The Commentariat -- October 30, 2018
Afternoon Update:
Trump-o-nomics. Paul Davidson of USA Today: "Despite an unemployment rate that has reached a 50-year low of 3.7 percent, most jobs across the U.S. don't support a middle-class or better lifestyle, leaving many Americans struggling, according to a new study. Sixty-two percent of jobs fall short of that middle-class standard when factoring in both wages and the cost of living in the metro area where the job is located, according to the study by Third Way, a think tank that advocates center-left ideas. 'There's an opportunity crisis in the country,' says Jim Kessler, vice president of policy for Third Way and editor of the report. 'It explains some of the economic uneasiness and, frankly, the political uneasiness' even amid the most robust U.S. economy and labor market since before the Great Recession of 2007 to 2009."
Nancy LeTourneau of the Washington Monthly: "The big story of the day is that Trump plans to end birthright citizenship by executive order. But neither the president nor the White House made an announcement to that effect.... It was Jonathan Swan of Axios who brought up the issue of birthright citizenship and then asked the president, 'Have you thought about that?'... The president responded by saying that it is in process and that it will happen.... Pardon my skepticism, but since when do we believe what Trump says in a moment like that? This is the same man who has pretended for years that he's working on a fantastic reform of our health care system and great middle class tax cuts.... Beyond giving Trump a prompt about how to ramp things up with his base just prior to the midterms, that interview clip has put the reporters at Axios front and center of the biggest story of the day. I suppose you could suggest that I've gone from skeptical to cynical with that observation. But actual reporting on this president requires a whole new level of vigilance, which has to be grounded in something other than click bait." ...
this is 100% speculation, but based on the context, the way this reads to me is that there's a draft EO floating around that Axios caught word of, sandbagged Trump w, & he word vomited as he tends to do. the opposite of, eg, the gitmo EO, which was probably leaked to torpedo it
— Quinta 🎃 Jurecic (@qjurecic) October 30, 2018
... Via Steve M. ...
... ** Garrett Epps of the Atlantic: "At its base, the claim [Trump & some others have made] is that children born in the U.S. are not citizens if they are born to noncitizen parents. The idea contradicts the Fourteenth Amendment's citizenship clause; it flies in the face of more than a century of practice; and it would at a stroke create a shadow population of American-born people who have no state, no legal protection, and no real rights that the government is bound to respect. It would set the stage for an internal witch hunt worse than almost anything since the anti-immigrant rage of the 1920s.... Our Constitution is a gift to us from the generations that went before, and particularly the millions who died in the Civil War; the Fourteenth Amendment is the centerpiece of that Constitution. If we let Donald Trump destroy it, then history will regard both him and us with equal contempt."
Is Trump Really This Dumb? Or Does He Just Think His Bots Are? John Wagner of the Washington Post: "President Trump complained Monday about the news coverage he has received related to the alleged pipe bomber, saying a different standard was applied to then-President Barack Obama when nine black worshipers were killed at a church in Charleston, S.C., during his tenure. Trump highlighted the contrast during a wide-ranging interview with Laura Ingraham of Fox News.... 'I was in the headline of The Washington Post, my name associated with this crazy bomber,' Trump said. 'They didn't do that with President Obama with the church, the horrible situation with the church -- they didn't do that.' Dylann Roof, who was convicted of 33 counts of federal hate crimes in the 2015 shootings at the Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, was a self-described white supremacist who displayed Confederate flags on social media and expressed no affection for Obama." Wagner also shoots down the premise of Trump's Nobody-Picked-on-Bernie whine. ...
... Moriah Balingit, et al., of the Washington Post: "A mourning family doesn't want to meet him. Leaders of his own party declined to join him. The mayor has explicitly asked him not to come. And yet President Trump plans to visit this grief-stricken city Tuesday, amid accusations that he and his administration continue to fuel the anti-Semitism that inspired Saturday's massacre inside a synagogue.... More than 1,200 people have so far signed up for a demonstration at the same time -- declaring Trump 'unwelcome in our city and in our country.'... Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.), Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D.-Calif.) -- have all declined invitations to join Trump on his visit." [Mrs. McC: Mitch said he was busy. Getting a haircut or raking leaves, maybe.] ...
