The Commentariat -- July 24, 2020

Late Morning/Afternoon Update:

The New York Times' live updates of coronavirus developments Friday are here: "The top U.S. public health agency issued a full-throated call to reopen schools in a package of new 'resources and tools' posted on its website Thursday night that opened with a statement that sounded more like a political speech than a scientific document, listing numerous benefits for children of being in school and downplaying the potential health risks. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention published the new guidance two weeks after President Trump criticized its earlier recommendations on school reopenings as 'very tough and expensive,' ramping up what had already been an anguished national debate over the question of how soon children should return to classrooms. As the president was criticizing the initial C.D.C. recommendations, a document from the agency surfaced that detailed the risks of reopening and the steps that districts were taking to minimize those risks." Mrs. McC: This is a straight news report that rightly fingers the CDC for putting Trump before science. It's appalling. Here's hoping some CDC scientists will cry foul.

Bill Saporito of the New York Times: "... with the president trying to distance himself from responsibility for the coronavirus crisis, and Southern governors amplifying the damage with their flawed reopening strategies, the nation's retailers have become the first line of defense against the pandemic. From the headquarters of Walmart (which includes Sam's Club) and Starbucks came the directive that all customers must wear masks. The conservative Southeasterner and liberal Northwesterner were followed by other national retailers, including Kohl's, CVS, Walgreens, Publix and Target.... [A] vacuum of responsibility ... is compelling the businesses that are expert at selling coffee, underwear and groceries to manage the pandemic across their swath of the economy. That they are doing a better job than the Trump administration is beyond pathetic."

Paging Sarah Palin. Chacour Coop of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram: "The situation [in Starr County] was not always as dire in this rural South Texas county.... In April, its aggressive and successful approach to beating the coronavirus was spotlighted by NBC News.... But after Gov. Greg Abbott issued orders for the reopening of the state, overriding local control and decision-making, COVID-19 cases surged.... Now Starr County is at a dangerous 'tipping point,' reporting an alarming number of new cases each day, data show. Starr County Memorial Hospital -- the county's only hospital -- is overflowing with COVID-19 patients. The county has been forced to form what is being compared to a so-called 'death panel.'... A committee will deem which COVID-19 patients are likely to die and send them home with family[.]" --s

Peter Walker of the Guardian: "Boris Johnson has labelled people opposed to vaccinations 'nuts' as he urged the public to use an expanded flu jab programme to ease pressure on the NHS if there is a second wave of coronavirus this winter. Visiting a doctor's surgery in east London to promote the extension of free flu jabs to more people, Johnson told staff: 'There's all these anti-vaxxers now. They are nuts, they are nuts.' The prime minister's comments highlight the worries in government and among NHS leaders that a potential rise in Covid-19 infections in the coming months, coupled with a bad winter flu season, could overwhelm health services."

Rebecca Ellis of Oregon Public Broadcasting: "U.S. District Judge Michael H. Simon has temporarily curbed the use of force by federal officers deployed to Portland, restricting their interactions with legal observers and journalists observing nightly protests against police violence. On Thursday afternoon, Simon issued a temporary restraining order on officers from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the U.S. Marshals Service sent to Portland to guard federal buildings. The restrictions will last for two weeks. The judge is still considering a longer-lasting injunction against federal law enforcement. The order comes as part of a lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union in Oregon, alleging law enforcement has been targeting and attacking journalists at the protests."

Siobhán O'Grady of the Washington Post: "The United Nations human rights office called on U.S. security forces to limit their use of force against peaceful protesters and journalists Friday, as clashes between federal agents and demonstrators continue in Portland, Ore.... In June, the U.N. Human Rights Council decried violent police tactics and called for an inquiry into systemic racism in the United States. The resolution came after an unusual debate on 'systemic racism, police brutality and violence against peaceful protests' in the United States, requested by all 54 countries in Africa. It was adopted unanimously by the 47 countries that belong to the council.... The United States withdrew from the council in 2018." Mrs. McC: So in case you're one of those American "patriots" touting "American exceptionalism," the U.N. is here to remind you that you live in an exceptionally violent, racist nation.

