The Commentariat -- August 2, 2019

Afternoon Update:

Your Friday Afternoon Twitter Dump:

Our great Republican Congressman John Ratcliffe is being treated very unfairly by the LameStream Media. Rather than going through months of slander and libel, I explained to John how miserable it would be for him and his family to deal with these people.... ...John has therefore decided to stay in Congress where he has done such an outstanding job representing the people of Texas, and our Country. I will be announcing my nomination for DNI shortly. -- Donald Trump, in tweet today ...

... ** Another One of the Best Nominations Explodes. Charlie Savage, et al., of the New York Times: "President Trump on Friday abruptly dropped his plan to nominate Representative John Ratcliffe, Republican of Texas, as the nation's top intelligence official, following bipartisan questions about his qualifications and pushback over whether he had exaggerated his résumé. Mr. Ratcliffe, an outspoken supporter of Mr. Trump, has come under intense scrutiny since the president declared Sunday on Twitter that the lawmaker was his pick to succeed Dan Coats, who is stepping down as director of national intelligence on Aug. 15. The selection generated scant enthusiasm among senators of both parties who would have been decided whether to confirm him. Mr. Trump's announcement that Mr. Ratcliffe would not be his nominee after all, also made on Twitter, spoke bitterly of the attention Mr. Ratcliffe's claims about his experience as a federal prosecutor quickly received from the news media.... The backtrack leaves Mr. Trump without any obvious candidate to fill one of the country's most important national-security jobs, heightening scrutiny on what will happen with Sue Gordon, Mr. Coats's No. 2. Mr. Trump has already decided not to allow her to rise to the role of acting director of national intelligence when Mr. Coats steps down, according to people familiar with his plans." ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: A normal president would have his potential nominees vetted before announcing their nominations. Trump, however, does no vetting & picks the Fox "News" denizen he likes best, leaving it to media to do the vetting his staff should have done. Then he complains that the "LameStreamMedia" treated his lame-stream nominee "very unfairly." But nothing is ever Trump's fault.

... Julian Barnes & Charlie Savage of the New York Times: "The White House is planning to block Sue Gordon, the nation's No. 2 intelligence official, from rising to the role of acting director of national intelligence when Dan Coats steps down this month, according to people familiar with the Trump administration's plans.... Mr. Trump did not allow Ms. Gordon to personally deliver a recent intelligence briefing after she arrived at the White House, according to a person familiar with the matter. A federal statute says that if the position of director of national intelligence becomes vacant, the deputy director -- currently Ms. Gordon -- shall serve as acting director. But there appears to be a loophole: The law gives the White House much more flexibility in choosing who to appoint as the acting deputy if the No. 2 position is vacant, said Robert M. Chesney, a law professor at the University of Texas at Austin.... On Friday, Senator Mark Warner, Democrat of Virginia, who is the committee's vice chairman, said that the law was 'quite clear' that the acting role goes to the deputy when the director of national intelligence leaves and that Ms. Gordon had the Senate's confidence."

Jordan Fabian of the Hill: "President Trump on Friday signed a sweeping budget deal that increases federal spending and lifts the nation's borrowing limit, the White House said. The new law suspends the debt ceiling through July 2021, removing the threat of a default during the 2020 elections, and raises domestic and military spending by more than $320 billion compared to existing law over the next two fiscal years. Trump signed the measure without fanfare at the White House one day after the Senate voted 67-28 to send it to his desk. The House last week passed the budget package by a vote of 284-149 before starting its August recess."

Patrick Condon of the Minneapolis Star Tribune: "Sen. Amy Klobuchar's campaign said Friday that she has met the requirements to participate in the third and fourth Democratic presidential debates[.] The Democratic National Committee set both polling and fundraising thresholds that candidates must hit in order to make the debate stage in September and October. Klobuchar previously reached at least 2% support in four early-state or national polls; now, her campaign said, the Minnesota Democrat also has reached 130,000 individual donors to her campaign."

Jacqueline Thomsen of the Hill: "A federal judge in Washington, D.C., ruled Friday against a Trump administration policy that would only allow migrants who enter the U.S. through legal ports of entry to claim asylum, the latest blow against the administration's agenda. U.S. District Judge Randolph Moss, an Obama appointee, threw out the policy, finding it to be 'inconsistent with' the Immigration and Nationality Act. The policy has been already blocked by a federal judge in San Francisco and is now being appealed before the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals."

