The Commentariat -- September 18, 2017

Fuctupmind. POTUS* Promotes Violence against Women. Again. Christina Caron of the New York Times: "Serious work beckons, but so does Twitter, and on Sunday morning the temptation to share a fan's GIF that showed Mr. Trump golfing and the ball striking Hillary Clinton proved too much to resist.... The tweet stoked outrage online, generating more than 11,000 replies, many of which condemned the president's promotion of violent imagery toward Mrs. Clinton, who, as a former first lady, has lifetime Secret Service protection.... But it was also celebrated by Trump supporters, who admonished 'crooked Hillary' and accused Mr. Trump's critics of lacking a sense of humor.... The GIF, which was created by splicing two videos, shows Mr. Trump swinging a golf club and the ball striking Mrs. Clinton in the back as she boards a plane, knocking her forward. The imagery of Mrs. Clinton tripping in the aircraft's doorway was from 2011, shot when she boarded a flight in Yemen.... It's not the first time one of the president's tweets has made light of violence." Includes GIF. ...

     ... Mrs. Bea McCrabbie: Nearly everything Trump does can be pegged to an age group. Sometimes it's "senile," but usually it's somewhere between two years old and 14. This tweet was definitely in the 12-14-year-old range: a boy that age is confused about & afraid of girls & his prefrontal cortex isn't fully developed, so he may lash out at the objects of his fear or suggest violence against these scary girls. ...

... Alicia Melville-Smith of BuzzFeed: "President Trump on Sunday morning retweeted a doctored video showing him hitting Hillary Clinton with a golf ball -- from an account that makes racial, anti-Semitic, and anti-LGBT comments." ...

... Luke Barnes of ThinkProgress: "The post, by Twitter user Fuctupmind was part of a slew of early morning retweets of pro-Trump memes by the Pre[si]dent. Fuctupmind has previously pedaled in a number of far-right conspiracy theories, including the belief that Obama is a Muslim, and that Hillary Clinton was involved in the murder of DNC staffer Seth Rich.... The account has also consistently made racist comments as well as posted memes and GIFs of Hillary Clinton showing her as weak and demented. Fuctupmind also uses Gab, a social media platform which is popular with white nationalists.... Trump has a long history of retweeting accounts which push hateful, white nationalist agendas.... There's speculation among researchers as to how much of pro-Trump Twitter is part of a grassroots movement, and how much of it is driven by automated bots. According to the New Democrat Network think tank, 'Several forms of anaylsis, including TwitterAudit, count nearly half of all Trump's followers as fake users.'" ...

... Caroline Orr of Shareblue: "Humiliated by the small number of supporters that turned out for Saturday's supposed 'Mother of All Rallies' in Washington D.C., Donald Trump started his Sunday by obsessively tweeting about the woman who beat him by 3 million votes in November. This is nothing new for Trump, who cannot seem to let go of his fixation even ten months after the election. Within a span of 30 minutes early Sunday morning, Trump retweeted 6 tweets from fan accounts, including one tweet about the 'haters' who are 'jealous of his success,' and another showing a fictional 2020 electoral map." All that besides the post promoting violence against Clinton. ...

... David Nakamura of the Washington Post: "At a time when Trump's public approval ratings have tumbled and he is taking fire from conservatives for flirting with bipartisanship on immigration, the president's promotion of ... outlandish content -- created and distributed by his most ardent supporters -- aims to rally his far-right political base.... Critics said Trump has not only coarsened and debased the nation's dialogue, but also that he has promoted xenophobia and anti-Semitism." ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: I don't think Trump is aiming at the far right; it's possible to be ultra-conservative & not be anti-Semitic, xenophobic & misogynistic. Trump is aiming at the deplorable losers who share his sick "values." He's just bullying people & specific groups of people, and he thinks it's fun. ...