Joseph Rich of Bloomberg: "On July 22, 27 distinguished District of Columbia attorneys, including former bar presidents and a former senior lawyer in the D.C. Bar disciplinary office, filed a comprehensive D.C. Bar complaint detailing the pattern of Attorney General William Barr's ethical violations over the last 16 months. The meticulously researched, 37-page complaint details how Barr has continuously violated the D.C. Bar Rules of Professional Conduct prohibiting deceitful and dishonest conduct, interference with the administration of justice, conflicts of interest and a failure to support the Constitution.... Over the last several months, up to 2,500 former Department of Justice attorneys have strenuously objected on three occasions to Barr's unethical actions and political interference in the DOJ's law enforcement decisions. Our democracy depends on a Department of Justice that acts as an independent arbiter of equal justice, not as an arm of the president's political apparatus." --s

Keith Bradsher & Steven Myers of the New York Times: "As the United States lashed out against the 'new tyranny' of China, Beijing on Friday ordered the closure of the American consulate in Chengdu, a retaliatory move that threatens to drive the two powers into an even deeper divide. Beijing blamed the Trump administration for the deterioration in relations, calling its own action justified after Washington told China this week to shutter its consulate in Houston and accused its diplomats of acting illegally. A Chinese official, in turn, denounced American diplomats in Chengdu, a southwestern city, for interfering in China's affairs."

Jeremy Stahl of Slate: "On Thursday, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez addressed retiring Republican Rep. Ted Yoho's nonapology for calling her a 'fucking bitch' earlier in the week. In 10 devastating minutes, Ocasio-Cortez shamed the Florida congressman as emblematic of a culture of misogyny and workplace harassment, tied the Republican Party to that abuse, and once again demonstrated that she is one of the most impactful voices in the House Democratic Caucus.... The speech linked her political opponents directly to crudely sexist language, attitudes, and culture, which has been turning a critical swing-voting bloc of college-educated white women away from the Republican Party in droves."

~~~~~~~~~~

The Trumpidemic, Ctd.

Maggie Fox & Nick Valencia of CNN: "New US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines on education and child care come down hard in favor of opening schools, saying children don't suffer much from coronavirus, are less likely than adults to spread it and suffer from being out of school. But the new guidelines posted Thursday do recommend that local officials should consider closing schools, or keeping them closed, if there is substantial, uncontrolled transmission of the virus. The CDC has been promising new guidelines for more than a week, after demands from ... Donald Trump that the agency alter its recommendations for opening schools.... The guidelines recommend against screening all students for coronavirus." Mrs. McC: Okay, then. Trump gets Redfield to put Trump over children & families.

The New York Times' live updates of coronavirus developments Thursday are here. The Washington Post's live updates for Thursday are here: "The United States has reached a grim milestone of 4 million coronavirus cases, doubling the total number of infections in just six weeks as deaths and hospitalizations continue a sharp rise in many states. Despite the rosy picture painted by President Trump at his latest White House briefing, almost every metric shows America losing its fight against the virus. Positivity rates are at alarming levels in numerous states, hospitalizations are soaring, and for the third straight day on Thursday, more than 1,000 new coronavirus deaths were reported, according to Washington Post tracking. The rolling seven-day average of infections has doubled in less than a month, reaching more than 66,000 new cases per day Wednesday. The U.S. death toll now exceeds 141,000." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Erica Werner, et al., of the Washington Post: "Senate Republicans killed President Trump’s payroll tax cut proposal on Thursday but failed to reach agreement with the White House on a broader coronavirus relief bill. This set off a frantic scramble with competing paths forward, as administration officials floated a piecemeal approach but encountered pushback from both parties, and the entire effort appeared to teeter chaotically on the brink of failure.Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) had planned to roll out a $1 trillion GOP bill Thursday morning but that was canceled in a head-spinning series of events. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows emerged from a meeting with McConnell to insist there was 'fundamental agreement' on the overall deal -- but simultaneously suggested breaking up the effort into smaller pieces of legislation and trying to move forward on an extension of enhanced unemployment benefits that are about to expire. Meanwhile, it appeared that many parts of the GOP package remained unresolved, and Republicans hadn't even begun negotiating with Democrats yet." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Déjà vu All Over Again. Katherine Wu of the New York Times: "As the number of known coronavirus cases in the United States fast approaches 4 million..., new shortages of pipette tips and other lab supplies are once again stymieing efforts to track and curb the spread of disease. Some people are waiting days or even weeks for results, and labs are vying for crucial materials.... 'It's like Groundhog Day,' said Scott Shone, director of the North Carolina State Laboratory of Public Health." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

A Fan, Not a Pitcher:

~~~ Howard Fendrich of the AP: "The Nationals and Yankees knelt in unison before the first game of the baseball season as part of an opening day ceremony Thursday night that featured references to the Black Lives Matter movement, the coronavirus pandemic -- including an off-the-mark first pitch by Dr. Anthony Fauci -- and the home team's 2019 championship. Players from both clubs wore T-shirts saying Black Lives Matter during batting practice, and the letters 'BLM' were stenciled into the back of the mound at the center of the diamond. In a poignant reference to the racial reckoning happening in the U.S., players and other members of both teams held a long black ribbon while standing spaced out along the two foul lines. After they placed the ribbon on the ground, everyone then got on their knees. They all then rose for a taped performance of the national anthem. That followed a series of videos: about Black Lives Matter, showing major league players such as New York's Aaron Judge and Washington's Howie Kendrick; about the Nationals' postseason run; about the COVID-19 outbreak."

