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Thursday

Aug062020

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."

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Wednesday

Aug052020

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."

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." ~~~

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.

~~~ 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."

~~~~~~~~~~

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."

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Tuesday

Aug042020

The Commentariat -- August 5, 2020

Late Morning/Afternoon Update:

~~~ According to the Times, the Washington Post & CNN broke the story. The Post's report is here. CNN's report is here.

Felicia Sonmez, et al., of the Washington Post: "Former vice president 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."

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 afte 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."

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.

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."

~~~~~~~~~~

Mrs. Bea McCrabbie: I'm posting this page before it's "ready." My power has been out for hours because of the hurricane/storm, and I can't guess when it will be back on because the power company is totally messed up in this secition of the country. It took more than 3 hours for me even to be able to report this neighborhood's outage. I'm running on a generator, but blips can occur. If today's Commentariat isn't up to its usual amateur standards, the wind is the why. Update: After a little more than 12 hours, the power company managed to restore power here. We had a little breeze; I'm going to hate to see how long it will take when a serious hurricane hits the area. And I'm awfully glad that several years ago, I gave myself the gift of what I call a "half-house" generator: that is, one that powers the essentials.

The Trumpidemic, Ctd.

The New York Times' live updates of coronavirus developments Wednesday are here.

The New York Times' live updates of coronavirus developments Tuesday are here: "Negotiators on Capitol Hill reported little progress on Tuesday toward reaching an agreement over an economic recovery package. But the top Senate Republican [Mitch McConnell] signaled that he might be willing to reverse course and accept the extension of $600-per-week jobless-aid payments that many in his party oppose if it would yield a compromise, and the White House and congressional Democrats agreed to an end-of-the-week deadline to seal a deal." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

~~~ The Washington Post's live updates for Tuesday are here. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

~~~ Ginger Gibson of NBC News: "Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell conceded Tuesday that he will lack Republican support to pass further coronavirus aid and instead will rely on Democrats to fashion a deal with the White House. 'It's not going to produce a kumbaya moment,' McConnell, R-Ky., told reporters in the Capitol. 'But the American people in the end need help.'" ~~~

[~~~ Merriam-Webster: "Our Kumbaya Moment: How a folk song became a term of derision."] ~~~

~~~ Seung Min Kim, et al., of the Washington Post: "The White House and Democratic leaders agreed to try to finalize a deal to address lapsed unemployment benefits and eviction restrictions by the end of this week and hold a vote in Congress next week, suddenly trying to rush stalled talks in the face of growing public and political unrest. Senior White House officials said Tuesday that they made 'very concrete offers' to Democrats related to unemployment benefits and eviction protections, and after days of bickering both sides now appear to be trying to secure a compromise. The agreement on a timeline came in a meeting with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.), Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows." ~~~

~~~ Dana Milbank of the Washington Post: "This is what happens when you put a saboteur in charge of governing.... The common denominator [in Congress's failure to pass a coronavirus relief bill & Donald Trump's chaotic 'leadership' of the pandemic response], the man with a lead role in both, is Mark Meadows, the new White House chief of staff. During his seven years in Congress, he developed an unsurpassed reputation for blowing things up and making sure bills didn't pass. But he has virtually no experience at getting things done. At deadlocked congressional negotiations Monday, Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) complained to Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, who successfully cut two pandemic-relief deals with lawmakers, that Meadows had been a 'bad influence' on Mnuchin.... Under Meadows, Trump seems to have no guardrails.... Meadows's [history of] anti-government vandalism probably won't save Trump, but it could bring us all down with him."

