The Commentariat -- August 21, 2019

Afternoon Update:

Michael Shear & Zolan Kanno-Youngs of the New York Times: "The Trump administration unveiled a regulation on Wednesday that would allow it to detain indefinitely migrant families who cross the border illegally, replacing a decades-old court agreement that limited how long the government could hold migrant children in custody and mandated the level of care they must receive.... The new regulation would codify minimum standards for the conditions in family detention centers and would specifically abolish a 20-day limit on detaining families in immigration jails, a cap that has prompted President Trump to repeatedly complain about the 'catch and release' of families from Central America and elsewhere into the United States. The change will require approval from a federal judge before it can go into effect, and administration officials said they expect it to be immediately challenged in court." The NPR story is here. Mrs. McC: It's like, it's like, DHS has revealed Stephen Miller's wet dreams. But left out the torture part.

Jim Tankersley & Emily Cochrane of the New York Times: "The federal budget deficit is growing faster than expected, even as President Trump muses about more tax cuts and other ideas that would add to government debt. The deficit will reach $960 billion for the 2019 fiscal year, which ends Sept. 30, and $1 trillion for the 2020 fiscal year, the Congressional Budget Office said in updated forecasts released on Wednesday. Previously, it had projected an $896 billion deficit for 2019 and $892 billion for 2020. Those numbers would be even higher, if not for lower-than-expected interest rates, which are reducing the cost of servicing the national debt." The CBS/AP story is here.

Felicia Sonmez of the Washington Post: "President Trump said Wednesday that Jewish Americans who vote for Democratic candidates are 'very disloyal to Israel,' expanding on his remarks from the previous day and dismissing criticism that his remarks were anti-Semitic.... Asked by a reporter Wednesday to clarify his remarks, [Trump said,] 'In my opinion, the Democrats have gone very far away from Israel... I cannot understand how they can do that .. In my opinion, if you vote for a Democrat, you're being very disloyal to Jewish people and you're being very disloyal to Israel. And only weak people would say anything other than that.'" ...

     ... The NBC News story, by Allan Smith, is here. "Then, while speaking to reporters on Wednesday about his efforts to take on China's trade practices, Trump pointed at the sky and said, 'I am the chosen one.'" ...

... John Wagner of the Washington Post: "President Trump went on Twitter on Wednesday to quote a conservative radio host and known conspiracy theorist who praised him as 'the greatest President for Jews' and claimed that Israelis 'love him like he is the second coming of God.' In his tweets, Trump thanked Wayne Allyn Root for 'the very nice words.'... In his Wednesday morning tweets, Trump quoted Root saying, 'President Trump is the greatest President for Jews and for Israel in the history of the world, not just America, he is the best President for Israel in the history of the world ... and the Jewish people in Israel love him like he's the King of Israel.'... 'But American Jews don't know him or like him,' Root continued, according to Trump's tweets. 'They don't even know what they're doing or saying anymore. It makes no sense! But that's OK, if he keeps doing what he's doing, he's good for all Jews, Blacks, Gays, everyone. And importantly, he's good for everyone in America who wants a job.' In his own words, Trump added: 'Wow!'" ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: As Wagner notes, "Jews do not believe in a second coming.” That, of course, is because they don't believe in Christians' claim there was a first coming. See also today's Comments. ...

... Beth Levin of Vanity Fair: "It's probably self-evident that anyone claiming Trump is the Messiah is not right in the head, but just so it's on the record, Wayne Allyn Root -- a self-described 'Jew turned evangelical Christian' -- is an unhinged conspiracy theorist who believes the 2017 Las Vegas shooting was a 'coordinated Muslim terror attack' by ISIS and that George Soros paid actors to stage the 'Unite the Right' rally in Charlottesville that included Nazi chants like 'Jews will not replace us.' Trump, incredibly, seems to believe that he's going to win over Jewish voters by telling them they don't [know] what's good for them ('They don't even know what they're doing or saying anymore!')."

This thread, not a full day after calling American Jewish Democrats disloyal, is eschatological antisemitism from a right wing extremist. It draws a line between good (right wing and/or Israeli) and bad (liberal) Jews. This is stochastic terrorism. -- Rabbi Andy Kahn, in a tweet

The President is a raving lunatic. He is not well. -- Andrew Gillum in a tweet ...

... Jonathan Chait: "If the president is seeking more insight into why Jews have failed to jump onto the Trump train, this tweetstorm itself supplies more evidence. Root is taking the traditional complaint that Christians make against Jews -- Why are you stiff-necked people forsaking your Lord and Savior? -- and substituting Trump himself for the role of the Messiah. The traditional Trumpist overture to Jews is that Trump might go after all the other minority groups but definitely won't turn on Jews. That approach having failed to yield dividends, he is now turning to castigating them for failing to worship the true King of the Jews and veritable Second Coming of God. 'They don't even know what they're doing or saying anymore' is not usually a good pitch for any constituency. And where Jews specifically are concerned, the whole 'Second Coming' thing remains a bit of a sensitive area."

It's What He Says about Women. Maggie Haberman of the New York Times: "President Trump on Wednesday said that the new prime minister of Denmark was 'nasty' to him when she rejected his interest in purchasing Greenland, as he explained why he abruptly canceled a trip to the European nation next month. Mr. Trump made the remarks to reporters outside the White House as he departed for a trip to Kentucky for an official event. he statement from Mette Frederiksen, the 41-year-old prime minister of Denmark, had called Mr. Trump's hope of buying Greenland 'absurd,' a statement the president called 'nasty.'... 'She's not talking to me, she's talking to the United States of America,' he said. 'They can't say "how absurd."'" ...