AP: "Virginia's largest school system is removing the name of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee from one of its high schools in favor of the late U.S. Rep. John Lewis. The Fairfax County School Board approved the change during a meeting Thursday. A news release posted on the school district's website says the new name will be effective for the 2020-21 school year. The board had already voted unanimously last month to remove Lee's name. It adopted John R. Lewis as the new name Thursday one day after numerous people spoke in favor of the change at a public hearing."

The Trumpocalypse, Ctd.

Kevin Liptak & Caroline Kelly of CNN: "... Donald Trump said Thursday that he's willing to send as many as 75,000 federal agents into American cities to quell violent crime, a recent campaign theme for the President. Speaking in a telephone interview on Fox News, Trump began by saying he was ready to dispatch '50,000, 60,000 people' into American cities. But eventually he upped the figure to 75,000 -- but said it would require local authorities asking for help. 'We have to be invited in. At some point we'll have to do something much stronger than being invited in,' Trump said.... According to a 2019 report from the Bureau of Justice Statistics, there were approximately 100,000 federal law enforcement officers in the entire United States in 2016, the last year for which data was available.... Earlier on Thursday, Trump took to Twitter to address the 'The Suburban Housewives of America,' warning that 'Biden will destroy your neighborhood and your American Dream. I will preserve it, and make it even better!'" See related story, linked below, on Trump's "saving suburbia" for white people.

We Shall Fight in the Streets..., We Shall Never Surrender." Asawin Suebsaeng & Erin Banco of the Daily Beast: "In the week leading up to his announcement of a 'surge' of hundreds of FBI, Justice Department, and Homeland Security personnel to Chicago, Donald Trump wanted a bigger, more public, more violent fight on the streets of the Windy City. According to three people familiar with the president's private remarks, Trump previously envisioned an ostentatious, camera-ready show of force. He wanted to go after what he saw as violent gang leaders, flush them out of hiding in ways that would have them 'shaking in their boots' like they never had before, and have alleged perpetrators marched out in front of the news cameras.... Trump insisted that with the right leader, and the right muscle, crime there could be reduced 'very quickly.'... '... if it were up to him, we would return to the old days where it was eye-for-an-eye, tooth-for-a-tooth -- or we would forget about proportionality altogether. He would talk about lining up drug dealers and gang members in front of a firing squad...[, said a former administration official]." ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: Trump seems to think he is the commanding general of a "beautiful war," and the enemies are the American people led by Democrats of color.

Zolan Kanno-Youngs, et al., of the New York Times: "The Trump administration, which has pledged to use the full force of the government to protect federal property, expanded that effort on Thursday by sending a team of tactical border officers to stand by for duty in Seattle. The Special Response Team being deployed is similar to the tactical teams currently operating in Portland, Ore., where local officials have vehemently objected to their efforts to subdue street protests. Seattle officials have also said they do not want federal agents sent to target protesters.... 'The C.B.P. team will be on standby in the area, should they be required,' the Federal Protective Service said in a statement about the Seattle effort."

Matt Zapotosky & Annie Gowen of the Washington Post: "Federal agents began descending in earnest on Kansas City, Mo., this week as part of an operation that will have them working with local detectives to interview suspects and witnesses and sift through evidence in an effort to quell violent crime, U.S. officials said. The operation, in any other administration, might have been largely seen as inoffensive for a city that has experienced a massive spike in homicides from the prior year. But the timing -- just after federal officers in military garb violently cracked down on racial justice demonstrators in Portland, Ore., and President Trump threatened to dispatch U.S. law enforcement to other cities -- could hardly be worse. In no small part because of Trump's politically charged rhetoric, local activists and officials have come to view with suspicion the more than 200 [federal] agents sent to Missouri...."

Devlin Barrett of the Washington Post: "Two federal inspectors general announced Thursday they will investigate how Justice Department and Homeland Security agents used force, detained people and conducted themselves at high-profile clashes with protesters in Portland, Ore., and Washington, D.C. Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz will investigate how U.S. marshals have used force in Portland, and how other parts of the Justice Department -- such as the FBI, Drug Enforcement Administration and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives -- were used to quell unrest in the nation's capital. The Department of Homeland Security inspector general, Joseph Cuffari, said in a letter to lawmakers that he opened an investigation into allegations that Customs and Border Protection agents 'improperly detained and transported protesters' in Portland, and that he would review the deployment there of DHS personnel in recent weeks." The AP's story is here.

