The Commentariat -- July 5, 2016

Afternoon Update:

Mark Landler of the New York Times: "The F.B.I. director, James B. Comey, said on Tuesday that the bureau would not recommend criminal charges in Hillary Clinton's handling of classified information, lifting an enormous legal cloud from her presidential campaign.... But Mr. Comey rebuked Mrs. Clinton as being 'extremely careless' in using a personal email address and server for sensitive information, declaring that an ordinary government official could have faced administrative sanction for such conduct. To warrant a criminal charge, Mr. Comey said, there had to be evidence that Mrs. Clinton intentionally sent or received classified information -- something that the F.B.I. did not find. 'Our judgment is that no reasonable prosecutor would bring such a case,' he said at a news conference."-- CW ...

... The full transcript of Comey's remarks, as prepared, via the Washington Post, is here. ...

... Ian Millhiser of Think Progress with "what you need to know about why ... charges [against Clinton] were never a realistic possibility." -- CW ...

... Nick Gass of Politico: "Donald Trump weighed in on the FBI's announcement that it would not recommend charges be brought against Hillary Clinton.... 'The system is rigged. General Petraeus got in trouble for far less. Very very unfair! As usual, bad judgment,' Trump tweeted Tuesday morning.... Trump reiterated his claims of a rigged system in a subsequent tweet." ...

     ... CW: Really? Petraeus gave classified material to his girlfriend, who was not a federal employee, not cleared to receive classified matierial, & who carried the stuff around on an unsecured laptop &, I imagine, on flashdrives or other devices.

** Jonathan Chait: Hillary Clinton "is the 'most corrupt candidate ever,' [Trump] claims. Corruption is indeed a plausible line of attack against Clinton -- or, at least, it would be, if the opposing candidate was anybody other than Donald Trump, who may actually be the most corrupt presidential candidate ever. It should be conceded that the evidence against Clinton is fairly damning.... ... The case against Hillary Clinton is that her administration might be corrupted around the margins.... Trump is flamboyantly corrupt in ways that run to the very core of his identity and prospective governing choices.... Trump has not merely intermingled campaigning with his business interests; the two are one and the same." -- CW

Nick Gass: "Donald Trump's campaign has at various times banned publications like Politico, The Washington Post, The Huffington Post, BuzzFeed News and others from covering its events. But when journalists convene in Cleveland in less than two weeks, none of those outlets will be shut out of Quicken Loans Arena, the director of the House Daily Press Gallery told the Washington Examiner in an interview published Tuesday." CW: I wonder if Trump will be able to keep the press in a pen, which would be a first at any modern-day major-party convention.

*****

Fourth of July, 2016, Washington, D.C., "1812 Overture":

     ... Update. Or Not. Scandal on Capitol Hill! Emily Yahr of the Washington Post: "If you were watching Washington's Fourth of July fireworks outside on Monday night and also happened to catch PBS's broadcast of 'A Capitol Fourth,' you might have noticed something looked … a little off. The actual weather in Washington was cloudy and misty.... But on 'A Capitol Fourth,' the annual concert special that airs live from the West Lawn of the U.S. Capitol, many of the fireworks (primarily in the second half of the display) looked glorious in a clear sky.... Another giveaway? On TV, you couldn't see the construction scaffolding on the Capitol building, which has been there for many months.... As soon as the show ended, producers from Capital Concerts owned up to the fact that not all of its footage was from the live fireworks show.... 'We showed a combination of the best fireworks from this year and previous years. It was the patriotic thing to do,' the 'Capitol Fourth' account tweeted." ...

     ... The Management regrets it inadvertently foisted a hoax upon Reality Chex readers. No word yet if that's really the National Symphony Orchestra, et al., performing the "1812 Overture."

President Obama celebrates the 4th at the White House, winding up with an off-key rendition of "Happy Birthday" to daughter Malia:

     ... Update. If you thought this video of President Obama and Malia Obama looked ... a little off, the White House has owned up to the fact that the Obamas always visit Kenya on the 4th of July weekend and staff substituted footage from a 2007 birthday party for Jenna Bush. "It was the patriotic thing to do," the White House account tweeted.

If you are wondering why Confederates/Trumpbots think they are the "true patriots" & the rest of us are "politically-correct" rabble, here's your answer. It's hardwired into our history. ...

... The American Stain. Robert Parkinson, in a New York Times op-ed: "The Declaration [of Independence]'s beautiful preamble distracts us from the heart of the document, the 27 accusations against King George III over which its authors wrangled and debated.... The very last one '' the ultimate deal-breaker -- was the most important...: 'He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavored to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian savages, whose known rule of warfare is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.' In the context of the 18th century, 'domestic insurrections' refers to rebellious slaves.... In fact, Jefferson had originally included an extended attack on the king for forcing slavery upon unwitting colonists.... [But] the Continental Congress cut out [Jefferson's argument against slavery].... This idea -- that some people belong as proper Americans and others do not -- has marked American history ever since.... This notion comes from the very founders we revere this weekend. It haunts us still." ...