... Caroline Orr: "In an interview on CNN's 'State of the Union' Sunday morning, United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley defended Donald Trump's reckless tweeting about the subway bombing in London, saying it was a result of the president's emotions. Just after the bombing on Friday, Trump tweeted that the suspected terrorists 'were in the sights of Scotland Yard,' which many observers interpreted as criticism of London's law enforcement agency for letting the suspects slip through the cracks. Others pointed out that Trump was either leaking confidential information -- or simply making it up.... When CNN's Dana Bash asked Haley about the tweet on Sunday, the U.N. ambassador claimed that Trump didn't mean any harm by the tweet, but that sometimes 'he gets emotional.'" ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: Emotional? Trump used Twitter to bash a key ally & to promote his Muslim ban. This is just the usual careless, bullying, xenophobic, opportunistic rants of the incompetent, small-minded jerk we have come to know & despise.

Overheard at BLT Steak. Peter Baker & Ken Vogel of the New York Times: "President Trump's legal team is wrestling with how much to cooperate with the special counsel looking into Russian election interference, an internal debate that led to an angry confrontation last week between two White House lawyer.... The debate in Mr. Trump's West Wing has pitted Donald F. McGahn II, the White House counsel, against Ty Cobb, a lawyer brought in to manage the response to the investigation. Mr. Cobb has argued for turning over as many of the emails and documents requested by the special counsel as possible in hopes of quickly ending the investigation -- or at least its focus on Mr. Trump. Mr. McGahn supports cooperation, but has expressed worry about setting a precedent that would weaken the White House.... The friction escalated in recent days.... [A New York Times reporter overheard] Mr. Cobb ... talking about a White House lawyer he deemed 'a McGahn spy' and saying Mr. McGahn had 'a couple documents locked in a safe' that he seemed to suggest he wanted access to. After The Times contacted the White House about the situation, Mr. McGahn privately erupted at Mr. Cobb, according to people informed about the confrontation.... John F. Kelly ... sharply reprimanded Mr. Cobb for his indiscretion, the people said." ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: Waiting for Trump to accuse BLT Steak & the NYT of wiretapping the tables. He can at least set up a commission to investigate the acoustics at the liberal steakhouse. ...

... Margaret Hartmann of New York: "This is of particular concern to McGahn because he may also be a witness in the Russia probe. McGahn signed on to the Trump team during the campaign, and [special counsel Robert] Mueller wants to interview him about matters like Donald Trump Jr.'s meeting with Russian officials and Comey's dismissal. As West Wing viewers know, the president doesn't have the same attorney-client privilege with government lawyers as he does with private attorneys, so McGahn's disclosures could put him in legal jeopardy."

Richard Gowan in Politico Magazine: Donald Trump despises the U.N., possibly because its management nixed Trump's development plans -- including his proposal to rehab the U.N. building -- in the late 1990s & early 2000s. But now he needs the international organization to him "win" against North Korea & other antagonists, so he's occasionally playing nice.

David Fahrenthold, et al., of the Washington Post: "Trump's divisive political career is reshaping a key -- and previously apolitical -- part of his business empire. Trump-owned hotels and clubs have long made money by holding galas and other special events. Now, their clientele is changing. Trump's properties are attracting new customers who want something from him or his government. But they're losing the kind of customers the business was originally built on: nonpolitical groups who just wanted to rent a room. This summer, 19 charities canceled upcoming events at Mar-a-Lago -- a major blow to that club's business -- after the president said there were 'fine people' among white supremacists, neo-Nazis and members of the alt-right protesting ... in Charlottesville. Dozens of other clients have left since Trump entered the 2016 presidential race.... For the Trump Organization, a potentially troubling trend is emerging ... as Trump's presidency has grown more polarizing. The Post's review could not determine if the Trump Organization's special-event business is growing or shrinking overall. But it did show, clearly, that one part of that business is thriving. The business of political events.... At least 27 federal political committees -- including Trump's reelection campaign -- have flocked to his properties.... At Trump's D.C. hotel, there have also been a slew of events involving groups that have come to Washington to influence policy decisions."

