The Commentariat -- August 10, 2018

Afternoon Update:

Trump No Longer Able to Get Along with Dictators. Rebecca Morin of Politico: "... Donald Trump announced on Friday that he is doubling tariffs on Turkey after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan asked citizens to convert foreign currencies, including U.S. dollars, into local lira -- leading to a dramatic drop in the Turkish currency. 'I have just authorized a doubling of Tariffs on Steel and Aluminum with respect to Turkey as their currency, the Turkish Lira, slides rapidly downward against our very strong Dollar! Aluminum will now be 20% and Steel 50%. Our relations with Turkey are not good at this time!' Trump tweeted."

Omarosa's Brilliant Literary Career, Ctd. David Smith of the Guardian: "Donald Trump is a 'racist' who has used the 'N-word' repeatedly, Omarosa Manigault Newman, once the most prominent African American in the White House, claims in a searing memoir. The future US president was caught on mic uttering the taboo racial slur 'multiple times' during the making of his reality TV show The Apprentice and there is a tape to prove it, according to Manigault Newman, citing three unnamed sources.... She also claims that she personally witnessed Trump use racial epithets about the White House counselor Kellyanne Conway's husband George Conway, who is half Filipino. 'Would you look at this George Conway article?' she quotes the president as saying. 'F**ing FLIP! Disloyal! Fucking Goo-goo.' Both flip and goo-goo are terms of racial abuse for Filipinos. Critics have previously questioned Manigault Newman's credibility...." ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: Perhaps I should give Trump more credit that I have done. If Omarosa's story is true -- and I would be one to "question Manigault Newman's credibility" -- Trump knows at least two more racial slurs than I did. P.S. Omarosa's "tell-all" sounds like a Trump set-up to me. He would much rather we talk about his racism -- as it gives him creds with his base -- than with his tax cuts for himself or "this Rusher thing" or Wilbur the Walking Thief or or or.

Spencer Hsu & Devlin Barrett of the Washington Post: "A federal judge has found a witness in contempt for refusing to testify before the grand jury hearing evidence in special counsel Robert S. Mueller III's investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election. U.S. District Chief Judge Beryl Howell made the ruling Friday after a sealed hearing to discuss Andrew Miller's refusal to appear before the grand jury Miller is a former aide to longtime Trump confidant Roger Stone. Miller's lawyer Paul Kamenar said after the hearing that Miller was 'held in contempt, which we asked him to be in order for us to appeal the judge's decision to the court of appeals.' Howell stayed her order while Miller's legal team appeals the judge's decision."

Meet Your Democratic Congressional Candidates

Andrew Seidman of philly.com: "Michael Soliman is a longtime aide and confidant to Sen. Bob Menendez [D].... Since 2015, Soliman has also lobbied Menendez and other members of Congress on behalf of the government of Qatar, arranging meetings for the country's ambassador to the U.S. and raising issues important to Qatar's relationship with Washington. Should Menendez defeat Republican Bob Hugin in November and Democrats take control of the Senate, the senator would be poised to chair the Foreign Relations Committee -- potentially boosting Soliman's value as a lobbyist, government watchdogs say." Mrs. McC: Hey, it's not a revolving door if you can stand in the threshold with one foot on one side and one foot on the other. Bob Menendez is what you would call a "New Jersey politician." That would be a pejorative.

Congressional Race. Greg Bluestone of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution: "A Democratic candidate for Congress in a conservative north Georgia district who was convicted this week of drunken driving challenged the officers who stopped him to a fight and repeatedly insulted the county he was running to represent.... Steven Lamar Foster boasted about how many times he's been arrested and called the officers who arrested him 'Barneys' in dash-cam footage of the September arrest obtained by The Dalton Daily Citizen-News. 'Eleven years I served this county,' Foster told police in the dash-cam video. 'I hate this county. I prayed to God that he would curse it. And guess what? He did. Man, I saw it hit and cursed, and I saw people laid off right and left -- white people. I hate this county...'" Mrs. McC: Seems like an excellent candidate. ...

... But, hey, Foster seems better than this former Georgia Democratic Congressional candidate:

... Noah Feit of the (South Carolina) State: "A woman who recently ran for a congressional seat was arrested for murder among other charges Wednesday, according to the Aiken County Sheriff's Office. Curt Cain, the man that Kellie Lynn Collins is charged with shooting to death, worked on her failed congressional campaign in Georgia, the Augusta Chronicle reported. He also might have been her husband, according to Captain Eric Abdullah.... Collins was previously a Democratic congressional candidate in Georgia&'s 10th district..., but she dropped out of the race before the primary, 'for personal reasons.'"

Carl Campanile of the New York Post: "Actor Richard Gere's name is being floated as a potential [Democratic] candidate for Congress in the northern suburbs [of New York City], The Post has learned." Mrs. McC: Well, that's nice. I can tell you from second-hand gossip that Gere is not the candidate for the #MeToo era.

*****

Best Buy's Geek Squad gave me a temporary, if cumbersome, fix to my major technical problem, but they say, and I concur, that the problem is with my host Squarespace's platform. Squarespace has not yet responded to a HELP! ticket I sent them 24 hours ago nor to the follow-ups I sent. Please don't try to log into Reality Chex if you have the access codes. I will send safari & Akhilleus the temporary fix some time on the 10th, but I have to figure out how to do that. Thanks to everyone for your patience. -- Mrs. Bea McCrabbie

*****

** Mr. Mustache Does End-run around Insane Trump to Save NATO. Helene Cooper & Julian Barnes of the New York Times: "Senior American national security officials, seeking to prevent President Trump from upending a formal policy agreement at last month's NATO meeting, pushed the military alliance's ambassadors to complete it before the forum even began. The work to preserve the North Atlantic Treaty Organization agreement ... came just weeks after Mr. Trump refused to sign off on a communiqué from the June meeting of the Group of 7 in Canada. The rushed machinations to get the policy done, as demanded by John R. Bolton, the national security adviser, have not been previously reported. Described by European diplomats and American officials, the efforts are a sign of the lengths to which the president's top advisers will go to protect a key and longstanding international alliance from Mr. Trump's unpredictable antipathy. Allied ambassadors said the American officials' plan worked -- to a degree. Mr. Trump did almost blow up the two-day meeting in Brussels that began on July 11.... But the approval of the communiqué -- renamed for the meeting as a declaration -- was critical for the alliance. It ensured that, despite Mr. Trump's rhetorical fireworks, NATO diplomats could push through initiatives, including critical Pentagon priorities to improve allied defenses against Russia." ...

     ... Mrs. Bea McCrabbie: I hope you realize how extraordinary this is. Even Bolton, who is pretty goofy, has a lot more sense than Trump. Thank goodness Bolton was willing to use what sense he has to manipulate President Nutjob to acquiesce to our most vital alliance.

** Annie Correal & Emily Cochrane of the New York Times: "President Trump has repeatedly and vehemently denounced what he calls 'chain migration,' in which adult American citizens can obtain residency for their relatives. On Thursday, his Slovenian in-laws, Viktor and Amalija Knavs, became United States citizens in a private ceremony in Manhattan by taking advantage of that same family-based immigration program. Asked if the Knavses had obtained citizenship through 'chain migration,' their lawyer, Michael Wildes, said, 'I suppose.' He said chain migration is a 'dirtier' way of characterizing what he called 'a bedrock of our immigration process when it comes to family reunification.'... Even as his in-laws were going through the process, Mr. Trump was denouncing it. In November, he tweeted, 'CHAIN MIGRATION must end now! Some people come in, and they bring their whole family with them, who can be truly evil. NOT ACCEPTABLE!'" ...

... Addy Baird of ThinkProgress: "CNN was able to confirm Thursday that the first lady sponsored her parents in order for them to get a green card, which set them on the path to citizenship, the exact type of family-based migration President Trump has repeatedly called to eliminate."

Hee Haw! Goat Fleeces the Sheeples. Pat Ralph of Business Insider: "... Donald Trump is able to pay tens of thousands of dollars less in property taxes on his New Jersey golf courses because of a goat herd, according to The Wall Street Journal. Citing public records, The Journal reported in 2016 that Trump had been able to save thousands of dollars in property taxes on his two properties in Bedminster — where he is this week for a 'working vacation' -- and Colts Neck. Because the properties have a goat herd, as well as hay farming and woodcutting, New Jersey law permits them to receive a farmland tax break.... The Journal estimated that Trump paid less than $1,000 a year in property taxes on land that would typically require roughly $80,000." Thanks to Akhilleus for the link. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Josh Gerstein & Darren Samuelsohn of Politico: "The federal judge overseeing the Paul Manafort trial took another shot at special counsel Robert Mueller's team Thursday afternoon, even after conceding earlier in the day that a criticism he leveled at prosecutors on Wednesday was erroneous. The prosecution spent about 40 minutes Thursday afternoon questioning a bank employee about Manafort's unsuccessful effort to get a $5.5 million construction loan on a Brooklyn brownstone, only to have Judge T.S. Ellis III suggest that the issue was unworthy of such extensive discussion at the trial. Notably, Ellis made the remark with the jury present.... [A] tense exchange [between Ellis & prosecutor Uzo Asonye] was the latest example of Ellis making comments that could lead jurors to question the prosecution's case or its tactics in the tax- and bank-fraud trial that opened last week." ...

