The Conversation -- June 17, 2024

AP: "Israeli officials say Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has dissolved the influential War Cabinet that was tasked with steering the war in Gaza. The three-person War Cabinet was dissolved a week after Benny Gantz, a popular opposition lawmaker and former military chief, quit Netanyahu's governing coalition in frustration over how the war was being handled. In the early days of the war, Gantz demanded a small Cabinet with Defense Minister Yoav Gallant be formed as a way to sideline far-right lawmakers in Netanyahu's government."

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Ellen Barry of the New York Times: "The United States Surgeon General, Dr. Vivek Murthy, announced on Monday that he would push for a warning label on social media platforms advising parents that using the platforms might damage adolescents' mental health. Warning labels -- like those that appear on tobacco and alcohol products -- are one of the most powerful tools available to the nation's top health official, but Dr. Murthy cannot unilaterally require them; the action requires approval by Congress. No such legislation has yet been introduced in either chamber." ~~~

     ~~~ Here's Dr. Murthy's New York Times op-ed on the subject.

Presidential Race

Brett Samuels of the Hill: "The Biden campaign on Monday launched a battleground state ad that lambasts former President Trump as a 'convicted criminal,' highlighting his numerous legal problems and his recent felony conviction in New York." ~~~

Brett Bachman of the Daily Beast, republished by Yahoo! News: "Donald Trump issued an angry and confrontational Father's Day message Sunday, using the occasion to lash out at his enemies and issue a hyperbolic plea for votes in November's presidential election. The former president ... [wrote] on Truth Social: 'HAPPY FATHER'S DAY TO ALL, INCLUDING THE RADICAL LEFT DEGENERATES THAT ARE RAPIDLY BRINGING THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA INTO THIRD WORLD NATION STATUS WITH THEIR MANY ATTEMPTS AT TRYING TO INFLUENCE OUR SACRED COURT SYSTEM INTO BREAKING TO THEIR VERY SICK AND DANGEROUS WILL....'... Trump did not mention any of his five children during his Father's Dayrant, nor did he write about his feelings for his own family. He did, however, mark the day by nodding to the neck-and-neck election currently unfolding -- calling Nov. 5 'the most important day in the history of our country.'"

Not Surprising. Tom Boggioni of the Raw Story: "According to a report from the Daily Beast, the pastor of Texas megachurch who was appointed to Donald Trump's 'spiritual advisory' group in 2016, has admitted that he fondled a 12-year-old when he was 20 and was staying with her family in 1982. That admission, made in a statement to the Christian Post, came after the woman, identified as Cindy Clemishire, spoke with The Wartburg Watch and accused Pastor Robert Morris, who is now a senior pastor at the Gateway Church in Dallas- Ft. Worth, of sexually assaulting her."

Marie: We often complain about headline writers for the MSM & their misleading headlines, but I think we'll give this AP writer a solid "A": "Trump challenges Biden to a cognitive test but confuses the name of the doctor who tested him." I think I'd make that "his own doctor who tested him."

Are You Better Off Today Than You Were Four Years Ago? Here's a New York Times headline posted June 17, 2020: "Here Are the 100 U.S. Cities Where Protesters Were Tear-Gassed." The Lede: "At least 100 law enforcement agencies -- many in large cities -- used some form of tear gas against civilians protesting police brutality and racism in recent weeks, according to an analysis by The New York Times." Of course it could have been worse. Axios (May 2022): "Former Defense Secretary Mark Esper charges in a memoir out May 10 that former President Trump said when demonstrators were filling the streets around the White House following the death of George Floyd: 'Can't you just shoot them? Just shoot them in the legs or something?'"

Leftist Protesters = Scary Militias. Insurrectionists = Sweet Grandmas. Mary Astor the New York Times: "Senator Tom Cotton, an Arkansas Republican who is a contender to be ... Donald J. Trump's running mate, on Sunday described left-wing protesters as 'street militias' who had not been prosecuted enough. He also said that prosecutors were unfairly charging 'every grandma and MAGA hat who was within a country mile of the Capitol' on Jan. 6, 2021. As Mr. Cotton was interviewed on CNN, Senator Tim Scott, a South Carolina Republican who is also a vice-presidential contender, made similar arguments on ABC News. With less inflammatory phrasing than Cotton used, he distinguished violent Jan. 6 rioters who should be imprisoned from people who 'came into the Capitol because the doors were open,' while also calling Democrats weak on crime." This is an item in a liveblog.