Linda Qiu of the New York Times runs down some of the lies Trump told at a press briefing Tuesday about how well the U.S. was combatting the coronavirus. Mrs. McC: I don't think these lie-a-thons should be called "briefings." A "briefing" implies information is being shared, but lies are disinformation. ~~~

~~~ Anne Gearan of the Washington Post: "In recent days, Trump has increasingly pointed to the experiences of other countries in an attempt to dilute the bad news at home and justify the largely hands-off federal response, which has included no national mandates or lockdowns. Germany, France, Spain, Belgium, Japan, Israel, India, Australia, Brazil, South Korea, China, Hong Kong and others have been part of a presidential spin-the-globe review of trouble spots, in which Trump makes misleading claims about the U.S. record and talks up the prospects for a cure.... But none [of the 'flare-ups' Trump describes in other countries] is equal to the United States, which, with a little more than 4 percent of the global population, has clocked about a quarter of the world's cases.... 'Most of the observations the president makes about the virus are inaccurate,' said Cheryl Healton, dean of the School of Global Public Health at New York University." The story is free to nonsubscribers.

~~~ Philip Bump of the Washington Post: During his interview with Jonathan Swan of Axios, "Trump held a number of loose sheets of paper, each with a graph that, he clearly believed, showed how well the United States has done in combating the coronavirus pandemic.... These were the emperor's clothes, and he was proud of them. But Swan, given one of the few opportunities for a non-sycophant to interview the president, revealed them for what they were. Trump was left fumbling, unable to rationalize his repeated claims that all was well. Because, of course, it isn't.... It quickly became apparent that he didn't have a grasp on what was happening with the pandemic.... On Tuesday morning, Politico published an article looking closely at how the White House operates under its new chief of staff, former North Carolina congressman Mark Meadows. One White House staffer who spoke with Politico's reporters said that Meadows and his team were protecting Trump from bad political news.... The Swan interview certainly suggests that someone is keeping Trump from understanding what's actually happening with the pandemic. The odds are that the person who is doing so is Trump." (Also linked yesterday.)

Aamer Madhani, et al., of the AP: "... as the crisis has spread to all reaches of the country, with escalating deaths and little sense of endgame, a chasm has widened between the president and the experts.... Trump and his political advisers insist that the United States has no rival in its response to the pandemic. They point to the fact that the U.S. has administered more virus tests than any other nation and that the percentage of deaths among those infected is among the lowest. 'Right now, I think it's under control,' Trump said during an interview with Axios.... 'We have done a great job.' But ... the president is increasingly out of step with the federal government's own medical and public health experts.... Dr. Deborah Birx, White House coronavirus task force coordinator, warned this week that the virus has become 'extraordinarily widespread.'... Adm. Brett Giroir, the assistant secretary of Health and Human Services who has avoided contradicting the president throughout the crisis, said on Sunday it was time to 'move on' from the debate over hydroxychloroquine, a drug Trump continues to promote.... Dr. Robert Redfield, head of the CDC, last week acknowledged during an ABC News interview that the initial federal government response to the virus too slow. 'It's not a separation from the president, it's a cavernous gap,' said Lawrence Gostin, a public health expert at Georgetown University. 'What we're seeing is that scientists will no longer be cowed by the White House.'"

"We Have the Best Testing in the World." -- Trump. Sarah Mervosh & Manny Fernandez of the New York Times: "Frustrated by a nationwide testing backlog, the governors of six states took the unusual step of banding together on Tuesday to reduce the turnaround time for coronavirus test results from days to minutes. The agreement, by three Republican governors and three Democratic governors, was called the first interstate testing compact of its kind. The six states -- Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Ohio and Virginia -- agreed to work with the Rockefeller Foundation and two U.S. manufacturers of rapid tests to buy three million tests. The bipartisan plan highlights the depth of the testing problems in the United States more than six months into the pandemic."

