September 2, 2022

Late Morning/Afternoon Update:

Trump Gets the View from Under the Bus. Alex Griffing of Mediaite: "Former Trump Attorney General Bill Barr on Friday smacked down various defenses of ... Donald Trump when it comes to the FBI's execution of a search warrant at his Florida estate. During an appearance on Fox News's America Reports, Barr argued that Trump taking 'classified material' with him to a 'country club' was just as unprecedented as the federal government raiding a former president's home -- swatting down the notion that the raid was an unwarranted political move. Barr also took issue with Trump's defense that he already declassified the documents, arguing that doing so would be 'an abuse' that 'shows such recklessness that it's almost worse than taking the documents.'... 'You know, they jawboned for a year. They were deceived on the voluntary actions taken. They then went and got a subpoena. They were deceived on that,' Barr continued, laying out the FBI's cause for the raid.... '... he facts are starting to show that they were being jerked around.'" Barr also said the whole idea of a special master was a "red herring."

Jim Tankersley of the New York Times: "Slowing job and wage growth, alongside rising labor force participation in August, is [are?] good news for President Biden and his hopes for a smooth transition to a more stable economic expansion. The jobs report on Friday was the first of the summer to support the case Mr. Biden and his economic aides have been making for months: that the economy is beginning to step down from a high-growth, high-inflation expansion coming out of the pandemic recession but avoiding another recession."

Tierney Sneed of CNN: "US District Judge Aileen Cannon on Friday released a detailed inventory from the Mar-a-Lago search that the Justice Department previously filed under seal in court. The search inventory released showed that classified documents had been mixed in with personal items and other materials in the boxes in which they were stored. Federal investigators also retrieved more than 11,000 non-classified government documents. One box containing documents marked with confidential, secret and top secret classification identifications also contained '99 magazines/newspapers/press articles,' according to the inventory from last month's search filed in federal court in Florida.... The court filing also provided a breakdown of the type of markings on the classified material taken from Mar-a-Lago, including 18 documents marked top secret, 54 documents marked secret and 31 documents marked confidential. In addition, federal investigators collected more than 48 empty folders with a 'classified banner' and 42 empty folders marked to return to the staff secretary or military aide." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Gosh, what do you supposed happened to the contents of all those empty folders that had once contained classified documents. It does not seem likely the folders were empty when they left the White House.

Almudena Calatrava & Daniel Politi of the AP: "Judicial and law enforcement authorities were investigating Friday whether a Brazilian citizen who appears to have tried to assassinate Argentina's politically powerful Vice President Cristina Fernández was a lone gunman or whether he was part of a larger organization.... The only reason the assassination attempt failed was because the handgun misfired, President Alberto Fernández, who is not related to the vice president, said Thursday night in a national broadcast in which he declared a national holiday Friday in light of the incident.

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Jonathan Lemire & Meredith McGraw of Politico: "With the political winds at his back, President Joe Biden commanded a prime-time stage Thursday in Philadelphia and singled out his predecessor as an example of the extremism that he believes 'threatens American democracy' and fuels many of the Republicans on the ballot in November.... Donald Trump and MAGA Republicans represent an extremism that threatens are very Republic,' said Biden, in a rare moment of calling out his predecessor by his name.... 'For a long time, we've reassured ourselves that American democracy is guaranteed. But it is not. We have to defend it. Protect it. Stand up for it. Each and every one of us,' Biden said.... And as Biden forcefully addressed election deniers and the rise in political violence, his predecessor spent the morning defending Jan. 6 rioters.... 'I will look very, very favorably about full pardons. If I decide to run and if I win, I will be looking very, very strongly about pardons,' Trump told [a radio] show. 'I mean full pardons with an apology to many.' Trump said he met with Jan. 6 defendants earlier this week at his office and said he will be financially supporting them." ~~~

     ~~~ The Washington Post report is here.

     ~~~ Transcript of President Biden's remarks, as delivered, via the White House.

Steve M. "Is Trump really offering financial support to any of the rioters or their families? I doubt it -- although this won't prevent him from announcing the existence of a January 6 financial support fund, which will be flooded with donations, all or most of which will go straight into his pocket. Also, he might never get around to those pardons if he runs and wins, because what does he personally get out of fulfilling the promise? But making the promise is very good for his campaign. The right says that convicted January 6 insurrectionists are political prisoners in an 'American Gulag.' This is a mainstream GOP belief. So of course pardons will be promised." MB: Why didn't Trump grant these criminals amnesty before he left office? There's some kind of calculation there. Or maybe he just figured he would be right back & he could do it in, say, March 2021.

Patricia Mazzei, et al., of the New York Times: "A federal judge signaled on Thursday that she remained open to granting ... Donald J. Trump's request to appoint an independent arbiter to go through documents the F.B.I. seized from him last month, but stopped short of making a final decision. After a nearly two-hour hearing, the judge, Aileen M. Cannon of the Federal District Court for the Southern District of Florida, reserved judgment on the question of whether to appoint a so-called special master in the case, saying she would issue a written order 'in due course.' Notably, Judge Cannon did not direct the F.B.I. to stop working with the files, which the Justice Department has said have already undergone a preliminary review by law enforcement officials." Politico's story is here. MB: I think Judge Cannon is out of her depth here.

Katherine Faulders & John Santucci of ABC News: "Two former top Trump White House lawyers are expected to appear Friday before a federal grand jury investigating the events surrounding Jan. 6, sources familiar with the matter tell ABC News. Former White House counsel Pat Cipollone and former deputy White House counsel Pat Philbin were subpoenaed by a federal grand jury investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol and efforts to overturn the 2020 election, ABC News reported last month. The move to subpoena the two men has signaled an even more dramatic escalation in the Justice Department's investigation into the Jan. 6 attack than previously known."

Luke Broadwater of the New York Times: "The House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol on Thursday asked former Speaker Newt Gingrich to sit for a voluntary interview about his involvement in ... Donald J. Trump's effort to overturn the 2020 election. In a letter to Mr. Gingrich, the Georgia Republican who held the speakership in the late 1990s, the committee said its investigators had obtained evidence that he was in contact with senior advisers to Mr. Trump about television advertisements that amplified false claims of fraud in the 2020 election and other aspects of the scheme to block the transfer of power, both before and after a mob attacked the Capitol.... [Committee chair Bennie] Thompson [D-Miss.] said Mr. Gingrich pushed messages explicitly designed to incite anger among voters, even after Georgia election officials had faced intimidation and threats of violence. In particular, Mr. Gingrich advocated promoting the false claims that election workers in Atlanta had smuggled in fake votes in suitcases.... also pushed for a coordinated plan to put forward pro-Trump electors in states won by Joseph R. Biden Jr.... On the evening of Jan. 6, Mr. Gingrich continued to push efforts to overturn the election, emailing Mr. Meadows, at 10:42 p.m. after the Capitol had been cleared of rioters, asking if there were letters from state legislators about decertifying the results of the election." A CNN report is here.

Betsy Swan of Politico: "State Sen. Doug Mastriano, the Republican nominee for governor in Pennsylvania, is suing the Jan. 6 select committee.... Mastriano filed his suit on Thursday afternoon in federal court in Washington. It names the committee itself as a defendant, as well as each member of the panel and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. In the suit, Mastriano argues that the committee's rules and composition mean it cannot compel witnesses to sit for depositions.... In February, the committee subpoenaed Mastriano for documents and testimony. Shortly after winning the Pennsylvania GOP gubernatorial primary in May, Mastriano produced a tranche of documents for the committee. He also signaled that he would participate in a voluntary interview. But the committee insisted Mastriano be deposed on videotape, according to the lawsuit.... Mastriano's lawyer, Timothy Parlatore, told the committee he wanted to make his own recording of the interview. But the Jan. 6 panel did not allow the move, the suit said, resulting in a stalemate. Mastriano appeared for a video-conference meeting with the committee in August but left without answering questions."

