to correct inequality right now than at any time in the last 35 years. The five years when tax and transfer policies took the biggest bite out of inequality were the first five years of Obama's presidency." --safari ...
... safari note: Great news for just about everybody, except for old, xenophobic white males that want to "take their America back(wards)".
Craig Whitlock of the Washington Post: "In a plea deal with prosecutors, Rear Adm. Robert Gilbeau ... pleaded guilty Thursday to a felony charge of lying to federal investigators in the wide-ranging 'Fat Leonard' corruption scandal, marking an exceptionally rare instance of a flag officer being criminally prosecuted for actions while in uniform." -- CW
Sanity at Last.Tal Kopan of CNN: "A federal appeals court ruled on Thursday that there is no Second Amendment protection for concealed weapons -- allowing states to prohibit or restrict the public from carrying concealed firearms. The en banc opinion by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals could set up a new showdown on gun rights at the Supreme Court. At issue was California's law on concealed weapons, which requires citizens to prove they have 'good cause' to carry concealed firearms to get a license. Plaintiffs challenged guidelines in San Diego and Yolo counties that did not consider general self-defense to be enough to obtain a license." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
... Akhilleus: Finally a court of law decides that Second Amendment rights are not absolute and unconditional. The loons will be out in force after this ruling. Foxbots are oiling their vocal cords for days and nights of incessant caterwauling. Don't overlook the fact that this ruling was delivered en banc. Had Scalia still been around that probably wouldn't have mattered much, since everyone needs a gun on their hip, but the current court makeup could make it less likely that this ruling would be overturned. NRA sociopaths must be swinging from the chandeliers. The ones made out of Colt .45s.
New York Times Editors: "The Republicans' blockade of Judge [Merrick] Garland is shameful, but it is only the most glaring example of what has been a historic slowdown in filling federal court vacancies across the country. This has been enormously damaging to the district courts, which deal with hundreds of thousands of cases annually, and where backlogs drag out lawsuits and delay justice. It also harms the appeals courts, whose rulings are the final word in nearly all litigation, since the Supreme Court hears only about 75 cases a year.... This disgraceful and destructive behavior extends well beyond the judiciary. The current Senate has approved the fewest civilian nominees by a president in 30 years, according to an analysis by the Congressional Research Service. One nominee [-- Cassandra Butts --] for an ambassadorship died recently after waiting more than two years for a confirmation vote that never came." -- CW
Sarah Burris of RawStory: "The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) requires all persons flying a small unmanned aircraft register their craft before flying it. But now one student is challenging that requirement after the FAA came after him for two drones he created -- one that shoots a gun as it flies and one that has a flamethrower attached to it." --safari
Shell-Shocked. Robert Worth of the New York Times: Pilot studies suggest that PTSD may be more physiological than psychological. "Much of what has passed for emotional trauma may be reinterpreted, and many veterans may step forward to demand recognition of an injury that cannot be definitively diagnosed until after death." -- CW
Beyond the Beltway
Sarah Burris: "A small bomb detonated in a women's bathroom at a Target store in Evanston, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago, Wednesday afternoon. Officials are not yet sure if the bomb was related to the right-wing wrath the company has endured as a result of their bathroom policy, but investigators are looking into it." --safari
Alejandro Davila Fragoso of Think Progress: "The Bay Area has long been a bastion of environmental action, but this week locals outdid themselves when they approved an unprecedented, first-of-its kind tax to remove pollution from their bay and create habitats to fight sea level rise." --safari
Joanna Walters, et al., of the Guardian: "The judge in the Stanford sexual assault case allowed defendants accused of gang-raping a 17-year-old high school student to show the jury photographs of her wearing a revealing outfit when he presided over another controversial case involving college athletes. Judge Aaron Persky, who is under fire for his lenient sentencing of Brock Turner, a former Stanford swimmer convicted of sexual assault, made several controversial rulings in a 2011 civil trial stemming from the alleged gang rape by members of the baseball team at De Anza Community College in Cupertino, California." -- CW ...
... Tom Namako of BuzzFeed: "Vice President Joe Bidenpenned an open letter to the Stanford sexual assault survivor who read a powerful message to her assailant in court detailing the effects of his actions on her." The article includes the full text of the Vice President's letter. ...
... Elizabeth Dwoskin & Susan Svrluga of the Washington Post: "... in Palo Alto, the impact is visceral. Inboxes and social media are full of links to petitions: People demanding better support from the university for sexual assault victims, calling on Stanford officials to apologize and pay for the victim's therapy, and asking the judge in the case to step down. A protest is planned for Sunday at an annual commencement event. 'Everyone on campus is talking about it,' said Dulcie Davies, a graduating sorority member who plays field hockey. 'Everyone is sharing everything on Facebook.'" -- CW
New York Times: "Gordie Howe, one of the greatest and most durable players in the history of hockey, who powered his Detroit Red Wings teams to four Stanley Cup championships and was 52 years old when he officially retired from playing the sport, died on Friday, the Red Wings announced. Howe -- Mr. Hockey to the sports world -- was 88."
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