The Commentariat -- May 31, 2020
Late Morning/Afternoon Update:
The New York Times' live updates of coronavirus developments are here. "Mass protests over police violence against black Americans in at least 75 U.S. cities have spurred concern that the gatherings will seed new outbreaks."
Can He Do That? Nope. Maggie Haberman & Charlie Savage of the New York Times: "President Trump said on Twitter on Sunday that the United States would designate a group of far-left anti-fascism activists as a terrorist organization, a declaration that lacked any clear legal authority, as his administration sought to blame the group for violent protests across the nation over the weekend.... It was not clear that Mr. Trump's declaration would have any real meaning beyond his characteristic attempts to stir a culture-war controversy, attract attention and please his conservative base. First, antifa is not an organization. It does not have a leader, membership roles or any defined, centralized structure.... More important..., the laws that permit the federal government to deem entities terrorists and impose sanctions on them are limited to foreign groups. There is no domestic terrorism law.... Nevertheless, in a statement after Mr. Trump's tweet, Attorney General William P. Barr said the F.B.I. would ... identify violent protesters, whom he also called domestic terrorists.... Earlier Sunday, Mr. Trump's national security adviser, Robert C. O'Brien, had blamed such activists during appearances on CNN and ABC News, saying that he had not seen anything to corroborate reports by the Department of Homeland Security and the news media that far-right groups were also stoking violence." A Politico story is here. Thanks to Bobby Lee for the lead. ~~~
~~~ David Fahrenthold & Devlin Barrett of the Washington Post: "Police in several cities significantly increased their use of force Saturday night against protesters decrying police use of force -- wielding batons, rubber bullets and pepper spray in incidents that also targeted bystanders and journalists. Some of the most aggressive actions were taken by police in Minneapolis, where the protests began. There, a video posted online showed police arresting a local TV cameraman, firing nonlethal projectiles at a CBS TV crew and firing a round that scatters paint into a group of people watching from their front porch.... The use of force by police sometimes seemed unconnected to any threat that they faced, and aimed at people who had little to do with the violent protests.... 'I supported the actions that were out there. I gave the order to go with them,' said Gov. Tim Walz (D), though he said the use of force toward reporters was 'unacceptable.'" ~~~
~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: Say, Donald, you might want to designate a few of these police departments as "domestic terrorist groups," like the force in Minneapolis who hit Los Angeles Times reporter Molly Hennessy-Fiske with a rubber bullet, then chased down her, along with other reporters even as the journalists were begging to cooperate. "Hennessy-Fiske said she escaped after scaling a wall, with two bloody wounds to her leg. On Sunday, President Trump and officials in Minnesota praised the more aggressive police response the night before." Oh. So no terrorist designation, I guess. ~~~
~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: But the really worst thing about this tweety-declaration is Trump's difficulty with capitalization. He wrote that he had "designating ANTIFA as a Terrorist Organization." There's no reason to capitalize "terrorist" or "organization," except perhaps as a joke, as one might capitalize, say, "Morbidly Obese Orange Menace." And by setting "antifa" in all caps, it appears Trump thinks "antifa" is an acronym, like, say, "MOOM." Maybe "Anyone Not a Trump-Indoctrinated FAn"??? It isn't; "antifa" is short for "anti-fascist."
Mary Papenfuss of the Huffington Post: "A condolence phone call from ... Donald Trump ended up frustrating George Floyd's brother, who said Trump 'didn’t give [him] the opportunity to even speak. 'It hurt me,' Philonise Floyd said in an interview Saturday on MSNBC.... The call with Trump was 'so fast,' Floyd told the Rev. Al Sharpton on 'Politics Nation.'... 'It was hard. I was trying to talk to him, but he just kept, like, pushing me off, like: "I don't want to hear what you're talking about."'" Mrs. McC: When is a condolence call not a condolence call? When Trump calls a black person. ~~~
~~~ David Gergen in a CNN opinion piece: "Reagan, Clinton, Bush, Obama -- two Republicans, two Democrats -- served as our 'Mourners in Chief.' All four bound us together for a few moments, and we remembered who we are and who we can be. Why has our current 'Mourner in Chief' gone AWOL? God knows. But his flight from responsibility is yet another sadness among this week's tragic losses." Mrs. McC: Sorry, David, Trump has 'slipped the surly bonds of earth' to touch down on an alternate planet where he is a hero & all his lies are true.
