The Commentariat -- June 13, 2016

Afternoon Update:

David Graham in The Atlantic: Obama Involved in Orlando Nightclub Shooting. "In an almost entirely unprecedented moment, Donald Trump ... suggested in interviews Monday morning that President Obama may have somehow been involved in Sunday's massacre in Orlando. Trump's suggestion came by implication, but the message is unmistakable: The president may have somehow known about or been involved in the shooting." ...

     ... : Off the rails, into the woods, and over a cliff. You might as well vote for the guy on the subway who talks to himself.

Steve Benen of MSNBC demonstrates how Republicans are making hay while the blood's still wet: "GOP officials, including staunch opponents of gay rights, were eager to condemn the mass shooting, but most were silent on the fact that the gunman targeted not just Americans in general, but LGBT Americans specifically.... Republicans in general were loath to mention the role of anti-LGBT attitudes in the Orlando attack, but [Ted] Cruz saw an opportunity -- not because of his sympathies, but because the slayings might be a wedge issue." ...

     ... : Any chance to turn bloodshed to his advantage, Lyin' Ted will hop to it. Despicable is too nice a word.

Dan Mangan of CNBC: "If the next president and Congress repeals Obamacare -- as many Republican elected officials want to do -- there could end up being more people without health insurance than before the law went into effect, a new study says. A total of 24 million more people would lose health coverage by 2021 if the Affordable Care Act was repealed, according to the study issued Monday by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Urban Institute. As a result, the uninsured rate would nearly double, to 19.4 percent of the U.S. population by 2021, according to the study." ...

     ... : What a victory that would be for Republicans. I'm sure they'd all be so proud. Those nasty moochers would be back waiting to gasp their last breath on an emergency room gurney. The Republican Way.

*****

Christal Hayes, et al., of the Orlando Sentinel: "The Federal Bureau of Investigation three times interviewed Omar Mateen for having alleged terrorist ties before he killed 50 people and injured 53 others at a gay nightclub in Orlando, the deadliest shooting in U.S. history. The names of several people he killed have been released. ...

... The Sentinel is liveblogging developments here. ...

... The New York Times story, by Lizette Alvarez & Richard Perez-Pena, is here. ...

... Max Bearak of the Washington Post: "The father of Omar Mateen, identified by police as the man behind the carnage at an Orlando nightclub early Sunday morning, is an Afghan man who holds strong political views, including support for the Afghan Taliban. In a video he posted on Saturday, he appears to be portraying himself as the president of Afghanistan. Seddique Mateen ... hosted the 'Durand Jirga Show' on a channel called Payam-e-Afghan, which broadcasts from California. In it, the elder Mateen speaks in the Dari language on a variety of political subjects. He doesn't always make much sense.... On Sunday morning, Mateen told NBC News that his son's rampage 'has nothing to do with religion.' Instead, he offered another possible motive. He said his son got angry when he saw two men kissing in Miami a few months ago." -- CW ...

... Anthony Westbury, et al., of Florida Today: "A former Fort Pierce police officer who once worked with 29-year-old Omar Mateen ... said he was 'unhinged and unstable.' Daniel Gilroy said ... Mateen frequently made homophobic and racial comments. Gilroy said he complained to his employer several times but it did nothing because he was Muslim. Gilroy quit after he said Mateen began stalking him via multiple text messages -- 20 or 30 a day. He also sent Gilroy 13 to 15 phone messages a day, he said.... 'He talked of killing people.' Gilroy said this shooting didn't come as a surprise to him." -- CW ...

...Katie Zavadski of The Daily Beast: "Years before he shot up an Orlando gay club in what became the largest mass shooting in American history, Omar Mateen regularly picked up lunch from a drag queen at Ruby Tuesday. He may have even gone to see a drag show or two, a former high school classmate told The Daily Beast.... Mateen was a few years out of playing football in high school while King [the former classmate], who is openly gay, had long, flowing extensions, and prettier hair than most of his female co-workers.... King saw none of that homophobia. Quite the opposite: He said Mateen knew that he and many of his co-workers at Ruby Tuesday were gay, and didn't seem to have a problem with it." --safari...

... Adam Goldman, et al., of the Washington Post: "The ex-wife of the 29-year-old man who is believed to have killed 50 people in an Orlando nightclub early Sunday said that he was violent and mentally unstable and beat her repeatedly while they were married." -- CW ...

