The Commentariat -- July 11, 2018

Late Morning Update:

... Update to Story Linked Earlier. Michael Birnbaum & Seung Min Kim of the Washington Post: "NATO leaders, including President Trump, approved a sweeping set of plans Wednesday to bolster defenses against Russia and terrorism, despite a blistering attack by the U.S. leader earlier in the day against Germany and other allies. Leaders also reiterated their pledge to increase defense spending, Trump's main focus going into the meeting. The decision suggested that Trump is holding back from slashing support for the alliance, despite his anger over what he says is Europe's taking advantage of the U.S. security umbrella. But NATO leaders are still concerned that he will make concessions to Russian President Vladimir Putin when the two meet on Monday." ...

... Rick Noack of the Washington Post explains the controversies over the 800-mile, planned gas pipeline which is to carry Russia's natural gas to Germany. Also, it's comforting to know that Germany's former chancellor Gerhard Schroeder is just as corrupt as our current president*. Germany survived; perhaps we will, too. ...

... News from the Trump Retraining Camp. Jonathan Chait: Trump's "efforts to train the Republican base to reverse its long-standing views on the relative merits of NATO and Russia have borne fruit. According to a recent poll, just 40 percent of Republicans think the U.S. should should stay in NATO, while 56 percent of Republicans consider Trump's relationship with Vladimir Putin good for the United States.... It may seem bizarre that one man could do this, especially given that almost nobody in Trump's administration or the ranks of the party's political professionals share his goal of jettisoning NATO or closely courting Russia. Yet Trump has shown the ability to lead his base wherever he wants to take it. And where the base has gone, the party has eventually followed." ...

** "Where's the Outrage?" David Corn of Mother Jones: "In 1938, Winston Churchill published a collection of his speeches warning that his homeland was not adequately contending with the threat posed by Nazi Germany. The title: 'While England Slept.' Eighty years later, a similar observation can be rendered concerning the United States. Much of the political and media elite and the citizenry seem to be sleepwalking past a horrific and fundamental fact: The current president of the United States has helped to cover up a serious attack on the nation. This profound act of betrayal has gone unpunished and, in many quarters, unnoticed, even as it continues. With Donald Trump about to meet Vladimir Putin on Monday -- rewarding the thuggish authoritarian Russian leader with a grand summit in Helsinki -- this is an appropriate moment to remember that their dark bromance involves a mutual stonewalling of wrongdoing." Read on.

*****

The Ugly American. New York Times: "Mr. Trump got the NATO meeting off to a confrontational start Wednesday morning, telling the secretary general, Jens Stoltenberg, that other nations must spend more on defense.... He singled out Germany for particularly sharp criticism, saying the country was 'totally controlled by Russia' because of its dependence on Russian natural gas. The United States spends heavily to defend Germany from Russia, he said, and 'Germany goes out and pays billions and billions of dollars a year to Russia.'" The Times is posting updates on the page. ...

... Michael Birnbaum & Seung Min Kim of the Washington Post: "President Trump unleashed a blistering attack Wednesday on Germany and other NATO allies, wasting no time at the outset of a week of high-stakes diplomacy to hit at Washington's closest partners for what he said were hypocritical demands for U.S. security protection.... Trump [engaged] NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg in a fiery on-camera exchange that was nearly without precedent in the history of the post-World War II alliance.... Even Stoltenberg -- a mild-mannered former Norwegian prime minister who has cultivated a positive relationship with Trump -- appeared reduced to spluttering as Trump cut him off after he started to explain that allies traded with Russia even during the Cold War. Earlier in the exchange, Trump demanded credit from Stoltenberg for forcing an increase of NATO defense budgets." ...

... MEANWHILE, Back Home. Tom Barrett of CNN: "The Senate took a bipartisan swipe at ... Donald Trump on Tuesday when it overwhelmingly approved a motion of support for NATO. The 97-2 vote reflects the broad concerns on Capitol Hill over Trump's seeming ambivalence about the alliance and his commitment to it. The vote came the same day Trump arrived in Brussels, Belgium, for a summit of NATO nations and shortly before he heads to Helsinki, Finland, for a one-on-one session with Russian President Vladimir Putin.... Sen. Jack Reed, the Rhode Island Democrat who authored the nonbinding motion, spoke on the Senate floor. 'No one should ever doubt the United States' resolve in meeting its commitments to the mutual defense of the NATO alliance,' Reed said. 'Unfortunately, this motion has become necessary because some of our closest allies have come to question the US commitment to collective self-defense. President Trump has at times called the alliance "obsolete." Our allies are starting to wonder whether they can rely on the United States to come to their defense in a crisis.'" The two nay votes were Rand Paul (R-Ky.) & Mike Lee (R-Utah). ...

... Lorne Cook of the AP: "A senior European Union official lashed out Tuesday at ... Donald Trump, lambasting the U.S. leader's constant criticism of European allies and urging him to remember who his friends are when he meets Russian President Vladimir Putin next week. On the eve of a NATO summit meant to showcase the West's unity and resolve to counter Russia, European Council President Donald Tusk directed a remark at Trump, saying 'it is always worth knowing who is your strategic friend and who is your strategic problem.'" (Also linked yesterday.) ...

... Andrew Flanagan of NPR: "Ahead of the president's visit to the U.K. on July 12, a new effort to make Green Day's song 'American Idiot' reach the top of the charts is underway.... Protests are expected throughout the U.K. on the occasion of Trump's visit, with The New York Times reporting that British police anticipate 100,000 demonstrators. Protests include a giant 'Trump Baby' float in London and loud music being played at the residence he's expected to sleep in on July 12. The U.S. Embassy in London has advised American citizens in the country to 'keep a low profile' while Trump is in the country." ...

     ... Mrs. Bea McCrabbie: Here's video of the song. The lyrics are here. ...

... With Friends Like These. Robert Mackey of The Intercept: "Ahead of his ;visit to Britain this week, President Donald Trump took a moment to undermine Prime Minister Theresa May by praising her rival Boris Johnson, who stepped down as foreign secretary on Monday over May's plan to pursue close ties to the European Union even after Brexit.... 'Boris Johnson is a friend of mine; he's been very, very nice to me,' Trump said.... Johnson had [previously] denounced [Trump] as 'clearly out of his mind'... [and as]...'betraying a quite stupefying ignorance that makes him frankly unfit to hold the office of president of the United States.'" --safari ...

... Dana Milbank: "After Belgium, Trump goes to Britain, where Prime Minister Theresa May helped limit Trump's exposure to protests (including a giant balloon of a baby Trump in a diaper) and arranged an audience with the queen. Trump repaid her Tuesday by lavishly praising Boris Johnson, the Brexit leader whose resignation as foreign secretary has brought May's government to the verge of collapse." ...

... ** Adam Entous of the New Yorker: "[Before and after the election] officials from ... three countries [Israel, Saudi Arabia and U.A.E.] have repeatedly encouraged their American counterparts to consider ending the Ukraine-related sanctions in return for Putin's help in removing Iranian forces from Syria. Experts say that such a deal would be unworkable, even if Trump were interested. They say Putin has neither the interest nor the ability to pressure Iranian forces to leave Syria.... [A]n Israeli Cabinet minister with close ties to Netanyahu ... pitched ... the idea of 'trading Ukraine for Syria.'... The Americans who heard the Israeli, Emirati, and Saudi pitches in late 2016 and early 2017 assumed that the idea was dead. But ahead of the Helsinki summit, Trump started making statements that suggested he could be open to making a deal with Putin after all." --safari

Combing the Nation for Reprobates, Trump Finds Some More to Pardon. John Wagner & Mark Berman of the Washington Post: "President Trump on Tuesday granted pardons to father-and-son cattle ranchers in southeastern Oregon who were sentenced to serve prison time on two separate occasions for the same charges of arson on public lands. The return to prison of Dwight Hammond Jr. and Steven Hammond helped spark the 41-day occupation of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in early 2016. Robert 'LaVoy' Finicum, a rancher who acted as the protesters' spokesman, was killed by a state trooper during an encounter between the armed occupation group and law enforcement -- a shooting that led to charges against an FBI special agent. In a statement, White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said an 'overzealous appeal' of the Hammonds's original sentences during the Obama administration, which sent them back to prison, was 'unjust.'" (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

John Wagner: "Asked Tuesday about his administration missing a court-imposed deadline to reunite migrant children under age 5 with their parents, President Trump said he had 'a solution.' 'Tell people not to come to our country illegally,' Trump told reporters. 'That's the solution. Don't come to our country illegally. Come like other people do. Come legally.'" Mrs. McC: What Trump doesn't say & Wagner doesn't write is that many of the families whom Trump surrogates have separated came here legally under U.S. & international law, seeking asylum. (Also linked yesterday.) ...

... Ted Hesson & Dan Diamond of Politico: "A federal judge on Tuesday pressed the Trump administration to reunify dozens of separated migrant children under age 5 by the end of the day or shortly thereafter. U.S. District Court Judge Dana Sabraw called on the administration to join 59 separated children in that age group with their parents 'today or within the immediate proximity of today.' 'These are firm deadlines,' Sabraw said during a court hearing in San Diego. 'They are not aspirational goals.'" ...

... Manny Fernandez & Caitlin Dickerson of the New York Times: "Facing a legal deadline to return young migrant children separated from their parents at the border, federal officials on Tuesday said that they had reunited four families, with an additional 34 reunions scheduled before the end of the day. The relatively slow pace of unwinding the Trump administration's family separation policy fell short of an original court order, which had directed that all children under age 5 -- a total of 102, by the government's latest count -- be returned to their families by Tuesday." ...