... CW: Here is the portion of Jefferson's "original Rough draught" to which Parkinson refers. It is remarkable:

he [George III] has waged cruel war against human nature itself, violating it's most sacred rights of life & liberty in the persons of a distant people who never offended him, captivating & carrying them into slavery in another hemisphere, or to incur miserable death in their transportation thither. this piratical warfare, the opprobrium of infidel powers, is the warfare of the CHRISTIAN king of Great Britain. determined to keep open a market where MEN should be bought & sold, he has prostituted his negative for suppressing every legislative attempt to prohibit or to restrain this execrable commerce: and that this assemblage of horrors might want no fact of distinguished die, he is now exciting those very people to rise in arms among us, and to purchase that liberty of which he has deprived them, & murdering the people upon whom he also obtruded them; thus paying off former crimes committed against the liberties of one people, with crimes which he urges them to commit against the lives of another.

... MEANWHILE. Clare Foran of the Atlantic: "The United Kingdom's historic vote to leave the European Union ... has sparked interest in the far-fetched idea that U.S. states might win independence from Washington, D.C. Separatist groups are especially optimistic that Americans will be open to the idea of secession amid a presidential election that has witnessed a groundswell of populist discontent.... The improbable dream of secession is alive and well across the country and across the political spectrum. In the wake of the Brexit referendum, calls for secession everywhere from Alaska to New Hampshire have cropped up on social media." -- CW ...

... AND, in Washington, D.C. ... Lois Beckett of the Guardian: "Nearly two weeks after House Democrats staged a historic sit-in to demand action on gun control legislation, the Republican speaker of the House has agreed to hold a vote on a single gun-related bill: a measure to allow the attorney general to delay the sale of a gun to a suspected terrorist for three days, similar to a Senate measure backed by the National Rifle Association.... Nancy Pelosi slammed the legislation on Friday as 'a toothless NRA bill that will do nothing to keep our communities safe', and promised that Democrats would continue to fight for tougher gun control laws, including expanded background checks on gun sales." -- CW ...

... Rebecca Savransky of the Hill: "The Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) is planning to disrupt the House when members return as part of a push for more action to stop gun violence, according to a memo obtained by the Washington Examiner." -- CW

Bernard Avishai in the New Yorker, on Elie Wiesel, whose moral authority, Avishai poses, was marred by his support for Israeli aggression. -- CW

Washington Post Editors: Tesla's "Autopilot" system is not really an autopilot. "... the model [in which a Florida driver was killed by a semi the system did not detect] was not designed to be and should not have been considered to be fully self-driving. The car's semi-autonomous systems, which use onboard sensors to guide it away from hazards, were not advanced enough to steer and brake the car without the driver paying continuous attention and correcting when necessary." -- CW

Presidential Race

... Thanks to Patrick for the link. These ads seldom make me feel warm & fuzzy, though I'll have to admit I loved Bernie Sanders' "America" ads, if mostly for Simon & Garfunkel. But did they affect my vote? Nah.

Wherein David Brooks Casts a Vote for Bernie Sanders. (Well, Not Really): "The big historical context [of current British & American politics] is this: Something fundamental is shifting in our politics. The insiders can't see it. Outsiders get thrown up amid the tumult, but they are too marginal, eccentric and inexperienced to lead effectively. Without much enthusiasm, many voters seem to be flocking to tough, no-nonsense women who at least seem sensible: Angela Merkel, Hillary Clinton and, now, the Conservative Party front-runner, Theresa May. We probably need a political Pope Francis-type figure, who comes up from the bottom and understands life there, but who can still make the case for an open dynamic world, with free-flowing goods, ideas, capital and people." ...

     ... CW: Actually, Brooks, this isn't a shift; it's an expression of what's been visible all along & you -- being a proud insider -- couldn't see it.

El Pilkington & Mona Chalabi of the Guardian: "A Guardian call-out to online readers in the US asking them to reflect on the race so far was met by a barrage of criticism on the tone and substance of the world's most important election.... Resoundingly, the largest group of participants pointed to climate change ... [as] the 'one issue ... you wish the presidential candidates were discussing more'.... They noted that much of the Republican debate has either focused on blatant denial that climate change even exists or on how to unpick Barack Obama's attempts to fight global warming, while on the Democratic side both Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders have raised the issue but have rarely pushed it to the top of the political agenda." -- CW