Tom Jackman of the Washington Post: "A former New York City police officer and Marine Corps veteran ... was sentenced to 10 years in prison Thursday, the longest punishment handed down among the nearly 250 people sentenced so far for their roles in the [Jan. 6, 2021,] insurrection. Federal prosecutors sought a prison term of more than 17 years for Thomas Webster, 56, of Goshen, N.Y., who was the first riot defendant facing the felony charge of assaulting an officer to try his luck with a jury.... Webster took the witness stand at his trial and testified that he was acting in self-defense, saying D.C. police officer Noah Rathbun had instigated the fight. But video showed Webster yelling at police on the Lower West Plaza of the Capitol, as officers struggled to maintain a perimeter outside the building. Rathbun then pushed Webster in the face -- Rathbun testified his hand slipped off Webster's shoulder -- before Webster swung and smashed a Marine Corps flagpole on a bike rack and then tackled Rathbun. Webster pulled the officer's gas mask off, causing Rathbun to begin choking on tear gas, the officer testified." The NBC News report is here.

Alan Feuer & Ken Bessinger of the New York Times: "The top lawyer for the Oath Keepers militia, who was with the group's leader outside the Capitol on Jan. 6., 2021, was charged on Thursday with conspiring to obstruct a joint session of Congress that day as lawmakers met to certify the results of the 2020 election. The lawyer, Kellye SoRelle, was the latest member of the right-wing extremist group to be indicted in connection with the Capitol attack. The indictment, handed up in Federal District Court in Washington, also accused Ms. SoRelle, 43, of tampering with evidence connected to the Justice Department's grand jury investigation of Jan. 6 and illegally entering and remaining in a restricted area of the Capitol grounds." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Richard Fausset of the New York Times: "In a setback for Senator Lindsey Graham, a federal judge ruled on Thursday that prosecutors can ask him about certain elements of his November 2020 phone calls with Brad Raffensperger, the Georgia secretary of state. Mr. Raffensperger has said that in those calls, Mr. Graham suggested rejecting mail-in votes in the presidential election from counties with high rates of questionable signatures. The order from U.S. District Judge Leigh Martin May must now be taken up for consideration by the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals. It is the latest twist in a protracted legal drama in which Mr. Graham has sought to avoid appearing before a special grand jury in Atlanta that is investigating efforts by Donald J. Trump and his allies to overturn Mr. Trump's narrow loss in the state in 2020.... Judge May rejected Mr. Graham's argument that all questions about the calls should be barred. Secretary Raffensperger, the judge wrote, 'has stated publicly that he understood Senator Graham to be implying or otherwise suggesting that he (Secretary Raffensperger) should throw out ballots.' She continued: 'As the Court has previously stated, any such "cajoling," "exhorting," or pressuring of Secretary Raffensperger (or any other Georgia election officials) to throw out ballots or otherwise change Georgia's election processes, including changing processes so as to alter the state's results, is not protected legislative activity under the Speech or Debate Clause.'"

Emma Brown of the Washington Post: "Virginia 'Ginni' Thomas, the conservative activist and wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, pressed lawmakers to overturn Joe Biden's 2020 victory not only in Arizona, as previously reported, but also in a second battleground state, Wisconsin, according to emails obtained under state public-records law.... The new emails show that Thomas also messaged two Republican lawmakers in Wisconsin: state Sen. Kathy Bernier, then chair of the Senate elections committee, and state Rep. Gary Tauchen. Bernier and Tauchen received the email ... on Nov. 9, virtually the same time the Arizona lawmakers received a verbatim copy of the message from Thomas.... Thomas sent all of the emails via FreeRoots, an online platform that allowed people to send pre-written emails to multiple elected officials."(Also linked yesterday afternoon.) A CBS News report is here.

Tony Romm, et al., of the Washington Post: "Republican state attorneys general and other leading conservatives are exploring a slew of potential lawsuits targeting President Biden's plan to cancel some student debt -- challenges that could limit or invalidate the policy before it takes full effect. In recent days, a number of GOP attorneys general from states including Arizona, Missouri and Texas have met privately to discuss a strategy that could see multiple cases filed in different courts around the country.... Other influential conservatives -- including Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.) and allies of the Heritage Foundation ... -- are mulling their own options as they ratchet up criticism of Biden's debt-relief plan...." MB: Bad news for young people, but good news, I guess, for Democrats. Are these bozos planning to bring these suits before the November election?

Annie Karni of the New York Times: "The Senate's Republican campaign chief on Thursday appeared to escalate an ugly quarrel with ... Senator Mitch McConnell, in the latest sign of the G.O.P.'s eroding confidence about winning back the majority in November. Without naming Mr. McConnell, Senator Rick Scott of Florida ... lashed out in a blistering opinion piece in The Washington Examiner at Republicans he said were 'trash-talking' the party's candidates, an apparent reference to comments last month in which Mr. McConnell said that 'candidate quality' could harm the G.O.P.'s chances of retaking the Senate. Mr. Scott called such remarks 'treasonous' and said those who make them should 'pipe down.' 'Unfortunately, many of the very people responsible for losing the Senate last cycle are now trying to stop us from winning the majority this time by trash-talking our Republican candidates,' Mr. Scott wrote. 'It's an amazing act of cowardice, and ultimately, it's treasonous to the conservative cause.'" (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

     ~~~ Marie. Wait, wait! It's an act of treason to suggest that Herschel Walker or Dr. Oz is unqualified to join the Senate?? Well, hang me by my toes.

Tom Cotton Finds Another Election to Deny. Rebecca Shabad of NBC News: "After Democrat Mary Peltola defeated Sarah Palin in Alaska's special election Wednesday, Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., discredited the voting system used by Alaska voters that they chose to implement in their state. Cotton tweeted that Alaska's new ranked-choice voting system 'is a scam to rig elections,' casting doubt on the outcome of the process to fill the seat of late GOP Rep. Don Young. '60% of Alaska voters voted for a Republican, but thanks to a convoluted process and ballot exhaustion -- which disenfranchises voters -- a Democrat "won,'" Cotton said in a separate tweet." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: See, Tom, in theory, ranked-choice voting should have favored Palin in this election. Both she & the third-place candidate Nick Begich are Republicans. Therefore, you would expect that Palin -- rather than a Democratic candidate -- would get most of Begich voters' second-choice votes. But she didn't. Palin lost because a majority of voters didn't want the former half-governor to win this election, not because there was something unfa-a-a-air about the system. Dimwit. See also Patrick's comment near the end of yesterday's thread. ~~~

     ~~~ AND unwashed was a-wondering yesterday, "Do Rs think that ranked-choice voting is just Wordle for politics?" MB: Maybe so. Cotton thought the five letters in Alaska were P-A-L-I-N.

Christopher Flavelle, et al., of the New York Times: "... climate change has ... emerged as a growing threat to clean, safe drinking water across the country. The deluge that knocked out a fraying water plant in Jackson, Miss., this week, depriving more than 150,000 people of drinking water, offered the latest example of how quickly America's aging treatment plants and decades-old pipes can crumple under the shocks of a warming world.... Earlier this summer, more than 25,000 people lost their water, some for weeks, after deadly floods ripped through eastern Kentucky, breaking water lines as they obliterated entire neighborhoods.... Utility companies across Texas spent the summer coping with hundreds of water-main breaks as record heat baked and shifted the drought-stricken soil surrounding pipes.... And from the Gulf Coast to the East Coast, supercharged hurricanes ... now regularly debilitate water suppliers, forcing hundreds of thousands of people to boil their water or scramble for bottles days or weeks after the storms pass."

Sarah Mervosh of the New York Times: "National test results released on Thursday showed in stark terms the pandemic's devastating effects on American schoolchildren, with the performance of 9-year-olds in math and reading dropping to the levels from two decades ago. This year, for the first time since the National Assessment of Educational Progress tests began tracking student achievement in the 1970s, 9-year-olds lost ground in math, and scores in reading fell by the largest margin in more than 30 years. The declines spanned almost all races and income levels and were markedly worse for the lowest-performing students. While top performers in the 90th percentile showed a modest drop -- three points in math -- students in the bottom 10th percentile dropped by 12 points in math, four times the impact." CNN's report is here. MB: On the upside, parents, the kids are now as dumb as you are. Maybe your efforts to help them with their homework will now be useful. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) The AP's report is here.

