The Commentariat -- August 8, 2020

Afternoon Update:

The New York Times' live updates of coronavirus developments Saturday are here: "Hundreds of children in America, most of them previously healthy, have experienced an inflammatory syndrome associated with Covid-19, and most became so ill that they needed intensive care, according to a new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The syndrome, which can be deadly, has rattled parents and education officials as schools across the United States struggle with the prospect of reopening in the fall and the coronavirus continues its spread."

Ellen Nakashima, et al., of the Washington Post: "Last week, as leaders in Silicon Valley, China and Washington raced to seal the fate of one of the world's fastest-growing social media companies, a shouting match broke out in the Oval Office between two of President Trump's top advisers. In front of Trump, trade adviser Peter Navarro and other aides late last week, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin began arguing that the Chinese-owned video-sharing service TikTok should be sold to a U.S. company. Mnuchin had talked several times to Microsoft's senior leaders and was confident that he had rallied support within the administration for a sale to the tech giant on national security grounds. Navarro pushed back, demanding an outright ban of TikTok, while accusing Mnuchin of being soft on China, the people said, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss private discussions freely.... The ensuing argument -- which was described by one of the people as a 'knockdown, drag-out' brawl -- was preceded by months of backroom dealings among investors, lobbyists and executives." The reporters go on to explain the the issues in the TikTok debate.

Anthony Faiola of the Washington Post: "Two former members of U.S. Special Forces were sentenced to 20 years in prison by a Venezuelan court for taking part in a murky raid in May to oust President Nicolás Maduro, the country's attorney general announced on Twitter. In the only official statement on the previously unannounced trial, Tarek William Saab tweeted late Friday that Airan Berry, 42, and Luke Denman, 34, admitted 'to having committed the crimes of conspiracy, association, illicit trafficking of weapons of war and terrorism' in connection with the botched mission known as Operation Gideon. The State Department did not immediately respond to a request to comment.... The U.S. government has denied any involvement." Mrs. McC: Murky, indeed.

Maureen Dowd recalls Geraldine Ferraro's experiences as a candidate for vice president in 1984. "We don't know whom Biden will choose but we do know the sort of hell she will endure at the hands of Team Trump."

~~~~~~~~~~

The Trumpidemic, Ctd.

The New York Times' live updates of coronavirus developments Friday are here. The Washington Post's live updates for Friday are here. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Annie Karni & Maggie Haberman of the New York Times: "After spending a day huddled with his campaign advisers at his private club in Bedminster, N.J., President Trump emerged on Friday night for a surprise 'news conference' that seemed at times to be as much a benefit for his loyal club members as it was about making any news or addressing the crisis facing the nation. Speaking in front of dozens of members who gathered in a ballroom to see him, many of them holding wine glasses and forgoing masks, Mr. Trump ... described the back-and-forth he expected as 'always a lot of fun.' The audience even had a chance to participate, booing loudly when it was suggested by a reporter [Mrs. McC: Toluse Olorunnipa of the Washington Post] that the largely unmasked crowd in the room was violating social distancing guidelines, and then cheering when the president noted that the club's members 'know the news is fake.' As millions of Americans faced threats of eviction and a loss of income or benefits without a deal in Congress, and with the Washington dysfunction Mr. Trump promised to solve reaching new levels, the president rambled, bludgeoned, vowed to take action by presidential fiat and insisted again that the virus was already disappearing -- all from the confines of a gilded room beneath chandeliers, far from Washington, ensconced in his private club." ~~~

~~~ Brooke Seipel of the Hill: "'You said that the pandemic is disappearing, but we lost 6,000 Americans this week and just in this room you have dozens of people who are not following the guidelines in New Jersey,' a reporter said while asking Trump a question.... 'You're wrong about that because it's a political activity,' Trump argued. 'And it's also a peaceful protest. To me they all look like they pretty much all have masks on.'... He went on to argue the crowd was protesting the news media.... New Jersey's coronavirus restrictions require that golf courses limit the number of patrons in an indoor part of the property to 25 percent capacity or no more than 25 people, while also requiring that all workers and customers wear face coverings.... 'You have an exclusion in the law it says peaceful protest,' Trump continued. 'I'd call it peaceful protest because they know you're coming up and they know the news is fake.'" ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: Glad to hear Trump admits his so-called press conference was a political event. As such, his campaign should pay for this weekend's golf outing instead of foisting the costs on us taxpayers. Trump, of course, was not wearing a mask. According to Seipel's report, "Guests at the golf club were seen joining in the crowd at the press conference. Initial photos appeared to show a lack of social distancing and mask wearing. Later photos showed guests wearing masks that were handed out by officials." ~~~

~~~ Public Enemy No. 1. David Nakamura of the Washington Post: Two weeks ago at a signing ceremony aides set up to provide social distancing, Donald "Trump invited a dozen people to crowd behind him shoulder-to-shoulder as he signed several executive actions and handed out ceremonial pens. Four wore face masks, while the others did not, including the president and four doctors in white medical smocks. The juxtaposition of the safeguards set up to protect the president and model safe behavior for the public with Trump's seemingly arbitrary decision to override them in pursuit of a photo op illustrates his administration's ongoing inability or unwillingness to send a clear message to the public on how to protect themselves against a pandemic...." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Erica Werner, et al., of the Washington Post: "President Trump on Friday signaled he was ready to forge ahead without Congress to try to address lapsed economic relief measures for millions of Americans, but he stopped short of declaring negotiations dead. The path forward remained unclear, as he used a press conference Friday evening to discuss steps he might take but he didn't stipulate whether he would follow through.... Democratic leaders on Friday said the White House refused to meet them even halfway in negotiations, which dragged on for two weeks with little signs of progress. The discussions were meant to provide additional relief to address the coronavirus pandemic's economic fallout."

"The Lost Year." Heather Long of the Washington Post: "The U.S. economy is facing one of its most uncertain moments ever as the deadly coronavirus remains a constant threat. According to Pew Research, people are growing more pessimistic about how America's leaders have handled the virus and the nation's ability to contain it, which only digs a deeper hole for the economy. As soon as the virus flares in a part of the country, cellphone data show people immediately stay home instead of instead of venturing out to restaurants, stores and entertainment.... When uncertainty is high, it usually triggers more layoffs, less investment and more business closures. Business investment fell to the lowest level in 68 years this spring, and consumer spending has stalled in recent weeks.... For many, there's a growing sense it's a 'lost year.'"

"The Lost Summer." Dana Goldstein of the New York Times: "... many educators spent their summers planning, in minute detail, how to safely reopen classrooms. Teachers stocked up on sanitation supplies as superintendents took a crash course in epidemiology and studied supply chain logistics for portable air filters. But with the pandemic now surging across a wide swath of the country, many of those plans have been shelved.... Millions of American children will spend their fall once again learning in front of laptop screens.... [Now] educators are spending the little time they have left before the new academic year moving to focus more fully on improving online instruction, which failed to reach and engage many children in the spring, leading to growing achievement gaps by income and race." ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: This is yet another way the Trump administration has dramatically failed American families. Besides the petty, mean-assed threat to withhold funds from schools that don't fully re-open, Trump & his toadies repeatedly insisted the virus was on the wane ("about to disappear"), misdirecting school boards and administrators to spend their efforts & money preparing to re-open rather than beefing up their physical plants & lessons plans to accommodate online learning. Children, teachers, the cafeteria lady are going to get sick & die because of Trump's lies and deception.

Freedumb. Andy Fies of ABC News: "Despite concerns about large gatherings during the COVID-19 pandemic, as many as 250,000 motorcycle enthusiasts from around the country are expected to roll into western South Dakota for the 80th annual Sturgis Motorcycle Rally beginning Friday and lasting 10 days. Such a crowd would make it the largest event in the country to take place during the pandemic. In a survey by the city in May, 60% of Sturgis residents said they preferred to cancel the event. But local business owners who rely on this once-a-year gathering for a huge percentage of their revenues, combined with a realization by city managers that the bikers were going to come to the area no matter what, prompted the city council to sanction the rally.... Brent Bertlson, who has a home in Sturgis and will be attending his 26th rally this year..., called Sturgis 'a freedom rally,' adding, 'Bikers are big believers in freedom. I've heard from people tired of being locked down and being told what they can and can't do. A lot of these people are saying, "I'm going to Sturgis."'" (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

** Pompeo Goes Behind Trump's Back to Undo the Treachery. Edward Wong & Eric Schmitt of the New York Times: "Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has warned Russia’s foreign minister against Moscow paying bounties to Taliban-linked militants and other Afghan fighters for killing American service members, U.S. officials said. Mr. Pompeo's warning is the first known rebuke from a senior American official to Russia over the bounties program, and it runs counter to President Trump's insistence that the intelligence from U.S. government agencies over the matter is a 'hoax.' The action indicates that Mr. Pompeo, who previously served as Mr. Trump's C.I.A. director, believes the intelligence warranted a stern message. Mr. Pompeo delivered the warning in a call on July 13 with the minister, Sergey V. Lavrov.... The secretary of state did not explicitly point to the covert bounties scheme organized by a Russian military intelligence unit that was first reported in late June by The New York Times, most likely because the details of what American intelligence has learned and how it gathered the information remain classified, one of the officials said. In public, Mr. Pompeo has carefully avoided answering direct questions about American intelligence on the Russian bounties.... Mr. Pompeo's private move is the latest example of a common occurrence in the administration: American officials quietly carrying out actions that are at odds with Mr. Trump's statements and his stance on important issues." (Also linked yesterday.)

Robert Draper writes a long piece for the New York Times Magazine on Donald Trump's malign effect on the intelligence community, particularly the Office of the Director of National Intelligence. "Under Trump, intelligence officials have been placed in the unusual position of being pressured to justify the importance of their work, protect their colleagues from political retribution and demonstrate fealty to a president. Though intelligence officials have been loath to admit it publicly, the cumulative result has been devastating..., [revealing] a sobering new development of the Trump era: the intelligence community's willingness to change what it would otherwise say straightforwardly so as not to upset the president.... Those who remain in the community are acutely mindful of the risks of challenging Trump's 'alternative facts.'..." More on the intel community linked under "Elections 2020."

McGahn, DOJ Lose Appeal, But They're Running Out the Clock. Mark Sherman of the AP: "A federal appeals court in Washington on Friday revived House Democrats' lawsuit to force former White House counsel Don McGahn to appear before a congressional committee, but left other legal issues unresolved with time growing short in the current Congress. The full U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit voted 7-2 in ruling that the House Judiciary Committee can make its claims in court, reversing the judgment of a three-judge panel that would have ended the court fight. The matter now returns to the panel for consideration of other legal issues. The current House of Representatives session ends on Jan. 3. That time crunch means 'the chances that the Committee hears McGahn's testimony anytime soon are vanishingly slim,' dissenting Judge Thomas Griffith wrote. Judge Karen LeCraft Henderson also dissented. A separate case in which the House is suing to stop the Trump administration from spending billions of dollars that Congress didn't authorize for the wall on the U.S.-Mexico border also was returned to a lower court. Justice Department spokeswoman Kerri Kupec said the administration would continue to seek dismissal of both cases." A Washington Post story is here. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

"Take the Oil." Kylie Atwood & Ryan Browne of CNN: "The Trump administration has approved the first-ever deal for an American firm to develop and modernize oil fields in northeast Syria under control of the US-backed Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces. The secretive contract ... was signed in Syria last month, is expected to produce billions of dollars for Kurdish authorities in northeast Syria, none of which will be shared with the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.... News of the deal drew an immediate rebuke from the Assad government in Damascus.... The State Department and the Pentagon have officially sought to distance themselves from the project, but sources tell CNN that behind the scenes the State Department was active in making the deal happen. Last week, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo for the first time confirmed the deal in answering a question from Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham during a hearing on Capitol Hill.... Russia ... was also competing to win the contract. --s (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Hajar Haammado of CREW: "The Environmental Protection Agency illegally destroyed records, deceived the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) about that destruction, and falsely blamed the coronavirus pandemic to escape accountability, according to internal documents uncovered by CREW." --s (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Adolfo Flores & Hamed Aleaziz of BuzzFeed News: "The deaths of two men this week made it the most fatal year for immigrants detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement since 2006. The men, a 51-year-old from Taiwan and a 72-year-old from Canada, died on Wednesday, according to ICE, which provided no additional information. The total number of ICE deaths so far this fiscal year, which ends Sept. 30, is now 17, making it the highest total since 2006, when 19 immigrants died, according to ICE records." --s (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Michigan. Not All the Rabid Racists Live in Dixie. Katie Shepherd of the Washington Post: "A local road commission meeting in northern Michigan on Monday started with one commissioner asking another why he wasn't wearing a mask.... The unmasked official responded with a racist slur and an angry rant against the Black Lives Matter movement. 'Well, this whole thing is because of them n-----s in Detroit,' Tom Eckerle, who was elected to his position on the Leelanau County Road Commission..., said. The commission chairman, Bob Joyce, immediately rebuked his colleague, but Eckerle, who is White, continued his diatribe. 'I can say anything I want,' Eckerle said at the meeting, which the public could listen to via a dial-in number, the Leelanau Enterprise first reported. 'Black Lives Matter has everything to do with taking the country away from us.' Eckerle's remarks came the same week Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D-Mich.) declared racism a public health crisis.... Michigan has reported at least 94,656 cases and 6,506 deaths since the start of the pandemic.... The racist remark spurred widespread condemnation of Eckerle, who is a Republican, and calls to resign from party officials.... 'I don't regret calling it a n----r,' Eckerle told Interlochen Public Radio. 'A n----r is a n----r is a n----r. That's not a person whatsoever.'" ~~~

     ~~~ Update. John Flesher of the AP: "An elected official in a mostly white county in northern Michigan who used a racist slur prior to a public meeting to describe Black people in Detroit will resign, the county administrator said Friday. Leelanau County Administrator Chet Janik said Tom Eckerle, a member of the county road commission, would step down after receiving criticism from across the U.S. for his comments.... Democratic Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and Eckerle's fellow road commission members were among those demanding he step down."

Elections 2020

** Deb Riechmann & Eric Tucker of the AP: "U.S. intelligence officials believe that Russia is using a variety of measures to denigrate Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden ahead of the November election and that individuals linked to the Kremlin are boosting ... Donald Trump's reelection bid, the country's counterintelligence chief said Friday. U.S. officials also believe that China does not want Trump to win a second term and that Beijing has accelerated its criticism of the president and its efforts to shape American opinion and public policy. The statement from William Evanina comes amid criticism from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and other congressional Democrats that the intelligence community has been withholding from the public specific intelligence information about the threat of foreign election interference in the upcoming election.... The latest intelligence assessment reflects concerns to varying degrees about China, Russia and Iran, warning that hostile foreign actors may seek to compromise election infrastructure and interfere with the voting process." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: Obviously, it is not only Evanina who has been withholding evidence that Russia is interfering on Trump's behalf; Donald Trump is the withholder-in-chief. ~~~

~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: Here is the statement Evanina released. As you can see, he begins with China's preference for Biden, then writes that "Russia is using a range of measures to primarily denigrate former Vice President Biden...," then speculates that Iran will try "to undermine U.S. democratic institutions" that "probably will focus on on-line influence...." This is how a number of outlets, including, for instance, NPR, -- and initially, the Washington Post -- reported the story. The Post has since greatly modified its breaking story: ~~~