... Allie Malloy of CNN: "The President has frequently used the word 'nasty' to describe women he is angry with." Malloy cites "nasty" remarks Trump made about Nancy Pelosi, Meghan Markle, Hillary Clinton, Kamala Harris & Elizabeth Warren.

~~~~~~~~~~

Chicken Little. Elaina Plott of the Atlantic: Shortly after the massacres in El Paso, Texas, & Dayton, Ohio, Ivanka Trump thought she had talked her father into hosting a Rose Garden ceremony in which he would sign a measure enhancing background checks. On August 7, Donald Trump called Wayne LaPierre of the NRA to discuss the plan. "The president reportedly asked LaPierre whether the NRA was willing to give in at all on background checks. LaPierre's response, the sources said, was unequivocal: 'No.' With that, 'the Rose Garden fantasy,' as the NRA official described it to me, was scrapped as quickly as it had been dreamed up. Earlier this [Tuesday] afternoon, according to a person briefed on the call, the president told LaPierre in another phone call that universal background checks were off the table." ...

... The Bad News: Innocent People Will Needlessly Die. The Good News: White House Issues the Most Excellent Doublespeak Ever. Gregg Re of Fox "News": "The White House pushed back late Tuesday on claims by the National Rifle Association (NRA) that President Trump said universal background checks were off the table.... A White House official, speaking to Fox News, maintained that 'meaningful' new background checks remained a legislative option, and denied that Trump said he supported universal background checks." Mrs. McC: So the White House (1) denied that Trump had taken universal background checks off the table & (2) denied that Trump had ever supported universal background checks.

Orion Rummler of Axios: "President Trump told reporters in the Oval Office Tuesday that he didn't 'buy' the tears from Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) at a recent press conference addressing Israel's decision to bar entry to her and Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.), adding that Jewish Americans who vote for Democrats show either 'a total lack of knowledge or great disloyalty.'" Emphasis added. ...

... Julie Davis of the New York Times: Trump's language echoed the anti-Semitic smear that Jews are more devoted to Israel than they are to their own country, an accusation that goes as far back as the Roman Empire and is now used by white nationalists.... 'It's unclear who @POTUS is claiming Jews would be "disloyal" to,' Jonathan Greenblatt, the chief executive of the Anti-Defamation League, said on Twitter..., 'but charges of disloyalty have long been used to attack Jews.' Logan Bayroff ... of J Street, a progressive Jewish organization, said: '... it is no surprise that the president's racist, disingenuous attacks on progressive women of color in Congress have now transitioned into smears against Jews.'... [Trump's] remark was the latest from a president who has a history of language that stokes racial and religious divisions, some of which have surfaced recently in the statements and writings of deranged people bent on committing violence." ...

     ... Mrs. Bea McCrabbie: This is how crazy Trump is now. I leave it to your imagination as to how stark-staring mad he will be by election day 2020. ...

I am a proud Jewish person, and I have no concerns about voting Democratic. And in fact, I intend to vote for a Jewish man to become the next president of the United States. -- Sen. Bernie Sanders, at a rally in Sioux City, Iowa ...

... Jacob Kornbluh of Jewish Insider:"Jewish Democrats rushed to condemn Trump's statement. Halie Soifer, executive director of Jewish Democratic Council of America, said in a statement, 'This is yet another example of Donald Trump continuing to weaponize and politicize anti-Semitism.' The president's 'appalling' statement reveals that 'his professed support for Israel is based on personal political calculation, not principled commitment,' the Democratic Majority for Israel said on Twitter. Aaron Keyak, former National Jewish Democratic Council head, told JI, 'Just because President Trump is deeply unpopular in our community is no reason to slander us with echoes of some of the most insidious attacks against our people.' The Republican Jewish Coalition (RJC) defended the president. 'It shows a great deal of disloyalty to oneself to defend a party that protects/emboldens people that hate you for your religion,' the RJC tweeted." ...

... Conservative Philip Klein of the Washington Examiner: "No matter which way one wants to interpret this comment, it's sickening coming from an American president -- all the more bizarre coming as he has been unleashing a barrage of attacks on Tlaib and Omar for anti-Semitism.... [Trump] has up to this point avoided turning his wrath on Jews, but given his history of flipping on people he views as 'disloyal,' his comments make me wonder what would happen if, as is most likely, Jews overwhelmingly vote against him despite his pro-Israel policies." ...

... Batya Ungar-Sargon of the Forward: "President Trump, long a trafficker in anti-Semitic stereotypes, treated American Jews to a classic anti-Semitic canard Tuesday afternoon.... The dual loyalties trope is a classic of anti-Semitic literature. The idea that Jews are more loyal to each other or to Israel than to the countries where they live has long been used as an excuse to vilify our communities and to whip up pogroms against us. It's been used to justify our torture, murder, and even genocide. That the President of the United States would suggest that we vote for his party or be called traitors is an absolutely horrifying state of affairs, reminiscent of the worst periods of Jewish history.... Who in the Republican Party -- so quick to call out Democrats for their failures -- will call him out for this?... Someone close to the President clearly knows the comment was problematic: It was edited out of the White House's [video] version of the press conference...." Similarly, Democrats have failed to call out Omar & Tlaib for their recent anti-Semitic actions. "It's getting to the point where separating out left wing anti-Semitism from right wing anti-Semitism feels moot...." ...

... Brett Samuels of the Hill: "President Trump on Tuesday ramped up his attacks on Rep. Rashida Tlaib after the Michigan Democrat got emotional at a press conference criticizing Israel over its decision to bar her from entering the country last week. 'Sorry, I don't buy Rep. Tlaib's tears,' Trump tweeted after Tlaib spoke out the previous day about Israel's decision. 'I have watched her violence, craziness and, most importantly, WORDS, for far too long. Now tears?' Trump again claimed that Tlaib 'hates Israel and all Jewish people,' and called her an 'anti-Semite.'" (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Wait, Wait. There's More Crazy. Annie Karni of the New York Times: "President Trump on Tuesday night abruptly canceled a coming trip to Denmark, writing on Twitter that because the country's prime minister, Mette Frederiksen, 'would have no interest in discussing the purchase of Greenland,' they would meet 'another time.'... Mr. Trump said he was reacting to Ms. Frederiksen's hard rejection of his interest [in buying Greenland].... Mr. Trump was scheduled to visit Copenhagen on Sept. 2 and 3, after being invited by Queen Margrethe II. The president was expected to participate in a series of bilateral meetings and meet with business leaders, and Ms. Frederiksen had underscored the importance of the session, calling the United States 'Denmark's most important and strongest ally in NATO.'... Mr. Trump ... [previously] claimed that discussing a potential purchase of Greenland, a semiautonomous territory reliant on Danish support, was not the purpose of his trip to Denmark.... The Twitter cancellation appeared to take Mr. Trump's own administration by surprise. 'Denmark is ready for the POTUS @realDonaldTrump visit!' Mr. Trump's ambassador to Denmark, Carla Sands, wrote on Twitter, hours before the trip was pulled back, with a photograph of 'Trump' billboards in place to welcome the president." ...

This is no longer funny. Danish troops fought alongside the US in Afghanistan and Iraq. 50 Danes died. The president dishonors the alliance and their sacrifice. On the same day he sought to appease [Russian President Vladimir] Putin by supporting his return to the G8. -- Thomas Wright of the Brookings Institution, in a tweet ...

... Felicia Sonmez, et al., of the Washington Post: "Trump's announcement suggests that, despite his denials, the central purpose of his trip had been discussion of a U.S. purchase of the massive, glaciered island, which holds increasing value as melting sea ice opens new parts of the Arctic to shipping and resource extraction.... Danish lawmakers, however, were outraged [that the purpose of Trump's had visit apparently had been to buy Greenland].... Senior administration officials had discussed the possibility of offering Denmark a deal in which the United States would take over its annual $600 million subsidy to Greenland in perpetuity, said two people familiar with the talks who were not authorized to reveal the internal deliberations. They also discussed giving Denmark a large one-time payment as well to incentivize the transfer, the people said." ...

      ... The USA Today story is here. ...

... Jonathan Chait: "During the 2016 presidential primary, Ted Cruz said, 'I don't know anyone who would be comfortable with someone who behaves this way having his finger on the button. I mean, we're liable to wake up one morning and Donald, if he were president, would have nuked Denmark.' So the good news is that Trump is still exceeding expectations." ...

... Maybe Trump Thinks Putin Will Sell Him Siberia. Felicia Sonmez of the Washington Post: "President Trump on Tuesday reiterated his call for Russia to be allowed to rejoin the Group of Seven industrial nations, saying it's 'more appropriate to have Russia in.' Trump was speaking with reporters in the Oval Office days before he is set to arrive in France for this weekend's G-7 summit. 'I guess President Obama, because Putin outsmarted him -- President Obama thought it wasn't a good thing to have Russia in, so he wanted Russia out,' Trump said, referring to his predecessor's push for a united stand against Russia after it annexed Ukraine's Crimea region. 'But I think it's much more appropriate to have Russia in.'" The CNBC story is here.

Nearly Every Time Trump Speaks, He Makes Liars of His Staff. Damian Paletta, et al., of the Washington Post: "President Trump on Tuesday confirmed he is considering whether to push for a temporary payroll tax cut or other tax changes amid mounting concerns about an economic slowdown. Trump tried to tout the economy's strength while also spelling out a number of steps he might push for that are usually reserved for periods of significant economic weakness. In addition to tax-cut ideas that Trump said are under review, he continued Tuesday to push the Federal Reserve to slash interest rates. Trump's comments laid bare increasingly urgent White House discussions that have shifted from public denials that anything is wrong to a review process aimed at soliciting ideas to stimulate the economy.... [Monday,] the White House publicly denied [a payroll tax cut] was under consideration." The ABC News story is here. ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: Way back when Barack Obama was president, I occasionally listened to the daily press briefings (because way back then, there actually were daily press briefings). In response to questions, the press secretary (Jay Carney or Josh Earnest) would sometimes say, "I spoke to the President about that this morning...," or "I haven't spoken to the President about that; I'll get back to you" (which he reportedly usually did). As a result, there was none of this:

WH official yesterday: 'cutting payroll taxes is not something under consideration at this time.'

Trump today, per pool: 'Been thinking about payroll taxes for a long time'
     -- Annie Karni of the New York Times, in a tweet

... Nancy Cook of Politico: "At a fundraising luncheon this week in Jackson, Wyo., headlined by both Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump, acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney acknowledged the [precarious state of the economy] to the GOP elite behind closed doors. If the U.S. were to face a recession, it would be 'moderate and short,' Mulvaney told roughly 50 donors, according to an attendee."