Matthew Choi of Politico: "... Donald Trump suggested on Tuesday that a bomb attack was behind the catastrophic explosion that rocked Beirut earlier in the day, seemingly contradicting Lebanese officials' explanations that it was caused by confiscated explosives. The exact cause of the explosion was unclear Tuesday afternoon, but Abbas Ibrahim, chief of Lebanese General Security, said it was set off by explosive material that had been seized from a ship years ago, The Associated Press reported. The Lebanese interior minister also backed that explanation, saying the material was ammonium nitrate held in the port since 2014, Reuters reported.... 'I met with some of our great generals and they just seem to feel that it was' an attack, Trump replied to a reporter's question at a White House coronavirus briefing. 'This was not some kind of a manufacturing-explosion-type of event. This was, seems to be, according to them -- they would know better than I would -- they seem to think it was an attack. A bomb of some kind.'" ~~~

~~~ Just Making up Stuff. Barbara Starr et al., of CNN: "Three US Defense Department officials told CNN that as of Tuesday night there was no indication that the massive explosion that rocked Beirut on Tuesday were an "attack," contradicting an earlier claim from ... Donald Trump. While speaking to reporters at the White House on Tuesday, Trump offered sympathy and assistance to the people of Lebanon after the explosion, which left dozens dead and thousands injured and he referred to the incident as a 'terrible attack.'" ~~~

~~~ From Ben Hubbard's NYT report, also linked under Way Beyond the Beltway, on the devastating Beirut explosions: Trump "said he consulted with military generals and that 'they seem to think it's an attack, a bomb of some kind.' However, a senior U.S. official said, 'Everything I'm seeing thus far points to a tragic accident.'"

Mrs. McCrabbie: When you're sure Donald Trump is up to no good but you're not sure why, trust your instincts. He's up to no good. Yesterday, I linked an NPR story that said the Census Bureau had suddenly decided to stop its counting efforts a month early. The gist of the story was that the shortcut would make the Census less accurate. Well, yeah: ~~~

~~~ Vanita Gupta, in a Washington Post op-ed: "The Trump administration is doing everything it can to sabotage the 2020 Census so that it reflects an inaccurate and less diverse portrait of America. Its latest effort involves quietly compressing the census timeline to all but guarantee a massive undercount.... This move is part of a series of administration actions whose intent is unmistakable: to suppress minority representation and gain political advantage. First the administration tried to add a citizenship question to the census. Having been rebuffed by the Supreme Court, it issued an unconstitutional order last month instructing officials to exclude undocumented residents from being counted for purposes of apportioning congressional districts.... The census is foundational to democracy." ~~~

~~~ ** Steven Shepard of Politico: "The Census Bureau said late on Monday that it would finish collecting data for the decennial count next month and work to deliver population tallies to ... Donald Trump that meet his constitutionally questionable order to exclude undocumented immigrants for the purpose of congressional apportionment. The agency, which is part of the Commerce Department, had said this spring that it would require more time to complete its data collection because of the coronavirus pandemic. But amid a renewed push by Trump to remove those in the country without documentation from the count, Census Bureau Director Steven Dillingham now says the data will be sent to the president by the end of the year -- and not next spring, when Joe Biden could be in the Oval Office.... Dillingham also said the bureau 'continues its work on meeting the requirements' of two Trump orders: a July 2019 executive order that asked administrative agencies to collect data on undocumented immigrants in order to provide counts that states could use to draw state legislative maps that did not include those people; and a presidential memorandum from last month instructing the Census Bureau to calculate apportionment counts -- the number of congressional seats each state will have in the next decade -- without undocumented immigrants included." ~~~

~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: Plan C here is an acknowledgment that somebody thinks Trump is going to lose the election. I'll bet that's not the way the boys presented Plan C to Trump.

Jim Sciutto of CNN: "[H]ow should Americans understand their President's relationship with Putin and Russia? 'Putin is Trump's honey trap,' one of his former advisers told me, using an expression reserved for attractive spies who romance their marks into becoming double agents. It is not an encouraging appraisal to hear from someone who served this President at the highest level. Perhaps even more worrisome, Putin knows it. Some of the most experienced US intelligence officials have told me that Putin is aware of Trump's admiration for him and has sought to exploit it. They see the results in Trump's near mimicry of Kremlin talking points, on everything from election interference, to bounties on US troops in Afghanistan, to his understanding of Europe. Senior advisers have told me that Trump's hostility to European leaders and his understanding of the origins of the Second World War are influenced by Putin." --s

