The Commentariat -- May 30, 2020

Late Morning Update:

Trump's Childish Tweets du Jour (so far). Matthew Choi & Craig Howie of Politico: "... Donald Trump on Saturday morning warned protesters who forced the White House into partial lockdown would face 'vicious dogs' and 'ominous weapons' if they breached the building's perimeter, praised the actions of the Secret Service and appeared to call his supporters to defy authorities by staging a counter protest. 'Great job last night at the White House by the U.S. @SecretService. They were not only totally professional, but very cool. I was inside, watched every move, and couldn't have felt more safe. They let the "protesters" scream & rant as much as they wanted, but whenever someone.... ...got too frisky or out of line, they would quickly come down on them, hard - didn't know what hit them,' Trump tweeted. 'Big crowd, professionally organized, but nobody came close to breaching the fence. If they had they would.... ....have been greeted with the most vicious dogs, and most ominous weapons, I have ever seen. That's when people would have been really badly hurt, at least. Many Secret Service agents just waiting for action,' he added. The president also appeared to call for a counter protest, tweeting: 'Tonight, I understand, is MAGA NIGHT AT THE WHITE HOUSE???'... D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser announced the partial lifting of lockdown measures Wednesday, though gatherings of more than 10 remain prohibited." ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: Needless to say, calling for a MAGA rally is INSANE in a city that (a) disallows gatherings of more than ten, (b) where anti-Trump protesters are likely to show up, and (c) where the vast majority of residents can't stand him.

~~~~~~~~~~

Everything Is Going Very Smoothly. Matt Zapotosky & Isaac Stanley-Becker of the Washington Post: "A global pandemic has now killed more than 100,000 Americans and left 40 million unemployed in its wake. Protests -- some of them violent -- have once again erupted in spots across the country over police killings of black Americans. President Trump, meanwhile, is waging a war against Twitter, attacking his political rivals, criticizing a voting practice he himself uses and suggesting that looters could be shot. America's persistent political dysfunction and racial inequality were laid bare this week.... Together, the events present a grim tableau of a nation in crisis -- one seared by violence against its citizens, plagued by a deadly disease that remains uncontained and rattled by a devastating blow to its economy."

~~~ Myah Ward of Politico: Joe Biden "condemned Trump for 'calling for violence against American citizens during a moment of pain for so many.... I'm furious, and you should be too.' Biden also decried the arrest of a CNN news crew early Friday, when police handcuffed reporter Omar Jimenez and led him away even after he produced his press credentials. He was quickly released and back on CNN's air less than 90 minutes later. Jimenez, who is black, was reporting on the protest and riots since the death of George Floyd.... 'This is not abstract: a black reporter was arrested while doing his job this morning, while the white police officer who killed George Floyd remains free,' Biden said. 'I am glad swift action was taken [to release Jimenez], but this, to me, says everything.'" (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

~~~ Philip Rucker & Toluse Olorunnipa of the Washington Post: "President Trump ... chose to inflame the tinderbox [in Minneapolis] ... when he issued an ultimatum to people protesting the death of a black man there under the custody of a white police officer.... Having contributed to another national cleavage over racial justice, a president who was elected to lead the nation through crises effectively retreated from the responsibility of doing so.... At the same time, Trump on Friday abdicated the traditional role of an American president abroad, ceding global leadership by announcing that he was 'terminating' U.S. membership in the World Health Organization.... Trump called an afternoon news conference in the Rose Garden, read a scripted statement railing against China and the WHO over the coronavirus pandemic, and then turned his back on journalists shouting questions about the unrest in Minneapolis....

"Trump's 'when the looting starts, the shooting starts' phrase has an ugly racial past. The phrase was notoriously used in 1967 by Miami's tough-talking police chief, Walter Headley, who was white, to warn robbers in the city's black neighborhoods that he could use shotguns and dogs at his command. Pressed by reporters, Trump claimed ignorance of the origins.... Trump earlier sought to explain his 'shooting starts' comment with an awkwardly constructed pair of tweets Friday afternoon claiming that he meant to convey that looting often can lead to shooting. 'It was spoken as a fact, not as a statement,' Trump wrote. 'It's very simple, nobody should have any problem with this other than the haters, and those looking to cause trouble on social media. Honor the memory of George Floyd!'" ~~~

     ~~~ Max Boot of the Washington Post: "More broadly, Trump is channeling the kind of 'law and order' rhetoric employed by the Republican Party beginning in the 1960s to woo Southern whites and working-class Northern whites away from the Democratic Party. Richard M. Nixon pioneered this so-called Southern Strategy, but he was much more subtle than Trump.... [But Trump] actually sounds more like George Wallace, who in 1968 echoed [Sheriff Walter] Headley by saying: 'When the looting starts, the shooting starts.'... In 1968, following the passage of the Civil Rights Act and Voting Rights Act, Wallace ... focused on a 'law and order' message that drew on white voters' concerns about rising crime, urban riots, antiwar protests, liberal court rulings, busing and other hot-button issues. His slogan was 'Stand up for America.'... In Donald Trump, we have the closest thing we have ever had to having George Wallace in the White House -- and Republicans are nearly unanimous in their approbation. The president is pouring gasoline on the flames of racial division, and the Republican Party is holding the jerrycan for him. This is where the Southern Strategy has led after half a century." ~~~

~~~ Julie Pace of the AP: "Over 48 hours in America, the official death toll from the coronavirus pandemic topped 100,000, the number of people who filed for unemployment during the crisis soared past 40 million, and the streets of a major city erupted in flames after a handcuffed black man was killed by a white police officer. It' the kind of frenetic, fractured moment when national leaders are looked to for solutions and solace.... Donald Trump instead threw a rhetorical match into the tinderbox. 'When the looting starts, the shooting starts,' he declared ominously in a late-night tweet.... [Trump has] latched on to personal grievances and cast himself as a victim, while making only occasional references to the staggering loss of life across the country. He's willingly stoked partisan divisions over public health, and now racial divisions in the face of a death, rather than seeking opportunities to pull the nation together." ~~~

~~~ Greg Sargent of the Washington Post: "Donald Trump simply does not accept that he has any institutional obligation of any kind as president to use the White House's formidable communications powers to calm the nation at moments of severe tension and hardship. Instead, he views it as beneficial to his reelection to actively incite further hatred.... Setting aside whether Trump will or even can ['assume control' over Minneapolis], the intent of the threat itself is the thing here -- not just to glorify violence but to glorify his willingness to threaten it against urban protesters, should they get out of hand.... Joe Biden offered another approach.... He appealed for calm while also calling for justice for the Floyd family and acknowledging the legitimate grievances of the protesters about systemic racism and police brutality. Biden noted that Floyd's 'final words' were 'Let me breathe, I can't breathe,' and added that this has 'ripped open anew' the 'wound' wrought by racism.... The core difference here is the recognition of a broader historical and societal context in which the protesters actually do have legitimate grievances." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

~~~ Kaelan Deese of the Hill: "On Friday, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) called President Trump's tweet about protests in Minneapolis 'horrific,' adding, 'Donald Trump is calling for violence against Black Americans.' In her tweet about the president, Warren said, 'His advocacy of illegal, state-sponsored killing is horrific. Politicians who refuse to condemn it share responsibility for the consequences.'" (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

~~~ Fran Speilman of the Chicago Sun-Times: Chicago "Mayor Lori Lightfoot on Friday accused ... Donald Trump of trying to 'foment violence' and offered a vulgar response -- in code -- after he threatened Minneapolis rioters protesting the death of George Floyd at the hands of police. 'We see the game he's playing because it's so transparent and he's not very good at it. He wants to show failures on the part of Democratic local leaders to throw red meat to his base. His goal is to polarize, to destabilize local government and inflame racist urges. And we can absolutely not let him prevail,' Lightfoot said. 'I will code what I really want to say to Donald Trump. It's two words: It begins with F and ends with YOU.'" ~~~

~~~ Oops, He Did It Again. Davey Alba, et al., of the New York Times: "Amid the unrest in Minnesota, Mr. Trump posted a message on Twitter early Friday saying that 'when the looting starts, the shooting starts.' Twitter quickly prevented users from viewing the tweet without reading a brief notice that the post glorified violence, the first time it had applied such a warning on any public figure's tweets. The official White House account then reposted Mr. Trump's message; Twitter responded by adding the same notice." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

~~~ Dan Lamothe & Missy Ryan of the Washington Post: "President Trump's threat Friday to involve the military more deeply in the response to looting in Minneapolis pulled the military into a political fray over the issue, but he is unlikely to follow through despite his authority to deploy armed forces, defense officials and national security experts said.... Trump's tweets had parallels to his comments about the southern border in 2018, when he suggested that if migrants threw rocks at U.S. troops dispatched there, American forces should act as if the rocks are rifles. After a backlash, Trump said the migrants would not be shot.... By Friday afternoon, Trump appeared to backtrack on his late-night [looting-shooting] tweets." ~~~

~~~ BUT. James Laporta of the AP: "As unrest spread across dozens of American cities on Friday, the Pentagon took the rare step of ordering the Army to put several active-duty U.S. military police units on the ready to deploy to Minneapolis, where the police killing of George Floyd sparked the widespread protests. Soldiers from Fort Bragg in North Carolina and Fort Drum in New York have been ordered to be ready to deploy within four hours if called, according to three people with direct knowledge of the orders. Soldiers in Fort Carson, in Colorado, and Fort Riley in Kansas have been told to be ready within 24 hours.... The get-ready orders were sent verbally on Friday, after ... Donald Trump asked Defense Secretary Mark Esper for military options to help quell the unrest in Minneapolis after protests descended into looting and arson in some parts of the city. Trump made the request on a phone call from the Oval Office on Thursday night that included Esper, National Security Advisor Robert O'Brien and several others."

Katie Benner & Emily Badger of the New York Times: "Attorney General William P. Barr on Friday labeled the images of the death of George Floyd, a black man in Minneapolis whom a white police officer knelt on for nearly nine minutes, as 'harrowing' and 'deeply disturbing' and vowed that the federal investigation into his death would proceed quickly.... Mr. Barr's announcement suggested no broader investigation into possible abuses in the Minneapolis Police Department, a move that local activists have demanded.... The Trump administration's years of inaction on police violence and President Trump's embrace of law enforcement have made civil rights advocates wary of the Justice Department's involvement in the Floyd case. The administration has largely dismantled police oversight efforts, curbing the use of federal consent decrees to overhaul local police departments. Mr. Barr has said that communities that criticize law enforcement may not deserve police protection, and Mr. Trump has encouraged officers not to be 'too nice' in handling suspects."