~~~ Shane Harris, et al., of the Washington Post: "Russia is 'using a range of measures' to interfere in the 2020 election and has enlisted a pro-Russian lawmaker from Ukraine -- who has met with President Trump's personal lawyer -- 'to undermine former vice president [Joe] Biden's candidacy and the Democratic Party,' a top U.S. intelligence official said in a statement Friday. The remarks by William Evanina, director of the National Counterintelligence and Security Center, were some of the most detailed to date about foreign interference in the presidential race and come after earlier criticism from Democratic lawmakers that he had not shared with the public some of the alarming intelligence he gave them in classified briefings. Evanina also said that the government of China does not want Trump to win reelection in November, seeing the incumbent as 'unpredictable.' Evanina described China's efforts to date as largely rhetorical and aimed at shaping policy and criticizing the Trump administration for actions Beijing sees as harmful to its long-term strategic interests. By contrast, Evanina described Russia as actively engaged in efforts that are reminiscent of the Kremlin's attempts to influence the outcome of the 2016 election." ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: It appears that Evanina has tried a little sleight-of-hand -- and it has worked on a number of reporters, and will therefore work on most of their readers -- to equate Russia's active efforts to aid Trump with China's "preferences" -- preferences shared by the heads of state of most liberal democracies, BTW -- and speculation about what Iran may do. But one of these things is not like the others. "I'm working on Donnie's campaign" is not the same as "I hope Joe wins but I'm not gonna vote." Much further down in the WashPo story, the reporters make this same point, citing that famous unnamed "U.S. official": "Between China and Russia, only one of those two is trying to actively influence the outcome of the 2020 election, full stop." As Robert Draper writes in his NYT Mag article linked above, Evanina's "statement seemed to be tortured with political calculation -- an implicit declaration of anguish rather than of independence." ~~~

~~~ Pretty much the only specific Evanina mentions in his statement is this: "For example, pro-Russia Ukrainian parliamentarian Andriy Derkach is spreading claims about corruption -- including through publicizing leaked phone calls -- to undermine ... Biden's candidacy and the Democratic Party." Mrs. McC: Well, the Post tells us a little more about Derkach, some of which you may recall from earlier reporting: "Derkach met in December with [Trump's personal lawyer Rudy] Giuliani as part of an effort by Trump's allies to obtain damaging information about Biden in Ukraine, The Washington Post has reported. Giuliani also hosted Derkach on his podcast in February and has said the two have spoken repeatedly about Ukraine and Biden, terming the Ukrainian lawmaker 'very helpful.'" ~~~

     ~~~ Oh, and there's this from Natasha Bertand & others of Politico (July 20): "Democratic leaders are asking the FBI for an urgent briefing arising out of concern that members of Congress are being targeted by a foreign operation intended to influence the 2020 presidential election, according to a letter they released publicly on Monday. Among the Democrats' concerns is that a Senate investigation being led by Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) has become a vehicle for 'laundering' a foreign influence campaign to damage ... Joe Biden....&" On July 23, the same Politico team reported, "Top congressional Democrats are sounding the alarm about a series of packets mailed to prominent allies of ... Donald Trump -- material they say is part of a foreign disinformation plot to damage... Joe Biden, according to new details from a letter the lawmakers delivered to the FBI last week. The packets ... were sent late last year to Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Calif.), Sens. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), and then-White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney.... The packets, the sources said, were sent by Andrii Derkach, a Ukrainian lawmaker who met with ... Rudy Giuliani in Kyiv last December to discuss investigating the Biden family." ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: That "vast right-wing conspiracy" now has the best offices in the White House and the Capitol. ~~~

~~~ Jonathan Chait of New York has a good take on Evanina's statement: "In reality, it is not a scandal about Biden at all. It’s a scandal about Republican cooperation with a Russian propaganda campaign.... What makes Evanina's statement today so significant is that it makes clear that the passing of information, real or otherwise, from various Ukrainian figures to various Trump allies is part of a Russian-directed scheme to help Trump win." Firewalled. ~~~

~~~ Tal Axelrod of the Hill: "President Trump dismissed new intelligence that Russia is working to denigrate former Vice President Joe Biden, maintaining he's taken a tough stance on Moscow during his time in the White House. '... I think that the last person Russia wants to see in office is Donald Trump because nobody's been tougher on Russia than I have, ever,' Trump said at a briefing Friday when asked about the intelligence. When pressed by a reporter over the new report's conclusion that Russia is working to hinder Biden's presidential bid, Trump fired back: 'I don't care what anybody says.'... 'China would love us to have an election where Donald Trump lost to sleepy Joe Biden. They would dream, they would own our country,' Trump said. 'If Joe Biden was president, China would own our country.""

Michael Shear of the New York Times: "Louis DeJoy, the postmaster general and a major donor to Mr. Trump's campaigns..., on Friday..., shifted top personnel, including some decades-long veterans of the Postal Service, and made changes to its organizational structure." Mrs. McC: Surely DeJoy is up to no good. I'm hoping reporters will soon get some first-hand evidence of his malign intent.

Maanvi Singh of the Guardian: "Joe Arpaio, the former Arizona sheriff notorious for his abusive policing and hardline anti-immigration tactics, has lost his bid to win back the post he held for 24 years. An early Donald Trump supporter and proponent of the racist theory that Barack Obama was not born in the US, Arpaio lost the Republican primary for Maricopa county sheriff to a former aide, Jerry Sheridan. Sheridan will face off against Democrat Paul Penzone in the November elections. This is Arpaio's second failed attempt to return to politics since Trump pardoned him in 2017, months after he was convicted of criminal contempt of court for violating a judge's order to stop racially profiling Latinos. In 2018, he finished last in a three-way race for a Senate nomination in Arizona."

Michael Stratford of Politico: "Jerry Falwell Jr., one of ... Donald Trump's leading evangelical supporters, has agreed to take 'an indefinite leave of absence' from his role as president of Liberty University after the release of a viral photo that showed him vacationing on a yacht with his pants unzipped, holding a drink, and with his arm around a woman. 'The Executive Committee of Liberty University's Board of Trustees, acting on behalf of the full Board, met today and requested that Jerry Falwell, Jr. take an indefinite leave of absence from his roles as President and Chancellor of Liberty University, to which he has agreed, effective immediately,' the university said in a statement on Friday.... Liberty University has a strict code of conduct for students that, among other things, prohibits students from having sexual relations outside of a 'biblically-ordained' marriage and consuming media with lewd lyrics, sexual content and nudity." Mrs. McC: Hey, more time to go yachting & whatever with his young lady friends. ~~~

     ~~~ A New York Times story is here.

News Lede

New York Times: "Brent Scowcroft, a pre-eminent foreign policy expert who helped shape America's international and strategic decisions for decades as the national security adviser to Presidents Gerald R. Ford and George Bush and as a counselor to seven administrations, died on Thursday at his home in Falls Church, Va. He was 95."

The Commentariat -- August 7, 2020

Afternoon Update:

** Deb Riechmann & Eric Tucker of the AP: "U.S. intelligence officials believe that Russia is using a variety of measures to denigrate Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden ahead of the November election and that individuals linked to the Kremlin are boosting ... Donald Trump's reelection bid, the country's counterintelligence chief said Friday. U.S. officials also believe that China does not want Trump to win a second term and that Beijing has accelerated its criticism of the president and its efforts to shape American opinion and public policy. The statement from William Evanina comes amid criticism from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and other congressional Democrats that the intelligence community has been withholding from the public specific intelligence information about the threat of foreign election interference in the upcoming election.... The latest intelligence assessment reflects concerns to varying degrees about China, Russia and Iran, warning that hostile foreign actors may seek to compromise election infrastructure and interfere with the voting process." ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: Obviously, it is not only Evanina who has been withholding evidence that Russia is interfering on Trump's behalf; Donald Trump is the withholder-in-chief.

The New York Times' live updates of coronavirus developments Friday are here. The Washington Post's live updates for Friday are here.

** Pompeo Goes Behind Trump's Back to Undo the Treachery. Edward Wong & Eric Schmitt of the New York Times: "Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has warned Russia's foreign minister against Moscow paying bounties to Taliban-linked militants and other Afghan fighters for killing American service members, U.S. officials said. Mr. Pompeo's warning is the first known rebuke from a senior American official to Russia over the bounties program, and it runs counter to President Trump's insistence that the intelligence from U.S. government agencies over the matter is a 'hoax.' The action indicates that Mr. Pompeo, who previously served as Mr. Trump's C.I.A. director, believes the intelligence warranted a stern message. Mr. Pompeo delivered the warning in a call on July 13 with the minister, Sergey V. Lavrov.... The secretary of state did not explicitly point to the covert bounties scheme organized by a Russian military intelligence unit that was first reported in late June by The New York Times, most likely because the details of what American intelligence has learned and how it gathered the information remain classified, one of the officials said. In public, Mr. Pompeo has carefully avoided answering direct questions about American intelligence on the Russian bounties.... Mr. Pompeo's private move is the latest example of a common occurrence in the administration: American officials quietly carrying out actions that are at odds with Mr. Trump's statements and his stance on important issues."

Public Enemy No. 1. David Nakamura of the Washington Post: Two weeks ago at a signing ceremony aides set up to provide social distancing, Donald "Trump invited a dozen people to crowd behind him shoulder-to-shoulder as he signed several executive actions and handed out ceremonial pens. Four wore face masks, while the others did not, including the president and four doctors in white medical smocks. The juxtaposition of the safeguards set up to protect the president and model safe behavior for the public with Trump's seemingly arbitrary decision to override them in pursuit of a photo op illustrates his administration's ongoing inability or unwillingness to send a clear message to the public on how to protect themselves against a pandemic...."

Adolfo Flores & Hamed Aleaziz of BuzzFeed News: "The deaths of two men this week made it the most fatal year for immigrants detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement since 2006. The men, a 51-year-old from Taiwan and a 72-year-old from Canada, died on Wednesday, according to ICE, which provided no additional information. The total number of ICE deaths so far this fiscal year, which ends Sept. 30, is now 17, making it the highest total since 2006, when 19 immigrants died, according to ICE records." --s

"Take the Oil." Kylie Atwood & Ryan Browne of CNN: "The Trump administration has approved the first-ever deal for an American firm to develop and modernize oil fields in northeast Syria under control of the US-backed Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces. The secretive contract ... was signed in Syria last month, is expected to produce billions of dollars for Kurdish authorities in northeast Syria, none of which will be shared with the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.... News of the deal drew an immediate rebuke from the Assad government in Damascus.... The State Department and the Pentagon have officially sought to distance themselves from the project, but sources tell CNN that behind the scenes the State Department was active in making the deal happen. Last week, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo for the first time confirmed the deal in answering a question from Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham during a hearing on Capitol Hill.... Russia ... was also competing to win the contract. --s

McGahn, DOJ Lose Appeal, But They're Running Out the Clock. Mark Sherman of the AP: "A federal appeals court in Washington on Friday revived House Democrats' lawsuit to force former White House counsel Don McGahn to appear before a congressional committee, but left other legal issues unresolved with time growing short in the current Congress. The full U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit voted 7-2 in ruling that the House Judiciary Committee can make its claims in court, reversing the judgment of a three-judge panel that would have ended the court fight. The matter now returns to the panel for consideration of other legal issues. The current House of Representatives session ends on Jan. 3. That time crunch means 'the chances that the Committee hears McGahn's testimony anytime soon are vanishingly slim,' dissenting Judge Thomas Griffith wrote. Judge Karen LeCraft Henderson also dissented. A separate case in which the House is suing to stop the Trump administration from spending billions of dollars that Congress didn't authorize for the wall on the U.S.-Mexico border also was returned to a lower court. Justice Department spokeswoman Kerri Kupec said the administration would continue to seek dismissal of both cases." A Washington Post story is here.

Hajar Haammado of CREW: "The Environmental Protection Agency illegally destroyed records, deceived the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) about that destruction, and falsely blamed the coronavirus pandemic to escape accountability, according to internal documents uncovered by CREW." --s

Freedumb

Andy Fies of ABC News: "Despite concerns about large gatherings during the COVID-19 pandemic, as many as 250,000 motorcycle enthusiasts from around the country are expected to roll into western South Dakota for the 80th annual Sturgis Motorcycle Rally beginning Friday and lasting 10 days. Such a crowd would make it the largest event in the country to take place during the pandemic. In a survey by the city in May, 60% of Sturgis residents said they preferred to cancel the event. But local business owners who rely on this once-a-year gathering for a huge percentage of their revenues, combined with a realization by city managers that the bikers were going to come to the area no matter what, prompted the city council to sanction the rally.... Brent Bertlson, who has a home in Sturgis and will be attending his 26th rally this year..., called Sturgis 'a freedom rally,' adding, 'Bikers are big believers in freedom. I've heard from people tired of being locked down and being told what they can and can't do. A lot of these people are saying, "I'm going to Sturgis."'"

Michigan. Not All the Rabid Racists Live in Dixie. Katie Shepherd of the Washington Post: "A local road commission meeting in northern Michigan on Monday started with one commissioner asking another why he wasn't wearing a mask.... The unmasked official responded with a racist slur and an angry rant against the Black Lives Matter movement. 'Well, this whole thing is because of them n-----s in Detroit,' Tom Eckerle, who was elected to his position on the Leelanau County Road Commission..., said. The commission chairman, Bob Joyce, immediately rebuked his colleague, but Eckerle, who is White, continued his diatribe. 'I can say anything I want,' Eckerle said at the meeting, which the public could listen to via a dial-in number, the Leelanau Enterprise first reported. 'Black Lives Matter has everything to do with taking the country away from us.' Eckerle's remarks came the same week Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D-Mich.) declared racism a public health crisis.... Michigan has reported at least 94,656 cases and 6,506 deaths since the start of the pandemic.... The racist remark spurred widespread condemnation of Eckerle, who is a Republican, and calls to resign from party officials.... 'I don't regret calling it a n----r,' Eckerle told Interlochen Public Radio. 'A n----r is a n----r is a n----r. That's not a person whatsoever.'"