Saving Suburbia for Healthy White People -- Trump Goes Back to His Roots. Brett Samuels of the Hill: "The Trump administration on Thursday repealed an Obama administration rule meant to combat housing discrimination that President Trump has cited as he portrays presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden as a threat to suburban voters.... Under the new rule, local officials have significantly more jurisdiction in determining what qualifies as fair housing and how to promote its accessibility.... The Obama rule previously required localities to draw up plans to address housing discrimination in order to receive certain federal funding. The Trump administration gutted it more than two years ago, making it largely toothless.... The action follows weeks of rhetoric from Trump warning about threats to the suburbs as he courts those voters ahead of November's election. He specifically cited the Obama-era housing rule, arguing that it took zoning decisions out of the hands of local officials." ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: Donald Trump got his start in the real estate business working for his father and turning away applicants for rental units whose only "disqualifying" characteristic was the color of their skin. Fittingly, he is ending his "professional" career (or so I hope) on that very note. ~~~

~~~ Toluse Olorunnipa & Colby Itkowitz of the Washington Post: "President Trump moved Thursday to repeal a fair housing rule that he claimed would lead to 'destruction' of the country's suburbs, continuing an aggressive push that coincides with his campaign's attempt to paint Democrats as angry mobs on the brink of upturning peaceful, mostly white neighborhoods.... 'The Suburban Housewives of America must read this article,' Trump wrote Thursday on Twitter, linking to a New York Post op-ed by former New York lieutenant governor Betsy McCaughey that argued that Biden would ruin the country's bedroom communities. 'Biden will destroy your neighborhood and your American Dream. I will preserve it, and make it even better!' Trump said in his tweet.... Julián Castro, Obama's second HUD secretary, who oversaw the finalization of the fair housing regulation, said Trump was barely concealing his racial animus with 'code words,' stereotypes and old tropes." ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: Trump seems to think "suburban housewives" are home baking cookies and worrying that the chocolate chips in the cookies foretell a black family embedding itself in their neighborhood.

Trump & the Bounty Hunter. Morgan Chalfant of the Hill: "President Trump spoke with Russian President Vladimir Putin by phone on Thursday, discussing the novel coronavirus, arms control negotiations and other matters. The call marked Trump's first phone conversation with Putin since last month, and comes days after the United States, the United Kingdom and Canada accused Moscow of attempting to hack coronavirus vaccine research. The phone call is also Trump's first with Putin since the explosive New York Times report about a U.S. intelligence assessment that Russia offered bounties to Taliban insurgents for launching attacks against U.S. troops in Afghanistan. The White House, which has disputed elements of the Times's account, made no mention of either issue coming up during the call." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

No, I never spoke to Woody Johnson about that, about Turnberry. Turnberry is a highly respected course, as you know, one of the best in the world. And I read a story about it today and I had never, I never spoke to Woody Johnson about doing that. No. -- Donald Trump, claiming Wednesday he had not asked the U.S. ambassador to the U.K. to steer the British Open toward Trump's Scottish golf course

~~~ Steve Benen of MSNBC on Turnberrygate: "First, there's ample reason to believe Trump's denial is a lie [because several people, including Ambassador Johnson, have effectively confirmed the ask]. After all, there's no reason for Johnson, the president's financial supporter and handpicked ambassador, to make this up. Second, even the denial reeks of corruption. In response to a question about misusing his office to help his business, the president used the White House podium to praise and promote his business.... NBC News added yesterday than a [State Department] IG report 'was completed and marked classified as of May; an unclassified version has yet to be released.'... It also puts a new light on Trump's decision in May to fire the State Department's inspector general -- late on a Friday night...." Mrs. McC: Everything Trump says or does has a corrupt purpose. That's almost impressive.