... Eli Rosenberg of the Washington Post: "In the emergency room when he arrived, [the (alleged mass murderer)] was shouting, 'I want to kill all the Jews,' according to the hospital's president.... At least three of the doctors and nurses who cared for Robert Bowers at the Allegheny General Hospital were Jewish, according to President Jeffrey K. Cohen.... Cohen is personally connected to the shooting beyond his role at the hospital. He lives so close to Tree of Life synagogue that he heard the gunshots as the massacre unfolded. He knew nine of the people who were killed, he told the Tribune-Review. Still that didn't stop him from going to check in on Bowers to ask him whether he was in pain. The man said he was fine. 'He asked me who I was, I said "I'm Dr. Cohen, the president of the hospital,"' Cohen said. 'And I turned around and left. And the FBI agent that was guarding him said, "I don't know that I could have done that."'... Cohen saved his harsh words for the people he said are responsible for the toxic climate in the country. 'It's time for leaders to lead,' he said. 'And the words mean things. And the words are leading to people doing things like this, and I find it appalling.'"
Paul Krugman: "In America 2018, whataboutism is the last refuge of scoundrels, and bothsidesism is the last refuge of cowards. In case you hadn't noticed, we're in the midst of a wave of hate crimes.... All of these hate crimes seem clearly linked to the climate of paranoia and racism deliberately fostered by Donald Trump and his allies in Congress and the media.... So how are Trump apologists dealing with this ugly picture?... Trump supporters try to kill his critics? Well, some Trump opponents have yelled at politicians in restaurants!... False equivalence, portraying the parties as symmetric even when they clearly aren't, has long been the norm among self-proclaimed centrists and some influential media figures.... The fact is that one side of the political spectrum is peddling hatred, while the other isn't. And refusing to point that out for fear of sounding partisan is, in effect, lending aid and comfort to the people poisoning our politics. Yes, hate is on the ballot next week."
Natasha Bertrand of the Atlantic: "An alleged scheme to pay off women to fabricate sexual assault allegations against Special Counsel Robert Mueller has been referred to the FBI for further investigation, according to a spokesman for the special counsel's office, Peter Carr.... The special counsel's attention to this scheme -- which was brought to the office by a woman claiming she herself had been offered money to make up sexual harassment claims against Mueller -- and its decision to release a rare statement about it to reporters indicates the seriousness with which the office is taking the purported scheme.... The special counsel's office confirmed that the scheme was brought to its attention by several journalists who were told about it by a woman alleging that she herself had been offered roughly $20,000 by a GOP activist named Jack Burkman 'to make accusations of sexual misconduct and workplace harassment against Robert Mueller.' The woman told journalists that she had worked for Mueller as a paralegal at the Pillsbury, Madison, and Sutro law firm in 1974.... Around the time that the [woman began contacting journalists], Burkman released a video on his Facebook page claiming, without evidence, that Mueller 'has a whole lifetime history of harassing women.'... Burkman, a conservative radio host, is known for spreading conspiracy theories. He launched his own private investigation into the murder of DNC staffer Seth Rich...."
*****
A Show of Force Against Desperate Families. Julie Davis of the New York Times: "The Defense Department will deploy at least 5,200 active-duty troops to the southern border by the end of this week to help harden security there, officials announced on Monday, part of an election-season response by President Trump to hold off a group of Central American migrants moving north through Mexico. An initial group of 800 soldiers already is heading to Texas from Fort Campbell and Fort Knox, according to Terrence J. O'Shaughnessy, the commander of the United States Northern Command. The deployment is the first piece of a multistage approach that Mr. Trump has been considering for several weeks, and which also is expected to include executive action to bar entry to Central Americans, including for those seeking asylum." ...
... digby: "It's [a] military pageant to give Trump and his followers a thrill. It has no purpose other than to turn this country into a dystopian hate-filled hellhole." ...
... Eric Levitz of New York: "It is not clear that these migrants will ever arrive at the U.S. southern border; if they do, they have legal right to seek asylum and there's no reason to believe they will assert that right in anything but a peaceful manner; America is perfectly capable of absorbing another 3,500 asylum-seekers; and even if none of those things were true, U.S. soldiers still wouldn't be able to provide anything but logistical support to border patrol -- and it's hard to see why 5,200 troops are needed to serve that function. But it's relatively easy to see why a political party that believes it can only win elections by sowing paranoid fear would want to engineer headlines about 5,200 troops headed to the border to counter the migrant 'invasion' shortly before Election Day." ...