Miriam Jordan, et al., of the New York Times: "Faced with a pair of court orders restricting immigration detentions, federal officials said that they could not hold all of the migrant families who had been apprehended. They said that their hands were tied by dueling requirements to release children from detention after 20 days and also to keep them with their parents or other adult relatives.... 'Parents with children under the age of 5 are being reunited with their children and then released and enrolled into an alternative detention program,' Matthew Albence, Immigration and Customs Enforcement's executive associate director of enforcement and removal operations, told reporters on Tuesday. He said that means the migrants will be given ankle bracelets 'and released into the community.'" Reporters describe the chaotic way in which the government is returning parents to their children. ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: I find the Times' casual use of the term "catch and release" -- as the reporters do three times in the story & in the URL -- offensive. You "catch and release" fish, not people. Use of the term dehumanizes the very victims of Trump administration abuses whom the report highlights.

... ** Justin Glawe & Adam Rawnsley of The Daily Beast: "U.S. government officials recently told four immigrant women that they must pay for DNA tests in order to be reunited with their children, according to the shelter that housed the women.... The tests are being administered by a private contractor on behalf of the Department of Health and Human Services' Office of Refugee Resettlement.... HHS has refused to name the contractor, which may be a violation of federal law.... Iliana Holguin, an immigration attorney ... said the government made some of her clients pay between $700 to $800 to prove their relationship to a relative as part of their citizenship cases. 'The government wants the parents to foot the bill for the DNA testing when they&'re the ones that caused the need for DNA testing,' Holguin said. 'It's incredible.'" --safari ...

... Joshua Partlow & Nick Miroff of the Washington Post: "While President Trump regularly berates Mexico for 'doing nothing' to stop illegal migration, behind the scenes the two governments are considering a deal that could drastically curtail the cross-border migration flow. The proposal, known as a 'safe third country agreement,' would potentially require asylum seekers transiting through Mexico to apply for protection in that nation rather than in the United States. It would allow U.S. border guards to turn back such asylum seekers at border crossings and quickly return to Mexico anyone who has already entered illegally seeking refuge.... The proposed agreement has divided the Mexican government and alarmed human rights activists who maintain that many of the migrants are fleeing widespread gang violence and could be exposed to danger in Mexico.... [A] senior DHS official said the U.S. government has signaled to Mexico that it would be prepared to offer significant financial aid to help the country cope with a surge of asylum seekers, at least in the short term." ...

... MEANWHILE. Mark Stern of Slate: "The Office of Refugee Resettlement is preparing for the possibility of another surge in family separations.... The ORR's budgeting exercise is premised on the possibility that the agency could need as many as 25,400 beds for immigrant minors by the end of the calendar year.... To help cover these potential costs, the documents say, HHS will seek supplemental appropriations from Congress. The documents also indicate that HHS plans to pay for child separation by reallocating money from the Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program.... In addition, HHS plans to reallocate $79 million from programs for refugee resettlement, a move that could imperil social services, medical assistance, and English language instructions for refugees in the U.S., as well as programs for torture survivors."

I'll bet you were wondering what Trump's "spiritual advisor" Paula White, thinks about the President*'s immigration policies. Well, we're here to help you out. Samuel Smith of the Christian Post: "'I think so many people have taken biblical scriptures out of context on this, to say stuff like, "Well, Jesus was a refugee,'" White [said]. 'Yes, He did live in Egypt for three-and-a-half years. But it was not illegal. If He had broken the law then He would have been sinful and He would not have been our Messiah.'"

Gabriel Sherman of Vanity Fair: "The ascent of [Bill] Shine, [Trump's new deputy chief of staff,] who was ousted from [Fox 'News"] for his handling of its myriad sexual harassment scandals, has intensified speculation in the West Wing that the president's long-suffering chief of staff and nemesis, John Kelly, will soon be departing. Kelly opposed the hiring of Shine and has seen his role continue to be diminished, sources said, sometimes in humiliating ways. 'They've basically stopped telling Kelly when meetings are. People leave him off the calendar,' one administration official told me.... A Republican close to the White House told me that Trump hopes Shine's expanding role will encourage Kelly to quit. 'Trump is too chickenshit to fire Kelly himself,' the source said."

Spencer Hsu & Rosalind Helderman of the Washington Post: "In Michael Flynn's first appearance in federal court since pleading guilty seven months ago, his lawyers confirmed that he continues to cooperate with prosecutors and is eager to be sentenced and wrap up his case. But it was no clearer after Tuesday's hearing when President Trump's former national security adviser's federal case will conclude. Flynn's presence in court in Washington punctured ongoing speculation by conservative media that the prosecution of Flynn is falling apart and that the retired Army lieutenant general might withdraw his guilty plea in special counsel Robert S. Mueller III's probe." ...

... Welcome to the Firm. Tracy Connor, et al., of NBC News: "... Flynn was named as the director of global strategy for a new Washington lobbying firm, Stonington Global, run by Nick Muzin and Joseph Allaham. The partnership's website says that Flynn 'will direct the firm's business development and provide strategic consulting on international military and peacekeeping activities.'... Muzin, a former aide to Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and Allaham, who owns high-end kosher restaurants, lobbied on behalf of Qatar during last year's Gulf diplomatic crisis." Mrs. McC: Read on. These guys sound very up-and-up. A bit like the bank that hired Tracey Ullman's "Barbara" (see Infotainment). See update below. The NBC story also has been updated to reflect the "misunderstanding" about Flynn's new job. ...

     ... Kevin Drum: "'Wingnut welfare' has now reached the parody stage[.].... Flynn didn't just 'resign in disgrace.'... He committed a felony and pled guilty to it. Nor has he 'paid his debt to society.' He hasn't even been sentenced yet. Nor is he otherwise an upstanding member of the intelligence and foreign policy community. He's a conspiracy theorist who's widely believed to have gone deranged during and after his tenure as DIA director -- 'right-wing nutty,' as Colin Powell called him." ...

     ... ** UPDATE, via The Daily Beast: "Former national security adviser Michael Flynn will no longer be joining the global lobbying firm Stonington Global LLC, with Flynn's lawyers citing a 'misunderstanding.' The Wall Street Journal reports that Flynn's deal to 'partner' with the firm is 'off' and the release from Stonington was a mistake on its part." --safari ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: I wonder if Mueller told Flynn he'd better steer clear of any more "foreign entanglements" prior to his sentencing.

Philip Bump of the Washington Post: Donald Trump, Jr., has said on Fox "News" & in testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee that he couldn't recall speaking with Russian pop musician Emin Agalarov about the infamous Trump Tower meeting. But Agalarov remembers. "When a full transcript of [Junior's] testimony was released..., we learned ... that Agalarov had called Trump Jr., that Trump Jr. then received a call from a blocked number and that he then called Agalarov back.... In [his] testimony, though, Trump Jr. insisted that he didn't know whether he'd spoken with Agalarov or who was at the blocked number. (His father's private residence has a blocked number, according to former campaign manager Corey Lewandowski.) Agalarov called him the next morning, too, after which Trump Jr. called both Paul Manafort and Jared Kushner -- the two people who joined him in that meeting at Trump Tower.... In an interview with 'VICE News Tonight' on HBO airing Tuesday, the mystery is solved. According to Agalarov..., he and Trump Jr. did speak before the meeting was set up."

Louis Nelson of Politico: "A federal judge [T.S. Ellis] on Tuesday ordered that former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort, currently jailed while awaiting trial, be moved to a detention center in Alexandria, Virginia. Manafort had been held at the Northern Neck Regional Jail in Warsaw, Virginia, roughly two hours south of Washington." ...

... Never Mind. Sarah Burris of the Raw Story: As Rachel Maddow reported last night, "Last week, while preparing for his trial, Manafort asked the judge for a long delay, saying that it caused a burden that he was in a prison so far away from his attorneys.... 'Today, this morning, surprise! The judge in the Paul Manafort case said, "Sure!" Called his bluff...." Mrs. McC: Burris doesn't say so, but late yesterday, according to Maddow, Manafort's lawyers "respectfully" asked the judge to rescind his order. Turns out Manafort is happy out there at Club Fed, & the "long-distance" complaint was a stalling tactic. ...

... Mrs. McCrabbie: Maddow's report on DOJ ADA nominee Brian Benczkowski was more disturbing:

     ... If you're still wondering how Murkowski & Collins will vote on Trump's Supreme Court nominee, I'd say this vote is a mighty good indicator.

Kyle Cheney of Politico: "Lisa Page, the former FBI attorney whose anti-Trump text messages have fueled ... Donald Trump's contention that the bureau's Russia investigation is a 'witch hunt' against him, intends to defy a congressional subpoena demanding her testimony on Wednesday, Page's lawyer says. Page's attorney, Amy Jeffress, said the House Judiciary Committee -- which issued the subpoena on Saturday -- failed to provide her with enough detail about the nature of lawmakers' questions and that the FBI had so far refused to provide key documents for her to review."

GOP Senators Dispute Stupidest Senator's Account of Russia Meetings. Andrew Desiderio of the Daily Beast: "A top Republican senator shocked his colleagues when he suggested, after returning from a trip to Moscow with fellow GOP lawmakers, that U.S. sanctions targeting Russia were not working and the Kremlin's election interference was really no big deal. Now, the senators who joined him for the series of meetings with senior Russian officials are sharply disputing not only Sen. Ron Johnson's (R-WI) conclusions -- but also his account of what went on behind closed doors in Moscow. 'I think the sanctions are hurting them badly...," Sen. John Kennedy (R-LA) ... said in an interview. 'I don't want to over-state this, but these were very tense meetings.'... In private, according to the senators who attended the meetings, they confronted their Russian counterparts over a host of issues, most notably Moscow's interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election.... Johnson, for his part, appeared to walk back some of his earlier remarks."