... Rachel Weiner, et al., of the Washington Post: "The judge overseeing Paul Manafort's trial, who has berated prosecutors daily for perceived missteps and slights, told the jury Thursday to ignore one of his outbursts, saying he was 'probably wrong.' U.S. District Court Judge T.S. Ellis III, a 78-year-old jurist with a reputation for being tough on lawyers in his courtroom, showed none of the temper he has flashed throughout the trial, now in its second week in Alexandria, Va., and instead instructed the jury to disregard his remarks made the day before excoriating prosecutors for allowing an expert government witness to sit in the courtroom before he testified." Mrs. McC: According to the Politico report, the prosecution team had to file a motion to get Ellis to recant. ...

... Sharon LaFraniere & Emily Baumgaertner of the New York Times: "The federal judge overseeing the trial of Paul Manafort sealed a transcript on Thursday of a private discussion in front of his bench after prosecutors from the special counsel's office argued that they needed to protect an 'ongoing investigation.' The conversation concerned whether investigators had questioned Rick Gates, the government's star witness and Mr. Manafort's longtime deputy, about the Trump campaign. Prosecutors argued that they needed to protect the secrecy of their inquiry -- though they did not specify the Russia investigation -- and limit the 'disclosure of new information.' The judge, T. S. Ellis III, ruled in their favor.... Prosecutors have avoided any mention of the broader inquiry [into Russian interference in the 2016 election] since the trial began nine days ago in Alexandria, Va. But Mr. Manafort's lawyers have tried to edge in that direction, possibly in the hope that jurors will see their client as a victim of a politically inspired vendetta." ...

     ... That Sidebar May Be Bad News for Donzo. Katelyn Polantz & Jeremy Herb of CNN: "A court filing from special counsel Robert Mueller signals that Rick Gates may be assisting the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election beyond the case against Paul Manafort."

Nancy Cook of Politico: "Hope Hicks had no intention of traveling on Air Force One when she arrived at ... Donald Trump's Bedminster, New Jersey, golf club to hang out with White House friends including Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump. But ... once Hicks was back on the president's turf, she got sucked in, with a handful of staffers successfully prodding her to join them on Saturday's trip to Ohio for a campaign-style rally. Hicks' surprise appearance at the airport prompted one former campaign official to joke that she was returning for 'Season Two' of the Trump reality show." Mrs. McC: AND this has nuh-THING to do with the fact that Trump was simultaneously confess-tweeting about the "real reason" for that Trump Tower meeting -- you know, the one where Hicks helped him write out that phony "adoption reason" for the meeting conspiracy-planning session. Just another a-mazing coincidence. (Also linked yesterday.)

The House Runs Its Own Witch Hunt, Ctd. Olivia Beavers of the Hill: "The Republican chairman of the House Judiciary Committee is readying subpoenas for people connected to the controversial 'Steele' dossier, sources tell The Hill. Chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.) is preparing subpoenas for Justice Department official Bruce Ohr, his wife Nellie Ohr and Fusion GPS co-founder Glenn Simpson, according to two congressional sources familiar with the matter. The subpoenas will also go after other current and former FBI and DOJ officials including Jim Baker, Sally Moyer, Jonathan Moffa and George Toscas, the sources said. Justice Department spokeswoman Sarah Isgur Flores told The Hill that Goodlatte has been in touch with the DOJ about seeking testimonies from these officials.... Bruce Ohr has come under Republican scrutiny for his contacts with Simpson and former British spy Christopher Steele during the presidential campaign, a revelation that sparked demands from Trump allies for a special counsel investigation into the DOJ and the FBI last December." ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: As Rep. Devin Nunes explained to donors, the House has to keep running interference for Der Trumpster to save Trump -- and themselves.

"Space Force All the Way!" Erin Durkin of the Guardian: "Mike Pence has announced plans for a new, separate US Space Force as a sixth military service by 2020. The US vice-president said the development is needed to ensure America's dominance in space amid heightened competition and threats from China and Russia. In a speech at the Pentagon in Washington DC, Pence said that while space was once peaceful and uncontested, it is now crowded and adversarial.... In a tweet Thursday, the president cheered on his number two's speech. 'Space Force all the way!' he wrote." ... Mrs. McC: Yeah, in a tweet that again reveals the POTUS* to be as knowledgeable & articulate as a 10-year-old. The Pentagon must have given Trumpie a "Space Force" patch or maybe even a shiny aluminum "Space Force" jacket. Akhilleus's commentary in yesterday's thread on Mikey's rationale, as delivered, for the "Space Force" is kind of a must-read. ...

     ... Thanks to safari for the link.

AND, in "Walk of Fame News"... Paul Bond & Bryan White of the Hollywood Reporter: "Donald Trump's star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame -- destroyed on several occasions by detractors who sometimes wield a pick-ax -- mysteriously multiplied over night so that on Thursday morning there were several dozen stars. The effort comes from a conservative street artist who wishes to remain anonymous.... The artist and his cohorts ... are allies of prolific conservative artist Sabo, spent $1,000 on the stars, which they printed on sheets of floor vinyl with adhesive backing, and their mission was partially financed by 'a young and anonymous entrepreneur.' The crew laminated the vinyl stars and placed them on blank squares on the Walk of Fame...." Mrs. McC: I can't figure out why Trump had a Hollywood star in the first place. He was never a Hollywood star.

AP: "Puerto Rico is now estimating that Hurricane Maria killed more than 1,400 people, far more than the official death toll of 64, in a report to Congress seeking billions to help the island recover from the devastating storm.... In a report to Congress detailing a $139 billion reconstruction plan, the territory's government said that the additional deaths resulted from the effects of a storm that led to a 'cascading failures' in infrastructure across the island of 3.3 million people." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

The Trumpies' Bad Day in Court

"Turn the Plane Around." -- Judge. Arelis R. Hernández of the Washington Post: "A federal judge in Washington halted a deportation in progress Thursday and threatened to hold Attorney General Jeff Sessions in contempt after learning that the Trump administration started to remove a woman and her daughter while a court hearing appealing their deportations was underway. 'This is pretty outrageous,' U.S. District Court Judge Emmet G. Sullivan said after being told about the removal. 'That someone seeking justice in U.S. court is spirited away while her attorneys are arguing for justice for her?... 'This is not acceptable.'... During a brief recess, [the lead ACLU lawyer] told her colleagues the pair had been taken from a family detention center in Dilley, Tex., to the airport in San Antonio for a morning flight. After being informed of the situation, Sullivan granted the ACLU's request to delay deportations for Carmen and the other plaintiffs until the lawsuit is decided, and ordered the government to 'turn the plane around.'" ...

     ... Suzanne Gamboa & Jonathan Soboroff of NBC News: "The plane was not able to turn around en route, but a Department of Homeland Security official told NBC News that the mother and daughter did not disembark in El Salvador Thursday evening and were being brought to the United States.... [Judge Emmet Sullivan] ordered the government to stop removing plaintiffs in the case from the country who are seeking protection from gang and domestic violence."

Michael Biesecker of the AP: "A federal appeals court ruled Thursday that the Trump administration endangered public health by keeping a widely used pesticide on the market despite extensive scientific evidence that even tiny levels of exposure can harm babies' brains. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco ordered the Environmental Protection Agency to remove chlorpyrifos from sale in the United States within 60 days. A coalition of farmworkers and environmental groups sued las year after then-EPA chief Scott Pruitt reversed an Obama-era effort to ban chlorpyrifos, which is widely sprayed on citrus fruit, apples and other crops. The attorneys general for several states joined the case against EPA, including California, New York and Massachusetts. In a split decision, the court said Thursday that Pruitt ... violated federal law by ignoring the conclusions of agency scientists that chlorpyrifos is harmful."

CIA AND Torture Director. Julian Barnes & Scott Shane of the New York Times: Newly-released cables contain evidence that now-CIA director Gina Haspel oversaw waterboarding torture at a prison in Thailand. "As the chief of the base, Ms. Haspel would have written or authorized the cables, according to Tom Blanton, the director of the National Security Archive ... at George Washington University." The cables " provide at times graphic detail on the techniques the agency used to brutally interrogate Qaeda captives." ...

... While we're on the subject of torture missives ...

... Eliana Johnson of Politico: "A 2001 email from Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh is likely to reignite a debate over his involvement in making the legal case for the Bush administration's treatment of terrorist suspects -- and whether he misled Congress about it. The email, part of a tranche of documents that the White House turned over to the Senate Judiciary Committee in the run-up to Kavanaugh's confirmation hearing, indicates that Kavanaugh, then a White House lawyer, helped to prepare then-Attorney General John Ashcroft to testify before Congress on the federal government's monitoring of communications between terrorists in federal custody and their attorneys. Democrats are likely to seize on the communication to argue that he misled them during his 2006 confirmation to the D.C. Circuit when, pressed about whether he had helped to make the legal case for torture, he denied any involvement in discussions about the treatment of enemy combatants." At his confirmation hearings, "Kavanaugh denied any contemporaneous knowledge that the Bush administration was secretly waterboarding terrorist suspects."