Annals of "Journalism," Ctd. Brandy Zadronsky & Ben Collins of NBC News: "By the numbers, there is no bigger advocate of President Donald Trump on Facebook than The Epoch Times.... Behind the scenes, the media outlet's ownership and operation is closely tied to Falun Gong, a Chinese spiritual community with the stated goal of taking down China's government.... Former practitioners of Falun Gong told NBC News that believers think the world is headed toward a judgment day, where those labeled 'communists' will be sent to a kind of hell, and those sympathetic to the spiritual community will be spared. Trump is viewed as a key ally in the anti-communist fight.... The Epoch Times now wields one of the biggest social media followings of any news outlet.... That engagement has made The Epoch Times a favorite of the Trump family and a key component of the president's re-election campaign.... [I]ts network of news sites and YouTube channels has made it a powerful conduit for the internet's fringier conspiracy theories, including anti-vaccination propaganda and QAnon, to reach the mainstream." Read the whole article. There's too much crazy to summarize. --s

Travis Gettys of the Raw Story: "Federal agents arrested a Washington state man who allegedly threatened to 'exterminate' Latinos as part of a race war he believed would be launched by ... Donald Trump. According to court documents, Eric Lin frequently praised Nazi leader Adolf Hitler online and sent multiple death threats against a woman in Miami and plotted to pay a man to beat her up, reported the Miami New Times. 'The time will come when Miami will burn to the ground -- and every Latin Man will be lined up against a Wall and Shot and every Latin Woman Raped or Cut to Pieces,' Lin wrote Aug. 8, according to investigators." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... Another "Very Fine Person"? Anthony Attrino of NJ.com: New Jersey "State Police troopers who responded to the scene of a traffic accident last month said they found three firearms inside the driver's vehicle, along with bullets and brass knuckles that led to the discovery of a bigger weapons cache at the man's Sussex County home.... 'In the process of extracting Rubino from the motor vehicle in order to render medical treatment, law enforcement observed, among other things, various firearms and ammunition inside Rubino's vehicle,' authorities said in the complaint filed in federal court.... Police then obtained a search warrant for Rubino's home, where they found 14 more firearms, including assault rifles, shotguns, and handguns, authorities said. They also found four high-capacity magazines, ammunition, a grenade launcher, silencer tubes and a ballistics vest, authorities said. Officers also found methamphetamine, more than 6 pounds of marijuana, 200 cannabis vape cartridges and marijuana edibles, authorities said. Inside both the vehicle and the home, police found clothing and bumper stickers with white supremacist and Neo-Nazi slogans along with a document 'containing racist material and purporting to be an instruction manual for owning a slave,' the complaint states."

S.V. Date of the Huffington Post: "... Donald Trump has filed financial disclosure statements that appear to misstate the value and profitability of his Scotland golf courses by $165 million, possibly violating federal laws that are punishable by jail time. Trump claimed in his 2018 U.S. filing that his Turnberry and Aberdeen resorts were each worth more than $50 million. For that same time period, he filed balance sheets with the United Kingdom government showing that their combined debt exceeded their assets by 47.9 million British pounds ― the equivalent of $64.8 million at the exchange rate on Dec. 31, 2017, the date of the last U.K. filing available."

Anne Flaherty & Katherine Faulders of ABC News: "The Trump administration is expected to announce, as early as Wednesday, that it's moving ahead with new rules that would allow for the longer term detention of families traveling with children across the U.S.-Mexico border, according to two government officials familiar with the plan. The government's detention of children has been limited to less than 20 days under a court settlement known as the Flores Settlement Agreement." ...

... Nick Miroff of the Washington Post: "The Trump administration is trying to reach a deal with the Panama government that would allow the United States to send asylum seekers from Africa, Asia and elsewhere to Panamanian territory, if those travelers passed through the country en route to U.S. soil. The 'safe third country' accord would primarily apply to the relatively small but growing numbers of 'extracontinental' asylum seekers who arrive in South America before heading north into Panama through wild jungles and muddy rivers. Acting homeland security secretary Kevin McAleenan will travel to Panama City on Wednesday to meet with the country's newly elected president, Laurentino Cortizo, to 'discuss regional cooperation to confront irregular migration,' the Department of Homeland Security said in a statement." ...

... Jessica Bursztynsky of CNBC: "The U.S. won’t be vaccinating migrant families in holding centers ahead of this year's flu season, despite calls from doctors to boost efforts to fight the infection that's killed at least three children at detention facilities in the past year.... At least three children who were held in detention centers after crossing into the U.S. from Mexico have died in recent months, in part, from the flu, according to a letter to Reps. Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn., and Lucille Roybal-Allard, D-Calif., from several doctors urging Congress to investigate health conditions at the centers. The United States had previously gone almost a decade without any children dying while under U.S. immigration custody."

Presidential Race 2020

Warren is, for once, on the right.Hannah Sayle of the Minneapolis Star Tribune: At a Minnesota rally, Elizabeth Warren met her doppelganger: Stephanie Oyen of Edina, Minnesota. Before the event began, so many people rushed Oyen, thinking she was Warren, that Oyen eventually removed her glasses & blazer.

Charles Pierce: "Unlike several of his colleagues, Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, Democrat of Rhode Island, has managed to find a way to keep busy without the expense and bother of running for president." Read especially the excerpts of Whitehouse's amicus brief to the Supremes regarding a gun case. Mrs. McC: Whitehouse, who was at the top of my next-POTUS list until he chose not to join the stampeding horde, does not mince words, except to say he's very good at chopping them fine & making sure the guests get their just deserts.

David Ignatius of the Washington Post: "The corporate panic about capitalism [-- expressed most forcefully by the Business Roundtable's statement that companies must serve not only shareholders but also customers, employees, suppliers and communities --] could be a turning point, opening the way for a future president to begin fixing the problems of stagnant wages and inequality that are at the core of America's disarray. Business leaders seem to recognize the crisis: ... Corporate America fears the system is failing. President Trump's election reflects a populist rage that threatens America's future prosperity and stability.... [Franklin] Roosevelt saved capitalism by reforming it, redeeming his campaign pledge to 'the forgotten man at the bottom of the economic pyramid.' Who in the current Democratic field can claim this role in 2020?" ...

... ** OR. Eric Levitz of New York: "Coverage of the Business Roundtable's rejection of shareholder value has been largely positive, while criticism has focused less on the substance of the lobby's new position than its alleged insincerity in adopting it.... But the Business Roundtable literally exists to prevent the U.S. government from statutorily mandating corporate America's fulfillment of such obligations. Founded in 1972, the lobby played a leading role in blocking the creation of a consumer-protection agency -- and a progressive revision of labor law -- under Jimmy Carter, thereby setting the stage for an era in which the interests of those' stakeholders' were ruthlessly subordinated to those of corporate stockholders (very much including the Business Roundtable's membership). In light of this history, the lobby's statement reads less like an argument for a less-profit-driven corporate culture than a case against a more democratically managed economy."

Justin Miller of the Texas Observer on how ALEC is preparing state legislators for the 2021 redistricting battle. "ALEC appears to be positioning itself as a key player in the scramble to maximize Republican power for another decade.... The GOP has embarked on a highly controversial and legally dubious crusade -- led by Trump -- to change how districts are drawn in a way that requires a radical reinterpretation of the Constitution's 'one person, one vote' principle. Right now, states draw those districts based on total population counts, but for years, party operatives have quietly plotted to draw state legislative districts based solely on the voter-eligible citizen population -- a move that would increase the power of predominantly white areas and diminish the power of heavily Hispanic areas...."

A Sickening New Definition of "Work Release." David Ovalle of the Miami Herald: "While serving a lenient jail sentence in Palm Beach County, wealthy financier and sex offender Jeffrey Epstein was allowed to leave jail for 'work release' -- at an office at his own organization, the Florida Science Foundation. But at the foundation, according to a newly filed lawsuit, Epstein and his web of associates repeatedly arranged for sex with at least two girls, including one he met when she was 17.... The allegation was included in a trio of lawsuits filed Tuesday by three women who have now come forward to allege that Epstein abused them over years, dangling promises of riches and stability."

Way Beyond the Beltway

Brazil/Earth. Bruce Douglas & Tatiana Freitas of Bloomberg: "Around half a billion bees died in four of Brazil's southern states in the year's first months. The die-off highlighted questions about the ocean of pesticides used in the country's agriculture and whether chemicals are washing through the human food supply -- even as the government considers permitting more.... Since President Jair Bolsonaro took office in January, Brazil has permitted sales of a record 290 pesticides, up 27% over the same period last year, and a bill in Congress would relax standards even further.... Brazil's pesticide use increased 770% from 1990 to 2016, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations." --s

Italy. Jason Horowitz of the New York Times: "Italy's nationalist government collapsed on Tuesday as the country's prime minister [Giuseppe Conte] announced his resignation in the face of a mutinous power play by the hard-line and increasingly popular interior minister, Matteo Salvini.... With Mr. Salvini seated beside him with raised chin, Mr. Conte took aim, accusing him of 'political opportunism,' disregard for Italy's institutions and thrusting the country into a 'vortex of political uncertainty and financial instability.'" The Guardian's story is here. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

U.K. Jennifer Rankin & Jessica Elgot of the Guardian: "The European Union has rebuffed Boris Johnson's attempts to tear up the Irish backstop, in a coordinated response that appeared to close the door on further meaningful Brexit negotiations." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

The Commentariat -- August 20, 2019

Afternoon Update:

Brett Samuels of the Hill: "President Trump on Tuesday ramped up his attacks on Rep. Rashida Tlaib after the Michigan Democrat got emotional at a press conference criticizing Israel over its decision to bar her from entering the country last week. 'Sorry, I don't buy Rep. Tlaib's tears,' Trump tweeted after Tlaib spoke out the previous day about Israel's decision. 'I have watched her violence, craziness and, most importantly, WORDS, for far too long. Now tears?' Trump again claimed that Tlaib 'hates Israel and all Jewish people,' and called her an 'anti-Semite.'"

Travis Gettys of the Raw Story: "Federal agents arrested a Washington state man who allegedly threatened to 'exterminate' Latinos as part of a race war he believed would be launched by ... Donald Trump. According to court documents, Eric Lin frequently praised Nazi leader Adolf Hitler online and sent multiple death threats against a woman in Miami and plotted to pay a man to beat her up, reported the Miami New Times. 'The time will come when Miami will burn to the ground -- and every Latin Man will be lined up against a Wall and Shot and every Latin Woman Raped or Cut to Pieces,' Lin wrote Aug. 8, according to investigators."

Jason Horowitz of the New York Times: "Italy's nationalist government collapsed on Tuesday as the country's prime minister [Giuseppe Conte] announced his resignation in the face of a mutinous power play by the hard-line and increasingly popular interior minister, Matteo Salvini.... With Mr. Salvini seated beside him with raised chin, Mr. Conte took aim, accusing him of 'political opportunism,' disregard for Italy's institutions and thrusting the country into a 'vortex of political uncertainty and financial instability.'" The Guardian's story is here.

Jennifer Rankin & Jessica Elgot of the Guardian: "The European Union has rebuffed Boris Johnson's attempts to tear up the Irish backstop, in a coordinated response that appeared to close the door on further meaningful Brexit negotiations."