Thanks, Supremes! Tom McCarthy of the Guardian: "US election jurisdictions with histories of egregious voter discrimination have been purging voter rolls at a rate 40% beyond the national average, according to a watchdog report released on Thursday. At least 17 million voters were purged nationwide between 2016 and 2018, according to a study by the Brennan Center for Justice. The number was basically unchanged from the previous two-year period. While the rate of voter purges elsewhere has declined slowly, jurisdictions released from federal oversight by a watershed 2013 supreme court ruling had purge rates 'significantly higher' than jurisdictions not previously subjected to oversight, the Brennan Center found in a previous report. That trend has continued, the watchdog said, with the disproportionate purging of voters resulting in an estimated 1.1 million fewer voters between 2016 and 2018. Voter purges accelerated in the United States with the 2013 Shelby County v Holder ruling, which released counties with histories of voter discrimination from federal oversight imposed by the 1965 Voting Rights Act." ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: The voters' worst enemy is not the self-serving southern Republican legislator plotting to deprive Democratic-leaning voters of the franchise but the high-and-mighty Supreme Court confederates who are protecting that little snot in the state legislature. The Robert Court is a shameful throwback to an anti-democratic status system.

Rachel Frazin of the Hill: "The Trump administration is reportedly planning to withdraw thousands of troops from Afghanistan in a new deal negotiated with the Taliban Thursday. The Washington Post reported that the number of U.S. troops in Afghanistan would be reduced to between 8,000 and 9,000 from the current 14,000, citing U.S. officials. In exchange, the Taliban would reportedly have to begin negotiating a peace deal with the Afghan government; the deal would also involve a cease-fire and a Taliban renunciation of al Qaeda. The proposal is the result of months of talks between the Taliban and Zalmay Khalilzad, an Afghan-born American diplomat, according to the Post."

Eliana Johnson of Politico: "... Donald Trump has signed an executive order imposing sanctions on Russia for its use of chemical weapons in the 2018 attack on the Russian double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter, according to two U.S. officials. The Trump administration imposed a round of sanctions last year, as required by a 1991 law. The same law requires the president to impose a second round of sanctions if he cannot determine that the state in question has stopped using chemical weapons -- and U.S. intelligence agencies were unable to make that determination with regard to Russia.... But the president, who has been loath to antagonize Russian President Vladimir Putin, dragged his feet on imposing the second round of sanctions. En route to a rally in Cincinnati on Thursday, he continued to minimize the threat of Russian interference in U.S. elections. Asked by a reporter whether Russia is continuing to meddle in American elections, Trump responded, 'You don't really believe this. Do you believe this?'"

Brett Samuels of the Hill: President* "Trump on Friday morning reacted to reports that a Baltimore home owned by [Rep. Elijah] Cummings had been robbed following days of attacks from the president on the congressman and the city [of Baltimore]. 'Really bad news! The Baltimore house of Elijah Cummings was robbed. Too bad!' Trump [wrote in a tweet apparently meant to mock Cummings]. Cummings in a statement on Friday confirmed the incident and said he scared the intruder away by yelling before they were [Mrs. McC: "he was"] able to enter the residence.... Former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley on Friday pushed back against ... Trump's tweet...[: 'This is so unnecessary,' [she tweeted.]"

Ashley Southall & William Rashbaum of the New York Times: "Five years after Eric Garner died in police custody and ignited a national outcry, a police administrative judge recommended on Friday that the officer who placed him in a chokehold during the botched arrest should be fired, according to a person with knowledge of the decision. The judge's decision sets in motion the final stage of a long legal and political battle over the fate of the officer, Daniel Pantaleo, who has become for many critics of the department an emblem of what they see as overly aggressive policing in black and Hispanic neighborhoods.... Mayor Bill de Blasio, a Democrat running for president, has resisted pushing for the officer's dismissal for years, saying he was respecting due process. He was heckled at a national debate on Wednesday night by protesters shouting 'Fire Pantaleo,' and vowed that Mr. Garner's family would soon receive justice. The judge's recommendation comes two weeks after Attorney General William P. Barr announced that the Justice Department would not seek a federal indictment against the officer on civil rights charges, ending five years of internal debate among federal prosecutors." It will be up to New York's police commissioner James O'Neil to decide Pantaleo's fate. ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: The story has been updated, adding the byline of Ali Watkins, and including an account of a press conference Mayor de Blasio gave Friday in which he announced he could not say anything! “'Today, for the first time in these long five years, the system of justice is working,' Mr. de Blasio said. He continued, 'I want to remind everyone, this is an ongoing legal matter, so there's very little I can add.'"

~~~~~~~~~~

Both the New York Times & Washington Post are now prohibiting nonsubscribers from opening stories in private mode. Starting tomorrow, I'm going to break down & subscribe to the Washington Post (I have a NYT subscription.) What I'll try to do is use other sources for news events, and when I cannot, I'll link the NYT & WashPo stories & try to find summaries elsewhere for nonsubscribers. I have avoided linking to WashPo stories for a month, but both these papers are so essential to news & opinion that I can't cover political news without relying on them. For news & opinion that is exclusive to these papers, I'll try to capture as much of the pieces' essence as possible. -- Mrs. Bea McCrabbie

Charlie Savage & Edward Wong of the New York Times: "The United States on Friday terminated a major treaty of the Cold War, the Intermediate Nuclear Forces agreement, and it is already planning to start testing a new class of missiles later this summer. But the new missiles are unlikely to be deployed to counter the treaty's other nuclear power, Russia, which the United States has said for years was in violation of the accord. Instead, the first deployments are likely to be intended to counter China, which has amassed an imposing missile arsenal and is now seen as a much more formidable long-term strategic rival than Russia. The moves by Washington have elicited concern that the United States may be on the precipice of a new arms race, especially because the one major remaining arms control treaty with Russia, a far larger one called New START, appears on life support, unlikely to be renewed when it expires in less than two years."