David Siders of Politico: "Ripping into Donald Trump in the final hours of this year's legislative session, California lawmakers passed measures urging Congress to censure the president, bucking his immigration policies and seeking to force him to release his tax returns. They also formally called on Trump 'to publicly apologize to all Americans for his racist and bigoted behavior.' If there was any question about the location of the nerve center of the anti-Trump resistance, it was settled with a defiant fusillade of legislation Friday and Saturday memorializing California's antipathy toward the president." Siders doesn't speculate on whether or note Gov. Jerry Brown will sign all of the bills, tho he writes that the 'sanctuary state' bill was weakened before passage to gain ... Brown's support.

Juliet Eilperin of the Washington Post: "Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke has recommended that President Trump modify 10 national monuments created by his immediate predecessors, including shrinking the boundaries of at least four western sites, according to a copy of the report obtained by The Washington Post. The memorandum, which the White House has refused to release since Zinke submitted it late last month, does not specify exact reductions for the four protected areas Zinke would have Trump narrow -- Utah's Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante, Nevada's Gold Butte, and Oregon's Cascade-Siskiyou -- or the two marine national monuments -- the Pacific Remote Islands and Rose Atoll -- for which he raised the same prospect. The two Utah sites encompass a total of more than 3.2 million acres, part of the reason they have aroused such intense emotions since their designation."

Burgess Everett & Josh Dawsey of Politico: "Obamacare repeal is on the brink of coming back from the dead. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and his leadership team are seriously considering voting on a bill that would scale back the federal government's role in the health care system and instead provide block grants to states, congressional and Trump administration sources said. It would be a last-ditch attempt to repeal Obamacare before the GOP's power to pass health care legislation through a party-line vote in the Senate expires on Sept. 30." ...

... The Graham-Cassidy Uninsurance Bill. Ian Millhiser of ThinkProgress: "According to an analysis shared by Andy Slavitt, who ran the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services under President Obama, an estimated 32 million people could lose health coverage by the end of the decade if Graham-Cassidy becomes law.... In essence, an insurer could take someone's money for years while that individual is healthy. Then, on the day that that person is diagnosed with cancer, jack up their premiums so high that they are no longer affordable.... Health 'insurance' under Graham-Cassidy, in other words, would no longer provide any real insurance whatsoever." ...

... Stealth Repeal. Paul Krugman: "The sponsors of the Graham-Cassidy [repeal & replace health insurance] bill now working its way toward a Senate vote claim to be offering a moderate approach that preserves the good things about Obamacare. In other words, they are maintaining the G.O.P. norm of lying both about the content of Obamacare and about what would replace it. In reality, Graham-Cassidy is the opposite of moderate. It contains, in exaggerated and almost caricature form, all the elements that made previous Republican proposals so cruel and destructive. It would eliminate the individual mandate, undermine if not effectively eliminate protection for people with pre-existing conditions, and slash funding for subsidies and Medicaid. There are a few additional twists, but they're all bad -- notably, a funding formula that would penalize states that are actually successful in reducing the number of uninsured.... Yet there is a real chance that Graham-Cassidy, which is similar to but even worse than previous Republican proposals, will nonetheless become law, because not enough people are taking it seriously.... So if you care about preserving the huge gains the A.C.A. has brought, make your voice heard." ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: Only three GOP senators voted against the most recent repeal bill: McCain, Murkowski & Collins. & if even one of them votes in favor of Graham-Cassidy, ObamaCare isgone. McCain is best buddies with Graham, the main architect of the bill. I do see a clear & present danger.

Beyond the Beltway

Aaron Rupar of ThinkProgress: "During an interview with a Corpus Christi radio station on Friday, Rep.Blake Farenthold (R-TX) vowed to personally boycott the University of Texas at Austin until the school reinstalls the Confederate statues it took down last month...In an earlier part of the interview, Farenthold took aim at so-called 'Antifa' protesters who have taken to the streets in opposition to white nationalists.... Referring to the fact that some Antifa protesters wear masks, Farenthold said that 'if you' re not willing to show your face for your cause, that's probably a good indication that there's something wrong with your cause.'" --safari: He's obviously too dim to catch the irony of his KKK brethren.