Benjamin Mueller of the New York Times: "The director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Thursday recommended updated coronavirus booster shots to the vast majority of Americans, adding a critical new tool to the country's arsenal as it tries to blunt an expected wintertime surge of the virus. The decision cleared the way for health workers to begin giving people the redesigned shots within days. And it marked a milestone in the fight against a rapidly shape-shifting pathogen: For the first time in the pandemic, manufacturers have capitalized on the potential of mRNA technology to begin distributing a Covid vaccine that perfectly matches the circulating strain of the virus, a feat that had long seemed improbable.... Now [vaccine recipients] face a weighty new question: how long to wait after their last vaccine dose or infection before seeking an updated booster. In authorizing the new boosters, federal regulators said on Wednesday that people needed to leave at least two months between doses. Several members of a panel of expert advisers to the C.D.C. expressed concern during a meeting on Thursday that two months was too short, but the C.D.C. pushed to endorse the same minimum interval." The Washington Post story, which is free to nonsubscribers, is here.

Beyond the Beltway

California. Brad Plumer of the New York Times: "California, with an economy that ranks as the world's fifth-largest, embarked this week on its most aggressive effort yet to confront climate change, after lawmakers passed a flurry of bills designed to cut emissions and speed away from fossil fuels. Legislators approved a record $54 billion in climate spending and passed sweeping new restrictions on oil and gas drilling as well as a mandate that California stop adding carbon dioxide to the atmosphere by 2045. And they voted to extend the life of Diablo Canyon, California's last nuclear power plant, by five years, a step once unthinkable to many environmentalists. Proponents said that California, which is again struggling to keep the lights on amid a scorching heat wave this week, needed the emissions-free electricity from the nuclear plant while other clean sources like wind and solar ramp up."

Florida. Bob Brigham of the Raw Story: "'A jury of six people found Seminole County GOP Chairman Ben Paris guilty on Thursday of a misdemeanor charge that he arranged to put his cousin's name on independent "ghost" candidate Jestine Iannotti's campaign contribution forms in 2020,' the Orlando Sentinel reported. 'Paris was sentenced to 12 months of probation and 200 hours of community service and ordered to pay roughly $42,000 -- the cost of the Florida Department of Law Enforcement investigation into the apparent vote-siphoning scheme.' Attorney Matthews Bark, who represented Paris, said his client would resign as chairman of the Seminole GOP."

Ohio Senate Race. Where's J.D.? Manu Raju & Alex Rogers of CNN: "Ohio voters will begin casting their ballots in six weeks -- and J.D. Vance has been difficult to find. The rookie GOP candidate goes days without any public events, and his campaign gives little information about his whereabouts. He has been slow to build a fundraising operation, and a ground game, and is being dramatically outspent on air while racking up a nearly $900,000 in campaign debt last quarter. And now, a super PAC with ties to Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell is planning to spend a staggering $28 million on television ads here to save a Senate seat once viewed as a lock -- and deny Democratic Rep. Tim Ryan a chance for a major, midterm upset."

Way Beyond

Ukraine, et al.

The Washington Post's live briefings of developments Friday in Russia's war on Ukraine are here: "Two IAEA inspectors will remain at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant 'on a permanent basis,' Mikhail Ulyanov, Russia's envoy to the agency, told The Washington Post on Friday. 'I can confirm that to the best of my knowledge this is the intention of the IAEA. We welcome this intention,' he said. An IAEA official, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss a sensitive matter, also said two representatives of the U.N. nuclear watchdog would stay on-site, after agency chief Rafael Mariano Grossi led a tour of the Russian-occupied facility. 'The IAEA is now there -- and it is not moving,' Grossi told reporters when he returned to territory under Ukrainian control. It was not clear how extensive his team's access will be after his departure. Grossi said the IAEA plans to establish a 'resident' presence to monitor the security of the plant and that a core team will stay there over the coming days.... 'The physical integrity of the plant has been violated several times,' according to Grossi, who said he worries about the risks 'until we have a situation which is more stable.' His agency and Kyiv have urged a military withdrawal from the site, which is controlled by Russian forces but operated by Ukrainian engineers." ~~~

     ~~~ The New York Times' live updates for Friday are here. The Guardian's live updates for Friday are here. The Guardian's summary report is here.

Russia, Where Defenestration Qualifies as a "Severe Illness." Mary Ilyushina of the Washington Post: "The chairman of Russia's second-largest oil company, Lukoil, died Thursday after reportedly falling from the window of a Moscow hospital where he was being treated after suffering a heart attack. Ravil Maganov, 67, fell from a sixth-floor window at the Central Clinical Hospital around 7 a.m. local time, the state-run Tass news agency reported. It was not clear whether Maganov's death was an accident, a suicide or something more sinister.... Lukoil confirmed Maganov's death but said only that he 'passed away following a severe illness.'... Maganov's unexplained fall is at least the sixth fatal incident this year involving high-profile Russian oil and gas executives whose lives ended in gory or murky circumstances." The Guardian's report is here.

News Lede

CNBC: "Nonfarm payrolls rose solidly in August amid an otherwise slowing economy, while the unemployment rate ticked higher as more workers rejoined the labor force, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Friday. The economy added 315,000 jobs for the month, just below the Dow Jones estimate for 318,000 and well off the 526,000 in July and the lowest monthly gain since April 2021."

September 1, 2022

Afternoon Update:

Zolan Kanno-Youngs of the New York Times: "President Biden will travel to Philadelphia on Thursday for a prime-time address in which he will accuse Republicans loyal to ... Donald J. Trump of embracing a form of extremism that is a direct threat to the United States.... A senior White House official said the president would state in direct language how 'MAGA Republicans' have put the nation's institutions at risk and undermined democratic values. The focus on threats to democracy is a return to the issue that Mr. Biden said drove him to run for the presidency, after white supremacists marched through Charlottesville, Va., in 2017."

Alan Feuer & Ken Bessinger of the New York Times: "The top lawyer for the Oath Keepers militia, who was with the group's leader outside the Capitol on Jan. 6., 2021, was charged on Thursday with conspiring to obstruct a joint session of Congress that day as lawmakers met to certify the results of the 2020 election. The lawyer, Kellye SoRelle, was the latest member of the right-wing extremist group to be indicted in connection with the Capitol attack. The indictment, handed up in Federal District Court in Washington, also accused Ms. SoRelle, 43, of tampering with evidence connected to the Justice Department's grand jury investigation of Jan. 6 and illegally entering and remaining in a restricted area of the Capitol grounds."

Emma Brown of the Washington Post: "Virginia 'Ginni' Thomas, the conservative activist and wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, pressed lawmakers to overturn Joe Biden's 2020 victory not only in Arizona, as previously reported, but also in a second battleground state, Wisconsin, according to emails obtained under state public-records law.... The new emails show that Thomas also messaged two Republican lawmakers in Wisconsin: state Sen. Kathy Bernier, then chair of the Senate elections committee, and state Rep. Gary Tauchen. Bernier and Tauchen received the email ... on Nov. 9, virtually the same time the Arizona lawmakers received a verbatim copy of the message from Thomas.... Thomas sent all of the emails via FreeRoots, an online platform that allowed people to send pre-written emails to multiple elected officials."