Alan Rappeport of the New York Times: "President Trump escalated his trade war with China on Thursday, saying that the United States would impose a 10 percent tariff on an additional $300 billion worth of Chinese imports after China failed to keep its promise to buy more American agricultural products. Mr. Trump, who had agreed in June not to impose more tariffs while the two sides tried to reach a trade deal, said on Twitter that the new tariffs would go into effect on Sept. 1. Those new levies would be in addition to the 25 percent tariff that has already been imposed on $250 billion of imports and would essentially tax all Chinese products sent into the United States.... The president's comments hammered the stock market." (Also linked yesterday.) ...

... Jennifer Jacobs, et al., of Bloomberg: "... Donald Trump resisted giving Beijing advance notice of his intent to slap a new 10% tariff on $300 billion in Chinese goods in an Oval Office meeting before he announced the duties, according to several people familiar with the discussion.... [Treasury Secretary Steven] Mnuchin recommended that the U.S. notify Beijing before Trump announced the new tariffs, the people said. Trump demurred, but with his permission [U.S. Trade Rep. Robert] Lighthizer later attempted to place a call to Chinese Vice Premier Liu He, who is the country's lead trade negotiator. He didn't answer. Acting Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney talked through the market effects of increasing the China tariffs, the people said. Trump hit send on his tweets announcing the new tariffs at 1:26, while Mnuchin, Lighthizer, Mulvaney and others were still in the Oval Office."

... Matt Phillips of the New York Times: “A fresh tariff threat from President Trump sank stocks on Thursday, pushing the S&P 500 to its fourth consecutive daily decline and reinvigorating investor worries about the outlook for the global economy.... Just before 1:30 p.m., Mr. Trump said on Twitter that the United States would impose a 10 percent tariff on an additional $300 billion worth of Chinese imports starting in September.... 'There's no ambiguity about what's pushed us off the ledge,' said Ian Burdette ... of Tribal Capital Markets. 'The tweet just really took the wind out of the sails.'" ...

... BBC News: "... Donald Trump's trade war with China is backfiring and impacting the US economy, according to his former chief economic adviser. The tariff battle has had a 'dramatic impact' on US manufacturing and capital investment, Gary Cohn told the BBC. The trade war was 'a very convenient excuse' for China to slow down its overheated economy, he added. Mr Cohn, a free trade advocate, resigned from the Trump administration in March 2018. The 59-year-old former president of Goldman Sachs bank was an unusual hire for Mr Trump because he was a Democrat...." (Also linked yesterday.)

Jacqueline Feldscher of Politico: "The Pentagon is slamming the brakes on its mega-competition to award a $10 billion cloud computing contract after ... Donald Trump suggested the Defense Department might have rigged the contest in favor of Amazon, a frequent target of his criticism. Defense Secretary Mark Esper, who assumed his post July 23, is now reviewing accusations of unfairness in the fiercely fought competition, the Pentagon announced Thursday, marking the president's latest incursion into the arcane world of Defense Department contracting. Oracle has reportedly waged an aggressive lobbying campaign to push back on the competition, including talking with members of Congress and preparing a graphic that made its way to the president's desk..... The contracting process has been plagued by controversy that pre-dates Trump's involvement, including allegations by rival bidders that the competition unfairly favored Amazon...."

Jonathan Lemire & Dan Sewell of the AP: "... Donald Trump used a revved-up rally Thursday in Cincinnati to tear into the Democrats he has been elevating as his new political foils, attacking four liberal congresswomen of color and their party's urban leaders, while also training fire on those he could be facing in 2020. But the president mostly avoided the racial controversy that has dominated recent weeks as he basked in front of the raucous crowd for nearly 90 minutes, unleashing broadside after broadside on his political foes. Trump, who had faced widespread criticism for not doing more to stop the chants of 'Send her back' about Somali-born Rep. Ilhan Omar at a rally last month, seemed to want to avoid further furor, saying he would prefer his supporters avoid the chant. He largely stuck to a greatest hits performance.... Speaking to reporters before leaving the White House for Cincinnati, Trump said..., 'I don't know that you can stop people,' Trump told reporters. 'If they do the chant, we'll have to see what happens.'" The story has been updated. ...