Trump says he has done more for black Americans than John Lewis -- and everybody else -- did. Also, Trump has nothing good to say about Lewis because Lewis did not attend his inauguration:

~~~ Maggie Haberman & Neil Vigdor of the New York Times: "President Trump played down the accomplishments of Representative John Lewis, the recently deceased civil rights icon, and criticized him for not attending the Trump inauguration in an interview conducted while Mr. Lewis was lying in state at the Capitol. The comments from Mr. Trump, which aired on 'Axios on HBO' Monday night, were unsurprising, given his penchant for grievance. But they were nonetheless stunning for the degree to which Mr. Trump refused to view Mr. Lewis's life and legacy in terms beyond how it related to Mr. Trump himself.... When asked to reflect on Mr. Lewis's contributions to the civil rights movement, Mr. Trump instead talked up his own record." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: As a number of pundits have pointed out, Lewis did not attend George W. Bush's inauguration either. That did not stop Dubya and Laura Bush from making a statement upon new of Lewis' death, after which Dubya was one of three Presidents to attend Lewis's funeral to make gracious remarks about the civil rights leader. ~~~

~~~ Axios has published Jonathan Swan's full interview of Donald Trump here. Poppy Harlow & Jim Sciutto of CNN urge you to watch it. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

~~~ Paul Campos in LG&$: "... the most consistently underrated fact about Trump is how genuinely stupid he is. And I don't mean stupid compared to how smart you would want a president of the United States or the manager of a Wendy's to be. Just flat out stupid in comparison to the average human being. Watch this clip and then imagine trying to brief him on anything." ~~~

~~~ It Is Not Only the Stupid. Greg Sargent of the Washington Post assesses the reason for the success of Swan's interview: "Again and again, Swan practically pleaded with Trump to demonstrate a shred of basic humanity about the mounting toll under his presidency, and to display a glimmer of recognition of responsibility for it. Again and again, Trump failed this most basic test." ~~~

~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: That may be, but I'd say the strength of Swan's interview lay in his repeated challenges to Trump. Rather than nod when Trump said something amazingly stupid, Swan sat up in feigned surprise: "Who said that?" "What manuals?" "Why can't I consider population?" Trump still tried to wiggle out of Swan's challenges by ignoring them and saying a different stupid thing, but after 5 or 10 of these evasions, even a dope notices, "Something is not right." ~~~

~~~ "Treat Him Like a Clown." Alex Shephard of the New Republic nails it: "On the one hand, there is the man in the office: grotesque, incoherent, malicious, dumb. On the other, there are the rituals and aesthetic trappings that have grown around the office of the presidency itself, which all communicate its awesome power and solemnity.... One of the many virtues of Axios's Jonathan Swan's interview with Trump is that it does away with much of that unearned solemnity.... Instead, it has the look of a sitcom. As many have pointed out, the rhythms of its edits, which cut between Trump's relentless maundering and bullshitting, Swan's increasingly incredulous reactions, and long, awkward shots of the two of them, most closely resembles HBO's Veep.... It wasn't always like this. Less than two years ago, Swan sat down with Trump and beamed while the president praised him for acquiring a shiny little scoop about the administration's plans to end birthright citizenship. That was access journalism at its worst, where the pursuit of scoops trumps everything.... [Perhaps now], with Trump floundering, there's little risk in making the president look bad. It also suggests that journalists have finally figured out the best way to interrogate the president: Treat him like a clown." The article is firewalled. Mrs. McC: I used up one of my three/month TNR shots. ~~~

~~~ Travis Andrews of the Washington Post interviews David Mandel, the producer of "Veep," about Trump's resemblance to some character(s) in the satirical show. "Almost as soon as President Trump's tense interview with Axios's Jonathan Swan aired, Twitter accounts started comparing it to HBO's political satire 'Veep.'... 'Yes, this is like a scene from Veep. Except on Veep this scene would have been re-written after the table read, because a president being this stupid is too gaggy and unrealistic,' tweeted Sam Richardson, who portrayed the honest-to-a-fault Richard Splett on that very show." ~~~