RAS links this morning to a Daily Kos story that highlights the "work" of a software company called RealPage. The company provides software for major realtors, and as part of the package, it appears RealPage helps these realtors fix rental prices in various markets throughout the country in violation of anti-trust laws. One of the major developers of RealPage: Clarence Thomas' billionaire real estate tycoon buddy Harlan Crow. Some law enforcement agencies -- including the FBI -- are taking action. MB: Not mentioned in the in the Daily Kos story: Arizona AG Kris Mayes (D) filed an action against Phoenix & Tuscon realtors for "illegally collud[ing] with RealPage to artificially raise rents and concealed their conspiracy from the public."

     ~~~ Marie: Clarence Thomas can keep on pretending he loves nothing more than hanging out in Walmart parking lots across America with "regular people." But it looks as if his biggest benefactor -- the provider of Clarence's luxury vacations and private jet travel -- is a major part of a national scheme to artificially raise rents (and make life more difficult) for those "regular people."

Annals of "Journalism," Ctd. Isaac Stanley-Becker, et al., of the Washington Post: Robert "Winnett[, a London-based newspaper editor,] is now poised to take over the top editorial position in The Post's core newsroom, scheduled to start after the November U.S. presidential election.... [In 2010,] John Ford, who has ... admitted to an extensive career using deception and illegal means to obtain confidential information for Britain's Sunday Times newspaper..., [called Winnett when it appeared he would be arrested for trying to steal an advance copy of former PM Tony Blair's memoir].... Winnett moved quickly to connect Ford with a lawyer, discussed obtaining an untraceable phone for future communications and reassured Ford that the 'remarkable omerta' of British journalism would ensure his clandestine efforts would never come to light, according to draft chapters Ford wrote in 2017 and 2018 that were shared with The Post." Over the years, Ford assisted Winnett on other stories using questionable means. "I was nothing more than a common thief," he told the Guardian in 2018.

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Maryland. Erin Cox, et al., of the Washington Post: "Maryland Gov. Wes Moore will issue a mass pardon of more than 175,000 marijuana convictions Monday morning, one of the nation's most sweeping acts of clemency involving a drug now in widespread recreational use. The pardons will forgive low-level marijuana possession charges for an estimated 100,000 people in what the Democratic governor said is a step to heal decades of social and economic injustice that disproportionately harms Black and Brown people. Moore noted criminal records have been used to deny housing, employment and education, holding people and their families back long after their sentences have been served."

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Israel/Palestine, et al. The New York Times' live updates of developments Monday in the Israel/Hamas war are here.

The Conversation -- June 16, 2024

Marie: Worth reading Akhilleus' commentary today on the Trump Combination Golf Club, Cemetery & Tax Break Bonanza. I thought Akhilleus was kidding, but most tax experts (with the exception of one at Bloomberg) opine that Trump is in for at least one huge tax break for dropping the remains of Wife No. 1 near the first tee-box. Fore!

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A Johnson Ploy Backfires. Andrew Solender & Juliegrace Brufke of Axios: "House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) has roiled lawmakers in both parties by appointing a pair of hardline conservatives to the House Intelligence Committee.... Committee members fear the presence of Reps. Scott Perry (R-Pa.) and Ronny Jackson (R-Texas) threatens to disrupt a hard-fought bipartisan consensus forged in the aftermath of the Trump era.... The picks were bound to be inflammatory: Perry's phone was seized by the FBI as part of its Jan. 6 probe, while Jackson has faced allegations of drinking on duty and harassing staff when he was the White House physician.... One Republican member said of Perry, who has been a thorn in the side of GOP leadership: 'Part of the problem is it is rewarding bad behavior.'... A group of Republican members of the Intelligence Committee met with Johnson in his office on Wednesday evening to voice their concerns. Rep. Dan Crenshaw (R-Texas) ... said his 'main concern' is maintaining 'trust' between the committee's members and the intelligence agencies." Thanks to Akhilleus for the link. See also his commentary at the end of yesterday's thread.