Sam Baker of Axios: "One Australian drug company -- with only one (failed) product in one (failed) clinical trial -- just keeps tripping up current and former House Republicans.... Federal prosecutors in New York indicted Rep. Chris Collins yesterday on charges of insider trading, stemming from the sale of shares in a company called Innate Immunotherapeutics. It's the same company you may remember from Tom Price's confirmation as Health and Human Services secretary. He tripled his investment when divesting of the stock to become secretary, according to the Wall Street Journal. Collins had been an investor in the company for 15 years, the WSJ reports, and was a member of its board. Price bought almost 500,000 shares in the company, most of them in 2016, at a discounted rate only offered to a few Americans. At least four other GOP lawmakers also bought shares of Innate a few months later, according to the watchdog group CREW. Of those six lawmakers, four -- Collins, Price, and Reps. Billy Long and Markwayne Mullin -- sat on committees with direct health care jurisdiction." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Gubernatorial Race. John Hanna of the AP: "Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach said Thursday that he will remove himself from the further counting of votes while his Republican primary battle with Gov. Jeff Colyer hangs in the balance.... The governor publicly accused Kobach, the state's top elections official, of giving county election officials information about the handling of yet-uncounted ballots 'inconsistent with Kansas law.' He demanded in a letter to Kobach that Kobach stop advising county officials and have the state's attorney general do it instead. The close contest between the embattled governor and a conservative lightning rod took another acrimonious turn as Kobach's already tiny lead shrunk from 191 votes to just 121 out of 311,000 ballots cast, after two counties reported discrepancies in their initial tallies. Kobach needled Colyer in a Fox Business network appearance Thursday evening, saying it would be 'pointless' to remove himself from the process ... but he might do so just to make Colyer 'feel good.' But a little more than an hour later, questioned on CNN, Kobach said: 'I said, "Of course, if he wants me to, I would," and he has said, "OK, I do want you to," so I will.'" ...

     ... Update: Hunter Woodall & Bryan Lowry of the Kansas City Star: "Gov. Jeff Colyer's campaign spokesman said Thursday that 100 votes for Colyer have been found in a western Kansas county, meaning Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach is now only 91 votes ahead in the GOP race for governor. Thomas County Clerk Shelly Harms confirmed in an email that Colyer received 522 votes on election day. The vote total reported for the county was initially 422."

Senate Race. So Far Things Not Going Well for White Supremacist Candidate. Richmond (Virginia) Times-Dispatch: "Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., led GOP rival Corey Stewart by 23 percentage points in a July poll of likely voters released Wednesday. Kaine had 49 percent to 26 percent for Stewart, chairman of the Prince William Board of County Supervisors, with 5 percent for Libertarian Matt Waters and 20 percent undecided, according to the survey...." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Presidential Election 2020. Everybody Figures He'd Be a Better President than Trump. Brianne Pfannenstiel of the Des Moines Register: "'I'm exploring a run for the presidency of the United States, and I wanted to come to Iowa and listen to people and learn about some issues that are facing the citizens of Iowa and do my homework,' [attorney Michael] Avenatti told the Des Moines Register in an interview Thursday. Avenatti, who rose to prominence as an outspoken critic of the president, toured the Iowa State Fair Thursday posing for selfies with fans. He is scheduled to speak at the Democratic Wing Ding fundraiser Friday night in Clear Lake." Mrs. McC: You & I should be practicing our stump speeches, too.

Adam Gopnik of the New Yorker: "... the premise of the [mass] killings [in Las Vegas last October] was one that no other civilized country would have tolerated for a moment. [The killer Stephen] Paddock bought fifty-five guns, mostly rifles, in the space of a year -- most of them the kind of lethal weapons properly called assault rifles or military-style weapons, several augmented with an accessory known as a bump stock, which allowed for even more rapid firing. There is no reason on earth why any citizen of a democracy would ever need even one of these weapons, let alone fifty-five. Not to mention that the simple act of buying that many weapons of murder might be a sign that murder was being planned -- an alert missed.... his intention appears to have been purely nihilistic.... his intention appears to have been purely nihilistic.... Given the new state of the Supreme Court, and the nature of the Trump White House, Second Amendment nihilism may be the reigning position in the American gun debate for all the future we can see." ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: Suggesting that the U.S. is a "civilized country," as Gopnik does, is a stretch IMO. We have large pockets of civilization & large pockets of uncivilized tribes of know-nothings, and -- as Gopnik observes -- nihilists & absurdists. Because we're a big, mobile, borderless country, civilized & uncivilized individuals are often neighbors. The NRA & like organizations, as well as their Congressional lackeys are good examples of how nihilism pays. Supporting the NRA's extremist policies is "rational" in the same way being a hitman is rational. Yes, the hitman kills people, but he does it for the money. ...

... Update. Coincidentally, Justice Sotomayor agrees with me, albeit in a different context. Ian Millhiser of ThinkProgress: "Justice Sonia Sotomayor concludes her dissent in Irick v. Tennessee with the kind of rhetorical flourish that is rarely seen in judicial opinions. 'If the law permits this execution to go forward in spite of the horrific final minutes that' the inmate at the heart of this case is likely to experience, 'then we have stopped being a civilized nation and accepted barbarism.' The justice reaches this conclusion after her Court effectively ruled on Thursday that Billy Ray Irick, a death row inmate, could be tortured to death. This result is not surprising -- the issue at stake in Irick largely tracks the issues presented in Glossip v. Gross, a 2015 decision upholding Oklahoma's use of a drug cocktail that almost certainly subjects death row inmates to excruciating pain as their paralyzed body slowly dies." ...

     ... Dave Boucher of the Tennessean: "Death row inmate Billy Ray Irick died at 7:48 p.m. CDT Thursday after Tennessee prison officials administered a lethal dose of toxic chemicals. He was 59. His execution, the first in Tennessee since 2009, comes after his 1986 conviction in Knox County for the rape and murder of 7-year-old Paula Dyer.

Annals of "Journalism," Ha Ha Ha

Brian Fung & Tony Romm of the Washington Post: "Tribune Media said Thursday that it would terminate its proposed merger with Sinclair Broadcast Group, while announcing a $1 billion lawsuit against the conservative television giant on grounds that it engaged in 'misconduct' and precluded the U.S. government from approving the deal. In the lawsuit, Tribune accused Sinclair of engaging in 'belligerent and unnecessarily protracted negotiations' with the FCC as well as the Justice Department, which had reviewed the merger for its effects on competition. By failing to divest television stations as regulators recommended, Tribune said Sinclair had 'breached' the companies' merger agreement, which required them to make their best efforts to secure federal approval.... The merger began to stumble last month after Federal communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai highlighted 'serious concerns' about the deal, which originally would have reached roughly 70 percent of U.S. households. The FCC raised questions about Sinclair's plan to sell some key stations in order to adhere to federal media ownership laws, and voted to send the matter to an administrative law judge, which is often interpreted as a signal a transaction may be blocked." (Also linked yesterday.)

Kelly Weill & Tim Burke of the Daily Beast: "Fox News anchor Laura Ingraham's Wednesday night monologue about immigrants destroying America was so racist it got the endorsement of David Duke, the former leader of the Ku Klux Klan. During the opening to her primetime show The Ingraham Angle, Ingraham complained that 'the America we know and love doesn't exist anymore. Massive demographic changes have been foisted upon the American people,' she said, in the form of documented and undocumented immigrants." ...

... Ed Kilgore: "This is a fresh example of a very old phenomenon: right-wing super-patriots who don't much seem to love, or even like, the America that actually exists. This is the same Laura Ingraham who just last month was deploring the doubts being expressed about America's goodness and righteousness by U.S. college students[.]..." Read on.

Beyond the Beltway

Gintautas Dumcius of MassLive: "Massachusetts residents will be automatically registered to vote when they make transactions at the state's Registry of Motor Vehicles or with MassHealth, under a new law signed by Gov. Charlie Baker. The transactions include a change of address, for example. Both the RMV and MassHealth, the Medicaid program funded by both the state and federal government, are able to verify whether people registering to vote are citizens, according to the office of Bill Galvin, the state's elections chief." ...

... Baker signed a boatload of liberal-ish bills yesterday. Mrs. McC: Did I mention Baker is running for re-election this year?

News Lede

BBC News: "The last member of an immigrant group who fought the Nazis for the French Resistance has died aged 101. Arsène Tchakarian escaped a Nazi crackdown in which 22 of the group's fighters were shot by the German occupation forces in Paris in 1944. He was awarded France's highest honour. President Emmanuel Macron tweeted that Tchakarian, an ethnic Armenian, was 'a hero of the Resistance and tireless witness whose voice resonated strongly to the very end'. Tchakarian only became a French citizen in 1958. He was granted several medals for gallantry, including the prestigious Legion of Honour in 2012.... Tchakarian carried out attacks alongside Jews and other immigrant guerrillas against the Nazis."

The Commentariat -- August 9, 2018

I'm having serious technical difficulties. I'm asking safari & Akhilleus not to do any updates till I get this problem fixed. So far, none of the techies knows how to fix it. Thanks for your patience. If anyone has been logging in to comment, please don't do so. I'm working with a real mess here, & it could blow up at any minute. So far, there doesn't seem to be any problem making comments from the public/logged-out platform. If you're experiencing any unusual troubles with accessing the site or commenting, please e-mail me at constantweader@gmail.com & let me know what's going on. Thanks.