Annie Karni of the New York Times: "The Senate's Republican campaign chief on Thursday appeared to escalate an ugly quarrel with ... Senator Mitch McConnell, in the latest sign of the G.O.P.'s eroding confidence about winning back the majority in November. Without naming Mr. McConnell, Senator Rick Scott of Florida ... lashed out in a blistering opinion piece in The Washington Examiner at Republicans he said were 'trash-talking' the party's candidates, an apparent reference to comments last month in which Mr. McConnell said that 'candidate quality' could harm the G.O.P.'s chances of retaking the Senate. Mr. Scott called such remarks 'treasonous' and said those who make them should 'pipe down.' 'Unfortunately, many of the very people responsible for losing the Senate last cycle are now trying to stop us from winning the majority this time by trash-talking our Republican candidates,' Mr. Scott wrote. 'It's an amazing act of cowardice, and ultimately, it's treasonous to the conservative cause.'" ~~~

     ~~~ Marie. Wait, wait! It's an act of treason to suggest that Herschel Walker or Dr. Oz is unqualified to join the Senate?? Well, hang me by my toes.

Sarah Mervosh of the New York Times: "National test results released on Thursday showed in stark terms the pandemic's devastating effects on American schoolchildren, with the performance of 9-year-olds in math and reading dropping to the levels from two decades ago. This year, for the first time since the National Assessment of Educational Progress tests began tracking student achievement in the 1970s, 9-year-olds lost ground in math, and scores in reading fell by the largest margin in more than 30 years. The declines spanned almost all races and income levels and were markedly worse for the lowest-performing students. While top performers in the 90th percentile showed a modest drop -- three points in math -- students in the bottom 10th percentile dropped by 12 points in math, four times the impact." CNN's report is here. MB: On the upside, parents, the kids are now as dumb as you are. Maybe your efforts to help them with their homework will now be useful.

Speaking of Dumb, Education Was Wasted on Tom Cotton. Rebecca Shabad of NBC News: "After Democrat Mary Peltola defeated Sarah Palin in Alaska's special election Wednesday, Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., discredited the voting system used by Alaska voters that they chose to implement in their state. Cotton tweeted that Alaska's new ranked-choice voting system 'is a scam to rig elections,' casting doubt on the outcome of the process to fill the seat of late GOP Rep. Don Young. '60% of Alaska voters voted for a Republican, but thanks to a convoluted process and ballot exhaustion -- which disenfranchises voters -- a Democrat "won,'" Cotton said in a separate tweet." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: See, Tom, in theory, ranked-choice voting should have favored Palin in this election. Both she & the third-place candidate Nick Begich are Republicans. Therefore, you would expect that Palin -- rather than a Democratic candidate -- would get most of Begich voters' second-choice votes. But she didn't. Palin lost because a majority of voters didn't want the former half-governor to win this election, not because there was something unfa-a-a-air about the system. Dimwit.

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** Uh, Wow! Nathaniel Herz of the Washington Post: "Democrat Mary Peltola has won a special election for the U.S. House in Alaska, defeating Republican Sarah Palin and becoming the first ever Alaska Native to win a seat in Congress as well as the first woman to clinch the state's at-large district. Peltola, who's Yup’ik,is a tribal fisheries manager and former state representative who led in initial counts after the Aug. 16 election. But her win wasn't assured until Wednesday, when Alaska officials made decisive second-choice counts using the state's new ranked choice voting system. Republican Nick Begich III, was eliminated, and his supporters' second choice votes were redistributed.... She will serve the remainder of a term left open by the sudden death of GOP Rep. Don Young in March. Young represented Alaska in Congress for 49 years." CNN's report is here.

Marie: For many hours I have been hearing experts on the teevee opine that Tuesday night's court filing by the Justice Department demonstrates that Donald Trump has no defense for his unlawful stealing & hoarding of presidential papers, including many, many classified documents. But I have found one. Remember that joke about the guy stealing wheelbarrows? Well, Trump wasn't stealing U.S. secrets or presidential papers that belong in the National Archives. He was stealing cardboard file transport boxes. And the U.S.A. is not going to arrest a former POTUS* for running off with a few cardboard boxes. Case closed. ~~~

     ~~~ Peterr at emptywheel offers another, much more creative response to Donald's Quandary. If your kids are having trouble understanding the Great White House Heist, Peterr's "That Bratt-I-Am, that Bratt-I-Am, I do not like that Bratt-I-Am" will help. Many thanks to RockyGirl for the link. ~~~

Breaking: White House updates donald trump’s official presidential portrait. pic.twitter.com/bunpzEQX5P

— Jo 🌻 (@JoJoFromJerz) August 31, 2022

     ~~~ Marie: That rug! When I first saw the photo, I thought it must have been taken in the FBI's cheap motel. But I quickly learned the pic is a typical evidence photo that was taken at Mar-a-Lago. And I've since learned the rug is probably expensive ($80-$100/sq.ft.) wall-to-wall custom carpet "made out of a mixture of wool and silk, or a shiny cotton-based substitute." Thanks to a friend for the link to the tweet.

Trump Answer: Of Course I Stole, Hoarded & Hid Classified Docs. "They're Mine!" Marshall Cohen of CNN: "... Donald Trump argued in a court filing Wednesday that the National Archives should have expected to find classified material among the 15 boxes Trump turned over in January from Mar-a-Lago because they were presidential records. The filing acknowledged that classified material was found at Mar-a-Lago, but argued that it should not have been cause for alarm -- and should not have led to the search of Trump's Florida residence earlier this month. Trump's new filing on Wednesday is his platform to formally respond to prosecutors' assertions that members of his legal team engaged in 'obstructive conduct' by concealing documents at his Florida resort and by providing untrue information to investigators about how many classified documents remained on site.... Trump's lawyers argue that under the Presidential Records Act, the Archives should have followed up with a good faith effort to secure recovery of presidential records, rather than referring a criminal probe to the Justice Department." ~~~

     ~~~ Charlie Savage, et al., of the New York Times: "... Donald J. Trump's legal team on Wednesday aggressively renewed its push for an independent arbiter to review documents the F.B.I. seized in its Aug. 8 search of his Florida residence, telling a federal judge that he had merely possessed 'his own presidential records.'... A hearing is scheduled for Thursday in Federal District Court in West Palm Beach.... The Presidential Records Act of 1978 ... makes clear that the government, not a president or former president, owns White House files generated during his time in office. (If Mr. Trump also had files generated by other agencies and departments, those have never been understood to be owned by presidents.) Mr. Trump's lawyers argued that the Presidential Records Act has no enforcement mechanism, suggesting that the government had no basis to seize the files..., brush[ing] aside the fact that a magistrate judge who issued the search warrant ... had done so not on the basis of the Presidential Records Act, but on other laws against concealing government records."

     ~~~ Here's the legal filing, via CNN.

Alan Feuer & Glenn Thrush of the New York Times: "... Donald J. Trump may have thought that he was playing offense when he asked a federal judge last week for an independent review of documents seized from his residence in Florida -- a move that, at best, could delay but not derail an investigation into his handling of the records. But on Tuesday night, the Justice Department used a routine court filing in the matter to initiate a blistering counteroffensive that disclosed new evidence that Mr. Trump and his legal team may have interfered with the inquiry.... It was as if Mr. Trump, seeming not to fully grasp the potential hazards of his modest legal move, cracked open a door, allowing the Justice Department to push past him and seize the initiative....

"Covering [the] final page [of the DOJ's response to Mr. Trump's complaint] was ... an image of five yellow folders marked 'Top Secret,' and a red one labeled 'Secret,' lying on the ground beside a box of magazine covers. The image, which seemed to be a standard evidence photo, was the sort of thing the government collects all the time for use at possible trials. But ... on Wednesday ... Mr. Trump attacked the image. 'Terrible the way the FBI, during the Raid on Mar-a-Lago, threw documents haphazardly all over the floor,' he wrote on his social media platform. He went to say...: '(Perhaps pretending it was me that did it!)'"