News Ledes

Weather Channel: Hurricane "Jose, a Category 1 hurricane in the western Atlantic, will continue to produce dangerous high surf and rip currents as it moves parallel to the Eastern Seaboard in the week ahead. Rain and tropical-storm-force winds are also expected to brush portions of the East Coast. A tropical storm watch has been issued for the mid-Atlantic and New England coasts. This includes from Fenwick Island, Delaware, to Sandy Hook, New Jersey, including the Delaware Bay South, and from East Rockaway Inlet, New York, to Plymouth, Massachusetts, including the Long Island Sound, Block Island, Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket."

CNN: "Hurricane Maria is forecast to rapidly strengthen over the next two days as it takes aim at Caribbean islands devastated by Hurricane Irma just days ago. The storm is expected to be a major hurricane when it hits the Leeward Islands over the next few days, intensifying to a Category 4 hurricane in 48 hours, according to the National Hurricane Center's latest update."

Note to Super-Contributors

Mrs. Bea McCrabbie: This morning, I was unable to log into Reality Chex. The same thing happened several months ago, and Akhilleus had the same problem, so whatever the cause is, it "travels." Every time he & I tried to log in, the page redirected to a Bluehost page. At the time, I contacted every "expert" I could think of, & they all blamed somebody else. No one had a solution. The quasi-successful solution I found on my own then doesn't work for me any more.

So if you're using Firefox & get the same anomaly, here's what "works." I say "works" because the same problem occurs, but an ad-blocker prohibits Bluehost from taking over & I can access the logged-in page.

1. Clear your cookies & cache. (In Firefox, click on Menu, History, Clear recent history. Check Cookies & Cache in the pop-up window, click on the Clear Now box.)

2. Go to https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/blocksite/

3. Click on Add to Firefox.

4. Open Firefox Menu. Click on Add-ons. In the gray box at the right of the screen, click on Extensions if you aren't already there. The BlockSite add-on should show up at the top of the page.

5. Click on Options (to the right of the page). That should bring up a window titled BlockSite Preferences.

6. Click on Add (to the right of the Blacklist box). You'll have to do this three times, one for each page/site you're blocking. It should end up looking like this. You don't really have to put in a Description.

7. Click Okay at the bottom of the entry, then click on Okay at the bottom of the window.

8. Close Firefox & Restart.

9. Not sure this is necessary, but clear your cache & cookies again.

10. Try logging into RealityChex. It worked for me.

The Commentariat -- September 17, 2017

Mrs. Bea McCrabbie: Because of an access problem (see Note to Super-Contributors above), I'm getting a very late start this morning.

NEW. David Nakamura of the Washington Post: "President Trump is calling Kim Jong Un names -- the 'Rocket Man.' The president stuck the moniker on the North Korea dictator in a Sunday morning tweet ahead of Trump's scheduled arrival [in New York City] in the evening for the U.N. General Assembly, the annual gathering of more than 120 world leaders. Trump, who has spent two nights at his golf resort in Bedminster, N.J., also revealed that he spoke with South Korean President Moon Jae-in, who will join Trump and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe for a trilateral dinner this week in New York to collaborate on addressing North Korea's growing nuclear and ballistic missile threats." Mrs. McC: No matter how horrible the named subject, I'm not sure juvenile name-calling is an effective diplomatic technique.

Flip Flop, Flippity Flip Flop. Ben Dreyfuss of Mother Jones: "The Wall Street Journal reports that the Trump administration has told European officials that it won't leave the Paris agreement.... Update [Sunday] 5:35 p.m. ET: White House spokesperson Lindsay Walters pushed back on the Wall Street Journal report in a statement, 'There has been no change in the United States' position on the Paris agreement. As the President has made abundantly clear, the United States is withdrawing unless we can re-enter on terms that are more favorable to our country.'"