Dan Mangan of CNBC: "A federal judge on Thursday ordered the release from prison of ... Donald Trump's former lawyer and fixer Michael Cohen by Friday afternoon. Judge Alvin Hellerstein found that Cohen was sent back to prison on July 10 in retaliation for failing to agree a day earlier to not to publish a book about Trump as one of multiple conditions for serving the remainder of his three-year prison term on home confinement.... 'I've never seen such a clause, in 21 years in being a judge, Hellerstein said at a Manhattan federal court hearing, where he questioned the condition that Cohen not publish a book while in home confinement. 'How can I take any other inference but that it was retaliatory?' the judge asked." See related story linked below. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

~~~ Benjamin Weiser & Alan Feuer of the New York Times: "Judge Hellerstein's decision was a remarkable rebuke of prison and probation officials and, by extension, the Trump administration. It raised concerns that the authorities had used the penal system to squelch the free speech rights of one of Mr. Trump's enemies in an effort to protect the president."

Peter Baker of the New York Times: "The House Judiciary Committee staff initially drew up 10 articles of impeachment against President Trump last year, alleging a wide range of high crimes and misdemeanors before the case was whittled down to his interactions with Ukraine, according to a book to be published next week. The staff members, working for Representative Jerrold Nadler, Democrat of New York and the committee chairman, drafted a sweeping indictment of Mr. Trump charging him with, among other things, obstructing the Russia investigation, authorizing hush money for women to cover up sexual affairs, illegally diverting money to his border wall and profiting personally from his office.... new book by Norman L. Eisen, a former White House official and ambassador who served as a lawyer for Mr. Nadler, is the first inside account to emerge from only the third impeachment of a president in American history.... Mr. Eisen offers tantalizing details from the committee's own investigation of the president that did not make it into the final impeachment articles...." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Ed Shanahan & Zolan Kanno-Youngs of the New York Times: "Homeland Security officials made false statements in a bid to justify expelling New York residents from programs that let United States travelers speed through borders and airport lines, federal lawyers admitted on Thursday. The unusual admission, contained in a court filing, said the inaccuracies 'undermine a central argument' in the Trump administration's case for barring New Yorkers from the programs after the state passed a law enabling undocumented immigrants to get driver's licenses.... Against that backdrop, the filing said, 'The acting secretary of homeland security has decided to restore New York residents' access to' what is officially known as the Trusted Traveler Program 'effective immediately.' The filing on Thursday came in response to lawsuits filed by New York State and the New York Civil Liberties Union over the decision to kick New Yorkers out of the programs." Mrs. McC: Hmm, at least some of these false statements must have been made under oath. Seems as if perjury charges would be in order.

Seeing Themselves As Others See Them -- Not a Pretty Picture. Caitlin Dickerson of the New York Times: "In early 2017, as Immigration and Customs Enforcement prepared to carry out the hard-line agenda on which President Trump had campaigned, agency leaders jumped at the chance to let two filmmakers give a behind-the-scenes look at the process. But as the documentary neared completion in recent months, the administration fought mightily to keep it from being released until after the 2020 election. After granting rare access to parts of the country's powerful immigration enforcement machinery that are usually invisible to the public, administration officials threatened legal action and sought to block parts of it from seeing the light of day.... The filmmakers said they were told that the administration's anger over the project came from 'all the way to the top.'... Some of the contentious scenes include ICE officers lying to immigrants to gain access to their homes and mocking them after taking them into custody. One shows an officer illegally picking the lock to an apartment building during a raid."

Sylvan Lane & Jordain Carney of the Hill: "Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) said Thursday he will vote against President Trump's controversial nomination of Judy Shelton to the Federal Reserve Board, impeding her path to confirmation.... Romney is the first Republican senator to announce his opposition to Shelton, who will also likely be opposed by all 47 members of the Senate Democratic Caucus, so the opposition of three more Republicans would effectively doom her nomination. Romney, like several GOP senators, had previously expressed concerns about Shelton's past support for linking the value of the dollar to gold, along with her inconsistent stances on the Fed interest rates." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Daniel Lippmann & Nahal Toosi of Politico have a long piece in the Magazine on what a buttinski Mike Pompeo's wife Susan is now & always has been. Pompeo responded to the reporters' questions for the article by writing, in part, "Politico's continued efforts to smear her are both sad and wrong. Instead of being slandered, she should be applauded and thanked." (Also linked yesterday.)

** Allan Smith of NBC News: "Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., excoriated Rep. Ted Yoho, R-Fla., on the House floor Thursday, a day after he denied having called her a 'f[uck]ing b[itch],' 'crazy' and 'disgusting' on the steps of the Capitol this week. 'I walked back out and there were reporters in the front of the Capitol, and in front of reporters Rep. Yoho called me, and I quote, a f[uck]ing b[itch] -- f[uck]ing b[itch],' she said of their encounter Monday. 'These are the words Rep. Yoho levied against a congresswoman.'... She said she was rising to speak after Yoho's speech from the House floor Wednesday, when he said that he apologized for the 'abrupt manner' of his discussion with Ocasio-Cortez but that he did not say the 'offensive name-calling words attributed' to him.... '... Having been married for 45 years with two daughters, I'm very cognizant of my language,' Yoho said, adding later that he cannot apologize for 'my passion or for loving my God, my family and my country.'... [Ocasio-Cortez] said [Thursday], 'I am two years younger than Mr. Yoho's youngest daughter. I am someone's daughter, too.'" ~~~

~~~ A Remarkable Speech. If you can't listen now, save it for later:

     ~~~ Monica Hesse of the Washington Post: "If you click on only one thing today, let it be Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's Thursday morning speech, delivered from the House floor and directed to a fellow member of Congress, but really to us all." ~~~

~~~ The Gray Lady Goes There. Luke Broadwater & Catie Edmondson of the New York Times: "On Thursday, [Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.)] had her most norm-shattering moment yet when she took to the House floor to read into the Congressional Record a sexist vulgarity that Representative Ted Yoho, a Florida Republican, had used to refer to her. 'In front of reporters, Representative Yoho called me, and I quote: "A fucking bitch,"' she said, punching each syllable in the vulgarity. 'These are the words Representative Yoho levied against a congresswoman.' Then Ms. Ocasio-Cortez ... invited a group of Democratic women in the House to come forward to express solidarity with her. One by one, they shared their own stories of harassment and mistreatment by men, including in Congress. More even than the profanity uttered on the House floor, where language is carefully regulated, what unfolded over the next hour was a remarkable moment of cultural upheaval on Capitol Hill." ~~~

~~~ Yoho Can't Stop Lying. Alan Fram of the AP: "Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's outrage over a Republican lawmaker's verbal assault broadened into an extraordinary moment on the House floor Thursday as she and other Democrats assailed a sexist culture of 'accepting violence and violent language against women' whose adherents include ... Donald Trump.... [Ted] Yoho, one of Congress' most conservative lawmakers, said Ocasio-Cortez doesn't have the 'right to inflate, talk about my family, or give an account that did not happen for political gain. The fact still remains, I am not going to apologize for something I didn't say.'" Mrs. McC: Mike Lillis of the Hill, who first reported Yoho's remarks to and about AOC, said her floor remarks about the confrontation were "1,000 percent accurate."

