The Commentariat -- August 4, 2019

Afternoon Update:

Rebecca Klar of the Hill: "Federal authorities are treating the shooting at an El Paso, Texas, Walmart that killed 20 people and wounded 26 more as a case of domestic terrorism and will pursue federal hate crime and firearm charges in connection with the massacre, officials said at a press conference Sunday. Patrick Wood Crusius, 21, was booked into El Paso County Jail early Sunday on capital murder charge, the El Paso Times reported. At the same Sunday morning press conference El Paso County District Attorney Jaime Esparza said his office would seek the death penalty." ...

... Caitlin Oprysko of Politico: Beto O'Rourke, "Cory Booker and Julián Castro, placed blame on Trump for his rhetoric [that encouraged the El Paso shooter]. Mrs. McC: I heard Rep. Tim O'Ryan on MSNBC do the same. I'm surprised & heartened that at least some Democrats are speaking truth to the racist-in-chief.

Trump: A Racist AND a Deadbeat. Kolten Parker of KSAT (San Antonio): "... El Paso officials have been critical of the president in recent months for his refusal to pay a $470,000 debt owed to the city for transportation and security services during his February campaign rally. For six months, the city has sent Trump's campaign invoices for services provided by city departments -- including police, buses, the health department and others -- but has not gotten a response, according to local media.... A local TV station reported two weeks before the shooting that Trump still hadn't paid the debt."

~~~~~~~~~~

Ben Collins of NBC News: "Investigators are examining a screed believed to have been posted online by the suspect in Saturday's fatal shooting at a Texas shopping mall an hour before the attack, senior law enforcement officials say. Investigators are 'reasonably confident' that the suspect, identified by police as Patrick Wood Crusius, 21, of Texas, posted the diatribe on the extremist online forum 8chan before the shooting.... The screed posted to an anonymous extremist message board railed against immigrants in Texas and pushed talking points about preserving European identity in America.... The writing presented itself as a low-cost, low preparation model for deadly attacks and envisioned the actions as part of a larger ideological war.... The author claimed to have developed those beliefs before Trump's presidency.... Law enforcement was already analyzing the document before the mass shooting began and had connected it to a person, but the writing didn't name a target, time, place, or use the suspect's name." ...

... Simon Romero, et al., of the New York Times: The authorities identified the gunman as Patrick Crusius, from a Dallas suburb. He was taken into custody after he surrendered to the police outside the Walmart. The authorities said they were investigating a manifesto Mr. Crusius, who is white, may have posted before the shooting, which described an attack in response to 'the Hispanic invasion of Texas.' 'Right now, we have a manifesto from this individual,' El Paso's police chief, Greg Allen, told reporters, though he said later that law enforcement officers were still not clear whether the gunman had posted the document. The manifesto the chief appeared to be referring to was an anti-immigrant online screed titled 'The Inconvenient Truth.' The post declares support for the gunman who killed 51 people in Christchurch, New Zealand; outlines fears about Hispanic people gaining power in the United States; and appears to discuss specific details about elements of the attack, including weapons.... 'Hispanics will take control of the local and state government of my beloved Texas, changing policy to better suit their needs,' the manifesto said. It added that politicians of both parties are to blame for the United States 'rotting from the inside out,' and that 'the heavy Hispanic population in Texas will make us a Democrat stronghold.'" ...

     ... Mrs. Bea McCrabbie: Assuming investigators are right about the source of the screed, this mass murderer may or may not have harbored such ideas prior to 2015, but Trump certainly exacerbated the murderer's hate-filled belief system. Trump's fingerprints might not be on the rifle, but they're on Crusius' forehead. ...

... Mary Papenfuss of the Huffington Post: "'We've had a rise in hate crimes every single one of the last three years, during an administration where you have a president who's called Mexicans rapists and criminals,' said the former Texas congressman and El Paso native [Beto O'Rourke]. 'He is a racist, and he stokes racism in this country,' O'Rourke added. 'It does not just offend our sensibilities; it fundamentally changes the character of this country and it leads to violence.'" Thanks to PD Pepe for the link. ...

... David Atkins of the Washington Monthly: "While offering the usual thoughts, prayers and condemnations of the violence itself, Republicans have for the most part been remarkably quiet not only about the crisis of gun violence but also about the motives of the shooter.... Fox News tried to blame video games.... But of course, the only Republican politician who really matters is the one whose name spelled in firearms the killer's twitter account allegedly liked in a tweet: ... Donald Trump.... Trump's ... latest tweet (before issuing the usual pabulum 'thoughts and prayers') is as follows: 'Today's shooting in El Paso, Texas, was not only tragic, it was an act of cowardice. I know that I stand with everyone in this Country to condemn today's hateful act. There are no reasons or excuses that will ever justify killing innocent people.' These are not the words of a man disgusted with the terrorist's motives. These are the words of a man disappointed in his tactics. No one says 'there are no reasons or excuses that will ever justify' unless they sympathize with the frustrations of the individual.... Moreover, it's pretty obvious that these aren't Trump's authentic words at all. When Trump actually cares about something, he tweets about it authentically and spontaneously, usually with bizarre random capitalization, grammar errors and misspellings." ...

... Richard Parker of El Paso in a New York Times op-ed: "... the El Paso massacre ... was the inevitable byproduct of the Trump era's anti-immigrant, and anti-Latino invective, which with its pervasive, vile racism has poisoned our nation.... The Trump era ... has brought us walls, internment camps and children in cages. The massacre is the outcome I have feared for years now, and I can't help but feel that its genesis lies with the president of the United States." ...

... There Was This. "The Remark Drew a Chuckle from the President"* William Cummings of USA Today, May 9: "... Donald Trump was tickled Wednesday when an audience member at a Florida rally suggested shooting migrants arriving at the U.S.-Mexican border. Trump was bemoaning the legal protections afforded migrants and espousing the need for a border wall when he asked rhetorically, 'How do you stop these people?' 'Shoot them!' someone shouted from the Panama City Beach crowd.... The remark drew a chuckle from the president, who shook his head, pointed in the audience member's direction and said, 'Only in the Panhandle you can get away with that statement.' 'Only in the Panhandle,"' he repeated to laughs and cheers from the crowd." ...

... April Glaser of Slate: "The document [attributed to the El Paso shooter] had been uploaded to the notorious, unmoderated message board 8chan at 10:15 a.m. local time, and it included a request: 'Do your part and spread this brothers!'... Soon after it was first posted on 8chan, the manifesto could be found On 4chan, another message board with scant rules about what people can or cannot share. And not long after that, it was circulating as images on Twitter and Facebook and easily findable in a Google image search.... The involvement of 8chan is becoming a familiar detail in cases of white-supremacist violence. The El Paso shooting appears to be the second one since the Christchurch massacre to draw from that killer's playbook.... [The] shootings [in Christchurch, New Zealand, Poway, California, & El Paso] appeared to have been designed to go viral -- a horrific act would catch the world's attention, and a manifesto would deliver the hate-filled payload. An anonymous, meme-filled internet backwater, 8chan has long been a place for white supremacists to indoctrinate others -- mostly young white men -- into bigoted ideologies.... Whatever is too gruesome for 4chan finds a home on 8chan. That now includes enthusiasm for a white ethnostate.... Many people come to the politically incorrect boards of 4chan and 8chan from video-game communities, where players looking to laugh at an abasing joke or chat about violent games ... can find friends."

Cora Currier of The Intercept: "A principal goal of the Trump administration's policy at the U.S.-Mexico border -- and in Central America ... -- has been to get other governments to handle the increase in migrants seeking to enter the United States.... Another way to describe these efforts is what the U.S. security establishment has long referred to as 'pushing out the border.' It's not a project that's new to the Trump administration, and it's not one that's unique to the United States, as journalist Todd Miller expounds in his latest book, 'Empire of Borders: The Expansion of the U.S. Border Around the World.'" --s

This could be the headline of at least half the stories about Trump's tweets & chopper chatter: "Trump Defends His Recent Erratic Decision with Lies." Case in point: Tax Axelrod of the Hill reports on Trump's latest fantastical tweets defending his brilliant trade-war strategy against China. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... Lee Moran of the Huffington Post: "Fox News' Neil Cavuto wasted no time in fact-checking ... Donald Trump's latest claims about the tariffs his administration has imposed (and has promised to ramp up) on products imported into the U.S. from China. Trump on Friday told White House reporters that 'the tariffs are not being paid for by our people' but 'by China' because 'of devaluation and because they're pumping money in.' 'Remember this, our country is taking in billions and billions of dollars from China,' the president added. 'We never took in 10 cents from China. And out of that many billions of dollars, we're taking a part of it and giving it to the farmers because they've been targeted by China. The farmers, they come out totally whole,' [Trump claimed.] 'I don't know where to begin here,' responded Cavuto.... 'But just to be clarifying, China isn't paying these tariffs. You are. You know, indirectly and sometimes directly,' he explained.... '... this latest round of tariffs that kick in on September 1, on $300 billion worth of goods at 10%, that will most directly be felt by consumers directly,' he added. 'Because that happens on almost entirely consumer items rather than industrial-related items.... Our governments don't pay these things, you do, one way or another.'" (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Maureen Dowd: "White male privilege is out of fashion these days. Yet we are awash in nostalgia for it. Donald Trump has built a political ideology on nostalgia. And Quentin Tarantino has built a movie ideology on nostalgia. In The Los Angeles Times, Mary McNamara observed that the moral of Tarantino's new fairy tale, 'Once Upon A Time In -- Hollywood,' is, 'Who doesn't miss the good old days when cars had fins and white men were the heroes of everything?'... In The New Yorker, Richard Brody called the movie ... 'obscenely regressive,' a phrase that could easily be applied to the man in the Oval.... Both the Tarantino creation and the Trump creation feature scripted tough-guy dialogue, rough treatment of women and slurs against Mexicans. Trump's time machine is a vicious and vertiginous journey, all about punching down, pulpy fictions, making brown and black people scapegoats and casting women back into a crimped era of fewer reproductive rights. Trump has inverted all the old American ideals, soiling the image of our country in the world and reshaping it around his grievances and inadequacies. He is a faux tough guy who lets other people do the fighting for him, a needy brat who never accepts responsibility for his actions, an oaf with no trace of courage, class or chivalry." ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: MoDo's attempts to find the nexus between cultural inflection points usually fall flat, but I think she got it right this time.

Another Embarrassing Trumpisode. In Which Trump Pretends He Has Black Friends. Linda Givetash of NBC News: "The U.S. government warned Sweden of 'negative consequences' as it advocated for rapper ASAP Rocky during his trial for assault charges in Stockholm this week, according to a pair of letters released by the Swedish Prosecution Authority. Rocky was released from jail on Friday pending the verdict, with ... Donald Trump celebrating the news on Twitter. 'It was a Rocky Week, get home ASAP A$AP!' Trump said. The rapper landed back on U.S. soil Saturday, leaving behind him the looming verdict in an episode that has led to unexpected tension between the U.S. and its European ally.... A final judgment in the case is expected to be reached Aug. 14."

Kyla Mandel of ThinkProgress: "Interior Secretary David Bernhardt's ethics recusal will expire on Saturday. The ethics pledge banned Bernhardt from decisions involving his former firm's clients for two years. Bernhardt was also not able to meet with these companies, unless five or more other stakeholders were present and nothing relating specifically to the companies was discussed.... Prior to joining the Interior Department in 2017, Bernhardt worked as a lobbyist for the oil and gas industry.... He has so many potential conflicts of interest to avoid that he carries around a card listing all of them so he doesn't forget. A recent analysis by the Center for American Progress found that Bernhardt has more conflicts of interest than any other Trump Cabinet nominee." --s

Ole MacNunes Had a Farm, E-I-E-I-O. Julia Arciga of the Daily Beast: "Rep. Devin Nunes' (R-CA) campaign is suing a group of people who called him a 'fake farmer', claiming the defendants were coordinating with 'dark money' groups to hurt his campaign.... Prior to the lawsuit, the group claimed Nunes couldn't call himself a farmer since he no longer farms -- but a state judge ruled that the representative can continue to use the designation. The campaign also claimed the group was working with various political groups and The Fresno Bee's parent company, McClatchy, in a campaign against him.... The lawsuit, filed Thursday, comes after the representative sued a parody Twitter account claiming to be his cow, and McClatchy."

Presidential Race 2020