Mueller Hires DOJ Lawyer to Lean on Manafort. Josh Gerstein of Politico: "An attorney working on the Justice Department's highest-profile money laundering case recently transferred off that assignment in order to join the staff of the special prosecutor investigating the Trump ampaign's potential ties to Russia.... Attorney Kyle Freeny was among the prosecutors on hand Friday as a spokesman for former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort, Jason Maloni, testified before a grand jury at federal court in Washington. Freeny ... is the 16th lawyer known to be working with the former FBI chief on the investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election.... Freeny's work on the [DOJ] case and the Manafort aspect of the Trump-Russia probe appear to have some commonalities[.]" ...

... Dylan Byers of CNN: "Special counsel Robert Mueller and his team are now in possession of Russian-linked ads run on Facebook during the presidential election, after they obtained a search warrant for the information. Facebook gave Mueller and his team copies of ads and related information it discovered on its site linked to a Russian troll farm, as well as detailed information about the accounts that bought the ads and the way the ads were targeted at American Facebook users, a source with knowledge of the matter told CNN.... Facebook did not give copies of the ads to members of the Senate and House intelligence committees when it met with them last week on the grounds that doing so would violate their privacy policy, sources with knowledge of the briefings said." ...

     ... Natasha Bertrand of Business Insider: "Legal experts say the revelation has enormous implications for the trajectory of Mueller's investigation into Russia's election interference, and whether Moscow had any help from ... Donald Trump's campaign team. 'This is big news -- and potentially bad news for the Russian election interference "deniers,'" said Asha Rangappa, a former FBI counterintelligence agent.... 'The key here, though, is that Mueller clearly already has enough information on these accounts -- and their link to a potential crime to justify forcing [Facebook] to give up the info,' she said. 'That means that he has uncovered a great deal of evidence through other avenues of Russian election interference.'... Former federal prosecutor Renato Mariotti... [wrote that the warrant] "means that Mueller has concluded that specific foreign individuals committed a crime by making a "contribution" in connection with an election[.]'"

GOP Plan to Stick It to Blue State Taxpayers in "Reform." Mike DeBonis of the Washington Post: "As long as there has been a federal income tax, taxpayers have been able to deduct most of the state and local taxes they pay from earnings subject to Uncle Sam's grasp. But that deduction -- especially popular in states rich in Democratic voters -- could disappear as soon as next year if President Trump and congressional Republicans succeed in their promised rewrite of the tax code.... Republican leaders have made clear the SALT deduction is on the table, and it has shaken up a number of blue-state GOP legislators who are warning that it could derail the ambitious tax plan Trump is now pushing. 'I intend to fight it with everything I know how,' said Rep. Tom MacArthur (R-N.J.), who represents a district where 43 percent of tax filers claim SALT deductions and signed a bipartisan letter to Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin urging him to preserve the break. 'It's a big deal for states like ours.'” ...

... Jacqueline Thomsen of the Hill: "More former classmates of Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin are calling on him to resign from his post in the Trump administration over the president's response to the violence in Charlottesville, Va. Nearly 200 alumni of the private Riverdale Country School in New York signed a letter pushing him to resign from the Trump administration, calling Mnuchin's own response to Trump's comments on the violent white supremacist rally 'deeply troubling.'... [A few weeks ago,] nearly 300 Yale alumni from his graduating year signed a letter similarly saying he should resign in the wake of Charlottesville."

Jacqueline Thomsen: "Organizers of a triathlon set to take place at a Trump property in North Carolina have cancelled the event days after the name was changed to distance itself from President Trump. The event, scheduled to be held at Trump National Golf Club, Charlotte, was originally named 'Tri at the Trump.' But organizer Chuck McAllister cancelled the race Saturday days after he changed the name to 'Tri for Good' following complaints about the name, The Charlotte Observer reported Saturday. Proceeds from the triathlon were to go to children with cancer and other life-threatening illnesses."

Karoun Demirjian of the Washington Post: "The top Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee has joined an effort to challenge President Trump's announced ban on transgender troops, a sign that open resistance to the order is growing. Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), a military hawk and one of the GOP's most outspoken critics of Trump, said in a statement Friday that he was backing the measure because 'we should welcome all those who are willing and able to serve our country.'... The announcement from McCain came as he joined Sen. Jack Reed (D-R.I.), the ranking Democrat on the committee, and committee members Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) and Susan Collins (R-Maine) in introducing a bill to thwart the president's plan."