If the site totally dies, which is a looming possibility, I'll put up something on my Twitter account as to what might happen next. -- Mrs. Bea McCrabbie

Afternoon Update:

AP: "Puerto Rico is now estimating that Hurricane Maria killed more than 1,400 people, far more than the official death toll of 64, in a report to Congress seeking billions to help the island recover from the devastating storm.... In [the report], the territory's government said that the additional deaths resulted from the effects of a storm that led to a 'cascading failures' in infrastructure across the island of 3.3 million people."

Hee Haw! Goat Fleeces the Sheeples. Pat Ralph of Business Insider: "... Donald Trump is able to pay tens of thousands of dollars less in property taxes on his New Jersey golf courses because of a goat herd, according to The Wall Street Journal. Citing public records, The Journal reported in 2016 that Trump had been able to save thousands of dollars in property taxes on his two properties in Bedminster -- where he is this week for a 'working vacation' -- and Colts Neck. Because the properties have a goat herd, as well as hay farming and woodcutting, New Jersey law permits them to receive a farmland tax break.... The Journal estimated that Trump paid less than $1,000 a year in property taxes on land that would typically require roughly $80,000." Thanks to Akhilleus for the link.

Nancy Cook of Politico: "Hope Hicks had no intention of traveling on Air Force One when she arrived at ... Donald Trump's Bedminster, New Jersey, golf club to hang out with White House friends including Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump. But ... once Hicks was back on the president's turf, she got sucked in, with a handful of staffers successfully prodding her to join them on Saturday's trip to Ohio for a campaign-style rally. Hicks' surprise appearance at the airport prompted one former campaign official to joke that she was returning for 'Season Two' of the Trump reality show." Mrs. McC: AND this has nuh-THING to do with the fact that Trump was simultaneously confess-tweeting about the "real reason" for that Trump Tower meeting -- you know, the one where Hicks helped him write out that phony "adoption reason" for the meeting conspiracy-planning session. Just another a-mazing coincidence.

Sam Baker of Axios: "One Australian drug company -- with only one (failed) product in one (failed) clinical trial -- just keeps tripping up current and former House Republicans.... Federal prosecutors in New York indicted Rep. Chris Collins yesterday on charges of insider trading, stemming from the sale of shares in a company called Innate Immunotherapeutics. It's the same company you may remember from Tom Price's confirmation as Health and Human Services secretary. He tripled his investment when divesting of the stock to become secretary, according to the Wall Street Journal. Collins had been an investor in the company for 15 years, the WSJ reports, and was a member of its board. Price bought almost 500,000 shares in the company, most of them in 2016, at a discounted rate only offered to a few Americans. At least four other GOP lawmakers also bought shares of Innate a few months later, according to the watchdog group CREW. Of those six lawmakers, four -- Collins, Price, and Reps. Billy Long and Markwayne Mullin -- sat on committees with direct health care jurisdiction."

So Far Things Not Going Well for White Supremacist Candidate. Senate Race. Richmond (Virginia) Times-Dispatch: "Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., led GOP rival Corey Stewart by 23 percentage points in a July poll of likely voters released Wednesday. Kaine had 49 percent to 26 percent for Stewart, chairman of the Prince William Board of County Supervisors, with 5 percent for Libertarian Matt Waters and 20 percent undecided, according to the survey...."

Annals of "Journalism," Ha Ha Ha. Brian Fung & Tony Romm of the Washington Post: "Tribune Media said Thursday that it would terminate its proposed merger with Sinclair Broadcast Group, while announcing a $1 billion lawsuit against the conservative television giant on grounds that it engaged in 'misconduct' and precluded the U.S. government from approving the deal. In the lawsuit, Tribune accused Sinclair of engaging in 'belligerent and unnecessarily protracted negotiations' with the FCC as well as the Justice Department, which had reviewed the merger for its effects on competition. By failing to divest television stations as regulators recommended, Tribune said Sinclair had 'breached' the companies' merger agreement, which required them to make their best efforts to secure federal approval.... The merger began to stumble last month after Federal communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai highlighted 'serious concerns' about the deal.... The FCC raised questions about Sinclair's plan to sell some key stations in order to adhere to federal media ownership laws, and voted to send the matter to an administrative law judge, which is often interpreted as a signal a transaction may be blocked."

*****

Happy 44th Anniversary of Richard Nixon's Last Day in Office.

Frank Rich: "[Trump] doesn't mind making himself vulnerable to punishment under the law because he doesn't believe the law is legitimate or as powerful as he is. To him, jurisprudence is just another adversary to be bullied and mowed down like Little Marco or Crooked Hillary. That's why the possibility of implicating himself in an obstruction case doesn't really concern him. His plan is to destroy the rule of law before any case gets far enough to put him in legal jeopardy. His goal is not to prove his innocence in a court of law but to discredit the Justice Department, the FBI, the intelligence agencies, and, of course, the special counsel before he ever gets to court. On a parallel track he's out to destroy the news media that report on his flagrant lawlessness.... After Nixon's demise -- brought about by his own vehicle for self-incrimination, the White House tapes -- the consensus had it that the system worked. This time the system is being burned down before our eyes by its own chief executive."

Jonathan Chait: "The entire Trump era has been a festering pit of barely disguised ongoing corruption. But the whole sordid era has not had a 24-hour period quite like the orgy of criminality which we have just experienced. The events of the last day alone include: (1) The trial of Paul Manafort, which has featured the accusation that President Trump's campaign manager had embezzled funds, failed to report income, and falsified documents.... (2) Yesterday, Forbes reported that Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross may have stolen $120 million from his partners and customers.... (3) Also yesterday, ProPublica reported that the Department of Veterans Affairs is being effectively run by three Trump cronies, none of whom have any official government title or public accountability. The three, reports the story, have 'used their influence in ways that could benefit their private interests.' (4) And then, this morning, Representative Chris Collins was arrested for insider trading."

Big Surprise. Michael Schmidt & Maggie Haberman of the New York Times: "President Trump's lawyers rejected the special counsel's latest terms for an interview in the Russia investigation, countering on Wednesday with an offer that suggested a narrow path for answering questions, people familiar with the matter said.... The letter marked the latest back and forth in the eight months of negotiations between Mr. Trump's lawyers and ... Robert S. Mueller III. Last week, Mr. Mueller proposed a slightly altered format to the expansive interview he wants to conduct with the president. Mr. Trump's lawyers did not reject an interview outright.... However, [a] person said that Mr. Trump's lawyers did not want him answering questions about whether he obstructed justice." (Also linked yesterday.);

Ken Vogel & Noah Weiland of the New York Times: "Lawyers for Paul Manafort attacked the government's star witness as a thief, serial adulterer and possible forger as part of an aggressive effort to undercut prosecutors on Wednesday at his trial. The defense lawyers also proposed novel situations under which their client's tax avoidance may have been less extreme than prosecutors asserted. Mr. Manafort ... failed to disclose and pay taxes on nearly $16.5 million in income, according to an I.R.S. revenue agent. But his lawyers suggested that the actual amount of unreported income could have been smaller, partly because his companies might have been able to claim an 'embezzlement deduction' on the money that his longtime deputy, Rick Gates, has acknowledged stealing through falsified expense reports."

... Washington Post reporters livebloggied the Manafort trial Wednesday. (Also linked yesterday.) ...

... Josh Gerstein & Darren Samuelsohn of Politico: "... Donald Trump says that the criminal trial of his former campaign aide, Paul Manafort, has nothing to do with him. But jurors in a Virginia courtroom heard his name repeatedly on Tuesday. Trump's name, his 2016 campaign and his inauguration came up several times during the trial's sixth day, the most by far in the bank- and tax-fraud case brought by special counsel Robert Mueller. While the case does not directly involve the president, on Tuesday Trump became an unmistakable presence in the background. Documents and testimony spelled out Manafort's myriad ties to Trump and his 2016 White House run. They showed that Manafort sought to ease his financial pressures by trading on his influence in Trump's orbit. His longtime deputy, Rick Gates, said it was 'possible' he had stolen money from Trump's inauguration committee. And Gates described the roles that he and Manafort had played in Trump's winning campaign. The court even learned that Manafort's ties to Trump extend well beyond the 2016 campaign. A 2013 document entered into evidence showed that Manafort planned to share his New York Yankee season tickets with [Trump]...." (Also linked yesterday.)...

... Juan Cole: "Paul Manafort, Donald Trump's campaign manager, is being tried for money laundering, keeping some 15 illegal foreign accounts, and cheating the government out of the taxes he rightfully owed, among a host of other crimes.... His lobbying firm in the 1990s and after represented the most sordid gallery of torturers and villains ever assembled in one client list. There was no strong man so idious that Manafort would not take his money and make phone calls to his old buddies on his behalf.... Manafort is not a criminal in the sense of a deviant. He is all too normal in the US political system. He is how the system works. White collar criminals like Manafort and Trump are no longer even investigated or prosecuted. Manafort had been getting away with it for decades because he was so well connected.... But make no mistake about it. The indictment of Manafort is an indictment of America, a death knoll for US democracy. Manafort is who we have become." --safari (Also linked yesterday.)

