The Commentariat -- June 17, 2016

Afternoon Update:

Ed O'Keefe of the Washington Post: "Dozens of Republican convention delegates are hatching a new plan to block Donald Trump at this summer's party meetings, in what has become the most organized effort so far to stop the businessman from becoming the GOP nominee. The delegates are angered by Trump's recent comments on gun control, his racial attacks on a federal judge and his sinking poll numbers. They are convinced that Trump is an insufficiently conservative candidate and believe they will find enough like-minded Republicans within the next month to change party rules and allow delegates to vote for whomever they want, regardless of who won their state caucus or primary.

Right Wing Extremism Around the World. BBC: "Police investigating the killing of MP Jo Cox have said they are prioritising inquiries into the suspect's possible links to right-wing extremism. Mrs Cox, 41, was shot and stabbed outside her constituency surgery in West Yorkshire on Thursday. A 52-year-old man has been arrested. The BBC understands Nazi regalia was recovered at suspect Tommy Mair's home. -- Akhilleus

Marco, Marco, Marco, Back, Back, Back? Tal Kopan of CNN: "Florida Rep. David Jolly on Friday announced he will pull out of the Republican primary to replace Sen. Marco Rubio. Jolly instead will for reelection to his seat in Congress, citing 'unfinished business' in an email to supporters Friday afternoon. He said he had been convinced to run for Senate by insiders who told him redistricting made his reelection to the House too difficult, but decided he wanted to continue doing the job he has. The move, though, comes as Rubio has in recent days signaled he might accede to pressure to run for reelection to his seat." ...

Unfinished business my ass. House Republicans haven't done anything in years. What's so important now?

Rebecca Ruiz of the New York Times: "Russia's track and field team has been barred from competing in this summer's Rio Games because of a far-reaching doping conspiracy, an extraordinary punishment without precedent in Olympics history. The global governing body for track and field, known as the I.A.A.F., announced the decision on Friday, ruling in a unanimous vote that Russia had not done enough to restore global confidence in the integrity of its athletes.

The Russian doping scandal goes all the way to the top, meaning the government has been involved and is running the program, likely with full knowledge of Vladimir Putin. No wonder Trump loves this guy.

*****

Julie Davis of the New York Times: "One by one on Thursday, inside an arena in downtown Orlando where friends and relatives of the victims of the nation's deadliest mass shooting had congregated, Mr. Obama embraced mourners sick with loss. He told them that the nation stood with them and that his own heart was broken, offering words of comfort for a tragedy that he confessed he could not fathom.... His visit to Orlando came four days after the massacre. Accompanied by Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr...., the two men took turns hugging and grieving with the scores of people who lost sons, daughters, siblings, partners and friends.... In an emotional statement to reporters before he returned to Washington, Mr. Obama said the encounters with mourners underscored his determination to change the debate over gun restrictions and enact the sort of measures that might have prevented the tragedy." -- CW

Erica Werner of ABC News: "The slaughter in Florida and an attention-grabbing filibuster in the Senate did little to break the election-year stalemate in Congress over guns Thursday, with both sides unwilling to budge and Republicans standing firm against any new legislation opposed by the National Rifle Association.... Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., derided [Sen. Chris] Murphy's [D-Conn.] filibuster as a 'campaign talk-a-thon' that did nothing but delay potential votes.... It's the same exercise the Senate has engaged in time and again after mass shootings.... But Democrats have been unable to turn the tide of public opinion [favoring gun control] to their purpose because the NRA is able to mobilize and energize voters who will threaten to vote lawmakers out on the gun issue alone. This past week, the NRA made robo-calls in Pennsylvania urging people to contact their senators and 'express their strong opposition to any new gun control laws.' In the GOP-controlled House, Republicans had no plans to act on guns and Democrats were unable to force any action...." -- CW ...

... New York Times Editors: "Few places on earth make it easier than the United States for a terrorist to buy assault weapons to mow down scores of people in a matter of minutes.... Yet yet the N.R.A. ... clings to the absurd fantasy that a heavily-armed populace is the best way to keep Americans safe. That failed in Orlando, where an armed security guard was on the scene but could not stop the slaughter. The gun industry lobbyists may be beyond reason, but the lawmakers have a duty to respond to their constituents. Unfortunately, after each new massacre, far too many offer nothing more than condolences and moments of silence. That silence is killing us." -- CW ...

... How an Unhinged, Grumpy Old Man (and Sore Loser) Runs for Re-election. Mike DeBonis of the Washington Post: "Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) ... said President Obama was 'directly responsible' for the terror attack in Orlando due to his failure to combat the rise of the Islamic State terror group. McCain's statement goes beyond the criticism of Obama that has been leveled by his Republican colleagues in the Senate, and it follows remarks made this week by presumptive GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump.... In a statement released Thursday afternoon after the comments were publicized, McCain said he 'misspoke.'... The likely Democratic nominee in [McCain's Senate] race, Rep. Ann Kirkpatrick, issued a statement Thursday saying McCain 'cross[ed] a dangerous line in comments that undermine our Commander in Chief on national security issues -- at the very moment the president was in Orlando to comfort victims' families.'" -- CW ...

     ... Michael McAuliff of the Huffington Post: "McCain has long blamed Obama for the quagmire in the Middle East while ignoring the previous president’s rush to war in Iraq, which set off the conflicts that gave birth in 2004 to the group now known as ISIS or ISIL as a branch of al Qaeda, which used the conflict to gain a foothold in Iraq." -- CW ...

...Aaron Rupar of ThinkProgress: "There's a good reason why McCain would ignore guns and focus on foreign policy. According to data from the Center of Responsive Politics, no member of Congress has received more direct and indirect support from the National Rifle Association than the $7.7 million that has gone to McCain over the course of his career." --safari...

... Emily Crockett of Vox: "At a Monday vigil in Salt Lake City for the victims of the Orlando shooting, Utah Lt. Gov. Spencer Cox [R] gave a moving, tearful speech apologizing to the LGBTQ community for treating them poorly in his early life, and expressing gratitude to them for helping him realize the error of his ways." -- CW

... The New York Times story, by David Victor, is here. ...

... Frank Rich: "Republican politicians always speak warmly of the LGBT community after its members are the victims of a horrific crime. Nonetheless, it took [Speaker Paul] Ryan until Tuesday to acknowledge that gay people -- or 'the gays,' as Trump calls them -- were targeted in Orlando. It took Rick Scott, the Republican governor of Florida, until Wednesday. There's nothing to suggest that such politicians' belated expressions of sympathy with the gay victims of a terror attack will change their anti-LGBT acts of public policy." -- CW ...