Kristine Phillips of the Washington Post: "In what appeared to be an act of defiance against President Trump and to the dismay of many in law enforcement, California lawmakers took a significant step toward making the state a so-called 'sanctuary state.' The California Senate on Saturday passed Senate Bill 54, controversial legislation that would protect undocumented immigrants from possible deportation by prohibiting local law enforcement agencies, including school police and security departments, from cooperating with federal immigration officials. It also forbids law enforcement from inquiring about a person's immigration status. The California Values Act provides an expansive protection to the state's undocumented population, estimated to be about 2.7 million, at a time when the Trump administration continues an aggressive crackdown on those who are in the country illegally and on so-called sanctuary cities -- communities that limit local law enforcement's cooperation with immigration agents. The strictly party-line vote sends the bill to California Gov. Jerry Brown (D), who is expected to sign it in to law." ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: Not sure why law enforcement is so "dismayed." ...

... Trump Whacks Idaho's "Local Milk People."* Susan Ferriss in Politico Magazine: Idaho's "Magic Valley's dairy boom is a contemporary rural American success story -- the kind that ... Donald Trump railed as a candidate is too often missing across the country. Unemployment here was less than 3 percent this summer.... Dairy farmers lean heavily Republican.... But in the age of Donald Trump even the farmers who supported the new president ... [are] frightened that Trump's aggressive deportation policies will soon start to pick off or push away the mostly Hispanic immigrants who do the gritty work that Americans aren't interested in doing. Many of these workers are probably undocumented, farmers acknowledge, yet they're the sturdy backbone of a surging industry. Here in the Magic Valley, the farmers' perspective is starkly different from the president's claim that undocumented workers 'compete directly against vulnerable American workers.'" ...

     ... * Mrs. McCrabbie: Here is what Trump said to Australian PM Malcolm Turnbull in January when he was complaining about a refugee immigration pact President Obama had made with Australia : "I hate taking these people.... I guarantee you they are bad. That is why they are in prison right now. They are not going to be wonderful people who go on to work for the local milk people." Reporters have assumed that Trump meant "dairy farmers" when he said "local milk people." However, "Post reporter Greg Miller, who wrote the story [about the transcript of the Trump-Turnbull call], posited that it could be an allusion to yogurt company Chobani, which has been criticized for hiring refugees. Guess where Chobani is? Twin Falls, Idaho. According to Ferriss, it's the world's largest yogurt factor. AND, according to Ferriss's report, Trump's underlying assumption was wrong: Idaho's "local milk people" describe immigrants as "the sturdy backbone" of their businesses. Contra Trump, immigrants are in fact, "wonderful people who go on to work for the local milk people." P.S. Looks as if Idaho should follow California's lead & become a sanctuary state.

NEW. Rod Nordland of the New York Times: "... the boundaries of the Green Zone [in Kabul, Afghanistan] will be [expanded].... The zone is separated from the rest of the city by a network of police, military and private security checkpoints. The expansion is part of a huge public works project that over the next two years will reshape the center of this city of five million to bring nearly all Western embassies, major government ministries, and NATO and American military headquarters within the protected area. After 16 years of American presence in Kabul, it is a stark acknowledgment that even the city's central districts have become too difficult to defend from Taliban bombings."

NEW. Your Tax Dollars at Work. Michael Sisak & Emily Schmall of the AP: "The federal government auctioned off disaster-response trailers at fire-sale prices just before Harvey devastated southeast Texas, reducing an already diminished supply of mobile homes ahead of what could become the nation's largest-ever housing mission. More than 100 2017-model Federal Emergency Management Agency trailers were sold over the two days before the Category 4 hurricane landed in the Gulf Coast.... Harvey was already projected to be a monster storm that would inflict unprecedented damage. The trailers were designated to be sold through Aug. 28, after floodwaters sent thousands of Texans onto rooftops and into shelters."