... Mrs. Bea McCrabbie: Obviously, Trump is sending the troops to try to divert your attention from the domestic terror he encourages to the fake foreign "terror" he manufactured to frighten dimwitted white people. Who is more of an existential threat? -- a bigoted, murderous homeboy with an AR-15 or a young mother & her children yearning to be free? Not a tough question. ...
... To wit: Jeremy Peters of the New York Times: "For the last two weeks, Mr. Trump and his conservative allies have operated largely in tandem on social media and elsewhere to push alarmist, conspiratorial warnings about the migrant caravan more than 2,000 miles from the border. They have largely succeeded in animating Republican voters ... around the idea of these foreign nationals posing a dire threat to the country's security, stability and identity.... 'Many Gang Members and some very bad people are mixed into the Caravan heading to our Southern Border. Please go back, you will not be admitted into the United States unless you go through the legal process. This is an invasion of our Country and our Military is waiting for you!' [Trump tweeted Monday]. But ... there is clear overlap between the hatred and delusion that drove [the Pittsburgh mass murderer & the pipe-bomb mailer] and the paranoia and misinformation surrounding the caravan. The baseless claims that George Soros is financing the migrants as they trek north, which carry a strong whiff of anti-Semitism, have been one of the most consistent themes of commentary on the caravan from the right.... Mr. Trump tweeted a video on Oct. 18 that purported to be of someone connected to Mr. Soros handing out cash to the migrants.... Then, on Oct. 22, a pipe bomb was found at Mr. Soros's house.... Robert Bowers ... also pushed online conspiracy theories about the migrant caravan, in addition to anti-Semitic diatribes." ...
... Trump & Mass Murderer Speak the Same Language. Noah Lanard of Mother Jones: "... Donald Trump is making more unfounded claims about a migrant caravan 'invasion,' two days after a man who posted similar language on social media killed 11 people at a Pittsburgh synagogue.... Robert Bowers ... repeatedly referred to caravan members as 'invaders,' CNN reported on Saturday. In one post, he wrote, 'I have noticed a change in people saying "illegals" that now say "invaders." I like this.' He also shared a post by another user that railed against the 'third world caravan' as a group of 'invaders,' according to the Washington Post. The Trump administration has produced no evidence to support the president's repeated claims that criminals are in the caravan." ...
... Fox "News" & Mass Murderer Speak the Same Language. Brian Stelter of CNN: "On Fox News, the word 'invasion' was used in relation to the caravan more than 60 times in October, according to closed captioning transcripts. (This includes repeats of programs.) 'Invading' was brought up more than a dozen times. On Fox Business, the word 'invasion' was invoked more than 75 times in October, mostly on Lou Dobbs' program. Fox's Tucker Carlson referenced an 'invasion' as early as October 16. Eleven days later, on October 27, minutes before entering the Tree of Life synagogue, the suspect wrote another post about 'invaders' and said 'I'm going in,' seemingly linking his anti-immigrant attitudes to his attack on the synagogue. One of the congregations that rents space at the synagogue, Dor Hadash, reportedly has a partnership with HIAS, the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society, which has a long history of helping refugees. The suspect claimed in his final post on Gab that 'HIAS likes to bring in invaders that kill our people.'" ...
... Eric Levitz: "Taken together, then, the president and his allies have been telling millions of Americans that the (Soros-funded) Democrats are orchestrating an invasion of the United States by violent Central American migrants, because, allegedly, the Democrats believe that doing so will help them steal the November 6 elections in the immediate term, and render Republicans incapable of reclaiming power through the democratic process.... The primary problem with the Republican Party's claims about the migrant caravan is not that they are evocative of anti-Semitic conspiracy theories, or liable to inspire violence -- but rather, that they are wildly dishonest, and thus, aid Nazi propagandists and increase the risk of political violence for no defensible purpose." ...