Tony Romm & Elizabeth Dwoskin of the Washington Post: "Facebook is staring down its first fine for allowing Cambridge Analytica to improperly access data about millions of people, potentially opening the door for governments around the world to slap the social media giant with other tougher penalties and stricter regulation. On Tuesday, U.K. watchdogs announced a $664,000 preliminary fine -- the maximum amount allowed -- after finding Facebook lacked strong privacy protections and overlooked critical warning signs that might have prevented Cambridge Analytica from trying to manipulate public opinion on behalf of clients around the world, including those who sought to withdraw Britain from the European Union in 2016.... In the United States..., a probe by the Federal Trade Commission could result in a penalty well into the hundreds of billions of dollars. The FBI and the Securities and Exchange Commission are also looking into Facebook's ties to Cambridge Analytica." ...

... Donie O'Sullivan, et al., of CNN: "A Russian internet company with links to the Kremlin was among the firms to which Facebook gave an extension which allowed them to collect data on unknowing users of the social network after a policy change supposedly stopped such collection. Facebook told CNN on Tuesday that apps developed by the Russian technology conglomerate Mail.Ru Group, were being looked at as part of the company's wider investigation into the misuse of Facebook user data in light of the Cambridge Analytica scandal.... Senator Mark Warner, the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, said in a statement to CNN that Facebook's relationship with Mail.Ru deserved further scrutiny."

Politico: "The Trump administration on Tuesday published a list of $200 billion worth of Chinese goods that it proposes to hit with an additional 10 percent tariff, escalating a mounting trade war between the two countries.... The latest action carries through on a threat that ... Donald Trump made in June, when he ordered trade officials to draw up a list of $200 billion worth of Chinese goods that would be hit with a 10 percent tariff after Beijing vowed the retaliatory moves.... Administration officials said they took care to minimize the effects on consumers." Mrs. McC: Right. According to Politico, "... the new $200 billion list brings the percentage of Chinese imports facing new U.S. duties to about 50 percent." Yet somehow the prices of these imports are not going to rise. Another Trump miracle. ...

... Bloomberg has a running blog on the China trading war, where this gem came up: "China vowed to fightback against the Trump administration's plans to impose tariffs on an additional $200 billion in Chinese goods; said it's 'shocked' at U.S. actions and will definitely take countermeasures in trade. Yet China earlier tempered that response, saying 'they go low, we go high.'" --safari ...

... Trade War News from Trump Country. Charleston, S.C. Post & Courier: "Automaker BMW says it will build more of its popular SUVs overseas to offset the higher cost of sending cars to China due to recently enacted tariffs. BMW also said it will raise the price of South Carolina-built vehicles sold in China to help offset that country's new 40 percent import tax on cars from the U.S., retaliation for higher tariffs on Chinese goods imposed by ... Donald Trump. The dpa news agency reported that Munich-based BMW said Monday it is 'not in a position to completely absorb the tariff increases.'... BMW builds key SUV models in Spartanburg County, where it employs 10,000 people. Those vehicles are exported to 140 countries, making BMW the largest U.S. auto exporter. Most of the cars made in the Upstate are shipped overseas through the Port of Charleston's Columbus Street Terminal."

Mike Pompeo's meetings in North Korea did not go well:

... And WHY didn't Kim meet with Pompeo? CBS News: "North Korean leader Kim Jong Un may have been too busy visiting a potato farm to meet with U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, Pyongyang's state media implied Tuesday. The North's state media normally lead their television bulletins and front pages with Kim's doings, but a seven-day absence from the headlines, including during Pompeo's recent visit, had prompted speculation on his whereabouts among Korea-watchers." Mrs. McC: Could it possibly be that Kim was snubbing Pompeo? Or maybe it was just Kim's way of backing up Trump's assurance that NK is no longer a nuclear threat.

Your Daily Poison. Abrahm Lustgarten of ProPublica: "The chemicals once seemed near magical, able to repel water, oil and stains.... Known as perfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS, they were a boon to the military, too, which used them in foam that snuffed out explosive oil and fuel fires.... Now two new analyses of drinking water data and the science used to analyze it make clear the Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Defense have downplayed the public threat posed by these chemicals. Far more people have likely been exposed to dangerous levels of them than has previously been reported because contamination from them is more widespread than has ever been officially acknowledged. Moreover, ProPublica has found, the government's understatement of the threat appears to be no accident." --safari ...

... Rats Fleeing a Sunk Ship. Juliet Eilperin & Brady Dennis of the Washington Post: "Several top aides to former Environmental Protection Agency administrator Scott Pruitt are leaving the agency, less than a week after Pruitt resigned his post amid a slew of inquiries into his spending and management practices. The departures include Jahan Wilcox, who as Pruitt's combative spokesman fiercely defended the embattled Cabinet member and found himself facing criticism for his sometimes antagonistic approach to reporters covering the EPA; Lincoln Ferguson, a longtime aide and confidant who worked for Pruitt in Oklahoma and was nearly always by his side during his travels; Hayley Ford, deputy White House liaison; and Kelsi Daniell, an EPA spokeswoman. With the exception of Daniell, who had served notice before Pruitt resigned on Thursday, all of the appointees were close allies of [Pruitt]"

Michael Wines of the New York Times: "From the moment it was announced in March, the decision to add a question about citizenship to the 2020 census was described by critics as a ploy to discourage immigrants from filling out the form and improve Republican political fortunes. The Commerce Department, which made the decision, insisted that sound policy, not politics, was its sole motivation. Now a federal lawsuit seeking to block the question has cast doubt on the department's explanation and the veracity of the man who offered it, Commerce Secretary Wilbur L. Ross Jr. And it has given the plaintiffs in the suit -- attorneys general for 17 states, the District of Columbia and a host of cities and counties -- broad leeway to search for evidence that the critics are correct.... [Ross has issued conflicting statements.] After Mr. Ross's explanation for the citizenship question&'s origin shifted, Judge [Jesse] Furman said it appeared that the Commerce Department had acted in 'bad faith' in deciding to add the question.... Judge Furman called Mr. Ross's March explanation of his decision both 'potentially untrue' and improbable...." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Because Obama. Amy Goldstein of the Washington Post: "The Trump administration is eliminating most of the funding for grass-roots groups that help Americans get Affordable Care Act insurance and will for the first time urge the groups to promote health plans that bypass the law's consumer protections and required benefits. The reduction, the second round of cuts that began a summer ago, will shrink the federal money devoted to groups known as navigators from $36.8 million to $10 million for the enrollment period that starts in November. Last August, federal health officials announced they were reducing the navigators' aid by 41 percent -- from $62.5 million -- and slashing a related budget for advertising and other outreach activities to foster ACA enrollment by 90 percent. The new reduction of help for navigators, announced late Tuesday afternoon by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, fits within a pattern of moves by the administration to weaken the sweeping health-care law that President Trump has vowed to demolish."

Elaina Plott of The Atlantic: "The warm statements [from GOP influence-peddlers] appear to be another clear sign that the party apparatus -- and, perhaps even more significantly, its donor network -- will remain loyal to Trump, even as his stances on immigration and trade drift further and further from GOP orthodoxy. 'As long as he sticks to safe picks for scotus , he'never really lose the support and money of the party,' said a GOP operative involved in key Senate campaigns.... For now, many Republicans are finding this fact worth the tradeoff -- worth any deeper, institutional threats that this administration may pose." --safari

Melanie Zanona of The Hill: "Rep. Jim Jordan said he is still contemplating a bid for Speaker if the GOP keeps its majority, even as the Ohio Republican battles allegations that he ignored accusations of sexual abuse on the Ohio State University wrestling team while he was a coach there." --safari: Imagine that, the "family values" party with TWO leaders who promote hetero- AND homosexual abuse. Expanding the base!

Sheryl Stolberg & Thomas Kaplan of the New York Times: "Senate Democrats, facing an uphill struggle to reject the nomination of Judge Brett M. Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court, opened a broad attack on Tuesday, painting him as an arch-conservative who would roll back abortion rights, undo health care protections, ease gun restrictions and protect President Trump against the threat of impeachment. But the Senate Republican leader, Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, excoriated Democrats for engaging in what he called 'cheap political fear-mongering,' and for declaring their opposition to Judge Kavanaugh even before his nomination was announced." ...

... Lauren Gambino of the Guardian: "The Senate minority leader, Chuck Schumer, has a theory about why Donald Trump settled on Judge Brett Kavanaugh. On Tuesday he said that Trump is 'worried' about an investigation over Russian collusion in the 2016 election and believes Kavanaugh would serve as a 'barrier' should the inquiry end up before the supreme court. As a brutal confirmation battle over Justice Anthony Kennedy's replacement begins, Schumer said Kavanaugh should expect to face tough questions over his past writings that argue a sitting presidents should be exempt from lawsuits and criminal investigations." ...

... Louis Nelson of Politico: "Senate Democrats can successfully orchestrate the rejection of Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said Tuesday morning, if they can convince the American people that his confirmation will lead to the undoing of abortion rights and the Affordable Care Act by the Supreme Court.... But keeping Democrats unified in opposition to Kavanaugh could prove to be as tough a task as finding a GOP senator to partner with. Several Democratic senators are up for reelection this year in states where Trump won in 2016, including some where the president won by a wide margin." ...