... Holly Yan, et al., of CNN: "The Orlando shooter and his wife exchanged text messages during the Pulse nightclub rampage, a law enforcement official briefed on the investigation told CNN.... [Noor] Salman is coming under increasing scrutiny.... Salman apparently gave conflicting accounts about what she knew of Mateen's intentions in the hours before the attack, authorities said." -- CW ...

... Katie Zavadski, et al., of the Daily Beast: Omar Mateen was a poor student who had a violent temper & was often disciplined in school. CW: I find it creepy that news organizations have quickly gotten hold of a person's grade-school records. I'm pretty sure I wouldn't want to see a report in the newspaper of my 6th-grade shenanigans. ...

... David Brooks, who bills himself as a "public intellectual," has another, well, God-awful column about god & religion. But he gets this much right: "For the religious person it's about God. For the terrorist, it's about himself. When Omar Mateen was in the midst of his rampage, he was posting on Facebook and calling a TV station. His audience was us, not the Divine." -- CW

... Tony Dokoupil of NBC News: The family of Eugene Stoner, who invented the AR-15, said he never intended it for civilian use. "The ex-Marine and 'avid sportsman, hunter and skeet shooter' never used his invention for sport. He also never kept it around the house for personal defense. In fact, he never even owned one. And though he made millions from the design, his family said it was all from military sales.... [The family's] comments could also bolster a groundbreaking new lawsuit, which argues that the weapon is a tool of war -- never intended for civilians." -- CW ...

... digby: "I have been asked how I, as a civil libertarian, could support using the watch list and the no-fly list to keep people from buying guns. My answer is this: I don't think owning guns are a fundamental civil right so if an innocent person is denied a gun, I just don't care.... I believe the right to travel is fundamental, however, so there should be a reformation of the no-fly list and the terrorist watch list should have rights of due process as well. Innocent people should not be caught in a Kafkaesque black hole where they have no right to defend themselves." -- CW...

...Kate Briquelet of The Daily Beast: "Since the Pulse nightclub mass shooting early Sunday, at least 125 people have died in shootings and 269 were injured by guns, statistics show. Five of those incidents were mass shootings, according to data from the Gun Violence Archive, a nonprofit tracking America's gun violence. The alleged motives behind the killings are startling." --safari

Mark Landler of the New York Times: "More than 50 State Department diplomats have signed an internal memo sharply critical of the Obama administration's policy in Syria, urging the United States to carry out military strikes against the government of President Bashar al-Assad to stop its persistent violations of a cease-fire in the country's five-year-old civil war. The memo ... says American policy has been 'overwhelmed' by the unrelenting violence in Syria. It calls for 'a judicious use of stand-off and air weapons, which would undergird and drive a more focused and hard-nosed U.S.-led diplomatic process.' Such a step would represent a radical shift in the administration's approach to the civil war in Syria, and there is little evidence that President Obama has plans to change course." -- CW

The War on IQs. David Freedman of The Atlantic: "As recently as the 1950s, possessing only middling intelligence was not likely to severely limit your life's trajectory. IQ wasn't a big factor in whom you married, where you lived, or what others thought of you.... The 2010s, in contrast, are a terrible time to not be brainy.... Even in this age of rampant concern over microaggressions and victimization, we maintain open season on the nonsmart. ... Rather than looking for ways to give the less intelligent a break, the successful and influential seem more determined than ever to freeze them out." --safari

American "Justice", Ctd. Abby Haglage of The Daily Beast: "Four years after chemistAnnie Dookhanwas arrested for falsifying evidence at Massachusetts' state drug lab, less than 1 percent of the 24,000 cases she may have tampered with have been reviewed. Dookhan's story -- of how she tainted drug evidence in criminal investigations on a massive scale -- has been well-documented by local media. But lost in the focus on the chemist herself are the more than 20,000 defendants who may have been wrongfully convicted thanks to her mishandled results." --safari

Bryce Covert of ThinkProgress: "Rep. Gwen Moore (D-WI) has had enough of the growing movement to drug test poor people who need government assistance. So on Tuesday, she's introducing a bill that she says will make things fairer. Her 'Top 1% Accountability Act' would require anyone claiming itemized tax deductions of over $150,000 in a given year to submit a clean drug test.... Her office has calculated that the people impacted will be those who make at least $500,000 a year. 'By drug testing those with itemized deductions over $150,000, this bill will level the playing field for drug testing people who are the recipients of social programs,' a memo on her bill notes." --safari

Presidential Race

Michael Crowley of Politico: "Richard Armitage, the deputy secretary of state under George W. Bush, says he will vote for Hillary Clinton over Donald Trump, in one of the most dramatic signs yet that Republican national security elites are rejecting their party's presumptive nominee. Armitage, a retired Navy officer who also served as an assistant secretary of defense under Ronald Reagan, is thought by Clinton aides to be the highest-ranking former GOP national security official to openly support Clinton over Trump." -- CW

Two Reports on the Same Event:

1. Yamiche Alcindor of the New York Times: Bernie Sanders is still running for something. -- CW ...

2. NEW. Or Not. John Wagner of the Washington Post: "During his 23-minute speech live-streamed across the country, Sanders sounded very much like a candidate prepared to drop out of the Democratic presidential race." -- CW

Robert Kagan in a Washington Post op-ed: "Even as they call [Donald Trump] a 'textbook' racist and acknowledge his scant regard for the rule of law, Republican leaders assure voters that the U.S. system of checks and balances will contain their candidate's authoritarian impulses. Congress and the judicial system will keep Trump under control. History and recent events suggest that is a risky proposition.... Never before has a presidential candidate given more reason to fear that he will run roughshod over democratic institutions and abuse the vast powers of the presidency for personal ends.... Anyone looking to Congress to curb the excesses of a President Trump will have to count on the Democrats. Is that the Republican message: Don't worry about Trump, Democrats will protect you? To hope that the judicial system will check Trump may be equally fanciful.... Today, Americans can't simply rely on the system to save them from the possibility of a fascist president. And they certainly can't count on the Republicans who produced this threat in the first place." -- CW ...

... Frank Rich: "... , a year in, there's no point in hoping that feckless Republican elites can or will do anything to stop [Trump]." (Linked above.)

Donald Trump wants to make TV great again. -- Kevin Drum ...

... Coming Soon -- The Trump "News" Channel. Sarah Ellison of Vanity Fair: Donald "Trump is ... considering creating his own media business, built on the audience that has supported him thus far.... He has also discussed the possibility of launching a 'mini-media conglomerate' outside of his existing TV-production business, Trump Productions LLC.... Trump, [a] person close to the matter suggests, has become irked by his ability to create revenue for other media organizations without being able to take a cut himself.... Hope Hicks, Trump's spokeswoman, adamantly denied that such conversations have occurred." -- CW ...