Few Show up for Pro-Trump "Mother of All Rallies." Deirdre Shesgreen of USA Today: "Followers of the hip-hop group Insane Clown Posse -- known as Juggalos -- held a march Saturday on the National Mall, alleging discrimination after the FBI labeled the group a gang in a 2011 report. 'We're different. We're not dangerous,' Kevin Gill, who is an announcer for a Juggalo wrestling league, said from the rally stage. 'Music is not a crime.'... In a video on the their website, the hip-hop artists claim their fans have lost jobs, custody of their children and been denied access to the military for their Juggalo affiliation.... Earlier Saturday in a separate gathering, hundreds of pro-Trump activists rallied on the National Mall in what they said was a show of American patriotism and celebration. 'We're here to support our president and this country,' said Sue Babinec, who traveled to Washington from Cincinnati for what organizers dubbed the 'Mother of All Rallies.'... U.S. Park Police braced for a crowd of as many as 3,000 people. As the event opened, there were perhaps only 1,000 people gathered just north of the Washington Monument."

NEW. Jonathan Cohn of the Huffington Post: "Repeal of the Affordable Care Act is back on the agenda, with Republicans suddenly talking about a bill that, until recently, few people in either party had taken all that seriously. The prospects for the new legislation are murky. The proposal has generated a ton of conversation in political and health policy circles in just the past week, with multiple outlets reporting that leadership is now thinking about floor action before Sept. 30. That's the magic date when, because of parliamentary rules, Republicans lose their ability to pass repeal with just 50 votes. But much of the chatter is hype from supporters and it's hard to know how much enthusiasm for the proposal actually exists. Still, even if the bill's political fortunes are difficult to pin down, the impact it would have as a law is crystal clear. By dramatically scaling back what the federal government spends on health care and undermining rules designed to guarantee insurance for people with pre-existing conditions, this new proposal would leave millions of Americans struggling to pay their medical bills and to get coverage."

Nicole Perlroth & Cade Metz of the New York Times: "Equifax, the credit reporting agency, said Friday that its chief information officer and chief security officer were retiring 'effective immediately.' The announcement came one week after the company revealed that a cyberattack potentially compromised confidential information of 143 million Americans. On Friday, the company also provided further details about when it had discovered the breach and which part of its website had been targeted by hackers. But many details about the breach, who was behind it and the computer security defenses at Equifax are still unclear." ...

... Octavio Blanco of Consumer Reports: "Consumers Union, the policy and mobilization arm of Consumer Reports, sent a letter to Equifax CEO Richard Smith on Thursday, expressing deep concern over the immediate and lasting effects for the 143 million consumers potentially compromised by the data breach the company announced last week. In the letter, the consumer advocacy organization called Equifax's response 'wholly inadequate' and outlined seven steps it believes Equifax must take to remediate the situation, including paying for credit freezes, processing disputes promptly, and setting aside funds to compensate consumers."

Annals of Journalism, Ctd. Carlos Lozado of the Washington Post reviews Katy Tur's campaign memoir Unbelievable.

Beyond the Beltway

NEW. Sheri Fink & Matt Stevens of the New York Times: "Gov. Rick Scott of Florida announced new rules on Saturday requiring nursing homes and assisted-living facilities in the state to have generators capable of maintaining comfortable temperatures for at least 96 hours in the event of a power loss. The governor's announcement came three days after eight residents of a nursing home in Hollywood, Fla., the Rehabilitation Center at Hollywood Hills, died when the home lost power to its cooling system in the wake of Hurricane Irma. The public outcry over the episode has intensified after the home said that its staff, or people calling on their behalf, had contacted the governor himself, as well as the power utility and several county and state agencies, to get the problem resolved, to little avail."

NEW. St. Louis Post-Dispatch: "For the second consecutive night, peaceful daytime protests descended into late-night violence with broken windows and thrown rocks, water bottles and garbage can lids following Friday's acquittal of a white former police officer in the shooting death of a black suspect. Shortly before 11 p.m. at Leland and Delmar, a small group of protesters threw chunks of concrete at police and broke windows at numerous Delmar Loop businesses. A chair was thrown through the window of a Starbucks. One protester was seen hitting a police SUV with a hammer. Police made more than a half-dozen arrests witnessed by reporters, including a protester who was carried away by officers by his arms and legs." ...