** Jonathan Chait: "Of all the institutions and norms of American government, none is more rickety than the voting process. The system's legitimacy hangs on the public's willingness to trust the accuracy of a system that is hardly a system at all.... Even more alarming than the implied weaknesses in the voting system is the political context in which they exist. President Trump has frequently either minimized or outright denied Russia's culpability in the 2016 email hacks (which Trump himself was exploiting at the time).... Republican indifference to the Russian threat gives an indication of how the party would respond in the event of a compromised election.... [Mitch McConnell] has already proved that he would prefer for his party to win with Russian help than to lose without it." ...

    ... Mrs. McCrabbie: You might think Chait is making a Chicken Little argument here, but he presents too much GOP history to dismiss his concerns. I would be horrified, but not completely surprised, if armed U.S. marshalls, by order of President Harris, had to storm the White House in late January 2021 & remove the fat bastard by force.

Matthew Choi of Politico: "Sen. Bernie Sanders defended his rival 2020 Democratic hopeful Elizabeth Warren on Friday after Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyoming) went after Warren for advocating a no-first-strike nuclear policy.... Cheney, daughter of former Vice President Dick Cheney, lambasted Warren the following morning for her remarks.... 'Which American cities and how many American citizens are you willing to sacrifice with your policy of forcing the US to absorb a nuclear attack before we can strike back?' Cheney wrote Wednesday on Twitter. Friday afternoon, Sanders shot back at Cheney, sparking a heated back and forth. 'Taking national security advice from a Cheney has already caused irreparable damage to our country,' Sanders tweeted. 'We don't need any more, thanks.' Cheney responded by calling Sanders a 'commie' who "is ok with U.S. getting attacked first.'... Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) also chimed in on Friday, tweeting a gif of her exasperated face and the message: [']My face when "*Liz Cheney* of all people tries to offer foreign policy takes, as if an entire generation hasn't lived through the Cheneys sending us into war since we were kids.'"

Marina Pitofsky of the Onion Hill: "Michael Avenatti is reportedly considering a White House bid after declaring that he would not join the slate of Democratic candidates running for president in 2020.... Earlier this year, Avenatti was arrested in New York for an alleged $20 million extortion scheme against Nike. In April, federal prosecutors in California indicted the lawyer on three dozen criminal counts, including allegedly stealing money from clients and lying about his income to regulators. Avenatti has pleaded not guilty to all charges." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Nancy Cook of the Onion Politico: "The Trump 2020 campaign has been quietly reaching out to prominent African Americans about joining its latest coalition, intended to boost Republican support in the black community. The effort comes just as the president capped off a month filled with racially divisive language and Twitter taunts aimed at House Oversight Chairman Elijah Cummings and four freshman congresswomen of color." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Mrs. McCrabbie: We have never had an American president whose last name was difficult for English-readers to spell. The toughest might be Roosevelt (Dutch) & Eisenhower (anglicized German).

Presidential Races 2016 & 2020. Danielle McLean of ThinkProgress: "Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) claimed during Wednesday night's presidential debate that President Donald Trump won Michigan in 2016 because Republicans and Russians worked to suppress the votes of African Americans. Election experts say he's onto something.... Trump won the state by 10,704 votes." --s

Steven Greenhouse in a New York Times op-ed: "... the United States suffers from what I call 'anti-worker exceptionalism.' Academics debate why American workers are in many ways worse off than their counterparts elsewhere, but there is overriding agreement on one reason: Labor unions are weaker in the United States than in other industrial nations.... In no other industrial nation do corporations fight so hard to keep out unions.... Numerous studies have found that an important cause of America's soaring income inequality is the decline of labor unions -- and the concomitant decline in workers' ability to extract more of the profit and prosperity from the corporations they work for.... The consequences are enormous, not only for wages and income inequality, but also for our politics and policymaking and for the many Americans who are mistreated at work.... The diminished power of unions and workers has skewed American politics, helping give billionaires and corporations inordinate sway over America's politics and policymaking." ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: Greenhouse doesn't mention the confederate Supremes, who exult in quashing union rights, making them the five old boys who have done the most to maintain income inequality.

Taylor Hatmaker of The Daily Beast: "As many tech giants grow skittish about cashing in on the surveillance boom, one company [Anduril Industries] helmed by an industry iconoclast [Palmer Luckey] seems custom-built for Big Brother. The 26-year-old is best known as the designer of the Oculus Rift virtual reality headset that shepherded the futuristic technology into the mainstream. In 2014, Luckey sold his 100-person virtual reality company to Facebook for $3 billion ... after The Daily Beast revealed that he was bankrolling an unofficial pro-Trump group dedicated to 'shitposting' and circulating anti-Clinton memes.... And far from shying away from politics post-Facebook, Luckey leaned into the #MAGA-friendly ideology -- donating big money to pro-Trump outfits, and meeting with Trump cabinet officials, all while his company quietly picks up military contracts and expands its work with border patrol." --s

Hannah Natanson of the Washington Post: "It was common knowledge that the founding nuns [of the Georgetown Visitation Convent school for girls in Washington, D.C.,] owned slaves, but school lore has held that the sisters allowed enslaved children to attend Saturday school and defied the law by teaching them how to read. The 65-page report, which the school has made available online, details the businesslike efficiency with which the nuns sold scores of enslaved people to pay off debts and fund new buildings. Georgetown Visitation sisters owned at least 107 enslaved people,including men, women and children, from a year after its founding until 1862, when the federal government made slavery illegal in the District, the report found.... News of the research and its findings was published Friday by New York University professor Rachel Swarns in an opinion piece for the New York Times. The Catholic Standard ran a story about the report in November." (Also linked yesterday.)

Damian Carrington of the Guardian: "Coal, oil and gas get more than $370bn (£305bn) a year in support, compared with $100bn for renewables, [an] International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) report found. Just 10-30% of the fossil fuel subsidies [switched to renewables] would pay for a global transition to clean energy, the IISD said.... 'Almost everywhere, renewables are so close to being competitive that [a 10-30% subsidy swap] tips the balance, and turns them from a technology that is slowly growing to one that is instantly the most viable and can replace really large amounts of generation,' said Richard Bridle of the IISD. 'It goes from being marginal to an absolute no-brainer.'" --s

You Too May Be an Unregistered Lobbyist. Vivan Wang of the New York Times: "When Kat Sullivan rented a billboard last year in upstate New York to call for stronger protections against child sex abusers, she believed she was engaging in the democratic process, using her own time and money to make her voice as an abuse survivor heard.So she was shocked when state regulators afterward sent her a letter ordering her to register as a lobbyist. New York State defines a lobbyist as, in part, someone who spends money to influence lawmakers. But Ms. Sullivan, a registered nurse, has argued that she was exercising her rights as a citizen.... The state's ethics commission ... has warned that she could be guilty of a misdemeanor and fined more than $40,000 if she continues to refuse to register.... Few unpaid advocates spend more than $5,000 on an issue, the annual threshold for registering as a lobbyist in New York. Ms. Sullivan has said that she spent $14,000 on three billboards, plus about $2,000 on a website.... Federal law defines lobbyists by the percentage of time that they spend contacting lawmakers; New York defines them by money earned and spent. Other states have lower or higher thresholds, or exclude volunteers.... 'Almost every jurisdiction I can think of is grappling at some level with how much is covered and at what threshold,' Beth Rotman, [of] Common Cause ... said...."

Way Beyond the Beltway

China. Nick Schager of The Daily Beast: "One Child Nation is a ... heartrending documentary [that] examines ... China's one-child policy, which functioned as a systematic attack on its female population -- and which resulted in collateral damage on an international scale. In effect from 1979 to 2015, China's policy placed strict guidelines on reproduction in order to curb population growth.... The law outlined strict punishment for non-compliance: the destruction of homes, forfeiture of property and valuables, and steep fines. Those who suffered those penalties, however, got off easy, since local Family Planning Officials -- empowered by the Nationalist Party -- also had the authority to abduct women, tie them up, and force them to undergo sterilizations and abortions as late as 8-9 months into their pregnancies." Attention: disturbing content. --s

Russia. AP: "Police cracked down hard on an unsanctioned demonstration in Moscow for a second weekend in a row, detaining about 600 people protesting the exclusion of some independent and opposition candidates from September city council elections. The issue taps growing dissatisfaction with a political environment dominated by the Kremlin-aligned United Russia party, in which dissenting voices are marginalized, ignored or repressed. An arrest-monitoring group, OVD-Info, said 685 people were detained Saturday. The Russian Interior Ministry said the number was about 600. The detentions came a week after authorities arrested nearly 1,400 people at a similar protest."

News Ledes

Mass Murder America. Guardian: "Nine people have been killed and at least 16 injured in a shooting early on Sunday in Dayton, Ohio, police have said. Police said the suspect was shot and killed by responding officers.... The shooting came hours after at least 20 people were killed in another mass shooting at a Walmart in El Paso, Texas." --s ...

... According to CNN, which is liveblogging developments, the motive for this mass murder is still unknown. In later updates, Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) said the shooter was "a young, white male," & Dayton Mayor Nan Whaley said police responded to the shooter "in less than one minute." Mrs. McC: So in less than a minute, this guy killed nine people & injured 27 others. There is no excuse for any civilian to have access to a weapon that can shoot 36 people in less than a minute. Update: "in 24 seconds." ...

     ... CNN Updates: "Authorities have found writings linked to Dayton, Ohio, shooting suspect Connor Betts that show he had an interest in killing people, two federal law enforcement sources told CNN. A preliminary assessment of the writings, found during the execution of a search warrant, did not indicate any racial or political motive, the sources said.... The City of Dayton has released the names of the nine deceased victims in the shooting early Sunday. Suspect Connor Betts' sister was identified as one of those killed."

The Commentariat -- August 3, 2019

Afternoon Update:

Marina Pitofsky of the Onion Hill: "Michael Avenatti is reportedly considering a White House bid after declaring that he would not join the slate of Democratic candidates running for president in 2020.... Earlier this year, Avenatti was arrested in New York for an alleged $20 million extortion scheme against Nike. In April, federal prosecutors in California indicted the lawyer on three dozen criminal counts, including allegedly stealing money from clients and lying about his income to regulators. Avenatti has pleaded not guilty to all charges."

Nancy Cook of the Onion Politico: "The Trump 2020 campaign has been quietly reaching out to prominent African Americans about joining its latest coalition, intended to boost Republican support in the black community. The effort comes just as th president capped off a month filled with racially divisive language and Twitter taunts aimed at House Oversight Chairman Elijah Cummings and four freshman congresswomen of color."

This could be the headline of half the stories about Trump's tweets & chopper chatter: "Trump Defends Recent Erratic Decision with Lies." Case in point: Tax Axelrod of the Hill reports on Trump's latest fantastical tweets defending his brilliant trade-war strategy against China. ...

... Lee Moran of the Huffington Post: "Fox News' Neil Cavuto wasted no time in fact-checking ... Donald Trump's latest claims about the tariffs his administration has imposed (and has promised to ramp up) on products imported into the U.S. from China. Trump on Friday told White House reporters that 'the tariffs are not being paid for by our people' but 'by China' because 'of devaluation and because they're pumping money in.' 'Remember this, our country is taking in billions and billions of dollars from China,' the president added. 'We never took in 10 cents from China. And out of that many billions of dollars, we're taking a part of it and giving it to the farmers because they've been targeted by China. The farmers, they come out totally whole,' [Trump claimed.] 'I don't know where to begin here,' responded Cavuto.... 'But just to be clarifying, China isn't paying these tariffs. You are. You know, indirectly and sometimes directly,' he explained.... '... this latest round of tariffs that kick in on September 1, on $300 billion worth of goods at 10%, that will most directly be felt by consumers directly,' he added. 'Because that happens on almost entirely consumer items rather than industrial-related items.... Our governments don't pay these things, you do, one way or another.'"

Hannah Natanson of the Washington Post: "It was common knowledge that the founding nuns [of the Georgetown Visitation Convent school for girls in Washington, D.C.,] owned slaves, but school lore has held that the sisters allowed enslaved children to attend Saturday school and defied the law by teaching them how to read. The 65-page report, which the school has made available online, details the businesslike efficiency with which the nuns sold scores of enslaved people to pay off debts and fund new buildings. Georgetown Visitation sisters owned at least 107 enslaved people, including men, women and children, from a year after its founding until 1862, when the federal government made slavery illegal in the District, the report found.... News of the research and its findings was published Friday by New York University professor Rachel Swarns in an opinion piece for the New York Times. The Catholic Standard ran a story about the report in November."