~~~~~~~~~~~

Mrs. Bea McCrabbie: I don't know how Tom Tomorrow managed to sneak into the Oval, but here's proof he did. Thanks to Akhilleus for the link. You can click on the comic strip to see a larger image:

Trump & His Crack Team "Don't See a Recession," BUT.... Damian Paletta of the Washington Post: "Several senior White House officials have begun discussing whether to push for a temporary payroll tax cut as a way to arrest an economic slowdown, three people familiar with the discussions said, revealing growing concerns about the economy among President Trump's top economic aides." The Hill has a summary of the WashPo report. ...

... AND.... Maggie Haberman, et al., of the New York Times: "White House officials have begun preparing options to help boost the American economy and prevent it from falling into a recession, including mulling a potential payroll tax cut and a possible reversal of some of President Trump's tariffs, according to people familiar with the discussions. Mr. Trump continues to insist the economy is 'doing tremendously well,' and he and his advisers publicly dismiss any notion of an impending recession. But behind the scenes, Mr. Trump's economic team is pulling together contingency plans in the event the economy weakens further." ...

... AND.... AP: "... Donald Trump is calling on the Federal Reserve to cut interest rates by at least a full percentage point 'over a fairly short period of time,' saying that such an action would make the U.S. economy even better and would also 'greatly and quickly' enhance the global economy. In two tweets Monday, Trump kept up his pressure on the Fed and its chairman Jerome Powell, saying the U.S. economy was strong 'despite the horrendous lack of vision by Jay Powell and the Fed.' Powell is Trump's hand-picked choice for the top Fed job. He said Democrats were trying to 'will' the economy to deteriorate ahead of the 2020 election.... Trump also said the central bank should consider supplying 'quantitative easing' as well, the term economists use to describe the Fed's efforts to restart economic growth over the 2007-2009 recession by buying bonds to lower long-term interest rates." ...

The fundamentals of our economy are very strong. -- Kellyanne Conway, August 2019; John McCain, September 2008 ...

... AND.... Oops! Zeke Miller & Josh Boak of the AP: "The 'fundamentals' of the U.S. economy are solid, [Kellyanne Conway] asserted on Monday, invoking an ill-fated political declaration of a decade ago amid mounting concern that a recession could imperil ... Donald Trump's reelection.... Republican John McCain was accused of being out of touch when he made a similar declaration during the 2008 presidential campaign just hours before investment bank Lehman Brothers filed for bankruptcy, setting off a stock market crash and global financial decline." Mrs. McC: Read on for a typical "on the one hand/on the other hand" economic analysis. ...

... Marcy Gordon of the AP: "A strong majority, 74%, of U.S. business economists appear sufficiently concerned about the risks of some of ... Donald Trump's economic policies that they expect a recession in the U.S. by the end of 2021. The economists surveyed by the National Association for Business Economics, in a report released Monday, mostly didn't share Trump's optimistic outlook for the economy, though they generally saw recession coming later than they did in a survey taken in February. Thirty-four percent of the economists surveyed said they believe a slowing economy will tip into recession in 2021. That's up from 25% in the February survey."

We've Seen This Show Before. Matthew Vann of ABC News: "After ... Donald Trump appeared to respond to a groundswell of public support for tougher gun sale background checks..., his language -- and possibly his stance -- on new gun control measures seems to be softening. Just a few weeks ago, Trump told reporters 'we have to have very meaningful background checks' as he left the White House just days following the shootings in El Paso, Texas and Dayton, Ohio.... But now..., Trump on Sunday appeared to back off on any new push background checks, again calling mental health the actual problem. 'I'm saying Congress is going to be reporting back to me with ideas, the president told reporters as he prepared to board Air Force One in Morristown, New Jersey. '... And I'll look at it very strongly. But just remember, we already have a lot of background checks. OK?'" ...

... Burgess Everett of Politico: "Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi are lamenting ... Donald Trump's apparent about-face on enhanced backgrounds for firearm sales, with Schumer calling the move 'not only disappointing but also heartbreaking.'"

Coral Davenport & Hiroko Tabuchi of the New York Times: "The White House, blindsided by a pact between California and four automakers to oppose President Trump's auto emissions rollbacks, has mounted an effort to prevent any more from joining the other side. Toyota, Fiat Chrysler and General Motors were all summoned by a senior Trump adviser to a White House meeting last month where he pressed them to stand by the president's own initiative, according to four people familiar with the talks. But even as the White House was working to do this, it was losing ground. Yet another company, Mercedes-Benz, is now preparing to join the California agreement, according to two people familiar with the German company's plans. Mr. Trump, described by three people as 'enraged' by California's deal, has also demanded that his staffers step up the pace to complete his plan. His proposal, however, is directly at odds with the wishes of many automakers, which fear that the aggressive rollbacks will spark a legal battle between California and the federal government that could split the United States car market in two."

"I Call the Shots at Fox." Bianca Quilantan of Politico: "... Donald Trump on Sunday slammed his preferred news network over recent unfavorable poll results, saying: 'There's something going on at Fox [News], I'll tell you right now. And I'm not happy with it.' Trump's comments to reporters in New Jersey were in response to a question about the network's recent survey showing the president losing head-to-head matchups against four of the top Democratic presidential primary candidates.... He also ... signaled a warning about the the general election cycle. 'And I think Fox is making a big mistake,' the president said when asked about the polling and the network's leadership. 'Because, you know, I'm the one that calls the shots on that -- on the really big debates.'" Missed this Sunday. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Heather Caygle & Kyle Cheney of Politico: "The push to remove the president from office gained momentum on Monday after the No. 4 House Democrat announced support for an impeachment investigation into Donald Trump. Ben Ray Luján, a close ally of Speaker Nancy Pelosi, is the highest-ranking House Democrat to back impeachment thus far. The New Mexico Democrat, who currently serves as assistant speaker, is running to fill an open Senate seat in his home state next year."

Trump Helps ISIS. Eric Schmitt, et al., of the New York Times: "Five months after American-backed forces ousted the Islamic State from its last shard of territory in Syria, the terrorist group is gathering new strength, conducting guerrilla attacks across Iraq and Syria, retooling its financial networks and targeting new recruits at an allied-run tent camp, American and Iraqi military and intelligence officers said.... Mr. Trump has continued to claim credit for completely defeating the Islamic State, contradicting repeated warnings from his own intelligence and counterterrorism officials that ISIS remains a lethal force.... A recent inspector general's report warned that a drawdown this year from 2,000 American forces in Syria to less than half of that, ordered by Mr. Trump, has meant the American military has had to cut back support for Syrian partner forces fighting ISIS.... "

Lauren Gambino of the Guardian: "On Monday night, Trump tweeted an edited photo of a coastal town [in Greenland] dotted with colorful homes -- all dwarfed by a golden skyscraper bearing the US president's name. 'I promise not to do this to Greenland!' Trump said. The tweet came a day after he confirmed news reports that he was mulling the idea of buying the autonomous Danish territory.... Trump, ever the businessman, apparently cannot resist the prospect of what he has called 'essentially a large real estate deal' with miles of coastline."

Susan Glasser of the New Yorker writes a long profile of Mike Pompeo, and though her delivery is dispassionate, it would she doesn't like him much. She writes barely anything to recommend him. The part about Trump's hiring Pompeo to head the CIA is funny, though. ...