... Jonathan Chait: "... if this is Trump's plan, it makes sense. Perhaps he grasps a truth the official Republican Party has refused to acknowledge: The conservative base is a subculture.... It rejects the moral values of the larger society and wallows within its own imaginary world, in which Barack Obama is a foreign-born agent of anti-American interests, global warming is a lie concocted by greedy scientists or perhaps the Chinese, and hordes of foreigners are rendering the United States unrecognizable." -- CW ...

... Paul Campos is LG&$: "That this is even a plausible hypothesis (and it is) is yet another example of how certain famous cinematic satires can now be enjoyed as prophetic documentaries":

Seth Stevenson of Slate: "Slate reached out to find people who'd worked on The Apprentice during Trump's tenure.... What do they recall about Trump's on-set behavior? It's a lot like his campaign behavior." --safari note: Some pretty revealing quotes included in the interviews. More confirmation that Trump is a disgusting human being.

Ryan Lizza of the New Yorker: "There are essentially two Republican parties right now: the Party of Donald J. Trump and the Party of House Speaker Paul Ryan -- who has, nonetheless, endorsed Trump for President. One of the ways in which members of the Ryan faction delude themselves is by believing that Ryan's policies would dominate if Trump were President and Ryan remained Speaker of the House." -- CW ...

... "Party before Country." Tim Egan: "They will remember, a century from now, who stood up to the tyrant Donald Trump and who found it expedient to throw out the most basic American values -- the 'Vichy Republicans,' as the historian Ken Burns called them in his Stanford commencement speech.... In this week of trial and tragedy, Trump showed us how he would govern -- by fear, by intimidation, by lies, by turning American against American, by exhibiting all the empathy of a sociopath." -- CW

Meghan Keneally of ABC News on a year of Donald Trump flip-flops. -- CW

Zoya Sheftalovich of Politico.eu: "He once called the Belgian capital city Brussels 'a hellhole,' but U.S. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has changed his tune. 'Belgium is a beautiful city,' Trump said during a rally in Atlanta, Georgia Wednesday. It should be noted that Belgium is a country, not a city." --safari ...

... Ryan Cooper of the Week: "If elected, [Donald Trump] would almost certainly displace Andrew Johnson as the worst president in American history.... Even his image as an enormously successful businessman is an outright fraud.... Aside from xenophobia and racism, [scamming people] is pretty much all Trump knows." -- CW

Sorry I failed to embed this sooner -- CW:

Jenna Johnson of the Washington Post: "As thousands of Donald Trump supporters streamed out of an evening rally [in Greensboro, North Carolina,] this week, they walked past a handful of vendors from Ohio selling simple white T-shirts featuring Hillary Clinton, Monica Lewinsky and a vulgar joke. The back of the shirts read: 'TRUMP THAT B[ITCH]!... At most of Trump's rallies, there is a palpable hatred of Clinton in the air...." -- CW

Beyond the Beltway

In Touch Weekly: "... some members of the Stanford swim team had long been suspicious of Brock Turner, the former Stanford swimmer convicted of sexual assault on an unconscious woman]. Brock's arrest wasn't surprising to anyone on the team. From the beginning, the women swimmers had found him to be very, very odd. Brock would make comments to the women such as 'I can see your t--s in that swimsuit,'" a Stanford swim team insider exclusively reveals, adding that one elite swimmer vowed to never be alone with Brock after witnessing him get drunk at a party. 'He was warned by upperclassmen on the team to scale back on the partying, but he just didn't listen.'" Via Gabriella Paiella of New York. -- CW

Way Beyond

Ma'an News Agency, via Juan Cole: "A controversial new anti-terrorism law passed the Israeli Knesset on Wednesday, according to Israeli newspaper Haaretz, which will grant the Israeli state far-reaching powers in cases of suspected 'terrorism,' in a move a member of the Joint List called 'draconian and unacceptable.' According to Haaretz, the new Israeli law would apply only within Israel and includes a provision expanding the definition of terrorist organization membership to include 'passive members' who are not actively involved in any group, but can now be indicted by Israeli authorities." --safari

Robert Booth, et al., of the Guardian: "The grieving husband of Jo Cox, the Labour MP shot and stabbed to death, has called on people to fight 'the hatred that killed her' as detectives investigated whether her killing was politically motivated. The 41-year-old mother of two young children was the victim of a daylight attack outside her West Yorkshire constituency surgery by a man who, according to two witnesses, shouted 'Britain first' during the assault. The ... killing ... led to the suspension of campaigning for next week's EU referendum until Saturday. Cox had taken part in a high-profile event on Wednesday supporting the remain [in the E.U.] campaign on the river Thames. Police arrested a 52-year-old man, named locally as Thomas Mair, who was described as using an 'old-fashioned' gun and a knife in the attack...." -- CW ...

... The Guardian is updating developments in the story here. ...

... Griff Witte & Karla Adam of the Washington Post: "The man detained by police in connection with the killing of a rising star of British politics had longstanding ties to a U.S.-based neo-Nazi organization and, in the past, had ordered a how-to guide for assembling a homemade gun, according to a watchdog group that tracks extremist behavior.... The Daily Telegraph also reported that [the suspect Tommy] Mair had subscribed to a South African magazine published by the White Rhino Club, a pro-apartheid group." -- CW

Paul Krugman: The Brexit vote is a choice between bad & worse.

News Lede

New York Times: "After weeks of battling the Islamic State, Iraqi forces quickly entered central areas of Falluja on Friday, as thousands of civilians fled in a new wave of displacement that has overwhelmed the ability of aid agencies to care for them. Reporting little resistance from Islamic State fighters, counterterrorism forces raised the Iraqi flag over the main government building in central Falluja, about 40 miles west of Baghdad, and they moved on to besiege the city's main hospital."

The Commentariat -- June 16, 2016

Dave Weigel of the Washington Post: "By a 85-13 vote on Tuesday, the Senate passed the National Defense Authorization Act for the next fiscal year.... It welcomed women into Selective Service for the first time, starting in 2018, unless that policy is stripped when the bill goes to conference.... Republicans had stopped the female draft provision in the House.... Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-Calif.), a military veteran opposed to women serving in combat, proposed the draft[-women] amendment during mark-up, to make a point. Expecting the amendment to fail, he voted against it, ready to argue that Democrats and other supporters of women in combat were hypocrites. To Hunter's surprise, the draft provision nearly survived." CW: See also Patrick's comment in yesterday's thread re: why drafting women is important to gender equality in the military.