Protesting Violence with Violence

Sudhin Thanawala of the AP: "Demonstrators marched, stopped traffic and in some cases lashed out violently at police as protests erupted Friday in dozens of U.S. cities following the killing of George Floyd after a white officer pressed a knee into his neck while taking him into custody in Minnesota. Georgia's governor declared a state of emergency in one county to activate up to 500 members of the state National Guard 'to protect people & property in Atlanta.' Gov. Brian Kemp said in a pair of tweets early Saturday that the move came at the request of Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms and in consultation with emergency officials. The Georgia National Guard will deploy 'immediately' to assist law enforcement, he said." More on Atlanta linked below.... About 1,000 protesters gathered in Oakland. They smashed windows, sprayed buildings with 'Kill Cops' graffiti and were met with chemical spray from police. Oakland Police were notifying a crowd that the demonstrationwas an unlawful assembly. Authorities said officers were injured when projectiles were thrown and that they were asking people to leave the area." Apparently the irony of violently protesting violence is lost on these vandals.

The New York Times is live-updating developments in the killing of George Floyd. Protesters May Give Trump His Way. "Minnesota's top officials acknowledged early Saturday morning that they had underestimated the destruction that protesters in Minneapolis were capable of inflicting as a newly issued curfew did little to stop people from burning buildings and turning the city's streets into a smoky battleground. Gov. Tim Walz [D] said at a news conference that the police and National Guard soldiers had been overwhelmed by protesters set on causing destruction days after George Floyd was pinned to the ground by an officer before dying.... State officials said that a series of errors and misjudgments -- including the Minneapolis police abandoning a precinct on Thursday that protesters overtook and burned -- had allowed demonstrators to create what Mr. Walz called 'absolute chaos.'... Mr. Walz did not rule out the possibility of bringing in the U.S. military."

The Washington Post's live updates of developments in the George Floyd case are here.

** Briana Bierschbach of the (Minneapolis) Star-Tribune: "Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman says [former Minneapolis policeman] Derek Chauvin has been charged with murder and manslaughter. Freeman said this moved with extraordinary speed, that the ivestigation is continuing into other three officers, Freeman says. He said they have never charged a case this quickly before. Earlier, Minnesota Department of Public Safety Commissioner John Harrington said he just received information that the officer identified as Derek Chauvin in the death of George Floyd has been taken into custody by the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension." A Politico story is here. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ WCCO Minneapolis: “A lawyer has issued a statement from the wife of the now-arrested and charged former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin, and she said she has filed for divorce. 'This evening, I spoke with Kellie Chauvin and her family. She is devastated by Mr. Floyd's death and her utmost sympathy lies with his family, with his loved ones and with everyone who is grieving this tragedy. She has filed for dissolution of her marriage to Derek Chauvin,' reads the statement released by Sekula Law Offices." ~~~

~~~ Mrs. Bea McCrabbie: I know that not all racists are stupid, but I'd argue that stupid can enhance racism. So if you were wondering why cops are racists, Michael Moore (ca. 1999) is here to help:

     ~~~ BTW, according to a federal judge, stupid cops are A-OK. ABC News (Sept. 2000): "A man whose bid to become a police officer was rejected after he scored too high on an intelligence test has lost an appeal in his federal lawsuit against the city. The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New York upheld a lower court's decision that the city did not discriminate against Robert Jordan because the same standards were applied to everyone who took the test." This episode of Moore's "The Awful Truth" is helpful, too. ~~~

~~~ Philip Kennicott of the Washington Post: "That [Omar Jimenez], a journalist of color, was arrested by cops whose pale arms suggest that many of them are white, and that CNN, which has been a consistent object of President Trump's puerile and corrosive abuse, was the target raises deeply disturbing questions. Among them: How many police in America are loyal not to the public but to a racist brand of populism that has found in the president its vigorous avatar?" See yesterday's Commentariat for context. ~~~

Georgia. Richard Fausset & Michael Levenson of the New York Times: "Hundreds of demonstrators poured into the streets near Atlanta's Centennial Olympic Park on Friday night, smashing windows and clashing with police officers in a protest that grew so tense that the city's mayor forcefully told people to go home. Not far from the park, the city's iconic tourist destination, some people climbed atop a large red CNN sign outside the media company's headquarters and spray-painted messages on it. Some people jumped on police cars. Others threw rocks at the glass doors of the Omni Hotel, eventually breaking the glass, and shattered windows at the College Football Hall of Fame, where people rushed in and emerged with branded fan gear. 'It's enough,' Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms said in an evening news conference. '... what are you changing by tearing up a city? You've lost all credibility now. This is not how we change America. This is not how we change the world.'"

Kentucky. Tessa Duvall, et al., of the Louisville Courier Journal: "For the second night in a row, angry protesters are crowding the streets and sidewalks of downtown Louisville -- setting fires, blocking traffic, breaking windows, burning flags and protesting the March death of Breonna Taylor, the unarmed black woman killed in her apartment by Louisville police. ~~~

~~~ CBS News: "At least seven people were shot Thursday night in Louisville during demonstrations calling for justice in the shooting death of Breonna Taylor. The Louisville Police Department issued a statement to CBS affiliate WLKY-TV confirming at least one person was in critical condition.... Hundreds took to the streets calling for the officers involved in Taylor's death to be arrested. The 26-year-old EMT was asleep in her Kentucky apartment just after midnight on March 13 when police entered with a 'no-knock' search warrant in a drug investigation and opened fire, killing her." ~~~

     ~~~ Brooke Seipel of the Hill: "A local Louisville, KY., reporter and camera operator were shot with pepper balls in the middle of a live broadcast on Friday covering protests against police brutality. Video of the encounter shows Kaitlin Rust, a reporter for CBS affiliate WAVE 3 News, narrating as she walks around the area of the protest before suddenly screaming: 'I'm getting shot!' Rust appears shocked but continues reporting, explaining what's happening as the camera focuses in on an officer pointing a gun with pepper bullets at the cameraman. 'It's okay it's those pepper bullets.' The anchors back in the studio then ask, 'who are they aiming at?' 'At us,' Rust responds. 'Directly at us.'" Here's video from WAVE3 News.

New York. Edgar Sandoval of the New York Times: "Protesters angry over the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis clashed with the police across Brooklyn and Lower Manhattan on Friday night in a series of chaotic skirmishes and standoffs that left people injured on both sides. For the second night in a row, tensions flared in New York City, as thousands of people attended a demonstration at the perimeter of Barclays Center in Brooklyn. Some hurled bottles and debris at police officers, who responded with pepper spray. An abandoned police van was set on fire and at least two other police vehicles were vandalized, their windows shattered, all in the Fort Greene neighborhood near the arena." ~~~

~~~ NYC Bus Drivers Support Protesters. Jason Koebler of Vice: "Workers for New York City’s MTA are refusing to transport people arrested during protests against police brutality in the aftermath of the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis. A video of a bus driver refusing to transport people arrested during protests in front of Brooklyn's Barclays Center went viral Friday night. In the video, a crowd cheers a bus driver who appears to be refusing to sit behind the wheel: 'the NYPD is using a bus to transfer arrested protesters at the Barclays Center,' @berniebromanny, who shared the video, tweeted. 'However, the bus driver refused to drive it.' The video was viewed more than a million times in just over an hour.... Motherboard[/Vice] has confirmed that this is the official position of the union that represents MTA bus drivers."