Chris Rodrigo of the Hill: "Attorney General William Barr on Monday announced he had removed the acting director of the Federal Bureau of Prisons one week after the death of Jeffrey Epstein. Dr. Kathleen Hawk Sawyer, who previously occupied the role between 1992 and 2003, will take over as the new director. The death of Epstein, who was accused of sex trafficking, has led to scrutiny of the Metropolitan Correctional Center where he was in custody." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... Devlin Barrett of the Washington Post: "Barr said [acting director Hugh] Hurwitz would return to his previous role as an assistant director for the bureau's reentry programs. The attorney general did not mention the Epstein case in his announcement.... Barr also appointed Thomas R. Kane to serve as her deputy, a position currently vacant. Even before Epstein's death, Justice Department officials privately expressed frustration with senior officials at the Bureau of Prisons, but the apparent management flaws found since have angered the department's leaders, including the attorney general, according to law enforcement officials who, like others interviewed for this report, spoke on the condition of anonymity." ...

     ... Barr Recycles His Old Appointees. Mrs. McCrabbie: According to a report I heard on MSNBC, Barr had appointed Sawyer to the same job in 1992 & had appointed Kane as deputy assistant director in 1991. Think they'll shake up the Bureau of Prisons & make it all better? ...

... He Put His Affairs in Order Right Before Killing Himself. Steve Eder & Ali Watkins of the New York Times: "Less than 48 hours before Jeffrey Epstein hanged himself, he was preparing for death: He had just signed his will, according to court documents filed on Monday in the Virgin Islands.... The document's timing, in hindsight, was a harbinger of the abrupt end of Mr. Epstein's life of privilege. In creating the trust, Mr. Epstein, who had cultivated an air of mystery before he was arrested in early July on federal sex-trafficking charges, may have been attempting to shield his final dealings from public scrutiny. The operations of a trust generally are kept secret, unlike litigation associated with a traditional will...." ...

     ... Kate Briquelet of the Daily Beast: "Jeffrey Epstein signed his last will and testament just two days before he killed himself in his Manhattan jail cell -- naming as his backup executor a former adviser to Bill Gates who doesn't even want the job.... [Boris] Nikolic was reportedly 'shocked' to learn that he was listed in the will -- which dictates that all of Epstein's personal property should go to the trustees of a mysterious entity called The 1953 Trust. 'I was not consulted in these matters and I have no intent to fulfill these duties, whatsoever,' he said in a statement obtained by Bloomberg."

Pam Belluck of the New York Times: "Planned Parenthood said Monday that it would withdraw from the federal family planning program that provides birth control and other health services to poor women rather than comply with a new Trump administration rule that forbids referrals to doctors who can perform abortions. Planned Parenthood receives about $60 million annually through the federal program, known as Title X. The funds have enabled the group to provide more than 1.5 million low-income women each year with services like birth control and pregnancy tests, as well as screenings for sexually transmitted diseases and breast and cervical cancer. In some rural communities, Planned Parenthood is the only provider of such services." The CBS News story is here. ...

      ... Mrs. McCrabbie: This is a calamity for American women -- as well as men & unborn children -- a calamity that falls directly at the feet of the Misogynist-in-Chief & his anti-woman sidekick mike pence. ...

... Here's an Example. Ethan DeWitt of the Concord (New Hampshire) Monitor (August 14): "The trend lines are clear: A 17% increase in chlamydia rates in New Hampshire over a recent five-year period; a 103% surge in the syphilis rate; a 352% explosion of gonorrhea [in] New Hampshire..., according to numbers published by the Department of Health and Human Services in 2018.... A decision by the Trump administration to add new restrictions to federal funding for health care clinics that provide abortions -- most notably Planned Parenthood -- has taken a bite out of other health services, the organizations say. And an attempt by New Hampshire lawmakers to alleviate that loss of funds via state money has also been put on ice, after a budget veto by Gov. Chris Sununu [R].... Without federal funding or state backup money, Planned Parenthood has seen a 25% hit to its operating budget, and other family planning centers are feeling crimped as well.... One casualty of that funding crunch, providers say: STD testing." Emphasis added. ...

... Melissa Grant of the New Republic: "Planned Parenthood might be the largest and most visible target of Trump's religious-right, anti-choice base. But all told, there are nearly 4000 Title X-funded family planning programs, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation, and they served more than 4 million people in the last fiscal year. Losing Title X, for the average clinic, means losing 19 percent of their funding, leaving people in need of family planning services with fewer choices. A 2019 report from the Guttmacher Institute put it bluntly: 'The Trump administration is seeking to transform Title X from an agent of reproductive autonomy to a tool of government-sponsored reproductive coercion.'"

Presidential Race 2020

Elana Schor & Josh Funk of Politico: "... Elizabeth Warren offered a public apology Monday to Native Americans over her past claim to tribal heritage, directly tackling an area that's proved to be a big political liability. 'Like anyone who has been honest with themselves, I know I have made mistakes,' the Massachusetts senator said at a forum on Native American issues in this pivotal early-voting state. 'I am sorry for the harm I have caused.' Monday's remarks were an effort to move past the fallout from her past claims of tribal ancestry, which culminated in a widely criticized release of a DNA analysis last year. The issue nearly derailed her campaign in the early days as ... Donald Trump began derisively referring to her as 'Pocahontas.'... The detailed policy agenda to help Native Americans that she released last week helped her secure a warm reception from attendees at the tribal forum." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: Warren seems to have a knack for making lemonade out of lemons. Not only has she helped herself with Native Americans, she has used Trump's racist "Pocahontas" taunt to help raise general awareness of Native American issues. Trump, true to form, has learned nothing. The rest of us have been luckier.

Matt Stieb of New York: "In June, a small ... controversy flared after Washington governor Jay Inslee proposed a field-wide town hall on climate change and the Democratic National Committee told him that if he participated in an unofficial event focused on the crisis of our time, he would be barred from official DNC debates in the future. In July, the tone of the conversation changed when CNN announced it would host a climate-only debate in New York on September 4 for candidates who made the cut for the next all-issue debate by snagging at least 2 percent in four qualifying polls. Unfortunately for Inslee -- who has proposed a plan for a 100 percent-renewable, zero-emission America by 2035 -- it appears unlikely that he will get invited to the debate he proposed, as he hasn't reached 2 percent in any polls approved by the DNC."

Paul Rosenberg of Salon: Rachel Bitecofer, a political scientist who in July 2018 nailed the outcome of the 2018 Congressional races, says the Democratic presidential candidate will win the Electoral College with a bare majority of 278 electoral votes, just above the 270 needed to win. She has Trump at 197 electoral votes, with four toss-up states.

Charles Pierce of Esquire: "Weaponized paranoia always has been at the heart of El Caudillo del Mar-a-Lago's political identity. In the tangles of his mind, he is always standing strong and alone against a vast array of enemies, including the minions of The Deep State and certain Guatemalan toddlers. If he feels like his presidency* is in serious peril, he's liable to go off the deep end. He's already setting up the members of the cult to refuse to accept the result of any election he doesn't win. (He's recently gone off again about those busloads of Massachusetts voters who drove to New Hampshire to deprive him of his win there in 2016.) If a recession hits, he's already blamed his own Fed chair and the evil media."

Presidential Election 2016. Harper Neidig of the Hill: "President Trump alleged Monday that Google manipulated millions of voters into supporting former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in the 2016 election, saying the company 'should be sued' in his latest attack on the tech giant.... Trump appears to be referring to the work of Robert Epstein, a researcher with a group based in Vista, Calif.... Epstein testified in a Senate hearing in June about what he calls the 'Search Engine Manipulation Effect' and claimed that his research shows Google's search results pushed at least 2.6 million people to vote for Clinton in 2016.... In 2017, Google dismissed Epstein's research, telling The Washington Post that it amounts to 'nothing more than a poorly constructed conspiracy theory.'" ...

... Philip Bump of the Washington Post has more on Trump's conspiracy theory, which was instigated by a Fox "News" segment. Bump pokes many holes in Epstein's "research results." ...

The debunked study you're referring to was based on 21 undecided voters. For context that's about half the number of people associated with your campaign who have been indicted. -- Hillary Clinton, Monday, in a tweet

Senate Race 2020?? Charles Pierce: "A point of personal privilege -- Democratic politics here in the Commonwealth [of Massachusetts] (God save it!) lost a bit of its mind over the weekend. The New York Times tells us that Rep. Joe Kennedy, who happens to be my congressman, not that it matters, is seriously considering a primary challenge to incumbent Senator Edward Markey.... A Kennedy-Markey primary fight would blot out the sky in terms of coverage and money, both of which might be better used elsewhere in the Democratic effort to make Mitch McConnell a civilian again. There is no good policy reason I can see to vote for Joe Kennedy over Ed Markey."