... Michael Shear of the New York Times: "President Obama expressed the anguish of a nation on Sunday as he condemned the worst mass shooting in United States history and vowed to respond forcefully to the devastating 'act of terror' at a gay nightclub in Orlando, Fla":

... Mike Weisser of the Huffington Post in a New York Times op-ed: "When 50 people were shot and killed last night at a gay nightclub in Orlando, the toll from gun murders this year rose to somewhere around 6,000 deaths, which means if the trend continues, this year may end up with the highest gun homicide count since Barack Obama took office in 2009. Add to the homicide number the 550 or so victims of police shootings, roughly the same number of accidental gun deaths and the 21,000+ Americans who use a gun to end their own lives, and the total gun mortality number this year may go above 35,000.... By my calculations, we currently suffer more gun deaths than occurred during the bloodiest war in our entire history, and it has been going on for far longer than the fifty months of the Civil War." -- CW ...

... Christopher Ingraham of the Washington Post: "One common denominator behind ... high-casualty mass shootings in recent years is the use of assault style rifles, capable of firing many rounds of ammunition in a relatively short period of time, with high accuracy. And their use in these types of shooting is becoming more common: There have been eight high-profile public mass shootings since July of last year, according to a database compiled by Mother Jones magazine. Assault-style rifles were used in seven of those.... Gun rights proponents point out that rifles, of any type, are rarely used to kill people in the U.S.... Terrorist groups have taken note of the widespread availability of assault rifles and other guns in the U.S. In 2011, al-Qaeda encouraged its followers to take advantage of lax guns laws, purchase assault-style weapons and use them to shoot people.... Indeed, federal law allows people on terror watch lists to purchase guns, and thousands of them have done so." -- CW ...

... Larry Buchanan, et al., of the New York Times: "The vast majority of guns used in 16 recent mass shootings, including two guns believed to be used in the Orlando attack, were bought legally and with a federal background check. At least eight gunmen had criminal histories or documented mental health problems that did not prevent them from obtaining their weapons." The reporters catalog the sources of guns used in these calamities. -- CW ...

...Jane C. Timm of NBC News: "Former Gen. Stanley McChrystal, who led the war in Afghanistan, endorsed strong gun control laws Tuesday on Morning Joe...'We've got to take a serious look -- I understand everyone's desire to have whatever they want -- but we;ve got to protect our children, we've got to protect our police, we’ve got to protect our population,' McChrystal said. 'Serious action is necessary. Sometimes we talk about very limited actions on the edges and I just don't think that;s enough." --safari

Jonathan Martin of the New York Times: "Donald J. Trump on Sunday pounced on the news of the massacre at an Orlando gay nightclub to underscore his presidential campaign's central message -- that the United States needs to be tougher to combat Islamist terrorism. 'When will this stop?' Mr. Trump ...wrote in a Twitter post shortly before noon. 'When will we get tough, smart & vigilant?' About an hour later, he amplified that point, writing: 'Appreciate the congrats for being right on radical Islamic terrorism, I don't want congrats, I want toughness & vigilance. We must be smart!'... A tragedy in the middle of a presidential race would typically force restraint on candidates.... Hillary Clinton initially responded with caution Sunday morning, offering on Twitter her thoughts to those affected 'as we wait for more information.' But after Mr. Obama spoke, she issued a longer statement echoing the president: 'This was an act of terror.'... Friday, Mr. Trump used an address to a Christian conservative group to criticize Mrs. Clinton for refusing 'to even say the words radical Islam.' 'This alone makes her unfit to be president,' he said." -- CW ...

... Dave Weigel of the Washington Post: "In the first hours since the mass shooting at Orlando's Pulse nightclub, Democratic politicians have been far more likely than Republicans to note that the target seemed to be the LGBT community. While suspect Omar Mateen's father suggested that anti-gay animus may have motivated him, only a handful of Republicans mentioned that aspect of the shooting; nearly every Democrat did." CW: And of course the MoC who made the biggest ass of himself was Ted Cruz. ...

... There's Something About Texans. Jessica Hamilton of the Houston Chronicle: "A 'reap what you sow' tweet from Texas Lt. Governor Dan Patrick that went out hours after approximately 50 people were killed at a Florida LGBT nightclub has been deleted amid backlash.... Patrick's adviser Allen Blakemore issued a statement explaining that the tweet was an unfortunate coincidence." CW: Uh-huh. ...