Presidential Race

Shawn McCreesh & Adam Nagourney of the New York Times: "A Hollywood fund-raiser Saturday night intended to bolster President Biden's war chest turned into a platform for some of the most concerted and toughest attacks to date on ... Donald J. Trump by the Biden campaign, as entertainers, Barack Obama and even Jill Biden assailed Mr. Trump's ethics and his suitability to return to the White House. Ms. Biden, after being introduced by Barbra Streisand, said the choice was between her husband..., and Mr. Trump 'who wakes up every morning caring about one person and one person only: himself.... Mr. Trump has told us again and again why he wants the White House -- to give himself absolute power, to not be held accountable for his criminal action,' Ms. Biden continued. His aim, she told the crowd, 'was to destroy the democratic safeguards that stand in his way.' Mr. Obama invoked Mr. Trump's felony convictions -- something that Mr. Biden has for the most part avoided doing -- to applause from the crowd.... The event, at the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles..., helped to raise at least $28 million, his aides said...."

Will Weissert of the AP: "Donald Trump on Saturday night suggested President Joe Biden 'should have to take a cognitive test,' only to confuse who administered the test to him in the next sentence.The former president and presumptive Republican nominee referred to Texas Republican Rep. Ronny Jackson, who was the White House physician for part of his presidency, as 'Ronny Johnson.' The moment came as Trump was questioning Biden's mental acuity, something he often does on the campaign trail and social media.... He continued, 'Doc Ronny Johnson. Does everyone know Ronny Johnson, congressman from Texas? He was the White House doctor, and he said I was the healthiest president, he feels, in history, so I liked him very much indeed immediately.'"