... MEANWHILE. Burgess Everett & Heather Caygle of Politico: "[Susan] Collins (R-Maine) ... touted Kavanaugh's experience and sounded warm notes about him while insisting she has yet to decide. 'It will be very difficult for anyone to argue that he's not qualified for the job...,' Collins said. 'But there are other issues involving judicial temperament and his political, or rather, his judicial philosophy that also will play into my decision.'... '... There were some who have been on the list that I would have had a very, very difficult time supporting, just based on what was already publicly known about them,' [Lisa] Murkowski (R-Alaska) said in an interview on Monday. 'We're not dealing with that.' Both senators also voted for Kavanaugh's nomination to the D.C. Circuit Court in 2006." Mrs. McC: Ooh, I just can't guess how they'll vote. ...

... Aaron Blake of the Washington Post: "Brett M. Kavanaugh thanked President Trump for his nomination.... Almost immediately, he made a thoroughly strange and quite possibly bogus claim. 'No president has ever consulted more widely, or talked with more people from more backgrounds, to seek input about a Supreme Court nomination,' Kavanaugh said. It may seem like a throwaway line.... But this was also the first public claim from a potential Supreme Court justice who will be tasked with interpreting and parsing the law down to the letter.... It is basically impossible to know everybody with whom George W. Bush consulted on his Supreme Court nominations, much less George Washington.... The claim does fit a pattern with Trump, though, in which those around him feel pressure -- whether overt or not -- to flatter him in the most glowing and hyperbolic terms possible." ...

... Jeff Toobin of the New Yorker writes a brief bio of Brett Kavanaugh. "The portrait of Kavanaugh, seen in full, is of a Republican careerist who has pleased his patrons while edging close to, but not over, the line of mainstream acceptability. With lifetime tenure on the nation's highest court, his truest self will likely emerge -- and it will be the one that has been mostly (but not entirely) in plain view all along."

Jessie Hellmann of The Hill: "Pfizer announced on Tuesday it was postponing its price hikes on certain drugs after criticism from President Trump, who earlier in the week blasted the company for raising costs of certain products." --safari: So Pfizer admits it was just price-gouging for profit.

Neal Boudette of the New York Times: Tesla "said Tuesday that it had reached an agreement with the Chinese authorities to build a battery and automobile factory in Shanghai -- its first plant outside the United States -- that would eventually be capable of producing 500,000 electric vehicles a year. The company did not disclose how much it planned to invest in the venture, but it said it would be the sole owner.... The investment in China is the latest initiative that Tesla's chief executive, Elon Musk, has announced with lofty ambitions, some of which he has fallen well short of achieving."

Way Beyond the Beltway

Melanie Schmitz of ThinkProgress: "At least 38 people were killed Sunday in anti-government protests covering much of Nicaragua, human rights officials said this week -- the single deadliest day since the protests began back in April.... The latest update brings the overall death toll in the protests to more than 300." --safari

The Commentariat -- July 10, 2018

Afternoon Update:

Lorne Cook of the AP: "A senior European Union official lashed out Tuesday at ... Donald Trump, lambasting the U.S. leader's constant criticism of European allies and urging him to remember who his friends are when he meets Russian President Vladimir Putin next week. On the eve of a NATO summit meant to showcase the West's unity and resolve to counter Russia, European Council President Donald Tusk directed a remark at Trump, saying 'it is always worth knowing who is your strategic friend and who is your strategic problem.'"

Michael Wines of the New York Times: "From the moment it was announced in March, the decision to add a question about citizenship to the 2020 census was described by critics as a ploy to discourage immigrants from filling out the form and improve Republican political fortunes. The Commerce Department, which made the decision, insisted that sound policy, not politics, was its sole motivation. Now a federal lawsuit seeking to block the question has cast doubt on the department's explanation and the veracity of the man who offered it, Commerce Secretary Wilbur L. Ross Jr. And it has given the plaintiffs in the suit -- attorneys general for 17 states, the District of Columbia and a host of cities and counties -- broad leeway to search for evidence that the critics are correct.... [Ross has issued conflicting statements.] Judge Furman called Mr. Ross's March explanation of his decision both 'potentially untrue' and improbable...."

Combing the Nation for Reprobates, Trump Finds Some More to Pardon. John Wagner & Mark Berman of the Washington Post: "President Trump on Tuesday granted pardons to father-and-son cattle ranchers in southeastern Oregon who were sentenced to serve prison time on two separate occasions for the same charges of arson on public lands. The return to prison of Dwight Hammond Jr. and Steven Hammond helped spark the 41-day occupation of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in early 2016. Robert 'LaVoy' Finicum, a rancher who acted as the protesters' spokesman, was killed by a state trooper during an encounter between the armed occupation group and law enforcement -- a shooting that led to charges against an FBI special agent. In a statement, White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said an 'overzealous appeal' of the Hammonds's original sentences during the Obama administration, which sent them back to prison, was 'unjust.'"

John Wagner: "Asked Tuesday about his administration missing a court-imposed deadline to reunite migrant children under age 5 with their parents, President Trump said he had 'a solution.' 'Tell people not to come to our country illegally,' Trump told reporters. 'That's the solution. Don't come to our country illegally. Come like other people do. Come legally.'" Mrs. McC: What Trump doesn't say & Wagner doesn't write is that many of the families whom Trump surrogates have separated came here legally under U.S. & international law, seeking asylum.

*****

Mark Landler & Maggie Haberman of the New York Times: "President Trump on Monday selected Judge Brett M. Kavanaugh, a politically connected member of Washington's conservative legal establishment, to fill Justice Anthony M. Kennedy's seat on the Supreme Court, setting up an epic confirmation battle and potentially cementing the court's rightward tilt for a generation. The nomination of Judge Kavanaugh, 53, a federal appeals court judge former aide to President George W. Bush and onetime investigator of President Bill Clinton, was not a huge surprise...." ...

... Robert Costa, et al., of the Washington Post: "Before becoming a judge, [Brett Kavanaugh] was a fast-rising Republican lawyer who first gained notice decades ago when he helped to investigate President Bill Clinton under independent counsel Kenneth W. Starr. Kavanaugh has since argued that presidents should not be distracted by civil lawsuits, criminal investigations, or even questions from a prosecutor or defense lawyer while in office." ...

... it seems that you are the Zelig or Forrest Gump of Republican politics. You show up at every scene of the crime. You are somehow or another deeply involved, whether it is Elian Gonzalez or the Starr Report, you are there. -- Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), speaking to Brett Kavanaugh during judicial confirmation hearings, April 2004

... ** Ezra Klein of Vox: The Supreme Court "is writing and, in some cases, rewriting [laws], to favor the Republican Party -- making it easier to suppress votes, simpler for corporations and billionaires to buy elections, and legal for incumbents to gerrymander districts to protect and enhance their majorities. The Supreme Court has always been undemocratic. What it's becoming is something more dangerous: anti-democratic.... What we're seeing here is an alliance, not a coincidence. Republicans won the White House and the Senate, used that power to appoint judges to the Supreme Court, and the judges they vetted and elevated are making it easier for their patrons to retain power in the future." ...

... Yes, But Kavanaugh Loves Explicit Sex Chat. Dylan Matthews of Vox: "Eventually, Kavanaugh, and the rest of ['independent' counsel Ken] Starr’s team, moved on from the substance of the Whitewater real estate deal to the matter of Clinton';s affair with Monica Lewinsky. In his history of the investigation, The Death of American Virtue: Clinton vs. Starr, Duquesne University's Ken Gormley notes that Kavanaugh, 'considered one of Starr's intellectual heavy-lifters, pushed hardest to confront Clinton with some of the dirtiest facts linked to his sexual indiscretions with Lewinsky.'" Matthews cites Gormley on some of the questions Kavanaugh wanted to ask Clinton, which include clauses like "ejaculated into the sink." You'll have to read the rest yourself. Matthews has much more on Gump's glorious career. ...

     ... Mrs. McC: Given Trump's regard for the Clintons, these questions alone might have earned Kavanaugh the nomination. Question for Durbin, Kavanaugh hearings 2018: "Did you 'ejaculate" while writing these questions, Judge Kavanaugh?" ...

... Margaret Hartmann: "Any of the names on President Trump's Federalist Society-approved list of potential Supreme Court nominees would have earned him effusive praise from the right.... But there was only person on the list who clearly might be able to help Trump out if his personal legal predicaments wind up before the Supreme Court -- and in a funny coincidence, Brett Kavanaugh wound up being the nominee!... Kavanaugh once argued in favor of a broad definition of presidential obstruction of justice. Kavanaugh authored parts of the Starr report that laid out potential grounds for impeachment, including misleading the public and turning his press secretary and other White House officials into 'unwitting agents of the president's deception.' That kind of thing happens every day in the Trump administration, but a few years later [after working in the Bush II White House,] Kavanaugh decided he was too harsh on the president. In 2009, he wrote in the Minnesota Law Review that Congress should pass a law making the president exempt from criminal prosecution and investigation while in office." ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: It's worth noting that Kavanaugh made up his mind about presidential exemption before Barack Obama won the 2008 election. (See the first footnote to the law review article.) Pardon my cynicism, but I have a feeling Democratic presidents are never too busy to be indicted while in office. ...

... Amy Sorkin of the New Yorker: Kavanaugh "has a strong record of ruling against regulations, notably environmental ones. His position opposing gun control goes significantly beyond an embrace of the Court's controversial ruling, in Heller, that there is an individual right to bear arms -- those Trump calls the 'Second Amendment people' can rest easy with Kavanaugh. And recently Kavanaugh ruled, in the case of Garza v. Hargan, with the minority in favor of the Trump Administration and against an undocumented minor who was trying to get an abortion in Texas.... SCOTUSblog, in a profile of Kavanaugh, noted that he had, in his D.C. circuit rulings, exhibited 'an expansive view of the government's power to detain enemy combatants.'" ...