Steve M. sez: "Follow Igor Volsky of Center for American Progress on Twitter for constant updates on all the US congresspersons and senators who have taken campaign contributions from the National Rifle Association and voted against every kind of gun control legislation" but are offering "thoughts and prayers." -- CW

... safari: after all the reports and warnings about the rise of right wing extremists, the GOP continues to play with fire, threatening the very lives of Americans they claim to cherish so. It's repulsive and sadistic. ...

... Gary Younge of the Guardian: "Those who hoped a tragedy of this nature might be extracted from partisan politics will be sorely disappointed...The array of initial reactions illustrates just how confused the political response might become...Just 48 hours after America laid its most famous Muslim, Muhammad Ali, to rest in a spirit of celebration and pride, the entire Muslim community faced finding itself under collective suspicion, not only of terrorism but of homophobia." --safari...

... Karen Tumulty of the Washington Post: "In the hours after midnight Sunday in an Orlando nightclub, three of the most contentious questions in American culture and politics -- gay rights, gun control and terrorism -- collided in a horrific way.... Since [9/11], calamity seems only to drive the left and the right further apart, while faith in the nation's institutions deteriorates further." -- CW ...

... ** Juan Cole: "The great thing about this definition [of 'terrorism'] is that it focuses on the motive behind the act. And it specifies that the motive has to be to coerce people or influence or affect government policy...We know the FBI investigated him twice and found no reason to pursue the inquiry or to keep him on a terrorist watch list. So this person looks as though he was unbalanced and extremely prejudiced individual who bought two semi-automatic weapons only last week and then committed a mass shooting against a group against which he was bigoted. He may have invoked Daesh (ISIS, ISIL) as he began his mayhem, but there is no reason at the moment to think that he was involved with them in any practical way. He was about to commit a mass murder that he must have known would likely end in his own death as well." --safari

...Tom Boggioni of RawStory: "A Florida Imam who went on CNN Sunday morning to express condolences to the victims and families of the horrific shooting at a gay nightclub in Orlando is now on the receiving end of threats and attacks on social media...At a press conference, Muhammad Musri, the President of the Islamic Society of Central Florida, disavowed contact with 29-year-old Omar Mateen and praised emergency workers.... Respondents on Twitter did not share the sentiment, with one commenter telling him, 'Leave the USA.'" --safari

Bureaucracy Hell, brought to by Washington. Laura Kwerel of The Atlantic: "Massive budget cuts and hiring freezes in the last few years have turned the Social Security Administration into one of the most understaffed and overburdened agencies in the federal government. As of June, it had a backlog of more than 1 million unresolved disability claims, the highest in the agency’s history. The average wait time to get one of these claims adjudicated is more than a year...Unfortunately, when it comes to customer service, many government agencies that serve the poor are being asked to do more with less, and the SSA has faced particularly hard times." --safari

Screwing the Poor, Vol. XXVII. Eric Markowitz of NewsWeek: "In America, jail and prison payphones are an important source of funding for local jurisdictions. For years, cash-strapped sheriffs and law enforcement officials across the country have signed contracts with third-party vendors -- phone companies, commissaries, even medical providers to take a cut of the proceeds paid by inmates and their families...Part of the reason the calls are so expensive is that a private company, Securus Technologies, has an exclusive contract to operate the jail's phone and video system. But the major reason for the high cost of the calls is that the local sheriff's office takes a cut.... But over time, critics say, the ways in which prisons and jail officials spend this money has expanded beyond recognition." Read on. --safari

Presidential Race

** He Took the Money & Ran, Ctd. Drew Harwell of the Washington Post: "It was promoted as the chance of a lifetime: Mom-and-pop investors could buy shares in celebrity businessman Donald Trump's first public company, Trump Hotels and Casino Resorts. Their investments were quickly depleted. The company known by Trump&'s initials, DJT, crumbled into a penny stock and filed for bankruptcy after less than a decade, costing shareholders millions of dollars, even as other casino companies soared.... Despite losing money every year under Trump's leadership, the company paid Trump handsomely, including a $5 million bonus in the year the company's stock plummeted 70 percent.... Interviews with former shareholders and analysts as well as years of financial filings reveal a striking characteristic of his business record: Even when his endeavors failed and other people lost money, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee found a way to make money for himself...." (Emphasis added.) CW: Read on. What a horrible human being. ...