Emily Cochrane and Sharon LaFraniere of the New York Times profile Judge T.S. Ellis's courtroom manner. ...

... Darren Samuelsohn & Josh Gerstein also highlight Ellis's courtroom behavior. Here's an exemplary excerpt: "On Wednesday, Ellis was at it again, dressing down prosecutors after learning that an IRS agent they called to the stand as an expert witness had been in the courtroom for the entire trial.... Mueller's prosecutors protested that the judge had granted them an exception, but the judge ... [said,] 'I don't care what the transcript says, maybe I made a mistake.... When I exclude witnesses I mean everybody, unless I make a special exception.'" Mrs. McC: Huh??? Do as I think I said & not as I say? That's bordering on batshit.

She's Got Tapes! Lachlan Markay, et al., of the Daily Beast: "Multiple sources with direct knowledge of the situation tell The Daily Beast that Omarosa Manigault-Newman, the infamous former Apprentice star who followed Trump to the White House, secretly recorded conversations with the president -- conversations she has since leveraged while shopping her forthcoming 'tell-all' book, bluntly titled UNHINGED. For months, it has been rumored that Manigault had clandestinely recorded on her smartphone 'tapes' of unspecified private discussions she had in the West Wing. Audio actually does exist, and even stars Manigault's former boss. One person confirmed to The Daily Beast they had heard at least one of her recordings featuring President Trump. Multiple sources familiar with the so-called 'Omarosa tapes' described the recorded conversations between Trump and Manigault as anodyne, everyday chatter, but said they did appear to feature Trump's voice, either over the phone or in-person. The mere existence of such recordings represent a dramatic betrayal of trust by a one-time Trump confidant who has since abandoned years of professed loyalty to the president and has apparently decided to profit off her years of closeness to Trump." ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: Oh, shame on Omarosa. Nobody else would profit off his year's of closeness to Trump. Nor would Trump use his day job for personal gain in any way.

 

Trade deficit -- $52 billion reduction in the trade deficit for the quarter.... I think nobody would have thought that would be possible so quickly. $52 billion reduction in the trade deficit for the quarter. -- Donald Trump, July 30, in one of the (at least) five times he has made the claim in recent days

We doubt the president himself is digging into the details of the GDP report, so either he is being misled by his staff or misunderstood something in a briefing. He may be very disappointed when the third-quarter numbers are released, given that the year is already on track to have the largest trade deficit in a decade. We generally are reluctant to give Four Pinocchios for a factoid based on government data. But the president is presenting this in such a misleading manner that we have little choice. In every instance, the president says the trade deficit fell by $52 billion from the first to the second quarter, calling it one of the 'biggest wins' in the GDP report. He may be convinced of it, but that's simply not true. -- Glenn Kessler of the Washington Post

My guess: Trump just made up the number. It's a very authentic-sounding number, doncha think? Anyway, it sure makes his unnecessary & counterproductive trade war look very smart. -- Mrs. Bea McCrabbie

Juan Cole: "Europe, Russia, China defy Trump on Iran Sanctions" --safari (Also linked yesterday.)

Jim Tankersley of the New York Times: "A new 20 percent tax break included in last year's $1.5 trillion tax overhaul could wind up benefiting President Trump's real estate empire given how the Treasury Department plans to implement the provision, several tax experts said. On Wednesday, the Treasury Department issued a sprawling regulation outlining the types of companies and professionals eligible to qualify as 'pass-through' entities and get the 20 percent tax deduction. The widely anticipated rule has huge implications for law firms, real estate trusts, family farms and other companies that are structured so their profits are taxed as individual income for their owners."

** Shadow Government. Isaac Arsndorf of ProPublica: "Bruce Moskowitz ... is one-third of an informal council that is exerting sweeping influence on the VA from Mar-a-Lago, President Donald Trump's private club in Palm Beach, Florida. The troika is led by Ike Perlmutter, the reclusive chairman of Marvel Entertainment, who is a longtime acquaintance of President Trump's. The third member is a lawyer named Marc Sherman. None of them has ever served in the U.S. military or government.... But hundreds of documents obtained through the Freedom of Information Act and interviews with former administration officials tell a ... story ... of a previously unknown triumvirate that hovered over public servants without any transparency, accountability or oversight. The [informal troika] spoke with VA officials daily ... reviewing all manner of policy and personnel decisions. They prodded the VA to start new programs, and officials travelled to Mar-a-Lago at taxpayer expense to hear their views. 'Everyone has to go down and kiss the ring,' a former administration official said.... The arrangement is without parallel in modern presidential history." --safari (Also linked yesterday.)

** Caught on Tape. Phil Helsel of NBC News: "Hard-line conservative Republicans in the House recently hit a roadblock in their effort to impeach Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein when Speaker Paul Ryan opposed the move. But one of those conservatives, Rep. Devin Nunes, R-Calif., gave a different explanation to donors recently when asked why the impeachment effort had stalled. He said it's because an impeachment would delay the Senate's confirmation of Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court. Nunes, chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, made the statement in an audio recording surreptitiously made by a member of a progressive group who attended a Republican fundraiser on July 30 in Spokane, Washington. The recording was obtained by The Rachel Maddow Show and was played on MSNBC on Wednesday night.... Nunes also appeared to say that if a campaign received and released stolen emails from a foreign government -- he used a hypothetical example of [Rep. Cathy] McMorris Rodgers[, for whom the fundraiser was held,] getting secret information from Portugal, where his ancestors are from -- there would be a criminal element to that." ...

     ... Jeet Heer: "These comments go against the thrust of a frequent claim [link fixed] made by Donald Trump, that 'collusion is not a crime.' As Nunes concedes, collusion could rise to the level of being a conspiracy with a foreign power, which is criminal."

Rebecca Shabad & Frank Thorp of NBC News: "Sen. Rand Paul said Wednesday that he was 'honored' to deliver a letter from ... Donald Trump to the administration of Russian President Vladimir Putin during his trip to Moscow this week.... [Okay, that wasn't exactly true.] In a follow-up statement, Paul's office said that the senator delivered the letter to representatives of Putin since the Russian leader himself was not in Moscow during Paul's visit." Also linked yesterday.)

Ohio Congressional Race. Jessie Balmert of the Cincinnati Enquirer: "The tight race [in Ohio's 12th District Congressional special election] between Democrat Danny O'Connor and Republican Troy Balderson just got tighter. Election officials in Franklin County found 588 previously uncounted votes in a Columbus suburb. The result: O'Connor had a net gain of 190 votes, bringing the race's margin down to 1,564."

Kansas Gubernatorial Race

Mrs. McCrabbie: I was wondering about this possibility, so I looked it up:

Brian Lowry, et al., of the Kansas City Star: "No law requires Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach to recuse himself from a recount in the governor's race, but legal and political experts say that he should to maintain trust in the election. Republican legislative leaders said Wednesday morning that a recount is almost certain and could possibly take weeks.... Kobach, the state's top election official, narrowly led Gov. Jeff Colyer in the Republican primary by a mere 191 votes Wednesday morning after each of the state's 105 counties had posted election returns after technical difficulties in Johnson County delayed results on election night." Mrs. McC: Now we can look forward to some serious voter fraud. (Also linked yesterday.) ...

     ... ** Update. Khorri Atkinson of Axios: "Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach, who holds a razor-thin lead over incumbent Jeff Colyer in Kansas' Republican gubernatorial primary dubbed too close to call, said Wednesday that he will not recuse himself from a recount process.... Kobach's position as the state's top election official and a staunch ally of President Trump conflicts with concerns that have been raised about the integrity of his involvement in past U.S. elections.... As of Wednesday, Kobach was leading by less than 200 votes as remaining ballots continue to be counted." ...

... AND, to a point Akhilleus made in yesterday's Comments.... Kira Lerner of Think Progress: "'If you have a close race, yeah absolutely, voter fraud could swing the margin,' [Kris Kobach] told ThinkProgress at his election night party, as the votes were being counted. He offered as explanation the testimony of a highly discredited expert who claimed in a federal trial -- where a federal judge invalidated Kobach's signature voting law -- that there are thousands of illegal voters in Kansas. 'The numbers in Kansas of non-citizens -- we had an expert in the trial try to estimate it and it's in the thousands, we just don't know how many thousands,' he said." (Also linked yesterday.)

** Renae Merle & Mike DeBonis of the Washington Post: "Federal prosecutors charged Rep. Chris Collins ([R]-N.Y.), one of President Trump's earliest congressional supporters, with insider trading on Wednesday. Collin's son, his son Cameron Collins, and Stephen Zarsky, the father of Cameron Collins's fiancee were also charged. The indictment is related to Innate Immunotherapeutics, an Australian biotech company, on whose board the congressman served. Collins illegally shared nonpublic information about the company with Cameron Collins, who traded on the information, according to federal prosecutors. Cameron Collins then passed that information along to Zarsky. The trades allowed Collins, his son, and Zarsky to avoid $768,000 in losses, according to the indictment." Mrs. McC: Trumpsky doesn't just hire all the best people; he has all the best friends, too. (Also linked yesterday.)...