Perry Stein, et al., of the Washington Post: "Newly public details from the Justice Department's criminal probe of documents taken to Mar-a-Lago suggest enormous legal peril for two of Donald Trump's attorneys -- and considerable uncertainty for Trump himself, intelligence and legal experts said.... The evidence laid out in the filing, experts said, could build a legal case that Trump attorneys Evan Corcoran and Christina Bobb obstructed the government's investigation.... The [DOJ's] filing states that when officials visited Mar-a-Lago in June, Trump's lawyers did not let them search boxes in a storage room where the documents had been kept. Trump's custodian of records, who was not identified by name in the filing but previous reporting has shown is Bobb, signed a sworn statement in June pledging to officials that a'diligent search' for classified materials had been conducted at Mar-a-Lago. Corcoran allegedly told investigators at that time that all classified documents had been returned.... Three people close to Trump ... said Bobb is no longer expected to play a role in Trump's legal defense.... Left unanswered were key questions that could determine Trump's legal fate: Did he direct Corcoran and Bobb to mislead the government, either before or after the FBI raid of his Florida home and club? And, if so, why did he want to keep reams of top-secret classified documents there?" ~~~

     ~~~ Charlie Savage & Maggie Haberman of the New York Times: "Two lawyers for ... Donald J. Trump [-- Evan Corcoran & Christina Bobb --] are likely to become witnesses or targets in the investigation into how he hoarded documents marked as classified at his Florida estate -- and secretly held onto some even after they claimed all sensitive materials had been returned, legal specialists said.... In its filing late Tuesday, the Justice Department noted that ... '... the former president's counsel explicitly prohibited government personnel from opening or looking inside any of the boxes that remained in the storage room....'... [Trump's initial] complaint also claims that after [the DOJ's Jay] Bratt asked to inspect the storage room, investigators were escorted there, and once their inspection was completed, an F.B.I. agent said: 'Thank you. You did not need to show us the storage room, but we appreciate it. Now it all makes sense.'... The prospect that investigators may seek to obtain information from Mr. Corcoran, Ms. Bobb or both would almost certainly meet strenuous resistance from them and from Mr. Trump."

This Does Not Look Too Good. Kyle Cheney of Politico: "Just six days before the Justice Department subpoenaed to recover highly sensitive documents housed at Mar-a-Lago, one of ... Donald Trump's attorneys scoured the estate searching for records in response to a separate legal matter. The attorney, Alina Habba, told a New York State court that on May 5, she conducted a search of Trump's private residence and office at Mar-a-Lago that was so 'diligent' it included 'all desks, drawers, nightstands, dressers, closets, etc.' She was looking for records in response to a subpoena issued by New York Attorney General Letitia James.... The same filing also includes an affidavit from Trump himself, indicating that he 'authorized Alina Habba to search my private residence and personal office located at The Mar-a-Lago Club in Palm Beach, Florida for any and all documents responsive to the Subpoena.' Habba indicated she conducted similar searches at Trump's residences and office at his Bedminster estate. The filing submitted to the New York AG's office raises key questions in relation to ... whether Habba ended up handling any of the documents that DOJ later discovered at Trump's club; and, if so, whether she has the clearance to have done so..... After [the] subpoena [in the presidential papers case] was issued, Trump indicated that he responded by ordering staff to conduct a thorough search of the property for documents marked as classified. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Looks as if Habba is about to become another Trump lawyer who finds out the true meaning of MAGA: "Make Attorneys Get Attorneys."

When Fox's Steve Doocy Is the Voice of Reason. Colby Hall of Mediaite: "Steve Doocy asked the question that most reasonable people have following a midnight DOJ filing that revealed stunning details surrounding the search and seizure at Mar-a-Lago.... 'Keep in mind, according to the filing, the agents found three classified documents in Donald Trump's [desk],' Doocy noted with a level of shock. 'What were they doing in the desk?!' [Referring to the photo of classified documents that accompanied the DOJ's filing, Doocy said,] 'And when you look at these particular things right here, at least five yellow folders marked top secret and another secret SCI -- that stands for sensitive compartmentalized information -- these are the biggest secrets in the world!.'" (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Jennifer Rubin of the Washington Post: "One does not need ... a therapist's license to conclude that defeated former president Donald Trump's nutty rant insisting that he be made president immediately or the 2020 election be rerun is the sign of an unhinged personality. Under pressure from the increasingly potent espionage investigation, he might be losing his grip. For a change, you don't hear Republicans rushing forth to support his latest insane demand. Trump's posting of QAnon messages and implicit threats (in increasingly unintelligible syntax) suggests that he is losing the ability or desire to control his impulsive outbursts. This is the guy whom millions of Republicans want to nominate for president.... Just how [Republican politicians] expect to rid themselves of someone like Trump is unclear."

Richard Fausset & Danny Hakim of the New York Times: "John Eastman, the lawyer who developed strategies to block certification of the 2020 election, is 'probably a target' in the criminal investigation into efforts to overturn Donald J. Trump's election loss in Georgia, one of Mr. Eastman's lawyers said on Wednesday. Mr. Eastman spent the morning appearing before an Atlanta special grand jury looking into the matter. The assertion that Mr. Eastman could face indictment in the Georgia case came from Harvey Silverglate, a well-known Boston-area criminal defense lawyer and civil liberties advocate who is representing Mr. Eastman. In a statement, Mr. Silverglate and another of Mr. Eastman's lawyers, Charles Burnham, said they advised Mr. Eastman 'to assert attorney client privilege and the constitutional right to remain silent where appropriate' in Wednesday's grand jury appearance. Mr. Silverglate said that his client had not been identified as a target by Fulton County prosecutors in Atlanta...." An NBC News story is here.

Here's the White House's transcript, as delivered, of President Biden's speech in Pennyslvania Tuesday. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Noah Weiland & Sharon LaFraniere of the New York Times: "The Food and Drug Administration on Wednesday authorized the first redesign of coronavirus vaccines since they were rolled out in late 2020, setting up millions of Americans to receive new booster doses targeting Omicron subvariants as soon as next week. The agency cleared two options aimed at the BA.5 variant of Omicron that is now dominant: one made by Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech for use in people as young as 12, and the other by Moderna, for those 18 and older." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Martin Pengelly of the Guardian: "A bronze plaque commemorating the Ku Klux Klan should be removed from the science centre at West Point, a congressional commission said, even though it falls outside the panel's remit because the racist terror group was formed after the American civil war.... The eight-member panel is tasked with recommending which US military assets should be renamed, to remove associations with Confederates who fought to maintain slavery." MB: The commission originally said it could not recommend removal of the plaque because memorials to post-Civil War organizations were outside its authority.

Beyond the Beltway

Florida Gubernatorial Race. Matt Dixon of the Tampa Bay Times: "Rep. Charlie Crist is resigning from Congress to focus on his bid for Florida governor, a move that was expected after his huge primary victory over Democratic Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried. The seat will remain vacant until the November election." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) MB: Turns out Democrats aren't down by a single member inasmuch as Alaska Democrat Mary Peltola will replace a Republican.

Michigan. Mitch Smith of the New York Times: "A state board in Michigan refused on Wednesday to place an abortion rights referendum on the November ballot because of a dispute over word spacing on the petition, an embarrassing blow to abortion rights supporters who had gathered more than 750,000 signatures. The decision, which came when the Board of State Canvassers deadlocked along party lines, could still be overturned by the courts. But it injected further uncertainty into the fate of abortion in Michigan, a swing state where enforcement of a pre-Roe v. Wade abortion ban has been temporarily blocked by a judge and where many closely watched races are on this year's ballot.... Reproductive Freedom for All, a group supporting the amendment, accused the canvassers of disenfranchising voters and vowed to challenge the decision in court. The two Republicans on the board voted against placing the issue on the ballot, while the two Democratic canvassers supported presenting the question to voters." The AP's report is here.