...Steve Schmidt, a lifelong conservative, articulates the current national emergency, "Trump's Reichstag Fire" --s
... Campbell Robertson of the New York Times: "Wearing a sweatshirt and sweatpants, shackled and with a vacant expression, Robert Bowers sat before a federal judge in a downtown [Pittsburgh] courtroom on Monday afternoon. Mr. Bowers, the man accused of killing 11 congregants in a hate-filled attack on a Pittsburgh synagogue named Tree of Life, arrived in a wheelchair pushed by a United States marshal. The judge, Magistrate Judge Robert C. Mitchell, gave an overview of the 29 criminal charges against him and asked him if he had received a copy of the complaint. 'Yes,' Mr. Bowers replied firmly. Those charges included obstructing the free exercise of religious beliefs -- a hate crime, which can carry the death penalty, a sentence that federal authorities said Sunday they intended to pursue. He also faces state charges." ...
... Trip Gabriel of the New York Times: "Still reeling from the horror and grief after Saturday's massacre at the Tree of Life synagogue, Pittsburgh is now dealing with something else: the barbed politics of the 2018 midterms and widespread opposition to President Trump's plan to visit here Tuesday. Jewish leaders said that President Trump was not welcome in Pittsburgh and accused him of stirring up extremism. Mayor William Peduto, who strongly rejected Mr. Trump's suggestion that armed guards in houses of worship are the answer to violence, warned that the president would be a distraction from funerals taking place Tuesday. Many in the Jewish community in Pittsburgh cited what they saw as the president's divisive rhetoric, which they feel had a role in enabling the violence here, as well as other recent episodes including the mail bombs sent from Florida to prominent Democratic figures and what appears to be the racial killing of two black shoppers near Louisville, Ky.... Chants of 'Vote! Vote! Vote!' broke out during vigils for victims of the synagogue shootings." ...
... Allyson Chiu & Amy Wang of the Washington Post: "More than 30,000 people have signed an open letter to President Trump from the leaders of a Pittsburgh-based Jewish group who say the president will not be welcome in the city unless he denounces white nationalism and stops 'targeting' minorities after a mass shooting Saturday at a local synagogue left 11 dead. The letter, which was published and shared on Sunday, was written by 11 members of the Pittsburgh affiliate of Bend the Arc, a national organization for progressive Jews focused on social justice, following what is being called the deadliest attack on Jews in U.S. history. The shooting at Tree of Life synagogue also left several people injured, including law enforcement." This is an update to a Hill story linked below." The Bend the Arc letter is here. (Also linked yesterday.) ...
... BUT Trump is undeterred:
... David Jackson, et al., of USA Today: "... Donald Trump will travel to Pittsburgh on Tuesday after a gunman left 11 dead in a shooting at a synagogue over the weekend.... The president will 'express the support of the American people and grieve with the Pittsburgh community,' White House press secretary Sarah Sanders told reporters Monday. Sanders said first lady Melania Trump will travel with the president. Fighting back tears, Sanders noted that Trump 'is the grandfather of several Jewish grandchildren.'" (Also linked yesterday.) ...
... Worse Than Trump. Isaac Stanley-Becker of the Washington Post: "Two days after the deadliest attack on Jews in U.S. history, Vice President Pence bowed his head at a rally on Monday in Michigan as a religious leader who casts himself as a 'rabbi' offered a prayer for the victims in Pittsburgh. But the man who shared a stage with Pence, Loren Jacobs, preaches Messianic Judaism, a tradition central to Jews for Jesus, a group condemned by Jewish leaders as a form of Christian evangelism.... Appearing with the vice president on Monday, Jacobs invoked 'Jesus the Messiah' and 'Savior Yeshua' -- another name for Jesus -- as he offered a prayer for the dead and wounded in Pittsburgh.... The major Jewish denominations join the state of Israel in viewing followers of Messianic Judaism as Christian, not Jewish. His appearance drew outrage on social media. Jason A. Miller, a Detroit-area rabbi, wrote on Facebook that more than 60 rabbis appeared in a directory of the Michigan Board of Rabbis -- 'and yet the only rabbi they could find to offer a prayer for the 11 Jewish victims in Pittsburgh at the Mike Pence Rally was a local Jew for Jesus rabbi?'... A Pence aide told the Associated Press that Jacobs had been invited by Lena Epstein, a Republican congressional candidate, and said Pence did not know who the religious leader was when he brought him onstage at the rally.... Jacobs appealed to the Almighty to favor the Republican Party in the midterm elections next month. He did not name the individual victims of the Pittsburgh massacre, but named four Republican candidates, including Epstein." ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: If pence's staff really didn't know what faith Jacobs followed, shame on them. But I suspect this was no mistake. Rather, pence & his people planned to slap down Jews at a supposed memorial to the horror of their persecution. They might as well have said, "Look, people, if you don't want to be saved from hate crimes, come to Jesus." Pence is positively medieval. ...