Washington, D.C. Clarence Williams, et al., of the Washington Post: "Several hundred people gathered outside the White House in two successive tense and confrontational demonstrations occurring hours apart on Friday, both of them protesting the death of George Floyd.... Crowds continued to face off with police after 3 a.m. Saturday. Officers used what appeared to be gasses and sprays to disperse crowds, and protesters were throwing water bottles at a line of law enforcement amid the scene that remained tense more than 10 hours after the initial demonstration started. By about 3:30 a.m. police had issued two warnings to the crowd before a line of officers with shields were seen advancing on the group that was chanting 'black lives matter.'... It was not clear if the president and his family were in the White House at the time." ~~~

~~~ Brooke Seipel of the Hill: "The White House went into a brief lockdown on Friday evening as protests over the death of George Floyd raged nearby, according to reporters who said they were in the building at the time. NBC News White House correspondent Peter Alexander said on Twitter that he was on lockdown inside the building as protests in the building's vicinity were ongoing. He later tweeted that the lockdown had been lifted.

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

Jordain Carney of the Hill: "Sen. Bob Casey (D-Pa.) said on Friday that he had tested positive for coronavirus antibodies, becoming the second senator in as many days to disclose that they had been infected with the disease. Casey, in a statement, said he had a 'low-grade fever and some mild flu-like symptom'" earlier in the spring and received an antibodies test last week to try to determine if he could donate blood plasma, which is being studied as a potential treatment for COVID-19. '... In an effort to help others fighting this virus, I will be making my first donation today in Taylor, Pennsylvania,' he said. The disclosure comes after Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) said on Thursday that he had recently tested positive for coronavirus antibodies." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

** Josh Gerstein of Politico: "A sharply divided Supreme Court late Friday turned aside a church's urgent plea that California's coronavirus lockdown orders are putting an unconstitutional burden on religious freedom. Chief Justice John Roberts sided with the court's liberals in rejecting a San Diego church's request for relief from Gov. Gavin Newsom's most recent directive limiting churches to 25% of their normal maximum capacity, with an absolute maximum of 100 people at any service. In a three-page opinion issued just before the stroke of midnight Washington time, Roberts said it would be unwise for the court to intervene on an emergency basis as state officials try to grapple with the ebb and flow of a pandemic caused by a highly infectious and sometimes deadly virus. 'The precise question of when restrictions on particular social activities should be lifted during the pandemic is a dynamic and fact-intensive matter subject to reasonable disagreement,' Roberts wrote.... The court's four other GOP appointees dissented, with three of them joining in an opinion written by ... Brett Kavanaugh. He said the California policy 'indisputably discriminates against religion.'" The New York Times' report is here. ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie Note to Bart O'Kavanaugh: Where the majority of your colleagues disagree with you, the matter cannot, by definition, be "indisputable." It has been disputed.

South Carolina. Astead Herndon of the New York Times: "... South Carolina Republicans [-- including U.S. Sens. Lindsey Graham & Tim Scott --] returned to the normal rhythm of the campaign trail, coronavirus all the same. [An] outdoor gathering [in Conway, S.C.,] on Thursday was a send-off event for Cleo Steele, a longtime Republican Party operative in Horry County, who is retiring to Ohio. Speakers shared the same microphone. Local and state political candidates greeted voters with handshakes and squeezed tight for pictures. Of all the people gathered outside the county Republican office -- many of them senior citizens -- fewer than a dozen wore masks.... According to interviews with more than a dozen attendees, the event was an active rejection of behavior that the hyper-conservative crowd has come to associate with liberal enemies in recent months -- wearing masks and gloves, staying six feet away from other people, avoiding physical touch... [Here's how the M.C., Robert Rabon, began the event:] He coughed into the microphone, and passed it to the first speaker."

Wisconsin. Daniela Silva of NBC News: "Wisconsin saw a record number of new coronavirus cases and deaths reported in a single day on Wednesday, two weeks after the state's Supreme Court struck down its statewide stay-at-home order.... Wisconsin also issued a record number of test results Wednesday, with more than 10,300 tests conducted, according to the department." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Michael Crowley, et al., of the New York Times: "President Trump said Friday that his administration would 'begin the process' of ending the American government's special relationship with Hong Kong, including on trade and law enforcement, and that it was withdrawing from the World Health Organization, as part of a broad effort to retaliate against China. But the president was unclear about the speed and full scope of the actions, and his remarks left many questions unanswered.... Mr. Trump voiced a range of grievances against China's 'malfeasance,' angrily denouncing the country's trade and security practices and its crackdown on civil liberties in Hong Kong, as well as its influence at the W.H.O.... Mr. Trump delivered a scathing indictment of Chinese behavior that echoed an emerging line of attack in the president's re-election campaign, as he seeks to deflect blame for his administration's failure to stem the pandemic that has killed more than 100,000 Americans." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: Trump took no questions & did not address those 100,000+ deaths. or the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis, or his own threat to kill protesters. This was strictly a chickenshit teleprompter show.

Patricia Mazzei, et al., of the New York Times: "Mr. Trump's baseless insinuations that [Joe] Scarborough was involved in [Lori] Klausutis's death and had an affair with her reflect a callous pattern in which the president attacks his critics by going after their families or even ordinary people unconnected to Mr. Trump's grievance. They have become the collateral damage of a transactional president and his followers, whose online swarm lingers and continues to unsettle long after Mr. Trump has moved on to the next outrage.... Mr. Trump has gone after the dead and their families before, usually because he regards them as political opponents. In 2016, he claimed that the Gold Star mother of a Muslim soldier was not 'allowed' to speak alongside her husband at the Democratic National Convention. He relentlessly insulted Senator John McCain of Arizona for months after his death. When former Representative John D. Dingell Jr. died last year, Mr. Trump mocked his widow, Representative Debbie Dingell, a Michigan Democrat, and implied that her late husband was 'looking up' from hell." The story details accounts from some ordinary citizens who continue to be harassed years after Trump targeted them. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Trump Makes Another "Screw the Victims" Decision. Erica Green of the New York Times: "President Trump vetoed a bipartisan resolution on Friday to overturn new regulations that significantly tighten access to federal student loan forgiveness, siding with Education Secretary Betsy DeVos over veterans' organizations that say her rules will harm veterans bilked by unscrupulous for-profit colleges. The veto will allow stringent rules for students seeking loan forgiveness to take effect on July 1. The rules toughen standards established under the Obama administration for student borrowers seeking to prove their colleges defrauded them and to have their federal loans erased. Even if some borrowers can show they were victims of unscrupulous universities, they could be denied relief unless they can prove their earnings have been adversely affected."

Your Friday Night Docudump. Devlin Barrett & Greg Miller of the Washington Post: "Transcripts of phone calls in late 2016 between President Trump's former national security adviser Michael Flynn and a Russian diplomat were released Friday, showing that the two did discuss sanctions as the incoming administration sought to avoid escalating the conflict over Russian interference in the presidential election. The conversations were secretly monitored by U.S. agents as part of intelligence-gathering on then-Russian ambassador to the U.S. Sergey Kislyak. Flynn pleaded guilty to lying to FBI agents in early 2017 when he was asked if he discussed sanctions with the ambassador. He has since argued he was unfairly targeted by the FBI, and earlier this month the Justice Department asked a judge to toss out his guilty plea.... Flynn's message to Moscow was: 'Do not allow this administration to box us in right now!' according to the transcript. 'I know you have to have some sort of action,' Flynn said, but he added he would like Russia 'to only make it reciprocal; don't go any further than you have to because I don't want us to get into something that have [sic] to escalate to tit-for-tat.'" A Politico story is here.

Matthew Karnitschnig, et al., of Politico: "German Chancellor Angela Merkel has rebuffed Donald Trump's invitation to attend a G-7 summit, which the president is keen to portray as a symbol of a return to normality from the upheaval of the coronavirus crisis. 'The federal chancellor thanks President Trump for his invitation to the G-7 summit at the end of June in Washington. As of today, considering the overall pandemic situation, she cannot agree to her personal participation, to a journey to Washington,' German government spokesman Steffen Seibert told Politico on Friday."

The Commentariat -- May 29, 2020

Afternoon Update:

** Briana Bierschbach of the (Minneapolis) Star-Tribune: "Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman says [former Minneapolis policeman] Derek Chauvin has been charged with murder and manslaughter. Freeman said this moved with extraordinary speed, that the investigation is continuing into other three officers, Freeman says. He said they have never charged a case this quickly before. Earlier, Minnesota Department of Public Safety Commissioner John Harrington said he just received information that the officer identified as Derek Chauvin in the death of George Floyd has been taken into custody by the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension." A Politico story is here.

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

Jordain Carney of the Hill: "Sen. Bob Casey (D-Pa.) said on Friday that he had tested positive for coronavirus antibodies, becoming the second senator in as many days to disclose that they had been infected with the disease. Casey, in a statement, said he had a 'low-grade fever and some mild flu-like symptom'" earlier in the spring and received an antibodies test last week to try to determine if he could donate blood plasma, which is being studied as a potential treatment for COVID-19. '... In an effort to help others fighting this virus, I will be making my first donation today in Taylor, Pennsylvania,' he said. The disclosure comes after Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) said on Thursday that he had recently tested positive for coronavirus antibodies."

Daniela Silva of NBC News: "Wisconsin saw a record number of new coronavirus cases and deaths reported in a single day on Wednesday, two weeks after the state's Supreme Court struck down its statewide stay-at-home order.... Wisconsin also issued a record number of test results Wednesday, with more than 10,300 tests conducted, according to the department."

Michael Crowley, et al., of the New York Times: "President Trump said Friday that his administration would 'begin the process' of ending the American government's special relationship with Hong Kong, including on trade and law enforcement, and that it was withdrawing from the World Health Organization, as part of a broad effort to retaliate against China.But the president was unclear about the speed and full scope of the actions, and his remarks left many questions unanswered.... Mr. Trump voiced a range of grievances against China's 'malfeasance,' angrily denouncing the country's trade and security practices and its crackdown on civil liberties in Hong Kong, as well as its influence at the W.H.O.... Mr. Trump delivered a scathing indictment of Chinese behavior that echoed an emerging line of attack in the president's re-election campaign, as he seeks to deflect blame for his administration's failure to stem the pandemic that has killed more than 100,000 Americans." ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: Trump took no questions & did not address those 100,000+ deaths. or the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis, or his threat to kill protesters. This was strictly a chickenshit teleprompter show.

Myah Ward of Politico: Joe Biden "condemned Trump for 'calling for violence against American citizens during a moment of pain for so many.... Im furious, and you should be too.' Biden also decried the arrest of a CNN news crew early Friday, when police handcuffed reporter Omar Jimenez and led him away even after he produced his press credentials. He was quickly released and back on CNN's air less than 90 minutes later. Jimenez, who is black, was reporting on the protest and riots since the death of George Floyd.... 'This is not abstract: a black reporter was arrested while doing his job this morning, while the white police officer who killed George Floyd remains free,' Biden said. 'I am glad swift action was taken [to release Jimenez], but this, to me, says everything.'" ~~~

~~~ Greg Sargent of the Washington Post: "Donald Trump simply does not accept that he has any institutional obligation of any kind as president to use the White House's formidable communications powers to calm the nation at moments of severe tension and hardship. Instead, he views it as beneficial to his reelection to actively incite further hatred.... Setting aside whether Trump will or even can ['assume control' over Minneapolis], the intent of the threat itself is the thing here -- not just to glorify violence but to glorify his willingness to threaten it against urban protesters, should they get out of hand.... Joe Biden offered another approach.... He appealed for calm while also calling for justice for the Floyd family and acknowledging the legitimate grievances of the protesters about systemic racism and police brutality. Biden noted that Floyd's 'final words' were 'Let me breathe, I can't breathe,' and added that this has 'ripped open anew' the 'wound' wrought by racism.... The core difference here is the recognition of a broader historical and societal context in which the protesters actually do have legitimate grievances." ~~~

~~~ Kaelan Deese of the Hill: "On Friday, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) called President Trump's tweet about protests in Minneapolis 'horrific,' adding, 'Donald Trump is calling for violence against Black Americans.' In her tweet about the president, Warren said, 'His advocacy of illegal, state-sponsored killing is horrific. Politicians who refuse to condemn it share responsibility for the consequences.'" ~~~

~~~ Oops, He Did It Again. Davey Alba, et al., of the New York Times: "Amid the unrest in Minnesota, Mr. Trump posted a message on Twitter early Friday saying that 'when the looting starts, the shooting starts.' Twitter quickly prevented users from viewing the tweet without reading a brief notice that the post glorified violence, the first time it had applied such a warning on any public figure's tweets. The official White House account then reposted Mr. Trump's message; Twitter responded by adding the same notice."

Patricia Mazzei, et al., of the New York Times: "Mr. Trump's baseless insinuations that [Joe] Scarborough was involved in [Lori] Klausutis's death and had an affair with her reflect a callous pattern in which the president attacks his critics by going after their families or even ordinary people unconnected to Mr. Trump's grievance. They have become the collateral damage of a transactional president and his followers, whose online swarm lingers and continues to unsettle long after Mr. Trump has moved on to the next outrage.... Mr. Trump has gone after the dead and their families before, usually because he regards them as political opponents. In 2016, he claimed that the Gold Star mother of a Muslim soldier was not 'allowed' to speak alongside her husband at the Democratic National Convention. He relentlessly insulted Senator John McCain of Arizona for months after his death. When former Representative John D. Dingell Jr. died last year, Mr. Trump mocked his widow, Representative Debbie Dingell, a Michigan Democrat, and implied that her late husband was 'looking up' from hell." The story details accounts from some ordinary citizens who continue to be harassed years after Trump targeted them.

~~~~~~~~~~

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

Nadja Popovich & Margot Sanger-Katz of the New York Times: "The coronavirus still has a long way to go. That's the message from a crop of new studies across the world that are trying to quantify how many people have been infected. Official case counts often substantially underestimate the number of coronavirus infections. But in new studies that test the population more broadly, the percentage of people who have been infected so far is still in the single digits. The numbers are a fraction of the threshold known as herd immunity, at which the virus can no longer spread widely. The precise herd immunity threshold for the novel coronavirus is not yet clear; but several experts said they believed it would be higher than 60 percent.... Even in some of the hardest-hit cities in the world, the studies suggest, the vast majority of people still remain vulnerable to the virus."