~~~~~~~~~~

This Is Not an Advertisement. I am definitely not trying to sell you anything here, but Amazon Prime offers subscriptions to access the digital version of the Washington Post that is half the price of the Post's online offer ($5 vs. $10 a month). I broke down & signed up yesterday. You have to be an Amazon Prime member ($13/month) to get the cut rate on the WashPo, so if you aren't going to use Amazon for other purchases or watch Prime TV, it's a loser. The student rate for Amazon Prime is half the standard rate. I will link to non-subscription alternatives to WashPo stories I link here when they are available. -- Mrs. Bea McCrabbie

Your Friday Afternoon Twitter Dump:

Our great Republican Congressman John Ratcliffe is being treated very unfairly by the LameStream Media. Rather than going through months of slander and libel, I explained to John how miserable it would be for him and his family to deal with these people.... ...John has therefore decided to stay in Congress where he has done such an outstanding job representing the people of Texas, and our Country. I will be announcing my nomination for DNI shortly. -- Donald Trump, in tweet today ...

... ** Another One of the Best Nominations Explodes. Charlie Savage, et al., of the New York Times: "President Trump on Friday abruptly dropped his plan to nominate Representative John Ratcliffe, Republican of Texas, as the nation's top intelligence official, following bipartisan questions about his qualifications and pushback over whether he had exaggerated his résumé. Mr. Ratcliffe, an outspoken supporter of Mr. Trump, has come under intense scrutiny since the president declared Sunday on Twitter that the lawmaker was his pick to succeed Dan Coats, who is stepping down as director of national intelligence on Aug. 15. The selection generated scant enthusiasm among senators of both parties who would have been decided whether to confirm him. Mr. Trump&'s announcement that Mr. Ratcliffe would not be his nominee after all, also made on Twitter, spoke bitterly of the attention Mr. Ratcliffe's claims about his experience as a federal prosecutor quickly received from the news media.... The backtrack leaves Mr. Trump without any obvious candidate to fill one of the country's most important national-security jobs, heightening scrutiny on what will happen with Sue Gordon, Mr. Coats's No. 2. Mr. Trump has already decided not to allow her to rise to the role of acting director of national intelligence when Mr. Coats steps down, according to people familiar with his plans." (Also linked yesterday.) ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: A normal president would have his potential nominees vetted before announcing their nominations. Trump, however, does no vetting & picks the Fox "News" denizen he likes best, leaving it to media to do the vetting his staff should have done. Then he complains that the "LameStreamMedia" treated his lame-stream nominee "very unfairly." But nothing is ever Trump's fault. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: Several days ago, I wrote that Ratcliffe was the Chief of Anti-Terrorism and National Security for the Eastern District of Texas during the Bush II administration, a factoid I learned from Ratcliffe's Wikipedia page. According to Ali Velshi of MSNBC, that can't be true, as there was never any such position.