... Here's Jerry Zremski's story in the Buffalo News: "Rep. Chris Collins once told supporters to disregardnews reports about apparent conflicts of interest involving one of his stock investments. But on Wednesday morning..., Collins, his son, Cameron, and his son's future father-in-law surrendered to federal authorities in Manhattan, where prosecutors indicted all three on a host of federal charges tied to alleged insider stock trading." ...

     ... The New York Times story, by Alan Feuer & Shane Goldmacher, is here. (Also linked yesterday.)

The Commentariat -- August 8, 2018

Late Morning/Afternoon Update:

Big Surprise. Michael Schmidt & Maggie Haberman of the New York Times: "President Trump's lawyers rejected the special counsel's latest terms for an interview in the Russia investigation, countering on Wednesday with an offer that suggested a narrow path for answering questions, people familiar with the matter said.... The letter marked the latest back and forth in the eight months of negotiations between Mr. Trump's lawyers and the special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III. Last week, Mr. Mueller proposed a slightly altered format to the expansive interview he want to conduct with the president. Mr. Trump's lawyers did not reject an interview outright.... However, [a] person said that Mr. Trump's lawyers did not want him answering questions about whether he obstructed justice."

Washington Post reporters are liveblogging the Manafort trial. ...

... Josh Gerstein & Darren Samuelsohn of Politico: "... Donald Trump says that the criminal trial of his former campaign aide, Paul Manafort, has nothing to do with him. But jurors in a Virginia courtroom heard his name repeatedly on Tuesday. Trump's name, his 2016 campaign and his inauguration came up several times during the trial's sixth day, the most by far in the bank- and tax-fraud case brought by special counsel Robert Mueller. While the case does not directly involve the president, on Tuesday Trump became an unmistakable presence in the background. Documents and testimony spelled out Manafort's myriad ties to Trump and his 2016 White House run. They showed that Manafort sought to ease his financial pressures by trading on his influence in Trump's orbit. His longtime deputy, Rick Gates, said it was 'possible' he had stolen money from Trump's inauguration committee. And Gates described the roles that he and Manafort had played in Trump's winning campaign. The court even learned that Manafort's ties to Trump extend well beyond the 2016 campaign. A 2013 document entered into evidence showed that Manafort planned to share his New York Yankee season tickets with [Trump]...." ...

... Juan Cole: "Paul Manafort, Donald Trump's campaign manager, is being tried for money laundering, keeping some 15 illegal foreign accounts, and cheating the government out of the taxes he rightfully owed, among a host of other crimes.... His lobbying firm in the 1990s and after represented the most sordid gallery of torturers and villains ever assembled in one client list. There was no strong man so odious that Manafort would not take his money and make phone calls to his old buddies on his behalf.... Manafort is not a criminal in the sense of a deviant. He is all too normal in the US political system. He is how the system works. White collar criminals like Manafort and Trump are no longer even investigated or prosecuted. Manafort had been getting away with it for decades because he was so well connected.... But make no mistake about it. The indictment of Manafort is an indictment of America, a death knoll for US democracy. Manafort is who we have become." --safari

Rebecca Shabad & Frank Thorp of NBC News: "Sen. Rand Paul said Wednesday that he was 'honored' to deliver a letter from ... Donald Trump to the administration of Russian President Vladimir Putin during his trip to Moscow this week.... [Okay, that wasn't exactly true.] In a follow-up statement, Paul's office said that the senator delivered the letter to representatives of Putin since the Russian leader himself was not in Moscow during Paul's visit."

Mrs. McCrabbie: I was wondering about this possibility, so I looked it up:

Brian Lowry, et al., of the Kansas City Star: "No law requires Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach to recuse himself from a recount in the governor's race, but legal and political experts say that he should to maintain trust in the election. Republican legislative leaders said Wednesday morning that a recount is almost certain and could possibly take weeks.... Kobach, the state's top election official, narrowly led Gov. Jeff Colyer in the Republican primary by a mere 191 votes Wednesday morning after each of the state's 105 counties had posted election returns after technical difficulties in Johnson County delayed results on election night." Mrs. McC: Now we can look forward to some serious voter fraud. ...

... AND, to a point Akhilleus made in today's Comments.... Kira Lerner of Think Progress: "'If you have a close race, yeah absolutely, voter fraud could swing the margin,' [Kris Kobach] told ThinkProgress at his election night party, as the votes were being counted. He offered as explanation the testimony of a highly discredited expert who claimed in a federal trial -- where a federal judge invalidated Kobach's signature voting law -- that there are thousands of illegal voters in Kansas. 'The numbers in Kansas of non-citizens -- we had an expert in the trial try to estimate it and it's in the thousands, we just don't know how many thousands,' he said."

** Shadow Government. Isaac Arsndorf of ProPublica: "Bruce Moskowitz ... is one-third of an informal council that is exerting sweeping influence on the VA from Mar-a-Lago, President Donald Trump's private club in Palm Beach, Florida. The troika is led by Ike Perlmutter, the reclusive chairman of Marvel Entertainment, who is a longtime acquaintance of President Trump's. The third member is a lawyer named Marc Sherman. None of them has ever served in the U.S. military or government.... But hundreds of documents obtained through the Freedom of Information Act and interviews with former administration officials tell a ... story ... of a previously unknown triumvirate that hovered over public servants without any transparency, accountability or oversight. The [informal troika] spoke with VA officials daily ... reviewing all manner of policy and personnel decisions. They prodded the VA to start new programs, and officials travelled to Mar-a-Lago at taxpayer expense to hear their views. 'Everyone has to go down and kiss the ring,' a former administration official said.... The arrangement is without parallel in modern presidential history." --safari

Juan Cole: "Europe, Russia, China defy Trump on Iran Sanctions" --safari

Amanda Erickson of the Washington Post: "China will impose tariffs on an additional $16 billion worth of U.S. products, officials announced Wednesday, marking the latest parry in an escalating trade war between the two countries. The 25 percent tariffs will go into effect Aug. 23, targeting cars, crude oil, natural gas and coal.... China's announcement is a direct response to new duties on Chinese goods imported into the United States, announced Tuesday in Washington. Those new tariffs, totaling $16 billion, will be levied against 279 products, including motorcycles, steam turbines and railway cars." ...

Trade deficit -- $52 billion reduction in the trade deficit for the quarter.... I think nobody would have thought that would be possible so quickly. $52 billion reduction in the trade deficit for the quarter. -- Donald Trump, July 30, in one of the (at least) five times he has made the claim in recent days

We doubt the president himself is digging into the details of the GDP report, so either he is being misled by his staff or misunderstood something in a briefing. He may be very disappointed when the third-quarter numbers are released, given that the year is already on track to have the largest trade deficit in a decade. We generally are reluctant to give Four Pinocchios for a factoid based on government data. But the president is presenting this in such a misleading manner that we have little choice. In every instance, the president says the trade deficit fell by $52 billion from the first to the second quarter, calling it one of the 'biggest wins' in the GDP report. He may be convinced of it, but that's simply not true. -- Glenn Kessler of the Washington Post

My guess: Trump just made up the number. It's a very authentic-sounding number, doncha think? Anyway, it sure makes his unnecessary & counterproductive trade war look very smart. -- Mrs. Bea McCrabbie

Renae Merle & Mike DeBonis of the Washington Post: "Federal prosecutors charged Rep. Chris Collins ([R]-N.Y.), one of President Trump's earliest congressional supporters, with insider trading on Wednesday. Collin's son, his son Cameron Collins, and Stephen Zarsky, the father of Cameron Collins's fiancee were also charged. The indictment is related to Innate Immunotherapeutics, an Australian biotech company, on whose board the congressman served. Collins illegally shared nonpublic information about the company with Cameron Collins, who traded on the information, according to federal prosecutors. Cameron Collins then passed that information along to Zarsky. The trades allowed Collins, his son, and Zarsky to avoid $768,000 in losses, according to the indictment." Mrs. McC: Trump doesn't just hire all the best people; he has all the best friends, too. ...

     ... The New York Times story, by Alan Feuer & Shane Goldmacher, is here.

Colbert explains yesterday's developments in the Manafort trial:

*****

Ohio Congressional & Primary Election Results:

The New York Times story, by Jonathan Martin & Alexander Burns, on yesterday's election results is here. ...

... Alexander Burns & Jonathan Martin with some take-aways: "The most significant harbinger from the Ohio race may not be the narrow margin, but the turnout gap between the most and least heavily populated parts of a district that absorbs the close-in suburbs of Columbus and rural stretches of central Ohio. In both Franklin County, which includes Columbus, and Delaware County, the fast-growing suburb just north of Ohio's capital, 42 percent of voters turned out. But in the five more lightly populated counties that round out the district, turnout ranged from 27 to 32 percent. This is an ominous sign for Republicans: The highest-income and best-educated elements of the electorate -- those deeply uneasy with President Trump -- are showing the most interest in voting.... The night was, on the whole, a display of strength by more conventional Democrats and a reminder that Democratic primary voters across the country are not necessarily motivated chiefly by liberal ideology." It was a good night for women & labor. ...

... Margaret Hartmann: "President Trump likes to act as if his endorsements are as good as gold, but two key races featuring candidates he backed ended with a question mark on Tuesday night. While Ohio congressional candidate Troy Balderson and Kansas GOP gubernatorial candidate Kris Kobach currently have narrow leads in their respective races, both were too close to call (though that didn't prevent Balderson from calling it, or Trump from claiming credit)."