... Axios: "U2 canceled their concert scheduled for St. Louis [Sunday night] because of inadequate police available for the event, per AP. Local police are attending to the protests over the acquittal of a police officer who shot and killed Anthony Lamar Smith, a black man, in 2011. The band released a statement this morning saying 'we cannot in good conscience risk our fans' safety by proceeding with tonight's concert....'" ...

... John Bowden of the Hill: "Hundreds of protesters took to the streets in St. Louis for a second night in a row after the acquittal of a white former police officer in the shooting death of a black motorist. Protests remained mostly peaceful Saturday, with live stream video on Periscope showing demonstrators marching down the streets chanting 'black lives matter' nd'"united we stand/divided we fall.'" ...

... Aaron Rupar of Think Progress: "In the wake of heated protests in St. Louis following the acquittal of the cop who killed Anthony Lamar Smith, a self-described Christian lawmaker from Pennsylvania endorsed running over protesters who block roads. While sharing a news story about the St. Louis protests, Pennsylvania Rep. Aaron Bernstine (R) tweeted that '[i]f anyone EVER tries to stop my car on a highway with negative intentions.... I will not stop under any conditions.'... In subsequent tweets, Bernstine called protesters 'thugs' and 'snowflakes' and vowed he 'won't be assaulted in the name of "free speech."'... Saturday morning wasn't the first time Bernstine -- a Trump supporter who's serving his first term in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives -- has endorsed running over protesters with vehicles." ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: Excuse me, Aaron. Who's a thug? P.S. Remember when you swore that oath in the name of your god to defend the Constitution? The Constitution includes the Amendments, you dimwitted pissant. ...

... Jeremy Stahl of Slate analyzes the "mental gymnastics" Judge Timothy J. Wilson "went into acquitting a man who said to his partner of Smith, 'we're killing this motherfucker, don't you know,' minutes before killing him." Mrs. McC: Stockley's statement of intention to kill, by the way, was not a characterization by bystanders or his partner: rather, prosecutors had an audio recording of it." Stahl's assessment will make you sick all over again. ...

... Melissa Matthews of Newsweek: "Many critics are pointing to a key sentence from Wilson's ruling. 'The Court observes, based on its nearly 30 years on the bench, that an urban heroin dealer not in possession of a firearm would be an anomaly,' he wrote, referring to a gun found in Smith's car that had Stockley's, not Smith's, DNA on it." Mrs. McC: So, it must have been the victim's gun because all drug dealers are carrying all the time. That's why Wilson was not convinced Stockley planted the gun even though "Stockley's DNA was found under a screw in the revolver's handle." How the hell do you get your DNA under a screw of somebody else's gun? Have I mentioned that Judge Wilson is as white as the driven snow?

Way Beyond

Caroline Davies, et al., of the Guardian: "Police are searching a residential property in Stanwell, Surrey, in connection with a second man arrested in connection with the terrorist attack that injured 30 people on a London Underground train on Friday. The 21-year-old man was arrested in Hounslow, west London, at about 11.50pm on Saturday..., the Metropolitan police said." ...

... Vikram Dodd of the Guardian: "Police hunting the London tube bomber have arrested an 18-year-old man in Dover and raided an address in Surrey as investigators raced to thwart a second attack. Police and the home secretary, Amber Rudd, hailed the arrest under section 41 of the Terrorism Act as very significant. Investigators believe the suspect may have been in the port area of Dover to try to board a ferry to leave Britain. There was confidence among counter-terrorism officials that finding and detaining the suspect at 7.50am on Saturday represented a major breakthrough in the investigation. It led to the decision to raid an address in Sunbury at 1.40pm. Residents were evacuated as armed police and their colleagues searched a home. The UK remained at its highest state of terrorism alert with investigators still unable to rule out more than one person being involved in the attack or its preparation."