... April Glaser of Slate: Brett Kavanaugh's "history reveals a judge who is more sympathetic to the handful of companies that control the internet -- and to the government agencies that sometimes use it to surveil -- than to the hundreds of millions of Americans who use it. Kavanaugh has argued that the Obama-era network neutrality rules, which were rescinded by the current Federal Communications Commission under Trump appointee Ajit Pai, were unconstitutional because in his view the rules, which prevented internet service providers like Comcast and Verizon from blocking access to certain websites or slowing down speeds, violated the free-speech rights of internet providers.... In fact, the rules are supposed to protect free speech, leveling the online playing field so everyone can communicate on the internet equally without powerful internet providers interfering." ...

     ... Mrs. McC: This is yet another example of the right's weaponizing the First Amendment as an implicit guarantee that corporations, including veritable monopolies (rather than actual people, my friends), can do whatever they want, no matter how much the corporations' "free speech" impinges on ordinary people's Constitutional rights. ...

... Jeet Heer: "If Democrats want to fight Brett Kavanaugh, they have a lot of ammunition.... There are many important issues Kavanaugh can be attacked on in ways that will excite the Democratic base.... Kavanaugh is extreme enough that Democrats can usefully deploy him as foil. Here are some key issues they can highlight. 1. Likely to overturn Roe v. Wade.... 2. Subservience to Trump on presidential exemption from legal prosecution.... 3. Second Amendment extremism.... 4. General use of the courts to advance a conservative agenda.... 5. Embarrassing servility to Trump." Read Heer's citations that back up these points. It's a short post.

Garrett Epps of the Atlantic: "A good exercise in patriotism this summer might be to study the true history of the Fourteenth Amendment (which was [depending upon one's POV] ratified 150 years ago Monday). That story bears weird resemblances to the nation's situation today, as once-solid certainties of the American constitutional order teeter on the verge of collapse.... To a surprising extent..., the system today remains rigged along 'Slave Power' lines. Dominance in the House and Senate falls to red-state governments that suppress voting and gerrymander districts, and undeserved electoral victory flows to popular-vote losers like George W. Bush and Donald Trump."

Miriam Jordan & Manny Fernandez of the New York Times: "Federal immigration authorities were preparing to return 54 young migrants to their parents on Tuesday in a secretive operation that involves transporting children hundreds of miles to undisclosed locations around the country. The reunions, scheduled in order to comply with a federal court deadline, cover a little more than half of the youngest children -- those under the age of 5 -- who had been separated from their families under a Trump administration plan to slow the flood of migrants to the southwest border. The operation will be carried out with an unusual level of secrecy under the oversight of the Department of Homeland Security, at a series of locations operated by federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement, according to federal lawyers and others familiar with the plan. A parallel effort is underway to deport some of the migrants: 11 reunified families will be returned to their home country, Guatemala, on Tuesday...." ...

     ... ** New Lede: "The Trump administration on Monday lost a bid to persuade a federal court to allow long-term detention of migrant families, a significant legal setback to the president's immigration agenda. In a ruling that countered nearly every argument posed by the Justice Department, Judge Dolly M. Gee of the Federal District Court in Los Angeles held that there was no basis to amend a longstanding consent decree that requires children to be released to licensed care programs within 20 days. The government said that long-term confinement was the only way to avoid separating families when parents were detained on criminal charges."

... Julia Ainsley of NBC News: "A federal judge has agreed to extend Tuesday's deadline for the government to reunite 102 migrant children under the age of 5 who were separated from their parents under ... Donald Trump's 'zero tolerance' policy. Judge Dana Sabraw asked government attorneys to provide an update by Tuesday morning on which children will be reunited, who will require more time, and to deliver a proposed timeline for reuniting the remaining children with their parents." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... Ema O'Connor & Nidhi Prakash of BuzzFeed: A "Department of Homeland Security policy quietly introduced by the Trump administration ... has devastated women fleeing violence in their home countries: the detention of pregnant women not yet in their third trimester. Before that directive, which the Trump administration implemented in December..., ICE was under an Obama administration-era directive not to detain pregnant women except in extreme circumstances or in relatively rare cases of expedited deportation.... Women in immigration detention are often denied adequate medical care, even when in dire need of it, are shackled around the stomach while being transported between facilities, and have been physically and psychologically mistreated. In interviews and written affidavits, [five] women who've been in ICE detention and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) custody while pregnant told of being ignored when they were obviously miscarrying, described their CBP and ICE-contracted jailers as unwilling or unable to respond to medical emergencies, and recounted an incident of physical abuse.... Those descriptions were backed by interviews with five legal aid workers, four medical workers, and two advocates who work with ICE detainees."

John Wagner of the Washington Post: "President Trump said Tuesday that an upcoming summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin might be easier than a gathering with NATO allies, as he left the White House for a week of high-profile diplomacy in Europe. In a series of tweets and comments to reporters before departing, Trump took fresh aim at other NATO members for not meeting targets for defense spending, saying the arrangement was unfair to U.S. taxpayers.... Trump's tweet on Tuesday echoed another one from Monday, in which he singled out Germany for not meeting defense spending targets.... Trump also offered kind words for Boris Johnson, the former foreign secretary who is a frontman for Britain's campaign to leave the European Union and one of the recent departures from May's government." For more on that nice Boris Johnson, see stories linked under Way Beyond the Beltway.

Stephanie Murray of Politico: "... Donald Trump on Monday attacked a New York Times story that reported how his administration attempted to weaken a World Health Assembly resolution to promote breastfeeding, saying women shouldn't be denied access to formula.... 'The failing NY Times Fake News story today about breast feeding must be called out. The U.S. strongly supports breast feeding but we don't believe women should be denied access to formula. Many women need this option because of malnutrition and poverty,' Trump said in a tweet.... 'Our report is accurate. You can read it here,' the Times said [in a tweet which linked to the story]." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... Ronnie Rabin of the New York Times: "Global health experts said the president's stance suggested a lack of knowledge about breast-feeding and the history of the marketing of powdered formula to poor women in developing countries. Powdered formula mixed with unclean water can be dangerous for babies.... A recent study by the National Bureau of Economic Research estimated that 66,000 infants died in low- and middle-income countries in 1981 alone because of the availability of formula." Breast-feeding is better for the health of mothers, too. Mrs. McC: How quaint to accuse Trump of "a lack of knowledge." ...

... New York Times Editors: "The push by United States delegates to the World Health Organization to water down or scrap a simple resolution meant to encourage breast-feeding in underdeveloped countries was many things -- bullying, anti-science, pro-industry, anti-public health and shortsighted, to name a few.... It's just one of several recent examples of the administration's zeal for badgering weaker countries into tossing public health concerns aside to serve powerful business interests. The baby formula industry is worth $70 billion and, as breast-feeding has become more popular in more developed countries, it has pinned its hopes for growth on developing ones.... President Trump's contention on Twitter Monday, that women need access to formula because of malnutrition, defies both science and common sense: the overwhelming balance of evidence tells us that breast milk is the most nutritious option for infants, by far."

Greg Sargent: "Trump's delusions are about to blow up in his own voters' faces.... Despite [Steve Bannon's] phony populist posturing about Trump targeting 'Wall Street,' Trump counties are the ones most likely to take a hit.... Nearly two-thirds of the jobs in industries targeted by China's tariffs -- a total of more than 1 million jobs -- are in more than 2,100 counties that voted for Trump. By contrast, barely more than one-third of the jobs in China-targeted industries -- just over half a million -- are in the counties that voted for Clinton."

The Cheapest, Cheatingest Boss in the U.S.A. Alan Feuer of the New York Times: "... in a lawsuit filed on Monday, [Noel] Cintron [-- who was Donald Trump's personal driver for more than 20 years --] accused Mr. Trump and the Trump Organization of failing to pay him more than 3,000 hours of overtime wages -- a sum that he has calculated to be slightly more than $160,000. According to the lawsuit, Mr. Trump and his business also cheated Mr. Cintron out of years of vacation time, sick days and expenses -- and neglected to give him a raise in more than a decade.... The accusations by Mr. Cintron ... echo complaints made by several others who have worked for Mr. Trump over the years and claim that he either underpaid them or failed to honor contracts for their services. Mr. Trump has also fended off unrest among employees by paying them to dismiss litigation against him, despite his oft-repeated claims that he never settles lawsuits."

For $200K, You Get ... a Tour of AF1. Tarini Parti & Jeremy Singer-Vine of BuzzFeed: "Some members of ... Donald Trump's exclusive Florida clubs appear to have been invited to an Air Force One tour last year, according to an invitation obtained by BuzzFeed News.... The invitations would raise more questions about the blurry line between Trump's administration and his family's private businesses. Although past administrations have given Air Force One tours to friends, family, and even donors, in this case, those attending would have paid Trump's exclusive clubs thousands of dollars annually." ...

... Jeet Heer: "As president, [Trump] undoubtedly has the right to invite friends to tour Air Force One. But Mar-a-Lago members fall into the shady category of paying friends, whose closeness to the president is purchased. The president has doubled the membership fee of the resort since taking office, so is directly profiting from the sense that his companionship is for sale."

Michelle Goldberg: Donald Trump has made sexual abuse okay again. "Plagued by scandal, [Trump's new hire Bill] Shine resigned [from Fox "News"] in May 2017. A person with his record would be unemployable at most major companies.... But thanks to Trump, the American people are now paying his salary.... That may be why [Rep. Jim] Jordan believes he can brazen out his own sex scandal."