~~~ Paul Krugman: "... when we take the value of not dying into account, the rush to reopen looks like a really bad idea, even in terms of economics properly understood.... A Columbia University study estimated that locking down just a week earlier would have saved 36,000 lives by early May, and a back-of-the-envelope calculation suggests that the benefits of that earlier lockdown would have been at least five times the cost in lost G.D.P.... So why isn't the Trump administration even trying to justify its push for reopening in terms of a rational analysis of costs and benefits? The answer, of course, is that rationality has a well-known liberal bias.... The push to reopen doesn't reflect any kind of considered judgment about risks versus rewards. It's best seen, instead, as an exercise in magical thinking.... Trump and his allies don't want us to wear face masks but do want us to wear blinders."

The New Office. And Getting There. Matt Richtel of the New York Times: "Upon arriving at work, employees should get a temperature and symptom check. Inside the office, desks should be six feet apart. If that isn't possible, employers should consider erecting plastic shields around desks. Seating should be barred in common areas. And face coverings should be worn at all times. These are among sweeping new recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on the safest way for American employers reopening their offices to prevent the spread of the coronavirus. If followed, the guidelines would lead to a far-reaching remaking of the corporate work experience. They even upend years of advice on commuting, urging people to drive to work by themselves, instead of taking mass transportation or car-pooling, to avoid potential exposure to the virus."

Joe Biden demonstrates how to be a real president:

~~~ OR, You Could Read a Trump Tweet. Quint Forgey of Politico: "... Donald Trump on Thursday offered his first expression of sympathy in observance of the milestone of 100,000 American coronavirus deaths, tweeting his condolences after drawing criticism for failing to reflect on the human cost of the outbreak in recent days. 'We have just reached a very sad milestone with the coronavirus pandemic deaths reaching 100,000,' Trump wrote online. 'To all of the families & friends of those who have passed, I want to extend my heartfelt sympathy & love for everything that these great people stood for & represent. God be with you!'" (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

~~~ Oh, He Gets Worse. Of Course. Colby Hall of Mediaite: "... Donald Trump promoted a video on Twitter late Wednesday night that opens with Cowboys for Trump founder Couy Griffin declaring that 'the only good Democrat is a dead Democrat.' Griffin made these comments at a New Mexico church while rallying a crowd to protest stay at home guidelines and amid the coronavirus." Thanks to Bobby Lee for the link. Mrs. McC: A church is an excellent venue for wishing ... Americans dead & encouraging parishoners to go forth & make everyone sick.

Trump Can't Handle the Truth, Ctd. Jeff Stein & Josh Dawsey of the Washington Post: "White House officials have decided not to release updated economic projections this summer, opting against publishing forecasts that would almost certainly codify an administration assessment that the coronavirus pandemic has led to a severe economic downturn, according to three people with knowledge of the decision. The White House is supposed to unveil a federal budget proposal every February and then typically provides a 'mid-session review' in July or August with updated projections on economic trends such as unemployment, inflation and economic growth. Budget experts said they were not aware of any previous White House opting against providing forecasts in this 'mid-session review' document in any other year since at least the 1970s." Mrs. McC: There must be a hole in the floor under the Oval Office carpet to hold all the stuff Trump has tried to sweep under the rug. (Also linked yesterday.)

Tim Mak of NPR: "Marc Short, the chief of staff to Vice President Mike Pence, owns between $506,043 and $1.64 million worth of individual stocks in companies doing work related to the Trump administration's pandemic response -- holdings that could run afoul of conflict of interest laws. Many of the medical, pharmaceutical and manufacturing companies -- including 3M, Abbott Laboratories, Gilead Sciences, Procter & Gamble, Medtronic, Bristol Myers Squibb and Johnson & Johnson -- in which Short and his wife hold stock have been directly affected by or involved in the work of the coronavirus task force chaired by Pence. Other companies among his holdings, such as CVS, Thermo Fisher Scientific, Walmart and Roche, have been publicly touted by the White House for their work with the federal government on the coronavirus response.... The White House contends he has followed administration guidelines to avoid conflicts of interest." Mrs. McC: Uh-huh. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Ken Winkes in the (Washington State) Stand: "With more than 100,000 COVID-19 deaths and 34 million workers unemployed, with no clear direction from Washington, D. C. beyond an executive order to reopen meatpacking plants without adequate testing, and with each state variously attempting to balance public safety and economic recovery, it will be a long time before our future becomes clear.... While the shape of our future is unclear, the virus has brought into focus much about our country that was already weak, broken and just plain wrong. We are learning which parts of our economy are 'essential' and which are not. And we are at long last acknowledging how many of those essential goods and services are provided by workers drawn from the lower end of our economic ladder."

Pennsylvania. Allyson Chiu of the Washington Post: "Democratic state legislators in Pennsylvania accused their Republican counterparts Wednesday of keeping a GOP lawmaker's positive coronavirus diagnosis under wraps for days, arguing the lack of transparency may have increased their risk of contracting the potentially deadly infection.Republican state Rep. Andrew Lewis released a statement Wednesday revealing he received his positive test result on May 20 -- a jarring announcement that rattled House Democrats who said they had no idea he had been sick or other GOP members had been told to self-quarantine.... Lewis, whose last appearance at the state Capitol was on May 14, said he immediately went into isolation after testing positive and informed House officials about his condition.... [On about May 16,] Lewis started to feel unwell, displaying symptoms that included a fever, fatigue and a slight cough. Within days, he had tested positive for the novel coronavirus, which causes the disease covid-19.... [Rep. Brian] Sims [D], who at times grew visibly angry and repeatedly used expletives, attacked House Republicans for being 'callous liars' and accused them of recklessly endangering lives in pursuit of partisan goals. 'Every single day that our gerrymandered Republican leadership has been calling us up into this building so they could pass these ridiculous bills pretending that it was safe to be out there, they were covering up that it wasn't safe,' he said, referencing efforts from GOP lawmakers pushing to reopen Pennsylvania." Thanks to Ken W. & Nisky Guy for the link. ~~~

~~~ Chris Cillizza of CNN: "On May 20, Pennsylvania state Rep. Andrew Lewis, a Republican, tested positive for the coronavirus. On May 27 ... his Democratic colleagues say he finally told them about the positive test -- in a statement, no less!... [Lewis wrote] that he had waited an entire week to go public with this information 'out of respect for my family, and those who I may have exposed.'... 'Knowing how House members and staff work closely together at the Capitol, we should have been made aware of this much sooner," said [House Democratic leader Frank] Dermody. 'In the last two weeks alone, there were six days of voting session here at the Capitol and more than 15 separate meetings of House committees voting on dozens of bills. For those members who journeyed to the Capitol in person, each of these meetings raises the risk of possible exposure.'... What Lewis seemingly did -- abetted, apparently, by his House Republican colleagues -- is act selfishly in a situation in which unselfishness is the answer."

Raymond Zhong & Russell Goldman of the New York Times: "Twitter said early Friday that a tweet from President Trump implying that protesters in Minneapolis could be shot violated the company's rules against glorifying violence.... The company prevented users from viewing Mr. Trump's message without first reading a brief notice describing the rule violation. Twitter also blocked users from liking or replying to Mr. Trump's post. But Twitter did not take the tweet down, saying it was in the public's interest that the message remain accessible.... 'These THUGS are dishonoring the memory of George Floyd, and I won't let that happen. Just spoke to Governor Tim Walz and told him that the Military is with him all the way. Any difficulty and we will assume control but, when the looting starts, the shooting starts. Thank you!' [Trump tweeted.]" Axios has a story here. ~~~

~~~ Allan Smith & Rebecca Shabad of NBC News: "In a feud with Twitter..., Donald Trump signed an executive order Thursday asking federal regulators to revisit the 1996 law that protects websites from liability for what their users post.... With Attorney General William Barr standing alongside him, Trump said he was acting against what he called one of the greatest threats to free speech. 'We're here today to defend free speech from one of the greatest dangers it has faced in American history, frankly, and you know what's going on as well as anybody,' Trump said.... Trump spent days fuming over [Twitter's] fact-check [of his false claims about mail-in vote,] saying Thursday that it's 'so ridiculous' for Twitter to make the case that mail-in ballots aren't subject to fraud.'... A Facebook spokesperson said in a statement on Thursday that repealing or changing the law 'will restrict more speech online, not less. By exposing companies to potential liability for everything that billions of people around the world say, this would penalize companies that choose to allow controversial speech and encourage platforms to censor anything that might offend anyone.'" The New York Times story is here. ~~~

~~~ Exactly. Trump Doesn't Know WTF He's Doing. Peter Baker & Daisuke Wakabayashi of the New York Times: "President Trump ... has now gone to war with Twitter, angered that it would presume to fact-check his messages. But the punishment he is threatening could force social media companies to crack down even more on customers just like Mr. Trump. The executive order that Mr. Trump signed on Thursday seeks to strip liability protection in certain cases for companies like Twitter, Google and Facebook for the content on their sites, meaning they could face legal jeopardy if they allowed false and defamatory posts. Without a liability shield, they presumably would have to be more aggressive about policing messages that press the boundaries -- like the president's.... Furious at what he called 'censorship' -- even though his messages were not in fact deleted -- Mr. Trump is wielding the proposed executive order like a club to compel the company to back down.... Plenty of lawyers quickly said on Thursday that he was claiming power to do something he does not have the power to do" ~~~

~~~ The text of Trump's order is here, via CNN. Mrs. McC: My guess is that Trump is causing a lot of federal (and some state) workers to engage in busy work, but like so much of Trump's sound and fury, it will all come to naught. ~~~

     ~~~ Charlie Savage of the New York Times has a, ah, more thorough analysis: "Much of the president's order consists of complaints about social media companies and their efforts to flag or remove content deemed inappropriate. Here is an explanation of the legal issues surrounding the components of the order that would -- or might -- do something." ~~~

~~~ Pete Williams of NBC News: "... Donald Trump's executive order to get the federal government more involved in regulating social media sites like Twitter won't accomplish much and would be bad public policy, according to many experts on internet law.... 'Twitter, Facebook and the like are immune as platforms regardless of whether they edit, including in a politicized way,' said Eugene Volokh, a conservative legal scholar at UCLA. 'Like it or not, this was a deliberate decision by Congress.'... That's been the settled law for a quarter-century, according to Eric Goldman, who teaches internet law at Santa Clara University. 'The whole point of the law was to give internet companies the power to decide what they thought was fit for their audience,' he said. "It was intended to encourage and protect editorial discretion, not to eliminate it.' While the executive order directs the Federal Communications Commission to consider imposing new rules, Goldman said, 'the FCC has no authority over this, because Congress hasn't delegated that authority.'" ~~~

~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: A real attorney general, of course would not "stand alongside" Trump as he made ridiculous claims about his First Amendment rights -- the rights of which, as head of government, Trump is instead attempting to deprive Twitter, et al. -- but would tell Trump what crap his plaint is. ~~~

