The Commentariat -- August 17, 2019

Michelle Goldberg of the New York Times: "In a world spiraling towards chaos, we can begin to see the fruits of Donald Trump's erratic, amoral and incompetent foreign policy, his systematic undermining of alliances and hollowing out of America's diplomatic and national security architecture.... The whole structure is teetering. To be sure, most of these crises have causes other than Trump.... But in one flashpoint after another, the Trump administration has either failed to act appropriately, or acted in ways that have made things worse.... [The U.S.] will never again play the same leadership role internationally that it did before Trump. And that's the best-case scenario.... In foreign affairs as in the economy, the consequences of not having a functioning American administration are coming into focus."

Karen DeYoung, et al., of the Washington Post: "U.S. negotiators have made significant advances in recent talks with the Taliban, and the two sides are close to announcing an agreement on an initial U.S. troop withdrawal, along with plans to start direct discussions between the militants and the Afghan government, according to American and foreign officials. President Trump met Friday with Cabinet officials and other senior national security advisers for a briefing by Zalmay Khalilzad, the chief U.S. envoy to the talks. Attendees at the meeting, held at Trump's New Jersey golf resort, included Vice President Pence, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, Defense Secretary Mark T. Esper, Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Joseph F. Dunford Jr., CIA Director Gina Haspel and White House national security adviser John Bolton. An initial withdrawal under the proposed deal would include roughly 5,000 of the 14,000 U.S. troops in Afghanistan. In exchange, the Taliban would agree to renounce al-Qaeda and to bar it from activities such as fundraising, recruiting, training and operational planning in areas under Taliban control." ...

     ... The Time story, by Kimberly Dozier, is here.

... Lara Jakes of the New York Times: "... as the Taliban and the United States move toward a preliminary peace agreement -- which could be released in days -- there are growing fears that Afghan women will lose the gains they have made over nearly two decades.... Officials said the preliminary deal [between the U.S. & the Taliban] is not expected to include specific assurances that women will continue to have equal opportunities in education, employment and government.... Women's rights are supposed to be addressed in the future talks [between the Taliban & the Afghan government].... Experts on Afghan issues remain skeptical of Taliban claims that they support women's rights -- a declaration that, at best, is largely untested. At worst, it is defied by continued attacks, threats and oppression against women by Taliban members in local districts across Afghanistan even as their leaders say they want peace." ...

... Maybe Afghan women's rights would have received proper consideration if not for this guy: ...

... Wesley Morgan of Politico: "Trump has repeatedly made it known he wants to remove all U.S. troops from the 18-year-old Afghan conflict, a topic he returned to Friday afternoon as his advisers briefed him on the status of peace talks with the Taliban. But his public statements and leaks of his closed-door demands have weakened the hand of his negotiators by making it clear just how desperately the president wants a deal, according to multiple current and former U.S. officials with direct knowledge of the deliberations."

One Night in New Hampshire

As the Worm Turns. Matthew Choi of Politico: "... Donald Trump on Thursday advocated the return of more mental health institutions to combat gun violence, while also throwing his support behind background checks for gun purchases. Speaking with reporters in New Jersey before heading to a campaign rally in New Hampshire, Trump said that mental health was an under-considered factor in gun violence and that his administration would examine it 'at a level that hasn't been done before.... These people are mentally ill,' Trump said of mass shooters, 'and nobody talks about that.' Mental illness is a frequent talking point among Republican lawmakers when dealing with gun violence.... 'We have to start building institutions again because, you know, if you look at the '60s and '70s, so many of these institutions were closed, and the people were just allowed to go onto the streets,' Trump said on Thursday. 'That was a terrible thing for our country.' Trump reiterated his views during a rally in Manchester, N.H, later Thursday night, using dated terms such as 'insane' and 'deranged.' Rather than proposing methods for treatment, he spoke about the need to keep those with mental illnesses isolated and off the street." (Also linked yesterday.) ...

... Jessica Taylor of NPR: "At his first campaign rally after mass shootings in El Paso, Texas, and Dayton, Ohio, President Trump appeared to back away from supporting a possible expansion of background checks in favor of a push for more attention to mental illness. 'There is a mental illness problem that has to be dealt with. It's not the gun that pulls the trigger -- it's the person holding the gun,' Trump said to roars and a standing ovation from the Manchester, N.H., crowd.... In the weeks since [the massacres in El Paso & Dayton, Ohio], the president has urged Congress to strengthen background checks, despite opposition from the National Rifle Association.... But at the rally, Trump didn't mention any of those policies." (Also linked yesterday.) ...

... Steve Contorno of the Tampa Bay Times: "Congressional Republicans recently circulated talking points on gun violence that falsely described the El Paso massacre and other mass shootings as 'violence from the left.' A document obtained by the Tampa Bay Times and sent by House Republicans provides a framework for how to respond to anticipated questions... The answers are boilerplate Republican arguments against tougher gun restrictions. But it also included this question: 'Do you believe white nationalism is driving more mass shootings recently?' The suggested response is to steer the conversation away from white nationalism to an argument that implies both sides are to blame. '...We also can't excuse violence from the left such as the El Paso shooter, the recent Colorado shooters, the Congressional baseball shooter, Congresswoman Giffords' shooter and Antifa.'" ...

"Man of the Year." Tara Subramaniam, et al., of CNN: "At a campaign rally in New Hampshire on Thursday..., Donald Trump made a handful of false claims, including returning to a claim he's made since the final days of the 2016 campaign. He said he was once named Michigan's 'Man of the Year.'... Neither we nor anyone else has been able to find a single detail. CNN has reached out to the White House and the Trump campaign about the claim, but has not heard back.... Trump has repeated versions of the claim at least six times since [November 6, 2016], including at a roundtable with corporate leaders in Michigan in 2017 and a rally in Wisconsin this April.... During the rally, Trump also repeated several of the false claims he's been touting throughout his 2020 campaign events, including those around China and tariffs, VA Choice, and payments to Iran." The writers "look at the facts." (Also linked yesterday.) ...

Trump Fat-Shamed His Own Fan. Philip Bump of the Washington Post: "The man Trump mocked as heavyset at his New Hampshire rally was a Trump supporter.... The man to whom Trump appeared to be referring was sitting near [the protesters] and quickly leaped into action. He grabbed one banner from a protester and threw it into a nearby entryway. He grabbed the second and, after a brief struggle, threw it over the edge of the balcony where it fluttered into the crowd below.... The crowd cheered the man who'd grabbed the banners.... Update: The Daily Mail's David Martosko reports that Trump was in fact referring to the man who confronted the protesters, identified as Frank Dawson. Trump later called and spoke with him." The NBC News story, by Lauren Egan, is here. ...

Frank Rich: "When the American buck is faltering, the buck always stops with the president.... As last night's rambling, repetitive, and often incoherent 90-minute rant at a rally in New Hampshire indicated, Trump is in full panic that a recession may be coming.... We now have a president whose economic 'team' consists of Fox News talking heads like Larry Kudlow, sycophants like Steve Mnuchin, and nutjobs like Peter Navarro, the White House trade-war guru who this week could be found on television likening the right-wing editorial page of Rupert Murdoch's Wall Street Journal to the Chinese Communist organ, the People's Daily." Rich also comments on the Jeffrey Epstein case & the Democratic primaries. (Also linked yesterday.) ...

... Josh Boak & Jonathan Lamire of the AP: "Though a pre-election recession here is far from certain, a downturn would be a devastating blow to the president, who has made a strong economy his central argument for a second term. Trump advisers fear a weakened economy would hurt him with moderate Republican and independent voters who have been willing to give him a pass on some his incendiary policies and rhetoric." Mrs. McC: I'm sorry, anyone who is willing to accept Trump's white supremacist "polices & rhetoric" cannot be a "moderate."

Barak Ravid of Israel's Channel 13 News (in Axios): "Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) said Friday that she will not enter Israel due to the 'oppressive conditions' placed upon her visit, despite the Israeli government's permission to enter Israel on humanitarian grounds to visit her family in the occupied West Bank, including her 90-year-old grandmother." Related stories linked below. (Also linked yesterday.) ...

     ... Update: Here's the New York Times' story, by David Halbfinger. (Also linked yesterday.)

Ha Ha Ha. Andy Borowitz reports on Denmark's counteroffer to Trump's inquiries into purchasing Greenland. Perfect! (Again, satire has lost its punch. Borowitz's imaginary response sounds appropriate.) Thanks to Islander for the link. (Also linked yesterday.)

"NO SCAN, NO PAY." Anya Litvak of the Pittsburgh Post-Express: "The choice for thousands of union workers at Royal Dutch Shell's petrochemical plant in Beaver County was to either spend Tuesday standing in a giant hall waiting for ... Donald Trump to speak, or to take the day off with no pay. 'Your attendance is not mandatory,' read the rules that Shell sent to union leaders a day ahead of the visit to the $6 billion construction site. But only those that showed up at 7 a.m., scanned their cards, and prepared to stand for hours -- through lunch but without lunch -- would be paid. 'NO SCAN, NO PAY,' the rules said."

Mrs. Bea McCrabbie: Oh, I'll just leave you with the headline: "A New Species of Leech Is Discovered Near Washington, D.C." I think that should be "in Washington, D.C."

Dominic Holden of BuzzFeed News: "The Trump administration on Friday took one of its most aggressive steps yet to legalize anti-transgender discrimination by telling the Supreme Court that federal law allows firing workers solely for being transgender, arguing a Michigan funeral home could fire a transgender woman because she wanted to wear women's clothing on the job.... The latest court filing asks the nation's top court to establish federal case law in a potentially sweeping setback for LGBTQ rights nationwide.... The Justice Department's brief on Friday contends the word ['sex' in Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964] refers to a person's 'biological sex' and, further, that transgender discrimination isn't addressed by a 1989 Supreme Court ruling that found Title VII bans sex stereotyping." Mrs. McC: Other than cruelty, there seems to be no reason for the DOJ's position.

Appeals Court Okays Jerking around Migrants. Nomann Merchant of the AP: "A federal appeals court on Friday cleared the way for the U.S. government to forbid Central American immigrants from seeking asylum at the two busiest stretches of the southern border in a partial legal victory for the Trump administration. The ruling from the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals allows ... Donald Trump to enforce the policy in New Mexico and Texas, rejecting asylum seekers who cross from Mexico into either state. Under Friday's ruling, U.S. District Judge Jon Tigar's July 24 order stopping the policy would apply only in California and Arizona, which are covered by the 9th Circuit. The two busiest areas for unauthorized border crossings are in South Texas' Rio Grande Valley and the region around El Paso, Texas, which includes New Mexico. Nearly 50,000 people in July crossed the U.S. border without permission in those two regions, according to the U.S. Border Patrol. The policy would deny asylum to anyone who passes through another country on the way to the U.S. without seeking protection there."

Appeals Court Okays Jerking around Women. AP: "A U.S. appeals court has declined once again to immediately halt new Trump administration rules that bar taxpayer-funded clinics from referring patients for abortions. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals late Friday rejected a request from more than 20 states, Planned Parenthood and the American Medical Association to block the rules from taking effect while the case proceeds. A three-judge panel and an 11-judge panel have already said the rules can take effect while the administration appeals lower court rulings that blocked them. Oral arguments are next month."

Occam's Razor, Hanlon's Razor & Sampson's Scalpel. Ali Watkins & Michael Gold of the New York Times: "The New York City medical examiner said on Friday that Jeffrey Epstein's death in a federal jail cell was a suicide, confirming he had hanged himself. Mr. Epstein's death had set off a wave of unfounded conspiracy theories, as people speculated online, without evidence, that he might have been killed to keep him from providing information to prosecutors about others in his social circle, including President Trump, former President Bill Clinton and Prince Andrew of Britain. But the chief medical examiner in New York City, Dr. Barbara Sampson, ruled out foul play. She released a terse statement saying that, after an autopsy and a 'careful review of all investigative information,' she had determined the cause of Mr. Epstein's death was 'hanging' and the manner was 'suicide.' Three of Mr. Epstein's lawyers, Martin G. Weinberg, Reid Weingarten and Michael Miller, challenged the findings and vowed to conduct their own investigation." ...

     ... The NBC News story, by Tom Winter & others, is here.

But She Does Look Lovely. Betsy Woodruff of the Daily Beast: "The NRA spent tens of thousands of dollars bringing hair and makeup artists around the country for [Susan LaPierre,] the wife of its CEO [Wayne LaPierre], two sources told The Daily Beast. The expenses -- which included plane flights and luxury hotel stays for the stylists -- are bound to fuel an already-raging debate over what some see as a spendthrift culture in the NRA's upper echelons. The NRA, meanwhile, called it a 'non-story,' and said their ex-ad firm was responsible for any such expenses." (Also linked yesterday.)

P. R. Lockhart of Vox: "Of the many myths told about American slavery, one of the biggest is that it was an archaic practice that only enriched a small number of men.... I recently spoke with [historian & author Edward] Baptist about how cotton slavery transformed the American economy, how torture, violence, and family separations were used to maximize profits, and how understanding the economic power of slavery impacts current discussions of reparations. A transcript of our conversation has been edited for length and clarity." --s

Way Beyond the Beltway

Australia/Fiji. Kate Lyons of the Guardian: "Scott Morrison has been accused of causing an extraordinary rift between Australia and Pacific countries by the prime minister of Fiji, who said the Australian prime minister's insulting behaviour while at the Pacific Islands Forum in Tuvalu would push nations closer to China.... Frank Bainimarama, the prime minister of Fiji and a political heavyweight in the region, said Morrison's approach during the leaders' retreat on Thursday was 'very insulting and condescending'.... Bainimarama also commented on the deputy prime minister Michael McCormack's comments that Pacific island nations affected by the climate crisis would continue to survive 'because many of their workers come here to pick our fruit', saying they were insulting and disrespectful." --s

Comments

[Ken Winkes]

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/16/world/middleeast/afghanistan-peace-womens-rights-.html?

"What? Women should have rights?" asked the dumfounded Pretender.

[carlyle]

Trump had better take care debating and calling Elizabeth Warren Pocahontas. She will probably respond with two Indian names from two friendly tribes, one meaning hunting women, the other
meaning powerful chief.
Pocahontas will never be mentioned again.

[Bobby Lee]

I'm sure everyone is shocked that Trump will focus on mental health instead of gun control. I suggest that as he rolls his program of new mental health hospitals out that he take the lead and designate 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue as the nations first example.

[Ken Winkes]

Have always been a little confused about what constitutes mental illness, particularly the degree to which it is properly socially identified and defined.

The late Dr. Marvin introduced me to NPD some years ago, and since we have a daily example of that condition stumbling around the country, wreaking havoc and making news, I've thought quite a bit about NPD since.

No doubt there are many reasons for calling NPD an illness, but primary among them must be the condition's damaging social effects.
If an egomaniac lived all by himself (let's keep this one male), and could do no harm to others, who would care enough to label the condition or suggest there was something wrong with such behavior?

Which leads me to ask....if the effects of a mental condition determines our judgment about it, and if those effects are socially harmful we're more likely to call such a condition or state of mind an illness, then I have many more candidates for the Pretender's expanded mental institutions.

Inveterate liars, whose words rip the social fabric apart.

Greedy capitalists, whose behavior causes hurt, envy and class division.

The racists because they sow a strain of social discord that strikes at the roots of our all men are created equal democracy.

The adults who never grow out of their imaginary friend stage, who still listen and talk to God and other invisible beings, and far prefer those conversations to the kind of dull empiricism that grows their food, builds their shelters, keeps the lights on, and makes the cars they drive and the planes they fly work.

And I'm thinking, of course, of the three percent of Americans who own more than 130 million firearms. You gotta call that a little nuts.

Institutionalizing that lot will make one doozy of an infrastructure project.

[PD Pepe]

NPR's Michel Martin interviews Rev. Rob Schenck, an Evangelical minister who has had a conversion re: his stance on abortion. I watched this on Amanpour last night––most interesting. The past violence of his words led to the violence of the shooting of an abortion doctor, he confesses, and also claims he felt pro-choice people were morally defective.

"My words led to violence; now Trump's are too."

"When we de-humanize others ( like he and his ilk did) then they become like animals to hunt and kill."
https://www.npr.org/2018/05/27/614886515/-my-third-conversion-rev-rob-schenck-on-why-he-took-on-gun-control

[PD Pepe]

@Ken: Tricky stuff, this mental illness labeling. Lots of fine lines between weird and crackers or strange and totally off the charts. The good Reverend (see above) in his hay day sounds deranged but he functioned normally as do many who harbor those dark hatreds. Trump and his gun lovers always use this mental health business when it comes to guns––it's bullshit. Yes, anyone who guns down as many as possible in a Walmart may very well be bonkers but maybe he's just following a message from up high. Given that Trump himself is "mentally challenged" it's ironic he touts the locking up of others who are just following in his footsteps.

[Victoria]

The problem with mental hospitals (never mind those consigned to them) is that they are expensive. In the '60's and 70's, the state hospitals were emptied out and closed, not necessarily because of the development of more effective treatments, more likely because no one wanted to pay for them. Then, while nothing much happened with the people in need of mental health services, the supposed development of outpatient mental health services was never really adequate because of (planned) poor funding for them. Insurance has only recently been forced into parity for mental health services. So there is, right now, a terrible need for access to adequate services for mental health problems for everyone.
In terms of who gets services, do we really want to prioritize a bunch of non insightful, mysogynist, hostile, ignorant young men who have guns and violent fantasies? Or would we turn our attention to the young adults, male and female, who are suicidal and want help? Would we tend to the very depressed men in their 50's who have made suicide their go to solution for their problems? NPD, in terms of numbers, is way down the list. I haven't mentioned the 0.3% of people (born with the neurological problem of psychosis), simply because they usually don't vote and are easily ignored.
So when the orange one says we've got to have mental health services, hospitals, etc, it only shows that he has no idea what he is talking about. Okay, fatty, what kind of services or hospitals do you mean?