Karoun Demijian of the Washington Post: "Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) ended a blockade of the Senate floor after nearly 15 hours Thursday, announcing Republican leaders had agreed to hold votes on Democrat-backed measures to expand background checks and prevent suspected terrorists from acquiring guns." CW: What is striking about the story is the no-brainer measures Republican senators say they won't support. Confederate voters have left our government in the hands of dangerously irresponsible NRA stooges. ...

...Matt Laslo of The Daily Beast: "Republicans hate terrorists, but they seem to hate gun control measures even more...Even critics argue it's major progress that some in the GOP are even considering potentially banning people on the terrorist watch and no-fly lists from buying firearms." --safari...

... Meg Anderson & Domenico Montanaro of NPR: "In an abrupt shift in message, Donald Trump indicated Wednesday that he might be taking on a Republican tenet: the party's long-standing opposition to gun control. Trump said he would talk to the NRA about not allowing 'people on the terrorist watch list, or the no fly list, to buy guns.' In typical fashion for the presumptive Republican nominee, the announcement came via Twitter: 'I will be meeting with the NRA, who has endorsed me, about not allowing people on the terrorist watch list, or the no fly list, to buy guns.'" -- (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... Ashley Parker & David Herszenhorn of the New York Times: "Mr. Trump's stance ... does not necessarily jibe with the positions of the Republican Party and the National Rifle Association, whose endorsement Mr. Trump frequently boasts about on the campaign trail. His tweet could be read to support measures pushed by Democrats and opposed by Republicans in Congress, reflecting the unusual nuances of the issue, which touches on public safety and civil rights beyond the Second Amendment." -- CW ...

... ** BFD. Gail Collins: "On Wednesday, Donald Trump took time out from vilifying Muslims and put some of the blame on gun control [even though Florida has perhaps the most permissive gun laws in the nation]. If the patrons of Pulse ... had been carrying concealed weapons, he said, they could have taken control of the situation.... Trump did not specifically say that we need to uphold Americans' freedom to drink while armed. But there doesn't seem to be any other way to interpret his argument. Also, there actually was an off-duty police officer working in the club who tried to shoot the gunman but failed.... The myth of the cool and steady shooter is one of the most cherished beliefs of the National Rifle Association and its supporters. Trump himself has bragged that if he'd been in Paris on the night of the attacks there, he would have shot the terrorists.... This is an excellent example of delusional gun thinking." -- CW...

Americans for Responsible Solutions (published June 10th): "Navy combat veteran and retired NASA astronaut Capt. Mark Kelly, the Co-Founder of Americans for Responsible Solutions, today joined with veteran leaders from across the country to announce the Advisory Committee of a new national effort, the 'Veterans Coalition for Common Sense,' to urge our country's elected leaders to do more to prevent gun tragedies." Lots of big names signed on here. --safari

Mark Hensch of the Hill: "Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) said Tuesday that anti-LGBT laws across the U.S. are 'motivated' by the same hate behind Orlando's recent massacre at a gay nightclub. 'I think it's important for folks to realize the type of hate and prejudice that motivated this individual is still fed by the discrimination we have in so many states,' Merkley said on MSNBC's 'Morning Joe.' 'In Florida, you can be fired from your job if you're gay or lesbian. You can be kicked out of a restaurant or theater. You can be kicked out of rental housing.'" -- CW ...

... Kevin Sullivan, et al., of the Washington Post have a roundup of some things known or alleged about the Orlando shooter & his wife. -- CW ...

... Matt Zapotosky, et al., of the Washington Post: "A U.S. law enforcement official confirmed that [Orlando mass-murderer Omar] Mateen posted threatening comments directed at the United States on Facebook before the attack. The account was later taken down.... The FBI confirmed it had interviewed the wife of Omar Mateen, the 29-year-old gunman." -- CW ...

... Malia Zimmerman of Fox "News": "In the hours after he blasted his way into an Orlando gay nightclub, and with his victims lying dead or wounded around him, Omar Mateen took to Facebook to pledge his loyalty to ISIS and threaten more attacks on the civilized world..., [Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.)] told FoxNews.com Wednesday." -- CW ...

... Scott Fais of News 13 Orlando: "About 45 minutes after the shooting began, the phone rang inside the News 13 newsroom. 'It was at 2:45 a.m. when I had just received the phone call of someone claiming to be the Orlando shooter,' [producer Matthew Gentili] said. '... 'I heard, "Do you know about the shooting?'" Gentili said he was aware of the shooting.... 'I'm the shooter. It's me. I am the shooter,' the person on the other end said.... 'He did it for ISIS, and he started speaking Arabic,' Gentili said." -- CW

New York Times: "In response to a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union, the government has disclosed new portions of transcripts from so-called combatant status review tribunal hearings in 2007. The documents focus on torture in the C.I.A.'s black-site prisons before the detainees were transferred to the military's wartime prison at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba." Transcript follows. A related story, by Charlie Savage, is here. -- CW ...

... First, Do No Harm. Spencer Ackerman of the Guardian: "Sensitive agency documents, declassified on Tuesday, provide a new level of detail on the intimate involvement of its medical staff during its post-9/11 torture program. Officials assigned to the Office of Medical Staff (OMS) provided precise specifications for enforcing sleep deprivation, limiting the caloric intake of detainees' food, and the proper positions for waterboarding, as outlined in a 2004 document providing 'guidelines on medical and psychological support' for torture." CW: Any licensed professionals on the "medical staff" who drew up or approved these guidelines should be stripped of their licenses, at the very least.

American "Justice" Ctd. Seth Wessler of The Nation: "This year marks two decades since the Bureau of Prisons' privatization experiment began, under the mandate of a Clinton White House and GOP-controlled Congress dedicated to 'reinventing government.' From the start, some BOP officials and lawmakers feared privatization might degrade quality. Congress ordered studies of the BOP's two pilot programs, comparing their operations to similar bureau-run facilities...Taken together, the studies that Congress had ordered showed a clear result: The experiments had failed.... The study concluded that privatization had not saved substantially on costs yet had eroded the quality of care [and] that any cost savings were eclipsed by the financial burdens of oversight.... By fiscal year 2015, the BOP's budget for private contractors was over $1.05 billion." --safari...

... Rupert Neate of the Guardian: "How long prisons will continue to be such money-spinners could depend on who wins the race for the White House. On the campaign trail Hillary Clinton has vowed to 'end private prisons and private detention centers. They are wrong.' Donald Trump, on the other hand, has called for increased outsourcing of prisons.... States spend about $8bn (£5.5bn) a year on healthcare to try and keep prisoners alive. In a bid to cut costs, more state prisons and county jails are adding healthcare to the growing list of services that are outsourced to for-profit companies." Includes stats and graphs. --safari...