If the President* Says It, Odds Are It's a Lie. Salvador Rizzo & Meg Kelly of the Washington Post: "From a grand total of 98 factual statements [Donald Trump made at his July 5 rally in Montana]..., 76 percent were false, misleading or unsupported by evidence. Here's a breakdown: 45 false or mostly false statements, 25 misleading statements and four unsupported claims. We also counted 24 accurate or mostly accurate statements. False or mostly false statements alone accounted for 46 percent of all claims." The writers list their findings, lie by lie by misleading statement by "mostly accurate."

Annals of "Journalism," Ctd. Erik Wemple of the Washington Post: "Fox News lets President Trump lie on live television, for hours and hours."

Josh Dawsey, et al., of the Washington Post: "Rudolph W. Giuliani continues to work on behalf of foreign clients both personally and through his namesake security firm while serving as President Trump's personal attorney -- an arrangement experts say raises conflict of interest concerns and could run afoul of federal ethics laws. Giuliani said in recent interviews with The Washington Post that he is working with clients in Brazil and Colombia, among other countries, as well as delivering paid speeches for a controversial Iranian dissident group. He has never registered with the Justice Department on behalf of his overseas clients, asserting it is not necessary because he does not directly lobby the U.S. government and is not charging Trump for his services. His decision to continue representing foreign entities also departs from standard practice for presidential attorneys, who in the past have generally sought to sever any ties that could create conflicts with their client in the White House." ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: Yeah, I know, you're shocked, shocked that a guy who just said Robert Mueller's probe was "the most corrupt investigation I have ever seen" turns out to be just a teensy bit unethical himself.

Juliet Eilperin & Brady Dennis of the Washington Post: "... at least one vestige of [Scott] Pruitt's rocky tenure [as EPA administrator] will continue for the foreseeable future: some of the more than a dozen inquiries into his spending and management practices. While a few of them -- including the two informal reviews inside the White House -- might be shelved, others, such as a probe by a key House committee, are likely to continue.... Trey Gowdy (R-S.C.), [chair of the House Oversight Committee...,] plans to proceed [with the panel's ongoing investigation].... Several experts said the independent Office of Special Counsel, which has interviewed half a dozen current and former EPA officials, is likely to continue examining charges that Pruitt and his aides retaliated against employees who questioned his management decisions." Mrs. McC: Which is at it should be.

Emily Tamkin of BuzzFeed: "In their Moscow meetings with members of Russia's parliament last week, an all-Republican delegation of US members of Congress met with at least two individuals currently sanctioned by the United States. In a meeting with the Duma, parliament's lower house, Sen. Richard Shelby of Alabama reportedly told Duma speaker Vyacheslav Volodin, 'I'm not here today to accuse Russia of this or that or so forth. I'm saying that we should all strive for a better relationship.' Volodin has been sanctioned since 2014 for Russia's 'illegitimate and unlawful' activities in Ukraine. In their meeting with the Federation Council, parliament's upper house, the group listened as Foreign Affairs Committee Chair Konstantin Kosachev complained about the latest round of sanctions against Russian individuals. Kosachev was sanctioned in April over alleged meddling in the 2016 US presidential election and 'malign activity.' In addition to Shelby, the delegation consisted of Sen. Steve Daines of Montana, Sen. John Hoeven of North Dakota, Sen. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, Sen. John Kennedy of Louisiana, Sen. Jerry Moran of Kansas, Sen. John Thune of South Dakota, and Rep. Kay Granger of Texas, all of whom voted in favor of the Countering America's Adversaries Through Sanctions Act in the summer of 2017 -- the legislation intended in part to make it more difficult for the president to lift sanctions on Russia." ...

... Russia Schmussia -- Stupiest Senator Speaks. Niels Lesniewski of Roll Call: "One of the Republican senators back from a trip to Moscow is suggesting that Congress went too far in punishing Russia for meddling in the 2016 U.S. presidential election. 'I've been pretty upfront that the election interference -- as serious as that was, and unacceptable -- is not the greatest threat to our democracy,' Sen. Ron Johnson said in an interview with the Washington Examiner published over the weekend. 'We've blown it way out of proportion.' 'We need to really honestly assess what actually happened, what effect did it have, and what effect are our sanctions actually having, positively and negatively,' the Republican from Wisconsin said."

James McKinley Jr. of the New York Times: "A judge denied a request from prosecutors on Monday to place Harvey Weinstein under house arrest in light of new charges against the movie producer that carry a penalty of life in prison if he is convicted.Brought into the courtroom in handcuffs, Mr. Weinstein, 66, was released on bail after pleading not guilty in State Supreme Court in Manhattan on charges that he sexually assaulted a woman in 2006." ...

... Capitalism is Creepy, Ctd. Sage Lazzaro of Refinery29: "The employees of the popular clothing company Feminist Apparel thought they were creating tools for the resistance. The online store's viral shirts and accessories ... became staples at events like the Women's March and Pride.... It all came to a grinding halt in June of 2018 when Feminist Apparel staff discovered that the brand's founder and CEO Alan Martofel had an admitted history of sexually abusing women.... After asking for his resignation, all nine employees were fired without notice or severance. (Only Martfel [sic.] and an outside consultant remained.)"

Another Story from Trump's America. Deanna Paul of the Washington Post: A young mother in Los Angeles county attacked a 91-year-old Hispanic man -- Rodolfo Rodriguez -- with a brick & shouted, "Go back to your country." Rodriguez is a permanent resident of the U.S. "Minutes later..., a group of young men ... accus[ed] Rodriguez of trying to snatch the [woman's daughter]. They kicked Rodriguez, who was already crumpled on the ground, and stomped on his head.... Rodriguez, who was released from the hospital on Thursday, suffered two broken ribs and a broken cheekbone.... [A recently-released DOJ report on hate crimes in California], which was the first published since President Trump took office, evinced an uptick of more than 17 percent, with anti-Hispanic and anti-Latino crimes soaring over 50 percent last year, according to the Saramento Bee." The (alleged) attacker is black. (Don't know the races of the gang of men.)

Annals of "Journalism," Ctd. Glenn Greenwald Is Still a Loon. Jonathan Chait: "In his recent appearance at a panel on 'fake news' in Moscow, the Intercept's Glenn Greenwald ... [said] the notion that Russia interfered in the 2016 presidential election came about as a desperate way for media elites to explain why their preferred candidate, Hillary Clinton, did not prevail.... Greenwald was very clear about his belief that the whole theory of Russian involvement was a postelection exercise in blame-shifting.... This also happens to be President Trump's theory of the case.... Problem:... The FBI began investigating Trump in the middle of 2016. Obviously, that couldn't have resulted from the shock of Trump's surprise victory because Trump's surprise victory had not occurred yet."

Way Beyond the Beltway

Richard Pérez-Peña of the New York Times: "The police scoured the area around Salisbury, England, for a container of a deadly chemical weapon on Monday, as high-ranking British officials suggested for the first time that Russia was probably responsible for a second set of nerve agent poisonings in the region. British officials have said that a couple who were sickened this month in the Salisbury area, one of whom died on Sunday, had been poisoned with the same powerful nerve agent used in March, a few miles away, against a former Russian spy and his daughter."

Heather Stewart of the Guardian: "Boris Johnson has resigned as foreign secretary, becoming the third minister in 24 hours to walk out of the government rather than back Theresa May's plans for a soft Brexit. The prime minister hammered out a compromise with her deeply divided cabinet in an all-day meeting at Chequers on Friday.... After the Chequers summit, it emerged that Johnson had referred to attempts to sell the prime minister's Brexit plan as 'polishing a turd'.... Johnson's departure will deepen the sense of crisis around May, and increase the chances that she could face a vote of no confidence." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... Buh-Bye, Boris. New York Times Editors: "Britain's foreign secretary [Boris Johnson] and its chief Brexit negotiator [David Davis] caused quite a stir when they resigned within 24 hours because they considered Prime Minister Theresa May's Brexit proposal too accommodating to Europe. But if her government weathers the resulting storm, their departures could help resolve the tortuous divorce negotiations with the European Union, which are approaching crucial deadlines.... During the Brexit referendum campaign [Johnson] notoriously spread the false claim that Britain would save more than 350 million pounds a week if it left the union.... It is doubtful that hard-line Brexiteers in Mrs. May's Conservative Party can muster the 48 votes that party rules require to force a vote of confidence, much less the votes needed to force her into a leadership contest (in which Mr. Johnson would be a potential candidate)." ...

... AND Boris Was More Than a Liar. Bob Brigham of the Raw Story: Cambridge Analytica whistleblower Christopher Wylie tweeted, "Boris oversaw the Vote Leave campaign, which has now admitted to being found guilty of criminal offences. This man was part of a campaign that cheated during the referendum...."

News Lede

AP: "All 12 boys and their soccer coach have been rescued from a flooded cave in northern Thailand, the Thai navy SEALs said Tuesday, ending an 18-day ordeal that riveted people around the world. The SEALs said on their Facebook page that the remaining four boys and their 25-year-old coach were all brought out safely Tuesday. They said they were waiting for a medic and three SEALs who stayed with the boys in their dark refuge deep inside the cave complex to come out."

The Commentariat -- July 9, 2018

Late Morning/Afternoon Update:

Maggie Haberman of the New York Times: "President Trump has decided on his nominee to the Supreme Court after spending Monday morning working the phones primarily seeking input about two judges who were said to be the finalists, Brett M. Kavanaugh and Thomas M. Hardiman, people familiar with the discussions said. Those who discussed the president's decision, and spoke on the condition of anonymity, did not disclose the name of the president's selection. Mr. Trump had been going back and forth between Judge Kavanaugh, the favorite of the White House counsel, Donald F. McGahn II, and Judge Hardiman, whom the president's sister, Maryanne Trump Barry, a former colleague of Judge Hardiman's, has pressed him to choose."