~~~~~~~~~~

The Trumpidemic, Ctd.

The Washington Post's live updates of coronavirus developments Thursday are here. (Also linked yesterday.) The New York Times' live updates for Thursday are here.

More Good-ish News. Jeff Cox of CNBC: "Two months of record-setting payroll growth slowed in July but was still better than Wall Street estimates even as a rise in coronavirus cases put a damper on the struggling U.S. economy. The total nonfarm payroll increased of 1.763 million for the month. The unemployment rate fell to 10.2% from its previous 11.1%, also better than the estimates from economists surveyed by Dow Jones. An alternative measure that includes discouraged workers and the undermployed holding parttime jobs for economic reasons fell from 18% to 16.5%."

Erica Werner, et al., of the Washington Post: "White House officials and Democratic leaders ended a three-hour negotiation Thursday evening without a coronavirus relief deal or even a clear path forward, with both sides remaining far part on critical issues.... President Trump called into the meeting several times but they were unable to resolve key issues.... [Treasury Secretary Steve] Mnuchin said after the meeting that if they decide Friday that further negotiations are futile, Trump would move ahead unilaterally with executive orders. [Senate Minority Leader Chuck] Schumer countered that they were 'very disappointed' in how the meeting went and that any White House executive orders could challenged in court."

Axios: "A federal judge on Thursday dismissed a lawsuit brought by House Republicans against Speaker Nancy Pelosi that sought to invalidate a resolution that allows members to vote via proxy during the coronavirus pandemic.... The lawsuit, led by House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, alleged that the system is unconstitutional because the Constitution requires a quorum, or a majority, of lawmakers to be physically present in order to conduct business. Pelosi, who has defended the resolution as vital to public health, argued that 'the Constitution empowers each chamber of Congress to set its own procedural rules.'"

She Persists. Sheryl Stolberg of the New York Times: "Old allies and public health experts have expressed disgust at [Dr. Deborah Birx'] accommodations to Mr. Trump and, more so, at the performance of the federal response she is supposed to be leading against the most devastating public health crisis in a century. [Speaker Nancy] Pelosi said she had lost confidence in Dr. Birx, while Mr. Trump called her 'pathetic' after she suggested the obvious: The coronavirus is in a 'new phase' and is spreading rampantly.... But beyond the cameras and outside the Washington media bubble, governors say she deserves praise for persistence and presence.... Some [public health professionals] say ... the dangerous misinformation [Trump] has spread has often gone uncorrected by Dr. Birx.... Some also fault her for offering unduly rosy assessments of the pandemic -- both in public and in private."

Apoorva Mandavilli of the New York Times: "Most of the evidence for asymptomatic spread has been based on observation (a person without symptoms nevertheless sickened others) or elimination (people became ill but could not be connected to anyone with symptoms). A new study in South Korea, published Thursday in JAMA Internal Medicine, offers more definitive proof that people without symptoms carry just as much virus in their nose, throat and lungs as those with symptoms, and for almost as long.... Discussions about asymptomatic spread have been dogged by confusion about people who are 'pre-symptomatic' -- meaning they eventually become visibly ill -- versus the truly asymptomatic, who appear healthy throughout the course of their infection."

Nathaniel Weixel of the Hill: "President Trump has repeatedly claimed that the U.S. has one of the lowest COVID-19 mortality rates anywhere in the world, even though the nation has recorded more deaths from the coronavirus than any other country. The U.S. also has a mortality rate per 100,000 about twice that of Canada. While the U.S. rate is lower than Spain, the United Kingdom and Italy per 100,000 people, it is higher than such nations as Germany, France and the Netherlands.... Rather than the mortality rate, Trump has been fixated on the percentage of people who die after contracting COVID-19, a figure called the case fatality rate. In doing so, he has downplayed the scope of the coronavirus outbreak in the U.S. and the extremely high rate of deaths as a proportion of the population.... Amesh Adjala, a senior scholar at the Johns Hopkins University Center for Health Security, said case fatality is not a bad statistic by itself, but it can't be compared to the actual number of deaths per capita. 'Case fatality rate is important and the fact that it is lower in some countries is really reflective of the sophistication of the medical system, adeptness of critical care physicians, and what segment of the population is getting infected,' Adjala said." ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: You understand this, I understand this, but it was clear from the video of Jonathan Swan's interview of Trump that Trump doesn't understand this. At all. When Swan tries to explain to Trump the difference between per-capital mortality rates & case mortality rates, Trump is completely at sea. "Wha, wha?" he stammers. "You can't do that.... It's cases. And we have cases because of good testing...," he says, which makes no sense.

John Fauber & Daphne Chen of USA Today: "[A]s prescriptions for hydroxychloroquine boomed, reports of serious adverse events linked to the drug during the first half of the year more than doubled, according to a Milwaukee Journal Sentinel analysis of newly released data from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.... That's despite the fact that overall adverse event reports for all drugs remained flat.... Retail prescriptions for hydroxychloroquine in the U.S. jumped 81% from 460,000 in March 2019 to 833,000 in March 2020, according to IQVIA, a company that collects prescription data.... Experts said it soon became clear that solid evidence of the drugs' effectiveness was not materializing despite millions of doses being dispensed around the world." --s

Good-ish News. Jeff Cox of CNBC: "Weekly jobless claims hit their lowest level of the pandemic area, totaling 1.186 million last week, well below Wall Street expectations. Economists surveyed by Dow Jones had been looking for 1.42 million. The level for the week ended Aug. 1 represented a drop of 249,000 from the previous period. Amid worries that the employment picture was faltering after two record-breaking months of job creation, the claims number indicates some momentum. Continuing claims, or those who have collected benefits for two straight weeks, dropped by 844,000 to 16.1 million." (Also linked yesterday.)

And the Winners Are .... Reed Abelson of the New York Times: "The nation's leading health insurers are experiencing an embarrassment of profits. Some of the largest companies, including Anthem, Humana and UnitedHealth Group, are reporting second-quarter earnings that are double what they were a year ago. And while insurance profits are capped under the Affordable Care Act, with the requirement that consumers should benefit from such excesses in the form of rebates, no one should expect an immediate windfall.... The Health and Human Services Department advised companies to consider speeding up rebates, and on Tuesday suggested that they reduce premiums...." Abelson goes on to describe some of the potential political consequences of the insurance companies' windfalls. (Also linked yesterday.)

Georgia. How to Re-open Schools: Punish Kids Who Publicize What a Piss-Poor Job You're Doing. Lateshia Beachum of the Washington Post: "At least two North Paulding High School students have been suspended after sharing images of a school hallway jammed with their mostly maskless peers, and the principal has warned other students against doing the same. North Paulding High School in Dallas, Ga., about an hour's drive from Atlanta, was thrust into the national spotlight this week when pictures and videos surfaced of its crowded interior on the first and second days of its first week back in session. The images, which showed a sea of teens clustered together with no face coverings, raised concerns over how the district is handling reopening schools during the novel coronavirus pandemic." A New York Times story is here. BuzzFeed News has the story here. ~~~

~~~ Laura Thompson of Mother Jones: "'Wearing a mask is a personal choice, and there is no practical way to enforce a mandate to wear them,' the [Paulding school district] superintendent wrote to the Times." However, the district mandates an elaborate dress code. Mrs. McC: Thompson does not report the consequences of violating the dress code. But I'll bet the district has found a "practical way to enforce" the code. It's evah so disturbing to young people when they find out the school board is made up of supercilious hypocrites.

** Mississippi. Sarah Fowler, et al., of the Washington Post: "Mississippi, now experiencing the country's highest rate of positive tests, is emblematic of the pandemic's new reality. The virus is no longer principally an urban problem: It is present throughout every state, and those infected often don't know it, leading to what top public health officials call 'inherent community spread.'... The situation in Mississippi is unfolding as well in other largely rural parts of the country, including in Alabama, South Carolina and California's Central Valley, places where so much viral material is circulating that when people get infected, many are unsure when or how it happened -- so the outbreaks cannot be easily traced and contained." The article is free to nonsubscribers. ~~~

~~~ Jaclyn Peiser of the Washington Post: "Last week, schools in Corinth, Miss., welcomed back hundreds of students.... By early this week, the count [of positive Covid-19 tests] rose to six students and one staff member infected. Now, 116 students have been sent home to quarantine, a spokeswoman for the school district confirmed.... The district's superintendent said he has no plans to change course." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: Here's how these mandatory back-to-school orders are going to work. (1) Kids go to school. (2) Kids get sick. (3) Kids get quarantined. So roughly the same number of kids will be at home under the mandatory system (because they're sick and/or quarantined) as under an opt-in-or-out hybrid system, where some kids go to school & others school-at-home. The difference is that under the mandatory plan, many more of the kids at home will be sick than will those in the hybrid system. But mandatory schooling a great plan!