... ** GOP = Grifters on Parade. Paul Krugman: "... my question, as Democrats gleefully tear into the Trump business record, is why rival Republicans never did the same. How did someone who looks so much like a cheap con man bulldoze right through the G.O.P. nomination process?... Were they just incompetent, or is there something structural about the modern Republican Party that makes it unable to confront grifters?... There has always been a close association between the [conservative] movement and the operations of snake-oil salesmen.... The con job that lies at the heart of so much Republican politics makes it hard to go after other, more commercial cons." -- CW

The Anniversary of Drumpf. Olivia Nuzzi of The Daily Beast: "According to those who know him, [Trump] wanted to run just to prove he could; he wanted to poll respectably, be taken seriously. Then, he wanted to go back to NBC's The Apprentice, the popular program he'd hosted for twelve years. It didn't work out that way, of course.... A lot can happen in a year. Life can end, or begin; love can be lost, or found; the democratic process as we know it can be fundamentally changed; the Republican Party damaged beyond all recognition...Perhaps it's because in a single year, Trump created a lifetime's worth of news." --safari

Fearmongerer in Chief. Jonathan Chait of New York: "[O]n the subject of Islamic terrorism, Trump has not hijacked orthodox conservatism. He has intensified it, given it a more explicit policy objective, and brought its ideas closer to their logical conclusion. Sunday's mass murder in Orlando, and the political response that has ensued, reveal Trump as a true conservative thought leader, and further reveal the ugliness of those thoughts." --safari...

...Eric Levitz of New York: "One day after calling for Obama to resign in recompense for his failure to say the words "radical Islamic terror,"Trump suggested there could be an unspeakable motive behind that failure. 'He doesn't get it or he gets it better than anybody understands. It's one or the other,' Trump said of Obama on Fox & Friends Monday morning. 'We're led by a man who is a very -- look, we're led by a man that either is, is not tough, not smart, or he's got something else in mind. And the something else in mind, you know, people can't believe it...By saying Obama may have "something else in mind" with regard to Orlando, something "inconceivable," Trump is winking at the darkest corner of the far-right fever swamp...To appreciate how profoundly irresponsible it is for the Republican nominee to make such insinuations, please review [Trump's] butler's various fantasies about hanging the first black president on the White House lawn." --safari...

...safari: Let's take a moment to contemplate the stark reality that Donald Trump is supposedly running a Presidential campaign as the leader of the GOP, and this latest episode of absolute absurdity will hardly cause a wave in the cesspool of DC politics.

Beyond the Beltway

Joel Rubin, et al., of the Los Angeles Times: "Authorities on Sunday were trying to determine the intentions of an Indiana man with a cache of weapons, ammunition and explosive-making materials in his car and apparent plans to attend the L.A. Pride festival in West Hollywood. Santa Monica Police Chief Jacqueline Seabrooks said on Twitter that the 20-year-old man told one of her officers after he was arrested that he wanted 'to harm Gay Pride event.' But she did not provide any details, and officials said they are still trying to sort out his motives." -- CW...

... Sarah Burris of RawStory : "The man arrested en route to the Los Angeles LGBT Pride festival with weapons, James Wesley Howell, of Indiana, has a criminal past involving guns..., Unlike the Orlando, Florida shooter, Howell is a young, white, midwestern man with a history of right-wing ideology, if his social media is any indication. He posted both anti-Hillary Clinton and anti-Barack Obama things on his social media as well as support for marjuana legalization. His last post on Facebook shows a meme comparing the Democratic presidential candidate to Nazi leader Adolf Hitler." --safari

Rong-Gong Lin of the Los Angeles Times: "A handful of graduating Stanford seniors waved signs at Sunday's commencement ceremony showing support for victims of sexual assault and urging the university to do more to protect potential victims. -- CW

News Lede

AP: "A Dutch woman held in Qatar for nearly three months after telling police she had been raped there was released on Monday after receiving a one-year suspended prison sentence, a Dutch diplomat said." -- CW

The Commentariat -- June 12, 2016

Orlando Sentinel: "A shooting at Pulse Orlando nightclub has resulted in mass casualties. Dozens of emergency vehicles surrounded the chaotic scene at the club at 1912 S. Orange Ave. after the 2 a.m. shooting and rescue squads were transporting multiple victims to area hospitals.... Police reported just before 6 a.m. that the shooter inside the club was dead." CW: This is a breaking story (at 6 am ET).