     ... Stupid Update. Later That Same Day ... Brett Samuels of the Hill: "President Trump on Friday defended the vetting process at the White House, telling the news media that he allows it to do much of the heavy lifting while simultaneously blaming it for the withdrawal of his nominee to lead intelligence agencies.... 'I get a name, I give it out to the press and you vet for me. A lot of time you do a very good job. Not always,' Trump told reporters. 'If you look at the vetting process for the White House, it is very good, but you are part of the vetting process. I give out a name to the press and you vet for me, we save a lot of money that way." ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: Especially for someone nominated for a high-level position in the intelligence apparatus, this makes no sense; that is, Trump's placing vetting responsibility on the press is just an excuse to cover for his chaotic "management" of the administration. Intel agencies, at least theoretically, know more about a person with (supposed) intel experience than is available to the public & the press. The agencies also have access to personal information that is not publicly available. ...

... Julian Barnes & Charlie Savage of the New York Times: "The White House is planning to block Sue Gordon, the nation's No. 2 intelligence official, from rising to the role of acting director of national intelligence when Dan Coats steps down this month, according to people familiar with the Trump administration's plans.... Mr. Trump did not allow Ms. Gordon to personally deliver a recent intelligence briefing after she arrived at the White House, according to a person familiar with the matter. A federal statute says that if the position of director of national intelligence becomes vacant, the deputy director -- currently Ms. Gordon -- shall serve as acting director. But there appears to be a loophole: The law gives the White House much more flexibility in choosing who to appoint as the acting deputy if the No. 2 position is vacant, said Robert M. Chesney, a law professor at the University of Texas.... On Friday, Senator Mark Warner, Democrat of Virginia, who is the committee's vice chairman, said that the law was 'quite clear' that the acting role goes to the deputy when the director of national intelligence leaves and that Ms. Gordon had the Senate's confidence." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... digby writes a toljaso column in which she outlines the steps in the usual Trump nomination "process." "... as we have seen time and time again, this usually ends up hurting the person offered the position.... The White House non-vetting process reveals scandals candidates were involved in they hid before. Some might never had been uncovered until they were put in the spotlight.... When writing about this 5 whole days ago, I found out that over 60 people Trump nominated had to withdraw. There is a whole page dedicated to it. With photos and everything! List of Donald Trump nominees who have withdrawn" ...

... Betsy Woodruff & Erin Banco of the Daily Beast: "The Trump administration is taking inventory of many of America's top spies, The Daily Beast has learned. The White House recently asked the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) for a list of all its employees at the federal government's top pay scale who have worked there for 90 days or more, according to two sources familiar with the request. The request appears to be part of the White House's search for a temporary director of national intelligence -- a prospect that raises concerns in some quarters about political influence over the intelligence community."

Jordan Fabian of the Hill: "President Trump on Friday signed a sweeping budget deal that increases federal spending and lifts the nation's borrowing limit, the White House said. The new law suspends the debt ceiling through July 2021, removing the threat of a default during the 2020 elections, and raises domestic and military spending by more than $320 billion compared to existing law over the next two fiscal years. Trump signed the measure without fanfare at the White House one day after the Senate voted 67-28 to send it to his desk. The House last week passed the budget package by a vote of 284-149 before starting its August recess." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Brett Samuels of the Hill: President* "Trump on Friday morning reacted to reports that a Baltimore home owned by [Rep. Elijah] Cummings had been robbed following days of attacks from the president on the congressman and the city [of Baltimore]. 'Really bad news! The Baltimore house of Elijah Cummings was robbed. Too bad!' Trump [wrote in a tweet apparently meant to mock Cummings]. Cummings in a statement on Friday confirmed the incident and said he scared the intruder away by yelling before they were [Mrs. McC: s/b "he was"] able to enter the residence.... Former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley on Friday pushed back against ... Trump's tweet...[: 'This is so unnecessary,' [she tweeted.]" (Also linked yesterday.)

Jonathan Chait: “When he was running for president, Donald Trump threatened to single out Amazon for retribution. 'If I become president, oh do they have problems,' he said.... He is carrying out that threat. The White House has ordered the Defense Department to reexamine a $10 billion cloud-computing contract 'because of concerns that the deal would go to Amazon,' the Washington Post reports. It's not yet possible to prove that Trump is directing this decision as punishment for Jeff Bezos's ownership of the Post.... Trump's Mafia style of management, which the Mueller report chronicles, is designed to avoid leaving a paper trail that would incriminate the boss.... But Trump ... has made it abundantly clear both that the Post is the source of his hatred of Amazon, and that his policy grounds for punishing Amazon are pretexts. Trump calls the paper the 'Amazon Washington Post,' and habitually intermingles attacks on Amazon with his periodic rants against the Post's reporting[.]... Trump is trying to grasp at of any lever he can use to punish Amazon for the Post';s reporting of him.... Trump's oligarchic methods are simply taken for granted to the point where it barely generates outrage any more when he uses the power of the federal government to punish owners of independent media."

Jerry Dunleavy of the Washington Examiner: "'Where we go one, we go all.' That popular slogan of the far-right QAnon conspiracy movement was said from the podium of Thursday's Trump rally by online personality and founder of the 'Walk Away Movement' Brandon Straka as he warmed up the crowd a few hours before President Trump took the stage in Cincinnati, Ohio. Earlier that day, a 15-page FBI memo from the Phoenix field office warning of possible dangers stemming from fringe online conspiracy theories specifically named QAnon as a source of concern.... Straka told the Washington Examiner he is not a supporter of the QAnon movement.... Straka complained about the media coverage of his speech, saying that 'the liberal media are blatant liars' for calling him a QAnon supporter." Mrs. McC: I saw video of Straka's rallying cry, and the crowd cheered. It's such a weird sentence construction, we can probably assume many of Trump's followers at the rally were QAnon enthusiasts.

Eliana Johnson of Politico: "... Donald Trump has signed an executive order imposing sanctions on Russia for its use of chemical weapons in the 2018 attack on the Russian double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter, according to two U.S. officials. The Trump administration imposed a round of sanctions last year, as required by a 1991 law. The same law requires the president to impose a second round of sanctions if he cannot determine that the state in question has stopped using chemical weapons -- and U.S. intelligence agencies were unable to make that determination with regard to Russia, which continues to deny responsibility for the attack on the Skripals. But the president, who has been loath to antagonize Russian President Vladimir Putin, dragged his feet on imposing the second round of sanctions. En route to a rally in Cincinnati on Thursday, he continued to minimize the threat of Russian interference in U.S. elections. Asked by a reporter whether Russia is continuing to meddle in American elections, Trump responded, 'You don't really believe this. Do you believe this?'" (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Asawin Suebsaeng of the Daily Beast: "Long before Donald Trump began his ongoing war of words with the 'corrupt city' of Baltimore, he hosted a pastor from there [-- the Rev. Donte Hickman, of Southern Baptist Church --] at the White House for a signing ceremony during which he promised to help rescue ailing, largely black urban areas around the country. Nearly a year later, the pastor is still waiting for the president to follow through on that pledge; or, as he put it, 'to put up or shut up.'... If Trump has done anything to help the city he's spent the past several days trashing, that would be news to the pastor who once stood beside him." Mrs. McC: On the other hand, Trump & GOP legislators did give Trump a huge tax cut & the U.S. a correspondingly huge deficit.

Rachel Frazin of the Hill: "The Trump administration is reportedly planning to withdraw thousands of troops from Afghanistan in a new deal negotiated with the Taliban Thursday. The Washington Post reported that the number of U.S. troops in Afghanistan would be reduced to between 8,000 and 9,000 from the current 14,000, citing U.S. officials. In exchange, the Taliban would reportedly have to begin negotiating a peace deal with the Afghan government; the deal would also involve a cease-fire and a Taliban renunciation of al Qaeda. The proposal is the result of months of talks between the Taliban and Zalmay Khalilzad, an Afghan-born American diplomat, according to the Post." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Robin Wright of the New Yorker: "Last month, amid a rapid-fire escalation in tensions between Washington and Tehran, the Iranian Foreign Minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, received an unexpected invitation -- to meet ... Donald Trump in the Oval Office. The diplomatic overture was made by Senator Rand Paul.... During an hour-long conversation, Zarif offered Paul ideas about how to end the nuclear impasse and address Trump's concerns.... Paul proposed that the Iranian diplomat lay out the same ideas to Trump in person.... Zarif told Paul that the decision to meet Trump in the Oval Office was not his to make; he would have to consult with Tehran.... They did not approve a meeting -- at this time.... On July 31st, with no breakthrough on the horizon, the Trump Administration sanctioned Zarif for 'reprehensible' behavior, for having links to the Revolutionary Guard..., and for functioning 'as a propaganda minister, not a foreign minister.'... On his Twitter account..., [Paul] shared an Associated Press story about the Administration's move against Zarif, above which he wrote, 'If you sanction diplomats you'll have less diplomacy.'"