Ohio. Veronica Stracqualursi of CNN: "Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine announced on Thursday that he has tested positive for coronavirus. The announcement came shortly before DeWine, a Republican, was scheduled to meet with ... Donald Trump in Cleveland. DeWine was tested as part of the 'standard protocol' to greet Trump on the tarmac at Burke Lakefront Airport, the governor's office said in a statement. He is returning to Columbus, where he and his wife Fran will both be tested. DeWine tweeted Thursday that he's not experiencing symptoms at this time." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ ** Update. Randy Ludlow of the Columbus Dispatch: "A more sensitive coronavirus test has determined that Gov. Mike DeWine does not have COVID-19, his office announced Thursday night. A rapid-test before DeWine was scheduled to greet ... Donald Trump in Cleveland determined he was positive for the virus. A second test administered later in Columbus produced a different result. 'The PCR tests for the Governor, First Lady, and staff were run two times. They came back negative the first time and came back negative when they were run on a second diagnostic platform,' DeWine's office said.... DeWine and his wife plan to have another PCR -- polymerise chain reaction -- test on Saturday to confirm this evening's results."

** Trump & the Trumplodytes Continue Skewing the Census. Michael Wines of the New York Times: "A Census Bureau memorandum on creating a state-by-state estimate of people illegally in the country is raising new fears of a politicized census — this time involving the population totals that will be used to reapportion the House of Representatives next year. The memo, issued Monday, orders an internal task force to explore statistical methods of compiling an accurate estimate of noncitizens. It says the aim is to carry out President Trump's July mandate to exclude undocumented residents from population totals used to determine how many House seats each state is entitled to. The directive, which is being challenged in court, is widely seen as an effort to shift some House seats to Republicans during reapportionment next spring.... Some career Census Bureau employees say it's hard to see an innocent reason for the request.... The experts are convinced that the memorandum was written [outside the Bureau], by political appointees recently added to the bureau or by the Commerce Department, which oversees the agency."

Matthew Daly of the AP: "Lawmakers from both parties are calling on the U.S. Postal Service to immediately reverse operational changes that are causing delays in deliveries across the country just as big volume increases are expected for mail-in election voting. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer said Thursday that changes imposed by the new, Republican postmaster general 'threaten the timely delivery of mail -- including medicines for seniors, paychecks for workers and absentee ballots for voters -- that is essential to millions of Americans.' In separate letters, two Montana Republicans, Sen. Steve Daines and Rep. Greg Gianforte, also urged the Postal Service to reverse the July directive, which eliminates overtime for hundreds of thousands of postal workers and mandates that mail be kept until the next day if distribution centers are running late. And 84 House members -- including four Republicans -- signed yet another letter blasting the changes and urging an immediate reversal.... The flurry of letters came as the top Democrat on a Senate panel that oversees the Postal Service launched an investigation into the operational changes.″

Nikki Carvajal & Caroline Kelly of CNN: "... Donald Trump on Thursday issued an executive order that would ban the social media app TikTok and WeChat from operating in the US in 45 days if they are not sold by their Chinese-owned parent companies."

Trump's So Crazy That..., Ctd. Jim Sciutto of CNN: "Amid escalating tensions with both North Korea and Iran..., Donald Trump's advisers hesitated to give him military options fearing the President might accidentally take the US to war and deliberately informed their counterparts in both countries that they did not know what the President would do next, multiple former administration officials tell me.... Joseph Yun, who served as President Trump's special representative for North Korea policy until 2018..., recalled that during the worsening standoff with North Korea in 2017, the Pentagon hesitated to give the President a broad range of military options, concerned that he might indeed order a major military attack on the North. 'You had to be careful what options you gave him,' he said. 'We were being very cautious, because any options you put out there, he could use them.' That frustrated the White House. 'The White House viewed it as "Goddamnit! The President is looking for all options!'" Yun recalled. But the Pentagon, under Defense Secretary James Mattis at least, didn't budge."

Josh Rogin of the Washington Post: "The Trump foreign policy team is racing the clock to establish facts on the ground on a range of issues. One key aim: to make it as difficult as possible for a potential Biden administration to undo the Trump team's actions. In the most glaring example, the Trump administration is trying to smash the Iran deal into so many bits that a Biden administration would never be able to piece it back together. Although they would never admit it publicly, several administration officials have privately acknowledged that the current flurry of foreign policy activity is partly attributable to the realization that President Trump might lose [the November election]."

Edward Moreno of the Hill: "A New York State Supreme Court justice on Thursday denied a motion by President Trump asserting absolute immunity in a defamation lawsuit brought by E. Jean Carroll. The ruling allows the case to go forward without waiting for a decision from an appeals court on a separate similar suit.... The decision opens the door for Carroll's attorneys to collect DNA samples from the president, which they hope to compare to genetic material on the dress she said she wore during the incident."

All the Best People, Ctd. Kathryn Watson of CBS News: "Brian Hook, the administration's special representative for Iran, is leaving and will be replaced by Elliott Abrams, convicted of misleading Congress about the Iran-Contra affair. Abrams, who has been serving as the special representative for Venezuela, will continue in that position in addition to his new role. He pleaded guilty to lying to Congress in 1991 as a part of the Iran-Contra affair and was later pardoned by then-President George H.W. Bush. Abrams, who was assistant secretary of state at the time, admitted he had unlawfully withheld information from congressional committees in 1986 when he testified about the secret Contra supply network and his role in soliciting a $10 million contribution for anti-Sandinista rebels in Nicaragua. Abrams also served in the George W. Bush administration and was a [Mrs. McC: rabid] advocate of the Iraq War. (Mrs. McC PS: Guess who lobbied Poppy Bush for Abrams' pardon? Why, young Billy Barr.)

Derrick Taylor of the New York Times: "Michelle Obama said this week that she was experiencing 'low-grade depression' and seemed to suggest that it was because of a combination of quarantine, racial unrest and the Trump administration's response to the pandemic. In the second episode of her new podcast, which was released on Wednesday, Mrs. Obama ... told the Washington Post columnist Michele Norris that she has had low points recently. 'There have been periods throughout this quarantine where I just have felt too low,' Mrs. Obama said, adding that her sleep was off. 'You know, I've gone through those emotional highs and lows that I think everybody feels, where you just don't feel yourself. I know that I am dealing with some form of low-grade depression... Not just because of the quarantine, but because of the racial strife, and just seeing this administration, watching the hypocrisy of it, day in and day out, is dispiriting.'" ~~~

     ~~~ CNN has a story here, but it doesn't mention how depressing Obama finds Trump's hypocrisy. Mrs. McC: For any thinking person who's been paying at least a little attention to Trump's so-called presidency*, it's only natural to feel stressed and/or depressed -- even before the pandemic altered our lives.

Black Lives Matter. Nick Miroff of the Washington Post: "Department of Homeland Security acting secretary Chad Wolf on Thursday defended his handling of the protests in Portland, Ore., and bristled at criticism from his predecessors, telling a Senate panel that former DHS secretaries Tom Ridge and Michael Chertoff were 'dead wrong' when they raised concerns that the Trump administration's response had gone too far. Appearin before the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, Wolf said DHS officers and agents were deployed to Portland to protect federal buildings from destructive attacks and claimed they did not interfere with peaceful protests. He faulted city and state officials as cutting off cooperation with the Trump administration.... Wolf avoided placing blame on any one side or party, even when GOP senators appeared eager to make Democrats responsible for the unrest and to tie the Portland protests to rising crime in other cities." Mrs. McC: Perhaps he's hoping for a job in the Biden administration.

Louisiana. Kay Jones & Leah Asmelash of CNN: "A Black Louisiana man will spend the rest of his life in prison for stealing hedge clippers, after the Louisiana Supreme Court denied his request to have his sentence overturned last week. Fair Wayne Bryant, 62, was convicted in 1997 on one count of attempted simple burglary. In his appeal to the Second Circuit Court of Louisiana in 2018, his attorney, Peggy Sullivan, wrote that Bryant 'contends that his life sentence is unconstitutionally harsh and excessive.' Last week, though, the state Supreme Court disagreed -- with five justices choosing to uphold the life sentence. The lone dissenter in the decision was Supreme Court Chief Justice Bernette Johnson, who wrote that 'the sentence imposed is excessive and disproportionate to the offense the defendant committed.' Johnson is the only female and Black person on the court. The rest of the justices are White men."

Azi Paybarah of the New York Times: "The police have identified a suspect and prosecutors decided to charge him with first-degree murder in the fatal shooting of a man in June that took place during protests in Seattle seeking racial justice, the authorities said on Wednesday. The authorities said they were able to identify the gunman as Marcel Levon Long, 18, after collecting 'extremely high quality' surveillance video footage and statements from several eye witnesses. Mr. Long, whose last-known address was in Renton, Wash., about 20 minutes south of Seattle, remained at large as of Wednesday evening. The killing was among several shootings in and around a six-block area that protesters controlled for several weeks. The area was alternately called the Capitol Hill Organized Protest (CHOP), or the Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone (CHAZ). It was cleared out by the police on July 1." (Also linked yesterday.)

Elections 2020

** Jessie Balmert of the Cincinnati Enquirer: "Rapper Kanye West filed an independent bid for U.S. president in Ohio on Wednesday, aided by GOP operatives in the state. To qualify as an independent candidate for president, West will need 5,000 valid signatures of registered Ohio voters. His campaign submitted 14,886 signatures and other paperwork on Wednesday afternoon. Election officials will now check for possible errors or missing information.... Prominent Republican consultants have helped West's campaign in several states, lending credence to the claim that West's candidacy is meant to draw Democratic voters away from Vice President Joe Biden. West and his wife, celebrity Kim Kardashian West, have been high-profile supporters of Trump for years." ~~~

~~~ Daniel Bice of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: "Did West's team file his [Wisconsin] nomination papers by Tuesday's 5 p.m. deadline? Or did he miss it by a couple of crucial minutes?... Lane Ruhland, an attorney for ... Donald Trump who was assisting West's campaign, and an assistant arrived outside the state Elections Commission's office in Madison right at 5 p.m. The two rushed past a reporter and cameraman and into the building. One record of the incident, reviewed by the Journal Sentinel, had Ruhland's assistant entering the building about 20 seconds after 5 p.m. The pair then had to go to the commission's third-floor offices, using the building's notoriously slow elevator, and get their petitions stamped by state officials. From all appearances, it looks likes West's team was a minute or two late. A WISN-TV (Channel 12) reporter at the scene tweeted that Ruhland entered the commission's building 'just after 5.'... Milwaukee's top three African-American officials held a news conference Thursday to denounce the efforts to get West on the ballot, something they said was a cynical ploy by Trump officials to dupe Black voters." ~~~

~~~ Randall Lane of Forbes: "Amid various reports that Republican and Trump-affiliated political operatives are trying to get Kanye West onto various state ballots for November's presidential election, the billionaire rap superstar indicated, in an interview by text today, that he was in fact running to siphon votes from the presumptive Democratic nominee, Joe Biden. Asked about that directly, West said that rather than running for president, he was 'walking,' quickly adding that he was 'walking . . . to win.' When it was pointed out that he actually can't win in 2020 -- that he won't be on enough ballots to yield 270 electoral votes, and that a write-in campaign isn't feasible -- and thus was serving as a spoiler, West replied: 'I'm not going to argue with you. Jesus is King.'" ~~~

~~~ Ben Collins & Kevin Collier of NBC News: "Facebook removed hundreds of accounts on Thursday from a foreign troll farm posing as African-Americans in support of Donald Trump and QAnon supporters. It also removed hundreds of fake accounts linked to conservative media outlet The Epoch Times that pushed pro-Trump conspiracy theories about coronavirus and protests in the U.S. Facebook took down the accounts as part of its enforcement against coordinated inauthentic behavior, which is the use of fake accounts to inflate the reach of content or products on social media. The foreign pro-Trump troll farm was based in Romania and pushed content on Instagram under names like 'BlackPeopleVoteForTrump' and on Facebook under 'We Love Our President.'"

Donald's Dumbest Diss of the Day. Lisa Lambert of Reuters: "... Donald Trump asserted on Thursday that ... Joe Biden, is 'against God,' even though Biden frequently discusses how his Catholic faith has guided his actions as a public official.... After addressing a small crowd at a Cleveland airport on Thursday, Trump went on to deliver a campaign-style speech at a Whirlpool plant in Clyde, Ohio. 'He's following the radical-left agenda: take away your guns, destroy your Second Amendment, no religion, no anything, hurt the Bible, hurt God,' Trump said about Biden in his Cleveland speech. 'He's against God.'" Mrs. McC: Yeah, Donnie, I've heard Joe really hates those Two Corinthians. Idiot. (BTW, that link to the two Corinthians story is interesting. I don't think I was aware Donnie had Two Excuses for Two Corinthians, one of which was to falsely blame his dear, departed mother.) I heard a clip of Trump's claim; he also said Biden was "against energy." What does that even mean? ~~~