Presidential Election

"A Socially Distanced Conversation": ~~~

It's really something that for me, I have to protect the American people. That's what I've always done. That's what I always will do. That's what I'm about. -- Donald Trump, American martyr, announcing he was cancelling the GOP's Jacksonville, Florida, convention for the good of the American people ~~~

~~~ ** Colby Itkowitz & Josh Dawsey of the Washington Post: "President Trump made a surprise announcement Thursday that he has canceled the Republican national convention scheduled for next month in Jacksonville, Fla., saying he wanted to keep his supporters safe from the coronavirus pandemic and protesters. Trump, who delivered the news at the beginning of a coronavirus news briefing, said he was presented with plans for the nominating convention in the afternoon, but told his staff it wasn't the right time to hold the event.... Trump said the formal nominating process scheduled to take place in Charlotte will proceed, but the large convention with all its pomp and circumstance planned for Jacksonville is canceled.... Trump said thousands of people 'desperately' wanted to attend and were already making travel arrangements. 'The pageantry, the signs, the excitement were really, really top of the line,' he said." A CNN story is here. Thanks to Bobby Lee for the heads-up. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Backfire. The Trump campaign wanted everyone raising eyebrows at the things Biden was saying. Trump, though, got every person -- every woman and man -- talking about himself, thanks to looking into that camera and appearing on TV. I get extra points for using the words in order. -- Philip Bump of the Washington Post on Trump's boast that he had the amazing ability to remember a sequence of words like "person, woman, man, camera, TV." Related story linked yesterday

Alex Isenstadt of Politico reports that Trump campaign staffers are dishing on Kimberly Guilfoyle, who heads a campaign fundraising unit. Mrs. McC: But the most shocking part of the story to me was the lede: "News that Kimberly Guilfoyle contracted the coronavirus had barely surfaced on July 3 before she hopped on a private flight from Mount Rushmore back to New York with her boyfriend, Donald Trump, Jr." Quite a few stories reported that "the couple plans to drive back from South Dakota to the East Coast." I was picturing that road trip: the arguments, the recriminations, the pitstops at dirty gas station bathrooms. Now it turns out I was imagining an imaginary road trip.

Jeremy Barr of the Washington Post: "Troy Young, the global president of Hearst Magazines, resigned Thursday evening, a day after a New York Times report detailed inappropriately sexual comments he allegedly made to employees at titles such as Cosmopolitan and a 'toxic culture' at the company. Earlier in the day, Young had apologized in a memo to staffers while also disputing the story, which he said 'misrepresented the culture we have built.' He had pushed back even more vehemently in the Times report, responding in a statement that 'specific allegations raised by my detractors are either untrue, greatly exaggerated or taken out of context.' But by Thursday evening, the corporate calculation seemed to have changed. Young's resignation was announced by Hearst president and chief executive Steven R. Swartz in a terse email to staffers." ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: Oh, for instance, people became uncomfortable when Young told a young female staffer "she should have inserted her fingers into herself and asked her date if he liked her smell." (From the NYT story.)

Comments

[Akhilleus]

It’s one thing to be a repellant misogynist and a hateful douchebag, but Ted Yoho (R-Natch) like his Dear Leader and far too many of his colleagues in the Party of Traitors is a liar and a coward. He cannot abide the fact that a woman he hates—an Hispanic woman to boot—isn’t lying down and taking his abuse like she should, as his obvious inferior. So what does Yoho do? He lies. He tries to hide, like a a miserable coward.

Ya know, if you’re a dickhead, at least own it. Nothing worse than a cowardly lying dickhead. Oh, unless that cowardly lying dickhead happens to be president*.

Jesus, I hate these fucking people.

[Akhilleus]

How can you tell Trump is lying?

Yeah, I mean besides “he’s moving his lips”. His initial lies get bigger and stupider and waaaay more complicated. He thinks he’s so smooth. He’s been getting away with slinging the whoppers for so long he’s outraged if anyone calls him on it. And like a little boy caught in a lie, he tries to weasel out of it by adding more and more baroque bullshit.

Um...I don’t have my homework because my dog ate it...and, um, then aliens landed and tried to take my dog but I killed them all, then a dragon knocked me down and burned our house. My dog got scared and ran away, otherwise I would have performed emergency surgery on him and pulled my homework out of his stomach...

So here’s little donnie adding all this unnecessary and flamboyant detail about this cognition test that makes him sound like a complete moron.

So, to answer the original question, the best response, after all IS “He’s moving his lips”.

The leading liar of a Party of Liars. Oh, make that stoopid liars.

These people have jobs, how...?

[Akhilleus]

...and another unbelievable whopper.

Yesterday, I’m listening to the radio and I hear about the little king’s coronation party being cancelled. That was surprising, but then comes the (fully expected) Big Trump Lie.

According to Fatty, it was all his idea. “My staff didn’t have to tell me anything. I told them.”

Hold on a sec...hahahaha. Sure. And you’re the guy who told Henry Ford where to put the gas tank.

His staff must have been putting this bug in his ear for weeks. As deaths from the Trumpvirus skyrocket, it would be a very, very, no good, terrible, wicked awful idea to bring together thousands of MAGA morons in one of the biggest coronavirus hot spots on the planet, Florida, and have to suffer the ignominy of seeing all the big shots and big money donors who usually flock to these shit shows like flies to a hot turd on the side of the road, beg off, not to mention how bad it would look when, a month later, just weeks before the election, a couple thousand of those morons are on ventilators.

But it was his idea. Riiiighhht. Trump lives for stuff like this. But of course once the decision had been forced on him, he couldn’t have people say his staff made him do it.

“It was all my idea!”

Yeah. And Melanie really does care. Next lie...

[Bobby Lee]

In Florida Trump cancels his convention "to keep people safe" and at the same time we're told to send our kids back to school. But hey, the kids don't vote --- yet.

[Patrick]

DiJiT probably expects he gets to keep any unspent convention cash.

Easy decision, then.

[PD Pepe]

WOMENS IN THE NEWS:

I'm somewhat bleary eyed after reading Politico's long piece on Susan Pompeo ––-a thorough look-see into this woman's modus operandi. I come away admiring her capabilities and her obvious charm yet she seems to have stretched her involvement re: her husband's job into a whole gigantic separate job of her own which has caused some problems. I have always suspected under big Mike's bravado lurked a man who needed a lot of caring; Susan, it seems, fulfills that role perfectly.