Jacqueline Thomsen of the Hill: "A federal judge in Washington, D.C., ruled Friday against a Trump administration policy that would only allow migrants who enter the U.S. through legal ports of entry to claim asylum, the latest blow against the administration's agenda. U.S. District Judge Randolph Moss, an Obama appointee, threw out the policy, finding it to be 'inconsistent with' the Immigration and Nationality Act. The policy has been already blocked by a federal judge in San Francisco and is now being appealed before the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Quinta Jurecic in a New York Times op-ed: "The [Mueller] report tells what is probably one of the biggest stories of our lifetimes -- and understanding that narrative as a narrative can help make sense of the confused political moment.... The first half of the report -- on efforts by the Russian government to interfere in the 2016 election -- is a spy thriller, a high-stakes caper with greed, dirty deals and intrigue straight out of a Cold War potboiler. The second half -- on President Trump's efforts to obstruct Mr. Mueller's investigation -- is a Shakespearean drama about deception and power. But at its core, the 448-page volume is a detective story.... [But] the Mueller report may turn out to be more of a film noir than anything else. The detective successfully uncovers the plot, only to discover that the society around him is too rotten to do anything about it."

Nick Miroff & Damian Paletta & of the Washington Post: Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.) "... held up the confirmation of a White House budget official [Michael Wooten] this week in an attempt to obtain sensitive information about border wall contracts he has been trying to steer to a major donor, according to emails obtained by The Washington Post.... In recent months, Cramer has touted his preferred construction firm, North Dakota-based Fisher Industries, and campaign finance records show the senator has received thousands of dollars in contributions from company chief executive Tommy Fisher and his family members.... The North Dakota senator has repeatedly promoted Fisher, and Trump too has joined the effort, pitching the company in meetings at the White House and aboard Air Force One that have troubled military commanders and Department of Homeland Security officials.... Despite Cramer's efforts to influence and the president's endorsement, Fisher was not picked by the Army Corps in recent rounds of bidding.... During previous bids, the Army Corps said the company's design did not meet its requirements and lacked regulatory approvals. DHS officials also told the Army Corps in March that Fisher's work on a barrier project in San Diego came in late and over budget." The Hill has a summary of the WashPo report here.

Presidential Race 2020. Patrick Condon of the Minneapolis Star Tribune: "Sen. Amy Klobuchar's campaign said Friday that she has met the requirements to participate in the third and fourth Democratic presidential debates[.] The Democratic National Committee set both polling and fundraising thresholds that candidates must hit in order to make the debate stage in September and October. Klobuchar previously reached at least 2% support in four early-state or national polls; now, her campaign said, the Minnesota Democrat also has reached 130,000 individual donors to her campaign." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Thanks, Supremes! Tom McCarthy of the Guardian: "US election jurisdictions with histories of egregious voter discrimination have been purging voter rolls at a rate 40% beyond the national average, according to a watchdog report released on Thursday. At least 17 million voters were purged nationwide between 2016 and 2018, according to a study by the Brennan Center for Justice. The number was basically unchanged from the previous two-year period. While the rate of voter purges elsewhere has declined slowly, jurisdictions released from federal oversight by a watershed 2013 supreme court ruling had purge rates 'significantly higher' than jurisdictions not previously subjected to oversight, the Brennan Center found in a previous report. That trend has continued, the watchdog said, with the disproportionate purging of voters resulting in an estimated 1.1 million fewer voters between 2016 and 2018. Voter purges accelerated in the United States with the 2013 Shelby County v Holder ruling which released counties with histories of voter discrimination from federal oversight imposed by the 1965 Voting Rights Act." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: The voters' worst enemy is not the self-serving southern Republican legislator plotting to deprive Democratic-leaning voters of the franchise but the high-and-mighty Supreme Court confederates who are protecting the state legislator. The Robert Court is a shameful throwback to an anti-democratic status system.

Beyond the Beltway

California. Chelcey Adami & Kate Cimini of the Salinas Californian in USA Today: "The gunman who opened fire on unsuspecting festivalgoers in Gilroy on Sunday killed himself, the Santa Clara Coroner's Office found. The gunman shot himself in the mouth and died by suicide, a representative of the coroner's office said Friday. Earlier in the investigation, Gilroy police said they had "engaged" the shooter, Santino William Legan, and it was widely believed that police had shot and killed Legan. Legan gunned down three others at the festival before he died."

New York. Ashley Southall & William Rashbaum of the New York Times: "Five years after Eric Garner died in police custody and ignited a national outcry, a police administrative judge recommended on Friday that the officer who placed him in a chokehold during the botched arrest should be fired, according to a person with knowledge of the decision. The judge's decision sets in motion the final stage of a long legal and political battle over the fate of the officer, Daniel Pantaleo, who has become for many critics of the department an emblem of what they see as overly aggressive policing in black and Hispanic neighborhoods.... Mayor Bill de Blasio, a Democrat running for president, has resisted pushing for the officer's dismissal for years, saying he was respecting due process. He was heckled at a national debate on Wednesday night by protesters shouting 'Fire Pantaleo,' and vowed that Mr. Garner's family would soon receive justice. The judge's recommendation comes two weeks after Attorney General William P. Barr announced that the Justice Department would not seek a federal indictment against the officer on civil rights charges, ending five years of internal debate among federal prosecutors." It will be up to New York's police commissioner James O'Neil to decide Pantaleo's fate. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: The story has been updated, adding the byline of Ali Watkins, and including an account of a press conference Mayor de Blasio gave Friday in which he announced he could not say anything! “'Today, for the first time in these long five years, the system of justice is working,' Mr. de Blasio said. He continued, 'I want to remind everyone, this is an ongoing legal matter, so there's very little I can add.'" (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Puerto Rico. Frances Robles & Patricia Mazzei of the New York Times: “As the clock ticked toward 5 p.m. on Friday, when Ricardo A. Rosselló was to step down as Puerto Rico's governor, no one knew who the next governor would be. Not the lawmakers inside the Capitol who had voted on his possible successor an hour earlier. Not the protesters who gathered outside the governor's mansion to celebrate Mr. Rosselló's departure. Only once Mr. Rosselló's resignation became effective did the outgoing governor reveal that Pedro R. Pierluisi, whom he had recently nominated to be the island's secretary of state, would take the oath of office as his successor.... But the announcement did little to resolve the turmoil that has roiled Puerto Rico for three weeks, following a popular rebellion that forced Mr. Rosselló out of office. Mr. Pierluisi's ascent to the governor's seat will probably be contested in court, thrusting the island into a period of constitutional uncertainty." The NPR story is here.

News Ledes

NBC News: "A shooting near a shopping mall in El Paso has resulted in multiple fatalities, with at least 18 people taken to local hospitals, law enforcement officials said. El Paso police also said at about 1 p.m. local time that one person is in custody and there was no imminent threat at tha point. Earlier Saturday, in several tweets, police urged people to stay away from the area near the Cielo Vista mall due to an 'active shooter.'" Apparently there were multiple casualties. ...

... New York Times Update: "A gunman who opened fire at a shopping mall in El Paso on Saturday killed at least 18 people, according to State Senator José Rodríguez, who represents El Paso. The death toll has not been officially confirmed by law enforcement, but Mr. Rodríguez said his information was based on a briefing from a state official. The number of fatalities was also reported by local media. The police said that one suspect, a white male in his 20s, was in custody, and that the gunman had fired a rifle into the crowded store, sending panicked shoppers fleeing for their lives. The office of the El Paso mayor, Dee Margo, said in a statement that the police had confirmed several fatalities. The police declined to elaborate on the number and status of the victims." This is a liveblog. ...

     ... NYT Update: "20 people were killed in the shooting, the governor said. Twenty-six others were injured in the attack." (Same link as above.)

The Commentariat -- August 2, 2019

Afternoon Update:

Your Friday Afternoon Twitter Dump:

Our great Republican Congressman John Ratcliffe is being treated very unfairly by the LameStream Media. Rather than going through months of slander and libel, I explained to John how miserable it would be for him and his family to deal with these people.... ...John has therefore decided to stay in Congress where he has done such an outstanding job representing the people of Texas, and our Country. I will be announcing my nomination for DNI shortly. -- Donald Trump, in tweet today ...

... ** Another One of the Best Nominations Explodes. Charlie Savage, et al., of the New York Times: "President Trump on Friday abruptly dropped his plan to nominate Representative John Ratcliffe, Republican of Texas, as the nation's top intelligence official, following bipartisan questions about his qualifications and pushback over whether he had exaggerated his résumé. Mr. Ratcliffe, an outspoken supporter of Mr. Trump, has come under intense scrutiny since the president declared Sunday on Twitter that the lawmaker was his pick to succeed Dan Coats, who is stepping down as director of national intelligence on Aug. 15. The selection generated scant enthusiasm among senators of both parties who would have been decided whether to confirm him. Mr. Trump's announcement that Mr. Ratcliffe would not be his nominee after all, also made on Twitter, spoke bitterly of the attention Mr. Ratcliffe's claims about his experience as a federal prosecutor quickly received from the news media.... The backtrack leaves Mr. Trump without any obvious candidate to fill one of the country's most important national-security jobs, heightening scrutiny on what will happen with Sue Gordon, Mr. Coats's No. 2. Mr. Trump has already decided not to allow her to rise to the role of acting director of national intelligence when Mr. Coats steps down, according to people familiar with his plans." ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: A normal president would have his potential nominees vetted before announcing their nominations. Trump, however, does no vetting & picks the Fox "News" denizen he likes best, leaving it to media to do the vetting his staff should have done. Then he complains that the "LameStreamMedia" treated his lame-stream nominee "very unfairly." But nothing is ever Trump's fault.