Matt Ford of the New Republic: "It went largely unnoticed last week, but the Trump administration's ongoing campaign to structurally tilt American democracy in the Republican Party's favor is proceeding apace.... Donald Trump ordered the Census Bureau to compile citizenship data from existing federal records last month, after the Supreme Court effectively blocked a citizenship question on the census itself.... By also providing block-level data on eligible voters, the bureau is opening the door for states to redraw their legislative maps in 2021 based on that population base instead.... The effects of extreme partisan gerrymandering and stringent voter-ID laws would be amplified.... If past is prologue, the corrosion of American democracy only stands to worsen." Ford deplores the fairly secretive nature of this newest plot. ...

... Tierney Sneed of TPM: "Hans von Spakovsky -- a former member of ... Trump's voter fraud commission known for overhyping claims of mass voter fraud -- is encouraging states to move forward with an anti-immigrant, GOP-friendly redistricting overhaul, using citizenship data the Census Bureau is planning to produce. In an interview [at a ALEC conference] posted Friday, von Spakovsky acknowledged that such a change to redistricting would 'probably' benefit Republicans." --s

Ashley Southall of the New York Times: "The New York City police officer whose chokehold was partly blamed for Eric Garner's death in police custody in 2014 was fired from the Police Department on Monday, ending a bitter, five-year legal battle that had cast a shadow over the nation's largest police force and the city it protects. The police commissioner, James P. O'Neill, dismissed the officer, Daniel Pantaleo, just over two weeks after a police administrative judge found him guilty of violating a department ban on chokeholds. Mr. Garner died on July 17, 2014, after Officer Pantaleo tackled him from behind, then, along with other officers, pressed him down on the pavement. Captured on video, the arrest and Mr. Garner's last words -- 'I can't breathe' -- gave impetus to the Black Lives Matter movement." Here's the Daily Beast story. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: So what it takes to get fired from the NYPD is murdering a person in broad daylight on a public street, with numerous witnesses & a video camera rolling, in response to a minor, non-violent offense (selling loose cigarettes).

Jason Silverstein of CBS News: "Two members of the far-right group Proud Boys were found guilty Monday of charges stemming from a brawl with anti-fascist protesters near a Republican club in Manhattan in 2018. Maxwell Hare, 27, and John Kinsman, 39, were convicted of attempted gang assault, attempted assault and riot charges. A Manhattan Supreme Court jury deliberated for less than two days on the charges. Hare and Kinsman will be sentenced Oct. 11. They face up to 15 years in prison for the attempted gang assault convictions." ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: It's worth remembering that way back this past weekend, Donald Trump tweeted in response to civil unrest in Portland, Oregon, that the anti-facist group Antifa should be designated a terrorist organization. Trump wrote nothing about the Proud Boys, against whom Antifa was protesting. As Zeshan Aleem wrote for Vox, the Proud Boys "... did not receive a permit for the rally [in Portland].... The Proud Boys [is] a group of self-proclaimed 'Western chauvinists' with links to the white supremacist rally in Charlottesville in 2017 and a history of violence against left-wing activists. The Southern Poverty Law Center has designated them as a hate group."

Justin Noble of DeSmog: "In July 2015 workers at the Garden Creek I Gas Processing Plant, in Watford City, North Dakota, noticed a leak in a pipeline and reported a spill to the North Dakota Department of Health that remains officially listed as 10 gallons.... But a whistle-blower has revealed to DeSmog the incident is actually on par with the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill in Alaska, which released roughly 11 million gallons of thick crude. The Garden Creek spill 'is in fact over 11 million gallons of condensate that leaked through a crack in a pipeline for over 3 years,' says the whistle-blower, who has expertise in environmental science but refused to be named.... [The whistleblower] provided to DeSmog a document that details remediation efforts and verifies the spill's monstrous size...." --s

Susie Cagle of Mother Jones: "Anti-immigrant ideology has been part and parcel of the whole of American conservationism since the first national park was founded, in part to protect wild yet white-owned nature from Mexicans and Native Americans. National purity and natural purity were inextricably linked.... The current rise of eco-minded white supremacy follows a direct line from the powerful attorney, conservationist and eugenicist Madison Grant -- a friend of trees, Teddy Roosevelt, and the colonial superiority of white land stewardship. Grant, along with the influential naturalist John Muir [the founder of the Sierra Club] and other early Anglo-Saxon conservationists, was critical in preserving the country's wildlands for white enjoyment." --s

New York Times Magazine: "The 1619 Project is a major initiative from The New York Times observing the 400th anniversary of the beginning of American slavery. It aims to reframe the country's history, understanding 1619 as our true founding, and placing the consequences of slavery and the contributions of black Americans at the very center of the story we tell ourselves about who we are." This is a series of articles that discuss aspects of slavery and long-term effects. ...

... They Can't Handle the Truth. Inae Oh of Mother Jones: Confederates are very, very angry about the project.

Way Beyond the Beltway

Hong Kong/China. Steven Myers> & Javier Hernández of the New York Times: "By massing the troops within view of Hong Kong, the semiautonomous territory convulsed by protests, China's Communist Party is delivering a strong warning that the use of force remains an option for Beijing. It is also a stark reminder that military power remains a bedrock of the party's legitimacy." ...

... Annie Palmer of CNBC: "Twitter and Facebook have suspended numerous accounts that they say are tied to a Chinese disinformation campaign against pro-democracy protesters in Hong Kong. Twitter said Monday it suspended 936 accounts likely related to the activity. The company said the disinformation campaign was designed to' sow political discord in Hong Kong, including undermining the legitimacy and political protest movement on the ground.'"

Russia. Matt Stieb of New York: "Almost two weeks after the explosion ... at a military testing site outside Severodvinsk..., details of cover-up efforts continue to emerge.... The suppression of information, the proposed evacuation, the unclear comments from the state have all been spurring inevitable comparisons to the Chernobyl disaster, in which the government delayed its reaction and misreported radiation levels, resulting in profound levels of radiation exposure."

The Commentariat -- August 19, 2019

Afternoon Update:

Elana Schor & Josh Funk of Politico: "... Elizabeth Warren offered a public apology Monday to Native Americans over her past claim to tribal heritage, directly tackling an area that's proved to be a big political liability. 'Like anyone who has been honest with themselves, I know I have made mistakes,' the Massachusetts senator said at a forum on Native American issues in this pivotal early-voting state. 'I am sorry for the harm I have caused.' Monday's remarks were an effort to move past the fallout from her past claims of tribal ancestry, which culminated in a widely criticized release of a DNA analysis last year. The issue nearly derailed her campaign in the early days as ... Donald Trump began derisively referring to her as 'Pocahontas.'... The detailed policy agenda to help Native Americans that she released last week helped her secure a warm reception from attendees at the tribal forum."

"I Call the Shots at Fox." Bianca Quilantan of Politico: "... Donald Trump on Sunday slammed his preferred news network over recent unfavorable poll results, saying: 'There's something going on at Fox [News], I'll tell you right now. And I'm not happy with it.' Trump's comments to reporters in New Jersey were in response to a question about the network's recent survey showing the president losing head-to-head matchups against four of the top Democratic presidential primary candidates.... He also ... signaled a warning about the the general election cycle. 'And I think Fox is making a big mistake,' the president said when asked about the polling and the network's leadership. 'Because, you know, I'm the one that calls the shots on that -- on the really big debates.'" Missed this yesterday.

Chris Rodrigo of the Hill: "Attorney General William Barr on Monday announced he had removed the acting director of the Federal Bureau of Prisons one week after the death of Jeffrey Epstein. Dr. Kathleen Hawk Sawyer, who previously occupied the role between 1992 and 2003, will take over as the new director. The death of Epstein, who was accused of sex trafficking, has led to scrutiny of the Metropolitan Correctional Center where he was in custody."