... Gabby Orr of Politico: "... Donald Trump on Thursday accused his 'extremist left-wing' opponents of ruining America's inner cities -- escalating his attacks against influential progressive voices and painting the Democratic presidential primary as a referendum on Barack Obama's legacy.... Trump specifically went after Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), who drew praise for her debate performance this week. 'She's lying and cheating her way through' the presidential primary Trump said. 'She defrauded people with her credentials. She said, "I'm Indian," and I said, "I have more Indian blood than she does and I have none. I'm sorry."' He also mocked former Vice President Joe Biden, 76, for his age, suggesting the current Democratic front-runner would be taken advantage of as president because he as 'no clue what the hell he is doing.'"

Richard Fontaine in the Atlantic: "Secretary of State Mike Pompeo made news this week by suggesting that ... Donald Trump has instructed him to pursue troop reductions in Afghanistan by Election Day 2020. 'He's been unambiguous,' Pompeo said. 'End the endless wars. Draw down. Reduce.' After an uproar, the secretary blamed sloppy press reporting and said that any withdrawals of U.S. forces from Afghanistan will be based on conditions on the ground[, not on election-driven expediency]. Any pegging of American troop withdrawals to the U.S. political calendar would represent a strategic mistake, and it's one that Trump himself rightly criticized Barack Obama for making during the previous administration.... The success of ... negotiation[s] depends on a credible U.S. commitment to stay in Afghanistan without a deal, and that is precisely what the administration undermines by expressing eagerness to abandon the theater."

Once Upon a Time

Trump's Very Principled Reason for Breaking up with Epstein. Matt Stieb of New York: "... according to a new report from the Washington Post, in 2004, the pair let a mansion ... tear them apart. Bidding on Maison de l'Amitie in Palm Beach, both Trump and Epstein really wanted to win the oceanfront property being sold out of bankruptcy. The trustee in the case, Joseph Luzinski, told the Post of the process: 'It was something like, Donald saying, "You don't want to do a deal with him, he doesn't have the money," while Epstein was saying: "Donald is all talk. He doesn't have the money." They both really wanted it.' Around that time, Trump banned the financier from Mar-a-Lago without giving an explanation.... [Businessman Abe] Gosman had purchased the property in 1988 for around $12 million from Leslie Wexner, Epstein's benefactor; with a strong initial bid at-auction of $37.25 million, it appeared the financier was about to take it back. But bidding soon shot up to $38.6 million and 'Trump had made up his mind to get it no matter the price,' a lawyer present at the auction told the Washington Post. Trump's bid eventually rose to $41.35 million, and he won the house. That month also marked the last known contact between the two: Shortly after the auction, Trump left two voicemails for Epstein at his Palm Beach home.... Two weeks after the auction, Palm Beach police followed up on a tip that young girls were seen frequently leaving Epstein's house." Mrs. McC: Maybe you're wondering who tipped off the cops. The WashPo report is here.

Trump's Brush with Death That Wasn't. Lee Moran of the Huffington Post: "... Donald Trump made up a story that he narrowly avoided boarding a helicopter that crashed and killed five people, according to a former longtime executive of the Trump Organization. Barbara Res, who was the company's vice president in charge of construction, recalled to MSNBC's Ari Melber on Tuesday how three Trump casino executives and two crew members were killed in the October 1989 disaster. They were returning to Atlantic City from promoting a boxing match in New York City when the aircraft went down.... Res condemned Trump for 'making himself part of the story, a very important story and undermining the fact that three people died, just like he is undermining what happened in 9/11 by exploiting it.'" (Also linked yesterday.)

More on One of the Latest Stupid Trump Tricks. Julia Jacobs, et al., of the New York Times: "President Trump's bid to rescue a rap star, ASAP Rocky, who is being held in a Stockholm jail, has spiraled into a situation the administration has apparently decided requires a diplomat typically used to free hostages from war-torn countries. But the country in question has not been touched by war in more than 70 years, and Rocky is not a hostage -- or, in any case, not by any commonly accepted definition of the term. He is a defendant in a criminal case, accused of assaulting a man on a Stockholm street a month ago. Mr. Trump's special presidential envoy for hostage affairs, Robert C. O'Brien, first appeared on Tuesday in the courtroom in Stockholm, where Rocky and two members of his entourage are standing trial.

The Trump Scandals, Ctd.

Ben Protess & William Rashbaum of the New York Times: "State prosecutors in Manhattan subpoenaed President Trump's family business on Thursday, reviving an investigation into the company's role in hush-money payments made during the 2016 presidential campaign, according to people briefed on the matter. The subpoena, issued by th Manhattan district attorney's office, demanded the Trump Organization provide documents related to money that had been used to buy the silence of Stormy Daniels, a pornographic film actress who said she had an affair with Mr. Trump. The inquiry from the district attorney's office, which is in early stages, is examining whether any senior executives at the company filed false business records about the hush money, which would be a state crime, the people said.... The Manhattan district attorney's office on Thursday separately subpoenaed the media company, American Media Inc., the publisher of the National Enquirer. The subpoenas from Cyrus R. Vance Jr., the Manhattan district attorney, came only weeks after the Trump Organization had appeared to fend off federal scrutiny of the same payments."

Not That We're Counting, But ... Kyle Cheney of Politico: "More than half of House Democrats say they would vote to launch impeachment proceedings against ... Donald Trump, a crucial threshold that backers say will require Speaker Nancy Pelosi to reconsider her steadfast opposition. 'The President's repeated abuses have brought American democracy to a perilous crossroads,' said Rep. Eliot Engel (D-N.Y.), chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, who announced his support on Tuesday. 'Following the guidance of the Constitution -- which I have sworn to uphold -- is the only way to achieve justice.' Democrats who support impeachment proceedings eclipsed the halfway mark -- 118 out of 235 voting members -- on Thursday, when Rep. Ted Deutch of Florida announced his support. Deutch was also the 23rd Democratic lawmaker to support impeachment proceedings in the week since former special counsel Robert Mueller testified to Congress, affirming publicly his damning evidence that Trump attempted to obstruct justice." (Also linked yesterday.) ...

... "The Inquiry Has Already Begun." Rep. Ted Deutch (D-Fla.) in an Orlando Sun Sentinel op-ed: "Although Special Counsel Robert Mueller's testimony may not have been a summer blockbuster, it confirmed the damning conclusions of his report. The investigation revealed substantial evidence that President Trump obstructed justice. And that the Special Counsel did not exonerate him. President Trump claimed victory. He seems to think that Mueller's performance wasn't enough to trigger an impeachment inquiry. Sorry, Mr. President, the question is no longer whether the House should vote to proceed with a formal impeachment inquiry. The inquiry has already begun.... The Judiciary Committee officially started its investigation into the abuse of power by President Trump on March 4, 2019.... In every meaningful way, our investigation is an impeachment inquiry. The Judiciary Committee already has the power to refer articles of impeachment to the whole House."

Orion Rummler of Axios: "Former FBI Director James Comey will not be charged by the DOJ for leaking memos he wrote about his White House contacts, including President Trump, the Washington Post reports.... Comey's memos -- parts of which included redacted classified information -- were of interest to ... Robert Mu[e]ller's investigation into potential obstruction of justice by the president. DOJ prosecutors declined to prosecute Comey after a referral from inspector general Michael Horowitz 'in part because they didn't believe there was evidence to show Comey knew and intended to violate laws on handling classified information,' CNN reports. Sources told both the Post and Fox News that the decision not to prosecute was 'not a close call.'" ...

... Adam Edelman of NBC News: "The leaked memo said that Trump had asked him to shut down an investigation into former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn, raising questions about potential obstruction of justice by the president.... The memo was part of a paper trail Comey built documenting what he believed to be Trump's campaign to derail the FBI's investigation of alleged Russian ties to his presidential campaign.... The day after The New York Times in May 2017 published a report about the memos, the Department of Justice announced that former FBI Director Bob Mueller would take over the investigation as special counsel. The turn of events left Trump furious, leading him on a years-long, Twitter-fueled warpath against Comey and the credibility of the special counsel."

Trump as a Terrorism Threat

Jana Winter in Yahoo! News: "The FBI for the first time has identified fringe conspiracy theories as a domestic terrorist threat, according to a previously unpublicized document obtained by Yahoo News.... The FBI intelligence bulletin from the bureau's Phoenix field office, dated May 30, 2019, describes 'conspiracy theory-driven domestic extremists,' as a growing threat, and notes that it is the first such report to do so. It lists a number of arrests, including some that haven't been publicized, related to violent incidents motivated by fringe beliefs. The document specifically mentions QAnon, a shadowy network that believes in a deep state conspiracy against President Trump, and Pizzagate, the theory that a pedophile ring including Clinton associates was being run out of the basement of a Washington, D.C., pizza restaurant (which didn't actually have a basement)."

President* Retweets FBI-Designated Terrorist Threat Group. Alex Kaplan of Media Matters: "On Twitter..., Donald Trump has amplified supporters of the conspiracy theory more than 20 times. Trump has also met with multiple supporters of the conspiracy theory at the White House, and a supporter of the conspiracy theory is co-chair of a coalition group for his reelection campaign." Story includes details of Trump's "retweeted, quote tweeted, tagged, and shared content from QAnon supporters."

Greg Sargent, via digby: "FBI director Christopher A. Wray and other FBI officials recently said the bureau has recorded some 90 domestic terrorism arrests in the past nine months, and of the cases that involve a racial motive, a majority are thought to be driven by white supremacy. More broadly, FBI officials have also said that of the hundreds of overall domestic terrorism cases being investigated, a majority of those that are racially motivated are thought to be white supremacist in nature. But here's what we need to know more about: what those officials think about the impact of Trump's rhetoric on such activity."