Isaac Arnsdorf of the Washington Post: "... Donald Trump repeated his characterization of Black communities as dangerous and depressed on Saturday, courting voters in a city he has called 'hell' and 'totally corrupt' as his campaign hopes incremental gains with Black voters could be decisive in swing states. 'Look, the crime is most rampant right here and in African American communities,' Trump said at 180 Church in Detroit. 'More people see me and they say, "Sir, we want protection. We want police to protect us. We don't want to get robbed and mugged and beat up or killed because we want to walk across the street to buy a loaf of bread."' The audience, which was not predominantly Black, cheered at the remark. He returned to the topic of crime when asked how he would address Black entrepreneurship. 'The biggest thing we can do is stop the crime,' he said." ~~~

~~~ Natalie Allison of Politico reports on Trump's campaign stop at a Black church in Detroit. "Among those included in Trump's new Black voter coalition was former Democratic Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, who served time in prison for felony fraud and racketeering convictions, and whose sentence Trump commuted before leaving office." MB: Allison does not let on, as Arnsdorf writes, that the audience "was not predominantly black." That changes, well, the whole complexion of her report.

Maybe this will shame a few MAGAt parents and grandparents into voting for the decent guy. Thanks to RAS for the lead: ~~~

Tommy Christopher of Mediaite: "Ex-Trump White House official Alyssa Farah Griffin told Mediaite that ... Donald Trump discussed 'executing' people at multiple White House meetings."

Putting all those felonies in perspective: ~~~

All of this criminal stuff is pretty bad, but I still can’t get over the whole burying your ex-wife on a golf course thing.

— John Collins (@Logically_JC) June 15, 2024

     ~~~ Looks like some investigative reporter uncovered some clandestine follow-up activity: ~~~

Trump and Melania exhume Ivana to collect some top secret documents and a scarf Melania had always envied. pic.twitter.com/r9QhyzgBgY

— Osborne Cox (@Osborne__Cox) April 23, 2024

Are You Better Off This Fathers Day Than You Were Fathers Day 2020? Let's check. New York Times: "President Trump on Saturday fired the federal prosecutor [Manhattan U.S. attorney Geoffrey Berman] whose office put his former personal lawyer [Michael Cohen] in prison and is investigating his current one [Rudy Giuliani], heightening criticism that the president was carrying out an extraordinary purge to rid his administration of officials whose independence could be a threat to his re-election campaign." MB: In a second Trump administration, no relatively independent people would be hired.

Linda Greenhouse of the New York Times: "As head of the judicial branch -- the title is chief justice of the United States, not chief justice of the Supreme Court -- a chief justice has many responsibilities, more than 80 of them specified by federal statutes that convey wide-ranging authority. But inside the 'conference,' the court's term for the nine justices as a collective, real authority depends not on statutes but on qualities of leadership.... If there is a blueprint for addressing the issues now swirling around the court, it has eluded a chief justice who might not have acquired the institutional capital to call on in a time of need."

The WashPo's New Leadership: Part of the Problem. Justin Scheck & Jo Becker of the New York Times: "The publisher and the incoming editor of The Washington Post, when they worked as journalists in London two decades ago, used fraudulently obtained phone and company records in newspaper articles, according to a former colleague, a published account of a private investigator and an analysis of newspaper archives. Will Lewis, The Post's publisher, assigned one of the articles in 2004 as business editor of The Sunday Times. Another was written by Robert Winnett, whom Mr. Lewis recently announced as The Post's next executive editor. The use of deception, hacking and fraud is at the heart of a long-running British newspaper scandal, one that toppled a major tabloid in 2010 and led to years of lawsuits by celebrities who said that reporters improperly obtained their personal documents and voice mail messages." The reporters detail the circumstances, including the high likelihood that Lewis lied about his culpability.

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Florida. Lori Rozsa of the Washington Post: "As residents and businesses in South Florida assessed the damage from this week's historic rainfall and floods, Gov. Ron DeSantis and his administration pushed back against assertions that the storm had anything to do with climate change.... The Republican governor declared a state of emergency for South Florida, but at a news briefing Friday he downplayed the idea that the storm was unusual.... 'This clearly is not unprecedented,' he said. 'I think the difference is, you compare 50 to 100 years ago to now, there's just a lot more that's been developed, so there's a lot more effects that this type of event can have.' His communications team also made light of the storm, dismissing it as typical summer rainfall.... The brouhaha over how to characterize the storm came a month after DeSantis signed a bill that removes most references to climate change in state law.... DeSantis vetoed storm-related projects this week...." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: I'm sure there are many Floridians who would like to shove Gov. DeNialist's face beneath the sewerage-infested floodwaters that have surged into their homes.

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Israel/Palestine, et al. The New York Times' live updates of developments Sunday in the Israel/Hamas war are here.

News Lede