Ashley Southall of the New York Times: "The New York City police officer whose chokehold was partly blamed for Eric Garner's death in police custody in 2014 was fired from the Police Department on Monday, ending a bitter, five-year legal battle that had cast a shadow over the nation's largest police force and the city it protects. The police commissioner, James P. O'Neill, dismissed the officer, Daniel Pantaleo, just over two weeks after a police administrative judge found him guilty of violating a department ban on chokeholds. Mr. Garner died on July 17, 2014, after Officer Pantaleo tackled him from behind, then, along with other officers, pressed him down on the pavement. Captured on video, the arrest and Mr. Garner's last words -- 'I can't breathe' -- gave impetus to the Black Lives Matter movement." Here's the Daily Beast story. ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: So what it takes to get fired from the NYPD is murdering a person in broad daylight on a public street, with numerous witneses & a video camera rolling for a misdemeanor, non-violent offense (selling loose cigarettes).

~~~~~~~~~~

A commenter is no longer receiving notifications of his own & follow-up comments. If you are having the same trouble, please let me know, either in today's Comments section or via e-mai to constantweader@gmail.com  I'll see if Squarespace can correct the glitch. Problem self-corrected. Looks as if it was a lo-o-o-ong Squarespace delay. -- Thank you, Mrs. Bea McCrabbie

Maggie Haberman of the New York Times: "President Trump, confronting perhaps the most ominous economic signs of his time in office, has unleashed what is by now a familiar response: lashing out at what he believes is a conspiracy of forces arrayed against him. He has insisted that his own handpicked Federal Reserve chair, Jerome H. Powell, is intentionally acting against him. He has said other countries, including allies, are working to hurt American economic interests. And he has accused the news media of trying to create a recession.... The president's broadsides follow a long pattern of conspiratorial thinking.... Mr. Trump was frustrated by the news media's coverage of his rally in New Hampshire. He repeatedly complained about misleading pictures of empty seats, or that attendance at the arena had beat Elton John's record crowd there, but no one was covering it." ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: Yes, Haberman makes Trump seem like a petulant whiney-baby. But, for the most part, all she had to do was string together a list of Trump's most recent childish, false complaints.

Allan Smith of NBC News: "Top White House economic advisers on Sunday dismissed growing concerns that the U.S. economy is headed for a recession. National Economic Council Director Larry Kudlow and White House Director of Trade and Manufacturing Policy Peter Navarro appeared on a series of Sunday political talk shows to defend the president's handling of the economy -- particularly the ongoing trade war with China -- and to downplay recent warning signs that the economy could be headed towards a downturn.... 'Meet the Press' host Chuck Todd pointed out that in [December] 2007, just before the onset of the Great Recession, Kudlow wrote that 'there's no recession coming' and the pessimistas were wrong.'"

"How I Spent My Summer Vacation" By Donnie Trump "I Mostly Played Board Games."

Last Week, Trump Played "Monopoly." Zack Budryk of the Hill: "White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow confirmed on Sunday that the Trump administration is 'looking at' purchasing Greenland following reports of its interest last week." The Washington Post story is here. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

     ... Jan Olsen of the AP: "Greenland is not for sale and ... Donald Trump's idea of buying the semi-autonomous Danish territory in the Arctic from Denmark is 'an absurd discussion,' Denmark's prime minister said. Mette Frederiksen, who was visiting the world's largest island to meet Premier Kim Kielsen, told reporters: 'Greenland is not Danish. Greenland is Greenlandic. I persistently hope that this is not something that is seriously meant.' Frederiksen said Sunday that the Arctic, with resources that Russia and others could exploit for commercial gain, 'is becoming increasingly important to the entire world community.'... Trump is expected to visit Denmark Sept. 2-3 as part of a trip to Europe." ...

... Now Trump Is Playing "Battleship." Jonathan Swan of Axios: "President Trump has suggested to national security officials that the U.S. should station Navy ships along the Venezuelan coastline to prevent goods from coming in and out of the country, according to 5 current and former officials who have either directly heard the president discuss the idea or have been briefed on Trump's private comments.... Trump has been raising the idea of a naval blockade periodically for at least a year and a half, and as recently as several weeks ago, these officials said. They added that to their knowledge the Pentagon hasn't taken this extreme idea seriously, in part because senior officials believe it's impractical, has no legal basis and would suck resources from a Navy that is already stretched.... Trump has publicly alluded to a naval blockade of Venezuela. Earlier this month he answered 'Yes, I am' when a reporter asked whether he was mulling such a move. But he hasn't elaborated on the idea publicly."

Daniel Lippman of Politico: "Tom Barrack and Donald Trump have been friends and confidants for more than three decades.... But the intimate relationship between the wealthy California investor and the president has fractured so badly that the two no longer speak, current and former White House officials say. The key issue driving the two men apart: Barrack's role as chairman of the president's 2017 inauguration fund, which is under investigation by prosecutors.... 'The president was really surprised to read all about the inauguration and who was trying to buy access and how, because the president doesn't get any of that money,' said [an] official." Emphasis added. Mrs. McC: Quite a touching story.

Who Knew International Law Could Be So Complicated? Megan Specia of the New York Times: "An Iranian oil tanker held for six weeks after being impounded left Gibraltar on Sunday, days after the authorities there rejected a request from American officials to turn the vessel over to them.... The [U.S.] Justice Department said that multiple parties affiliated with the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps of Iran, which the United States has designated a foreign terrorist organization, were believed involved.... But on Sunday, the Gibraltar government rejected the American request. It said that the warrant had relied on broad United States sanctions against Iran that were not applicable in the European Union.... It was unclear whether the United States intended to seize the vessel now that it has left Gibraltar." The Reuters story is here.

Andrew Kaczynski of CNN: "Ken Cuccinelli, the acting director of US Citizenship and Immigration Services, was a founding member of a group more than a decade ago that described undocumented immigrants as 'foreign invaders' responsible for 'serious infectious diseases, drug running, gang violence, human trafficking, terrorism.' The group, State Legislators for Legal Immigration, was established in 2007, when an immigration revamp was being hotly debated in Congress. Its founding principle was that undocumented immigration represented an invasion of the United States on par with foreign invasion that should justify invoking war powers under the Constitution -- extreme rhetoric Cuccinelli has continued to use in recent years, and that has been adopted by ... Donald Trump and other Republicans." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Eric Schlosser in The Atlantic: "The immigration raid last week at seven poultry plants in rural Mississippi was a perfect symbol of the Trump administration's racism, lies, hypocrisy, and contempt for the poor. It was also a case study in how an industry with a long history of defying the law has managed to shift the blame and punishment onto workers.... According to a recent study by the Center for a Livable Future at Johns Hopkins University, 'The industrial produce and animal production and processing systems in the U.S. would collapse without the immigrant and migratory workforce.' The handful of multinational companies that dominate our food system are hardly being forced to employ immigrant workers. These firms have for many years embraced the opportunity to exploit them for profit.... What Trump has described as an immigrant 'invasion' was actually a corporate recruitment drive for poor, vulnerable, undocumented, often desperate workers." --s

Azam Ahmed of the New York Times: "... a ... staggering number of Central Americans [are] fleeing violence and dysfunction -- and ... the Trump administration is waging ... a dogged fight to keep them out. Across Latin America, a murder epidemic is underway. Most years, more than 100,000 people are killed, largely young men on the periphery of broken societies, where gangs and cartels sometimes take the place of the state. The turmoil has forced millions to flee the region and seek refuge in the United States, where they confront a system strained by record demand and a bitter fight over whether to accept them.... Violence against women, and domestic violence in particular, is a powerful and often overlooked factor in the migration crisis. Latin America and the Caribbean are home to 14 of the 25 deadliest nations in the world for women.... And Central America, the region where most of those seeking asylum in the United States are fleeing, is at the heart of the crisis.... Former Attorney General Jeff Sessions ... issued a decision last year to try to halt victims of domestic violence, among other crimes, from seeking asylum.... Then, last month ... William P. Barr, went further" and determined to halt whole families.

John Timmer of ArsTechnica: "This week, the US Department of Energy released a report that looks back on the state of wind power in the US by running the numbers on 2018. The analysis shows that wind hardware prices are dropping, even as new turbine designs are increasing the typical power generated by each turbine. As a result, recent wind farms have gotten so cheap that you can build and operate them for less than the expected cost of buying fuel for an equivalent natural gas plant.... 2018 saw about 7.6 GigaWatts of new wind capacity added to the grid, accounting for just over 20 percent of the US' capacity additions. This puts it in third place behind natural gas and solar power." --s

Pat Rynard of Iowa Starting Line interviews the only person who attended Rep. Steve King's town hall Saturday -- a hung-over student who is a Democrat & declined to have her picture taken with King "mostly because I plan to run for office and I don't need a picture of Steve King and I [me!] shaking hands...."

Presidential Race

M.J. Lee & Gregory Krieg of CNN: Elizabeth "Warren's efforts to make amends and rebuild her relationships with the Native American community ... have gone far beyond ... apologies, according to CNN's interviews with almost a dozen people. They have included private meetings with tribal leaders, seeking counsel from Native Americans friends, and, on Friday, the release of a set of ambitious policy plans aimed at helping Native people. That outreach will unfold in public on Monday, when Warren speaks at length alongside tribal leaders at a conference hosted by the Native voting rights group, Four Directions, in Sioux City, Iowa." ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: In case you've forgotten, this is what a leader is supposed to do, and often does, when he's made a mistake & inadvertently insulted someone or some group.