Adding the @VeepHBO credits/music to the @axios / @jonathanvswan Trump interview just makes sense pic.twitter.com/wtMBiBcZ3S
— brendan mcsomething (@brendanmc84) August 4, 2020

~~~ Stupid? Whaddaya Mean, "Stupid"? ~~~

"Yo, Semites" https://t.co/cGdQ4zliXz
— Maggie Haberman (@maggieNYT) August 4, 2020

~~~ Marina Pitofsky of the Hill: "President Trump ... mispronounced the name of one of America's most famous national parks at a ceremony touting his signature on a major piece of conservation legislation. Trump tripped up as he tried to speak about the giant sequoia trees of Yosemite National Park. Instead of Yosemite, it sounded as if Trump was saying 'yo-Semite.'" [Mrs. McC: And then, "Yo, Seminites."] Thanks to Ken W. for the link.

Black Lives Matter

Paul Murphy & Devan Cole of CNN: "The US Navy distanced itself on Sunday from an incident organized by the privately run Navy SEAL Museum, which is not sponsored the Navy, in which a Colin Kaepernick jersey was worn by a 'target' during a military working dog demonstration. In a pair of nearly two-year-old videos that were posted in January but went viral on social media over the weekend, a man can be seen wearing a red jersey emblazoned with Kaepernick's name and former player number during the working dog demonstration conducted by the museum. After a man in military fatigues begins the demonstration, a total of four military working dogs charge toward the jersey-wearing man and attack him, clinging to his arms and legs while a crowd of visitors watch on." Thanks to Akhilleus for the link. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: Akhilleus mentioned in his commentary below that the so-called museum was in Fort Pierce, Florida. To double-check that, I clicked the link, and I'm so glad I did because now I plan to enter the raffle the "museum" is sponsoring: "A Chance to Win Two Weapons at Once!": a Shepherd Knife and a Cabot Pistol. Maybe I can pretend to be a SEAL & attack some terrorists (or football players exercising their First-Amendment rights) with those weapons. ~~~

~~~ UPDATE. James LaPorta of the AP: "The commander of the Navy SEALs said the unit will suspend its support of the National Navy SEAL Museum, a nonprofit organization not overseen by the military after videos surfaced online of dogs attacking a man wearing a Colin Kaepernick jersey during a demonstration. 'Each and every one of us serves to protect our fellow Americans - ALL Americans. Even the perception that our commitment to serving the men and women of this nation is applied unevenly is destructive,' Rear Adm. Collin Green, who heads the Naval Special Warfare Command, said in an email to his forces on Monday evening. He added: 'We will revisit our relationship with the Museum when I am convinced that they have made the necessary changes to ensure this type of behavior does not happen again.'" Mrs. McC: Oh, so he left open a window.

Cops Mistake SUV for a Motorcycle, Draw Guns on Little Girls. Teo Armus of the Washington Post: "Sunday morning was meant to be a girls outing for the Gilliams, as cousins, sisters, aunts and nieces piled into an SUV to go get their nails done together in suburban Denver. But before they could even find an open salon, the family's four children were ordered at gunpoint to lie facedown on the parking lot, and two were handcuffed. The Black girls, who range from 6 to 17 years old, broke down into tears and screams as a group of White [Aurora] police officers hovered over them.... Police blamed a misunderstanding: The license plate number on a stolen motorcycle matched the family's blue SUV, and that car had been reported missing earlier this year, too.... Aurora's police chief apologized on Monday night and launched an internal investigation after video of the incident quickly went viral.... Nearly one year ago, Aurora police tackled 23-year-old Elijah McClain as he was walking down the street and placed him into a chokehold, just moments before paramedics injected the Black man with a heavy sedative. Last month, two officers were fired over photos reenacting the violent arrest near a memorial for McClain, who died days later." ~~~

All the Best People, Ctd.

Linnaea Honl-Stuenkel of Crew: "William Perry Pendley, President Trump's nominee to lead the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), has said that the government should sell federal lands, denied climate change, wants to& weaken the Endangered Species Act and has sued BLM and the Interior Department repeatedly over the course of his career. His history of litigation against the agency that Trump has finally nominated him to lead -- after nearly a year as its acting head -- generated a list of potential conflicts of interest that is literally 17 pages long.... When he initially joined the agency..., Pendley issued a 17-page list of 57 potential conflicts that he had to recuse from.... Seven of those recusals have expired, and 50 are still in effect." --s

Nahal Toosi of Politico: "The State Department has sharply criticized and largely rejected a recent inspector general's investigation that found 'substantial evidence' two Trump administration political appointees had failed to properly report behavior amounting to 'workplace violence.' The department's response to the probe, included in papers obtained by Politico, is fresh evidence of the lingering tensions between Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and the watchdog office in the days since he engineered the firing of Inspector General Steve Linick in mid-May. The investigation into the workplace violence issue also involves the leaders of the Office of the Chief of Protocol -- a State Department division that faces scrutiny in a separate, ongoing inspector general's office probe into Pompeo and his wife. On Monday, Democrats subpoenaed four Pompeo aides to testify in a congressional investigation into why the secretary had pushed President Donald Trump to oust Linick, who was notified of his firing on May 15." --safari: Read on for the workplace violence.

Em Steck & Andrew Kaczynski of CNN: "... Donald Trump's nominee to become the US ambassador to Germany has a history of making xenophobic and racist comments about immigrants and refugees in both Germany and the US. Retired Army Col. Douglas Macgregor, a decorated combat veteran, author and frequent guest on Fox News, claimed that Muslim migrants were coming to Europe 'with the goal of eventually turning Europe into an Islamic state.' He criticized Germany for giving 'millions of unwanted Muslim invaders' welfare benefits rather than providing more funding for its armed services.... [In interviews, he] repeatedly advocated to institute martial law at the US-Mexico border and 'shoot people' if necessary. He also said that Eastern Ukrainians are 'Russians' on the Russian state-controlled TV network RT in 2014.... Macgregor graduated from West Point and served in the US Army for nearly 30 years as a decorated combat veteran. He retired as a colonel in 2004." --s

Elections 2020

Arizona Senate Race. Jonathan Cooper of the AP: "Republican Sen. Martha McSally and Democratic astronaut Mark Kelly secured their parties' nominations Tuesday in the Arizona race to finish the late John McCain's U.S. Senate term. It sets up a heated contest between two former combat pilots in what is expected to be one of the most expensive and spirited Senate races of 2020. The race will test Democrats' growing strength in sprawling Sun Belt suburbs and Republican efforts to blame China for the coronavirus outbreak." ~~~