~~~ Update. Sarah Mucha of CNN: "... Joe Biden on Thursday countered ... Donald Trump's baseless attack that he, a practicing Roman Catholic, would somehow 'hurt God.'... 'Like so many people, my faith has been the bedrock foundation of my life: it's provided me comfort in moments of loss and tragedy, it's kept me grounded and humbled in times of triumph and joy. And in this moment of darkness for our country -- of pain, of division, and of sickness for so many Americans -- my faith has been a guiding light for me and a constant reminder of the fundamental dignity and humanity that God has bestowed upon all of us,' Biden said. 'For President Trump to attack my faith is shameful. It's beneath the office he holds and it's beneath the dignity the American people so rightly expect and deserve from their leaders,' he added.... Biden has long spoken publicly about the role his faith has played in his life, particularly during moments of tragedy." ~~~

     ~~~ Biden's full statement, published on Medium, is here. ~~~

~~~ ** S.V. Date of the Huffington Post: "Air Force cargo jets hauled in armored SUVs and White House advance teams spent weeks preparing a remote oil rig site for a presidential visit, at a total cost of millions, so that Donald Trump could get on stage and attack Democratic rival Joe Biden. And who picked up tab? If you pay U.S. taxes, you did. 'I don't think Biden is going to do too well in Texas. He's already written it off. It's gone,' Trump said, a stack of oil barrels arranged behind him for the camera shot. 'If these far-left politicians ever get into power, they will demolish not only your industry, but the entire U.S. economy.' Last week's foray into partisan politics at an 'official' event was, for Trump, hardly unusual. More than any president in modern times, he has openly conscripted American taxpayers into underwriting the costs of his reelection campaign, from travel aboard $273,000-an-hour Air Force 1 to the dozens of staff who arrange his trips to the salaries of his own White House employees who regularly ― and illegally ― engage in politics on his behalf. And on Wednesday, Trump told Fox News he was 'thinking about' holding his renomination speech later this month on the South Lawn of the White House ― which is government property." ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: This is exactly what I was thinking yesterday when Trump made his attacks on Joe Biden at the Whirlpool plant in Ohio. Everything Trump does is corrupt.

Orion Rummler of Axios: "The Commission on Presidential Debates on Thursday denied the Trump campaign's request to add a fourth debate in the first week of September or move up one of the existing debates in order to get ahead of an expected surge in early voting.... Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden are set to debate on Sept. 29 in Cleveland, Oct. 15 in Miami, and Oct. 22 in Nashville."

Colby Itkowitz & Elise Viebeck of the Washington Post: "After a bruising and bitter campaign to replace retiring Sen. Lamar Alexander, Bill Hagerty ... fended off a challenge from the right questioning his loyalty to the president to win the Tennessee Senate GOP primary on Thursday, according to the Associated Press. Hagerty, Trump's former ambassador to Japan..., was on Trump's transition team after serving as a high-dollar fundraiser for his campaign. He has received the president's endorsement, and many national Republicans quickly lined up behind him. But he faced a challenge from Nashville surgeon Manny Sethi, who gained traction by challenging Hagerty's conservative credentials, pointing to his early support for Jeb Bush in 2016 and his prominent role on Mitt Romney's 2012 presidential campaign." A Politico story is here.

Letitia Get Your GunNuts. Danny Hakim of the New York Times: "New York's attorney general ... [brought a lawsuit against] the National Rifle Association on Thursday, arguing ... that years of runaway corruption and misspending demanded the dissolution of the nation's most powerful gun rights lobby. While the legal confrontation could take years to play out, it constitutes yet another deep blow to an organization whose legendary political clout has been diminished by infighting and financial distress. The suit was swiftly followed by two others: The N.R.A. struck back with a federal lawsuit against the office of the attorney general, Letitia James, claiming her action was politically motivated and violated the organization's First Amendment rights. And the attorney general of Washington, D.C., filed suit against the N.R.A. and its charitable foundation, alleging that the N.R.A. misused millions of dollars of the foundation's funds. Ms. James -- who has special jurisdiction over the N.R.A. because it was chartered as a nonprofit in New York 148 years ago -- also sued four current or former N.R.A. leaders, seeking tens of millions of dollars in restitution." An NPR story is here.

Zack Budryk of the Hill: "Liberty University President Jerry Falwell Jr. addressed a now-deleted Instagram post depicting his pants unzipped and his arm around a woman, apologizing but saying the photo was 'just in good fun.' 'I've apologized to everybody,' Falwell said in an interview with WLNI 105.9FM, a Lynchburg, Va.-area radio station. 'And I've promised my kids I'm going to try to be a good boy from here on out.'" BUT WAIT! Jerry has an excuse! "He told the radio station the woman in the photo, seemingly taken on a yacht, was his 'wife's assistant' and that he regretted involving her. 'She's pregnant, so she couldn't get her pants up,' he told the radio station. 'And I had on pair of jeans that I hadn't worn in a long time so I couldn't get mine zipped either. And so I just put my belly out like hers.'" Mrs. McC: So Jerry was really showing empathy for the woman -- walking a mile in her pants, as Jesus might say. Nothing whatsoever untoward going on! I wonder how many ole Moral Majority heard from his namesake that the dog ate his homework. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

~~~ Michael Stratford of Politico: "A top House Republican with ties to Liberty University is calling on Jerry Falwell Jr. to step down as president of the large Christian school in the wake of a viral photo that showed him vacationing on a yacht with his pants unzipped, holding a drink, and with his arm around a woman. 'Jerry Falwell Jr's ongoing behavior is appalling,' Rep. Mark Walker, the vice chair of the House Republican Conference, wrote in a tweet on Thursday that called for Falwell's resignation."

Way Beyond the Beltway

Saudi Arabia/Canada. Ben Hubbard & Mark Mazzetti of the New York Times: "A former top Saudi intelligence official publicly accused Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman on Thursday of sending a team of agents to Canada to kill him. The allegation came in a lawsuit filed in United States federal court on Thursday by the former official, Saad Aljabri, who has accused Prince Mohammed of seeking to silence or kill him to stop him from undermining the prince's relationship with the United States and the Trump administration. The suit marks the first time a former senior Saudi official has publicly accused Prince Mohammed, the kingdom's de facto ruler, of carrying out a widespread and sometimes violent campaign to silence critical voices.... Mr. Aljabri's suit contained scant evidence to support its charges, including about the alleged Canada operation, nor could they be independently verified by The New York Times."

Moira Warburton of Reuters: "The last fully intact ice shelf in the Canadian Arctic has collapsed, losing more than 40% of its area in just two days at the end of July, researchers said on Thursday. The Milne Ice Shelf is at the fringe of Ellesmere Island, in the sparsely populated northern Canadian territory of Nunavut.... The shelf's area shrank by about 80 square kilometers. By comparison, the island of Manhattan in New York covers roughly 60 square kilometers." --s

This Month in History

** A Man with a Plan. Fred Kaplan of Slate: "Seventy-five years ago [Thursday], on Aug. 6, 1945, the world erupted into a new era. A single B-29 Superfortress airplane, nicknamed Enola Gay, dropped a new kind of weapon -- an atomic bomb — on the Japanese city of Hiroshima.... Along with a second A-bomb dropped on Nagasaki three days later, it forced the Japanese to surrender, ending the Second World War.... Declassified archival documents are pretty clear: There never was a decision to drop either bomb. Instead, there was a decision to build an atom bomb. Once it was ready, it was used; once the second bomb was ready, it too was used. From the outset, this was the plan -- an automatic sequence from building the bomb to testing it to dropping it on the enemy. The only decision [Harry] Truman made was not to alter the plan."

Michael Rosenwald of the Washington Post: "In the fall of 1945..., New Yorker writer John Hersey ... [and] his editor ... William Shawn ... suspected that the U.S. government's wartime propaganda machine had covered up the human suffering of the atomic bombs that leveled Hiroshima and Nagasaki 75 years ago this month. Pictures from Japan showed destroyed buildings and decimated neighborhoods, but little was known about the human toll, especially from radiation. The U.S. government controlled access to the bomb sites. The War Department quietly asked American news outlets to limit information about nuclear aspects of the attacks. When reports of widespread suffering from radiation began to emerge from international journalists and Japanese officials, the American government downplayed it all as propaganda. One general even told Congress that dying from radiation was, in fact, 'a very pleasant way to die.'... [Hersey] traveled to Hiroshima and spent two weeks reporting the misery from the point of view of six survivors. His 30,000-word account, told in a harrowing narrative using the tools of a novelist, took up an entire issue of the New Yorker in August 1946, stirring outrage throughout the world.... Hersey's story, later published as a book, has been celebrated as a journalistic and historical masterpiece. A panel of journalists and critics ranked it first on a list of the top 100 works of journalism in the 20th century.... Many historians and foreign policy experts say its impact was profound enough to help prevent future use of nuclear weapons." (Also linked yesterday.)

Motoko Rich of the New York Times: "On the morning of Aug. 6, 1945, Setsuko Thurlow, then just 13, reported for her first full day of duty in Japan's increasingly desperate war effort. Together with 30 other girls, she had been recruited to assist with code breaking at a military office in Hiroshima.... At 8:15 a.m., a blast detonated over the city.... She was then thrown into the air, losing consciousness. When she came to, it was dark and silent, and she was pinned under parts of the wooden building. 'I'm going to die here,' she thought to herself.... Ms. Thurlow survived, but the attack would shape the rest of a life spent fighting for the abolition of nuclear weapons -- work for which she jointly accepted a Nobel Peace Prize in 2017.... In advance of the 75th anniversary of the dropping of the two bombs, Ms. Thurlow wrote to 197 heads of state asking them to ratify the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, which was formally adopted at the United Nations three years ago. The world's nine nuclear-armed countries have refused to sign the treaty on the grounds the weapons are necessary for deterrence." (Also linked yesterday.)"

News Lede

New York Times: Breaking @ 1pm ET: "An Indian jetliner with more than 180 passengers skidded off a wet runway in southern India Friday night and split in half, and Indian media said three people were killed and dozens injured. The Air India Express flight was returning from Dubai to Kozhikode, a city in India's Kerala state. Indian media showed injured passengers lying in the hallways of a hospital. According to news reports, a pilot and two passengers died, and 30 to 40 passengers were hospitalized with injuries."

The Commentariat -- August 6, 2020

Late Morning/Afternoon Update:

The Washington Post's live updates of coronavirus developments Thursday are here.

Veronica Stracqualursi of CNN: "Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine announced on Thursday that he has tested positive for coronavirus. The announcement came shortly before DeWine, a Republican, was scheduled to meet with ... Donald Trump in Cleveland. DeWine was tested as part of the 'standard protocol' to greet Trump on the tarmac at Burke Lakefront Airport, the governor's office said in a statement. He is returning to Columbus, where he and his wife Fran will both be tested. DeWine tweeted Thursday that he's not experiencing symptoms at this time."

Good-ish News. Jeff Cox of CNBC: "Weekly jobless claims hit their lowest level of the pandemic area, totaling 1.186 million last week, well below Wall Street expectations. Economists surveyed by Dow Jones had been looking for 1.42 million. The level for the week ended Aug. 1 represented a drop of 249,000 from the previous period. Amid worries that the employment picture was faltering after two record-breaking months of job creation, the claims number indicates some momentum. Continuing claims, or those who have collected benefits for two straight weeks, dropped by 844,000 to 16.1 million."