~~~ Kate Conger & Mike Isaac of the New York Times: "Twitter on Thursday added new fact-checking labels to hundreds of tweets, even as the Trump administration prepared an executive order to curtail the legal protections that shield social media companies from liability for the content posted on their platforms. Twitter' move escalated the confrontation between the company and President Trump, who has fulminated this week over actions taken by his favorite social media service." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

~~~ Trump Yells at Kids to Get Off His Lawn. Summer Concepcion of TPM: "Shortly before the President signed an executive order on Thursday targeting social media companies ... a reporter pointed out his erroneous claim that California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) plans to send ballots out to everyone in the state. The reporter then clarified that mail-in ballots will only be sent to registered voters in California. Trump responded by going on an unhinged rant that similarly echoed his recent tweets falsely accusing Newsom of sending millions of ballots to 'anyone living in the state, no matter who they are,' before baselessly passing the buck to children.' 'Kids go and they raid the mailboxes and they hand them to people that are signing the ballots down at the end of the street -- which is happening -- they grab the ballots,' Trump said.... Trump went on to ramble about 'ballot harvesting' and claimed that ballots being 'ripped out of mailboxes' aren't being sold to Republican or conservative communities." ~~~

~~~ Maggie Haberman & Kate Conger of the New York Times: "The Trump administration is preparing an executive order intended to curtail the legal protections that shield social media companies from liability for what gets posted on their platforms, two senior administration officials said early Thursday. Such an order, which officials said was still being drafted and was subject to change, would make it easier for federal regulators to argue that companies like Facebook, Google, YouTube and Twitter are suppressing free speech when they move to suspend users or delete posts, among other examples. The move is almost certain to face a court challenge and is the latest salvo by President Trump in his repeated threats to crack down on online platforms. Twitter this week attached fact-checking notices to two of the president's tweets after he made false claims about voter fraud...." A similar WashPo story was linked yesterday. A Reuters story is here. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

~~~ "Fighting for the Right to Lie." Spencer Ackerman & Asawin Suebsaeng of the Daily Beast: "Collectively, [Trump's] order suggests social media companies may face penalties -- real or potential -- for attempting to police misinformation on their platforms. Either, according to longtime observers, is likely to be enough to prompt those companies to revert to their resting state: opening the sluice-gate of misinformation. For the president's critics, it all amounts to a jarring sequence: To stay in power, Trump has taken a step toward erasing the already blurred line between what is and isn't true online. 'Donald Trump is so committed to preventing Americans from voting that he spent weeks lying about vote by mail, and now he is trying to twist Section 230 and the First Amendment to force Twitter to spread these lies,' said Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR), the provision's co-author.... 'Mr. Trump wants to confront the power of these companies and how they operate, but instead of fighting for truth, he's fighting for the right to lie...,' [professor emerita Shoshana] Zuboff said."~~~

~~~ Oliver Darcy of CNN: "... Donald Trump has angrily complained this week about social media companies, repeatedly accusing them of censoring conservative voices and going as far as to sign an executive order Thursday seeking to limit their power. But data from Facebook, the world's largest social media company, pours cold water on the assertion that conservative voices are being silenced. In fact, according to CrowdTangle, a data-analytics firm owned by Facebook, content from conservative news organizations dominates Facebook and often outperforms content from straightforward news organizations. Additionally, over the last month on Facebook, Trump has captured 91% of the total interactions on content posted by the US presidential candidates, according to CrowdTangle. Biden has captured only 9%." Mrs. McC: You might think the whole Twitter rage was designed to distract from news of the 100,000+ Americans who have died of Covid-19. Sorry, I don't think we're distracted.

Peter Schuck in a New York Times op-ed: "... Mr. Trump's wantonly cruel tweets about the tragic death in 2001 of Lori Klausutis are distinctive: They may constitute intentional torts for which a civil jury could award punitive damages against him.... The president has offered no evidence for ... slander[ing Joe Scarborough & Lori Klausutis], because there is none.... Mr. Trump's first tort is called intentional infliction of emotional distress, which the courts developed precisely to condemn wanton cruelty to another person who suffers emotionally as a result. This tort, which is sometimes called 'outrage,' readily applies to Mr. Trump's tweets about Ms. Klausutis.... Mr. Scarborough may not have suffered the 'severe emotional distress' required for an intentional infliction of emotional distress claim. Even so, Mr. Scarborough might succeed in a defamation suit against Mr. Trump for reputational harm."

Devlin Barrett of the Washington Post: "Attorney General William P. Barr has appointed a U.S. attorney in Texas to scrutinize Obama-era officials who sought to identify anonymized names in government documents that turned out to be people connected to then-President-elect Trump, a Justice Department official said Wednesday. In an interview with Fox News's Sean Hannity, Justice Department spokeswoman Kerri Kupec said the attorney general had tasked John Bash, the U.S. attorney in the Western District of Texas, to examine the practice of 'unmasking,' which many Republicans charge was abused by the previous administration to unfairly target people close to Trump.... Bash's review is an offshoot of an investigation underway by U.S. Attorney of Connecticut John Durham.... Notably, Barr said during a news conference last week that he did not expect Durham would investigate former president Barack Obama or former vice president Joe Biden.... Unmasking is a common practice...." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

~~~ David Shortell of CNN: "Overall, the level of unmasking has increased under the Trump administration, in the last three years. There were more than 10,000 unmaskings last year and nearly 17,000 in 2018, according to the Office of the Director of National Intelligence's Statistical Transparency reports. There were 9,529 in 2017, Trump's first year in office. Under the Obama administration, there were about 9,217 unmaskings in 2016 and only 654 in 2015." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Kevin Collier of NBC: "The same Russian intelligence unit that leaked Democrats' files in 2016 is engaged in an ongoing email hacking campaign, the National Security Agency announced Thursday. Hackers in Russia's GRU, its military intelligence agency, regularly target email accounts, as is common for many with robust cyber capabilities. But this is the first time that the NSA has issued a direct public alert that named the agency and warned of an ongoing hacking campaign." --s ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: Say what? Two days after Trump's rabid attack dog John Ratcliffe is sworn in as DNI, the agency comes out with a warning that pretty much confirms the "Russia hoax"? Did this slip out while Ratcliffe was still trying to find the Post-it notes? ~~~

~~~ Julian Barnes & David Sanger of the New York Times are as surprised as I am: "While the Trump administration has publicly attributed cyberattacks to Russia before -- including for its 2016 election hack and for paralyzing Ukraine in 2017, which damaged the operations of the shippers Maersk and FedEx -- this allegation was unusually specific. It singled out Russia's military intelligence unit, widely known as the G.R.U., demonstrating the intelligence agencies' concern that Russia intends to interfere in the election only a little more than five months away. But it also comes as President Trump has renewed his baseless claims that the investigation into Russia's activities was part of a 'hoax' intended by Democrats to paralyze him. He has publicly questioned Russia's culpability in the election hacking and appeared to accept President Vladimir V. Putin's argument that Russia was so good at cyberoperations that it would never have been caught. 'There has been a reluctance to be critical of Russia because of echoes of investigations,' said retired Gen. Martin E. Dempsey, the former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. 'For the N.S.A. to do that, in this climate, they must have absolutely incontrovertible evidence.'" Emphasis added.

Presidential Race

Maggie Haberman of the New York Times: "Republicans planning their party's convention on Thursday gave North Carolina's governor a deadline of June 3 to approve safety measures to prevent the spread of the coronavirus during the event, planned for Charlotte in August. The move came as President Trump pressures Democratic leaders in the state to allow him to hold the kind of convention he wants, and as they cite public health concerns and say it is too soon to make a determination.... The letter [from RNC chair Ronna Romney McDaniels & hpresident of the convention committee, Marcia Lee Kelly] also appeared to be an effort to put the onus on [Gov. Roy] Cooper and [Charlotte Mayor Vi] Lyles, both of whom are Democrats, if Republicans end up trying to stage their convention in another state."

Beyond the Beltway

Minnesota. The New York Times' live updates of developments Friday in the protests in Minneapolis & elsewhere are here. ~~~

~~~ The New York Times is live-updating developments Thursday in the protests over white Minneapolis policemen killing of an unarmed George Floyd, who was black. "Protesters broke windows and charged over fences to breach a police precinct in Minneapolis late Thursday night as demonstrations boiled over after the killing of George Floyd. A video of Mr. Floyd, a black man, struggling to breathe this week as a white Minneapolis police officer pressed his knee against the man's neck has incited protests across the country. The unrest escalated even after Gov. Tim Walz [D] activated the Minnesota National Guard, saying he supported peaceful demonstrations but was bothered by the level of destruction on Wednesday -- buildings on fire, clashes with the police and looted stores." ~~~

~~~ MEANWHILE. Mrs. McCrabbie: In Minneapolis, Minnesota state police arrested & took into custody CNN reporter Omar Jimenez & his crew for no apparent reason. Jimenez was prominently wearing a press badge. The police would not tell Jimenez why he was being arrested but later told CNN they were arresting him because he "refused to move" & "was not following orders." In video of the arrest, Jimenez & the crew were standing in a designated area & Jimenez could be heard politely saying he & his crew would move if told where to go. While I don't doubt they will be released shortly, my guess is the "reasons" for the arrests were (1) Jimenez appears to be black, and (2) the cops adhere to Donald Trump's view of CNN as "fake news." ~~~

     ~~~ Update. CNN president Jeff Zucker spoke to Gov. Tim Walz about the arrests. Walz apologized for the arrests & said he would do what he could to have the CNN staff released. @ 7:30 am ET, CNN reported the crew had been released. ~~~

     ~~~ Update 2. Here's a CNN story on the crew's arrest & release.

~~~ Matt Furber, et al., of the New York Times: "Minnesota's governor activated the National Guard on Thursday as angry demonstrators took to the streets for a third straight night to protest the death of George Floyd, a black man who was pleading that he could not breathe as a white police officer pressed his knee into Mr. Floyd's neck. The order by Gov. Tim Walz came as the city asked for help after vandalism and fires erupted during demonstrations and as the Justice Department announced that a federal investigation into Mr. Floyd's death was a top priority.... In ... parts of the city and in St. Paul, police in riot gear clashed repeatedly with protesters amid reports of vandalized buildings and fires in businesses. In Minneapolis, at least one person was injured in a stabbing during the chaos, the police said. Late Thursday, protesters climbed over fences to breach a police precinct and set it on fire as officers retreated in squad cars.... Minneapolis's deep racial divide is as much a feature of the city for its black residents as its picturesque parks, robust employment and thriving businesses." An NBC News story is here. ~~~

~~~ Dana Thiede of KARE (Twin Cities): "United States Attorney Erica M[a]cDonald says they're conducting a 'robust and meticulous' criminal investigation into the police-related death of George Floyd.... She added that ... Donald Trump and Attorney General William Barr are 'directly and actively monitoring the investigation.'" Mrs. McC: MacDonald must be super-stupid. Invoking Trump/Barr is going to convince Minneapolis residents that a fair investigation is out of the question. ~~~

~~~ Amy Klobuchar Will Not Be Vice President. Kathryn Krawczyk of the Week: "George Floyd's death in police custody is renewing criticism of Sen. Amy Klobuchar's (D-Minn.) prosecutorial record. Before she became a senator and a top contender for former Vice President Joe Biden's vice presidential spot, Klobuchar spent eight years as the Hennepin County attorney, in charge of prosecution for Minneapolis. And while in that position, Klobuchar declined to prosecute multiple police officers cited for excessive force, and did not prosecute the officer who kneeled on Floyd's neck as he protested, The Guardian reports.... As The Washington Post noted in March, Klobuchar 'declined to bring charges in more than two dozen cases in which people were killed in encounters with police' as Hennepin County attorney. Instead, she 'aggressively prosecuted smaller offenses' that 'have been criticized for their disproportionate effect on poor and minority communities,' the Post continues." ~~~

~~~ Coincidence? Maybe Not. Ana Lastra and Eric Rasmussen of KSTP (Twin Cities): "A former club owner in south Minneapolis says the now-fired [white] police officer and the black man who died in his custody this week both worked security for her club [during the same time period] up to the end of last year. George Floyd and now-former Officer Derek Chauvin both worked security at the El Nuevo Rodeo club on Lake Street, according to Maya Santamaria. Santamaria owned the building for nearly two decades, but sold the venue within the last few months.... Although the two overlapped working security on popular music nights within the last year, Santamaria can not say for certain they knew each other because there were often a couple dozen security guards, including off-duty officers."