~~~ Arizona Congressional Race. Abigail Mihaly of the Hill: "Rep. Tom O’Halleran won the Democratic primary in Arizona's 1st District on Tuesday as he seeks to earn a third term in November. The Blue Dog Democrat won with 58.7 percent of the vote, beating Democratic rival Eva Putzova with 94 percent of precincts reporting, according to The Associated Press."

Kansas Senate Race. James Arkin & Ally Mutnick of Politico: "Rep. Roger Marshall won the GOP primary for an open Senate seat in Kansas on Tuesday, turning aside the controversial Kris Kobach -- to the relief of Republicans concerned that Kobach could put not just the state but the party's Senate majority at risk this fall. Marshall had 37 percent of the vote compared to 26 percent for Kobach when The Associated Press called the race. The result was a more decisive victory for Marshall than expected by many Republicans, who had predicted with deep concern that the race was a tossup going into Tuesday.... Donald Trump did not endorse or oppose anyone, frustrating some Republicans who thought he could have ended the concern by weighing in." ~~~

~~~ Kansas Congressional Race. Dave Weigel & Colby Itkowitz of the Washington Post: "Kansas Republicans on Tuesday ousted Rep. Steve Watkins, weeks after the freshman lawmaker was charged with voting illegally in a 2019 election and then obstructing the inquiry. State Treasurer Jake LaTurner was projected to win the primary in the state's 2nd Congressional District, according to the Associated Press. Watkins denied the three felony charges, and in a TV ad that ran before the primary, he tried to reintroduce himself as an outsider running against a career politician -- one who had supported a tax increase.... LaTurner's closing commercials framed the race around the charges, pitching him as a Republican who could 'turn the page' for voters who were 'sick of the scandals.'" A New York Times story is here.

Missouri Congressional Race. Ally Mutnick of Politico: "Liberal challenger Cori Bush defeated Rep. Lacy Clay (D-Mo.) in a primary for his St. Louis-based House seat on Tuesday -- a huge win for the left and a seismic loss for the Congressional Black Caucus, which has tried to snuff out challenges from younger candidates. Bush's victory came two years after her first challenge to Clay, which the incumbent won by 20 percentage points. But this cycle, Bush's campaign was better funded and had more outside help from a wide array of surrogates including Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and the Justice Democrats, the group that helped elect Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.)." A New York Times story is here. ~~~