Zack Budryk of the Hill: "Liberty University President Jerry Falwell Jr. addressed a now-deleted Instagram post depicting his pants unzipped and his arm around a woman, apologizing but saying the photo was 'just in good fun.' 'I've apologized to everybody,' Falwell said in an interview with WLNI 105.9FM, a Lynchburg, Va.-area radio station. 'And I've promised my kids I'm going to try to be a good boy from here on out.'" BUT WAIT! Jerry has an excuse! "He told the radio station the woman in the photo, seemingly taken on a yacht, was his 'wife's assistant' and that he regretted involving her. 'She's pregnant, so she couldn't get her pants up,' he told the radio station. 'And I had on pair of jeans that I hadn't worn in a long time so I couldn't get mine zipped either. And so I just put my belly out like hers.'" Mrs. McC: So Jerry was really showing empathy for the woman -- walking a mile in her pants, as Jesus might say. Nothing whatsoever untoward going on!

Mississippi. Jaclyn Peiser of the Washington Post: "Last week, schools in Corinth, Miss., welcomed back hundreds of students.... By early this week, the count [of positive Covid-19 tests] rose to six students and one staff member infected. Now, 116 students have been sent home to quarantine, a spokeswoman for the school district confirmed.... The district's superintendent said he has no plans to change course." ~~~

~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: Here's how these mandatory back-to-school orders are going to work. (1) Kids go to school. (2) Kids get sick. (3) Kids get quarantined. So roughly the same number of kids will be at home under the mandatory system (because they're sick and/or quarantined) as under an opt-in-or-out hybrid system, where some kids go to school & others school-at-home. The difference is that under the mandatory plan, many more of the kids at home will be sick than will those in the hybrid system. But mandatory schooling a great plan!

And the Winners Are .... Reed Abelson of the New York Times: "The nation’s leading health insurers are experiencing an embarrassment of profits. Some of the largest companies, including Anthem, Humana and UnitedHealth Group, are reporting second-quarter earnings that are double what they were a year ago. And while insurance profits are capped under the Affordable Care Act, with the requirement that consumers should benefit from such excesses in the form of rebates, no one should expect an immediate windfall.... The Health and Human Services Department advised companies to consider speeding up rebates, and on Tuesday suggested that they reduce premiums...." Abelson goes on to describe some of the potential political consequences of the insurance companies' windfalls.

Azi Paybarah of the New York Times: "The police have identified a suspect and prosecutors decided to charge him with first-degree murder in the fatal shooting of a man in June that took place during protests in Seattle seeking racial justice, the authorities said on Wednesday. The authorities said they were able to identify the gunman as Marcel Levon Long, 18, after collecting 'extremely high quality' surveillance video footage and statements from several eye witnesses. Mr. Long, whose last-known address was in Renton, Wash., about 20 minutes south of Seattle, remained at large as of Wednesday evening. The killing was among several shootings in and around a six-block area that protesters controlled for several weeks. The area was alternately called the Capitol Hill Organized Protest (CHOP), or the Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone (CHAZ). It was cleared out by the police on July 1."

Michael Rosenwald of the Washington Post: "In the fall of 1945..., New Yorker writer John Hersey ... [and] his editor ... William Shawn ... suspected that the U.S. government's wartime propaganda machine had covered up the human suffering of the atomic bombs that leveled Hiroshima and Nagasaki 75 years ago this month. Pictures from Japan showed destroyed buildings and decimated neighborhoods, but little was known about the human toll, especially from radiation. The U.S. government controlled access to the bomb sites. The War Department quietly asked American news outlets to limit information about nuclear aspects of the attacks. When reports of widespread suffering from radiation began to emerge from international journalists and Japanese officials, the American government downplayed it all as propaganda. One general even told Congress that dying from radiation was, in fact, 'a very pleasant way to die.'... [Hersey] traveled to Hiroshima and spent two weeks reporting the misery from the point of view of six survivors. His 30,000-word account, told in a harrowing narrative using the tools of a novelist, took up an entire issue of the New Yorker in August 1946, stirring outrage throughout the world.... Hersey's story, later published as a book, has been celebrated as a journalistic and historical masterpiece. A panel of journalists and critics ranked it first on a list of the top 100 works of journalism in the 20th century.... Many historians and foreign policy experts say its impact was profound enough to help prevent future use of nuclear weapons." ~~~

~~~ Motoko Rich of the New York Times: "On the morning of Aug. 6, 1945, Setsuko Thurlow, then just 13, reported for her first full day of duty in Japan's increasingly desperate war effort. Together with 30 other girls, she had been recruited to assist with code breaking at a military office in Hiroshima.... At 8:15 a.m., a blast detonated over the city.... She was then thrown into the air, losing consciousness. When she came to, it was dark and silent, and she was pinned under parts of the wooden building. 'I'm going to die here,' she thought to herself.... Ms. Thurlow survived, but the attack would shape the rest of a life spent fighting for the abolition of nuclear weapons -- work for which she jointly accepted a Nobel Peace Prize in 2017.... In advance of the 75th anniversary of the dropping of the two bombs, Ms. Thurlow wrote to 197 heads of state asking them to ratify the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, which was formally adopted at the United Nations three years ago. The world's nine nuclear-armed countries have refused to sign the treaty on the grounds the weapons are necessary for deterrence."

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The Trumpidemic, Ctd.

** The Worst Country in the World (Well, Almost). David Leonhardt of the New York Times: "Nearly every country has struggled to contain the coronavirus and made mistakes along the way.... Yet ... one country stands alone, as the only affluent nation to have suffered a severe, sustained outbreak for more than four months: the United States.... When it comes to the virus, the United States has come to resemble not the wealthy and powerful countries to which it is often compared but instead to far poorer countries, like Brazil, Peru and South Africa, or those with large migrant populations, like Bahrain and Oman.... The New York Times set out to reconstruct the unique failure of the United States, through numerous interviews with scientists and public health experts around the world.... Together, the national skepticism toward collective action and the Trump administration's scattered response to the virus have contributed to several specific failures and missed opportunities, Times reporting shows: a lack of effective travel restrictions; repeated breakdowns in testing; fusing advice about masks; a misunderstanding of the relationship between the virus and the economy; and inconsistent messages from public officials."

David Jackson of USA Today: "... Donald Trump defended his call to reopen schools this fall by claiming children are 'virtually immune' from COVID-19 and that the coronavirus will 'go away' soon. 'This thing's going away -- It will go away like things go away,' Trump said during a wide-ranging interview on 'Fox & Friends' a day after authorities reported more than 1,000 Americans died of the virus. Children can catch -- and pass on -- the coronavirus, doctors have said. The National Education Association has cited that in arguing that reopening schools this fall may maintain spikes in the spread of the virus.... 'This is the magical thinking that has misled us down the road to 155,000 deaths,' said Jonathan Reiner, professor of medicine at George Washington University." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

~~~ ** Update. Heather Kelly of the Washington Post: "Breaking: Twitter said it will require President Trump's campaign account to remove a post containing coronavirus misinformation, banning the account from tweeting until it does so. Team Trump's tweet of a video clip from a Fox News interview -- in which President Trump said that children are 'almost immune' from covid-19 -- violates the site's rules against misinformation, the company said. Twitter hid the post and said the account will not be able to tweet again until it deletes it, although it can appeal the decision. Twitter spokeswoman Liz Kelley said the tweet 'is in violation of the Twitter Rules on COVID-19 misinformation. The account owner will be required to remove the Tweet before they can Tweet again.' Facebook on Wednesday said it removed President Trump's post of a video clip from a Fox News interview in which he said that children are 'almost immune' from covid-19, marking the company's increasingly tough stance on political speech amid heightened pressure.... This is the first time Facebook has taken down a post from the president for violating the company's policies on covid misinformation." The New York Times' story is here. ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. Bea McCrabbie: This is remarkable. Social media companies are taking down remarks by the POTUS* because they must: what he says is not only untrue, it poses a danger to Americans. For obvious reasons, these for-profit corporations try to keep out of politics. But they can't. They have imposed minimal ethical standards that Donald Trump cannot meet. That's who we have for a president*: a dangerous liar with a code of ethics lower than Mark Zuckerberg's. Corporations are people, my friend.

Uncle Donald Tells Another Fractured Fairy Tale. Alice Ollstein of Politico: "... Donald Trump on Wednesday praised Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey's handling of the pandemic -- even as the virus tears through the state at an alarming rate. 'Arizona's record in reducing the spread of the virus while maintaining hospital capacity and allowing society to continue functioning and functioning very nicely, very successfully, is an example that shows how our path forward can work in other states,' Trump said at a White House briefing, calling Arizona 'a state that is a model for applying a science-based approach to the decreasing cases and hospitalizations without implementing a punishing lockdown.'... Cases have decreased 24 percent in the last two weeks, according to the Covid Exit Strategy, but the numbers are still high. The state has the fifth-highest number of current hospitalizations in the country, the fifth-highes number of new cases in the last week, and the fifth-highest rate of tests that come back positive. Arizona has a test positivity rate of about 18 percent -- far higher than the 5 percent that the CDC says indicates sufficient testing and control of the virus. It's an improvement, however, on the nearly 25 percent test positivity rate the state was reporting two weeks ago."

Amy Gardner & Jacob Bogage of the Washington Post: "Democratic leaders on Capitol Hill told negotiators for President Trump on Wednesday that preserving funding for the U.S. Postal Service and removing new rules that have slowed delivery times are essential ingredients of a new coronavirus relief bill in a year when millions of Americans plan to vote by mail. 'Elections are sacred,' Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.), told reporters after a meeting with Postmaster General Louis DeJoy. 'To do cutbacks when ballots, all ballots, have to be counted -- we can't say, "Oh, we'll get 94 percent of them." It's insufficient.' Schumer said he and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) told DeJoy, along with Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, that their demands regarding the Postal Service are necessary to striking a deal on broader relief bill that may also include new unemployment benefits and a payroll tax cut. 'It was a heated discussion,' Schumer said...." ~~~

~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), speaking on CNN today, said there were six chairs in the negotiating room: chairs for Pelosi, Schumer, Mnuchin, Meadows -- and Mitch McConnell & Kevin McCarthy. The chairs for McConnell & McCarthy remained empty. Durbin wondered (rhetorically) what-all McConnell & McCarthy had to do that was more important than getting relief to millions of coronavirus victims.

Shia Kapos of Politico: "Days after delivering a presentation on office safety in dealing with Covid-19, Illinois Congressman Rodney Davis, the top Republican on the House Administration Committee, announced he has tested positive for the virus. In a letter posted on his website, Davis said he tested positive Wednesday morning. He submitted to the test after one of his twice-daily temperature checks 'clocked in at 99 degrees Fahrenheit, which is higher than normal for me,' he wrote."

Matthew Perrone, et al., of the AP: "U.S. testing for the coronavirus is dropping even as infections remain high and the death toll rises by more than 1,000 a day, a worrisome trend that officials attribute largely to Americans getting discouraged over having to wait hours to get a test and days or weeks to learn the results. An Associated Press analysis found that the number of tests per day slid 3.6% over the past two weeks to 750,000, with the count falling in 22 states. That includes places like Alabama, Mississippi, Missouri and Iowa where the percentage of positive tests is high and continuing to climb, an indicator that the virus is still spreading uncontrolled."

Neil Vigdor of the New York Times: "Federal health authorities issued a formal warning on Wednesday about the dangers of drinking hand sanitizer and alerted poison control centers across the nation to be on the lookout for cases of methanol toxicity after four people died and nearly a dozen became ill. From May 1 to June 30, 15 people in Arizona and New Mexico were treated for poisoning after they swallowed alcohol-based hand sanitizer, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said.... It was not immediately clear if any of the people who were poisoned drank the hand sanitizer for its disinfectant properties. The C.D.C. said some adults had consumed it for its alcohol content." Mrs. McC: IOW, they were alcoholics & not necessarily Trumpbots.