... Kevin Roose of the New York Times has more on Gab, the site that hosted the Pittsburgh mass murderer & other right-wing extremists. (Also linked yesterday.) ...
... Brett Samuels of the Hill: "President Trump on Monday blamed what he deems unfair media coverage for causing 'great anger' in the country in the wake of a violent week that saw a spate of mail bombs and a shooting that killed 11 people at a Pittsburgh synagogue. The president said in a pair of tweets that the 'Fake News Media' is 'the true Enemy of the People,' reviving a derisive term for the press less than a week after an explosive device was mailed to CNN's New York City offices. 'There is great anger in our Country caused in part by inaccurate, and even fraudulent, reporting of the news. The Fake News Media, the true Enemy of the People, must stop the open & obvious hostility & report the news accurately & fairly,' Trump wrote on Twitter. 'That will do much to put out the flame of Anger and Outrage and we will then be able to bring all sides together in Peace and Harmony,' he added." (Also linked yesterday.) ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: Trump doesn't ID which fake media he means. It is true that Fox "News," Alex Jones, Breitbart & other right-wing outlets produce fake news that purposely riles the crazies, there's no reason to believe these are the fake media Trump is citing. When he calls out those outlets that support him & back up his incendiary rhetoric with nonsense of their own, he'll be on the right track. ...
... Matt Zapotosky, et al., of the Washington Post: "The Florida man accused of sending more than a dozen possible bombs to prominent Democratic and media figures who have been critical of President Trump kept a list of more than 100 possible targets, a law enforcement official said Monday, as authorities intercepted another suspicious package addressed to CNN. The FBI recovered the list during its investigation of 56-year-old Cesar Sayoc and has been notifying those on it so they can take precautions in checking their mail, the official said. The list includes high-profile celebrities and media personalities similar to those who already were sent possible bombs, the official said. The latest package to CNN was intercepted at an Atlanta mail facility Monday, and the FBI said it was 'similar in appearance' to the other 14 they believe Sayoc has mailed to targets recently.... Sayoc appeared in federal court in Miami for the first time Monday, his demeanor relaxed as he sat behind seven other inmates who were there for hearings. Dressed in tan jail clothes, he said his name in a raspy voice and nodded that he understood his legal rights." ...
... Trump Made Him Do It. Ryan Reilly of the Huffington Post: "Attorneys for a ... Donald Trump supporter who was convicted in a domestic terrorism plot aimed at slaughtering Muslim refugees asked a federal judge to factor in the 'backdrop' of Trump's campaign rhetoric when deciding their client's sentence this week.... '2016 was "lit." The court cannot ignore the circumstances of one of the most rhetorically mold-breaking, violent, awful, hateful and contentious presidential elections in modern history, driven in large measure by the rhetorical China shop bull who is now our president,' they wrote [in a sentencing memo]." ...
... Jennifer Rubin of the Washington Post names names, starting with Trump & running through Rupert Murdoch & his TV personalities, Instagram & Twitter, Paul Ryan, Kevin McCarthy & right-wing publications & Websites.
All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside.... -- Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution ...
Fagddaboudit. -- Donald Trump
John Wagner of the Washington Post: "President Trump is planning to sign an executive order that would seek to end the right to U.S. citizenship for children of noncitizens born on U.S. soil, he said in a television interview taped on Monday. The move, which many legal experts say runs afoul of the Constitution, would be the boldest yet by a president elected to office pledging to take a hard line on immigration, an issue he has revived in advance of next week's midterm elections. 'We're the only country in the world where a person comes in and has a baby, and the baby is essentially a citizen of the United States for 85 years with all of those benefits,' Trump said during an interview with Axios scheduled to air as part of a new HBO series starting this weekend. 'It's ridiculous. It's ridiculous. And it has to end.' Trump, who has long decried 'anchor babies,' said he has discussed the move with his legal counsel and believes it can be accomplished with executive action, a view at odds with the opinions of many legal scholars. 'It was always told to me that you needed a constitutional amendment. Guess what? You don't,' Trump told Axios. 'It's in the process. It'll happen ... with an executive order,' he said, without offering a time frame." ...