     ... New Lede: (9:10 am ET) "Twenty people are dead after a shooting at Orlando's Pulse nightclub in what investigators are calling an act of terrorism, Orlando Police Chief John Mina said at a morning news conference.... Officers killed the gunman, who has not been identified, in a shoot out and referred to him as a "lone wolf." He was carrying an assault rifle, a handgun and was possibly wearing an explosive 'device.'... The Federal Bureau of Investigation is leading the investigation. Agent Ron Hopper said they cannot rule this out as an act of domestic terrorism and that the suspect, who is not from Orlando, may have leanings toward extreme Islamic ideologies." -- CW ...

     ... New Lede: (11:30 am ET) "A lone gunman armed with a pistol and an assault rifle killed 50 people and injured 53 more at a gay Orlando nightclub early Sunday morning in one of the deadliest mass shootings in American history. Federal and local authorities are investigating the massacre as a possible terrorist attack and say the gunman may have ties to extremist Islamic ideologies. The man, whom officials have identified as 29-year-old Omar Mateen of Port St. Lucie, was killed after a shootout with Orlando police." -- CW ...

... The New York Times has live updates here. -- CW

Presidential Race

Kristen East of Politico: "Hawaii Rep. Tulsi Gabbard encouraged her followers on Saturday to sign a petition ending the Democratic Part's use of superdelegates." ...

... CW: For the record, I favor some system of superdelegates, although I'm not sure how their votes should best be weighted. In a representative democracy, it isn't horrible for elected representatives to have an outsized roll in choosing the party's candidate for president. If the GOP had more than a few superdelegates, it's likely we wouldn't have "presumptive presidential nominee Donald J. Trump."

The Insult Campaign, Ctd. Jose DelReal of the Washington Post: In Tampa, Florida, "Donald Trump called for the Republican Party to fall in line behind his presidential bid Saturday during campaign swings through Florida and Pennsylvania, attacking skeptical members of his own party along with Democratic rival Hillary Clinton." -- CW

Tom Boggioni of RawStory: "The most powerful media companies in the U.S. have joined forces in a lawsuit asking a California court to release videotaped depositions given by Donald Trump taken as part of a fraud lawsuit related to his failed Trump University. According to LawNewz, CNN, CBS, ABC, NBC, The Washington Post and The New York Times filed suit late Friday, requesting access to the videos of Trump speaking under oath which were recorded between December 10 and January 21." --safari

** He Took the Money & Ran. Robert Buettner & Charles Bagli of the New York Times: "On the presidential campaign trail, Mr. Trump ... often boasts of his success in Atlantic City.... A central argument of his candidacy is that he would bring the same business prowess to the Oval Office, doing for America what he did for his companies.... But a close examination of regulatory reviews, court records and security filings by The New York Times leaves little doubt that Mr. Trump's casino business was a protracted failure.... Even as his companies did poorly, Mr. Trump did well. He put up little of his own money, shifted personal debts to the casinos and collected millions of dollars in salary, bonuses and other payments. The burden of his failures fell on investors and others who had bet on his business acumen." -- CW

Liar-in-Chief, Ctd. Ben Schreckinger of Politico: "When Donald Trump boasted in an interview aired on Sunday that he 'made a lot of money' in a 2009 deal to rent a New York-area estate to Libya's then-dictator, Muammar Qadhafi, he did not specify what he did with that money. But back in 2011, when pressed on the matter, Trump assured a reporter that the money had all gone to charity, a claim that Politico has been unable to verify and that his campaign is unwilling to confirm. The episode adds to a series of unverified or exaggerated claims of charitable giving that have been dogging the presumptive Republican nominee.... Trump's past pledges that the proceeds of his ill-fated vodka line, Trump Vodka, and of his 2015 campaign book, 'Crippled America,' would go to charity are now also coming under scrutiny because of a lack of evidence that he followed through on them." -- CW

Cautionary Tales. Carlos Lozado of the Washington Post: "... two novels depicting homegrown strongmen have become ways to interpret Trump's campaign and to imagine his presidency. Sinclair Lewis's 'It Can't Happen Here' (1935) features a populist Democratic senator named Berzelius 'Buzz' Windrip who wins the White House 'in the late 1930s on a redistributionist platform -- with a generous side order of racism -- and quickly fashions a totalitarian regime purporting to speak for the nation's Forgotten Men.... Philip Roth's 'The Plot Against America' (2004) offers a similarly harsh vision of that era, imagining the slow implosion of a working-class Jewish family when the Republican Party nominates aviator Charles Lindbergh for the presidency in 1940. The victorious Lindy strikes a pact with Hitler, launches federal programs that break apart and resettle Jewish communities, and promotes anti-Semitic thuggery.... Reading these works in this moment, it is impossible to miss the similarities between Trump and totalitarian figures in American literature -- in rhetoric, personal style and even substance." -- CW

... Robert Becker of Salon compares Donald Trump to "Charles Foster Kane, the impulsive, narcissistic target of satire in Orson Welles' classic 'Citizen Kane.'" Thanks to Nancy for the link.