Georgia. Molly Hensley-Clancy & Caroline O'Donovan of BuzzFeed News: "Behind a viral photo of a crowded hallway at a high school in Georgia, a potentially dire situation is brewing. Students, teachers, and parents fear the Paulding County school's rushed reopening plans may be spiraling out of control just two days after students -- who said they were told they could face expulsion for remaining home -- returned to class despite reports of positive coronavirus cases among students and staff. North Paulding High School, about an hour outside Atlanta, reopened Monday despite an outbreak among members of its high school football team, many of whom, a Facebook video shows, worked out together in a crowded indoor gym last week as part of a weightlifting fundraiser.... And multiple teachers at North Paulding say there are positive tests among school staff, including a staff member who came into contact with most teachers at the school while exhibiting symptoms last week. Teachers and staff said the school won't confirm coronavirus infections among district employees, citing privacy reasons." ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: If you are a parent thinking of sending your child to school soon, you might want to click on this story, which includes the photo of mostly-maskless students crowding a hallway at what appears to be a high school. Update: The CBS News story linked next IDs the school as North Paulding High. ~~~

~~~ CBS News/AP: "Two suburban Atlanta school districts that began in-person classes Monday with mask-optional policies face more questions about COVID-19 safety protocols after on-campus pictures showed students packed shoulder-to-shoulder. The day after school resumed, one school announced a second grader tested positive for the coronavirus, forcing the child's teacher and classmates to be sent home to quarantine for two weeks, CBS affiliate WGCL-TV reports. In Cherokee County, dozens of seniors gathered at two of the district's six high schools to take traditional first-day-of-school senior photos, with students squeezing together in black outfits. No one in pictures at Sequoyah High School in Hickory Flat or Etowah High School in Woodstock wore a mask.... Georgia hit a new weekly high for COVID-19 deaths on Tuesday, having averaged 51 confirmed deaths from the respiratory illness over the last seven days." ~~~

~~~ Illinois. Justine Coleman of the Hill: "Chicago Public Schools (CPS), the third-largest school district in the country, will retreat from its previous proposal for limited in-person classes and instead conduct online classes starting in September. Online instruction will continue through at least the first quarter of the school year, which ends Nov. 6, CPS CEO Janice Jackson said during a press conference Wednesday. Jackson said the decision was made after getting feedback from teachers and parents, including in a series of virtual town halls last week, where parents expressed concern." A Chicago Tribune story is here. ~~~

~~~ North Carolina. Ella Torres of ABC News: "Fourth graders at a school in North Carolina have been asked to quarantine for 14 days after a student there tested positive for COVID-19. The school, a Thales Academy in Wake Forest, said it was notified on Monday that the student became infected after having contact with an infected family member.... Thales Academy, a network of private non-sectarian community schools with eight locations in North Carolina, made the news last week after Vice President Mike Pence and Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos visited a classroom and applauded the school for reopening. Pence and DeVos visited a campus in Apex, not Wake Forest." ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: Within the next month or so, there will be stories like those above for every state that doesn't ban face-to-face teaching. Check your local newspaper.

The Lamborghini Factory Protection Program. Azi Paybarah of the New York Times: "A Texas man this week became the second person in less than two weeks to be accused by federal prosecutors of using Covid-19 relief money to buy a Lamborghini. The man, Lee Price III, 29, of Houston, received more than $1.6 million under the federal Paycheck Protection Program after he submitted five applications in May and June with fraudulent information to numerous banks claiming to employ dozens of people, prosecutors in Houston said on Tuesday.... Mr. Price was arrested Tuesday and charged with wire fraud, bank fraud, making false statements to financial institutions and engaging in prohibited monetary transactions, the prosecutors said." Mrs. McC: Somebody check the Treasury Department parking lot & find out what kind of vehicle Steve Mnuchin is driving to work these days. (Also linked yesterday.)

Defense Secretary, Others Walk Back Another Trump Lie. Lolita Baldor & Deb Riechmann of the AP: "Defense Secretary Mark Esper said Wednesday that most people think the deadly explosion Tuesday in Lebanon that killed at least 100 people was an accident, contradicting ... Donald Trump, who said American generals told him it was likely caused by a bomb. Esper said the U.S. was still gathering information about the explosion, but said most believe 'it was an accident, as reported.' On Tuesday, Trump said, 'It looks like a terrible attack.... I met with some of our great generals and they just seem to feel that it was. This was not a -- some kind of a manufacturing explosion type of a event. ... They seem to think it was an attack. It was a bomb of some kind, yes.' From the outset, U.S. officials have said that they did not know the cause of the initial fire and explosions that set off the larger blast. But they say they do believe the reports out of Lebanon claiming a large stockpile of ammonium nitrate left over from a seizure is what exploded. Officials on Wednesday couldn't identify any 'generals' who delivered any such Beirut message to the president. And while none would comment publicly, some noted that defense and intelligence officials didn't have enough information about the explosion to make any statement about the cause on Tuesday evening.... Esper said the U.S. was preparing to provide humanitarian aid and medical or other supplies to the Lebanese people. The U.S. Embassy in Beirut said at least one American citizen was killed and several more were injured in the explosion." Emphasis added. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

~~~ This is an update of the report linked above. Lolita Baldor & Deb Riechmann of the AP: "... Donald Trump on Wednesday continued to suggest that the massive explosion that killed at least 135 people in Lebanon might have been a deliberate attack, even as officials in Lebanon and his own defense chief said it's believed to have be an accident. 'Whatever happened, it's terrible, but they don't really know what it is,' Trump insisted.... 'We're looking into it very strongly right now.... But whether it was a bomb intentionally set off -- it ended up being a bomb,' he said.'... While [no U.S. officials] would comment publicly, some noted that defense and intelligence officials didn't have enough information about the explosion to make any statement about the cause on Tuesday evening." ~~~

~~~ Julian Borger of the Guardian: "Donald Trump's unsubstantiated claim [Tuesday] that the massive explosion in Beirut was a bomb attack has revived fears of the president's potential to foment international crises.... The White House gave no guidance on Wednesday as to whether Trump had received a top secret intelligence briefing, had seen something on Twitter -- or just made up the claim and imagined a conversation with US generals. On Wednesday the president said the question was still unanswered. On Wednesday, the president said ... 'I can tell you whatever happened, it's terrible. But they don't really know what it is. Nobody knows yet.... How can you say accident? Somebody ... left some terrible explosive-type devices and things around perhaps. Perhaps it was that. Perhaps it was an attack. I don't think anybody can say right now. I've heard it both ways.'... It has become the norm for US officials to quietly correct the thicket of mistakes and lies embedded in Trump's daily discourse, but applied to a fragile and volatile corner of the world, the stakes are higher."

** David Enrich, et al., of the New York Times: "The New York prosecutors who are seeking President Trump's tax records have also subpoenaed his longtime lender, a sign that their criminal investigation into Mr. Trump's business practices is more wide-ranging than previously known. The Manhattan district attorney's office issued the subpoena last year to Deutsche Bank, which has been Mr. Trump's primary lender since the late 1990s, seeking financial records that he and his company provided to the bank, according to four people familiar with the inquiry.... The subpoena to Deutsche Bank sought documents on various topics related to Mr. Trump and his company, including any materials that might point to possible fraud, according to two people briefed on the subpoena's contents.... Deutsche Bank complied with the subpoena. Over a period of months last year, it provided [Manhattan DA Cyrus] Vance [Jr.]'s office with detailed records, including financial statements and other materials that Mr. Trump had provided to the bank as he sought loans, according to two of the people familiar with the inquiry." Emphasis added. The Guardian has a summary report here. Mrs. McC: Worth noting: There's nothing Bill Barr can do to curb the Manhattan DA's investigation.

Sorry, Lindsey. Kyle Cheney of Politico: "Former Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates told lawmakers Wednesday that neither President Barack Obama nor Vice President Joe Biden attempted to influence the FBI's investigation of incoming national security adviser Michael Flynn during a January 2017 Oval Office meeting with top national security officials. 'During the meeting, the president, the vice president, the national security adviser did not attempt to any way to direct or influence any investigation,' Yates said during sworn testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee. The testimony counters repeated insinuations by ... Donald Trump and his top allies that Obama and Biden took a leading role in steering an investigation into the incoming national security adviser, a charge Trump has used to claim he was the victim of an unspecified crime he has dubbed 'Obamagate.' Trump has provided no evidence to support the claim, and Yates said under oath that Obama's only interest in Flynn was to ensure that it was safe to share sensitive national security information with the incoming administration.... 'General Flynn had essentially neutered the U.S. government's message of deterrence,' Yates said." Read on. Yates knocked down one fake GOP talking point after another. Mrs. McC: I guess they'll have to conclude that "the woman" is lying. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

~~~ The Washington Post report, by Devlin Barrett, is here. "Trump attacked Yates before the hearing began, tweeting that she 'has zero credibility' and declaring her 'part of the greatest political crime of the Century, and ObamaBiden knew EVERYTHING!'... Seeking to use Yates to discredit the FBI's investigations around the 2016 Trump campaign, Republicans instead got a spirited defense of that work as ethical and necessary, even though she was critical of some of the FBI's moves at the time." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

~~~ Dana Milbank of the Washington Post: "Nearly 5 million covid-19 cases in the United States. One-hundred fifty-seven thousand dead. Thirty-two million out of work. Tens of millions facing eviction, foreclosure and hunger. What do we do now? Simple: We talk about Hillary Clinton's emails!... As the Trump administration drifts and millions lose their unemployment benefits, the Senate Judiciary Committee staged yet another hearing Wednesday about the Steele dossier, Carter Page, George Papadopoulos, Peter Strzok, Andrew McCabe, Bruce Ohr, Fusion GPS and other golden oldies [like Anthony Weiner's laptop & Bill Clinton's meeting with Loretta Lynch]."

CIA Ignores Stupidest Senator. Andrew Desiderio & Natasha Bertrand of Politico: "The Central Intelligence Agency has ignored requests to brief senators as part of a Republican-led investigation that targets presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden and his son Hunter, according to sources familiar with the matter and an email described to Politico. The spy agency's resistance comes amid intelligence officials' deep skepticism of the probe, which is being led by Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) and focuses on Hunter Biden's role on the board of the Ukrainian energy company Burisma. Democrats argue the investigation is based on Russian disinformation aimed at tipping the outcome of the election toward ... Donald Trump -- a charge Johnson rejects. Some intelligence officials similarly fear the Biden probe will only boost the Russian intervention. And while the motivations of the CIA are not certain, Johnson is considered 'toxic' by some members of the intelligence community, according to people with direct knowledge of the dynamic. The agency's reluctance to engage with the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, which Johnson chairs, underscores the intelligence community's doubts about the probe."

Brett Samuels of the Hill: "President Trump on Wednesday criticized former President Barack Obama's eulogy of the late Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.).... 'I thought it was a terrible speech. It was an angry speech. It showed this anger there that people don't see,' Trump said on 'Fox & Friends' when asked if he agreed the eulogy 'seemed like a campaign speech.' 'He lost control. He's been really hit very hard by both sides for that speech. That speech was ridiculous,' Trump said. Trump said he felt the eulogy was 'totally inappropriate' and spoke at length about how he has undone much of Obama's agenda." Mrs. McC: That's funny, because the family and friends of John Lewis who attended his funeral service gave President Obama a standing O for the very remarks Trump is criticizing. Video of President Obama's eulogy is here. You can decide for yourself whether or not you agree with Donald Trump -- or maybe suspect he is projecting his own angey behavior & constant inappropriate remarks about everything.

Pravda for Pence. Annie Karni of the New York Times: "When Vice President Mike Pence traveled to an event in Florida on Wednesday, he was not accompanied on his plane by a member of the White House press corps, as is typically the case. Instead, seated on Air Force Two in a space normally reserved for a White House reporter was the vice president for communications at the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank that has helped the Trump administration fill jobs throughout the government and influenced policy decisions. The foundation official, Robert B. Bluey, is also the executive editor of The Daily Signal, a news site run by the foundation to offer conservative commentary and analysis.... Mr. Bluey, a communications professional, is not listed as a reporter, and he does not cover the White House." But, it turns out, the absence of a "real" reporter on the trip is not all pence's fault: "The White House Correspondents' Association put out a call for reporters earlier in the week seeking a volunteer to cover Mr. Pence's day trip to Florida as part of the pool. When the organization was unable to fill the slot, Mr. Pence's office chose the print pooler instead...."

Pranshu Verma & Edward Wong of the New York Times: "The State Department's acting watchdog has resigned from his post less than three months after replacing the previous inspector general, whom President Trump fired in May, the department said on Wednesday. The departure of Stephen J. Akard came as Congress continued to investigate the firing of his predecessor, Steve A. Linick, who was pursuing inquiries into Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. Three congressional committees issued subpoenas this week to top aides of Mr. Pompeo. Mr. Linick had opened investigations into Mr. Pompeo's potential misuse of department resources and his effort to push arms sales to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. The department gave no explanation for the departure of Mr. Akard, an ally of Vice President Mike Pence. A department spokeswoman said ... the deputy inspector general, Diana R. Shaw, would take over as acting inspector general.... Mr. Akard was also the agency's ambassador-level head of the Office of Foreign Missions, an arrangement that was a clear conflict of interest and widely criticized by Democratic lawmakers." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

     ~~~ According to the Times, the Washington Post & CNN broke the story. The Post's report is here. CNN's report is here. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) Rachel Maddow, who interviewed former Ambassador Lewis Lukens last night, suggested Akard's abrupt resignation was tied to the so-far secret IG review of bad behavior by Trump's Ambassador to the U.K. Woody Johnson.

Anna Gronewold of Politico: "Gov. Andrew Cuomo officially assumed leadership of the National Governors Association on Wednesday during a meeting held virtually because of the pandemic. Alongside some chuckles and technical glitches that characterize the new normal of video gatherings, Republican Gov. Larry Hogan of Maryland passed the mantle of leadership to Cuomo, who had been vice chair. The position has gained greater significance and visibility this year as governors shoulder primary responsibility for the pandemic response and recovery efforts.... The incoming vice chair is Republican Gov. Asa Hutchinson of Arkansas. Cuomo's term will last a year."

Elections 2020

Ken Dilanian of NBC News: "The investigation ordered by Attorney General William Barr into how the CIA and the FBI looked into the Trump campaign's connections to Russia's 2016 election interference operation may be nearing a conclusion, people familiar with it say. One indication is that the prosecutor in charge, Connecticut U.S. Attorney John Durham, has asked to interview former CIA Director John Brennan, according to a person familiar with the request. Brennan has agreed to be interviewed, and the details are being worked out, the person said. Attorney General William Barr told Congress last month that he would not wait until after the election to present Durham's findings if they are finalized. Barr has made clear he believes Obama administration officials acted wrongfully when they opened a counterintelligence investigation into the Trump campaign's dealings with Russians, but the Justice Department's inspector general found that the investigation was justified and untainted by political bias." ~~~