Stephanie Murray of Politico: "... Donald Trump on Monday attacked a New York Times story that reported how his administration attempted to weaken a World Health Assembly resolution to promote breastfeeding, saying women shouldn't be denied access to formula.... 'The failing NY Times Fake News story today about breast feeding must be called out. The U.S. strongly supports breast feeding but we don't believe women should be denied access to formula. Many women need this option because of malnutrition and poverty,' Trump said in a tweet.... 'Our report is accurate. You can read it here,' the Times tweeted, [linking to the story]."

Julia Ainsley of NBC News: "A federal judge has agreed to extend Tuesday's deadline for the government to reunite 102 migrant children under the age of 5 who were separated from their parents under President Donald Trump's 'zero tolerance' policy. Judge Dana Sabraw asked government attorneys to provide an update by Tuesday morning on which children will be reunited, who will require more time, and to deliver a proposed timeline for reuniting the remaining children with their parents."

Heather Stewart of the Guardian: "Boris Johnson has resigned as foreign secretary, becoming the third minister in 24 hours to walk out of the government rather than back Theresa May's plans for a soft Brexit. The prime minister hammered out a compromise with her deeply divided cabinet in an all-day meeting at Chequers on Friday.... After the Chequers summit, it emerged that Johnson had referred to attempts to sell the prime minister's Brexit plan as 'polishing a turd'.... Johnson's departure will deepen the sense of crisis around May, and increase the chances that she could face a vote of no confidence."

*****

** Words Fail. Andrew Jacobs of the New York Times: "A resolution to encourage breast-feeding was expected to be approved quickly and easily by the hundreds of government delegates who gathered this spring in Geneva for the United Nations-affiliated World Health Assembly.... Then the United States delegation, embracing the interests of infant formula manufacturers, upended the deliberations.... When [efforts to water down the resolution] failed, they turned to threats.... If Ecuador..., which had planned to introduce the measure..., refused to drop the resolution, Washington would unleash punishing trade measures and withdraw crucial military aid. The Ecuadorean government quickly acquiesced.... In the end, the Americans' efforts were mostly unsuccessful. It was the Russians who ultimately stepped in to introduce the measure -- and the Americans did not threaten them." Read the whole story. Mrs. McC: The irresponsibility, depravity & corruption of the Trump administration is so deep and broad, it boggles the mind. See Akhilleus's comment in yesterday's thread. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... David Atkins in the Washington Monthly: "If you said a few years ago that this would be a real news story in 2018, no one would believe you. But here we are." ...

... David Boddiger of Splinter: "It's bad enough that Trump and his enforcers are putting children into cages on our own soil. Now, they are showing that they care little about children's health in the rest of the world, either. This administration is -- make no mistake -- an enemy of children, particularly those from low-income families and nations." ...

... Kevin Drum explains the dynamics: "You have to give them credit: big business gets what they pay for when they buy a Republican administration. But even big business can't overcome Trump's love for Vladimir Putin." Mrs. McC: Pretty simple. ...

... Martin Longman of the Booman Tribune: "The Trump administration demonstrated almost every flaw they have here. They put the interests of corporate lobbyists ahead of the health of babies. They showed a complete contempt for science and the consensus of the international community. They abused their power and threatened well-meaning and innocent nations simply because they could. They negotiated in bad faith and behaved like extortionists. And then their bullying act immediately stopped when confronted by Russia because this administration always seeks to please Russia and only confronts them when all other alternatives have been exhausted. The message is clear. If you are a political leader of a small or medium sized country, America will strong-arm you and try to prevent you from doing things based on science if that will hurt some powerful corporations. The way to stand up to America is to go running into the arms of Vladimir Putin." ...

... Emily Stewart of Vox: "Trump in a 2011 deposition reportedly became upset when an attorney named Elizabeth Beck requested a break to pump breast milk for her three-month-old daughter.... Beck told CNN in 2015 that Trump called her 'disgusting.' Trump's lawyer, Allen Garten, didn't dispute the assertion, and Trump acknowledged to CNN he 'might have said that.'... He also called a 2012 TIME Magazine cover showing a mother breastfeeding her toddler 'disgusting.'"

Lisa Rein of the Washington Post: "Federal agencies on Monday begin implementing executive orders from President Trump on how to confront employee unions, following strict guidelines likely to escalate tensions that have been building since the president took office.... Trump's executive orders represent a broadening of the get-tough initiatives that have played out in individual agencies since he took office, including recent efforts to force unions to move out of government-paid office space and to rein in the use of official work time by union representatives who deal with employee grievances and disciplinary matters."

** Jonathan Chait makes the case that Trump is a Russian asset: "As Trump arranges to meet face-to-face and privately with Vladimir Putin later this month, the collusion between the two men metastasizing from a dark accusation into an open alliance, it would be dangerous not to consider the possibility that the summit is less a negotiation between two heads of state than a meeting between a Russian-intelligence asset and his handler." It all began in 1987, when Trump visited Moscow. "Trump returned from Moscow fired up with political ambition.... In July 2013, Trump visited Moscow again. If the Russians did not have a back-channel relationship or compromising file on Trump 30 years ago, they very likely obtained one then.... It would have been strange if Russia didn't help Trump. After all, Russians covertly support allied politicians abroad all the time.... Trump ... acts like a man with a great deal to hide...." This is a long piece, accumulating the "known-knowns" & hypothesizing about how they all fit together....

...** David Edwards of RawStory (July 5): "Seth Abramson, a professor and legal analyst, on Thursday provided what he said was 'evidence of criminal collusion' between President Donald Trump's 2016 campaign and the Russian government. In a massive Twitter thread, Abramson said that there was a 'clear pattern' of actions taken by the Trump campaign before and after the election which points to a conspiracy to undermine U.S. sanctions against Russia. Abramson came to the conclusion that there was 'likely' collusion with Russia after examining the Trump campaign's activities in four European countries -- Italy, Greece, Hungary and Austria -- which wanted sanctions to be lifted.... The legal analyst went on to break down the Trump campaign's actions in each country." --safari

Shane Harris of the Washington Post: "Rudolph W. Giuliani ... said Sunday that he has counseled the president against granting a pardon to his longtime fixer Michael Cohen, at least for now. 'I have advised the president, which he understands: no discussion of pardons,' Giuliani said in an appearance on ABC News's 'This Week.' But he seemed not to rule out that the president might change his mind. 'You can't abridge your power to do it. That's something you can decide down the road, one way or the other,' Giuliani said." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... Ed Pilkington of the Guardian: "... Rudy Giuliani has warned Robert Mueller ... that the White House is close to refusing to grant an interview with the president. Giuliani took the increasingly belligerent tone of the White House up a notch on Sunday.... Speaking on This Week on ABC News, he accused the special counsel of assembling a team of investigators around him that included 'very, very severe partisans working on an investigation that should have been done by people who are politically neutral'. Asked whether they had made a decision on whether or not Trump should participate in an interview with the inquiry, he replied: 'We have not determined he will not sit down with Mueller, but we are close to that.'" ...

... Louis Nelson of Politico: "The Russia investigation led by special counsel Robert Mueller is 'the most corrupt investigation I have ever seen,'... Rudy Giuliani told ABC News on Sunday morning." Mrs. McC: Apparently Rudy is unaware of House Republicans' "investigations," most of which are corrupt. ...

.. To wit: Annals of Journalism, Ctd. Margaret Sullivan of the Washington Post on Marcy Wheeler's decision to inform on a source, then write about it: "In addition to the knowledge of her source's inside information, Wheeler said, she had reason to believe that the source was involved with efforts to compromise her website and other communications. And perhaps most important, that he was involved in cyberattacks -- past and future -- that had done and could do real harm to innocent people.... But what motivated her recent revelation that she went to the FBI has plenty to do with politics: She is disgusted by the way House Republicans are, in her view, weaponizing their oversight responsibilities and making it all too likely that FBI informants will have their names revealed.... Without knowing all the details, it's hard to judge whether she was right. But it's not hard to see that her decision was a careful and principled one."...

...Sarah Burris of RawStory: "Rep. Devin Nunes (R-CA) is demanding that special counselor Robert Mueller release all of his information to the House Intelligence Committee, but according to one colleague he's not working with his fellow members on it, much less keeping them abreast. In an interview with MSNBC's Kassie Hunt, Rep. Mike Quigley (D-IL) was asked about the Nunes request and revealed he's not much for government transparency.... 'We haven't had notification from Mr. Nunes about anything he's going to do for months now,' Quigley said.... Quigley said that Nunes also put a halt to anyone being able to issue 'subpoenas on documents and people of critical interest.'" --safari

America's Addictions. Tom Engelhardt of Tom Dispatch: "When you think of addiction in America today, one thing comes to mind: the opioid epidemic.... According to the National Center for Health Statistics, almost 64,000 Americans died of opioid overdoses in 2016 (more than died in the Vietnam War), an average of 175 people a day.... The United States, however, has two other crises that, in the long run, will cost Americans far more.... This country (and above all its media) is addicted to Donald J. Trump.... [T]he unprecedented way he continues to draw attention ... represents a victory of the first order for him of a unique, almost incomprehensible sort.... And then there's that other twenty-first-century all-American addiction, in some ways far stranger than the Trumpian one and likely to be no less costly in the long run: addiction to war.... [As much as they don't want a bright, shiny new war the Generals] can't imagine leaving the old ones behind either. And that's America's war addiction in a nutshell." --safari

John Hudson & Adam Taylor of the Washington Post: "Secretary of State Mike Pompeo shot back against North Korea on Sunday, saying the regime's criticism that U.S. negotiators acted in a 'gangster-like' way during his two-day visit to Pyongyang was unfounded. 'If those requests were gangster-like, the world is a gangster,' said Pompeo, noting that U.S. demands for North Korea to denuclearize were supported by a consensus among U.N. Security Council members. The secretary of state also said that despite a critical statement released by North Korea's Foreign Ministry on Saturday night, he thought the two sides had made progress during the meeting and that his North Korean counterpart, Kim Yong Chol, negotiated in 'good faith.'... Pompeo added that the United States and world powers would maintain economic sanctions against North Korea until full denuclearization was achieved." ...