~~~ Missouri -- ObamaCare. Rachel Roubein of Politico: "Missouri voters on Tuesday approved Medicaid expansion to many of the state's poorest adults, making their conservative state the second to join the Obamacare program through the ballot during the pandemic. The Missouri ballot measure expands Medicaid to about 230,000 low-income residents at a time when the state's safety net health care program is already experiencing an enrollment surge tied to the pandemic's economic upheaval. The measure was up 52 percent to 48 percent, with 83 percent of precincts reporting, when the Associated Press projected the win for expansion. Missouri becomes the sixth red state where voters have defied Republican leaders to expand Medicaid, just weeks after Oklahoma voters narrowly backed the program."

The Missouri vote came as the state has faced one of the sharpest increases in coronavirus infections and now reports on average over 1,200 daily new cases, almost three times more than a month ago.

"A Remarkable Change of Tune." Caitlin Opyrsko of Politico: "... Donald Trump on Tuesday reversed his opposition to mail-in voting and encouraged it -- at least in one crucial battleground state -- after railing against the practice for months amid the coronavirus pandemic. 'Whether you call it Vote by Mail or Absentee Voting, in Florida the election system is Safe and Secure, Tried and True,' Trump wrote in a tweet. 'Florida's Voting system has been cleaned up (we defeated Democrats attempts at change), so in Florida I encourage all to request a Ballot & Vote by Mail! #MAGA'[.] The tweet represented a remarkable change in tune for the president, who has himself voted by mail but has aggressively pushed voters to head to the polls in person this fall despite fears of spreading the coronavirus. Trump has repeatedly leveled unsubstantiated claims that voting by mail would result in widespread voter fraud and that the practice would ultimately benefit Democrats.... Just last week, Trump floated delaying November's election until it was safer to do so in person, a suggestion he is not constitutionally empowered to enact. On Monday the president claimed the right to issue an executive order pertaining to his concerns about mail-in voting, another legally dubious proposition, and pledged to sue Nevada over its plans to mail ballots to all registered voters. Asked about what authority the president might have to issue an executive order on mail-in voting, White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany declined to answer." ~~~

~~~ Trump Campaign, GOP Sue Nevada. Kevin Freking of the AP: "Democrats currently have about 1.9 million Floridians signed up to vote by mail this November, almost 600,000 more than the Republicans' 1.3 million, according to the Florida secretary of state. In 2016, both sides had about 1.3 million signed up before the general election.... Trump elaborated Tuesday on why he supports voting by mail in Florida but not elsewhere. 'They've been doing this over many years, and they've made it really terrific,' he said during a news conference. 'This took years to do,' he added. 'This doesn't take weeks or months. In the case of Nevada, they're going to be voting in a matter of weeks. And you can t do that.' Nevada officials joined several states that plan on automatically sending voters mail ballots. Two states, California and Vermont, moved earlier this summer to adopt automatic mail ballot policies. With the bill passed by lawmakers on Sunday, Nevada Gov. Steve Sisolak, a Democrat, signed it into law on Monday. In a tweet Trump called the bill's passage 'an illegal late night coup' and accused Sisolak of exploiting the coronavirus pandemic to ensure votes would favor Democrats. Making good on Trump's threat of legal action, his campaign and the national and state GOP filed suit Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Nevada against the secretary of state to stop the plan.... Florida hardly has a history of flawless elections...."

Michael Gryboski of the Christian Post: "The newly appointed head of faith outreach for former Vice President Joe Biden's presidential campaign is working on getting evangelicals to support the Democratic nominee. Josh Dickson, an evangelical Christian who has been active in the Democratic Party for nearly 10 years, was appointed National Faith Engagement director for the Biden campaign.... Dickson believes some evangelicals are moving toward supporting Biden. An example of this, he said, is seeing evangelical leaders' embrace of the Black Lives Matter movement." ~~~