Tim Devaney of the Hill: "WikiLeaks on Monday published more than 1,000 emails from Hillary Clinton's private server during her time as secretary of State about the Iraq War.... WikiLeaks combed through the emails to find all the messages that reference the Iraq War.... The development comes after WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange said last month the website had gathered 'enough evidence' for the FBI to indict Clinton." Assange said that would never happen as long as Loretta Lynch was AG. -- CW

Kyle Balluck of the Hill: "Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign is attacking Donald Trump for ... [his] response to a tweet that critics say included anti-Semitic imagery. 'Donald Trump's use of blatantly anti-Semitic image from racist websites to promote his campaign would be disturbing enough, but the fact that it's part of a pattern should give voters major cause for concern,' Sara Bard, the campaign's director for Jewish outreach, said in a statement on Monday. 'Now, not only won't he apologize for it, he's peddling lies and blaming others,' she added." -- CW

Chris Mooney of the Washington Post: Donald Trump attempted to defend his use of a six-sided star superimposed upon $100 bills to criticize Hillary Clinton as corrupt. He tweeted, "Dishonest media is trying their absolute best to depict a star in a tweet as the Star of David rather than a Sheriff's Star, or plain star!'" CW: Except the original tweet was undoubtedly a copy of a graphic that appeared on white supremacists' sites. Also too, sheriff's badges, unlike the Star of David Trump tweeted, usually have circles at the ends of the points. So, not surprisingly, Trump is the Biggest 4th of Ju-Liar. ...

... Paul Waldman: The tweet isn't the problem. It's a symptom of the problem. "Donald Trump appeals directly to the worst in us, and the worst of us." -- CW

We are going to be so tough, we are going to be so smart and so vigilant, and we're going to get it so that people turn in people when they know there's something going on.... People have to turn people in. And if they don't turn them in, we are going to have more of these things. -- Donald Trump, in Denver last week, complaining about how "political correctness" prevents people from ratting on their terrorist neighbors

Palin Redux. Maggie Haberman of the New York Times: "Donald J. Trump met in New Jersey on Monday with Senator Joni Ernst, Republican of Iowa, as he screens potential running mates in a series of meetings.... According to a source briefed on the meeting, both Paul Manafort, Mr. Trump's chief strategist who is handling much of the vice presidential search, and Reince Priebus, the Republican National Committee chairman, also attended.... In a post on Twitter on Monday, Mr. Trump praised Senator Tom Cotton of Arkansas, another military veteran who some Republicans hope will be chosen by Mr. Trump." -- CW

President Envy. Kyle Balluck: "Donald Trump is criticizing President Obama's use of Air Force One to travel to a campaign event in North Carolina on Tuesday with Hillary Clinton.... 'Why is President Obama allowed to use Air Force One on the campaign trail with Crooked Hillary? She is flying with him tomorrow. Who pays?'... A White House official told a Time magazine reporter that the Obama administration, like previous administrations, follows 'all rules and regulations to ensure that the [Democratic National Committee] or other relevant political committee pays what is required for the President to travel to political events.'" CW: Gee, I wonder why Trump doesn't have an ex-president or two to campaign for him.

The Übermensch. Conservative writer Peter Wehner in a New York Times op-ed: "This fulsome embrace of Mr. Trump [by evangelicals] is rather problematic, since he embodies a worldview that is incompatible with Christianity.... Time and again Mr. Trump has shown contempt for those he perceives as weak and vulnerable -- 'losers,' in his vernacular.... Mr. Trump embodies a Nietzschean morality rather than a Christian one.... Evangelical Christians who are enthusiastically supporting Donald Trump are signaling, even if unintentionally, that this calling has no place in politics and that Christians bring nothing distinctive to it -- that their past moral proclamations were all for show and that power is the name of the game." Thanks to Marvin S. for the link. -- CW

Beyond the Beltway

Amanda Marcotte, in Salon: "Pulling back the curtain, one finds that the movement to transfer federal lands to state ownership is being funded and driven by conservative business groups that want that land to be turned over to corporate interests to be exploited for profit, even if doing so destroys the environment.... [The plan:] First, get the lands out of federal hands into state hands. Then, wait for the inevitable state budget crisis. Then, buy the resource-rich land, turning it from a beautiful, publicly accessible slice of nature into a resource extraction site.... The amount of sleaze and dishonesty in the propaganda effort is truly stunning. [The perps produce] the kind of propaganda that snakes its way down to people like the Bundys and their supporters, convincing them that the existence of national forests is somehow hurting them." -- CW

Catherine Rampell of the Washington Post: Those "cheap political tricks" are getting expensive. "Lately..., the ammo required in ... culture wars has proved costlier than politicians, or their constituents, may have counted on. In North Carolina, legislators last week voted to transfer $500,000 from the state's emergency response and disaster relief fund to pay for litigation of the so-called bathroom bill.... Legal fees are likewise mounting in states that have attempted to bar Planned Parenthood from receiving Medicaid funds (which often turns out to violate federal Medicaid law), to implement constitutionally dicey restrictions on abortion access, or both.... In some cases, such legal expenses are peanuts compared with the broader economic costs of these culture-war laws.... Any time legislators pass a law already facing a major legal challenge in another state, they should have to set aside funding for its defense." -- CW