Dream Big. Michael Cohen in the Guardian: "Quite simply, the Republican electorate looks nothing like the rest of the American electorate.... Trump has shifted his attacks from foreign targets to actual American citizens, making it harder for even Republicans to defend them...Ironically, Trump's rise, rather than signalling a turn toward nativist, authoritarian politics in the US, could, in the electorate's rejection of him, usher in a more progressive political era." --safari

Alex Isenstadt of Politico: "During a question-and-answer session with CNN anchor Wolf Blitzer before around 250 Republican donors gathered [in Park City, Utah,] for the Romney-hosted Experts and Enthusiasts summit..., [Mitt Romney] said this year's group of [Republican] primary candidates misplayed their hand. By spending months attacking each other and ignoring Trump, he argued, they made a severe tactical error that allowed Trump -- who Romney has criticized as a 'con man' and a 'fraud' -- to escape unharmed.... Romney reserved particular scorn for Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, who Romney endorsed late in the primary process. The Texas senator, he pointed out, spent extensive time during the campaign praising Trump. He also said Ohio Gov. John Kasich had divided the anti-Trump vote by remaining in the race long after it had become clear he didn't have a realistic pathway to the nomination -- a message he said had relayed personally to the Ohio governor. And Romney chided Right to Rise, the $100 million-plus Jeb Bush super PAC that spent heavily to tear down Bush rivals other than Trump." -- CW

... Ines de la Cuetara of ABC News: "Republican donor Meg Whitman, the high-profile Hewlett PackardEnterprise president and CEO, indicated at Mitt Romney's closed-door summit on Friday that she would likely be supporting Hillary Clinton in November, according to multiple sources who were in the room.... Whitman served as Romney's finance co-chair in 2012." -- CW ...

... Theodore Schleifer of CNN: "Republican fund-raisers are beginning to fret that Donald Trump does not comprehend the magnitude of the challenge before him, warning that if he fails to execute the basic tasks of fund-raising during a critical six-week stretch, he will find himself badly outgunned this fall." -- CW ...

... Chas Danner of New York provides a good summary of the fractious meetings at the Romney event. ...

... AND more of the same from Philip Rucker of the Washington Post. CW: It appears the lords of the castle were sleeping when the pitchforks forged in their own factories surrounded their fortress, & the crude battering rams of the raging hordes smashed down the doors of their smug complacency as the effete Prince Rebus & Sir Paul de Ryan attempted in vain to broker the peace.

Beyond the Beltway

Caitlin Dineen of the Orlando Sentinel: "Singer Christina Grimmie, who was shot and killed after her show in Orlando[, Florida,] Friday night, did not know the man who shot her, Orlando police said. The 27-year-old man, who police identified as Kevin James Loibl of St. Petersburg, travelled to The Plaza Live theater with two small-caliber handguns Friday night.... Grimmie's brother, Marcus Grimmie, immediately tackled the suspect. The suspect then shot and killed himself, [Orlando Police Chief John] Mina said." -- CW

... The Cowboy & the Bicycle Thief. Julia Moore of KDRF-TV: "Police say that a woman was yelling about her bike being stolen [in front of an Eagle Point, Oregon, WalMart] and a nearby man [-- Robert Borba --] unloaded a horse from a trailer, lassoed the man and pulled him back toward the store.... Eagle Point Police arrived on scene and arrested the man, identified as 22-year-old Victorino Arellano-Sanchez. He was lodged in the Jackson County Jail." Includes video. CW: Outstanding. Fewer guns, more lassoes, please.