The Commentariat -- May 28, 2020

Thanks again to safari for keeping the show on the road. He persisted. -- Mrs. Bea McCrabbie

Afternoon Update:

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

Joe Biden demonstrates how to be a real president:

~~~ OR, You Could Read a Trump Tweet. Quint Forgey of Politico: "... Donald Trump on Thursday offered his first expression of sympathy in observance of the milestone of 100,000 American coronavirus deaths, tweeting his condolences after drawing criticism for failing to reflect on the human cost of the outbreak in recent days. 'We have just reached a very sad milestone with the coronavirus pandemic deaths reaching 100,000,' Trump wrote online. 'To all of the families & friends of those who have passed, I want to extend my heartfelt sympathy & love for everything that these great people stood for & represent. God be with you!'"

Trump Can't Handle the Truth, Ctd. Jeff Stein & Josh Dawsey of the Washington Post: "White House officials have decided not to release updated economic projections this summer, opting against publishing forecasts that would almost certainly codify an administration assessment that the coronavirus pandemic has led to a severe economic downturn, according to three people with knowledge of the decision. The White House is supposed to unveil a federal budget proposal every February and then typically provides a 'mid-session review' in July or August with updated projections on economic trends such as unemployment, inflation and economic growth. Budget experts said they were not aware of any previous White House opting against providing forecasts in this 'mid-session review' document in any other year since at least the 1970s." Mrs. McC: There must be a hole in the floor under the Oval Office carpet to hold all the stuff Trump has tried to sweep under the rug.

Tim Mak of NPR: "Marc Short, the chief of staff to Vice President Mike Pence, owns between $506,043 and $1.64 million worth of individual stocks in companies doing work related to the Trump administration's pandemic response -- holdings that could run afoul of conflict of interest laws. Many of the medical, pharmaceutical and manufacturing companies -- including 3M, Abbott Laboratories, Gilead Sciences, Procter & Gamble, Medtronic, Bristol Myers Squibb and Johnson & Johnson -- in which Short and his wife hold stock have been directly affected by or involved in the work of the coronavirus task force chaired by Pence. Other companies among his holdings, such as CVS, Thermo Fisher Scientific, Walmart and Roche, have been publicly touted by the White House for their work with the federal government on the coronavirus response.... The White House contends he has followed administration guidelines to avoid conflicts of interest." Mrs. McC: Uh-huh.

Kate Conger & Mike Issac of the New York Times: "Twitter on Thursday added new fact-checking labels to hundreds of tweets, even as the Trump administration prepared an executive order to curtail the legal protections that shield social media companies from liability for the content posted on their platforms. Twitter's move escalated the confrontation between the company and President Trump, who has fulminated this week over actions taken by his favorite social media service." ~~~

~~~ Maggie Haberman & Kate Conger of the New York Times: "The Trump administration is preparing an executive order intended to curtail the legal protections that shield social media companies from liability for what gets posted on their platforms, two senior administration officials said early Thursday. Such an order, which officials said was still being drafted and was subject to change, would make it easier for federal regulators to argue that companies like Facebook, Google, YouTube and Twitter are suppressing free speech when they move to suspend users or delete posts, among other examples. The move is almost certain to face a court challenge and is the latest salvo by President Trump in his repeated threats to crack down on online platforms. Twitter this week attached fact-checking notices to two of the president's tweets after he made false claims about voter fraud...." A similar WashPo story is linked below. A Reuters story is here.

Devlin Barrett of the Washington Post: "Attorney General William P. Barr has appointed a U.S. attorney in Texas to scrutinize Obama-era officials who sought to identify anonymized names in government documents that turned out to be people connected to then-President-elect Trump, a Justice Department official said Wednesday. In an interview with Fox News's Sean Hannity, Justice Department spokeswoman Kerri Kupec said the attorney general had tasked John Bash, the U.S. attorney in the Western District of Texas, to examine the practice of 'unmasking,' which many Republicans charge was abused by the previous administration to unfairly target people close to Trump.... Bash's review is an offshoot of an investigation underway by U.S. Attorney of Connecticut John Durham.... Notably, Barr said during a news conference last week that he did not expect Durham would investigate former president Barack Obama or former vice president Joe Biden.... Unmasking is a common practice...." ~~~

~~~ David Shortell of CNN: "Overall, the level of unmasking has increased under the Trump administration, in the last three years. There were more than 10,000 unmaskings last year and nearly 17,000 in 2018, according to the Office of the Director of National Intelligence's Statistical Transparency reports. There were 9,529 in 2017, Trump's first year in office. Under the Obama administration, there were about 9,217 unmaskings in 2016 and only 654 in 2015."

~~~~~~~~~~

Jeff Cox of CNBC: "First-time claims for unemployment benefits totaled 2.1 million last week, the lowest total since the coronavirus crisis began though indicative that a historically high number of Americans remain separated from their jobs.... Continuing claims, or those who have been collecting for at least two weeks, numbered 21.05 million, a clearer picture of how many workers are still sidelined. That number dropped sharply, falling 3.86 million from the previous week. The insured unemployment rate, which is a basic calculation of those collecting benefits vs. the total labor force, came down sharply to 14.5% from 17.1% the previous week."

Marc Fisher of the Washington Post: "One hundred thousand Americans dead in less than four months.... These 100,000 ... are they mostly famous people. They are, overwhelmingly, elderly -- in some states, nearly two-thirds of the dead were 80 or older. They are disproportionately poor and black and Latino. Among the younger victims, many did work that allowed others to stay at home, out of the virus's reach. For the most part, they have died alone, leaving parents and siblings and lovers and friends with final memories not of hugs and whispered devotion, but of miniature images on a computer screen, tinny voices on the phone, hands pressed against a window." ~~~

~~~ Ashley Parker of the Washington Post: "President Trump has spent his life in thrall to numbers -- his wealth, his ratings, his polls. Even during the deadly coronavirus pandemic, he has remained fixated on certain metrics -- peppering aides about infection statistics, favoring rosy projections and obsessing over the gyrating stock market. But as the nation reached a bleak milestone this week -- 100,000 Americans dead from the novel coronavirus -- Trump has been uncharacteristically silent. His public schedule this week contains no special commemoration, no moment of silence, no collective sharing of grief. Instead, Trump's most direct comments so far on the number came in a pair of tweets Tuesday, amounting to a preemptive rebuttal. 'For all of the political hacks out there, if I hadn't done my job well, & early, we would have lost 1 1/2 to 2 Million People, as opposed to the 100,000 plus that looks like will be the number,' he wrote."

~~~ Stephen Collinson of CNN: "The first tragedy of America's bleak coronavirus milestone is that 100,000 people didn't have to die. The second is that no one knows how many more will perish before the pandemic fades.... The US has been plagued by one of the most mismanaged, and certainly one of the most politically divisive, coronavirus mitigation efforts in the world.... There will be plenty of blame to be shared.... But despite his crisis-defining comment back in March -- 'I don't take responsibility at all' -- much of the blame must fall inevitably on Trump. Such moments of national peril are exactly what presidents are for.... Trump's 2016 convention vow -- 'I alone can fix it' -- and his entire leadership model of fomenting divisions, inventing his own facts and distracting from his failings by sparking new scandals has been irredeemably exposed. The steadily rising fatality toll brings its own awful judgments -- that no number of attacks on the previous administration or raging tweets can disguise."

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

Maggie Fox of CNN: "Antibody tests used to determine if people have been infected in the past with Covid-19 might be wrong up to half the time, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said in new guidance posted on its website. Antibody tests, often called serologic tests, look for evidence of an immune response to infection. 'Antibodies in some persons can be detected within the first week of illness onset,' the CDC says." Mrs. McC: So, um, useless.

Michael Scherer of the Washington Post: "A growing chorus of Republicans are pushing back against President Trump's suggestion that wearing cloth masks to prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus is a sign of personal weakness or political correctness. They include governors seeking to prevent a rebound in coronavirus cases and federal lawmakers who face tough reelection fights this fall, as national polling shows lopsided support for wearing masks in public. 'Wearing a face covering is not about politics -- it's about helping other people,' Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine (R) said Tuesday in a plea over Twitter, echoing comments by North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum (R) last week. 'This is one time when we truly are all in this together.' Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) posted a photograph on Instagram of himself in a mask Tuesday night. Rep. Fred Upton (R-Mich.), who faces a tough reelection fight, has added '#wearyourmask' to his Twitter handle.... The comments come as Trump continues to treat face masks as something to mock, refusing to wear one in public and joining his staff and family in ridiculing his Democratic rival Joe Biden for doing otherwise.... For Biden, the debate with the president over masks is a stand-in for their deeper disagreements over Trump's handling of the pandemic.... On Tuesday Biden made his Twitter avatar a picture nearly identical to the one Trump mocked." ~~~