... Carimah Townes of ThinkProgress: "In a growing movement largely going unnoticed by the national media, inmates all over the country are starting to stand up against the brutal conditions and abuses they have faced for decades...[T]he actions are part of a unified prisoner movement that's sweeping the country. And they're gearing up for a bigger protest that could force even Wall Street to take notice...'[W]e prisoners across the United States vow to finally end slavery in 2016,' reads a call to action posted in April. 'Our protest against prison slavery is a protest against the school to prison pipeline, a protest against police terror, a protest against post-release controls. When we abolish slavery, they'll lose much of their incentive to lock up our children, they'll stop building traps to pull back those who they've released.'" --safari

Presidential Race

Michael Tomasky of the Daily Beast: "... the first full-blown general-election Electoral College forecast" indicates that the presidential race "could be a blowout for Hillary Clinton." Current polling suggests the Electoral College outcome would be "Clinton 358, Trump 180." -- CW

Sam Biddle & Gabrielle Bluestone of Gawker: "A 200+ page document that appears to be a Democratic anti-Trump playbook compiled by the Democratic National Committee has leaked online following this week's report that the DNC was breached by Russian hackers. In it, Trump is pilloried as a 'bad businessman' and 'misogynist in chief.'... It appears that virtually all of the claims are derived from published sources, as opposed to independent investigations or mere rumor. It's also very light on anything that could be considered 'dirt.'..." The story reprints excerpts of the document. -- CW ...

... The full document is here. -- CW

Much of it is false and/or entirely inaccurate. We believe it was the DNC that did the 'hacking' as a way to distract from the many issues facing their deeply flawed candidate and failed party leader. Too bad the DNC doesn't hack Crooked Hillary's 33,000 missing emails. -- Conspiracy-Theorist-in-Chief Donald Trump, Wednesday ...

... Googling for Dollars. Jesse Singal of New York: "Professional Oppo Research on Trump Basically Just Requires Some Googling...." CW: If you can Google "Trump sucks," you too can be a "professional" oppo researcher! Copy-and-paste skills required. Apply at Democrats.org or call 202-WUT-EVER & ask for Debbie.

Sabrina Siddiqui & Lauren Gambino of the Guardian: "The 'reckless' proposals floated by Donald Trump would have done nothing to prevent the carnage of the Orlando massacre, Hillary Clinton said on Wednesday. Speaking at a national security forum, Clinton ... declar[ed] Trump 'temperamentally unfit and totally unqualified' to assume the role of commander-in-chief. 'Not one of Donald Trump's reckless ideas would have saved a single life in Orlando,' Clinton said. 'A ban on Muslims would not have stopped this attack. Neither would a wall. I don't know how one builds a wall to keep the internet out,' she told an event in Hampton, Virginia." -- CW ...

Some days I expect [Trump] to come out and say, "I'm not an expert on national security, but I did stay at a Holiday Inn last night. Let me tell you what I think." -- Kevin Madden, a veteran GOP strategist and former adviser to Mitt Romney ...

... Yes, Trump Finds Breitbart a Good Source for Foreign Intelligence. Karen DeYoung & Jose DelReal of the Washington Post: "Just two days after Donald Trump implied that President Obama sympathized with terrorists, provoking a backlash that included members of his own party, the presumed Republican presidential nominee declared himself 'right,' based on a published report claiming administration 'support' for the Islamic State. In a post to his Twitter account early Wednesday, Trump said 'Media fell all over themselves criticizing what Donald Trump "may have insinuated"' about Obama. 'But he's right,' it said, linking to a story published by the conservative website Breitbart News. The story was based on a declassified 2012 cable.... But the document appears to be an initial intake of spot intelligence from the early days of the Syrian civil war. That intelligence had not yet been vetted or verified. Trump's embrace of Breitbart's interpretation of the cable fits a pattern of careless handling and circulation of facts, particularly in the realm of foreign policy." -- CW

Trump to GOP Critics: STFU. Eric Levitz of New York: Donald Trump "offered some advice to those Republicans who think the government should not discriminate against citizens on the basis of their religious beliefs. 'Don't talk. Please, be quiet,' Trump said. 'Just be quiet, to the leaders, because they have to get tougher, they have to get sharper, they have to get smarter, and we have to have our Republicans either stick together or let me just do it by myself.'" -- CW

Jamelle Blouie of Slate: "If there's anything consistent in Trump's politics, it's nativism and racial prejudice...Trump's popularity is low. It can get lower...By the time we reach the Republican National Convention, Trump might be a zombie candidate: lifeless but still shambling forward, consumed by his most animal impulses...Between now and November, there's a good chance we'll see something almost unprecedented in modern American politics: a world where the elected officials and elites of a political party are either indifferent to the fate of their party's nominee or outright antagonistic to him." --safari

Tim Mak of The Daily Beast: "The Trump Foundation, Donald Trump's nonprofit organization, is under fire for allegedly operating as more of a political slush fund than a charity. The foundation is accused of violating rules prohibiting it from engaging in politics prompting ethics watchdogs to call for public investigations. On numerous occasions this year, Trump's campaign work and his foundation work have overlapped putting himself at risk for penalties and his charity at risk of being shut down." --safari

Ken Vogel, et al., of Politico: "Donald Trump is relying heavily on the Republican Party to bolster his skeletal operation, but his campaign's relationship with the Republican National Committee is increasingly plagued by distrust, power struggles and strategic differences, according to sources in both camps." -- CW ...

... BUT. Jonathan Chait: "... for all of Trump's erratic and authoritarian impulses, and for all of the long-term brand damage he threatens, Republican insiders have made their peace with the prospect of handing him the nuclear codes" because he has quietly signaled he would give them what they want most -- irresponsible fiscal policy & confederate judges. -- CW

Ovetta Wiggins of the Washington Post: Maryland "Gov. Larry Hogan (R) said emphatically Wednesday that he does not plan to vote for Donald Trump...." -- CW

What? Equal Time? Jesse Byrnes of the Hill: Wednesday, Fox "News," CNN & MSNBC all cut away from a Trump rally to carry -- if briefly -- Hillary Clinton's speech on national security. -- CW

Senate Race

I enjoy my service here a lot. -- Marco Rubio, on his feeling about the Senate, Wednesday

That's peculiar, because for quite some time Rubio said he couldn't stand the Senate and that he'd "given up on it," which was why he didn't show up there often. -- Constant Weader

... Mike DeBonis of the Washington Post: "Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida, who pledged for months not to seek re-election to the Senate as he waged an ill-fated campaign for the Republican presidential nomination, said Wednesday that he is rethinking that decision and could enter the race as soon as next week. Rubio said his decision followed a Sunday conversation with his friend Florida Lt. Gov. Carlos Lopez-Cantera (R), who is running to succeed him in the Senate, on the sidelines of the scene of the terror attack in Orlando." ...

... Marc Caputo of Politico: Sen. Marco Rubio's friend, Florida Lt. Gov. Carlos Lopez-Cantera, who has been running for the Senate seat Rubio said he would vacate, told Rubio he should reconsider his decision not to run for re-election. "Bottom line, Lopez-Cantera said in the interview: 'Nothing has changed. I'm still running. Marco isn't.' The filing deadline for the race is June 24, when Rubio is scheduled to hold a fundraiser for Lopez-Cantera. If Rubio decides to run, Lopez-Cantera won't file. Right now, longtime friends of both men believe Rubio ultimately won’t run: The lure of a much bigger paycheck and proximity to his family will outweigh another term in the Senate." CW: They both sound like such fabulous patriots: "This is bigger than me. And this isn't about me. And it's not about you. It's about our country and this election." Lopez-Cantera told Rubio.

The Commentariat -- June 15, 2016

Afternoon Update:

Democrats Have Had Enough. ('bout Time.) Burgess Everett & Seung Min Kim of Politico: "Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) launched a talking filibuster on the Senate floor -- which was quickly joined by fellow Democrats -- in an effort to pressure Republicans to accept legislation that would deny suspected terrorists from purchasing firearms and require universal background checks.... Murphy, a top gun-control advocate whose home state saw the massacre of 20 school children at Sandy Hook Elementary in 2012, launched the filibuster, and was immediately backed up by colleagues Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) and Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) -- the same day presumptive GOP nominee Donald Trump is scheduled to meet with the National Rifle Association." --

     ... CW Note: The link is to an updated (or different but related) story. The lede: "As Sen. Chris Murphy and his Democratic allies held the Senate floor and filibustered into Wednesday evening to force a debate on gun control, negotiations on legislation to prevent suspected terrorists from buying firearms were breaking down behind closed doors."

But if they succeed, it will be Trump who will take the credit: Meg Anderson & Domenico Montanaro of NPR<: "In an abrupt shift in message, Donald Trump indicated Wednesday that he might be taking on a Republican tenet: the party's long-standing opposition to gun control. Trump said he would talk to the NRA about not allowing 'people on the terrorist watch list, or the no fly list, to buy guns.' In typical fashion for the presumptive Republican nominee, the announcement came via Twitter: 'I will be meeting with the NRA, who has endorsed me, about not allowing people on the terrorist watch list, or the no fly list, to buy guns.'"

The NRA, of course, says it's not their policy to sell weapons to terrorists, but that's a lie. In fact, it's their policy to sell assault weapons to anyone with the cash to pay for them. Their current position is that the FBI has to prove that someone purchasing any kind of weapon is a threat and they only have 72 hours to do it. Clearly that would not have prevented the Orlando massacre. One commenter to the NPR story asked how it is that Trump and the Republicans have to go to the NRA to ask permission for any kind of gun control no matter how tepid and ineffectual. Good point. However, if there is the smallest accommodation, due largely to the current Democratic filibuster, Trump will happily take credit since his poll numbers are dropping due to his attacks on the entire Muslim world as well his oral servicing of NRA poobahs. I'm sure he has to wait in line for that honor.

*****

Kevin Liptak of CNN: "President Barack Obama on Tuesday unleashed a blistering verbal assault on Donald Trump...Obama, sounding infuriated at critiques of his foreign policy, pushed back against criticism for not using the term 'radical Islamic terrorism.'... 'What exactly would using this language accomplish? What exactly would it change?' Obama asked during remarks at the Treasury Department. 'Would it make ISIL less committed to try and kill Americans?'...'Would it bring in more allies? Is there a military strategy that is served by this? The answer is none of the above,' he said. 'Calling a threat by a different name does not make it go away.'" (Also linked yesterday.) ...

... The New York Times report, by Patrick Healy & Thomas Kaplan, is here. ...

Shouting "Radical Islamists! Aieee!" is probably not a reasonable strategy, but it's all Trump has. Prepubescent caterwauling doesn't stand up very well in the face of rational, adult thought. ...

... John Cassidy of the New Yorker: President Obama's remarks "turned into perhaps the most important address he has given this year. Indeed, historians may look back on it as one of the defining speeches of his Presidency." -- CW ...

... New York Times Editors: "In a speech on Tuesday to update the nation on the battle against the Islamic State, given against the backdrop of the Orlando, Fla., massacre, President Obama gave the most powerful rebuke yet to the increasingly unreasonable and dangerous ravings of ... Donald Trump.... On Thursday, the president plans to travel to Orlando to bring solace to grieving families and a stricken city. It is all but impossible to imagine the Republicans' leading presidential contender offering similar leadership, or having the ability to bring unity from tragedy. Which is a sign of how far the party has fallen, behind the banner of Donald Trump." -- CW (More under Presidential Race below.) ...

... Mike DeBonis of the Washington Post: "Republican lawmakers on Capitol Hill are standing apart from their presumptive presidential nominee yet again -- but this time in the aftermath of a major terror attack on the American homeland, an event that historically has brought parties together, not driven them apart.... [Trump's speech Monday] drew fresh condemnations from House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.), who called Tuesday for 'a security test, not a religious test' for immigrants. 'I do not think a Muslim ban is in our country's interest,' he told reporters. 'I do not think it is reflective of our principles, not just as a party but as a country.'" -- CW ...

... Erica Werner of the AP: "Dismayed Republicans scrambled for cover Tuesday from Donald Trump's inflammatory response to the Orlando massacre, while President Barack Obama and Democrat Hillary Clinton delivered fiery denunciations that underscored the potential peril for the GOP. Republican hopes are fading for a new, 'more presidential' Trump as the party's divisions around him grow ever more acute.... One senior Senate Republican, Lamar Alexander of Tennessee, went so far as to suggest Trump might not end up as the party's nominee after all." -- CW

Jonathan Chait: "The post-Bush-doctrine Republican Party is no longer guided by an idealistic and impractical vision for defeating radical Islam. All it has left is a residue of fear and nationalism, ripe for manipulation by a demagogue. The logic of Trump's conquest of the Republican Party is most glaringly obvious when it is splayed against the backdrop of the terrorist threat. He has taken control of an empty vessel and steered it toward its only possible course." -- CW

Rep. Jim Hines (D-Conn.), in a Washington Post op-ed: "Instead of staying in the House chamber Tuesday night, I walked out of the moment of silence, joined by some of my colleagues. Other Democrats who remained in the chamber tried to get Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.) to act on gun control legislation. To no avail. Congress exists to reflect the will of the people. The vast majority of Americans support measures such as universal background checks, keeping people on the no-fly list from purchasing weapons and limits on how ferocious a weapon a civilian can own. But Congress offers only silence." -- CW ...

... Esther Lee of Think Progress: "... it is much more difficult for immigrants to enter the U.S. than it is for a U.S. citizen -- like the killer -- to purchase the gun they need to commit atrocities." -- CW ...

... Anderson Cooper interrogates Florida AG Pamela Bondi (R) on her legal fights against LGBT people. CW: She acquits herself fairly well, especially given what may be her actual prejudices & the SOB she works for:

... Speaking of the SOB she works for, here's how Gov. Rick Scott addressed a reporter's question about gun control, posed after he gave a hearts-and-prayers/act-of-terrorism supposed press conference following the Orlando massacre:

Pete Williams, et al., of NBC News: "The Orlando gunman's wife has told federal agents she tried to talk her husband out of carrying out the attack.... Omar Mateen's wife, Noor Zahi Salman, told the FBI she was with him when he bought ammunition and a holster, several officials familiar with the case said. She told the FBI that she once drove him to the gay nightclub, Pulse, because he wanted to scope it out.... Authorities are considering filing criminal charges against Noor for failing to tell them what she knew before the brutal attack, law enforcement officials say, but no decision has been made." -- CW

Emily Crockett of Vox: "One of the best predictors of future violent behavior, researchers say, is past violent behavior. And a crucial warning sign -- one too often ignored -- is domestic violence against intimate partners and other family members.... The majority of what could be called 'mass shootings' are all too predictable -- and many victims are the women and children who find themselves entangled in the lives of violently abusive men." -- CW ...

... Lisa Wade, republished in the New Republic: "... in my mind, [Omar] Mateen's crime didn't displace [Brock] Turner's. Yet the media simply replaced one outrage with another, moving our attention away from Stanford and toward Orlando, as if these two crimes were unrelated. They're not.... Sexual violence [on college campuses] is perpetrated disproportionately by 'high-status' men -- fraternity men and certain male athletes in particular. These men are more likely than other men to endorse the sexual double standard.... They are also more likely to promote homophobia, hypermasculinity and male dominance; tolerate violent and sexist jokes; endorse misogynistic attitudes and behaviors; and endorse false beliefs about rape.... Omar Mateen's crime is related to this strand of masculinity.... Anti-gay hate crimes, like violence against women (Mateen also reportedly beat his ex-wife), are tied closely to rigid and hierarchical ideas about masculinity that depend on differentiating 'real' men from women as well as gay and bisexual men." -- CW

Cristina Marcos of the Hill: "House GOP leaders won't allow a vote this week on a proposal to ensure that federal contractors can't discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity." -- CW

Jennifer Steinhauer of the New York Times: "On Tuesday, the Senate approved an expansive military policy bill that would for the first time require young women to register for the draft. The shift, while fiercely opposed by some conservative lawmakers and interest groups, had surprisingly broad support among Republican leaders and women in both parties.... The debate will now pit the Senate against the House, where the policy change has support but was not included in that chamber's version of the bill."...

... CW: The young cavalier Righty-Right-Right Honorable Sir Ted Cruz, Knight Errant, rose to defend the delicate ladies -- and make sure they knew their place. This is odd, because Sir Ted wants to make sure everybody has a gun, including men accused or convicted of acts of violence against women, & terrorist suspects.

Annals of Journalism. J. K. Trotter of Gawker: Billionaire Peter Thiel's vendetta against Gawker (and possibly other media outlets since he's not revealing what lawsuits he's bankrolling) continues: "Last week, Thiel's lawyer-for-hire, Charles J. Harder, sent Gawker a letter on behalf of Ivari International's owner and namesake, Edward Ivari, in which Harder claims that ... [a] story [about Donald Trump's hair] was 'false and defamatory.'" -- CW

Presidential Race

Ellen Nakashima of the Washington Post: "Russian government hackers penetrated the computer network of the Democratic National Committee and gained access to the entire database of opposition research on GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump, according to committee officials and security experts who responded to the breach. The intruders so thoroughly compromised the DNC's system that they also were able to read all email and chat traffic, said DNC officials and the security experts.... The networks of presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump were also targeted by Russian spies, as were the computers of some Republican political action committees, U.S. officials said. But details on those cases were not available.... Some of the hackers had access to the DNC network for about a year, but all were expelled over the past weekend in a major computer cleanup campaign, the committee officials and experts said." CW: Nice going, Debbie.

Rebecca Traister of New York: "There is no taming of the Republican who ostensibly staked out extreme positions to grab attention in the primary; there is no pivot to the center from the Democrat supposedly pulled to the left by her primary rival. Democrats and Republicans are making issues of identity and inclusion central to their campaigns, both symbolically and in terms of policy. The contest we're entering feels ever more like a civil war." -- CW

Yamiche Alcindor & Patrick Healy of the New York Times: "With little affection or trust between them, Hillary Clinton and Senator Bernie Sanders met privately on Tuesday night to size each other up as they started exploring what kind of alliance they might build for the general election battle against Donald J. Trump.... Setting the stage for their meeting, Mr. Sanders used a news conference here Tuesday afternoon to call for replacing the leaders of the Democratic National Committee, eliminating the role of superdelegates in the party's nomination process, and allowing independents and last-minute registrants to vote in all Democratic primaries." CW: Okay, now Bernie is being a dick (okay, except for the replacing-Li'l-Debbie part). For the good of the country, he should get out in front & give Clinton a full-throated endorsement now. ...

... Alex Seitz-Wald of NBC News: "The carefully choreographed meeting ran for nearly two hours.... Afterwards, both candidates released nearly identical statements calling the meeting 'positive' and saying they had agreed to work together to defeat Donald Trump.... Sanders will address supporters Thursday on a teleconference.... No matter what, he has earned a place in shaping the future of the Democratic Party. This weekend, many of his top outside allies will convene in Chicago to plot the future of the Sanders movement, with or without the Vermont senator. Sanders' half-alive candidacy has left the rest of the party in a state of limbo." -- CW

** Carrie Dann of NBC News: "Hillary Clinton has won the final primary of the Democratic nomination race in the District of Columbia, NBC News projected Tuesday." -- CW ...

Ruby Cramer of BuzzFeed: "Hillary Clinton assailed Donald Trump for his 'shameful,' 'disrespectful' suggestion after the terrorist attack in Orlando, the deadliest shooting in U.S. history, that President Obama sympathized with terrorists.... 'Even in a time of divided politics,' Clinton said, 'this is way beyond anything that should be said by someone running for president of the United States.'" -- CW

Tim Devaney of the Hill: "A former Republican senator is endorsing Hillary Clinton for president after the mass shooting in Orlando, citing her support for gun control. Former Sen. Larry Pressler (R-S.D.) called for universal background checks on all gun sales and an assault weapons ban Monday in the wake of the deadliest mass shooting in U.S. history. 'I can't believe I'm endorsing Hillary Clinton for president, but I am,' said Pressler...." -- CW

Nazi-in-Chief. Eric Rauchway in the Washington Post: "Donald Trump greeted Twitter on Flag Day with two words in all caps: 'AMERICA FIRST!' He has made this slogan a theme for his campaign, and he has begun using it to contrast himself with President Obama, whose criticism of Trump's rhetoric on Tuesday was answered with a Trump statement promising, 'When I am president, it will always be America first.' He wasn't quite promising 'America über alles,' but it comes close. 'America First' was the motto of Nazi-friendly Americans in the 1930s, and Trump has more than just a catchphrase in common with them.... the general idea of 'America First' remains the same: The United States should arm itself against foreign threats and stay within carefully defined borders, using the might of the state only to defend a very specific, rather white idea of 'America' that excludes certain racial and religious minorities." -- CW

Ben Schreckinger of Politico : "Donald Trump responded to President Barack Obama's criticism of his rhetoric on Islam and terrorism on Tuesday night, accusing the president of directing his anger at him rather than at the perpetrator of Sunday's mass shooting in Florida.... On Monday, Trump repeatedly made vague insinuations about Obama's handling of terrorism, saying, 'He doesn't get it or he gets it better than anybody understands.'... Trump also took on ... Hillary Clinton, calling her 'no friend of LGBT Americans' and unpopular with women." -- CW

The bottom line is that the only reason the killer was in America in the first place was because we allowed his family to come here. -- Donald Trump, in his speech Monday

The bottom line is that the only reason we have Donald Trump in America in the first place was because we allowed his mother to come here. -- Constant Weader

Patrick Healy & Thomas Kaplan: "In his apocalyptic speech on Monday warning that terrorism could wipe out the United States -- 'There will be nothing, absolutely nothing, left,' ... -- Mr. Trump ... said. 'Can you imagine what they'll do in large groups, which we're allowing now to come here?'... Mr. Trump ... has intensified the power of fear in presidential politics by demonizing an entire religious group.... Judging from his speech on Monday, his statements throughout the campaign, and interviews with historians and psychologists, Mr. Trump has committed himself to denigrating, if not steamrolling, the conditioned responses that have long served to help unite the country in times of crisis...." CW: This is a straight news report.

Jelani Cobb of the New Yorker: "Some Americans are more American than others to [Donald Trump], based on their skin color and religion.... Trump's concept of graduated citizenship coexists comfortably with his insistence that collective responsibility be placed on the communities he considers suspicious.... Aas Trump, as a candidate, exemplifies, the greatest threat to American values may come from someone who was, in fact, born here." -- CW

Anora Mahmudova & Carla Mozee of Marketwatch.com: "U.S. stocks slumped Tuesday as jittery investors grappled with lower oil prices, stronger-than-expected retail sales and geopolitical concerns in Europe. Investors were given a dose of optimism in the form of better-than-expected retail sales but the start of a the Federal Reserve's two-day policy meeting and worries over the threat of the U.K. exiting the European Union dragged stocks lower."-- Akhilleus (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... Ylan Q. Mui of the Washington Post reminds us whose undisciplined rhetoric is helping to sink US stocks. Why, it's Mr. Donald J. Trump, himself. "The potential for a British exit from the European Union -- known as 'Brexit' -- and the acrimonious U.S. presidential election are political flashpoints that could feed back into the real economy. Many analysts are predicting the United Kingdom would fall into recession if it leaves the E.U., throwing financial markets around the globe into turmoil along the way. In the United States, some economists say Trump's policies could spark a trade war with China and cost the country jobs."

...Akhilleus: And who is a big supporter of Brexit, an event that could have seriously damaging effects on US and world markets? Oh, you know who it is...This idiot just gets worse and worse.

The Man without a Dog Whistle. Paul Waldman: "What Trump doesn't seem to understand is that politicians clothe their ugliest appeals in subtle rhetoric so they can maintain deniability not just for themselves, but for those who would vote for them as well.... We want to see ourselves as reasonable, informed, and unbiased. Almost no one wants to think they're filled with hatred or prejudice. But Trump doesn't allow you to make a generous interpretation of your own motivations. If you're truly with him, you want to build those walls, keep people who don't look like you out of the country, and turn back the clock to a bygone time.... That could wind up being one of his biggest impediments to Trump winning a majority, even if his unsubtle appeal was why he won the Republican nomination." -- CW

CW: I don't think Ken Burns likes Donald Trump. Speaking at Stanford's commencement, June 12:

Beyond the Beltway (& Over the Bridge)

My e-mails? Oh, that's different. Andrea Bernstein and Max Katz of WNYC: "Gov. Chris Christie's cell phone, text messages and emails from three separate accounts are missing or have been destroyed, Bridgegate defendants allege in a pair of explosive briefs filed late Monday in federal court in New Jersey. They say Christie's taxpayer-funded lawyers are hiding information about his knowledge of the politically-motivated 2013 lane closures at the George Washington Bridge." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

...Akhilleus: Lost e-mails are only a scandal when they're connected to a Democrat, right Chris?

Paul Elias of the AP: "A Northern California judge at the center of a recall campaign after his handling of a Stanford University sexual assault case was removed from a new sexual assault case Tuesday by the local district attorney. Santa Clara County District Attorney Jeff Rosen used a prosecutor's authority to disqualify a judge to block transfer of the new sexual assault case to Judge Aaron Persky." -- CW

News Ledes

AP: "Authorities were searching early Wednesday for a 2-year-old boy who was dragged into the water by an alligator near Disney's upscale Grand Floridian Resort & Spa. -- CW ...

... The Washington Post story is here. ...

     ... Orlando Sentinel Update: "Orange County[, Florida,] Sheriff Jerry Demings said the Nebraska boy missing after being snatched by an alligator at a hotel near Disney is likely dead. The 2-year-old child was attacked and dragged into the water by an alligator on the shores of Disney's Grand Floridian Resort & Spa about 10:00 p.m. Tuesday night. Deputies are in the water and air, trying to recover his body." -- CW ...

     ... Washington Post Update: "The body of a 2-year-old boy snatched by an alligator at a Disney resort in Florida has been found, ending a desperate 18-hour search that began as a rescue operation and eventually became a grim recovery effort, officials said late Wednesday afternoon." -- CW