... Julian Barnes & Charlie Savage of the New York Times: "The White House is planning to block Sue Gordon, the nation's No. 2 intelligence official, from rising to the role of acting director of national intelligence when Dan Coats steps down this month, according to people familiar with the Trump administration's plans.... Mr. Trump did not allow Ms. Gordon to personally deliver a recent intelligence briefing after she arrived at the White House, according to a person familiar with the matter. A federal statute says that if the position of director of national intelligence becomes vacant, the deputy director -- currently Ms. Gordon -- shall serve as acting director. But there appears to be a loophole: The law gives the White House much more flexibility in choosing who to appoint as the acting deputy if the No. 2 position is vacant, said Robert M. Chesney, a law professor at the University of Texas at Austin.... On Friday, Senator Mark Warner, Democrat of Virginia, who is the committee's vice chairman, said that the law was 'quite clear' that the acting role goes to the deputy when the director of national intelligence leaves and that Ms. Gordon had the Senate's confidence."

Jordan Fabian of the Hill: "President Trump on Friday signed a sweeping budget deal that increases federal spending and lifts the nation's borrowing limit, the White House said. The new law suspends the debt ceiling through July 2021, removing the threat of a default during the 2020 elections, and raises domestic and military spending by more than $320 billion compared to existing law over the next two fiscal years. Trump signed the measure without fanfare at the White House one day after the Senate voted 67-28 to send it to his desk. The House last week passed the budget package by a vote of 284-149 before starting its August recess."

Patrick Condon of the Minneapolis Star Tribune: "Sen. Amy Klobuchar's campaign said Friday that she has met the requirements to participate in the third and fourth Democratic presidential debates[.] The Democratic National Committee set both polling and fundraising thresholds that candidates must hit in order to make the debate stage in September and October. Klobuchar previously reached at least 2% support in four early-state or national polls; now, her campaign said, the Minnesota Democrat also has reached 130,000 individual donors to her campaign."

Jacqueline Thomsen of the Hill: "A federal judge in Washington, D.C., ruled Friday against a Trump administration policy that would only allow migrants who enter the U.S. through legal ports of entry to claim asylum, the latest blow against the administration's agenda. U.S. District Judge Randolph Moss, an Obama appointee, threw out the policy, finding it to be 'inconsistent with' the Immigration and Nationality Act. The policy has been already blocked by a federal judge in San Francisco and is now being appealed before the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals."

Thanks, Supremes! Tom McCarthy of the Guardian: "US election jurisdictions with histories of egregious voter discrimination have been purging voter rolls at a rate 40% beyond the national average, according to a watchdog report released on Thursday. At least 17 million voters were purged nationwide between 2016 and 2018, according to a study by the Brennan Center for Justice. The number was basically unchanged from the previous two-year period. While the rate of voter purges elsewhere has declined slowly, jurisdictions released from federal oversight by a watershed 2013 supreme court ruling had purge rates 'significantly higher' than jurisdictions not previously subjected to oversight, the Brennan Center found in a previous report. That trend has continued, the watchdog said, with the disproportionate purging of voters resulting in an estimated 1.1 million fewer voters between 2016 and 2018. Voter purges accelerated in the United States with the 2013 Shelby County v Holder ruling, which released counties with histories of voter discrimination from federal oversight imposed by the 1965 Voting Rights Act." ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: The voters' worst enemy is not the self-serving southern Republican legislator plotting to deprive Democratic-leaning voters of the franchise but the high-and-mighty Supreme Court confederates who are protecting that little snot in the state legislature. The Robert Court is a shameful throwback to an anti-democratic status system.

Rachel Frazin of the Hill: "The Trump administration is reportedly planning to withdraw thousands of troops from Afghanistan in a new deal negotiated with the Taliban Thursday. The Washington Post reported that the number of U.S. troops in Afghanistan would be reduced to between 8,000 and 9,000 from the current 14,000, citing U.S. officials. In exchange, the Taliban would reportedly have to begin negotiating a peace deal with the Afghan government; the deal would also involve a cease-fire and a Taliban renunciation of al Qaeda. The proposal is the result of months of talks between the Taliban and Zalmay Khalilzad, an Afghan-born American diplomat, according to the Post."

Eliana Johnson of Politico: "... Donald Trump has signed an executive order imposing sanctions on Russia for its use of chemical weapons in the 2018 attack on the Russian double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter, according to two U.S. officials. The Trump administration imposed a round of sanctions last year, as required by a 1991 law. The same law requires the president to impose a second round of sanctions if he cannot determine that the state in question has stopped using chemical weapons -- and U.S. intelligence agencies were unable to make that determination with regard to Russia.... But the president, who has been loath to antagonize Russian President Vladimir Putin, dragged his feet on imposing the second round of sanctions. En route to a rally in Cincinnati on Thursday, he continued to minimize the threat of Russian interference in U.S. elections. Asked by a reporter whether Russia is continuing to meddle in American elections, Trump responded, 'You don't really believe this. Do you believe this?'"

Brett Samuels of the Hill: President* "Trump on Friday morning reacted to reports that a Baltimore home owned by [Rep. Elijah] Cummings had been robbed following days of attacks from the president on the congressman and the city [of Baltimore]. 'Really bad news! The Baltimore house of Elijah Cummings was robbed. Too bad!' Trump [wrote in a tweet apparently meant to mock Cummings]. Cummings in a statement on Friday confirmed the incident and said he scared the intruder away by yelling before they were [Mrs. McC: "he was"] able to enter the residence.... Former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley on Friday pushed back against ... Trump's tweet...[: 'This is so unnecessary,' [she tweeted.]"