... Ian Millhiser of ThinkProgress: "Donald Trump ... said that he plans to sign an executive order stripping many Americans of their citizenship. Though it is unclear how far Trump wants to go..., Trump apparently wants to target the children of undocumented immigrants.... Trump's plan is ... not even arguably constitutional. It is so obviously unconstitutional that it was rejected by a notoriously racist Supreme Court more than a century ago. If the Roberts Court ultimately upholds such an order, it will reveal that its Republican majority is so captured by partisanship that it cannot even be trusted to read the clear words of the Constitution.... It's unclear why Trump believes that the text of the Fourteenth Amendment does not apply to him.... Trump is literally taking a position to the right of many of the justices who gave us separate-but-equal." --s ...
... Barbie Latza Nadeau of The Daily Beast: "Donald Trump says the 14th Amendment, which gives citizenship to anyone born on U.S. soil, is a uniquely American mistake. He's totally wrong.... In reality, America is by no means the only country that grants citizenship this way. The Center for Immigration Studies names 30 of the world's 194 countries, including Canada and Mexico, that offer jus soli, or the law of the soil. No European countries offer birthright, which could be what Trump was referring to, but many offer conditional birthright status based on the number of years a child lives in the country and the parents' legal status." --s
Maggie Haberman & Benjamin Weiser of the New York Times: "A new lawsuit accuses President Trump, his company and three of his children of using the Trump name to entice vulnerable people to invest in sham business opportunities.Filed in federal court in Manhattan on Monday, the lawsuit comes just days before the midterm elections, raising questions about whether its timing is politically motivated. It is being underwritten by a nonprofit whose chairman has been a donor to Democratic candidates.The allegations take aim at the heart of Mr. Trump's personal narrative that he is a successful deal-maker who built a durable business, charging he and his family lent their name to a series of scams. The 160-page complaint alleges that Mr. Trump and his family received secret payments from three business entities in exchange for promoting them as legitimate opportunities, when in reality they were get-rich-quick schemes that harmed investors, many of whom were unsophisticated and struggling financially."
Newsweek artwork.... The Laziest President. Eliana Johnson & Daniel Lippman of Politico: "... Donald Trump had about three times as much free time planned for last Tuesday as work time, according to his private schedule. The president was slated for more than nine hours of 'Executive Time,' a euphemism for the unstructured time Trump spends tweeting, phoning friends and watching television. Official meetings, policy briefings and public appearances -- traditionally the daily work of being president -- consumed just over three hours of his day.... While the notion of Executive Time, and the president's increasingly late start to the day, has come under scrutiny over the last year, this new batch of schedules obtained by Politico offers fresh insight into the extent to which that unscheduled time dominates Trump's week and is shaping his presidency, allowing his whims and momentary interests to drive White House business.... The president's official commitments last week began no earlier than 11 a.m..., and on Tuesday -- in the midst of a potential serial bomber and two weeks ahead of the midterm elections -- they didn't start until 1 p.m. The president spent just over two hours of his week in policy briefings, according to his schedules, and he was scheduled to receive the President's Daily Brief on just two of the five days reviewed." (Also linked yesterday.)
AND It's Time for Sarah Sanders to Retire. Emily Birnbarm of the Hill: "White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders during a Monday press briefing said President Trump won by an 'overwhelming majority' of 63 million votes -- despite the fact that his Democratic opponent, Hillary Clinton, won 65.8 million votes and he lost the popular vote.... She make the remark while going over the accomplishments of the president, which she said were ignored by much of the news media. Sanders's comment on Monday was only the most recent attempt by the White House to claim that Trump won a majority of votes in 2016. Sanders spent the bulk of the press briefing casting blame on the news media for dividing the country, saying the media typically reports negatively about the president. She declined to name any media outlets in particular." ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: Sanders actually was pretty explicit here. The news media are "dividing the country" by not simply typing Trump's self-aggrandizing lies (like winning a majority of votes) & putting them on the front page.