Way Beyond

Ukraine, et al. The New York Times' live updates of developments Thursday in Russia's war on Ukraine are here. The Guardian's live updates are here. The Guardian's summary report is here. ~~~

     ~~~ The Washington Post's live briefings for Thursday are here: "An International Atomic Energy Agency team is facing delays of up to three hours, held up by Ukrainian forces, on its way to inspect the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, a spokesperson for the agency told The Washington Post. IAEA chief Rafael Mariano Grossi has 'personally negotiated' with Ukrainian authorities to be able to proceed and remains 'determined' that his mission will reach the plant Thursday.... The IAEA team is aware of 'increased military activity' in the area near the plant, Grossi said Thursday before heading to the site from the city of Zaporizhzhia.... 'The Russians are shelling the pre-agreed route of the IAEA mission,' Ukraine's regional governor for Zaporizhzhia, Oleksandr Starukh, said Thursday on Telegram.... The number of Ukrainian refugees who have left the country has hit 7 million, according to the United Nations.... Moscow and its separatist allies in Ukraine have forcibly transferred hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians to Russia since the start of the war, according to U.S. officials and human rights investigators. Many are sent through a vast and punitive 'filtration' system that includes detentions, interrogations and mass data collection, reports Claire Parker."

August 31, 2022

Afternoon Update:

Kyle Cheney of Politico: "Just six days before the Justice Department subpoenaed to recover highly sensitive documents housed at Mar-a-Lago, one of ... Donald Trump's attorneys scoured the estate searching for records in response to a separate legal matter. The attorney, Alina Habba, told a New York State court that on May 5, she conducted a search of Trump's private residence and office at Mar-a-Lago that was so 'diligent' it included 'all desks, drawers, nightstands, dressers, closets, etc.' She was looking for records in response to a subpoena issued by New York Attorney General Letitia James.... The same filing also includes an affidavit from Trump himself, indicating that he 'authorized Alina Habba to search my private residence and personal office located at The Mar-a-Lago Club in Palm Beach, Florida for any and all documents responsive to the Subpoena.' Habba indicated she conducted similar searches at Trump s residences and office at his Bedminster estate. The filing submitted to the New York AG s office raises key questions in relation to ... whether Habba ended up handling any of the documents that DOJ later discovered at Trump's club; and, if so, whether she has the clearance to have done so..... After [the] subpoena [in the presidential papers case] was issued, Trump indicated that he responded by ordering staff to conduct a thorough search of the property for documents marked as classified."

Here's the White House's transcription, as delivered, of President Biden's speech in Pennyslvania yesterday.

Noah Weiland & Sharon LaFraniere of the New York Times: "The Food and Drug Administration on Wednesday authorized the first redesign of coronavirus vaccines since they were rolled out in late 2020, setting up millions of Americans to receive new booster doses targeting Omicron subvariants as soon as next week. The agency cleared two options aimed at the BA.5 variant of Omicron that is now dominant: one made by Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech for use in people as young as 12, and the other by Moderna, for those 18 and older."

When Fox's Steve Doocy is the Voice of Reason. Colby Hall of Mediaite: "Steve Doocy asked the question that most reasonable people have following a midnight DOJ filing that revealed stunning details surrounding the search and seizure at Mar-a-Lago.... 'Keep in mind, according to the filing, the agents found three classified documents in Donald Trump's [desk],' Doocy noted with a level of shock. 'What were they doing in the desk?!' [Referring to the photo of classified documents that accompanied the DOJ's filing, Doocy said,] 'And when you look at these particular things right here, at least five yellow folders marked top secret and another secret SCI -- that stands for sensitive compartmentalized information -- these are the biggest secrets in the world!.'"