Ashley Southall & William Rashbaum of the New York Times: "Five years after Eric Garner died in police custody and ignited a national outcry, a police administrative judge recommended on Friday that the officer who placed him in a chokehold during the botched arrest should be fired, according to a person with knowledge of the decision. The judge's decision sets in motion the final stage of a long legal and political battle over the fate of the officer, Daniel Pantaleo, who has become for many critics of the department an emblem of what they see as overly aggressive policing in black and Hispanic neighborhoods.... Mayor Bill de Blasio, a Democrat running for president, has resisted pushing for the officer's dismissal for years, saying he was respecting due process. He was heckled at a national debate on Wednesday night by protesters shouting 'Fire Pantaleo,' and vowed that Mr. Garner's family would soon receive justice. The judge's recommendation comes two weeks after Attorney General William P. Barr announced that the Justice Department would not seek a federal indictment against the officer on civil rights charges, ending five years of internal debate among federal prosecutors." It will be up to New York's police commissioner James O'Neil to decide Pantaleo's fate. ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: The story has been updated, adding the byline of Ali Watkins, and including an account of a press conference Mayor de Blasio gave Friday in which he announced he could not say anything! “'Today, for the first time in these long five years, the system of justice is working,' Mr. de Blasio said. He continued, 'I want to remind everyone, this is an ongoing legal matter, so there's very little I can add.'"

~~~~~~~~~~

Both the New York Times & Washington Post are now prohibiting nonsubscribers from opening stories in private mode. Starting tomorrow, I'm going to break down & subscribe to the Washington Post (I have a NYT subscription.) What I'll try to do is use other sources for news events, and when I cannot, I'll link the NYT & WashPo stories & try to find summaries elsewhere for nonsubscribers. I have avoided linking to WashPo stories for a month, but both these papers are so essential to news & opinion that I can't cover political news without relying on them. For news & opinion that is exclusive to these papers, I'll try to capture as much of the pieces' essence as possible. -- Mrs. Bea McCrabbie

Charlie Savage & Edward Wong of the New York Times: "The United States on Friday terminated a major treaty of the Cold War, the Intermediate Nuclear Forces agreement, and it is already planning to start testing a new class of missiles later this summer. But the new missiles are unlikely to be deployed to counter the treaty's other nuclear power, Russia, which the United States has said for years was in violation of the accord. Instead, the first deployments are likely to be intended to counter China, which has amassed an imposing missile arsenal and is now seen as a much more formidable long-term strategic rival than Russia. The moves by Washington have elicited concern that the United States may be on the precipice of a new arms race, especially because the one major remaining arms control treaty with Russia, a far larger one called New START, appears on life support, unlikely to be renewed when it expires in less than two years."

Alan Rappeport of the New York Times: "President Trump escalated his trade war with China on Thursday, saying that the United States would impose a 10 percent tariff on an additional $300 billion worth of Chinese imports after China failed to keep its promise to buy more American agricultural products. Mr. Trump, who had agreed in June not to impose more tariffs while the two sides tried to reach a trade deal, said on Twitter that the new tariffs would go into effect on Sept. 1. Those new levies would be in addition to the 25 percent tariff that has already been imposed on $250 billion of imports and would essentially tax all Chinese products sent into the United States.... The president's comments hammered the stock market." (Also linked yesterday.) ...

... Jennifer Jacobs, et al., of Bloomberg: "... Donald Trump resisted giving Beijing advance notice of his intent to slap a new 10% tariff on $300 billion in Chinese goods in an Oval Office meeting before he announced the duties, according to several people familiar with the discussion.... [Treasury Secretary Steven] Mnuchin recommended that the U.S. notify Beijing before Trump announced the new tariffs, the people said. Trump demurred, but with his permission [U.S. Trade Rep. Robert] Lighthizer later attempted to place a call to Chinese Vice Premier Liu He, who is the country's lead trade negotiator. He didn't answer. Acting Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney talked through the market effects of increasing the China tariffs, the people said. Trump hit send on his tweets announcing the new tariffs at 1:26, while Mnuchin, Lighthizer, Mulvaney and others were still in the Oval Office."

... Matt Phillips of the New York Times: “A fresh tariff threat from President Trump sank stocks on Thursday, pushing the S&P 500 to its fourth consecutive daily decline and reinvigorating investor worries about the outlook for the global economy.... Just before 1:30 p.m., Mr. Trump said on Twitter that the United States would impose a 10 percent tariff on an additional $300 billion worth of Chinese imports starting in September.... 'There's no ambiguity about what's pushed us off the ledge,' said Ian Burdette ... of Tribal Capital Markets. 'The tweet just really took the wind out of the sails.'" ...

... BBC News: "... Donald Trump's trade war with China is backfiring and impacting the US economy, according to his former chief economic adviser. The tariff battle has had a 'dramatic impact' on US manufacturing and capital investment, Gary Cohn told the BBC. The trade war was 'a very convenient excuse' for China to slow down its overheated economy, he added. Mr Cohn, a free trade advocate, resigned from the Trump administration in March 2018. The 59-year-old former president of Goldman Sachs bank was an unusual hire for Mr Trump because he was a Democrat...." (Also linked yesterday.)

Jacqueline Feldscher of Politico: "The Pentagon is slamming the brakes on its mega-competition to award a $10 billion cloud computing contract after ... Donald Trump suggested the Defense Department might have rigged the contest in favor of Amazon, a frequent target of his criticism. Defense Secretary Mark Esper, who assumed his post July 23, is now reviewing accusations of unfairness in the fiercely fought competition, the Pentagon announced Thursday, marking the president's latest incursion into the arcane world of Defense Department contracting. Oracle has reportedly waged an aggressive lobbying campaign to push back on the competition, including talking with members of Congress and preparing a graphic that made its way to the president's desk..... The contracting process has been plagued by controversy that pre-dates Trump's involvement, including allegations by rival bidders that the competition unfairly favored Amazon...."

Jonathan Lemire & Dan Sewell of the AP: "... Donald Trump used a revved-up rally Thursday in Cincinnati to tear into the Democrats he has been elevating as his new political foils, attacking four liberal congresswomen of color and their party's urban leaders, while also training fire on those he could be facing in 2020. But the president mostly avoided the racial controversy that has dominated recent weeks as he basked in front of the raucous crowd for nearly 90 minutes, unleashing broadside after broadside on his political foes. Trump, who had faced widespread criticism for not doing more to stop the chants of 'Send her back' about Somali-born Rep. Ilhan Omar at a rally last month, seemed to want to avoid further furor, saying he would prefer his supporters avoid the chant. He largely stuck to a greatest hits performance.... Speaking to reporters before leaving the White House for Cincinnati, Trump said..., 'I don't know that you can stop people,' Trump told reporters. 'If they do the chant, we'll have to see what happens.'" The story has been updated. ...

... Gabby Orr of Politico: "... Donald Trump on Thursday accused his 'extremist left-wing' opponents of ruining America's inner cities -- escalating his attacks against influential progressive voices and painting the Democratic presidential primary as a referendum on Barack Obama's legacy.... Trump specifically went after Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), who drew praise for her debate performance this week. 'She's lying and cheating her way through' the presidential primary Trump said. 'She defrauded people with her credentials. She said, "I'm Indian," and I said, "I have more Indian blood than she does and I have none. I'm sorry."' He also mocked former Vice President Joe Biden, 76, for his age, suggesting the current Democratic front-runner would be taken advantage of as president because he as 'no clue what the hell he is doing.'"

Richard Fontaine in the Atlantic: "Secretary of State Mike Pompeo made news this week by suggesting that ... Donald Trump has instructed him to pursue troop reductions in Afghanistan by Election Day 2020. 'He's been unambiguous,' Pompeo said. 'End the endless wars. Draw down. Reduce.' After an uproar, the secretary blamed sloppy press reporting and said that any withdrawals of U.S. forces from Afghanistan will be based on conditions on the ground[, not on election-driven expediency]. Any pegging of American troop withdrawals to the U.S. political calendar would represent a strategic mistake, and it's one that Trump himself rightly criticized Barack Obama for making during the previous administration.... The success of ... negotiation[s] depends on a credible U.S. commitment to stay in Afghanistan without a deal, and that is precisely what the administration undermines by expressing eagerness to abandon the theater."

Once Upon a Time

Trump's Very Principled Reason for Breaking up with Epstein. Matt Stieb of New York: "... according to a new report from the Washington Post, in 2004, the pair let a mansion ... tear them apart. Bidding on Maison de l'Amitie in Palm Beach, both Trump and Epstein really wanted to win the oceanfront property being sold out of bankruptcy. The trustee in the case, Joseph Luzinski, told the Post of the process: 'It was something like, Donald saying, "You don't want to do a deal with him, he doesn't have the money," while Epstein was saying: "Donald is all talk. He doesn't have the money." They both really wanted it.' Around that time, Trump banned the financier from Mar-a-Lago without giving an explanation.... [Businessman Abe] Gosman had purchased the property in 1988 for around $12 million from Leslie Wexner, Epstein's benefactor; with a strong initial bid at-auction of $37.25 million, it appeared the financier was about to take it back. But bidding soon shot up to $38.6 million and 'Trump had made up his mind to get it no matter the price,' a lawyer present at the auction told the Washington Post. Trump's bid eventually rose to $41.35 million, and he won the house. That month also marked the last known contact between the two: Shortly after the auction, Trump left two voicemails for Epstein at his Palm Beach home.... Two weeks after the auction, Palm Beach police followed up on a tip that young girls were seen frequently leaving Epstein's house." Mrs. McC: Maybe you're wondering who tipped off the cops. The WashPo report is here.

Trump's Brush with Death That Wasn't. Lee Moran of the Huffington Post: "... Donald Trump made up a story that he narrowly avoided boarding a helicopter that crashed and killed five people, according to a former longtime executive of the Trump Organization. Barbara Res, who was the company's vice president in charge of construction, recalled to MSNBC's Ari Melber on Tuesday how three Trump casino executives and two crew members were killed in the October 1989 disaster. They were returning to Atlantic City from promoting a boxing match in New York City when the aircraft went down.... Res condemned Trump for 'making himself part of the story, a very important story and undermining the fact that three people died, just like he is undermining what happened in 9/11 by exploiting it.'" (Also linked yesterday.)

More on One of the Latest Stupid Trump Tricks. Julia Jacobs, et al., of the New York Times: "President Trump's bid to rescue a rap star, ASAP Rocky, who is being held in a Stockholm jail, has spiraled into a situation the administration has apparently decided requires a diplomat typically used to free hostages from war-torn countries. But the country in question has not been touched by war in more than 70 years, and Rocky is not a hostage -- or, in any case, not by any commonly accepted definition of the term. He is a defendant in a criminal case, accused of assaulting a man on a Stockholm street a month ago. Mr. Trump's special presidential envoy for hostage affairs, Robert C. O'Brien, first appeared on Tuesday in the courtroom in Stockholm, where Rocky and two members of his entourage are standing trial.

The Trump Scandals, Ctd.