Brian Stelter of CNN: "From Minneapolis to Washington DC, from Louisville to Las Vegas, reporters are facing assault and arrest while reporting on widespread protests and unrest. At least a half dozen different incidents were reported on Friday, starting with the wrongful arrest of a CNN crew in Minneapolis and ending with the arrest of two photographers in Las Vegas. Another disturbing episode took place on Saturday, when Ian Smith, a photojournalist for KDKA TV in Pittsburgh, said he was 'attacked' by protesters downtown. 'They stomped and kicked me,' he wrote in a tweet from the back of an ambulance. 'I'm bruised and bloody but alive. My camera was destroyed. Another group of protesters pulled me out and saved my life. Thank you!'... Many TV networks are dispatching private security guards to support journalists who are in the field at protests.... Security guards were involved when a Fox News crew was harassed and chased out of Lafayette Park, one block from the White House, on Friday night. Videos of the incident showed protesters cursing at Fox and criticizing right-wing media." There's more. It's awful. A photographer in Minneapolis says a rubber bullet blinded her in one eye. ~~~
~~~ Matthew Dessem of Slate: "The ongoing protests following the killing of George Floyd were caught up in violence again on Saturday, as police all over the country tear-gassed protesters, drove vehicles through crowds, opened fire with nonlethal rounds on journalists or people on their own property, and in at least one instance, pushed over an elderly man who was walking away with a cane. Here are some of the ways law enforcement officers escalated the national unrest." Dessem goes on to republish first-hand accounts. Here's one from Michael Adams of Vice News, who was in Minneapolis: "Police just raided the gas station we were sheltering at. After shouting press multiple times and raising my press card in the air, I was thrown to the ground. Then another cop came up and peppered sprayed me in the face while I was being held down." The full thread of Adams' experience at the gas station is here. Watch some of the videos in Dessem's post. They're horrifying. ~~~
~~~ Frances Robles of the New York Times reports some of the same stories. "The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press logged about 10 different incidents that ranged from assaults to menacing in Phoenix, Indianapolis, Atlanta and Minneapolis."
Shaila Dewan & Serge Kovaleski of the New York Times: "In nearly two decades with the Minneapolis Police Department, Derek Chauvin faced at least 17 misconduct complaints, none of which derailed his career. Over the years, civilian review boards came and went, and a federal review recommended that the troubled department improve its system for flagging problematic officers. All the while, Mr. Chauvin tussled with a man before firing two shots, critically wounding him. He was admonished for using derogatory language and a demeaning tone with the public. He was named in a brutality lawsuit. But he received no discipline other than two letters of reprimand. It was not until Mr. Chauvin, 44, was seen in a video with his left knee pinned to the neck of a black man, prone for nearly nine minutes and pleading for relief, that the officer, who is white, was suspended, fired and then, on Friday, charged with murder.... Even as outrage has mounted over deaths at the hands of the police, it remains notoriously difficult in the United States to hold officers accountable, in part because of the political clout of police unions, the reluctance of investigators, prosecutors and juries to second-guess an officer's split-second decision and the wide latitude the law gives police officers to use force."
When Quiz Shows Were Crooked But the President Was Not. David Marino-Nachison of the Washington Post: "Herbert Stempel, the Bronx-born brainiac who became a central figure and whistleblower in the game show rigging scandals of the 1950s, a cultural turning point later chronicled in the 1994 movie 'Quiz Show,' died April 7 at a nursing home in New York City. He was 93." The New York Times obituary is here. Mrs. McC: The film "Quiz Show" is painful to watch, but it's a very good movie, IMO.