~~~ Gabby Orr of Politico: "A left-leaning group focused on persuading religious Americans to vote out Donald Trump in November has recruited some of the president's leading Republican agitators to assist them. On Wednesday, Vote Common Good will launch a new partnership with the Lincoln Project, an anti-Trump GOP group founded by veteran Republican strategists, to mobilize faith voters to reject Trump on Election Day. The initiative will focus on courting white evangelicals and white Catholics -- two demographics Trump won by significant margins in 2016 -- who have lost patience with the president's behavior or been disappointed with his handling of the coronavirus pandemic and the Black Lives Matter protest movement against racism. The efforts will be concentrated in six battleground states -- North Carolina, Ohio, Michigan, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and Florida --; where multiple polls have shown Trump trailing ... former Vice President Joe Biden."

Mrs. McCrabbie: The video below came up after the video of Trump's remarks about John Lewis. Kind of interesting how this dyed-in-the-wool, life-long Republican gave up on Trump & the cult of Trump:

Way Beyond the Beltway

Lebanon. Ben Hubbard of the New York Times: "First, an explosion in Beirut's port, possibly from a fireworks warehouse, sent a plume of smoke billowing over the capital skyline early Tuesday evening. Then a much larger explosion from a building nearby shot a chrysanthemum of orange and red smoke into the air followed by a massive shock wave of whitish dust and debris that rose hundreds of feet and spread out for blocks. The seaside capital rocked like an earthquake. Cars tumbled upside down and bricks rained down from apartment buildings. Glass flew out of windows miles away and roofs collapsed. The wounded stumbled through debris-choked streets to hospitals, only to be turned away in some cases because the hospitals, already reeling from the coronavirus pandemic, were overwhelmed. By late evening, the Health Ministry said, more than 70 people were dead and at least 3,000 wounded in the worst carnage to hit the city in more than a decade.... It was unclear exactly what caused the explosions, but Prime Minister Hassan Diab said an estimated 2,750 tons of highly explosive ammonium nitrate, commonly used in fertilizer and bombs, had been stored in a depot at the port for six years."

~~~ AP: "A massive explosion shook Lebanon's capital Beirut on Tuesday wounding a number people and causing widespread damage. The afternoon blast shook several parts of the capital and thick smoke billowed from the city center. Residents reported windows being blown out and a false ceilings dropping. The explosion appeared to be centered around Beirut's port and caused wide scale destruction and shattered windows miles away." (Also linked yesterday.)

News Lede

CNN: "More than 3.1 million homes and businesses have no electrical power after the powerful storm Isaias whipped through the mid-Atlantic and Northeast on Monday and Tuesday. According to a tally from Poweroutage.US, the outages were concentrated in the tri-state area: As of Wednesday morning, power was out for nearly a million people in New Jersey, about 775,000 people in New York, and about 700,000 in Connecticut. In all, outages stretched from North Carolina up to Maine. The storm system also killed several people as it ripped through the East Coast after making landfall as a Category 1 hurricane on Ocean Isle Beach, North Carolina, Monday. Isaias brought hurricane-force wind gusts to Long Island, according to unofficial reports from the National Weather Service. Peak wind gusts reached 67 mph in Greenwich, Connecticut, 68 mph at Newark Airport in New Jersey, and over 75 mph in multiple parts of New York's Suffolk County, the weather service said. The storm, now a post-tropical cyclone, has moved into southeastern Canada, bringing heavy rain and powerful winds over the province of Quebec."

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