Saturday in the Park in Guns America. New York Times: "A gunman opened fire at a Michigan splash park on Saturday in what the authorities said was a random attack that left at least eight people injured, including two children, one of whom was in critical condition. The person thought to be the shooter was later found dead in a nearby home, the police said. The shooting occurred at Brooklands Plaza Splash Pad in Rochester Hills, Mich., a Detroit suburb, the authorities said. Officers were called to the scene just after 5 p.m."

The Conversation -- June 15, 2024

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Camilo Montoya-Galvez of CBS News: "The Biden administration is making plans to announce one of the largest immigration relief programs in recent history, developing a policy that would offer legal status to hundreds of thousands of immigrants living in the country without proper documents, four people familiar with the plans told CBS News. A program being developed by White House officials would offer work permits and deportation protections to unauthorized immigrants married to U.S. citizens, as long as they have lived in the U.S. for at least 10 years, the sources said.... The proposal, known as 'Parole in Place,' would also open up a pathway to permanent legal status and U.S. citizenship for some beneficiaries by removing an obstacle in U.S. law that prevents those who entered the U.S. illegally from obtaining green cards without leaving the country. Another plan being prepared by the Biden administration would streamline the process for so-called DREAMers and other undocumented immigrants to request waivers that would make it easier for them to obtain temporary visas...."

Charlie Savage of the New York Times: "The Justice Department said on Friday that it would not prosecute Attorney General Merrick B. Garland for declining to comply with a congressional subpoena for audio recordings of President Biden's interview by a special counsel. The decision had been expected. The Justice Department does not consider it a crime for a government official to fail to comply with a subpoena for material when the president has invoked executive privilege, as Mr. Biden did last month.... 'The longstanding position of the department is that we will not prosecute an official for contempt of Congress for declining to provide subpoenaed information subject to a presidential assertion of executive privilege,' Carlos Felipe Uriarte, the assistant attorney general for legislative affairs, wrote in a letter to Speaker Mike Johnson. In a statement, Mr. Johnson said ... that [the House] would file a lawsuit asking a judge to order Mr. Garland to comply with the subpoena."

Robert Jimison of the New York Times: "House Republicans banded together on Friday to narrowly pass an $895 billion defense policy bill that would restrict access to abortion and transgender medical care in the military and eliminate all positions and offices of diversity, equity and inclusion across the Pentagon. The 217-to-199 vote, largely along party lines, reflected a dramatic shift in support for the annual National Defense Authorization Act, normally an overwhelmingly popular bill, since it emerged from a House committee last month with broad bipartisan support. Democrats turned against the bill in droves after Republicans insisted for the second year in a row on loading it with conservative policy dictates.... The Democratic-led Senate, which typically produces a bipartisan bill, will almost certainly leave the measures out, and they are unlikely to survive a conference between the two chambers to reconcile competing versions of the legislation. Even if they did, President Biden would be highly unlikely to sign them into law." Politico's story is here. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Brooke Migdon of the Hill: "Rep. Robert Garcia (D-Calif.) on Thursday protested an amendment added to the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) that bars funding for drag performances with a blown-up photo [displayed on the House floor] of former President strong> Trump and Rudy Giuliani ... dressed in drag. [MB Note: Trump is not in drag; Rudy is.] An amendment filed this week to the annual defense policy bill by Rep. Josh Brecheen (R-Okla.) would prevent funding made available by the measure from being used for drag events. The amendment passed Thursday by voice vote." (Also linked yesterday.)

Mass Murder, He Wrote

Abbie VanSickle of the New York Times: "The Supreme Court on Friday struck down a ban on bump stocks enacted by the Trump administration after a deadly mass shooting in Las Vegas in 2017. The decision, by a vote of 6 to 3, split along ideological lines. Justice Clarence Thomas, writing for the majority, found that the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives had exceeded its power when it prohibited the device, an attachment that enables a semiautomatic rifle to fire at a speed rivaling that of a machine gun. The agency, he added, had overstepped in issuing a rule that classified bump stocks as machine guns....

"The narrowly written decision was not a Second Amendment challenge. Rather, it is one of several cases this term seeking to undercut the power of administrative agencies.... The man who challenged the bump stock ban is Michael Cargill, a gun shop owner in Texas, backed by the New Civil Liberties Alliance, an advocacy group with financial ties to Charles Koch, a billionaire who has long supported conservative and libertarian causes. The organization primarily targets what it considers unlawful uses of administrative power....

"Justice Sonia Sotomayor filed a dissent, joined by Justices Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson. Justice Sotomayor summarized her dissent from the bench, a practice reserved for profound disagreements and the first such announcement of the term.... 'A bump stock-equipped semiautomatic rifle fires "automatically more than one shot, without manual reloading, by a single function of the trigger." Because I, like Congress, call that a machine gun, I respectfully dissent.'" (Also linked yesterday.) NPR's report, by Nina Totenberg, is here. ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: What I learned from Dahlia Lithwick & Andrew Weissmann -- who discussed the ruling on MSNBC -- is that this is another instance of a right-wing justice (in this case, Thomas), after having read friendly amicus briefs (in this case by the bump-stock industry), then deciding the knowledge he gained from these self-serving briefs allows him to substitute his new-found "expertise" for the actual expertise of administrative agencies (in this case, the ATF). And all the other winger "justices" nod their heads & sign on, even as they pretend to be "calling balls & strikes." Or ascribing to an "originalist" judicial philosophy. So we find out that when the Founders wrote that Second Amendment militia thing, they were just dreaming of the day when Rapid-fire Guns for All would become a legal and technical reality. At last the day has come, folks! Maybe we should forget Flag Day (sorry, Martha-Ann!) and designate June 14 Supreme Boost to Mass Murderers Day.

Benjamin Weiss of Courthouse News Service: "The White House urged Congress on Friday to codify a federal ban on bump stocks for semiautomatic firearms just hours after the Supreme Court struck down Trump-era regulations making such accessories illegal." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ President Biden's statement is here, via the White House. (Also linked yesterday.)

Alexander Bolton of the Hill: "Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) on Friday condemned a 6-3 Supreme Court ruling overturning the Trump-era ban on bump stocks, which allow semi-automatic guns to fire like machine guns, and called on Congress to pass legislation to counter the decision. 'The far-right Supreme Court continues their unprecedented assault on public safety by reversing the commonsense guidance issued in 2018 by the ATF. Bump stocks have played a devastating role in many of the horrific mass shootings in our country, but sadly it's no surprise to see the Supreme Court roll back this necessary public safety rule as they push their out of touch extreme agenda. They're even further to the right of Donald Trump,' Schumer said in a statement responding to the ruling." (Also linked yesterday.)

Abbie VanSickle of the New York Times: "The Supreme Court sided with the federal government on Friday in a dispute over what information immigration officials must provide migrants about their deportation hearings. In a 5-to-4 decision, the majority upheld the current requirements, which can mean that basic information about a deportation hearing is missing. Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. wrote the majority opinion, joined by four of the court's other conservatives. He cautioned that the decision 'does not mean that the government is free of its obligation' to provide immigrants with notice of deportation hearings. Rather, he wrote, it blocked immigrants from seeking to challenge removal orders 'in perpetuity based on arguments they could have raised in a hearing that they chose to skip.'"

National Crime Blotter. Alan Feuer of the New York Times: "Lawyers for ... Donald J. Trump pushed back on Friday night in an aggressive -- and at times misleading -- way against an effort to curb his public attacks on the F.B.I. agents working on his classified documents case in Florida. In a 20-page court filing, the lawyers assailed prosecutors in the office of the special counsel, Jack Smith, for seeking to limit Mr. Trump's remarks about the F.B.I. on the eve of two consequential political events: the first presidential debate, scheduled for June 27, and the Republican National Convention, set to start on July 15.... [Smith's] request [to modify Mr. Trump's bail] came days after Mr. Trump made a series of blatantly false statements, claiming that the F.B.I. had been prepared to shoot him when agents executed a search warrant in August 2022 at Mar-a-Lago.... In their filing on Friday night, Mr. Trump's lawyers soft-pedaled his falsehoods, saying that he had merely 'criticized' the Mar-a-Lago search 'in a manner that someone in the government disagreed with and does not like.'" CNN's report is here.

Presidential Race

Brett Samuels of the Hill: "The Biden campaign is taking over the homepage of a local newspaper in Milwaukee on Friday, seizing on comments from former President Trump a day earlier in which he criticized the city. The Biden campaign will have a homepage takeover ad of The Shepherd Express -- an alt weekly -- and the Journal Sentinel, highlighting Trump calling Milwaukee a 'horrible city' during a meeting on Capitol Hill with Republicans.... The ad is a split-screen image, one highlighting Trump's 'horrible city' critique and the other boasting that President Biden passed legislation to invest in Milwaukee. Trump officials have insisted the former president's remark was specifically referring to crime. In addition to the ad, the Biden campaign created merchandise around the Trump comment, including T-shirts and Wisconsin-shaped stickers that read, '(Not) a horrible city,' and T-shirts and can koozies that play off 'I heart Milwaukee' and feature a mug of beer in place of a heart." (Also linked yesterday.)

Dana Milbank of the Washington Post keeps us up-to-date on what's going on in the Trump campaign and in Republican politics in general. Conspiracy theorists are especially busy. For instance: "Rep. Andy Ogles (R-Tenn.), on Fox Business, declared that Hunter Biden's guilty verdict 'creates an opening for Democrats to slip someone like Michelle Obama in here' as the Democratic presidential nominee, rather than [Joe] Biden, he said. Fox Business anchor Maria Bartiromo replied: 'I am buying into what you're saying there.' So, Biden ordered the Justice Department to prosecute his son to create an excuse to decline the presidential nomination? That one is so crazy, it must be true!" (Also linked yesterday.)

Happy 78th birthday, Donald. Take it from one old guy to another: Age is just a number.

This election, however, is a choice. pic.twitter.com/8KssiJuJwQ

— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) June 14, 2024

David Kurtz of TPM: "Donald Trump’s return to the scene of the Jan. 6 attack that he instigated was a watershed moment in the whitewashing of his failed auto-coup. Republicans in Congress, many of whom three years ago were running for their lives from the mob Trump unleashed, applauded and celebrated his return in ways that highlighted the party’s cultish, authoritarian turn. It marked a papering over of all the internal divisions and past animosities (which tend to arise when a president of your own party sends over to the Capitol a mob that is intent on hanging his own vice president ) in order to rally together to win in November." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

here's a supercut of Republicans kissing Trump's ass after meeting with him today. big Dear Leader energy. pic.twitter.com/UjZbeGdCp5

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) June 14, 2024

On the Other Hand. Christina Wilkie & Brian Schwartz of CNBC: "... Donald Trump failed to impress everyone in a room full of top CEOs Thursday at the Business Roundtable's quarterly meeting, multiple attendees told CNBC. 'Trump doesn't know what he's talking about,' said one CEO who was in the room, according to a person who heard the executive speaking. The CEO also said Trump did not explain how he planned to accomplish any of his policy proposals, that person said. Several CEOs 'said that [Trump] was remarkably meandering, could not keep a straight thought [and] was all over the map,' CNBC's Andrew Ross Sorkin reported Friday on CNBC's 'Squawk Box.'... Trump's energy in the meeting was also noticeably subdued, according to two people who were in the room. At no time during his remarks was there any noticeable applause for Trump, two attendees told CNBC."

On the Other Hand. Michelle Goldberg of the New York Times: "The film ['The Apprentice,' about the relationship between young Donald Trump & mob lawyer Roy Cohn]..., is a classic story of a mentor and his protégé, chronicling how Trump first learned from and later surpassed his brutal, Machiavellian fixer.... Unfortunately, you may not get a chance to [see it] anytime soon, at least in the United States.... The filmmakers have yet to secure a deal to release it here ... [possibly because] Trump and his supporters have already intimidated some media companies, which seem to be pre-emptively capitulating to him.... Any company that wants to be sold or to merge with or buy another company would be hesitant to touch 'The Apprentice' because of the possibility that, should Trump be re-elected, his 'regulators will be punitive.'... In a cease-and-desist letter to the filmmakers, a lawyer for Trump claimed, absurdly, that the movie is 'direct foreign interference in America's elections,' citing the fact that its director, Ali Abbasi, is Iranian Danish and that the movie received funding from Denmark, Ireland and Canada." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: This is what authoritarianism looks like: people voluntarily self-censoring out of an abundance of caution. It is disturbing when Republican sheeples do so; but fatal to democracy when interests in the art world -- yes, even corporate interests in the art world -- also defer, even to an out-of-office would-be dictator. What we've seen just in this week's news is almost every elected federal official groveling at the feet of Donald Trump, some of them holding hearings to excoriate the justice system, and now a corporate entity -- one supposedly in the edgy business of exposing government misdeeds -- possibly rolling over, too. Why, it's as if the ghost of Roy Cohn, Joe McCarthy's sidekick, is re-instituting the infamous Red Scare of the 1950s seven decades later. We already are seeing some version of the Army-McCarthy hearings in the farcical Jim & Gym committee shenanigans. Can the 2020s version of the House Un-American Activities Committee be far behind?

Sheryl Stolberg of the New York Times: "Three months into the coronavirus pandemic, Dr. Anthony S. Fauci was at home in northwest Washington when he answered his cellphone to ... Donald J. Trump screaming at him in an expletive-laden rant. He had incurred the president's wrath by remarking that the vaccines under development might not provide long-lasting immunity. That was the day, June 3, 2020, 'that I first experienced the brunt of the president's rage,' Dr. Fauci writes in his forthcoming autobiography.... Dr. Fauci described how Mr. Trump repeatedly told him he 'loved' him while at the same time excoriating him with tirades flecked with four-letter words.... Dr. Fauci also makes clear he had little use for some of Mr. Trump's advisers: his chief of staff, Mark Meadows; his chief economic adviser, Peter Navarro; and his medical adviser, Scott Atlas. He said Mr. Trump's aides were feeding negative stories about him to journalists in 2020."

Adriana Usero & Glenn Kessler of the Washington Post: "On June 13..., the RNC posted a clip it captioned, 'What is Biden doing?' The post has been viewed more than 3 million times. Biden is seen with other Group of Seven leaders watching skydivers in Italy.... Biden turns and walks a few steps to chat with one of the parachutists, the only leader to do so. Then Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni turns him back to the other leaders. In one feed distributed by news services -- the one used by the RNC -- it's not entirely clear who Biden is talking to, but an alternative feed, also distributed by news services, makes it clear that Biden is having a conversation....

"An X community note was added to the video clip, saying: 'Biden didn't "wander off".... Biden stepped aside to speak with one of the other skydivers who is kneeling on the ground packing away his chute. The video in the above post has been digitally altered to remove the skydiver.' A few hours later, for undisclosed reasons, the community note was changed to simply say 'the video was cropped,' with a link to a 14-minute clip...." ~~~

     ~~~ Ted Johnson of Deadline: "The White House is slamming the New York Post for pushing out a video on social media, and later a cover story, claiming that President Joe Biden wandered off as he and other world leaders watched a skydiving demonstration at the G7 summit in Italy.... [White House spokesman Andrew] Bates shared the video with the wider angle and wrote, 'The Murdoch outlets are so desperate to distract from @POTUS's record that they just lie. Here, they use an artificially narrow frame to hide from viewers that he just saw a skydiving demonstration. He's saying congratulations to one of the divers and giving a thumbs up.' Bates also included the Post's video edit.... The video was shared across media on the right, including for a digital story written for Sinclair Broadcast Group's The National Desk for posting on local station websites. That story picked up on the Post's cropped video."

Sari Horwitz & Dana Hedgpeth of the Washington Post: "U.S. Catholic bishops issued a formal apology Friday morning for the church's role in inflicting a 'history of trauma' on Native Americans, including at church-run Indian boarding schools where a Washington Post investigation published last month documented pervasive sexual abuse by priests. The vote by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, which establishes policies and norms for the church in the United States, represents the most direct expression of regret to date by church officials for past participation in a systematic effort by the U.S. government to forcibly assimilate Native Americans into White society. By a 181-2 vote, the bishops approved a document called 'Keeping Christ's Sacred Promise: A Pastoral Framework for Indigenous Ministry.' Three ... abstained."

Covid Masking All Over Again. Ashlie Stevens of Salon: "As of June 9, ten states ... have reported outbreaks [of bird flu, H5N1,] among dairy cattle and an estimated 85 dairy herds nationwide have been infected; however, there isn't a federal requirement for dairy farms to test their herds outside interstate movements of milking cows, so many farmers are opting out. This opened the door for human exposure and as of now, there have been three documented cases of H5N1 in humans.... The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) warn that consuming raw, unpasteurized milk could come with big health risks.... However, in recent weeks, as the number of bird flu cases have climbed, so have sales of raw milk. This is because numerous Republican public figures have decried what they perceive to be attempts from the government and 'Big Milk' to infringe on their right to consume the beverage, regardless of whether it contributes to the human-to-human spread of bird flu.... Essentially, for Republicans, it seems like avoiding raw milk is the new masking -- and they're just not going to do it in order to prove a point." Via digby. ~~~

     ~~~ digby: "The throwback states are already putting laws on the books to ensure that people can kill themselves with raw milk." Thanks to RAS for the link.

David Collins & Juan Luzano of the AP: "A federal judge on Friday ordered the liquidation of conspiracy theorist Alex Jones′ personal assets but dismissed his company's separate bankruptcy case, leaving the immediate future of his Infowars media platform uncertain as he owes $1.5 billion for his false claims that the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting was a hoax."

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Israel/Palestine, et al. The New York Times' live updates of developments Saturday in the Israel/Hamas war are here.

Ukraine, et al.

Nectar Gan of CNN: "China's support for Russia is 'enabling' its war in Ukraine, leaders of the world's most advanced economies warned Friday in a hardening of tone against Beijing, while threatening further sanctions against actors that materially support Moscow's war machine. The stark warning, issued at the end of the annual Group of Seven (G7) summit in Italy, comes as the United States is stepping up diplomatic efforts to convince Europe to adopt a tougher stance on China over its role in aiding Russia's military-industrial complex."

Putin's Proposal. Dasha Litvinova of the AP: "Russian President Vladimir Putin promised Friday to 'immediately' order a cease-fire in Ukraine and start negotiations if Kyiv began withdrawing troops from the four regions annexed by Moscow in 2022 and renounced plans to join NATO. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy rejected what he called an ultimatum by Putin to surrender more territory. Putin's remarks came as Switzerland prepared to host scores of world leaders -- but not from Moscow -- this weekend to try to map out first steps toward peace in Ukraine. They also coincided with a meeting of leaders of the Group of Seven leading industrialized nations in Italy and after the U.S. and Ukraine this week signed a 10-year security agreement that Russian officials, including Putin, denounced as 'null and void.'" (Also linked yesterday.)

U.K. Mark Landler of the New York Times: "Catherine, the Princess of Wales, said on Friday that she planned to take part in a parade on Saturday marking the birthday of King Charles III, a tentative return to the public stage after confirming in March that she was being treated for cancer. The news, which Catherine released in a highly personal six-paragraph statement, reflected both the progress she has made since she was first hospitalized for abdominal surgery last January and the long road to recovery she still faces.... 'I am not out of the woods yet,' she wrote. 'I am learning how to be patient, especially with uncertainty. Taking each day as it comes...."