Greg Olear in Medium: "The Republican base doesn't care about sex crimes -- unless they involve the Clintons, that is.... Not only do they not believe women, they actively seek to destroy them, as state legislatures have demonstrated in Georg[ia], Alabama, Ohio, Missouri, and elsewhere. It is unlikely that these rank misogynists will be swayed by the dalliances of the late Jeffrey Epstein, however deplorable, unless they somehow implicate Bill Clinton.... As horrible as it is to relate, the fact is that as long as the focus is on sex crimes, Trump -- and his undearly-departed chum Jeffrey Epstein -- will not be damaged. Again: his base does not care.... The only way to get selfish people to hop to is to demonstrate that Trump and his cronies are ripping off — stealing from -- the American people. From them. It's all about the money." --s

Jenna McGregor of the Washington Post: "The organization representing the nation's most powerful chief executives is rewriting how it views the purpose of a corporation, updating its decades-old endorsement of the theory that shareholders' interests should come above all else. The new statement, released Monday by the Business Roundtable, suggests balancing the needs of a company's various constituencies and comes at a time of widening income inequality, rising expectations from the public for corporate behavior and proposals from Democratic lawmakers that aim to revamp or even restructure American capitalism.... The new statement puts an official stamp on a more stakeholder-driven approach to governance that some CEOs have individually advocated for in recent years. It comes more than two decades after the lobbying group, in a 1997 document about corporate governance principles that it has periodically updated, took an explicitly shareholder-first stance." ...

     ... The CNBC story is here. Thanks to Ken W. for the link. In today's Comments, Ken seems a bit skeptical of this miraculous reform.

Stephanie Kirchgaessner of the Guardian: "A new Google policy that was meant to rein in deceptive advertising by 'crisis pregnancy centers' has a loophole that is allowing the centers to continue to post misleading ads on the search engine.... The loophole means only users who are specifically searching under the term 'abortion' will be provided information on Google's website about whether a particular health care clinic does -- or does not -- offer the procedure to women. If a user searches under other terms, like 'free pregnancy test' or 'pregnancy symptoms', no such information appears under the advertisements for the same clinics." --s

Russian Mafia Comes to Arizona. Alison Steinbach of the Arizona Republic: "A proposal to build an aluminum smelting facility ... along the highway connecting Wenden and Salome[, Arizona,] would bring a new industry to the area [and 30 jobs].... Residents, meanwhile, fear it will also bring a host of problems.... Plus, they have questions about the business owners' backgrounds.... [The aluminum company] Technocon is headed by Jacob Gitman, who is known in some legal documents as Yakov Gitman. He was born in the Soviet Union and attended university in Moscow before moving to the United States around 1990.... Jacob Gitman, his companies and his business associates have faced multiple lawsuits alleging fraudulent business dealings.... Jacob Gitman also managed until 2011 Suncoast Air Cargo with Anatoly Golubchik. In 2014, Golubchik and his business partners were convicted of laundering $100 million as part of a 'Russian-American organized crime ring' and a 'racketeering conspiracy' involving primarily Russian and Ukrainian individuals and various shell companies.... Gitman's wife Alisa is a real estate agent for Sib Realty, which sells condos at multiple Trump properties in Florida." --s

The Royal Duke of York (He had a cache of girls. He met them in New York, as Mummy clutched her pearls.) The Daily Mail publishes a video & still shots of Britain's Prince Andrew waving goodbye to a young woman at the front door of Jeffrey Epstein's Manhattan mansion in December 2010. "By then Epstein ... was on a child sex offender register, yet one observer told The Mail on Sunday that several of the women leaving and entering the home while Andrew was apparently inside 'looked very young indeed'." Via the Washington Post. ...

     ... "We Are Not Amused." Rebecca Klar of the Hill: "'The Duke of York has been appalled by the recent reports of Jeffrey Epstein's alleged crimes. His Royal Highness deplores the exploitation of any human being and the suggestion he would condone, participate in or encourage any such behavior is abhorrent,' Buckingham Palace said in a statement, according to multiple reports." Mrs. McC: "Appalling" & "abhorrent," yes. But hard to dismiss with a royal tut-tut.

Mack Lamoureux & Ben Mackuch of Vice News: "A neo-Nazi group focused on providing paramilitary-style training to far-right extremists has been conducting a massive recruitment drive and claims to have already conducted live-fire training with its members. The Base [the translation of Al-Qaeda in English], which is connected to extreme-right groups the Atomwaffen Division and the Feuerkrieg Division, has been promoting its growth on social media with photos announcing its presence in major cities across North America, including New York, Los Angeles, and Seattle, and in Europe, South Africa, and Australia.... 'The Base is particularly dangerous because of [its] focus on developing and sharing skills useful for terrorism and guerilla warfare, such as ambushes, weapons training, and making explosives,' [Joshua] Fisher-Birch [of the Counter Extremism Project, a U.S.-based terrorism watchdog] said. 'This is a radical group that not only wants violence, but is preparing for it.'" --s

Another of the "Very Fine People" at Charlottesville. Jon Haworth of ABC News: "An Ohio man has been arrested for making threats toward a local Jewish community center in New Middletown. James Reardon Jr., 20, has been charged with telecommunications harassment and aggravated menacing and is being held in the Mahoning County Jail on $250,000 bond with a court hearing planned for Monday morning. On Friday, the FBI Violent Crimes Task Force raided Reardon's house and seized a cache of weapons and ammunition, including dozens of round of ammo, multiple semi-automatic weapons, a gas mask and bulletproof armor.... Police initially became aware of Reardon on July 11 when he posted a video on Instagram of a man shooting a semi-automatic rifle with sirens and screams in the background. He tagged the Jewish Community Center of Youngstown in the post.... Reardon is an avowed anti-Semite and white nationalist and attended the deadly 'Unite the Right' rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, in 2017, according to WYTV." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... Dakin Andone, et al., of CNN: "Authorities this weekend announced they had foiled three potential mass shootings after arresting three men in different states who expressed interest in or threatened to carry them out. All three cases were brought to authorities' attention thanks to tips from the public.... In Connecticut, 22-year-old Brandon Wagshol was arrested after authorities said he had expressed interest in committing a mass shooting on Facebook, according to a statement from the FBI and the Norwalk Police Department.... Tristan Scott Wix of Daytona Beach, Florida, was arrested in a Winn-Dixie parking lot on Friday after he sent his ex-girlfriend a series of disturbing texts in which he allegedly threatened to commit a mass shooting, the Volusia County Sheriff's Office said. The ex-girlfriend alerted authorities.... And in Ohio, 20-year-old James Patrick Reardon was arrested for allegedly threatening to carry out a shooting at a Youngstown Jewish community center."

Beyond the Beltway

New York. Ashley Southall of the New York Times: "An administrative judge, in a 46-page opinion obtained by The New York Times, found [the] explanation 'Officer Daniel Pantaleo gave in explaining how he killed Eric Garner to be] 'implausible and self-serving.' The judge, Rosemarie Maldonado, who has recommended that Officer Pantaleo be fired, concluded that he had been 'untruthful' during the interview, according to the opinion that grew out of a departmental trial that ended in June." Here's a Huffington Post summary of the Times story.

Way Beyond

Hong Kong. Verna Yu & Lily Kuo of the Guardian: "An estimated 1.7 million people in Hong Kong -- a quarter of the population -- defied police orders to stage a peaceful march after a rally in a downtown park, after two months of increasingly violent clashes that have prompted severe warnings from Beijing and failed to win concessions from the city's government. Huge crowds filled Victoria Park on Sunday afternoon and spilled on to nearby streets, forcing police to block traffic in the area. Torrential rain came down an hour into the rally, turning the park into a sea of umbrellas. At the same time, protesters walked towards Central, the heart of Hong Kong's business district, and surrounded government headquarters. Police had turned down a plan for Sunday's march submitted by the Civil Human Rights Front group and gave permission only for a rally in the park. Those defying the ban risked being charged with unlawful assembly, which can lead to up to five years in prison." (Also linked yesterday.)"

U.K. Karla Adam & Hannah Knowles of the Washington Post: "An increasingly likely 'no-deal' Brexit could wreak havoc on Britain's economy, infrastructure and social fabric, the government says in classified documents leaked to a British newspaper. The costs of food and social care would rise, while medicines could be delayed, the Sunday Times reported. Border delays would interrupt fuel supplies. Ports would suffer severe disruptions and recover only partially after three months, leaving traffic at 50 to 70 percent of the current flow. Those are some of the effects predicted by 'Operation Yellowhammer,' which the newspaper said was compiled this month by Britain's Cabinet Office and available to those with 'need to know' security clearances." ...

... Rowena Mason of the Guardian: "Downing Street has reacted with fury to the leak of an official document predicting that a no-deal Brexit would lead to food, medicine and petrol shortages, with No 10 sources blaming the disclosure on a hostile former minister intent on ruining Boris Johnson's trip to see EU leaders this week. The leaked document, detailing preparations under Operation Yellowhammer, argues that the most likely scenario is severe extended delays to medicine supplies and shortages of some fresh foods, combined with price rises, if there is a no-deal Brexit on 31 October. It said there would be a return to a hard border on the island of Ireland before long and a 'three-month meltdown' at ports unable to cope with extra checks. Protests could break out across the UK, requiring significant police intervention, and two oil refineries could close, with thousands of job losses, according to the documents."