Way Beyond

Aurelien Breeden of the New York Times: "A parliamentary inquiry has identified multiple failures by the French intelligence services before the two devastating terrorist attacks that struck the country in 2015, lawmakers said on Tuesday. At a news conference in Paris, the lawmakers who took part in the inquiry urged the French authorities to overhaul the organization of its intelligence services by replacing the overlapping and sometimes competing agencies with a unified structure that could share intelligence more efficiently." -- CW

News Lede

Washington Post: Mohamed Bailor Jalloh, "a former member of the Virginia National Guard, was arrested Sunday and accused in federal court of plotting a domestic terrorist attack on behalf of the Islamic State, authorities announced Tuesday." ...

     ... CW: This actually is your government at work. Not only that, according to the report, Jalloh "had told someone close to him" about his plans, & it was that person who informed authorities. Tho it ain't necessarily so, there's a fair chance that person was a Muslim. So to whoever that person is & whatever his beliefs, thank you for savings the lives of strangers. And to Donald Trump, STFU.

The Commentariat -- July 4, 2016

... James Davidson, in Slate, has more on Douglass's speech, delivered July 5, 1852.

Juliet Eilperin of the Washington Post: "... one of the Obama administration’s most ardent policy initiatives has been a concerted campaign to end the scourge of sexual assault on college campuses.... Already the efforts of this White House have dramatically transformed the way colleges and universities respond to allegations of sexual misconduct.... The administration’s approach — through federal enforcement of civil rights protections and a campus-based advocacy campaign — was spurred in part by an emboldened group of survivors who have gone public... But it also reflects the activism of [Vice President] Biden and President Obama, who became alarmed at the idea of rape as a fixture of college life." ...

     ... CW: Now ask yourself what a Trump administration would do about campus sexual assault. Still want to sit out this election because you don't trust Hillary? Or because "politicians are all the same"? No, they're not.

Josh Rogin of the Washington Post: "Last week’s revelation that the [Obama] administration is proposing increased military cooperation with Russia in Syria, in exchange for Russian agreement to abide by the cease-fire it had already agreed to, was a stark example of how the administration’s theory about how to work with Russia is being misapplied on the ground.... Washington cannot ignore Russia’s increasingly horrendous behavior." -- CW 

** "I Dissent." Adam Liptak of the New York Times: "Justice [Sonia] Sotomayor ... [wrote] eight dissents before the term ended last Monday. Read together, they are a remarkable body of work from an increasingly skeptical student of the criminal justice system, one who has concluded that it is clouded by arrogance and machismo and warped by bad faith and racism." -- CW 

AP: "Financial inequality became even wider in the United States last year, with average income for the top 1% of households surging 7.7% to $1.36 million. Income for the richest sliver rose twice as fast as it did for the remaining 99% of households, according to an updated analysis of tax data by Emmanuel Saez, an economics professor at the University of California, Berkeley.... Still, the incomes of households outside the top 1% appear finally to be recovering from the Great Recession.... After accounting for inflation, their average income rose 3.9% last year to $48,768 — the strongest annual gain since 1998." -- CW 

Pamela Constable of the Washington Post: "At a time when foreigners in Western garb are being singled out for deadly attacks by the Islamic State and other militants, the United Arab Emirates has warned its citizens against wearing traditional Muslim clothing while traveling in the West.... [An Emirati,] Ahmed al-Menhali, was detained at gunpoint last week in Avon, Ohio, after a suspicious hotel clerk alerted relatives, who called 911. Menhali, a 41-year-old businessman, was in the United States for medical treatment and tried to book a hotel in the Cleveland suburb. He was wearing a flowing white headscarf and a full-length white robe at the time. Police accosted and handcuffed him outside the hotel entrance while he was speaking on his phone in Arabic." -- CW 

Rarely in the history of the United States has the nation been so ill-served as during the presidency of George W. Bush. -- Jean Smith, opening sentence in "Bush" ...