The Commentariat -- June 11, 2016

Presidential Race

John Wagner of the Washington Post: "With his presidential campaign probably nearing its end, Sen. Bernie Sanders plans to get together Sunday night in his hometown of Burlington, Vt., with a couple of dozen of his closest supporters, an aide said Friday. 'He’s bringing in some of his key supporters from around the country to get their input and advice and talk about how to move forward,' said Sanders spokesman Michael Briggs.... Sanders returned to Burlington on Thursday night after his rally in the District. It remains unclear whether he will hold any more campaign events before the polls open Tuesday in the nation’s capital." -- CW 

Alan Rappeport of the New York Times: "Hillary Clinton assailed Donald J. Trump on Friday ... at a Planned Parenthood Action Fund event in Washington[, D.C.] ... as untrustworthy on women’s issues, sharpening her tone against him in her first major speech since becoming the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee." -- CW

Digby, in Salon: While Hillary Clinton has a "deep bench" of popular, well-known surrogates -- President Obama, Vice President Biden, Sen. Elizabeth Warren, (probably) Sen. Bernie Sanders, and of course her husband Bill -- to campaign for her, Donald Trump has bupkis.

... CW: As if to make her point, shortly after Digby's column appeared, Trump told a crowd in Richmond, Virginia, that he would get sports stars like Bobby Knight & Tom Brady to speak at the GOP convention instead of boring politicians. Nick Corasaniti of the New York Times: "He said he wanted to have them all address the convention ... as examples of 'winners,' rather than 'these people, these politicians who are going to get up and speak and speak and speak.'” CW: So it's going to be less of a political convention & more of a sporting event or festival. Or maybe a Festivus, with Trump dropping in between "feats of strength" by wrestlers & ex-football stars to "air his grievances" about all "the blacks," "Mexicans,"  "Indians," Muslims & of course "Crooked Hillary" who have done him wrong. But, as Trump would say, believe me, the Trumptivus Maximus pole will be a huuuge 24K-gold-plated, jewel-encrusted "miracle."

Ashley Parker of the New York Times: "Donald J. Trump tried out several lines of attack against Hillary Clinton, at one point calling her 'unfit to be president,' as he delivered an otherwise noticeably restrained speech to an audience of evangelical activists [in Washington, D.C.,] Friday.... Mr. Trump again stuck mainly to a script, reading from teleprompter screens. But he still ad-libbed in his characteristically clipped syntax." CW: Wonder if his speechwriter included any more quotes from Two Corinthians.

Well, I am not a racist, in fact, I am the least racist person that you’ve ever encountered. -- Donald Trump

... When WashPo reporter Marc Fisher told Trump that his cabbie was concerned that Trump was a racist, Trump asked, right after he said he was the least racist you've ever encountered, "I’m not concerned because I don’t think people believe it. And it’s just something that — who was this taxicab, was he African American?” He goes on to make up a story that Bill Clinton "was called a racist by Obama, and very loudly and very strongly," and "to this day, Clinton, he is haunted by that." CW: Yup. Trump is the least racist person ever.

Matea Gold, et al., of the Washington Post: "The furor over Trump’s assaults on the impartiality of a Latino judge had just begun to subside when he lobbed two tweets Friday morning responding to [Elizabeth] Warren, who had lambasted him as a 'thin-skinned, racist bully' in a speech the previous evening. 'Pocahontas is at it again!' Trump wrote in one.... Trump began going after Warren’s claimed ancestry earlier this year, responding to the senator’s repeated slams of him as a 'loser' and a bully. 'Who’s that, the Indian?' he said at a March news conference when asked about Warren. 'You mean the Indian?'... 'He needs to quit using language like that,' said Rep. Tom Cole (R-Okla.), a member of the Chickasaw tribe.... 'It’s pejorative, and ... this is not something that should, in my opinion, ever enter the conversation. . . . It’s neither appropriate personally toward her, and frankly, it offends a much larger group of people.'” -- CW

Betsy Martin, et al., of Bloomberg: "Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said Thursday that Donald Trump needs to pick an experienced running mate because 'he doesn't know a lot about the issues' and strongly urged him to change course on his rhetoric.... 'I object to a whole series of things that he's said — vehemently object to them. I think all of that needs to stop. Both the shots at people he defeated in the primary and these attacks on various ethnic groups in the country.' McConnell, perhaps the most careful and strategic politician in Washington, rarely goes off script himself, and has been sending Trump the same message for weeks in hopes he'll pivot to the general election.... He wouldn't rule out rescinding his support of Trump." -- CW 

Philip Rucker & Dan Balz of the Washington Post: At a summit in Park City, Utah, hosted by Mitt Romney, "House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.) faced tough questioning ... Friday for his decision to endorse Donald Trump, and he tried to explain to an audience [of GOP poobahs] hostile to the New York mogul the factors that led him to back" Trump. -- CW  ...