Frank Figliuzzi in a New York Times op-ed: "... the F.B.I. says that of its 850 pending domestic terror investigations, about 40 percent involve racially motivated extremism. In 2017 and 2018, the F.B.I. made more arrests connected to domestic terror than to international terrorism, which includes groups like Al Qaeda and the Islamic State and their lone-wolf recruits.... Reporting indicates that Mr. Trump's rants emboldened white hate groups and reinforced racist blogs, news sites and social media platforms.... He empowers hateful and potentially violent individuals with his divisive rhetoric and his unwillingness to unequivocally denounce white supremacy.... If a president paints people of color as the enemy, encourages them to be sent back to where they came from and implies that no humans want to live in certain American cities, he gives license to those who feel compelled to eradicate what Mr. Trump calls an infestation."

Elijah Cummings is the pride of Baltimore.... The president -- this comes as no surprise -- really doesn't know what he's talking about. But maybe you could ask his son-in-law, who's a slumlord there, if he wants to talk about rodent infestations. -- Baltimore native Nancy Pelosi, Thursday ...

... One Domestic Terrorist Act That Wasn't Trump's Fault. WJZ Baltimore: "Baltimore Police are investigating after the home of Rep. Elijah Cummings was broken into early Saturday morning. This was several hours before ... Donald Trump tweeted criticizing Cummings and his district including Baltimore."

Lauren Gardner of Politico: "The U.S. Senate on Wednesday confirmed Ambassador to Canada Kelly Craft to become the top American envoy to the United Nations, despite criticism from some Democrats that she lacks the experience needed for the key diplomatic position and was routinely absent from her post in Ottawa." Mrs. McC: Knowing Trump's opinion of the U.N., Craft should have no trouble treating this new gig as yet a second no-show job. (Also linked yesterday.)

Taegan Goddard of Political Wire: "'President Trump's nominee to be the nation's next spy chief is regarded as a relatively disengaged member of the House Intelligence Committee and is little known across the ranks of spy agencies he has been tapped to lead,' the Washington Post reports. 'Though Rep. John Ratcliffe's membership on the House committee is perhaps his most important credential for the top intelligence job, officials said he has yet to take part in one of its overseas trips to learn more about spy agencies' work. It is also unclear whether Ratcliffe has spent much time at the headquarters of the CIA, the National Security Agency or other parts of the sprawling U.S. intelligence community that he has been nominated to direct.'" ...

... Ratcliffe Isn't Nearly the Badass He Says He Is. Washington Post via New York: "'As a U.S. Attorney, I arrested over 300 illegal immigrants on a single day,' Ratcliffe (R-Tex.) says on his congressional website. But a closer look at the case shows that Ratcliffe's claims conflict with the court record and the recollections of others who participated in the operation -- at a time when he is under fire for embellishing his record ... Only 45 workers were charged by prosecutors in Ratcliffe's office, court documents show." No link.

Burgess Everett & John Bresnahan of Politico: "The Senate has advanced a budget deal on a 67-27 vote, paving the way for final passage and ... Donald Trump's signature." (Also linked yesterday.)

Presidential Race 2020

Maggie Astor of the New York Times: "The Democratic National Committee has set stricter criteria for the third set of debates, which will be held on Sept. 12 and Sept. 13 in Houston. If 10 or fewer candidates qualify, the debate will take place on only one night. Candidates will need to have 130,000 unique donors and register at least 2 percent support in four polls. They have until Aug. 28 to reach those benchmarks.... Seven candidates have already met both qualification thresholds": Joe Biden, Cory Booker, Pete Buttigieg, Kamala Harris, Beto O'Rourke, Bernie Sanders & Elizabeth Warren. (Also linked yesterday.)

Frank Rich: "What's obvious to all is that the field cannot be winnowed down a minute too soon. The time has come for the week’s best debaters, Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders, to stop acting like a tag team and start drawing sharp distinctions (besides personality) between themselves. One or both of them must face off with the last centrists or sort-of centrists standing: most likely, Biden, Kamala Harris, Buttigieg, and (possibly) Cory Booker."

Congressional Races 2020. Scott Bland of Politico: "Rep. Will Hurd of Texas, the only black Republican in the House, won't seek reelection in 2020, he announced on Thursday.... Hurd, a former CIA officer who was first elected in 2014, has been an advocate for bipartisan compromise on immigration and other key issues in Congress. And he has spoken out numerous times against ... Donald Trump, often warning that the president's rhetoric and positions were hurting the Republican Party.... Hurd is the sixth House Republican to in the past two weeks to announce his retirement, as the GOP adjusts to both life in the minority and the continued transformation of the party under Trump.... Democrat Gina Ortiz Jones, a veteran who barely lost to Hurd in 2018, is already running for the seat again in 2020."