~~~ Ryan Goodman & Andrew Weissmann in a New York Times op-ed: "Today, Wednesday, marks 90 days before the presidential election, a date in the calendar that is supposed to be of special note to the Justice Department. That's because of two department guidelines, one a written policy that no action be influenced in any way by politics. Another, unwritten norm urges officials to defer publicly charging or taking any other overt investigative steps or disclosures that could affect a coming election. Attorney General William Barr appears poised to trample on both. At least two developing investigations could be fodder for pre-election political machinations. The first is an apparently sprawling investigation by John Durham, the U.S. attorney in Connecticut, that began as an examination of the origins of the F.B.I. investigation into Russia's interference in the 2016 election. The other, led by John Bash, the U.S. attorney for the Western District of Texas, is about the so-called unmasking of Trump associates by Obama administration officials. Mr. Barr personally unleashed both investigations and handpicked the attorneys to run them." Read on. The writers suggest ways DOJ employees can at least partially thwart Barr's anticipated election-meddling.

Matthew Choi of Politico: "... Donald Trump raised more money than Joe Biden in July, after falling behind his Democratic rival for two straight months. Trump's campaign and the Republican National Committee reported that they raised $165 million last month -- an amount they said eclipsed any single month in all of 2016.... Biden's campaign and the Democratic National Committee, meanwhile, reported $140 million in July. The overwhelming majority of donations -- 97 percent -- were at the grassroots level, with the average contribution coming in at $34.77, the campaign said." Mrs. McC: Guess I'd have to pull some cash out of the mattress.

Felicia Sonmez, et al., of the Washington Post: "... Joe Biden will not travel to Milwaukee to accept the Democratic presidential nomination due to coronavirus concerns, convention organizers confirmed Wednesday. Biden will deliver his speech accepting the nomination later in August in his home state of Delaware, organizers said, adding that all other speakers who had been planning to travel to Milwaukee will no longer do so.... 'The mayor [of Milwaukee] has put in place a 225-person limit on people assembling in any one place,' Biden said. 'I think it's the right thing to do. I've wanted to set an example as to how we should respond individually to this crisis.' The move marks the latest disruption in plans for what is typically a political festival but is now being conducted almost entirely virtually. It comes after President Trump, who had attempted to hold the Republican National Convention in Charlotte and then Jacksonville, began exploring the option of delivering his speech from the South Lawn at the White House.... Under federal law, government employees and property are generally barred from being used for political purposes, with notable exceptions. The Hatch Act, which prevents federal officials from certain forms of political activity at work, exempts both the president and the vice president from any restrictions. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) pushed back against Trump's proposal in an interview with MSNBC's Andrea Mitchell on Wednesday afternoon." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

~~~ Michael Scherer, et al., of the Washington Post: "Local and national leaders pushed back Wednesday against President Trump's desire to deliver his convention acceptance speech from the White House, warning that the event could bring protests and novel coronavirus spread to the nation's capital while violating historic norms that separate political activity from the seat of presidential power. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) predicted that a political convention gathering at the White House 'won't happen,' for legal and ethical reasons, while D.C. Mayor Muriel E. Bowser (D) said she did not plan to offer 'any exemptions' for the event from a recent health order that restricts the movement of nonessential visitors to the city from 27 states with elevated rates of the virus.... Sen. John Cornyn [R] of Texas called it 'problematic,' Sen. John Thune ([R-]S.D.) questioned the legality of political events at the White House and Sen. Ron Johnson ([R-]Wis.) suggested that other plans should be made.... The pushback came as Trump indicated publicly for the first time that he preferred speaking from the White House.... When asked about Republican concerns over the legality of using the White House for a political event, Trump was dismissive. 'It is legal,' he said during a Wednesday evening news conference."

In a New York Times video op-ed, historian Allan Lichtman explains his presidential prediction model & predicts the winner of the 2020 presidential race. "In 1980, he developed a presidential prediction model that retrospectively accounted for 120 years of U.S. election history. Over the past four decades, his system has accurately called presidential victors, from Ronald Reagan in '84 to, well, Mr. Trump in 2016." (Also linked yesterday.)

Trump Second-Term Agenda Remains Nonexistent. Steve Benen of MSNBC: "Appearing on Fox News [Wednesday] morning, Donald Trump was asked, 'Mr. President, what is your second term agenda? What are your top priorities?' It was the fourth time is six weeks the president was asked this question -- the most obvious and basic of any president seeking re-election -- and he still struggled to answer it. 'I want to take where we left, we had the greatest economy in the history of the world, we were better than any other country, we were better than we were ever -- we -- we never had anything like it in this country.... What I want to do is take it from that point and then build it even better.'... At this point, we could note that Trump claims about the economy during his first three years are demonstrably ridiculous.... What's far more amazing is Trump's inability to think of anything he wants to do if he's rewarded with a second term." ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: Here's the front page to Joe Biden's policy proposals. But then Joe plans to be a real president as opposed to a corrupt slob who does nothing but play golf, whine & tweet insults.

John Avlon of CNN: "It's easy to dismiss the bizarre presidential campaign of [rapper Kanye West] -- who has bipolar disorder.... His behavior [has] compelled his wife, Kim Kardashian West, to call for compassion and respect for her family's privacy[.] The situation seems closer to a regrettable public breakdown than a presidential run. But there are a handful of Trump-orbiting GOP operatives pushing West's helter-skelter, supposedly independent campaign for president. According to CNN, one such operative with ties to the Trump campaign, Lane Ruhland, has filed paperwork to get West on the ballot in Wisconsin.... West and his team are working to get on the ballot in several states, including Arkansas, Illinois and Missouri.... He could be a spoiler for ... Donald Trump's reelection by siphoning off key portions of the Black vote in select states like Wisconsin and Ohio, with filing deadlines this week." ~~~

~~~ Dan Merica & Jeff Zeleny of CNN: "Republican operatives, some with ties to ... Donald Trump, are actively helping Kanye West get on presidential general election ballots in states ranging from Vermont to Arkansas to Wisconsin.... Until Tuesday, West's attempts to get his name on the ballot have only focused on states that are either dominated by Republicans or Democrats in presidential elections. But West's expected addition to the ballot in Wisconsin means the rapper will likely be a choice for voters in a battleground state that is key to both Trump and Biden's path to winning in November. 'I like Kanye very much,' Trump said at the White House on Wednesday evening. 'I have nothing to do with him being on the ballot. I'm not involved.'" Mrs. McC: Who's directing this effort? Roger Stone? Maybe that's the "real reason" Trump commuted Roger's sentence.

Michigan Congressional Race. Julia Manchester of the Hill: "Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) successfully defended her seat in Michigan's 13th District on Tuesday, fending off a primary challenge from former Rep. Brenda Jo[n]es (D-Mich.). The Associated Press called the race for the incumbent on Wednesday morning. Tlaib won 66 percent of the votes cast, with 87 percent of precincts reporting." (Also linked yesterday.)

Robert Barnes of the Washington Post: "President Trump has routinely asserted his outsize view of presidential power, but his claim to unprecedented clout in recent weeks springs from an unlikely source: one of his defeats at the Supreme Court.... The source of Trump's recent bravado appears to be provocative articles by a law professor at the University of California at Berkeley whose expansive views of presidential power match Trump's. John Yoo, the professor, has proclaimed Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr.'s opinion stopping the Trump administration from dismantling the Obama-era program protecting young undocumented immigrants a blessing in disguise. He contends that it allows presidents to take even unlawful actions that can require years of legal battles to undo. To say that Yoo's view of the court's 5-to-4 decision on the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program is an outlier would be an understatement. 'I think he must be on some kind of drug,' said Laurence Tribe, a longtime constitutional scholar at Harvard. The court's decision 'did not even remotely provide a blueprint for the kind of lawlessness John Yoo seems to be trying to convince this president' to undertake, Tribe said." Read on, if you have the stomach for it.

Emily Pettus of the AP: "A federal judge in Mississippi has issued a sharply worded ruling that calls on the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn the principle of qualified immunity, which protects law enforcement officers from being sued for some of their actions. U.S. District Judge Carlton Reeves on Tuesday dismissed a lawsuit that Clarence Jamison, a Black resident of Neeses, South Carolina, filed against a white Mississippi police officer, Nick McClendon. The lawsuit said McClendon used Jamison's race as a 'motivating factor' for pulling McClendon over in traffic and searching his car. In dismissing the case, Reeves cited court precedents on qualified immunity, but he wrote that the principle has shielded officers who violate people's constitutional rights. 'The Constitution says everyone is entitled to equal protection of the law -- even at the hands of law enforcement,' Reeves wrote. 'Over the decades, however, judges have invented a legal doctrine to protect law enforcement officers from having to face any consequences for wrongdoing. The doctrine is called "qualified immunity." In real life it operates like absolute immunity.'"

Way Beyond the Beltway

Lebanon. Ben Hubbard of the New York Times: "Since an orphaned shipment of highly explosive chemicals arrived at the port of Beirut in 2013, Lebanese officials treated it the way they have dealt with the country's lack of electricity, poisonous tap water and overflowing garbage: by bickering and hoping the problem might solve itself. But the 2,750 tons of high-density ammonium nitrate combusted Tuesday, officials said, unleashing a shock wave on the Lebanese capital that gutted landmark buildings, killed 135 people, wounded at least 5,000 and rendered hundreds of thousands of residents homeless. The government has vowed to investigate the blast and hold those responsible to account. But as residents waded through the warlike destruction on Wednesday to salvage what they could from their homes and businesses, many saw the explosion as the culmination of years of mismanagement and neglect by the country's politicians." ~~~

~~~ Guy Davies & Ibtissem Guenfoud of ABC News: "The city's hospitals reached capacity soon after the explosion, forcing many of the wounded to travel as far as Tripoli, 50 miles north, to receive treatment. At least three hospitals were damaged by the blast. Three days of mourning have been declared.... The Lebanese Red Cross has made a series of urgent appeals for blood donations after they sent 75 ambulances and 375 paramedics to the scene. Search and rescue teams continued to look for missing people around the site on Wednesday.... After an emergency cabinet meeting, Lebanon's President Michel Aoun announced that an unspecified number of people who managed the ammonium nitrate storage at the warehouse linked to the explosion are to be put under house arrest. He also announced that four government field hospitals will be set up, and an official report into the explosion will be delivered to the cabinet within the next five days."

News Lede

New York Times: "Two days after Tropical Storm Isaias tore through the [Connecticut-New York-New Jersey] region, more than 1.4 million customers were still without power, and some could be in the dark into next week in what is emerging as the worst natural disaster to hit the area since Hurricane Sandy in 2012.... This time the storm arrived in the middle of a pandemic, bringing a new kind of misery to people who already felt as if they were just barely coping. New York City took less of a hit than the surrounding suburbs.... In Connecticut, which appeared to be more severely affected than New York or New Jersey, the main electric supplier, Eversource, said it could take several days to restore power to more than 500,000 of its 1.2 million electric customers."