... Book Review. Peter Baker of the New York Times: "If [George W.] Bush eventually gets a more sympathetic hearing by history, as he hopes, it will not start with Jean Edward Smith’s 'Bush,' a comprehensive and compelling narrative punctuated by searing verdicts of all the places where the author thinks the 43rd president went off track.... The value of Mr. Smith’s account is not original reporting but a thorough assimilation of the existing record." -- CW 

** Annals of "Journalism," Ctd. Jim Rutenberg of the New York Times: "... in a small but significant way, [CNN's hiring of Corey] Lewandowski ... represents a signal moment in political journalism’s evolving embrace of political operatives: A major mainstream news organization is using a commentator who is legally prohibited from sharing the unvarnished truth on the subject — Mr. Trump — he was hired to talk about.... What happens to the balance between truth and falsehood when an important portion of the national news media hands the political debate over to partisan operatives who, as a rule, skew the facts — or abandon them — in the service of their own political ends or business interests?" -- CW  

Presidential Race

John Wagner of the Washington Post: "Politically turbulent North Carolina, where Barack Obama won in 2008 and then Republicans rose up to engineer a conservative revolution, has suddenly emerged as a focal point in the presidential race. The battle lines will be clear Tuesday in dueling rallies in the state’s two major cities.... Hillary Clinton will appear in Charlotte alongside President Obama, who is making his debut on the campaign trail and will try to reenergize his multiethnic coalition. That night..., Donald Trump will take the stage in Raleigh...." -- CW 

Julie Davis of the New York Times: "The White House has forbidden members of President Obama’s cabinet to address the Democratic National Convention this month, a stark break from past policy that is intended to avoid the appearance that the administration’s final months are being consumed by the politics of Hillary Clinton’s campaign." -- CW 

CW: The New York Times has a crystal-ball story -- currently running on the front page -- on what Hillary Clinton's first hundred days as president would be like. Whatever the headline is, Steve M. has a better one: "Hillary Clinton Thinks Republican Lucy Might Let er Kick the Football." He goes on: "She'll learn, just as Obama eventually did. Frankly, I don't even think they intend to let her fill Supreme Court vacancies.... If they control the Senate, they'll block her picks. If they don't, they'll declare any attempt by the Democrats to eliminate the filibuster for Supreme Court picks an assault on the Constitution. No, Hillary -- they won't let you kick the football." -- CW 

Kristen East of Politico: "An aide to the former president gave a statement on condition of anonymity to both CNN and The Associated Press, describing the meeting as 'entirely social in nature.'... But recognizing how others could take another view of it, he agrees with the attorney general that he would not do it again,” the aide said." CW: Really? Apology by anonymous aide? Heartfelt, I'm sure. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Dave Weigel of the Washington Post: "For at least the fifth time, Trump’s Twitter account had shared a meme from the racist 'alt-right.”... On white-supremacist forums, Trump was cheered for apparently declaring his solidarity through not-so-subtle code." -- CW ...

... The New York Times story, by Matt Flegenheimer & Maggie Haberman, is here. CW: I'm glad to see the major media picking up this story. The CNN suits who hired Corey Lewandowski should hang their heads in shame. No teeny improvement in ratings is worth having a staff that condones & excuses anti-Semitism, which is exactly what Lewandowski did when he accused critics of Trump's alt-right tweet as "political correctness run amok." ...

... Anthony Smith of Mic.com: Donald Trump got that anti-Semitic Star of David graphic he tweeted yesterday "from an Internet message board for the alt-right, a digital movement of Neo-Nazis, anti-Semites and white supremacists newly emboldened by the success of Trump's rhetoric." CW: Trump is really plugged in to the hatemonger network. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... Kevin Robillard of Politico: "Former Donald Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski on Sunday blamed the blowup over his former campaign's use of imagery some saw as anti-Semitic on 'political correctness.'" CW: We really must all stop being so squeamish about a presidential nominee retweeting anti-Semitic, white supremacist messages. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) -- CW ...

... Judd Legum of Think Progress introduces you to three white supremacists "who have inspired Donald Trump." ...

... CW: What's important to see here is that these extreme racists are Donald Trump's people; he identifies with them to the extent that he repeatedly relies on them as a "news source." The only difference between Trump & the swamp is that Trump has the savvy to pretend, albeit sometimes with apparently intentional irony, that he "loves the Mexicans," etc. Underneath that fake mop is an unrepentant skinhead. It's sickening.

Washington Post Editors: "... the shamelessness by which [Donald Trump's] actual giving to worthy causes has trailed his public claims of generosity is stunning.... The issue is not that Mr. Trump has been stingy, although he has made no bequests to his foundation since 2008, and his giving levels before that appear to have been far lower than those of others who have the wealth Mr. Trump insists he enjoys. The issue is the cavernous gulf between his words and deeds.... [Trump's] whoppers come so fast and thick that it’s easy to lose track, and it’s tempting to ignore much of what he says. That would be a mistake. Contempt for the truth is a disqualifying feature in a candidate for the presidency." -- CW ...

     ... New Word: eleemosynary: "of, relating to, or supported by charity." Thanks, WashPo.

Paul Krugman: "... Trumponomics goes beyond the usual Republican assertions that cutting taxes on corporations and the rich, ending environmental regulation and so on will conjure up the magic of the marketplace and make everyone prosper. It also involves posing as a populist, claiming that getting tough on foreigners and ripping up our trade agreements will bring back the well-paying jobs America has lost.... Adding a bit of China-bashing to a fundamentally anti-labor agenda does no more to make you a friend of workers than eating a taco bowl does to make you a friend of Latinos." -- CW 

Ashley Parker & Steve Eder of the New York Times: "In the birther movement, Mr. Trump recognized an opportunity to connect with the electorate over an issue many considered taboo: the discomfort, in some quarters of American society, with the election of the nation’s first black president. He harnessed it for political gain.... Mr. Trump ... said repeatedly that he had sent a team of investigators to Hawaii to unearth information about Mr. Obama’s birth records. 'They cannot believe what they are finding,' Mr. Trump told ABC’s 'The View.'... But for all of his fascination with the president’s birth certificate, Mr. Trump apparently never dispatched investigators or made much of an effort to find the documents. Dr. Alvin Onaka, the Hawaii state registrar who handled queries about Mr. Obama, said recently through a spokeswoman that he had no evidence or recollection of Mr. Trump or any of his representatives ever requesting the records from the Hawaii State Department of Health.” ...  

     ... CW: It's worth remembering that Trump's political career is founded on a lie about investigating a debunked conspiracy theory.

Mark Singer of the New Yorker: "Trump often speaks of how much 'fun' he has running his business and running for President, but he plainly is having less of it lately.... Stephanie Cegielski, the former communications director of the Make America Great Again super pac ...  told of being informed by colleagues, in March, 2015, that Trump would be running for President, with the goal of polling at, say, twelve per cent, and finishing second in the delegate count.... The poor fellow wanted only to extend the 'Donald Trump' brand, not to impose upon Donald Trump the task of learning the sorts of things that would require self-discipline commensurate with the awe-inspiring responsibilities of the Presidency." -- CW 

Jenni Miller of New York: "Ivanka Trump, whose father Donald once suggested that he would date her if they weren't already related, went to bat for her dear old daddy in the Sunday Times of London. The fashion mogul, whose scarves are classified as fire risks and who has been sued numerous times for stealing shoe designs, declared, "My father is a feminist. He's a big reason I am the woman I am today." -- CW  ...

Eric Trump.... In Another Tale of Trump Progeny, we learn that the pustule Eric Trump (whose appearance for some reason reminds me of Count Dracula) "attacked a Washington Post article that found his father ... donated only $10,000 to charities over seven years, millions less than he has publicly claimed. Eric Trump dismissed the article as a 'hack job' while calling the media the 'worst part of society.'" -- CW 

Alan Yuhas of the Guardian: "The Libertarian candidate for president, Gary Johnson, said on Sunday Donald Trump’s recent comments were 'clearly' racist, a day after ... [Trump] faced accusations of antisemitism and in the same week that he said he would consider firing government employees who wear hijabs. 'He has said 100 things that would disqualify anyone else from running for president but it doesn’t seem to affect him,' Johnson told CNN’s State of the Union. 'The stuff he’s saying is just incendiary. It’s racist.'” -- CW ...

     ... CW: I missed the hijab story, so here it is, although the brilliant lady who posed the "issue" called hijabs "hibi-jabis." But I'm sure she's not a racist.

Beyond the Beltway

Christal Hayes of the Orlando Sentinel: "The father of the 2-year-old boy who was killed in an alligator attack near Disney's Grand Floridian Resort & Spa told officials a second gator was involved, records show.... In total, five alligators were killed in the 16-hour search for Lane [Graves]. His body was discovered intact about 15 yards from the shore, six feet underwater.... Three days after the tragedy Disney raised fencing around the lake at that and other lakefront resorts and announced signs would be posted reading 'Danger! Alligators and snakes in area. Stay away from the water. Do not feed the wildlife.'" -- CW 

Way Beyond

Falih Hassan, et al., of the New York Times: "As celebrations for the Muslim holy month of Ramadan stretched past midnight into Sunday in central Baghdad, where Iraqis had gathered to eat, shop and just be together, a minivan packed with explosives blew up and killed at least 143 people — the third mass slaughter across three countries in less than a week. The attack was the deadliest in Baghdad in many years — at least since 2009 — and was among the worst Iraq has faced since the American invasion of 2003. The bombing came barely a week after Iraqi security forces, backed by American airstrikes, celebrated the liberation of Falluja from the Islamic State, which almost immediately claimed responsibility for the attack. -- CW (This is an update of a story linked yesterday."

Rowena Mason & Peter Walker of the Guardian: "Nigel Farage is stepping down as leader of [the right-wing] Ukip, saying he has done his bit for the cause of Britain leaving the EU." -- CW 

Owen Bowcott of the Guardian: "A prominent law firm is taking pre-emptive legal action against the government, following the EU referendum result, to try to ensure article 50 is not triggered without an act of parliament.... [A partner at the firm bringing the suit] said, '... said: 'The outcome of the referendum itself is not legally binding and for the current or future prime minister to invoke article 50 without the approval of parliament is unlawful.'... Another legal initiative began last week to seek an opinion on whether the advisory status of the referendum means that it should be the prime minister or parliament that ultimately pulls the trigger on article 50." -- CW ...

... ** Nick Clegg, Liberal Democrat & former Deputy Prime Minister, in a Guardian op-ed: A general "election must be held before any attempt is made to activate article 50, the legal mechanism triggering the negotiations for EU exit.... Finally, the definitive, negotiated terms both of our exit from, and our future relationship with, the EU must then be put back to parliament for a vote of consent." CW: Clegg has fun knocking everybody on both sides of the Brexit.

The Commentariat -- July 3, 2016

Afternoon Update:

Anthony Smith of Mic.com: Donald Trump got that anti-Semitic Star of David graphic he tweeted yesterday "from an Internet message board for the alt-right, a digital movement of Neo-Nazis, anti-Semites and white supremacists newly emboldened by the success of Trump's rhetoric." CW: Trump is really plugged in to the hatemonger network. ...

... Kevin Robillard of Politico: "Former Donald Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski on Sunday blamed the blowup over his former campaign's use of imagery some saw as anti-Semitic on 'political correctness.'" CW: We really must all stop being so squeamish about a presidential nominee retweeting anti-Semitic, white supremacist messages.

Kristen East of Politico: "An aide to the former president gave a statement on condition of anonymity to both CNN and The Associated Press, describing the meeting as 'entirely social in nature.'... But recognizing how others could take another view of it, he agrees with the attorney general that he would not do it again,' the aide said." CW: Really? Apology by anonymous aide? Heartfelt, I'm sure.

Annie Waldman in the New York Times: New Jersey's student loan program does not forgive debts when a student dies. In 2007, the state agency that runs the program "was caught in what amounted to a kickback scheme.... In 2010, Congress and the Obama administration decided to effectively eliminate the role of state agencies by having only the federal government lend directly to students" because many state agencies were "unwieldy, expensive and marked by scandal.... The combination of a lack of flexibility, an unwillingness to discharge loans and the state [of New Jersey]'s power to seize wages has resulted in even 'more intractable problems for our clients than predatory mortgages, deceptive car loans or illegal internet payday lending,' said David McMillin, a lawyer with Legal Services of New Jersey...." -- CW

*****

Falih Hassan & Tim Arango of the New York Times: "As Iraqis gathered late on Saturday night in central Baghdad to eat, shop and just be together to celebrate one of the last evenings of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, a huge bomb exploded and killed at least 123 people, the third mass slaughter of civilians in three countries carried out by the Islamic State in recent days."-- CW

** Joseph Berger of the New York Times: "Elie Wiesel, the Auschwitz survivor who became an eloquent witness for the six million Jews slaughtered in World War II and who, more than anyone else, seared the memory of the Holocaust on the world's conscience, died on Saturday at his home in Manhattan. He was 87." -- CW

Tom Boggioni of the Raw Story: "With an assist from members of the Hello Racist Facebook community, [a new Website] Hello Bigot shines a light on the racists among us -- allowing followers to spread the word via social media of the not-so-secret lives of folks who can't seem to help themselves when it comes to posting hateful memes and horrific comments." -- CW

Presidential Race

Amy Chozick of the New York Times: "The F.B.I. interviewed Hillary Clinton on Saturday morning for its investigation into whether she or her aides broke the law by setting up a private email server for her use as secretary of state, her campaign said.... The campaign declined to elaborate on the substance of the interview, which lasted about three and a half hours at F.B.I. Headquarters in Washington." -- CW ...

... The Washington Post story, by Anne Gearan & Matt Zapotosky, is here.

CW: Dan Balz of the Washington Post, BTW, has twisted his shorts in knots over the meeting between Bill Clinton & Loretta Lynch. Either that, or he's just trying to give his GOP buds some better talking points: "Bill Clinton has made a mess. It was either out of foolish indifference or plain foolishness, but it has created a terrible moment for his wife and the Democrats, and for President Obama and perceptions of the integrity of his administration." Sorry, Dan, this is pure bull. Why don't you cover the Trump child-rape case with such fervor? ...

... Ryan Lizza of the New Yorker agrees with Balz: "Whatever Bill Clinton thought he was doing, he has cast a pall over what should have been his wife's most triumphant moment in politics." -- CW ...