Ben Protess & William Rashbaum of the New York Times: "State prosecutors in Manhattan subpoenaed President Trump's family business on Thursday, reviving an investigation into the company's role in hush-money payments made during the 2016 presidential campaign, according to people briefed on the matter. The subpoena, issued by th Manhattan district attorney's office, demanded the Trump Organization provide documents related to money that had been used to buy the silence of Stormy Daniels, a pornographic film actress who said she had an affair with Mr. Trump. The inquiry from the district attorney's office, which is in early stages, is examining whether any senior executives at the company filed false business records about the hush money, which would be a state crime, the people said.... The Manhattan district attorney's office on Thursday separately subpoenaed the media company, American Media Inc., the publisher of the National Enquirer. The subpoenas from Cyrus R. Vance Jr., the Manhattan district attorney, came only weeks after the Trump Organization had appeared to fend off federal scrutiny of the same payments."

Not That We're Counting, But ... Kyle Cheney of Politico: "More than half of House Democrats say they would vote to launch impeachment proceedings against ... Donald Trump, a crucial threshold that backers say will require Speaker Nancy Pelosi to reconsider her steadfast opposition. 'The President's repeated abuses have brought American democracy to a perilous crossroads,' said Rep. Eliot Engel (D-N.Y.), chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, who announced his support on Tuesday. 'Following the guidance of the Constitution -- which I have sworn to uphold -- is the only way to achieve justice.' Democrats who support impeachment proceedings eclipsed the halfway mark -- 118 out of 235 voting members -- on Thursday, when Rep. Ted Deutch of Florida announced his support. Deutch was also the 23rd Democratic lawmaker to support impeachment proceedings in the week since former special counsel Robert Mueller testified to Congress, affirming publicly his damning evidence that Trump attempted to obstruct justice." (Also linked yesterday.) ...

... "The Inquiry Has Already Begun." Rep. Ted Deutch (D-Fla.) in an Orlando Sun Sentinel op-ed: "Although Special Counsel Robert Mueller's testimony may not have been a summer blockbuster, it confirmed the damning conclusions of his report. The investigation revealed substantial evidence that President Trump obstructed justice. And that the Special Counsel did not exonerate him. President Trump claimed victory. He seems to think that Mueller's performance wasn't enough to trigger an impeachment inquiry. Sorry, Mr. President, the question is no longer whether the House should vote to proceed with a formal impeachment inquiry. The inquiry has already begun.... The Judiciary Committee officially started its investigation into the abuse of power by President Trump on March 4, 2019.... In every meaningful way, our investigation is an impeachment inquiry. The Judiciary Committee already has the power to refer articles of impeachment to the whole House."

Orion Rummler of Axios: "Former FBI Director James Comey will not be charged by the DOJ for leaking memos he wrote about his White House contacts, including President Trump, the Washington Post reports.... Comey's memos -- parts of which included redacted classified information -- were of interest to ... Robert Mu[e]ller's investigation into potential obstruction of justice by the president. DOJ prosecutors declined to prosecute Comey after a referral from inspector general Michael Horowitz 'in part because they didn't believe there was evidence to show Comey knew and intended to violate laws on handling classified information,' CNN reports. Sources told both the Post and Fox News that the decision not to prosecute was 'not a close call.'" ...

... Adam Edelman of NBC News: "The leaked memo said that Trump had asked him to shut down an investigation into former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn, raising questions about potential obstruction of justice by the president.... The memo was part of a paper trail Comey built documenting what he believed to be Trump's campaign to derail the FBI's investigation of alleged Russian ties to his presidential campaign.... The day after The New York Times in May 2017 published a report about the memos, the Department of Justice announced that former FBI Director Bob Mueller would take over the investigation as special counsel. The turn of events left Trump furious, leading him on a years-long, Twitter-fueled warpath against Comey and the credibility of the special counsel."

Trump as a Terrorism Threat

Jana Winter in Yahoo! News: "The FBI for the first time has identified fringe conspiracy theories as a domestic terrorist threat, according to a previously unpublicized document obtained by Yahoo News.... The FBI intelligence bulletin from the bureau's Phoenix field office, dated May 30, 2019, describes 'conspiracy theory-driven domestic extremists,' as a growing threat, and notes that it is the first such report to do so. It lists a number of arrests, including some that haven't been publicized, related to violent incidents motivated by fringe beliefs. The document specifically mentions QAnon, a shadowy network that believes in a deep state conspiracy against President Trump, and Pizzagate, the theory that a pedophile ring including Clinton associates was being run out of the basement of a Washington, D.C., pizza restaurant (which didn't actually have a basement)."

President* Retweets FBI-Designated Terrorist Threat Group. Alex Kaplan of Media Matters: "On Twitter..., Donald Trump has amplified supporters of the conspiracy theory more than 20 times. Trump has also met with multiple supporters of the conspiracy theory at the White House, and a supporter of the conspiracy theory is co-chair of a coalition group for his reelection campaign." Story includes details of Trump's "retweeted, quote tweeted, tagged, and shared content from QAnon supporters."

Greg Sargent, via digby: "FBI director Christopher A. Wray and other FBI officials recently said the bureau has recorded some 90 domestic terrorism arrests in the past nine months, and of the cases that involve a racial motive, a majority are thought to be driven by white supremacy. More broadly, FBI officials have also said that of the hundreds of overall domestic terrorism cases being investigated, a majority of those that are racially motivated are thought to be white supremacist in nature. But here's what we need to know more about: what those officials think about the impact of Trump's rhetoric on such activity."

Frank Figliuzzi in a New York Times op-ed: "... the F.B.I. says that of its 850 pending domestic terror investigations, about 40 percent involve racially motivated extremism. In 2017 and 2018, the F.B.I. made more arrests connected to domestic terror than to international terrorism, which includes groups like Al Qaeda and the Islamic State and their lone-wolf recruits.... Reporting indicates that Mr. Trump's rants emboldened white hate groups and reinforced racist blogs, news sites and social media platforms.... He empowers hateful and potentially violent individuals with his divisive rhetoric and his unwillingness to unequivocally denounce white supremacy.... If a president paints people of color as the enemy, encourages them to be sent back to where they came from and implies that no humans want to live in certain American cities, he gives license to those who feel compelled to eradicate what Mr. Trump calls an infestation."

Elijah Cummings is the pride of Baltimore.... The president -- this comes as no surprise -- really doesn't know what he's talking about. But maybe you could ask his son-in-law, who's a slumlord there, if he wants to talk about rodent infestations. -- Baltimore native Nancy Pelosi, Thursday ...

... One Domestic Terrorist Act That Wasn't Trump's Fault. WJZ Baltimore: "Baltimore Police are investigating after the home of Rep. Elijah Cummings was broken into early Saturday morning. This was several hours before ... Donald Trump tweeted criticizing Cummings and his district including Baltimore."

Lauren Gardner of Politico: "The U.S. Senate on Wednesday confirmed Ambassador to Canada Kelly Craft to become the top American envoy to the United Nations, despite criticism from some Democrats that she lacks the experience needed for the key diplomatic position and was routinely absent from her post in Ottawa." Mrs. McC: Knowing Trump's opinion of the U.N., Craft should have no trouble treating this new gig as yet a second no-show job. (Also linked yesterday.)

Taegan Goddard of Political Wire: "'President Trump's nominee to be the nation's next spy chief is regarded as a relatively disengaged member of the House Intelligence Committee and is little known across the ranks of spy agencies he has been tapped to lead,' the Washington Post reports. 'Though Rep. John Ratcliffe's membership on the House committee is perhaps his most important credential for the top intelligence job, officials said he has yet to take part in one of its overseas trips to learn more about spy agencies' work. It is also unclear whether Ratcliffe has spent much time at the headquarters of the CIA, the National Security Agency or other parts of the sprawling U.S. intelligence community that he has been nominated to direct.'" ...

... Ratcliffe Isn't Nearly the Badass He Says He Is. Washington Post via New York: "'As a U.S. Attorney, I arrested over 300 illegal immigrants on a single day,' Ratcliffe (R-Tex.) says on his congressional website. But a closer look at the case shows that Ratcliffe's claims conflict with the court record and the recollections of others who participated in the operation -- at a time when he is under fire for embellishing his record ... Only 45 workers were charged by prosecutors in Ratcliffe's office, court documents show." No link.

Burgess Everett & John Bresnahan of Politico: "The Senate has advanced a budget deal on a 67-27 vote, paving the way for final passage and ... Donald Trump's signature." (Also linked yesterday.)

Presidential Race 2020

Maggie Astor of the New York Times: "The Democratic National Committee has set stricter criteria for the third set of debates, which will be held on Sept. 12 and Sept. 13 in Houston. If 10 or fewer candidates qualify, the debate will take place on only one night. Candidates will need to have 130,000 unique donors and register at least 2 percent support in four polls. They have until Aug. 28 to reach those benchmarks.... Seven candidates have already met both qualification thresholds": Joe Biden, Cory Booker, Pete Buttigieg, Kamala Harris, Beto O'Rourke, Bernie Sanders & Elizabeth Warren. (Also linked yesterday.)

Frank Rich: "What's obvious to all is that the field cannot be winnowed down a minute too soon. The time has come for the week’s best debaters, Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders, to stop acting like a tag team and start drawing sharp distinctions (besides personality) between themselves. One or both of them must face off with the last centrists or sort-of centrists standing: most likely, Biden, Kamala Harris, Buttigieg, and (possibly) Cory Booker."

Congressional Races 2020. Scott Bland of Politico: "Rep. Will Hurd of Texas, the only black Republican in the House, won't seek reelection in 2020, he announced on Thursday.... Hurd, a former CIA officer who was first elected in 2014, has been an advocate for bipartisan compromise on immigration and other key issues in Congress. And he has spoken out numerous times against ... Donald Trump, often warning that the president's rhetoric and positions were hurting the Republican Party.... Hurd is the sixth House Republican to in the past two weeks to announce his retirement, as the GOP adjusts to both life in the minority and the continued transformation of the party under Trump.... Democrat Gina Ortiz Jones, a veteran who barely lost to Hurd in 2018, is already running for the seat again in 2020."

Way Beyond the Beltway

Philippines. Daniel Victor of the New York Times: "A Jordanian man once considered a financier for Al Qaeda and a 'henchman' of Osama bin Laden's brother-in-law was arrested in the Philippines in July, officials said on Thursday, reinforcing concerns that Islamist militants are making a base in the country. Mahmoud Afif Abdeljalil, 51, was arrested on July 4 in Zamboanga, a coastal city at the southwestern tip of Mindanao, the nation's second-largest island. Mr. Abdeljalil had false documents under an assumed name, Jaime Morente, the chief of the Bureau of Immigration, said in a statement. Mr. Abdeljalil, whom the authorities called 'a former henchman' connected to the bin Laden family, has been in government custody since the arrest.... T

U.K. Jill Lawless of the AP: "British Prime Minister Boris Johnson's governing Conservative Party lost a special election early Friday, leaving it with a one-vote working majority in Parliament as Brexit looms. In the Conservatives' first electoral test since Johnson became prime minister nine days ago, the party was defeated for the seat of Brecon and Radnorshire in Wales by Jane Dodds of the opposition Liberal Democrats. Dodds won 43% of the vote, while Conservative Chris Davies, who was fighting to retain the seat after being convicted and fined for expenses fraud, got 39%. The result makes it harder for Johnson's government to pass laws and win votes in Parliament, with Brexit scheduled to happen in less than three months."