Way Beyond the Beltway

Philippines. Daniel Victor of the New York Times: "A Jordanian man once considered a financier for Al Qaeda and a 'henchman' of Osama bin Laden's brother-in-law was arrested in the Philippines in July, officials said on Thursday, reinforcing concerns that Islamist militants are making a base in the country. Mahmoud Afif Abdeljalil, 51, was arrested on July 4 in Zamboanga, a coastal city at the southwestern tip of Mindanao, the nation's second-largest island. Mr. Abdeljalil had false documents under an assumed name, Jaime Morente, the chief of the Bureau of Immigration, said in a statement. Mr. Abdeljalil, whom the authorities called 'a former henchman' connected to the bin Laden family, has been in government custody since the arrest.... T

U.K. Jill Lawless of the AP: "British Prime Minister Boris Johnson's governing Conservative Party lost a special election early Friday, leaving it with a one-vote working majority in Parliament as Brexit looms. In the Conservatives' first electoral test since Johnson became prime minister nine days ago, the party was defeated for the seat of Brecon and Radnorshire in Wales by Jane Dodds of the opposition Liberal Democrats. Dodds won 43% of the vote, while Conservative Chris Davies, who was fighting to retain the seat after being convicted and fined for expenses fraud, got 39%. The result makes it harder for Johnson's government to pass laws and win votes in Parliament, with Brexit scheduled to happen in less than three months."

Comments

[PD Pepe]

Our Southern Mint Julep doesn't give a flying fig for protocol ––"screw the Dems" he says. Here's the viral video of him silencing Senate Democrats:
https://www.vox.com/2019/8/1/20750473/lindsey-graham-judiciary-committee-democrats

On the Last Word last night Lawrence had on Amy Klobachar who he cited as the only candidate on the debate stage that refused to criticize her fellow democrats but did a stellar job of talking smack against Trump. He praises this as the best way to deal with these kinds of debates which in essence are not really debates but more like a show of shows––each candidate making an effort to stand out in order to convince the populace to please come round to their place of position and give those $$$ to keep them on the front burner. One thing we can take away however––it's always clear who are the grandstanders with a lot more feet of clay than others.

Kelly Craft––good lord! She of the wife of a billionaire who gave millions to the Trump campaign––she of the interview with Andrea Mitchell who asked about her stance on Climate Change to which she responded that she has looked at both sides––both sides? Oh, yessirree, she respects both sides––those that deny it exists and those that say it does. She says this with a straight face––a pretty one with blond hair covering it–-of course.

We are doomed!!!!!

[Ken Winkes]

Don't know the full legislative status of the immigration bill Lindsay forced through the Senate Judiciary, apparently adopting Moscow Mitch as his new model of statesmanship, but doesn't this kind of crap have to get through the House, too?

[carlyle]

Mrs Bea ; Every paper I want to read has a pay wall. The Lansing State Journal even has one. Why would anyone pay for such a rinky dink paper?
On the other hand, how can you have the "paper of record" unavailable. I pay for the NYTimes and the WAPO and The Nation and am unable to afford the Boston Globe or the Balmer Sun though they have national importance.
While "Social Media" is busy spreading idiocy to the idiots the important information about our society and our government is missed by those that get their information from that little phone in their left hand that is spreading gossip.

[Akhilleus]

Funny (and not the knee slapping kind of funny) to hear the Orange Menace berate one Democratic candidate (Warren) for "defrauding" voters and another (Biden) for being old and "not knowing what he's doing".

Is there not the tiniest sliver of self awareness? As someone said last week (I think it Chait), like most career criminals, Trump thinks everyone is a crook. Or running a scam. Or senile and ignorant.

Like him.

[Marie Burns]

@carlyle: Until recently, you could access most papers to which you didn't have a subscription via private window, up till the point you hit the limit of their "free" reads for the month; then you could close out the window & start against in another private window. Now neither the NYT or WashPo allows you to open pages in private windows unless you're a subscriber, effectively closing off all non-subscribers.

I have tried to get along without the WashPo, but increasingly I'm not doing my job when I don't link to the Post stories. So I'm breaking down & signing up, but I still want to have some way of accommodating Reality Chex readers who don't subscribe to these two major U.S. papers. It's going to be cumbersome & more time-consuming for me, but I'll do what I can.

[Akhilleus]

Regarding the Epstein-Trump War of the Palm Beach Mansion, it is noted in the article that as soon as the sale was concluded (Trump HAD to win, and like he did with the Plaza Hotel, he overpaid), Epstein came under the eyes of local police who were called because underage girls were seen coming and going at his house.

Marie opines that the caller may have been a certain Orange Menace. I wouldn't be at all surprised. And you can bet that the call to the police wasn't made out of concern for the girls (how ridiculous!), it was made to fuck with his former friend for trying to get in the way of the Great Donaldo's latest scheme for prestige.

Small, vicious, narcissistic, mean-spirited, a perennial prick.

That's our president.