Florida. Matt Dixon of the Tampa Bay Times: "Rep. Charlie Crist is resigning from Congress to focus on his bid for Florida governor, a move that was expected after his huge primary victory over Democratic Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried. The seat will remain vacant until the November election."

~~~~~~~~~~

Zolan Kanno-Youngs of the New York Times: "President Biden gave a forceful defense of the F.B.I. during a speech in Pennsylvania on Tuesday and called out allies of ... Donald J. Trump for failing to condemn those who attacked law enforcement during the Jan. 6 assault on the Capitol. During a visit to a key swing state, Mr. Biden took what have been political vulnerabilities for the White House -- policing and rising crime -- and cast them as strengths ahead of the congressional elections in November. 'It's sickening to see the new attacks on the F.B.I.,' Mr. Biden said, referring to some congressional Republicans who have called to 'defund' or even 'destroy' the F.B.I. over its search of Mr. Trump's Mar-a-Lago home on Aug. 8.... 'Let me say this to my MAGA Republican friends in Congress: Don't tell me you support law enforcement if you won't condemn what happened on the 6th,' Mr. Biden said, referring to the Jan. 6 attack. 'For God's sake, whose side are you on?'" ~~~

** Glenn Thrush, et al., of the New York Times: "The Justice Department sought a search warrant for ... Donald J. Trump's residence in Florida after obtaining evidence that highly classified documents were likely moved around and concealed and that Mr. Trump's representatives had falsely claimed all sensitive material had been returned, according to a court filing by the department on Tuesday. The filing, which came in response to Mr. Trump's request for an independent review of materials seized from his home, Mar-a-Lago, paints the clearest picture yet of the department's exhaustive effort to retrieve the documents before taking the extraordinary step of searching a former president's private property on Aug. 8.

"Among the new disclosures in the 36-page filing were that the search yielded three classified documents in desks located inside Mr. Trump's office, with more than 100 documents in 13 boxes or containers with classification markings in the residence, including some at the most restrictive levels. That was twice the number of classified documents the former president s lawyers turned over voluntarily while swearing an oath that they had returned all the material demanded by the government.... Tuesday's filing made clear that prosecutors are now unmistakably focused on the possibility that Mr. Trump and those around him took potentially criminal steps to obstruct their investigation....

"[Trump attorney Christina] Bobb's statement[, dated June 3, 2022,] was attached to the department's filing on Tuesday. In it, the lawyer wrote that 'based upon the information that has been provided to me,' there had been a 'diligent' search and all responsive documents to the subpoena were being returned. But law enforcement officials soon developed evidence that statement was untrue -- and said their investigation cast serious doubt on the sworn statement. The F.B.I. 'uncovered multiple sources of evidence indicating that the response to the May 11 grand jury subpoena was incomplete and that classified documents remained at the premises, notwithstanding the sworn certification made to the government on June 3,' the Justice Department filing said....

"On Tuesday, the Justice Department argued that a special master was 'unnecessary and would significantly harm important governmental interests, including national security interests.' It also argued that the judge lacked jurisdiction over the matter and that Mr. Trump 'lacks standing to seek judicial relief or oversight as to presidential records because those records do not belong to him.'" ~~~

     ~~~ Devlin Barrett of the Washington Post: "The filing ... charges that some of the boxes held in a storage room 'were not returned prior to counsel's review' of the material -- suggesting that while the government was demanding all classified material be secured in that storage room, someone was continuing to move or hide papers. When agents conducted their court-ordered search on Aug. 8, they found material so sensitive that 'even the FBI counterintelligence personnel and DOJ attorneys conducting the review required additional clearances before they were permitted to review certain documents,' the filing says.... In response to a subpoena, the former president's lawyer turned over 38 classified documents, in addition to 184 others that were discovered in boxes sent to the National Archives earlier in the year, the filing says. Yet when FBI agents searched the Trump property in August, they found more than 100 additional classified papers, which, prosecutors wrote, 'calls into serious question the representations made in the June 3 certification and casts doubt on the extent of cooperation in this matter.'...

"The prosecutors paint Trump's lawyer, Evan Corcoran, and custodian of records, Christina Bobb as so uncooperative as to lead agents to suspect the Trump team might be obstructing the investigation. The filing, for instance, says that when FBI agents and Jay Bratt, the chief of the counterintelligence and export control section at the Justice Department, met with Trump's two representatives in early June, 'the former President's counsel explicitly prohibited government personnel from opening or looking inside any of the boxes that remained in the storage room, giving no opportunity for the government to confirm that no documents with classification markings remained.' Yet earlier this month, Bobb told The Washington Post that the lawyers showed the federal officials the boxes, and Bratt and others spent some time looking through the material." Includes facsimile of filing. ~~~

     ~~~ Politico's report, by Josh Gerstein & Kyle Cheney, is here: "Trump's claims that the items should be returned to him have no merit, [the government contended]. 'Any Presidential records seized pursuant to the search warrant belong to the United States, not to the former President,' [DOJ counterintelligence chief Jay] Bratt argued.... In particular, Bratt urged [Judge] Cannon to reject Trump's claim that any of the documents seized were subject to a claim of executive privilege by him -- and therefore unrecoverable by the current administration. 'The former President cites no case -- and the government is aware of none -- in which executive privilege has been successfully invoked to prohibit the sharing of documents within the Executive Branch,' Bratt wrote.... Intelligence officials are currently reviewing the recovered files to assess risks to national security, and any disruption to that could jeopardize the review, DOJ contends.... Trump is due to respond to the government's filing by Wednesday evening, and Cannon has called for a hearing on the matter Thursday afternoon in West Palm Beach....

"While arguing against a special master, the filing does offer some suggestions for Cannon if she decides to do so anyway. Prosecutors say the special master should only review the seized records for potential attorney-client privileged information and not for other issues. In addition, the Justice Department says that if a special master 'must be permitted to review classified documents,' that person should have a top-level security clearance already to avoid delay." CNN's report is here.

     ~~~ A copy of the DOJ filing submitted late Tuesday is here, via CNN.

Maggie Haberman of the New York Times: "... Donald J. Trump has hired a high-profile lawyer to help him with the aftermath of the F.B.I. search of his club and home in Florida and the criminal investigation into his handling of sensitive government documents. The lawyer, Christopher M. Kise, is a former solicitor general for the State of Florida who has won four cases before the United States Supreme Court and worked as a transition adviser for Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida, a Republican. Mr. Kise, who is now in private practice, formally joined the team in recent days, according to two of Mr. Trump's associates."

David Badash of the New Civil Rights Movement: "Donald Trump is having a meltdown on his Truth Social platform. The former president ... is lashing out at his opponents, rapidly reposting memes from his supporters celebrating him and attacking President Joe Biden and the Democrats, and promoting falsehoods about the 2020 election, the Jan. 6 insurrection, and vaccines. Trump's meltdown, which includes dozens of posts and reposts per hour, comes amid his baseless demand on Monday to either be named president again or have the nation hold a new election 'immediately.' 'Trump is spending his morning on Truth Social directly posting 4chan and Q messages.... He's doing explicitly what he used to try to shade or use coded language for,' Politico's Kyle Cheney observes...." An interesting read. MB: And I told you he was nuts. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Paul Campos in LG&$: "One of the eternally puzzling things about Donald Trump is the fact that he is an increasingly unhinged demagogue who was president of the United States and could well be again is treated as basically normal, as if this is just one of those things that happens sometime, and therefore doesn't deserve any special attention or comment[.]... The fact that Donald Trump is a deranged narcissistic authoritarian with frankly delusional beliefs about everything..., and is at the same time the leader of one of our two national political parties, has become in some indescribably perverse way completely normalized." ~~~

     ~~~ Steve Benen of MSNBC recounts press reports that have related the numerous times one-time one-term President* Donald Trump has opined that he could be immediately returned to office. Like Paul Campos, Benen says" it seems only fair to ask Republican officeholders and candidates whether they agree with Trump's plea [to immediately reinstate him as president*]." Citing conservative opinionator Charles Cooke, Benen points out that even if Joe Biden did somehow steal the 2020 presidential election, there is no Constitutional mechanism to install the loser in the office like "the second-place horse in a race whose winner was disqualified." ~~~

     ~~~ Steve M. explains why "Trump is either a seditionary or a spoiled five-year-old. Or both, I guess."

Google Rejects Trump's Orwellian Social. Jack Stebbins of CNBC: "Truth Social, the would-be Twitter competitor created by Trump Media and Technology Group, remains unavailable on the Google Play store. Google said the app lacks effective systems for moderating user-generated content, which violates the store's terms of service. 'On Aug. 19, we notified Truth Social of several violations of standard policies in their current app submission and reiterated that having effective systems for moderating user-generated content is a condition of our terms of service for any app to go live on Google Play,' the tech company, which is owned by Alphabet, told CNBC in a statement Tuesday.... The restriction means that Android users, who make up 44% of smartphone users in the U.S., can't download the app." MB: Of course one of the users the app can't moderate is @RealDonaldTrump.

Rachel Weiner & Jeremy Barr of the Washington Post: "Some of the biggest stars on Fox News are being compelled to answer questions about their coverage of the 2020 presidential election as a $1.6 billion defamation lawsuit from an election technology company that claims its reputation was ruined by the network's airing of baseless fraud allegations picks up steam. Lawyers for Dominion Voting Systems last week questioned hosts Jeanine Pirro and Tucker Carlson, while Sean Hannity and former Fox Business Network host Lou Dobbs are scheduled for depositions Tuesday, according to court filings. They are among the on-air personalities that Dominion says defamed it either by falsely claiming the company conspired to rig the election against Donald Trump or by repeatedly hosting guests who made such claims."

Robert Reich in a Guardian op-ed: "I've been watching the Florida governor, Ron DeSantis, for some time. Last Tuesday I tweeted: 'Just wondering if "DeSantis" is now officially a synonym for "fascist".' I was surprised at the outrage my little tweet provoked in rightwing media.... America's mainstream media is by now comfortable talking and writing about 'authoritarianism'. Maybe it should also begin using the term 'fascism', where appropriate.... Authoritarianism implies the absence of democracy, a dictatorship. Fascism also includes hatred of 'them' (people considered different by race or religion, or outside the mainstream, or who were born abroad), control over what people learn and what books they are allowed to read, control over what had been independent government units (school boards, medical boards, universities and so on), control over women and the most intimate and difficult decisions they'll ever make, and demands that the private sector support the regime." See also strong> RAS's comment in today's thread.

Ramon Vargas of the Guardian: "A United Nations expert warned that some US state governments are steadily undermining and eliminating lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans and gender diverse people's civil rights, and he urged the Joe Biden White House to strengthen protective measures for them. Victor Madrigal-Borloz, the diplomatic organization's independent expert on protection against gender- and sexual orientation-based violence and discrimination, said he is deeply alarmed' that prior progress, such as the US supreme court's legalization of gay marriage in 2015, is under threat at both the state and federal levels in America."

Kenneth Chang of the New York Times: "For now, NASA will press ahead with preparations for a second launch attempt on Saturday of its new moon rocket, NASA officials said during a news conference on Tuesday[.] Mission managers have come up with a plan that they hope will work around an engine problem with the rocket encountered during the first launch attempt on Monday. The Space Launch System rocket is the modern equivalent of the Saturn V that took NASA astronauts to the moon during the Apollo program half a century ago, and it is the centerpiece of NASA's Artemis program, which aims to send astronauts back to the moon in the coming years."

Hurubie Meko of the New York Times: "For decades, the students at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point in New York have walked beneath a panel of three bronze plaques mounted at the entrance of Bartlett Hall Science Center that includes an image of a hooded figure and the words 'Ku Klux Klan' written below it, according to findings in a report released by a congressional panel on Monday. The report from the panel, the Naming Commission, which was created by Congress last year and tasked with providing recommendations for the removal or renaming of Defense Department assets that commemorate the Confederacy.... But the commission said that recommending the removal of the plaque fell outside of its scope because the Ku Klux Klan, founded by former Confederate soldiers, emerged after the Civil War. The panel flagged the item for review in its report, and included a picture."

Roni Rabin of the New York Times: "The average life expectancy of Americans fell precipitously in 2020 and 2021, the sharpest two-year decline in nearly 100 years and a stark reminder of the toll exacted on the nation by the continuing coronavirus pandemic. In 2021, the average American could expect to live until the age of 76, federal health researchers reported on Wednesday. The figure represents a loss of almost three years since 2019, when Americans could expect to live, on average, nearly 79 years. The reduction has been particularly steep among Native Americans and Alaska Natives, the National Center for Health Statistics reported."

Noah Weiland of the New York Times: "The Biden administration announced a new plan on Tuesday to send extra doses of monkeypox vaccine to states for use at events or sites that can reach more people of color and others who have lacked access to shots. The program, called an 'equity intervention pilot,' will offer 10,000 vials of vaccine, or as many as 50,000 doses, that can be distributed by local officials to five different venues. Officials said the doses were meant for people who might struggle to find appointments or worry about the stigma of attending public vaccination events."

Beyond the Beltway

Congressional Races. Republicans Try to Hide Their Real Views. Colby Itkowitz of the Washington Post: "At least nine Republican congressional candidates have scrubbed or amended references to Trump or abortion from their online profiles in recent months, distancing themselves from divisive subjects that some GOP strategists say are two of the biggest liabilities for the party ahead of the post-Labor Day sprint to Election Day.... The attempts by Republicans in competitive contests to pivot away from abortion and Trump have emboldened Democrats to mount an aggressive offense on those issues, which they see as key to their efforts to outperform once-dim expectations in congressional races."

Cristiano Lima of the Washington Post: "California state lawmakers passed a major children's online safety measure on Tuesday that would require digital platforms to vet whether new products may pose harm to kids and teens before rolling them out and to offer privacy guardrails to younger users by default. Children's safety advocates say the legislation, the California Age-Appropriate Design Code Act, would make the state a national leader in setting protections for kids and teens online. Its passage is part of a growing push nationwide to hold tech companies like Instagram, TikTok and Snapchat accountable for how their services may affect children's mental health and safety. Its passage is likely to heighten calls for Congress to introduce new guardrails for children's personal information and online activity."

Mississippi. Rick Rojas of the New York Times: "More than 150,000 people in Mississippi's capital were without access to safe drinking water on Tuesday, forcing officials to tackle what they described as the 'massively complicated task' of distributing bottled water and devising a plan to restore service without a firm sense of how long that would take. The water system in Jackson, the state's largest city, has been in crisis for years, hobbled by aging and inadequate infrastructure and, many in the city argue, a failure to devote sufficient resources to fix it. Residents have long contended with disruptions in service and frequent boil-water notices, including one that had already been in effect for more than a month because of cloudiness in water samples. But the situation worsened dramatically this week as officials said that the city's largest water treatment plant was failing, pushed to the brink by torrential rains. Homes and businesses were left with little to no water pressure, schools switched to virtual learning, and hospitals brought in portable restrooms as a vital element of a functioning city suddenly collapsed."

     ~~~ Bryan Pietsch of the Washington Post: "The governor of Mississippi urged residents of Jackson, the state's capital and largest city, not to drink the water there -- if they still had access to it -- warning that running water would soon be unavailable as the city's long-struggling treatment plant failed. Gov. Tate Reeves (R) said during an emergency briefing Monday night that the city would be without 'reliable running water at scale' for the near future.... Until the situation is resolved, residents in the city of 150,000 should not drink the water or use it to cook or brush their teeth unless they boil it first, officials said. Reeves said the situation was 'very different' from a boil-water notice, as the water itself would run out -- leaving residents unable to flush their toilets.... There would not even be enough water to fight fires, Reeves said, adding that the state this weekend started gathering alternative sources of water, including for firefighting. Separate sources of drinking water and non-potable water for flushing toilets would be distributed, he said." (Also linked yesterday.)

Virginia. Hannah Natanson of the Washington Post: "A Virginia judge on Tuesday dismissed a lawsuit brought by two Republicans that sought to limit how bookstores and public school libraries could distribute two books to minors, closing -- at least temporarily -- an unusual commercial strategy in the campaign to protect students from literature conservatives say is not age-appropriate. The two books at the heart of the suit are Maia Kobabe's 'Gender Queer,' a memoir about identifying as nonbinary, and Sarah J. Maas's 'A Court of Mist and Fury,' a fantasy novel that depicts a dark fairy romance. Both have drawn objections for their sexual material. The suit, filed in Virginia Beach Circuit Court by Del. Tim Anderson (R-Virginia Beach) and congressional candidate Tommy Altman, aimed to prevent the Virginia Beach school system and locations of the private bookseller Barnes & Noble from selling the books to children without first obtaining parental consent. In her order dismissing the lawsuit, Judge Pamela Baskervill concluded that part of Virginia's state law dealing with obscenity is unconstitutional."

Way Beyond

Ukraine, et al.

The New York Times' live updates of developments Wednesday in Russia's war on Ukraine are here. The Guardian's live updates are here. The Guardian's summary of developments is here. ~~~

     ~~~ The Washington Post's live briefings for Wednesday are here: "Inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) have arrived in Kyiv, and new attacks on Russian forces in the Kherson region are underway, according to Ukrainian officials."

Putin's War on Gorbachev. Anton Troianovski of the New York Times: "In Ukraine, Mr. Putin is fighting in the shadows of the empire whose end Mr. Gorbachev presided over, having started a war that has killed thousands in the name of restoring Moscow's dominance over what it claims to be Russian lands. But Mr. Putin's battle to reverse Mr. Gorbachev's legacy extends beyond territorial control to the personal and political freedoms that the last Soviet president ushered in -- and that the Kremlin is now fast unraveling." Informative read. ~~~