... Ed Kilgore: "In conservative Missouri, a right-to-work law enacted last year by a Republican-controlled legislature and former Republican Governor Eric Greitens was overturned by voters who rejected the anti-labor measure by a comfortable margin. In early returns, rural counties were joining urban labor strongholds in opposing right-to-work.... When unions and their allies succeeded in putting the law on hold pending the ballot measure, the legislature countered by moving the vote from the relatively-high-turnout general election to the primary, hoping to kill it with voter indifference. But it didn't work.... The Missouri outcome is a much-needed tonic for the troops of the labor movement, and a good rehearsal for its political efforts in November." ...

Ohio Congressional Race (Special Election): New York Times results are here. At 8:20 pm ET Tuesday, Democrat "Danny O'Connor leads by 24 percentage points over Troy Balderson (R) with 2 percent of precincts fully reporting." MSNBC says all the early vote totals are in. The Republican is sure to close the gap in this Congressional District Republicans have held for decades. With 59% of precincts reporting, O'Connor is ahead by only 1.9%. With 75% reporting, O'Connor's lead is down to about 600 votes. With 85% in, both candidates have 49.7% of the vote. "Troy Balderson leads by 0.9 percentage points, or 1,754 votes, over Danny O'Connor with 100 percent of precincts fully reporting." The race is not being called, however, as there are still more than 3,000 uncounted provisional (lean Democratic) & absentee (lean Republican) ballots. If these ballots, when counted, should reduce Balderdash's lead to 0.5 % or less, the state would automatically do a recount. Both men are on the November ballot. Update: According to the AP, the Ohio secretary of state says there are more than 8,400 uncounted provisional & absentee ballots remaining.

Michigan: New York Times results are here. "Four Republicans and three Democrats are running for governor...."Gretchen Whitmer has been declared the winner of the Democratic primary for governor, & Bill Schulte has won the Republican primary.

Missouri: New York Times results are here. Sen. Claire McCaskell (D) easily won the primary; her challenger in November will be Josh Hawley.

Kansas: New York Times results are here. "The biggest race in Kansas is for governor, a job held by Jeff Colyer since Sam Brownback resigned to accept an ambassadorship. Mr. Colyer is running against Secretary of State Kris W Kobach, the face of President Trump's voter fraud panel, in the Republican primary. In a dynamic that has become very familiar this year, they are fighting to be seen as the most loyal and effective ally of the president." Ron Estes won the GOP primary for the 4th Congressional District. Also, Ron Estes lost the GOP primary for the 4th Congressional District. Because both candidates are named Ron Estes. Laura Kelly has won the Democratic nomination for governor, but the Republican nomination is still too close to call with 73% reporting.

Washington State: The New York Times is reporting results here. Sen. Maria Cantwell (D) received 55.5% of the vote with 52% of precincts reporting. Her challenger will be Susan Hutchison (D) in this top-two state primary.

*****

Sharon LaFraniere of the New York Times: "The trial of Paul Manafort on bank and tax fraud charges descended on Tuesday into a series of brutal assaults on the character of two of President Trump's top campaign aides, as prosecutors cast Mr. Manafort as the architect of a sprawling multiyear swindle and defense lawyers portrayed Rick Gates, the prosecution's star witness, as a serial thief, adulterer and liar. The testimony managed to further blacken the reputations of both Mr. Manafort, Mr. Trump's campaign chairman for three months in mid-2016, and Mr. Gates, who was deputy campaign chairman and later executive director of Mr. Trump's inaugural committee." ...

... The New York Times liveblogged the Manafort trial. "On Tuesday, prosecutors began leading [Manafort's right-hand-man Rick Gates] through a clinical examination of his and Mr. Manafort's business dealings, including how he doctored invoices. Mr. Gates admitted on Monday that they committed crimes together." ...

... The Washington Post's liveblog, which provided more detail on the testimony, is here. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... Rachel Weiner of the Washington Post: "The courtroom showdown between Paul Manafort and his former right-hand man, Rick Gates, grew painfully personal Tuesday as a defense lawyer forced Gates, the prosecution's star witness, to admit he had a transatlantic extramarital affair and embezzled money to live beyond his means. During his second day on the witness stand, Gates detailed the lies, phony documents and fake profits he claims to have engineered at Manafort's direction. Manafort, seated at the defense table, at times stared intently at his former protege and business partner, who has assiduously avoided Manafort's gaze despite their proximity inside the federal courthouse in Alexandria, Va." ...

... Josh Gerstein of Politico: "For days, U.S. District Court Judge T.S. Ellis has been cracking the whip at prosecutors in the Paul Manafort fraud trial, prodding them again and again to keep the case moving forward and to drop matters he considers irrelevant. Prosecutors' frustration with those exhortations spilled out publicly Monday in a series of prickly clashes in which Ellis snapped at one of special counsel Robert Mueller's prosecutors, Greg Andres, and Andres sometimes lashed back at the judge -- something lawyers rarely do.... The clashes with the judge were unusual and could be risky, since some of them took place with the jury in the room." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Michael Bender & Sadie Gurman of the Wall Street Journal: "... in recent months, [the] relationship [between Deputy AG Rod Rosenstein & President Trump] has improved. The two men talk once or twice a week, and Mr. Trump calls Mr. Rosenstein on his cellphone to discuss such issues as immigration, according to one person familiar with the matter. Mr. Rosenstein consistently prepares the president's team ahead of major news, officials said. And he visits the White House as often as three times a week, meeting with the president or White House chief of staff John Kelly. He also has a regular lunch with White House general counsel Don McGahn. 'It's fantastic,' Mr. Trump said about his rapport with Mr. Rosenstein when a spokesman told him The Wall Street Journal was seeking a comment. 'We have great relationship. Make sure you tell them that.'" Mrs. McC: Don't know why I was able to read this firewalled WSJ story, but the link above worked twice. Don't count on its lasting.

Rick Wilson in Rolling Stone: "As these past several days prove, Trump's impenetrable belief that he's a genius surrounded by morons will be his undoing. He's tweeting himself -- to say nothing of his family and co-conspirators -- into a legal dead end. A meeting with Mueller is the big leagues, where the stakes are existential, the opposing team is merciless and the downside risks are the size of the White House. This impulsive, stubborn man can't resist trying to pull off this stunt. What could possibly go wrong?" (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Alan Feuer of the New York Times: "Prosecutors have not said what information they think [Kristin] Davis [-- the 'Manhattan Madam' --] can provide about ties between Russia and Mr. Trump's presidential bid, but one obvious nexus between Ms. Davis and the president is [Roger] Stone, who served them both as a political strategist over the years.... Ms. Davis may be able to help investigators sort through Mr. Stone's confusing and complicated ties to ... WikiLeaks and Guccifer 2.0 -- that are at the center of the hacking of Democratic emails and political documents, and their subsequent leak to the public.... Mr. Stone employed her, on and off, for years, as an assistant in his office. Ms. Davis also has ties to one of Mr. Stone's close aides, Andrew Miller.... Is it possible that the former madam of a high-end escort service ... might have information touching on the country's national security? Only time will tell." Mrs. McC: Because Bob Mueller -- so far -- won't.

Allegra Kirkland of TPM: "Federal prosecutors in New York are homing in on possible tax fraud as part of their criminal investigation into the financial dealings of former Trump fixer Michael Cohen, the Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday. A person familiar with the probe told the Journal that the possible fraud violations center on whether Cohen underreported the income he earned from his taxi medallion business on federal tax returns. Those funds amounted to hundreds of thousands of dollars Cohen received in cash. Prosecutors from the Manhattan U.S. attorney's office are also investigating whether employees at New York's Sterling National Bank allowed Cohen to take out loans for that business without providing appropriate documentation, according to the report. Cohen is under investigation for a host of financial crimes, including campaign finance violations and bank fraud. The former Trump Organization executive has signaled his willingness to cooperate with prosecutors and turn over information damaging to the president."

Louis Sahagun of the Los Angeles Times: "The federal government is moving to allow commercial logging of healthy green pine trees for the first time in decades in the Los Padres National Forest north of Los Angeles, a tactic the U.S. Forest Services says will reduce fire risk. It's an idea President Trump appeared to endorse in tweets inaccurately linking wildfire to state water management.... Environmental groups have long argued that the logging industry has used fire as an excuse to plunder forests, cutting big trees and leaving behind only small, unmarketable timber.... The Forest Service plans to remove most of the sagebrush and cut down thousands of Jeffrey pine, Ponderosa pine and white fir trees across 2,800 acres it says are overgrown, unhealthy and vulnerable to drought and disease. Officials said the plans include creation of a firebreak 12 miles long and up to half a mile wide along Tecuya Ridge, and removal of brush and trees, including marketable green pines in Cuddy Valley, without first conducting formal environmental impact reviews of the potential effect on habitats and wildlife such as the federally endangered California condor." Emphasis added.