     ~~~ Wow! Caitlin Oprysko of Politico: "Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell on Wednesday made an extensive pitch for Americans to don face masks as a means to begin returning the country to normalcy while the coronavirus remains a threat. 'There's no stigma attached to wearing a mask. There's no stigma attached to staying six feet apart,' the Kentucky Republican said at an event back in his home state, referencing social distancing guidelines recommended to stem the transmission of the coronavirus. Speaking hours before the national death toll surpassed 100,000, McConnell directed his pitch mostly at younger Americans, explaining that 'you have an obligation to others' in case they might be asymptomatic carriers of the virus." Mrs. McC: This is Mitch McConnell defying Der Trumpenführer AND making sense. Fairly amazing. ~~~

~~~ Eric Bradner of CNN: "Joe Biden called ... Donald Trump 'an absolute fool' on Tuesday for sharing a tweet that mocked the former vice president for wearing a mask Monday at a Memorial Day ceremony. In an interview with CNN's Dana Bash in Delaware -- Biden's first in-person interview since being knocked off the campaign trail by the coronavirus pandemic -- the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee said Trump is fueling a cultural opposition to wearing masks when 'every leading doc in the world is saying we should wear a mask when you're in a crowd.... This macho stuff, for a guy -- I shouldn't get going, but it just, it costs people's lives. It's costing people's lives,' Biden said. Trump's position amounts to 'stoking deaths,' he said. He added: 'Presidents are supposed to lead, not engage in folly and be falsely masculine.'"

Veronica Stracqualursi of CNN: "Dr. Anthony Fauci on Wednesday called for a cautious approach to reopening the US and implored Americans to wear face masks in public, comments that are at odds with ... Donald Trump's push to have America quickly return to normalcy. 'I want to protect myself and protect others, and also because I want to make it be a symbol for people to see that that's the kind of thing you should be doing,' Fauci ... told CNN's Jim Sciutto.... Fauci said he believes that while wearing a mask is not '100% effective,' it is a valuable safeguard and shows 'respect for another person.'" ~~~

~~~ Zachary Brennan of Politico: "National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Director Anthony Fauci on Wednesday became the first Trump administration official to say definitively that hydroxychloroquine is not an effective treatment for the coronavirus, based on the available data. 'The scientific data is really quite evident now about the lack of efficacy,' Fauci ... said on CNN. But he stopped short of calling for an outright ban of the drug...." ~~~

How to hydroxychloroquine pic.twitter.com/yMObDCFGXS

— Sarah Cooper (@sarahcpr) May 19, 2020

     ~~~ "Karaoke Trump." James Poniewozik of the New York Times: "The words are 100 percent Donald J. Trump's. The actions belong to the comedian Sarah Cooper, whose homemade lip-syncs of the president's rambling pandemic-related statements have become the most effective impression of Mr. Trump yet."

Ken Klippenstein of The Nation: "The US military's Africa Command, known as AFRICOM, raised concerns during a recent meeting about President Donald Trump's decision to suspend payments to the World Health Organization (WHO), according to documents obtained exclusively by The Nation.... [The information] reveals that AFRICOM appears to fear that if the United States stops contributing to the WHO during the Covid-19 pandemic, China will use that as an opportunity to expand its influence in Africa." --s

Erica Green of the New York Times: "Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, defiant amid criticism that she is using the coronavirus to pursue a long-sought agenda, said she would force public school districts to spend a large portion of federal rescue funding on private school students, regardless of income."

Mike DeBonis of the Washington Post: "House lawmakers cast the first-ever remote congressional floor votes Wednesday -- albeit under a legal cloud after Republican leaders filed a federal lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the arrangement. The new system of voting by proxy was pushed forward by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and fellow Democratic leaders this month as a temporary measure, they said, that would allow lawmakers' full participation during the global coronavirus pandemic, which has made travel and in-person meetings hazardous.... Under rules adopted earlier this month, 71 House members filed letters designating a colleague to cast floor votes on their behalf during the pandemic while they remain away from the Capitol. One by one Wednesday, dozens of Democrats stood at the microphones Wednesday afternoon and announced -- most of them through masks -- how the absent members were voting. The House passed the resolution -- calling for sanctions against Chinese officials for harsh treatment of the Uighur ethnic minority in the Xinjiang region -- on a 413-to-1 vote, with 69 yes votes cast by proxy." An AP story is here.

Tony Romm & Josh Dawsey of the Washington Post: "President Trump is preparing to sign an executive order Thursday that could roll back the immunity that tech giants have for the content on their sites, according to two people familiar with the matter. Trump's directive chiefly seeks to embolden federal regulators to rethink a portion of law known as Section 230, according to the two people, who spoke on the condition of anonymity.... That law spares tech companies from being held liable for the comments, videos and other content posted by users on their platforms.... The order will mark the White House's most significant salvo against Silicon Valley after years of verbal broadsides and regulatory threats from Trump and his top deputies." ~~~

~~~ " I Have an Article 2." Jill Colvin of the AP: "Threatening to shut down Twitter for flagging false content. Claiming he can 'override' governors who dare to keep churches closed to congregants. Asserting the 'absolute authority' to force states to reopen, even when local leaders say it's too soon. As he battles the coronavirus pandemic..., Donald Trump has been claiming extraordinarily sweeping powers that legal scholars say the president simply doesn't have. And he has repeatedly refusing to spell out the legal basis for those powers."

~~~ Elizabeth Dwoskin of the Washington Post: "President Trump and his supporters lashed out against social media companies Wednesday, targeting a Twitter executive with personal attacks and escalating a battle with the social media company over using a fact-check label on his tweets for the first time this week.... The choice to label Trump's tweet [making false claims about mail-in voting] was ultimately made by the company's general counsel in concert with the acting head of policy, [a source] said."

Michael Grynbaum & Marc Tracy of the New York Times: "Even President Trump's most stalwart media defenders have recoiled at his baseless smears against the MSNBC host Joe Scarborough, whom Mr. Trump has all but accused of killing a former staff member two decades ago despite a total lack of evidence. The president ... is now facing an unusual chorus of reproach from the media platforms he relies on for comfort. The New York Post, Mr. Trump's first read in the mornings, lamented in an editorial on Tuesday that the president 'decided to suggest that a TV morning-show host committed murder. That is a depressing sentence to type.'... And the editorial page of The Wall Street Journal, a bellwether of establishment conservative thought, called Mr. Trump's unfounded accusation against Mr. Scarborough 'ugly even for him.'... If this week's blowback affected Mr. Trump, the president has not shown it: He taunted Mr. Scarborough again on Wednesday in a tweet that referred to a 'Cold Case.'" ~~~

~~~ After whacking lefties for spreading the conspiracy story that Joe Scarborough murdered an intern, the right-wing Washington Examiner Editors write: "... it is ... unfortunate that the latest person to trumpet and repeat this vile slander is the president supposedly leading this nation through a time of crisis. Whatever his issues with Scarborough, President Trump's crazed Twitter rant on this subject was vile and unworthy of his office. Some will undoubtedly shrug it off as Trump being Trump, but one could hardly be blamed for reading it and doubting his fitness to lead.... Observers might even someday look back at this incident as the instant when things began to unravel."

~~~ The Upside-down World of Donald J. Trump. Jerry Lambe of Law & Crime: "... Donald Trump got a reality check on Tuesday..., when Twitter began flagging the president's false or misleading tweets and providing links to factually accurate information.... The president responded by attacking the social media platform, claiming the privately owned company was 'stifling free speech,' a statement which many legal experts saw fit to fact-check as well.... The platform's new fact-checking mechanism appeared when Trump tweeted a series of false and unsubstantiated claims about the prevalence of voter fraud in relation to mail-in absentee ballots.... The link, which urged people to 'Get the facts about mail-in ballots,' directed readers to a brief statement explaining the untrue nature of the claims and a list of bullet points rebutting several individual falsehoods.... '...Twitter is completely stifling FREE SPEECH, and I, as President, will not allow it to happen!' [Trump tweeted.]... The First Amendment protects 'subjects and citizens from government action.' Twitter is not the government. The irony of the president complaining that a non-state actor was violating his right to free speech -- only to threaten to use his government position to prevent that non-state actor from continuing to operate in such a way (which would be a violation of Twitter's First Amendment rights) -- was not lost on legal experts. Anti-Trump Harvard Law School Professor Laurence Tribe ... called Trump's tweet's 'insane.' [Actually 'INSANE.']" ~~~

      ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: Beyond the stupid, there's a double irony here. Trump is using the very platform he criticizes & threatens to criticize & threaten that platform. In addition, as Larry Tribe writes (and anyone who has read the Bill of Rights knows), a person does not have a First-Amendment right to express opinions on a private platform. It's true that governments can regulate these platforms, and the platforms could violate U.S. law, for instance by limiting access to white Christian men.

~~~ Zeke Miller of the AP: "The president can't unilaterally regulate or close the companies, and any effort would likely require action by Congress. His administration shelved a proposed executive order empowering the Federal Communications Commission to regulate technology companies, citing concerns it wouldn't pass legal muster. But that didn't stop Trump from angrily issuing strong warnings. [After his initial threats, Trump later] tweeted without elaboration, 'Big Action to follow.'... [Trump's] 2020 campaign manager, Brad Parscale, said Twitter's 'clear political bias' had led the campaign to pull 'all our advertising from Twitter months ago.' Twitter has banned all political advertising since last November." ~~~

~~~ ** Josh Gerstein of Politico: "A ruling that emerged from a powerful federal appeals court in Washington on Wednesday morning is strong evidence that the courts are unlikely to be receptive to ... Donald Trump's claims that he and his political supporters are being silenced by social media platforms like Twitter. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit resoundingly rejected a lawsuit the conservative legal organization Freedom Watch and right-wing provocateur Laura Loomer filed in 2018 against four major technology companies: Google, Facebook, Twitter and Apple. Facebook, Twitter and other platforms have banned Loomer, citing anti-Muslim statements. The unanimous court decision from a three-judge panel runs to only four pages, but is dismissive of a wide range of legal claims some conservatives and liberals have leveled at social media firms in recent months. The appeals court judges said that, despite the companies' power, they cannot violate the First Amendment because it regulates only governments, not the private sector."