And in the halls of congress we have a much younger woman, someone whose role is defiantly defined who had the guts to stand up and voice her fury at a fellow congress person (whose last name describes his demeanor) who, like so many (so I gather) males in this political realm, treat women with distain.

So it's interesting that today we have, like two bookends, women who have caused newsworthy attention, not because of nefarious acts but because they speak out and act on their right to fight a system of unfairness in one case, and in the other being too ambitious and capable.

[PD Pepe]

To the Honorable DJT:

We at the testing site want to congratulate you once again for your exceptional results on that most difficult acuity test. The fact that you could name all those animals as quickly as you did was most impressive. But the biggie was you remembering the sequence of words–that "person, man, woman T.V... business, so impressive–-never have we seen such recall. The fact that you had trouble with counting backward by seven, well, most people do–-people don't know how to calculate anymore without a calculator so we won't and you won't, I assume. mention that little glitch. We also won't mention that you had trouble drawing a clock –-you blamed it on a faulty sharpie–-so we'll go with that. So–––do we have a deal? We'll back you up on that "Very Stable Genius" thing and you give us more money for the poor schmucks that we hire for giving out the tests. You know how it's done, don't you? You just pucker up your lips and blow that quid pro quo down our way–-right away.

Yours truly, Morton Tester , CEO of Best of Tests

[Patrick]

If you were an appropriator in the House, would you want to get testimony from the various federal law enforcement agencies about how it is that they have an aggregate of 75,000 trained and equipped riot control people who are available for short-notice deployment to various locations in the United States? What were those 75,000 people doing the week before they were deployed (i.e. what are their normal assignments?) What is being done about carrying that workload while the 75,000 are out TDY away from their duty locations?

We have the 82nd Airborne and the 101st AB, two Marine Expeditionary Forces, and other Navy and Air Force Units always available for rapid deployment. That's their primary function. And part of the planning allows for various NG units to fill in behind when they get the call.

But it is news that there are 75K non-military security personnel who are available for rapid deployment. And that their normal work is not being done. Or, it is, but by whom?

BIG news.

If you were an appropriator, you would REALLY want to know about this, toot sweet.

[PD Pepe]

@Patrick: You bet and I would like to know why 200 federal agents were sent to Kansas City, Mo. to work with detectives (how many?) to ferret out the many homicides. 200????? Seems over the top to me.

[Marie Burns]

@Patrick: Yeah, I don't think three-quarters of federal law enforcement officers are sitting around pushing papers from one side of their desks to the other and then pushing them back again. Rather, they are doing work that in the wisdom of their betters is important to enforcing the law in the U.S.A. It's true that some of these officers are doing work where time is not necessarily of the greatest essence, so that justice delayed is not necessarily justice denied. In other words, they could take a couple of weeks off to prance around in camo & teargas some hippie protesters and their irresponsible moms.

But it does not seem likely that 3/4ths of the federal law enforcement corps is so redundant, backburner or nonessential that it can drop its assigned tasks for weeks in order to help the Fuhrer get enough votes to claim he has won the election.

Maybe reporters could ask said Fuhrer about that what with diverting 75,000 officers being his own "plan."

[Ken Winkes]

Patrick,

Thanks, tho' I had to look up TDY.

Almost seems like the so-called Homeland Security operation is a bit bloated, doesn't it?

Where are those Republican bean counters, I wonder? Off counting their money, I guess.

And where have we seen Homeland Security used as a political arm of the WH before? Oh, not since 2004 with all those pre-election red alerts.

From the beginning, Homeland Security seemed to this skeptic calculated to invite abuse. Especially from Republicans.

[citizen625]

Apropos of the discussion about what the federal law enforcement officers are doing when we aren't looking, I thought of what the Democrats equivalent of Darth Cheney is doing now that he is not mayor of Chicago. Rahm 'gun for hire' Emanuel: https://www.cnbc.com/2019/06/05/rahm-emanuel-is-joining-centerview-partners-after-leaving-chicago-mayors-office.html. I love the comment from AOC. How AOC spanked Yoho was priceless. It was perfect. Sad to say that I don't think Rahm and AOC would get along too well. Here's this about Emanuel's wife: https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-2012-07-02-ct-met-amy-rule-0702-20120702-story.html. I get to my point of view with the notion that one man's "fucking bitch" is another's feisty woman. That goes for women assessing women as well. BLM, women's right advocates all are expanding the space where disenfranchised people can speak and be heard. They have a long ways to go as the actions of Yoho and law enforcement communities demonstrate.

[Akhilleus]

You got guys?

About those 75,000 federal officers ready for instant deployment to bust heads in Democratic strongholds, I’m guessing that only a small percentage are actual full time federal employees.

Trump and Barr are likely rounding them up from the swamps and bar rooms of red state enclaves. Maybe some online recruitment: “Looking for Second Amendment types to shoot them some hippies. Apply White House.”

Prob’ly a bunch of Cliven Bundy types, some KKK members, and, oh, there’s likely a good number of grounds crew personnel from the failing Fatty golf clubs, and all the bus boys, bell hops, waiters, and janitors with nothing to do at the mostly empty Trump Grandzilla Hotel in DC.

Throw in a few thousand law-N-forcement wannabes, security guards and mall cops, and a couple thousand red hatted gun toting MAGA maniacs (is that redundant?), and you’ve got yourself a finely tuned, highly pafessional bunch ready to wield the Trump&Barr Lawnorder hammer.

Daddy Vlad might be sending some of his guys over to help Donaldavich. He’s already proficient at killing Americans, so what the hey, the more the merrier.

On the other hand, the 75,000 figure might be a total lie. Consider the source. Could be more like 750 with the Cliven Bundy militia types as backups. “Guys? Sure we got guys. I got a million of ‘em! Whadaya talkin?”

This doesn’t mean Thugs R Us won’t be attacking Democrats and peaceful protesters near you, ASAP, just that it might not be 75 fucking thousand.

[Marie Burns]

@Akhilleus: Of course you're right about Trump's pulling that 75K number out of a hat -- it started out as 50,000 -- just moments earlier. But I still think reporters should take him at his word (okay, that's insane) and ask him to explain where these 75K troops are coming from and what are they doing now that's so unimportant they can drop it. And so forth.

[Patrick]

Not just reporters, but *appropriators,* should take him at his word, even though it is clear that 75K is BS. There is some real number and it should be ferretted out.

And I'll bet most of those supertrupers are not sworn feds, but as Ak suggests Mall cops answering ads in Blackwater Mag.

Whatever, the place to start is "Huh? 75K federal agents? Whaaaa?"