California Takes on TrumpySmog. Tony Barboza of the Los Angeles Times: "California is firing back at the Trump administration with a plan to safeguard the state's greenhouse gas emissions rules from a proposed federal rollback. A state Air Resources Board proposal released Tuesday would force automakers to meet California's existing standards on car and truck pollution, even if weaker ones are adopted by Trump administration. California regulators said the clarification is a protective move intended to close a potential loophole automakers might use to elude compliance with tougher standards adopted jointly with the Obama administration."

"Toxic Shock." Sydney Frankin of ArchNews: "One of the most dangerous construction-related carcinogens is now legally allowed back into U.S. manufacturing under a new rule by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). On June 1, the EPA authorized a 'SNUR' (Significant New Use Rule) which allows new products containing asbestos to be created on a case-by-case basis. According to environmental advocates, this new rule gives chemical companies the upper hand in creating new uses for harmful products in the United States. In May, the EPA released a report detailing its new framework for evaluating the risk of its top prioritized substances. The report states that the agency will no longer consider the effect or presence of substances in the air, ground, or water in its risk assessments. This news comes after the EPA reviewed its first batch of 10 chemicals under the 2016 amendment to the 1976 Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA), which required the agency to continually reevaluate hundreds of potentially toxic chemicals to see whether they should face new restrictions or be removed from the market. The SNUR greenlights companies to use toxic chemicals like asbestos without consideration about how they will endanger people who are indirectly in contact with them." Emphasis added. Mrs. McC: Pruitt or not, I find this unbelievable. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Rebecca Morin of Politico: "The American Civil Liberties Union on Tuesday filed a federal lawsuit against the Trump administration over its decision to remove asylum protections for victims of domestic and gang violence. The ACLU is arguing against 'expedited removal' policies, put forth by Attorney General Jeff Sessions, that it says 'generally' deny claims of violence of that nature.... In June, the attorney general overturned asylum protections for certain victims of violence, effectively reversing a push by the Obama administration to provide refuge to women with credible claims of domestic violence." ...

... Julia Ainsley of NBC News: "The Trump administration is expected to issue a proposal in coming weeks that would make it harder for legal immigrants to become citizens or get green cards if they have ever used a range of popular public welfare programs, including Obamacare, four sources with knowledge of the plan told NBC News. The move, which would not need congressional approval, is part of White House senior adviser Stephen Miller's plan to limit the number of migrants who obtain legal status in the U.S. each year.... Immigration lawyers and advocates and public health researchers say it would be the biggest change to the legal immigration system in decades and estimate that more than 20 million immigrants could be affected." Mrs. McC: I don't have to tell you this is senseless cruelty. Many of those who suffer will be the American children of these legal immigrants. One good reason to vote Democratic: so Congressional Democrats can hall Miller up before some committee & ask "What the fuck is the matter with you?" (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... Sophie Murguia of Mother Jones: "The proposal could affect as many as 47 percent of noncitizens currently in the U.S., according to an analysis by the Migration Policy Institute of an earlier leaked draft of the rule change. (In contrast, only 3 percent of noncitizens are affected by the rule as it currently stands.)" ...

... Jonathan Chait: "Under the forthcoming plan, any legal immigrants who have ever used (or whose household contains people who have ever used) children's health insurance (CHIP), Obamacare, supplemental nutrition assistance, or other social benefits could be denied legal status. Since the 19th century, immigration policy has discriminated against migrants who might become a 'public charge.' But Trump plans to expand the definition of the term to include basic benefits for the working class.... Almost nobody in the United States actually pays for their own insurance in a completely self-sufficient fashion. People who get insurance through their job are benefitting from a massive, costly tax deduction for employer-sponsored insurance. Those who get it through Medicare likewise enjoy a taxpayer-financed social benefit. Programs like Obamacare and CHIP simply extend the same regimen of subsidies and risk pooling to the low-income population that have already been granted to the middle class.... Trump's contribution to the party creed will be to infuse the top-down class war with a racial tinge. That this all proceeds from some fastidiousness about following the rules is a pretense nobody need bother entertaining anymore." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... Katherine Krueger of Splinter: "It's nearly impossible to read about the proposal -- which advocates told the network would constitute the biggest change to the immigration system in decades and could affect at least 20 million immigrants -- and ascribe any other motive than abject cruelty and racism." ...

... Thank You for Your Service. Dana Milbank: "Sgt. Temo Juarez was a Trump guy. An Iraq combat veteran who served as a Marine infantryman and then an Army National Guardsman, his friends called him a 'super conservative.' With his wife, he brought up their two daughters in Central Florida. He supported Trump in 2016, eager for a change. But now, 'I am eating my words,' he told the military newspaper Stars and Stripes in an interview published last week. On Friday..., his wife, Alejandra, left the country under a deportation order. She had come to the United States from Mexico illegally as a teenager two decades ago and had until now being living undisturbed with Temo, a naturalized U.S. citizen, and daughters, both natural-born Americans.... The advocacy group American Families United, extrapolating from census figures, estimates there are as many as 11,800 active-duty military service members with a spouse or family member vulnerable to deportation. And that doesn't include veterans' families." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Trumpies Say Whatever Suits Them. Dell Cameron of Gizmodo: "An investigation carried out by Federal Communication Commission's own inspector general officially refutes controversial claims that a cyberattack was responsible for disrupting the FCC's comment system in May 2017, at the height of the agency's efforts to kill off net neutrality. The investigation also uncovered that FCC officials had provided congressional lawmakers with misleading information regarding conversations between an FCC employee and the Federal Bureau of Investigation's cybercrime task force. A report from the inspector general's office (OIG) released Tuesday afternoon states that the comment system's downtime was likely caused by a combination of 'system design issues' and a massive surge in traffic caused when Last Week Tonight host John Oliver directed millions of TV viewers to flood the FCC's website with pro-net neutrality comments.... 'Today's IG report exposes [FCC] Chairman [Ajit] Pai's general willingness to ignore logic and contradictory evidence when doing so supports his preconceived notions and political agenda,' Jessica J. González, Free Press deputy director and senior counsel, told Gizmodo.'"

Aris Folley of the Hill: "Element Electronics, a consumer electronics company in South Carolina, says it will be closing its plant in Winnsboro due to tariffs imposed by President Trump. The State reported Tuesday that the company was one of the largest remaining employers in Fairfield County after the local Walmart, which used to be the largest grocery store in the county, closed its doors two years ago."

All the Best People, Ctd. "Wilbur the Grifter" Edition. Dan Alexander of Forbes: "Over several months, in speaking with 21 people who know Ross, Forbes uncovered a pattern: Many of those who worked directly with him claim that [Commerce Secretary Wilbur] Ross wrongly siphoned or outright stole a few million here and a few million there, huge amounts for most but not necessarily for the commerce secretary. At least if you consider them individually. But all told, these allegations -- which sparked lawsuits, reimbursements and an SEC fine -- come to more than $120 million. If even half of the accusations are legitimate, the current United States secretary of commerce could rank among the biggest grifters in American history.... Those who've done business with Ross generally tell a consistent story, of a man obsessed with money and untethered to facts." Not only that, he steals Sweet'N Low from the local restaurant & doesn't pay his household help. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Jonathan O'Connell of the Washington Post: "The administrator of the General Services Administration, which manages the FBI headquarters project, may have misled Congress about White House involvement in the project, according to a portion of a soon-to-be published report from the agency's inspector general that was obtained by The Washington Post. Last year the GSA and the FBI scrapped a long-delayed plan to build an FBI headquarters campus in the Washington suburbs in favor of a proposal to build a smaller headquarters in downtown D.C. and relocate some staff to Alabama, Idaho and West Virginia. President Trump has said he supported the new plan. Although GSA Administrator Emily Murphy, speaking to the House Appropriations Committee in April, mentioned discussions of funding with the White House's Office of Management and Budget, she downplayed the role of the White House in the decision-making process. The conclusions section of the inspector general's report, which is expected to be released publicly in the coming weeks, states Murphy's testimony 'was incomplete and may have left the misleading impression that she had no discussions with the President or senior White House officials about the project.'"

Beyond the Beltway

Harriet Ryan of the Los Angeles Times: "USC appointed a retired aerospace executive as interim president and laid out a detailed plan for selecting a permanent leader Tuesday, ending speculation about whether outgoing President C.L. Max Nikias might remain in the post. Nikias, embattled over his administration's handling of a campus gynecologist accused of sexually abusing patients, relinquished his duties after a meeting of USC's board. The trustees tapped one of their own, Wanda Austin, an alumna and former president of the Aerospace Corp., to temporarily run the university. The trustees also approved the formation of a search committee and the hiring of search firm Isaacson, Miller to coordinate the selection of a successor."

Jamiles Lartey of the Guardian: "... unlike in the 2012 killing of Trayvon Martin, which introduced much of the US to so-called 'stand your ground' (SYG) laws, the fatal July shooting of 28-year-old Markeis McGlockton -- who was black -- is slowly gathering political momentum that could roll backself-defense statutes some say are little more than a racially discriminatory license to kill." All five Democratic gubernatorial candidates favor rolling back the Florida laws & even some Republicans say the Pineallas County sheriff who refused to press charges against McGlockton's white vigilante killer misinterpreted the SYG laws. One GOP state senator said, '"Stand your ground' uses a reasonable-person standard. It's not that you were just afraid.... It's an objective standard.'"