Mike Stone of Reuters: "Every time President Donald Trump mentions the $110 billion arms deal he negotiated with Saudi Arabia last year, he quickly follows up, saying 'It's 500,000 jobs.' But if he means new U.S. defense jobs, an internal document seen by Reuters from Lockheed Martin forecasts fewer than 1,000 positions would be created by the defense contractor, which could potentially deliver around $28 billion of goods in the deal. Lockheed instead predicts the deal could create nearly 10,000 new jobs in Saudi Arabia, while keeping up to 18,000 existing U.S. workers busy if the whole package comes together - an outcome experts say is unlikely." --s
Election 2018
Florida. John Wagner of the Washington Post: "President Trump on Monday accused Andrew Gillum, the Democratic candidate for governor of Florida, of being a 'thief,' without citing any evidence.... 'In Florida there is a choice between a Harvard/Yale educated man named @RonDeSantisFL who has been a great Congressman and will be a great Governor - and a Dem who is a thief and who is Mayor of poorly run Tallahassee, said to be one of the most corrupt cities in the Country!' Trump wrote on Twitter.... Gillum responded to Trump on Twitter, saying the president was 'howling because he's weak.'.... Trump also drew accusations on social media of sending a racially coded message.... On Twitter, terrorism expert and MSNBC commentator Malcom Nance referred to Trump as 'the #RacistinChief,' writing: 'There it is. America is burning & this petulant crying baby wannabe King is publicly calling a distinguished Black man running for Governor a "Thief"'[.]" ...
... Sam Stein of the Daily Beast: "Just days after federal authorities discovered a bomb left on George Soros' property, Ron DeSantis, the Republican candidate for governor of Florida, spread fears that the Democratic financier could infiltrate the state's government.... 'He could be seeding, into our state government, you know, Soros-backed activists,' DeSantis said of his opponent [Andrew Gillum]."
Georgia. Former President Jimmy Carter, a Georgia resident, wrote on his official letterhead to his state's Republican nominee for governor, Brian Kemp, asking him to resign as Georgia secretary of state. The secretary of state oversees elections. The article cites the full text of Carter's letter. Here's part of it: "In Georgia's upcoming gubernatorial election, popular confidence is threatened not only by the undeniable racial discrimination of the past and the serious questions that the federal courts have raised about the security of Georgia's voting machines, but also because you are now overseeing the election in which you are a candidate. This runs counter to the most fundamental principle of democratic elections -- that the electoral process be managed by an independent and impartial election authority."
Pennsylvania. Ian Millhiser: "On Monday, the Supreme Court turned away an effort to reinstate Pennsylvania's gerrymandered congressional maps. Although this is not the first time the Court refused to bail out the GOP's partisan gerrymander in this state, it is the first time it turned away this case since Brett Kavanaugh's confirmation gave Republicans a solid majority on the Supreme Court." --s
Texas. Daniel Marans of the Huffington Post: "Rep. Pete Olson, a Texas Republican in a tough re-election battle, would not explain to a constituent why he recently called his Democratic opponent an 'Indo-American carpetbagger.'... In a video of a previous campaign stop obtained by CNN, Olson described [his Democratic opponent, Sri Preston] Kulkarni, who is of Indian heritage, as a 'liberal, liberal, liberal Indo-American who's a carpetbagger' and questioned whether donations raised for him through the online fundraising site ActBlue were 'coming from overseas.' 'Why would you mention his race?' [the constituent] demanded. 'I didn't mention his race. Carpetbagger's not a race,' Olson responded.... Last month, Olson claimed that 'terrorists from Pakistan' perpetrated the Sept. 11 attacks on America. None of the 19 men who hijacked four planes were from Pakistan, and Olson later said he misspoke. But critics believe he was trying to exploit anti-Pakistani sentiment within his district's Indo-American community."
Virginia. Justin Wise of The Hill: "President Trump on Monday endorsed House candidate Denver Riggleman (R), saying he was a 'big help' with tax cuts, even though Riggleman was not in Congress last year when Republicans passed their tax overhaul legislation.... New York Magazine noted that Trump initially referred to Riggleman as 'congressman' in a since-deleted tweet." --s ...
... GOP Extremists. Frank Dale of ThinkProgress: "A Monday campaign event for Corey Stewart, the Republican Senate candidate from Virginia and Minnesota man who is very concerned about the destruction of Confederate monuments, featured a speaker who urged conservatives 'to turn that "blue wave" into a blue grave.' Jennifer Brown [who made the comment, is] chair of the Republican Committee in Virginia's 6th district.... The remarks come just one week after several prominent Democrats who have been frequent targets of Trump's incendiary rhetoric were sent explosive devices.... The Republican trails [Tim] Kaine [D] by an average of nearly 20 percentage points in recent polling." --s
Washington. Where 31% Is a Passing Grade. Mark Hand of ThinkProgress: "[A]long with expressing his climate denial views, [Republican candidate Dino Rossi] also is touting an award that he received from an environmental group that strongly opposes Trump's environmental record.... Environmental groups have accused Rossi, who has served in the Washington state Senate, of 'greenwashing' his record. At [a] debate, Rossi pointed out that the Washington Conservation Voters, a state group affiliated with the League of Conservation Voters, gave him a 'Distinguished Deeds' recognition. However, that recognition came in 2002.... Rossi's environmental record has declined since he received the award.... His scorecard in the Washington state legislature in 2017 was 0 percent. For his entire career in the state Senate, Rossi has a 31 percent lifetime score from the state environmental group." --s
Liam Stack of the New York Times interviews PBS's Rick Steves on his campaign to legalize recreational marijuana. Steves sees legalization as a social justice issue: "This is a law that is enforced inconsistently. It's a racist law and it is not rich white guys like me who are getting arrested. It is poor people and people of color. It's the new Jim Crow." Good point.
Damian Carrington of the Guardian: "Humanity has wiped out 60% of mammals, birds, fish and reptiles since 1970, leading the world's foremost experts to warn that the annihilation of wildlife is now an emergency that threatens civilisation. The new estimate of the massacre of wildlife is made in a major report produced by WWF and involving 59 scientists from across the globe. It finds that the vast and growing consumption of food and resources by the global population is destroying the web of life, billions of years in the making, upon which human society ultimately depends for clean air, water and everything else.... Mike Barrett ... of ... WWF [said] 'If there was a 60% decline in the human population, that would be equivalent to emptying North America, South America, Africa, Europe, China and Oceania. That is the scale of what we have done.'" --s ...
... Reuters has a new investigative piece called 'Ocean Shock', on the effects of climate change changing marine populations' habits. --s ...
... Way Beyond the Beltway ...
... Leyland Cecco of the Guardian: "Scientists in Canada have warned that massive glaciers in the Yukon territory are shrinking even faster than would be expected from a warming climate -- and bringing dramatic changes to the region.... The rate of warming in the north is double that of the average global temperature increase, concluded the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in its annual Arctic Report Card, which called the warming 'unprecedented'." ...
... Christopher Bodeen of the AP: "China says it will allow trading in products made from endangered tigers and rhinos under 'special circumstances,' reversing a previous ban and bringing condemnation from conservation groups.... No reason was given for the lifting of the ban, which was implemented in 1993 amid a global push to protect fast-disappearing endangered species.... The World Wildlife Fund said the move to overturn the ban would have 'devastating consequences globally' by allowing poachers and smugglers to hide behind legalized trade." --s
News Ledes
NBC News: "Notorious Boston gangster James 'Whitey' Bulger was found dead at a federal prison in West Virginia Tuesday -- on the morning after he arrived -- and the FBI has launched an investigation, federal officials said. Bulger, 89, was found unresponsive about 8:20 a.m. at the high-security penitentiary USP Hazelton in West Virginia, according to a Justice Department statement.... Bulger had spent 16 years as as one of the nation's most wanted fugitives before he was captured in Santa Monica, Calif., in 2011." ...
... Update. New York Times: "James (Whitey) Bulger, the South Boston mobster who was captured after years on the run, was killed in a West Virginia federal prison by at least two inmates, according to two Federal Bureau of Prisons employees who spoke on the condition of anonymity.... Mr. Bulger, 89, had been transferred to the U.S. Penitentiary, Hazelton in Bruceton Mills, W. Va., on Monday and was beaten to death shortly after his arrival, according to the two prison workers. One of workers said that the inmates were thought to be 'affiliated with the mob,' but did not know the specifics of the association. A senior law enforcement official who oversees organized crime cases but was not involved in the investigation into Mr. Bulger's death, said he was told by a federal law enforcement official that an organized crime figure was believed to be responsible for the killing." ...
... Here's the New York Times' obituary of Bulger.
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