... Nick Wadhams of Bloomberg: Mike Pompeo's "trip [to North Korea] reflects the difficulty for Pompeo in dealing with one of the world's most reclusive and unpredictable regimes, which can shift from threats to warm words and back again at speed. It comes as pressure mounts on him to show progress on the delicate task of getting North Korea to move forward on nuclear disarmament, including the issue of verification, and make good on ... Donald Trump's claimed accomplishments from the Singapore summit.... The specifics of what happened behind closed doors remain unclear. Whether Pompeo somehow annoyed his counterpart, or pressed too hard, or whether the North Koreans are simply reverting to their hot-and-cold tactics, is hard to say. But the regime made sure to have the final word, and it was not pleasant."...

...This seems a good time to remember Mike Pompeo's boisterous July 12th tweet 'State Dept team at #singaporesummit delivers for America #swagger' --safari

Adrienne Mahsa Varkiani of ThinkProgress: "A Mexican couple from Brooklyn was detained on July 4 outside the Army base at Fort Drum, near the border with Canada, where they had traveled to celebrate the holiday with their son-in-law before his deployment to Afghanistan.... The couple was born in Mexico, but has lived in New York for two decades, according to their son Eduardo.... In 2007, they received an official Department of Labor work permit. Eduardo said they had valid New York City IDs, which they had used to access military bases before. But this time, military police questioned the ID and asked for a second form of identification. After the couple showed their passports, military called Border Protection agents, who took them to a detention center in Buffalo." --safari

... Natasha Korecki of Politico: "Gov. Bruce Rauner this year reported turning a profit from a health care group that services U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention centers, including facilities that hold immigrant families with children. In his most recent statement of economic interests, the multi-millionaire Republican governor disclosed earnings from a private equity fund that owns Correct Care Solutions, a for-profit health care provider that has millions of dollars in government contracts with jails and prisons across the country, including immigrant detention centers. The governor says he relinquished investment decisions to a third party and has no direct ties to Correct Care Solutions." --safari...

Our War in Yemen. Sudarsan Raghavan of the Washington Post: "For nearly a decade, U.S. intelligence officials have considered al-Qaeda's Yemen branch, known as al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula or AQAP, as the most dangerous of all its affiliates.... Over the past year, the shadow war between al-Qaeda and local Yemeni fighters has intensified, largely out of sight and out of the headlines.... The battle being waged by U.S.-backed Yemeni forces against al-Qaeda militants has escalated. In the first year of President Trump's term, the United States conducted far more airstrikes against al-Qaeda militants in Yemen than it had in previous years.... When asked about the U.S. role on the ground, Capt. Bill Urban, a spokesman for the Pentagon's Central Command, said he could not provide specifics due to 'operational security and the safety of our forces.'..."

Senate Race. "Beto-Mania." Ben Schreckinger of Politico: "Fueled by millions in small-dollar donations, [Rep. Beto] O'Rourke[, Texas Democrats' U.S. Senate nominee] is outraising [Sen. Ted] Cruz [ARRRR]. In recent weeks..., Donald Trump's policy of separating migrant families detained at the border has given his campaign a jolt of moral clarity. And voters are responding in a way that Texas Democrats say they have not seen before in modern times.... With his youth and magnetism, O'Rourke, 45, draws comparisons to Barack Obama, but he projects a gawkier sort of charisma.... His delivery is faster and jerkier.... A fluent Spanish speaker, O'Rourke is especially emphatic when he talks about immigration." O'Rourke is far behind Cruz in recent polls.

David McCumber & Thomas Plank of the Montana Standard: "The attendance of four Roman Catholic priests from Montana at ... Donald Trump's political rally in Great Falls Thursday has created a social media firestorm and apparently incurred the displeasure of the priests' superiors in the church. The four, who were seated near the front of the rally, wore their clerical garb, carried 'Make America Great Again' signs, and wore VIP badges. They clapped for Trump as he doubled down on his oft-repeated slur of Sen. Elizabeth Warren as 'Pocahontas,' mocked the #MeToo movement, and questioned the meaning of former Republican President George H.W. Bush's 'Thousand Points of Light' slogan." Mrs McC: I guess these priests also think it's great to tear babies away from their parents & deny them mothers' milk.

Amy Wang of the Washington Post: In Austin, Texas, a 41-year-old white man murdered a young black man in cold blood in the early morning hours of the 4th of July because the young man, Devonte Ortiz, was setting off fireworks. The white guy "was arrested Friday and charged with first-degree murder, police said. He is being held at the Travis County Jail on a $250,000 bond...." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Way Beyond the Beltway

Heather Stewart of the Guardian: "David Davis has resigned as Brexit secretary, shattering the hard-won consensus around Theresa May's Chequers deal and plunging her government into crisis. His resignation was swiftly followed by that of fellow Department for Exiting the EU ministers Steve Baker and Suella Braverman. It force May to reshuffle her government, at the same time as trying to convince backbenchers to support her plan. Davis has told friends he cannot live with the soft Brexit stance agreed between ministers on Friday, which proposes a 'UK-EU free trade area', governed by a 'common rule book'.... The prime minister is facing a growing backlash from the pro-Brexit wing of her party, with MPs warning they are prepared to trigger a leadership contest." Mrs. McC: Apparently these MPs don't care that they're right playing into Russia's hand, even as this is happening. ...

     ... Update. Dan Sabbagh & Jessica Elgot of the Guardian: "Dominic Raab, a Brexit-supporting minister, has been promoted to replace David Davis as Brexit secretary, No 10 has announced."

... Patrick Greenfield of the Guardian: "A woman who was exposed to the nerve agent novichok in Amesbury, Wiltshire, has died in hospital. The Metropolitan police have launched a murder investigation after Dawn Sturgess, 44, from Durrington, died after handling an item contaminated with the nerve agent on 30 June. Her partner Charlie Rowley, 45, who was also taken ill after being exposed to the nerve agent, remains in a critical condition in hospital." Mrs. McC: And Donald Trump is having a friendly tête-à-tête with Vladimir Putin this week. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Sam Mednick of the Guardian: "Over the past three years, there have been a growing number of kidnaps in Congo's conflict-ridden Kivu provinces.... More than 730 people in North and South Kivu have been abducted or kidnapped for ransom since the beginning of the year, according to the Kivu Security Tracker, a joint project between Human Rights Watch and the Congo Research Group.... But the kidnapping of children for ransom is a relatively new phenomenon, particularly in Goma, the capital of North Kivu. Exact figures are hard to come by, but one child protection group in North Kivu says that, in 2017, 215 children were abducted in the province and 34 killed." --safari

Damian Carrington of the Guardian: "A mysterious surge in emissions of an illegal ozone-destroying chemical has been tracked down to plastic foam manufacturers in China, according to an on-the-ground investigation published on Monday. The chemical, trichlorofluoromethane or CFC-11, has been banned around the world since 2010 and is a potent destroyer of ozone.... A shock rise in the gas in recent years was revealed by atmospheric scientists in May.... The Environmental Investigation Agency, a non-governmental organisation, has now identified widespread use of CFC-11 factories in China that make insulating foams.... [T]he companies said the use of CFC-11 was rife in the sector.... Without action, the CFC-11 emissions would delay the recovery of the planet's ozone hole by a decade, scientists estimate." --safari...

... Damian Carrington: "One in three fish caught around the world never makes it to the plate, either being thrown back overboard or rotting before it can be eaten, according to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization." --safari...

... David Roberts of Vox: "A coalition of seven Dutch political parties recently unveiled a climate policy proposal that is breathtaking in its ambition. If it becomes law, it will codify the most stringent targets for greenhouse gas reductions of any country in the world. There are still several steps between the proposal and passage.... It is widely expected to pass in something like its current form by late next summer. It would be the world's eighth national climate law (after the UK, Mexico, Denmark, Finland, France, Norway, and Sweden), but it boasts a few features that make it particularly notable." --safari...

... Juan Cole makes a bold prediction: "[W]e now have a pretty solid estimate for the beginning of the end of oil: 2030 at the latest. After that, it is a long or short spiral down to a cost set by the world need for hydrocarbon-based fertilizer and other lesser uses of oil (none of which come near to generating volume and prices similar to gasoline for automobiles). The end of oil will be huge for US politics, economy and foreign policy. Stay tuned. And if your retirement fund has a significant position in Big Oil, get out of it." --safari

News Ledes

The Guardian's liveblog of developments in the Thai cave rescue operation is here. @7:43 am ET: " Six boys have been rescued and six more and their coach remain in the cave."

     Update @9:39 am ET: "The Thai navy Seals have confirmed that eight boys have been rescued from the Tham Luang cave complex in Northern Thailand, after two separate rescue operations. A further four boys were rescued on Monday after four were rescued on Sunday. A further four boys and their coach Ekapol Chantawong remain in the cave. The identities of the rescued boys have not been confirmed."