~~~~~~~~~~
The New York Times' live updates Sunday of protests around the nation are here. "A largely peaceful day of protests descended into a night of chaos, destruction and sporadic violence overnight Saturday as tens of thousands of people poured into streets across the United States to express anger and heartbreak over the death of yet another black man at the hands of the police. On Sunday morning..., the vast scope of the unrest came into sharper focus. Squad cars had been set on fire in Philadelphia, stores were looted in Los Angeles, police officers in Richmond, Va., were injured and hospitalized, and at least one person was killed in Indianapolis.... As protests spread from coast to coast, mayors in more than two dozen cities declared curfews -- the first time so many local leaders have simultaneously issued such orders in the face of civic unrest since 1968, after the assassination of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. In several cities, the National Guard was brought in to assist overwhelmed local police.... 'We are a nation in pain, but we must not allow this pain to destroy us,' former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. said on Sunday. 'We are a nation enraged, but we cannot allow our rage to consume us.'" An NPR story is here. ~~~
~~~ Dominic Patten of Deadline: "While his expected rival at the ballot box empathetically spoke to Americans for the second day in a row over the May 25 death of Floyd from a now murder charged ex-Minneapolis cop, Donald Trump stayed silent (even on Twitter) in the White House." Deadline has Biden's full statement at the link.
Marissa Lang, et al., of the Washington Post: "By nightfall [Saturday], nearly 1,000 protesters were circling the perimeter of the White House grounds, which was fortified with law enforcement vehicles, metal barriers and rows of armored Secret Service, D.C. police and U.S. Park Police. Sweating, packed closely together and shouting through masks worn to protect themselves from the deadly coronavirus still consuming the Washington region, the protesters launched fireworks and threw bottles at the officers, who swung batons and fired pepper-spray projectiles to push them back. As the sun began to set, D.C. National Guard trucks rumbled through the streets. As demonstrators made little headway in their efforts to approach the White House, they dispersed into smaller groups through downtown D.C., burning and breaking windows as they went. A CVS, optometrist's office, liquor store and Indian restaurant several blocks from the White House were looted.... At the entrance to The Oval Room, an upscale District restaurant that was attacked, a message was spray-painted in red: The rich aren't safe anymore!... There was no sign Saturday that supporters of the president had launched any counter-protests in the District."
John Eligon, et al., of the New York Times: "The nation woke on Saturday to extraordinary images of chaos and unrest from outside the White House gates to the streets of more than two dozen besieged cities, as outrage over the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis traversed a razor's edge between protest and civic meltdown. As atate and local leaders braced for more protests over the weekend in cities around the country, they called for calm and vowed to react strongly to protesters who defied the law. Gov. Tim Walz of Minnesota said on Saturday that he was activating thousands of National Guard troops -- up to 13,200 -- to control protesters in Minneapolis who turned out in droves for the fourth consecutive night on Friday, burning buildings to the ground, firing guns near the police and overwhelming officers. But he declined the Army's offer to deploy military police units."
The New York Times' live updates Saturday of protests around the nation are here. Saturday & Sunday's Washington Post live updates are here. The Guardian's live updates for Saturday & Sunday are here.
Minnesota. Trevor Hughes of USA Today: "The mayor [of Minneapolis] and governor [of Minnesota] say outside agitators are hijacking peaceful protests over the death of George Floyd and literally fanning the flames of destruction.... The mayor later acknowledged the majority of arrests so far have been of Minnesota residents.... Small groups, dressed in black, carrying shields and wearing knee pads..., head toward the front lines of the protest. Helmets and gas masks protect and obscure their faces, and they carry bottles of milk to counteract tear gas and pepper spray. Most of them appear to be white. They carry no signs and don't want to speak to reporters. Trailed by designated 'medics' with red crosses taped to their clothes, these groups head straight for the front lines of the conflict. Night after night in this ravaged city, these small groups do battle with police and the National Guard, kicking away tear gas canisters and throwing back foam-rubber projects fired at them. Around them, fires break out. Windows are smashed. Parked cars destroyed. USA Today reporters have witnessed the groups on multiple nights, in multiple locations. Sometimes they threaten those journalists who photograph them destroying property." ~~~
~~~ Sergei Klebnikov of Forbes: "According to Saint Paul Mayor Melvin Carter, every person arrested in the city [Friday] night was from out of state.... Department of Public Safety Commissioner John Harrington confirmed evidence of white supremacist groups trying to incite violence; Many posted messages online that encouraged people to go loot in Minneapolis and cause mayhem." ~~~
~~~ Christopher Ingraham of the Washington Post: Minneapolis, a "city known as one of the most livable places in the United States, is also home to some of the nation's biggest racial disparities. The typical black family in Minneapolis earns less than half as much as the typical white family.... And homeownership among blacks is one-third the rate of white families.... Roughly one-quarter of black families in Minneapolis own their home, which is one of the lowest black homeownership rates in the U.S. The city's white families, by contrast, have one of the nation's highest rates at 76 percent.... Only Madison, Wisconsin, and Scranton-Wilkes-Barre Pennsylvania, have larger gulfs."
California. CBS News San Francisco: "As tensions began to soar on the streets of Oakland Friday night, a gunman opened fired on two Federal Protective Service officers posted at the city's federal building, killing one of them and sending the other to the hospital with critical injuries. In a statement to KPIX 5 the FBI said the incident occurred at around 9:45 p.m. 'A vehicle approached the building,' the statement read. 'An individual inside the vehicle began firing shots at contracted security officers for the Federal Protection Service of the Department of Homeland Security. One officer was killed and another injured.' The Oakland police tweeted Friday night that they did not believe the shooting was related to the violence that would later break out on the nearby streets during a demonstration sparked by the police custody death of George Floyd in Minneapolis. Oakland police spokeswoman Johnna Watson could not confirmed the tweet -- 'Still under investigation, unknown if related.[']... At [least] 18 people were arrested, six Oakland police officers were injured, buildings damaged, a freeway blocked, a Walgreens looted and a fire set at Mercedes Benz Oakland during the hours of violence that erupted following what had been a peaceful demonstration by a crowd estimated to be at least 7,500."
Illinois. Bob Brigham of the Raw Story: "Protesters marched on Trump Tower in Chicago on Saturday, as Chicago police in riot gear and on horses defend the president's building. State police were deployed to the scene to back up local police, who are reportedly arresting protesters. On video showed protesters taking a knee in solidarity with Colin Kaepernick. Actor John Cusack was among those documenting the protest."
New York. Alan Feuer & Azi Paybarah of the New York Times: "Thousands of demonstrators protesting the death of George Floyd took to the streets of New York City for a third day on Saturday, blocking traffic, tagging police cars with graffiti and massing at separate marches in Harlem, Brooklyn, Queens and outside Trump Tower in Midtown Manhattan."
Ohio. Melanie Zanona & John Bresnahan of Politico: "Democratic Rep. Joyce Beatty and several top African-American local officials were pepper sprayed by Columbus, Ohio, police during protests Saturday afternoon over the death of George Floyd. Beatty was marching with Columbus City Council President Shannon Hardin and Franklin County Commissioner Kevin Boyce when a confrontation broke out near them. A female protester had one foot in the street, according to Beatty, when police officers began pushing their bicycles up against the crowd to keep them on the sidewalk. Beatty said she witnessed Columbus police pull a man from the crowd and slam him to the ground. She said she rushed over to the scene to try to deescalate the situation.... Several officers used pepper spray on the protesters, including Beatty and Hardin, according to the video footage.... 'It was an unnecessary use of force,' Beatty said. 'For the officers to come not in a protective mode, but in an adversarial mode, in my opinion was also a part of the problem.'"
Oklahoma. Today seems like an appropriate day to acknowledge the 99th anniversary of the destruction of Black Wall Steet in Tulsa, OK, May 31st 1921. --s
Peter Baker of the New York Times: "With a nation on edge, ravaged by disease, hammered by economic collapse, divided over lockdowns and even face masks and now convulsed once again by race, President Trump's first instinct has been to look for someone to fight. Over the last week, America reeled from 100,000 pandemic deaths, 40 million people out of work and cities in flames over a brutal police killing of a subdued black man. But Mr. Trump was on the attack against China, the World Health Organization, Big Tech, former President Barack Obama, a cable television host and the mayor of a riot-torn city. While other presidents seek to cool the situation in tinderbox moments like this, Mr. Trump plays with matches. He roars into any melee he finds, encouraging street uprisings against public health measures advanced by his own government, hurling made-up murder charges against a critic, accusing his predecessor of unspecified crimes, vowing to crack down on a social media company that angered him and then seemingly threatening to meet violence with violence in Minneapolis." ~~~
~~~ Trump's Childish Tweets du Matin. Matthew Choi & Craig Howie of Politico: "... Donald Trump on Saturday morning warned protesters who forced the White House into partial lockdown would face 'vicious dogs' and 'ominous weapons' if they breached the building's perimeter, praised the actions of the Secret Service and appeared to call his supporters to defy authorities by staging a counter protest. 'Great job last night at the White House by the U.S. @SecretService. They were not only totally professional, but very cool. I was inside, watched every move, and couldn't have felt more safe. They let the "protesters" scream & rant as much as they wanted, but whenever someone.... ...got too frisky or out of line, they would quickly come down on them, hard - didn't know what hit them,' Trump tweeted. 'Big crowd, professionally organized, but nobody came close to breaching the fence. If they had they would.... ....have been greeted with the most vicious dogs, and most ominous weapons, I have ever seen. That's when people would have been really badly hurt, at least. Many Secret Service agents just waiting for action,' he added. The president also appeared to call for a counter protest, tweeting: 'Tonight, I understand, is MAGA NIGHT AT THE WHITE HOUSE???'... D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser announced the partial lifting of lockdown measures Wednesday, though gatherings of more than 10 remain prohibited." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: Needless to say, calling for a MAGA rally is INSANE in a city that (a) disallows gatherings of more than ten, (b) where anti-Trump protesters are likely to show up, and (c) where the vast majority of residents can't stand him. As for the "vicious dogs," I think Trump means to remind us of Birmingham, Alabama police chief Bull Connor, who unleashed attack dogs on protesters. ~~~
~~~ Yup. Riley Beggin of Vox: “Many responded Saturday by pointing out the similarities between Trump's 'vicious dogs' threat and law enforcement response to people of color demonstrating for civil rights in the 1960s, when police used canine units to break up peaceful protests." ~~~
~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: Trump wrote in his "vicious dogs" tweet, "Many Secret Service agents just waiting for action. We put the young ones on the front line, sir, they love it....' The "sir," once again, is the tell. It seems inconceivable that a Secret Service supervisor would make such a remark, much less actually "put the young ones on the front line." Trump probably learned this story from watching a movie in which some general "put the young ones on the front line" so the enemy's attack would look more like an atrocity.
~~~ Steve M. "... this isn't the way a normal authoritarian acts tough. A normal authoritarian somberly orders a crackdown on dissent. Blood is spilled. People die. Mass arrests take place. What we have here is Trump saying, 'You people are experiencing unrest, but I'm fine -- I'm protected by big bruisers!' And if my choice of words suggests that I'm seeing something homoerotic in this, well, look at Trump's own words: 'Many Secret Service agents just waiting for action. "We put the young ones on the front line, sir...'" It's as if Trump is an effete, effeminate emperor luxuriating in a 1950s biblical epic, surrounded by a musclebound Praetorian guard.... I still don't believe he'll order an American Tiananmen -- he'd rather just let the states and cities deal with the unrest and then blame them, which is exactly how he's responding to the coronavirus." ~~~
~~~ Maggie Haberman of the New York Times: "A day after claiming he didn't mean to suggest that law enforcement officials should shoot people who were part of the unrest in Minnesota, President Trump said on Saturday that the Secret Service had been prepared to sic the 'most vicious dogs' on protesters outside the White House gates on Friday night.... Talking to reporters as he left the White House [for the Kennedy Space Center], Mr. Trump was asked about his tweet that seemed to invite his own supporters to rally outside the White House. As he often does, Mr. Trump distanced himself from his own statements, saying he was merely asking a question and that he didn't know if people were coming. He claimed not to be trying to stoke racial strife.... Once in Florida, as several of his advisers urged him to modulate his rhetoric, he once again sounded a note different than his threats from earlier in the day and on Twitter. 'The death of George Floyd on the streets of Minneapolis was a grave tragedy,' Mr. Trump said. 'It should never have happened. It has filled Americans all over the country with horror, anger and grief.'... On Twitter on Saturday, Mr. Trump also denounced several mainstream news outlets, a day after a CNN reporter was arrested on camera for no apparent reason by police officers in riot gear in Minneapolis, and a female reporter for a local television station was shot with what appeared to be pepper balls by an officer in Louisville, Ky." ~~~
~~~ Matt Shuham of TPM: "A reporter Saturday afternoon asked Trump if the comment could 'be stoking more racial violence or more racial discord.' 'No, not at all,' Trump responded. 'MAGA says "Make America Great Again." These are people that love our country. I have no idea if they're going to be here. I was just asking. 'By the way,' he added, 'they love African-American people. They love black people. MAGA loves the black people.'... Pressed by a reporter on whether he wasn't 'calling on them to hold a counter-protest,' Trump stopped himself mid-answer. 'No, I don't -- I don't care, I mean, I don't care,' he said." ~~~
~~~ Karen Tumulty of the Washington Post: "Being Trump, he also could not resist getting in a shot at a perceived political adversary, writing that Washington Mayor Muriel E. Bowser (D) 'who is always looking for money & help, wouldn't let the D.C. Police get involved.' In fact, according to my Post colleagues who reported from the scene [as outlined in the story linked immediately above], there were indeed District police officers, as well as Park Police, working in tandem to push the protesters through the park, until the group finally broke up." Mrs. McC: This is one of Trump's ways of blaming black people (Bowser is black) for everything: See, black people all know each other & the blackity-black mayor won't help save the POTUS* from her professional protester friends. Meanwhile, MAGA is so filled with Christian forgiveness that MAGA loves the black people.
Speaking of Bull Connor, Steven Levingston of the Washington Post reports on how President John F. Kennedy dealt with protests in Birmingham, Alabama.
Nicholas Wu of USA Today: "Attorney General William Barr said violent protests that have erupted after the death of George Floyd appear to be organized by 'anarchic' and 'far left extremist groups' pursuing their own aims. Addressing 'rioting' in many cities, Barr said, 'the voices of peaceful protest are being hijacked by violent radical elements.... Groups of outside radicals and agitators are exploiting the situation to pursue their own separate and violent agenda,' he said. In many places, it appears the violence is planned, organized and driven by anarchic and ... far left extremist groups using Antifa-like tactics.'" See also Gabby Orr's report linked below on Trump's remarks at the SpaceX launch. ~~~
~~~ On the Other Hand. Mia Bloom in Just Security provides evidence that white supremacists & other right-wing extremists were infiltrating the protests & perpetrating some of the most violent acts. See also reports by Trevor Hughes' USA Today & Sergei Klebnikov of Forbes, linked above. ~~~
~~~ Update. Stephen Montemayor of the Minneapolis Star Tribune has a more nuanced report on the presence of outside agitators in Minneapolis.
Kenneth Chang of the New York Times: "The United States opened a new era of human space travel on Saturday as a private company for the first time launched astronauts into orbit, nearly a decade after the government retired the storied space shuttle program in the aftermath of national tragedy. Two American astronauts lifted off at 3:22 p.m. from a familiar setting, the same Florida launchpad that once served Apollo missions and the space shuttles. But the rocket and capsule that lofted them out of the atmosphere were a new sight for many -- built and operated not by NASA but SpaceX, the company founded by the billionaire Elon Musk to pursue his dream of sending colonists to Mars. Crowds of spectators including President Trump and Vice President Mike Pence watched and cheered as the countdown ticked to zero, and the engines of a Falcon 9 rocket roared to life." ~~~
~~~ Gabby Orr of Politico: "The president, who described the mission as an 'inspiration' for Americans, cast the launch on Saturday as a triumphant moment for the country -- a brief reprieve from an otherwise dark period in American history. The number of coronavirus-related deaths in the U.S. topped 100,000 earlier this week, a grim milestone that overlapped with the outbreak of violent protests in response to [George] Floyd's death.... 'We support the right of peaceful protests and we hear their pleas, but what we are now seeing on the streets of our cities has nothing to do with the memory of George Floyd,' Trump said during his remarks [at Cape Canaveral]. 'The mobs are devastating the life's work of good people and destroying their dreams.' Trump's demand for 'healing not hatred, justice not chaos' came hours after he blamed the 'radical Left' for provoking civil unrest in a series of tweets.... 'The violence and vandalism is being led by antifa and other radical left-wing groups who are terrorizing the innocent, destroying jobs, hurting businesses and burning down buildings,' he said in his remarks to NASA employees and their families."
Merkel Trumps Trump, Trump Tries to One-up Her. Anne Gearan & Seung Min Kim of the Washington Post: "President Trump said Saturday that he will postpone until September the annual Group of Seven meeting of world leaders, which he had wanted to hold in-person by the end of June at the White House as the administration tries to project a return to normalcy amid the coronavirus pandemic. But German Chancellor Angela Merkel had declined Trump's invitation to come to Washington for the meeting, citing concerns about the pandemic.... Trump also said he plans to invite Russia, South Korea, Australia and India. 'I don't feel that as a G-7 it properly represents what's going on in the world. It's a very outdated group of countries,' Trump said Saturday. Russia had been invited to attend the sessions for several years until 2014, when Moscow was disinvited over its invasion of Crimea. Trump has repeatedly said he wanted to include Russia again, which Merkel and others vigorously opposed.Since the other six members of the G-7 are opposed to Russia's rejoining, it is not clear whether they would attend a meeting where Trump forced the issue." An AP story is here. ~~~
~~~ OR, as a Raw Story headline puts it, "Trump announces he has unilaterally decided to let Putin back into the G7 Summit." Mrs. McC: Yo, Donnie, bossing around other G-7 leaders is not one of your supposed Article II rights.
** Julia Ainley & Pete Williams of NBC News: "After a 38-year career with the Justice Department, the FBI's top lawyer Dana Boente was asked to resign on Friday. Two sources familiar with the decision to dismiss Boente said it came from high levels of the Justice Department rather than directly from FBI Director Christopher Wray. His departure comes on the heels of recent criticism by Fox News for his role in the investigation of former Trump National Security Advisor Michael Flynn. A spokesman for the FBI confirmed to NBC News that Boente did in fact resign on Friday.... Boente also said in a recently leaked memo that material put into the public record about Flynn was not exculpatory for the former national security advisor. The memo undermines the Justice Department's latest position that material about Flynn was mishandled by prosecutors.... 'Few people have served so well in so many critical, high-level roles at the Department,' Wray said in a statement. 'Throughout his long and distinguished career as a public servant, Dana has demonstrated a selfless determination to ensure that justice is always served on behalf of our citizens.'" ~~~
~~~ AP: "Boente has most recently served as the FBI's general counsel but has held a variety of roles in his 38-year Justice Department career, including acting attorney general in the early days of the Trump administration, a United States attorney in Virginia and the acting head of the department's national security division."
Maureen Dowd of the New York Times: "The Wall Street Journal had a chilling report a few days ago that Facebook's own research in 2018 revealed that 'our algorithms exploit the human brain's attraction to divisiveness. If left unchecked,' Facebook would feed users 'more and more divisive content in an effort to gain user attention & increase time on the platform.' Mark Zuckerberg shelved the research.... Sure, we're weakening our society, but the weird, infantile maniacs running Silicon Valley must be allowed to rake in more billions and finish their mission of creating a giant cyberorganism of people, one huge and lucrative ball of rage.... Zuckerberg, [contra Jack Dorsey of Twitter], went on Fox to report that he was happy to continue enabling the Emperor of Chaos, noting that he did not think Facebook should be 'the arbiter of truth of everything that people say online.'" The Wall Street Journal report Dowd cites is here.
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