... Also, too, Charles Pierce: "My god, is it even necessary to describe how stupid and reckless this is? For the second presidential campaign in a row, Hillary Rodham Clinton is afflicted with a husband who can't make a political move any more without breaking the china across the room.... This would be bad enough if it were only the appearance of impropriety. This exercise in Mixed Doubles Stupid actually was improper." ...

... CW: I still think the story is much ado about nothing. However, mitigating "nothing" is the fact that Bill Clinton certainly knew that the FBI would be interviewing Hillary Clinton this weekend. That does make his decision to go "chat about the grandkids" with Lynch stoopid (or, as contributor Haley S. suggested, an attempt to derail his wife's candidacy). As for Lynch, I don't think she made a mistake. When a former president comes calling, that's a command performance. You don't, as Pierce suggested, "have ... armed agents stop him halfway up the jet-stairs." The armed agents, BTW, according to news reports, were in the room with Lynch & Clinton when they spoke. There are, in other words, independent witnesses to the "grandkids" chat.

Anne Gearan: "Hillary Clinton will attempt to paint Donald Trump as a callous and irresponsible businessman with a campaign stop next week in Atlantic City, site of shuttered Trump casinos." -- CW

Zack Beauchamp of Vox: "Saturday morning, Donald Trump tweeted out a graphic attacking Hillary Clinton as corrupt.... [The graphic] overlays a six-pointed star, which looks a lot like a Star of David, on a pile of money.... The idea that politicians are controlled by Jewish money is one of the defining tropes of anti-Semitic conspiracy theories. The apparent subtext of the graphic is that Hillary Clinton is corrupt, and that the source of the corruption is the Jews.... About two hours after the first tweet, he sent out a new version of the graphic which replaced the six-pointed star with a circle. He deleted the six-pointed star tweet about an hour later." CW: Includes reproduction of graphic, which I won't post.

Ben Jacobs of the Guardian: "On the 2016 campaign trail, Donald Trump has insisted that he is worth more than $10bn. However, a statement filed to the Securities and Exchange Commission by Wells Fargo Securities on Trump's behalf in 2012 indicated that the real estate developer was then worth less than half that, with comparatively few of the liquid assets that may now [be needed to] finance his campaign for president.... A a spokeswoman for Wells Fargo, insisted the 2012 filing was correct." -- CW 

Beyond the Beltway

Harper Neidig of the Hill: "Arizona now has the strictest regulation on welfare of any state. A new law enacted Friday prohibits low-income families from receiving cash assistance from the Temporary Aid to Needy Families program for more than a year, according to the Arizona Republic. The state legislature approved the law last year in the midst of a budget crisis, but the state has since recuperated and had a modest surplus this year. Arizona's Democratic minority fought to keep the current limit of two years...." -- CW

Graig Graziosi & Jerod MacDonald-Evoy of the Arizona Republic: "The Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Arizona Attorney General's Office have arrested an 18-year-old Tucson man they say conspired to carry out acts of terrorism against government buildings in Maricopa and Pima counties. Mahin Khan was arrested in Tucson following an investigation by the FBI's Joint Terrorism Task Force, according to the FBI. He was booked into Maricopa County jail on suspicion of conspiring to commit terrorism." -- CW

Annals of "Journalism," Ctd. Rees Shapiro of the Washington Post: Court documents, including the Rolling Stone reporter's extensive notes, show that there were red flags -- even before publication of the story -- that the supposed victim was lying when she claims fraternity boys at the University of Virginia gang-raped her. -- CW

Way Beyond

Ishaan Tharoor of the Washington Post: "U.S. State Department officials confirmed Saturday that an American was among the hostages killed in the attack [on a Dhaka, Bangladesh, restaurant]. The identity of the victim, however, was not released.... At least one of the assailants has been taken into custody, according to reports." -- CW ...

... Emily Reyes, et al., of the Los Angeles Times: "Three students from American universities were among the victims of an armed attack at a restaurant in Bangladesh early Saturday, university and foreign officials confirmed." -- CW

Rukmini Callimachi of the New York Times: "For the Islamic State terrorist group, which broadly advised operatives it sent to Europe to kill 'anyone and everyone,' the group's tactics in Bangladesh have seemed more controlled. In the past nine months, it has claimed 19 attacks in the South Asian country, nearly all of them targeted assassinations singling out religious minorities and foreigners.... They included hacking to death a Hindu man, stabbing to death a Shiite preacher, murdering a Muslim villager who had been accused of converting to Christianity and sending suicide bombers into Shiite mosques.... A closer look ... suggests a group that is tailoring its approach for different regions and for different target audiences." -- CW

Ed Vulliamy of the Guardian: Tens of thousands of upper-crusty Brits marched in the streets of London in the "March for Europe." "At the end of the march, in Parliament Square, protesters listened to speakers including Bob Geldof and Pulp frontman Jarvis Cocker as well as politicians..." -- CW