[Ken Winkes]

Have been holding off on the WAPO too but believe their in depth reporting on the Pretender and his shenanigans is worth something in its own right, so will probably succumb at least for the next year as we head to Nov. 2020.

And though Bezos doensn't need the money even after his expensive divorce, I'm thinking that the Pretender's spiteful effort to scuttle the Amazon-Defense Dept. deal might be worth a little, that is very little, payback.

Even subscribing to a newspaper can be seen as a moral stand.

[MAG]

If readers can get to it, Molly Roberts has an excellent piece on Dershowitz in the Washington Post, titled: "What Alan Dershowitz taught me about morality"

She ends with: "...the defense lawyer is defending himself, and the jury needs instructions. There’s an answer to the question none of us students could reach all those years ago: " Your morality comes from what you do "

[MAG]

It was too good to last. Free access to media and newspapers across the the country, around the world. But, its the subscription monies that help pay for the journalists who deliver the stories. Think of losing such access because now you need to pay...versus a world with 'news' coming from social media. You don't want that! No you don't.

I've found, if one subscribes to the print edition you can have access to the online version. It's how I am able to read Vanity Fair online. I've toyed with possibly subscribing to the New Yorker and the Atlantic.

On my small street only one person get a newspaper home delivered.

In case you are a Prime member, I think you get a break on the subscription price to Wapo.

[Patrick]

From the update article above: " ... In exchange, the Taliban would reportedly have to begin negotiating a peace deal with the Afghan government ..."

Let's see: conditional ("would"), second-hand ("reportedly"), incompleted action ("have to begin"), process not product ("negotiating").

That's about as nebulous as it gets. Call it a win, if you're DiJiT. He could get the HAK Decent Interval Memorial Nobel Peace Prize. (HAK only, 'cause Le Duc Tho had the decency to refuse his)

And on the papers: I'm in the Post's delivery area so take the paper which whaps on my driveway every day, right around 0600. The on-line access comes with the paper subscription. I get the NYT only on-line. And I pay for Charlie Pierce since he went money-mad. (Oh yeah we also have cable).

I figure that we have to support real-live journalism, now that social media is out there and we can no longer get facts from government or corporate spox. We used to get facts + spin, now we get bupkis.

And despite all issues, I think Jeff Bezos is a mensch for putting the Post in position to do its job. Mr. Liebling would be proud.

[Patrick]

And I hasten to add, thank God for Marie putting this daily together, which is the best Yellow Bird* I have ever seen.

(Before there was connectivity, the Yellow Bird was the DoD-origin clip file (paper) that went out each morning inside the Pentagon and to other agencies by WASHFAX. It allowed upper-level bureaucrats to get the news without having to get printer's ink on their tootsies.)

[Marie Burns]

@Patrick: Thank you. And you might be right.

I've been cleaning up some years-old entries & in doing so discovered, not surprisingly, that I failed to enter some links or entered them incorrectly. To find & enter the correct links in each case, I Googled the author's name and an exact copy of the money sentence from the article. I was surprised by the number of times that the only results that came up on a Google search were the original article & the Reality Chex citation. That is, nobody else had directly quoted the article, which often was a fairly important news report or opinion. So, loath as I am to pat myself on the back, I probably am doing a pretty fair job.

[Ken Winkes]

Don't know if this qualifies as hopeful, but slow learners are still learners I guess.

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/02/climate/climate-change-republicans.html?

@Patrick

Yeah, you nailed the nubbin of it. A typical Pretender geopolitical deal. Give something for nothing. Then crow about it.

And pat away, Bea. I couldn't be more grateful for what you do.

[Rose in MI]

@Patrick: I had never heard of the Yellow Bird until your comment, but I think it perfectly describes the service Marie provides to us all. And I couldn't agree more with your appreciation for the work she does.

@Marie: I'm not sure exactly how long I've been coming here, although I think it must be at least 10 years now (my sense of time a little looser now than it was before my brain went AWOL) but I do remember how I found this site. Back when the NYT was available without subscription fees, I started my day with the opinion columns, the best part of which were usually the comments, the best of which were usually yours. So one day I clicked on the link under your signature and found myself here.

I immediately bookmarked the site, and every single day since then I start my day by coming here and getting the best digest-cum-commentary -- both yours and your commentariat's -- on the day's news anywhere on the internet.

For several reasons, I choose not to subscribe to the NYT and the WaPo, which makes me all the more grateful for your willingness to take on the extra work of distilling articles for the rest of us. Long may you and Reality Chex thrive!

[Ken Winkes]

More winning.

https://www.cnn.com/2019/08/02/politics/trump-asylum-ban-ruling/index.html

[Jeanne]

Rose-- exactly how I found RC also, Marie and a writer named Kate--I forget the last name, and I am dependent on RC also, every morning. Thanks to Marie every day.