~~~ David Hoffman of the Washington Post: "Mikhail S. Gorbachev, the last leader of the Soviet Union, who embarked on a path of radical reform that brought about the end of the Cold War, reversed the direction of the nuclear arms race and relaxed Communist Party controls in hopes of rescuing the faltering Soviet state but instead propelled it toward collapse, has died in Moscow. He was 91. His death was announced by Russian news agencies, citing the government hospital where he was being treated, but no further details were immediately available." (Also linked yesterday.) The New York Times obituary is here.

Stanley Reed of the New York Times: "Gazprom, Russia's government-owned energy giant, shut off natural gas flows early Wednesday through Nord Stream 1, the critical pipeline that connects Russia to Germany, raising fresh worries about European energy supplies. Gazprom said the cutoff was temporary and was necessary for maintenance, although the German government and energy executives consider it to be politically motivated. After three days, Gazprom said, the pipeline will restart 'provided that no malfunctions are identified.' It said flows would resume at 20 percent of capacity, the same reduced level it has provided since late July."

Australia. Jennifer Hassan of the Washington Post: "Chris Dawson, an Australian man who became the subject of a popular crime podcast that investigated the 1982 disappearance of his wife, Lynette Dawson, has been found guilty of murdering her, 40 years after her disappearance. Justice Ian Harrison handed down the verdict at the Supreme Court of New South Wales on Tuesday, following a two-month trial that gripped Australia.... Dawson, 74, a former teacher and rugby player, has long maintained his innocence and pleaded not guilty to his wife's murder. He was arrested in 2018 -- the same year millions listened to the podcast 'The Teacher's Pet,' which examined the couple's relationship and the final weeks of 33-year-old Lynette's life."

Iraq. Jane Arraf of the New York Times: "The influential Shiite leader Muqtada al-Sadr tried on Tuesday to defuse an eruption of violence in the Iraqi capital, Baghdad, calling on his followers to stand down after at least 24 people were killed in two days of clashes with security forces. The violence, after three years of relative stability in Baghdad, began on Monday shortly after Mr. Sadr declared on Twitter that he was quitting politics for good. His supporters went out to protest and stormed the heavily protected Green Zone in Baghdad, home to Iraqi government offices, the United Nations and diplomatic missions including the U.S. Embassy. After coming under fire from government security forces, who included members of Iran-backed militias, fighters loyal to Mr. Sadr armed with rifles and rocket-propelled grenades emerged to take on the security forces." (Also linked yesterday.)

Earth. Chris Mooney of the Washington Post: &"Human-driven climate change has set in motion massive ice losses in Greenland that couldn't be halted even if the world stopped emitting greenhouse gases today, according to a study published Monday. The findings in the journal Nature Climate Change project that it is now inevitable that 3.3 percent of the Greenland ice sheet will melt -- equal to 110 trillion tons of ice, the researchers said. That will trigger nearly a foot of global sea-level rise.... While the study did not specify a time frame for the melting and sea-level rise, the authors suggested much of it can play out between now and the year 2100."