Aw, Shucks. Peter Baker & Michael Shear of the New York Times: "For President Trump, it was a chance to rewrite the story line from tragedy to triumph. Even as the United States reached the grim milestone on Wednesday of 100,000 dead from the coronavirus pandemic, he would help mark the nation's trailblazing return to human spaceflight from American soil. But Mr. Trump's hopes of demonstrating that America was back with the verve of a rocket's red glare were doused by lightning-filled storm clouds that forced flight controllers to scrub the long-awaited launch of the SpaceX rocket even as the president watched helplessly from the Kennedy Space Center. Only minutes after heralding what was to be the first launch of NASA astronauts into orbit from the United States in nearly a decade, a disappointed Mr. Trump scrapped planned remarks and made a hasty retreat to Air Force One to fly back to Washington.... Mr. Trump vowed not to give up, promising to return this weekend when the launch will be tried again." ~~~

~~~ Kenneth Chang of the New York Times: "With gray clouds above that did not move away fast enough, a rocket launch that was to be the first to take American astronauts to orbit from American soil in nearly a decade stayed on the ground, disappointing spectators including ... Donald J. Trump and ... Mike Pence.... The launch of two NASA astronauts on a rocket built by SpaceX, the rocket company started by billionaire Elon Musk, would be the first launching of people by a private company and not a national space agency like NASA. For this launch, SpaceX was in charge, although in consultation with NASA officials."

Erin Banco, et al., of the Daily Beast: "When State Department inspector general Steve Linick was abruptly fired [by Donald Trump on the recommendation of Mike Pompeo], one of the inquiries he was conducting concerned a massive, highly controversial weapons sale to Saudi Arabia. Now the Trump administration is preparing to sell Riyadh even more weapons, The Daily Beast has learned. Two individuals familiar with the situation, including one with direct knowledge, said the Trump administration is drafting another request for a significantly smaller package of arms that includes precision-guided munitions similar to those Secretary of State Mike Pompeo approved in a highly contentious $8 billion sale in 2019. Congress voted to condemn that sale, and is likely to strongly push back against a new one, too. The proposed sale comes less than two weeks after ... Trump fired Linick." ~~~

~~~ Sen. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.) in a CNN opinion piece: "The administration is currently trying to sell thousands more precision-guided bombs to the President's 'friend,' Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.... I received draft State Department documentation that it is now pursuing this previously undisclosed sale -- details of which have not yet been made public -- even though the Saudis seemingly want out of their failed and brutal war in Yemen, and despite the fact that a bipartisan majority in Congress rejected previous sales of these weapons. The administration has refused to answer our fundamental questions to justify this new sale and articulate how it would be consistent with US values and national security objectives." --s

Elections 2020

Um, It's Not a Secret Anymore. Theodore Schleifer of Recode in Vox: "... Democrats are scrambling to patch the digital deficits of their presumptive nominee. And behind the scenes, Silicon Valley's billionaire Democrats are spending tens of millions of dollars on their own sweeping plans to catch up to ... Donald Trump's lead on digital campaigning -- plans that are poised to make them some of the country's most influential people when it comes to shaping the November results. These billionaires' arsenals are funding everything from nerdy political science experiments to divisive partisan news sites to rivalrous attempts to overhaul the party's beleaguered data file.... In Silicon Valley's new political moment, four billionaires in particular -- LinkedIn founder Reid Hoffman, Facebook co-founder Dustin Moskovitz, philanthropist Laurene Powell Jobs, and former Google CEO Eric Schmidt -- have the most ambitious plans.... Each of these billionaires is moving their pieces with varying levels of secrecy, and often with minimal disclosure, scrutiny, or accountability."

Gotcha. Gotcha Again. Steve Contorno of the Tampa Bay Times: "For a week, White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany has defended ... Donald Trump's assault on vote-by-mail, insisting, like her boss, that it invites election fraud. But, also like her boss, McEnany has taken advantage of its convenience time and time again. In fact, the Tampa native has voted by mail in every Florida election she has participated in since 2010, according to a Tampa Bay Times review of her voting history. Most recently, she voted by mail in the state's March 2020 presidential primary, just as Trump did after he made Florida his new permanent home.... In a statement emailed after the story published, McEnany said: 'Absentee voting has the word absent in it for a reason. It means you're absent from the jurisdiction or unable to vote in person. President Trump is against the Democrat plan to politicize the coronavirus and expand mass mail-in voting without a reason, which has a high propensity for voter fraud....' However, Florida does not have absentee voting. Anyone can vote by mail here without a reason."

Dahlia Lithwick & Richard Hasen of Slate: "The right-wing legal network spawned by the Federalist Society has finally gone full Trumpian. It has morphed from a group of apparently principled conservatives debating high-minded theories of legal interpretation, into a secretly-funded cabal spouting conspiracy theories such as the myth of widespread voter fraud.... [W]e have now approached peak-hackery, and that hackery is now being directed at manipulating elections. That part really is new, and it is a dangerous development that threatens the rule of law.... So far, [the Federalist] effort has been mostly directed at seating deeply conservative judges on the federal bench for decades to come. But there is a new initiative afoot: an effort to engage in political dirty tricks to manipulate democracy itself." --s

Texas. Alexa Ura of ProPublica: "The Texas Supreme Court ruled Wednesday that a lack of immunity to the new coronavirus does not qualify a voter to apply for a mail-in ballot.... The court agreed with Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton that the risk of contracting the virus alone does not meet the state's qualifications for voting by mail.... Texas voters can qualify for mail-in ballots only if they are 65 years or older, have a disability or illness, will be out of the county during the election period, or are confined in jail. The Texas election code defines disability as a 'sickness or physical condition' that prevents a voter from appearing in person without the risk of 'injuring the voter's health.' Although the court sided with Paxton's interpretation of what constitutes a disability, it indicated that it is up to voters to assess their own health and determine if they meet the state's definition. 'We agree, of course, that a voter can take into consideration aspects of his health and his health history that are physical conditions in deciding whether, under the circumstances, to apply to vote by mail because of disability,' the court ruled. The high court also rejected Paxton's request to prevent local election officials from sending mail-in ballots to voters who were citing lack of immunity to the coronavirus as a disability. Those officials ... cannot deny ballots to voters who cite a disability -- even if their reasoning is tied to susceptibility to the coronavirus." ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: Raise your hand if you think that the average election official -- much less the average voter -- can figure out this ruling. Can't think of a better way to sow confusion than issuing a "nuanced" decision.

The New York Times live-updated the SpaceX launch, which was scheduled to occur yesterday. "With gray clouds above and choppy waves in the Atlantic, NASA called off a rocket launch that was to be the first to take American astronauts to orbit from American soil in nearly a decade. The next opportunities to launch are Saturday at 3:22 p.m. Eastern time and Sunday at 3 p.m. The launch of two NASA astronauts on a rocket built by SpaceX, the rocket company started by billionaire Elon Musk, would mark the start of an era of human spaceflight that extends beyond national space agencies."

Daniel Lewis of the New York Times: "Larry Kramer, the noted writer whose raucous, antagonistic campaign for an all-out response to the AIDS crisis helped shift national health policy in the 1980s and '90s, died on Wednesday morning in Manhattan. He was 84. His husband, David Webster, said the cause was pneumonia."

Beyond the Beltway

California. Nouran Salahieh, et al., of KTLA: "Hundreds of protestors took to the streets of downtown Los Angeles Wednesday for a demonstration in the name of George Floyd, a black man who died after being pinned beneath a Minneapolis police officer's knee. A large group broke away and got onto the 101 Freeway around 6 p.m., blocking traffic on both sides of the freeway during rush hour as Los Angeles Police Department officers and Los Angeles Fire Department units responded. At one point, some people surrounded a California Highway Patrol car and were seen banging on it and kicking it as the vehicle drove through the crowd on the freeway near Alameda Street. Several climbed onto the car's hood and then fell off as it drove away, aerial video from Sky5 showed. One person was seen rolling off the hood and hitting the ground as the patrol car sped up. Firefighters were later seen treating the person, who was lying on the ground in the midst of the crowd, before transporting him in an ambulance."

Minnesota. Doug Glass of the AP: "A man was shot to death as violent protests over the death of a black man in police custody rocked Minneapolis for a second straight night Wednesday, with protesters looting stores near a police precinct and setting fires. Police said they were investigating the death as a homicide and had a suspect in custody, but were still investigating what led to the shooting." ~~~

~~~ Matt Furber, et al., of the New York Times: "Medaria Arradondo, [Minneapolis's police] chief [who is black], swiftly fired all four [police]men on Tuesday and called for an F.B.I. investigation once the video showed that the official police account of the arrest of ... George Floyd [a black man, by a police officer using excessive force], bore little resemblance to what actually occurred. When hundreds of residents poured into the streets on Tuesday night to protest Mr. Floyd's death, officers used tear gas and fired rubber bullets into the crowd, eliciting cries of biased policing. Community activists are calling for murder charges against the officers and a top-to-bottom federal review of Mr. Arradondo's department.... President Trump on Wednesday called Mr. Floyd's death a 'very, very sad event.' Joseph R. Biden Jr. ... said the death was 'part of an ingrained, systemic cycle of injustice that still exists in this country,' and that it 'cuts at the very heart of our sacred belief that all Americans are equal in rights and in dignity.'" ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: On MSNBC, Chris Hayes & Joy Reid contrasted the tear gas & rubber bullets blown into a majority-black protest against the apparent murder of Mr. George to the lenient, hands-off police response to armed white protesters who stormed Michigan's capitol building in defiance of the state's lawful stay-at-home order.

New Jersey. Maria Cramer of the New York Times: "A New Jersey Superior Court judge who asked a woman if she had closed her legs to try to prevent a sexual assault has been ordered removed from the bench by the state's highest court, which concluded his behavior made it 'inconceivable' that he could ever handle cases of domestic violence or sexual assault. The New Jersey Supreme Court unanimously agreed that the judge, John F. Russo Jr., who served in Ocean County, should be removed from the bench 'effective immediately.'... During disciplinary hearings about the case, Judge Russo said that he was trying to help the woman become 're-engaged' during her testimony...." Mrs. McC: Right. Russo thinks he did nothing wrong; he was "helping" the woman.

New York. Update of a story linked yesterday. Sarah Nir of the New York Times: "... the encounter [between Christian Cooper & Amy Cooper (not related) in Central Park's Ramble], which was recorded on video, took an ugly turn. As the man, Christian Cooper, filmed on his phone, the woman, clutching her thrashing dog, called the police, her voice rising in hysteria. 'I'm going to tell them there's an African-American man threatening my life,' she said to him while dialing, then repeated to the operator, twice, 'African-American.' The video, posted to Twitter on Memorial Day by Mr. Cooper's sister, has been viewed more than 30 million times.... Within 24 hours, the woman, identified as Amy Cooper (no relation to Mr. Cooper), had given up her dog, publicly apologized and been fired from her job. Mr. Cooper, 57, a Harvard graduate who works in communications, has long been a prominent birder in the city and is on the board of the New York City Audubon Society.... Ms. Cooper had been a head of insurance portfolio management at Franklin Templeton, according to her LinkedIn page, and graduated from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business.On Tuesday afternoon, Franklin Templeton announced that she had been fired." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Way Beyond

China/Hong Kong. Keith Bradsher of the New York Times: "China officially has the broad power to quash unrest in Hong Kong, as the country's legislature on Thursday nearly unanimously approved a plan to suppress subversion, secession, terrorism and seemingly any acts that might threaten national security in the semiautonomous city. As Beijing hashes out the specifics of the national security legislation in the coming weeks, the final rules will help determine the fate of Hong Kong, including how much of the city's autonomy will be preserved or how much Beijing will tighten its grip. Early signals from Chinese authorities point to a crackdown once the law takes effect, which is expected by September." An AP story is here. ~~~

~~~ Edward Wong of the New York Times: "Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced on Wednesday that the State Department no longer considered Hong Kong to have significant autonomy under Chinese rule, a move that indicated the Trump administration was likely to end some or all of the United States government's special trade and economic relations with the territory in southern China." A CNN story is here.