I don't want to see a president of the United States saying things which change the character of the generations of Americans that are following. Presidents have an impact on the nature of our nation, and trickle-down racism, trickle-down bigotry, trickle-down misogyny, all these things are extraordinarily dangerous to the heart and character of America. -- Mitt Romney, Friday ...

... Theodore Schleifer of CNN: "Mitt Romney suggested Friday that Donald Trump's election could legitimize racism and misogyny, ushering in a change in the moral fabric of American society." -- CW ...

... AND Steve Benen: Marco Rubio still stands by his campaign-era charge that "Donald Trump shouldn’t be given access to nuclear codes because he lacked the necessary judgment and temperament." But Marco is supporting Trump anyway. "Here’s a sitting U.S. senator, who claims an expertise on matters of foreign policy and national security, who has insisted, repeatedly and publicly, that his party’s presidential candidate simply cannot be trusted to be responsible with the planet’s most dangerous weapons.... Marco Rubio doesn’t believe Donald Trump should be president. Marco Rubio also believes Donald Trump should be president." -- CW 

Jonathan Chait: "... since Donald Trump became his party’s presumptive nominee..., [it has become] clear that Trump has absolutely no idea how to run a presidential campaign and lacks the most rudimentary grasp of its basic elements, like having a reasonably sized staff, adequate funds, and knowledge of which states to campaign in.... A Trump victory is plausible only in the case of a gigantic external shock that overwhelms his incompetence: the onset of a recession, perhaps, or an indictment of Hillary Clinton. On the other hand — and it is a big other hand, with long fingers — we have learned that if those or other nightmares do transpire and Trump prevails, his presidency would be far more dangerous than seemed imaginable not long ago." -- CW 

Other News & Views

Sydney Ember of the New York Times: "Gawker Media, under pressure from a $140 million legal judgment and facing a determined foe in the Silicon Valley billionaire Peter Thiel, has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy and is putting itself up for sale." -- CW 

Krissah Thompson of the Washington Post: President Obama "did not speak at Malia Obama’s commencement ceremony [at Sidwell Friends School], which he and the first lady attended, along with family and friends of other graduates of the private school in Northwest Washington." -- CW 

Ezra Klein: "Want to know how Republicans ended up with Donald Trump?... Sen. David Perdue [R-Ga.] ... encouraged [his] audience to [pray] for Obama.... 'Let his days be few; and let another take his office. Let his children be fatherless, and his wife a widow. Let his children be continually vagabonds, and beg: let them seek their bread also out of their desolate places....'... Comments like Perdue’s are the context in which Trump ran." CW: The Senate should censure Perdue. But it won't. ...

... David Graham of the Atlantic: Perdue led the prayer at the Faith and Freedom Coalition’s Road to Majority meeting in Washington, D.C. "... this verse — sometimes labeled 'the Obama Prayer' — has been circulating for years among conservatives.... In a statement, Perdue’s office clarified, 'He in no way wishes harm to our president and everyone in the room understood that,' and accused the media of 'pushing a narrative to create controversy.'” CW: Yup, Goober, it's the media's fault you led a prayer for the assassination of the President of the United States in front of a group of politically-active fundamentalist Christians. As to "everyone" "understanding" your meaning -- really? How the hell do you know what a bunch of people you've never met "understand"?

Beyond the Beltway

Alan Blinder of the New York Times: "Michael G. Hubbard, the speaker of the Alabama House of Representatives ... was convicted Friday on 12 felony ethics charges, leaving him stripped of power and facing the possibility of decades in prison.... Although jurors acquitted Mr. Hubbard on 11 counts, his conviction on the remaining dozen charges prompted his removal as the leader of the House. Mr. Hubbard, who was convicted of improperly soliciting benefits from lobbyists and voting in favor of a measure that helped a company for which he consulted, faces up to 20 years in prison on each count.... His conviction and automatic ouster immediately increased the political turmoil that had shadowed Alabama for months.... The chief justice of the State Supreme Court, Roy S. Moore, could be removed from office this year because of his efforts to resist same-sex marriage, and [Gov. Robert] Bentley is a subject of impeachment proceedings over an improper relationship with an aide, as well as federal and state inquiries." -- CW  ...

... The al.com story, by Mike Cason, is here. Thanks to P.D. Pepe for suggesting the musical accompaniment: