Last Call For Tales From The Trump Depression, Housing Edition

The racism dog whistles of "those people moving into the neighborhood" reminiscent of 60 years ago are Trump's greatest weapon to win the white vote in November, and the regime is now pulling out all the stops on that front.

President Trump moved Thursday to repeal a fair housing rule that he claimed would lead to “destruction” of the country’s suburbs, continuing an aggressive push that coincides with his campaign’s attempt to paint Democrats as angry mobs on the brink of upturning peaceful, mostly white neighborhoods.

Trump had telegraphed the Housing and Urban Development Department’s move against the Obama-administration rule in recent tweets and comments that made thinly veiled appeals to a key electoral constituency that has drifted away from him over the past four years: suburban white voters.

Trailing Democrat Joe Biden, the presumptive presidential nominee, in the polls just over 100 days before the election, Trump has shed much of the subtlety behind his pitch to skeptical voters. Increasingly, he is portraying himself as the only barrier between them and chaos.

“The Suburban Housewives of America must read this article,” Trump wrote Thursday on Twitter, linking to a New York Post op-ed by former New York lieutenant governor Betsy McCaughey that argued that Biden would ruin the country’s bedroom communities.

“Biden will destroy your neighborhood and your American Dream. I will preserve it, and make it even better!” Trump said in his tweet.

Political strategists say the overt appeals to racial fear and grievance are politically precarious at a time when much of the country is trying to reckon with issues such as systemic racism and discrimination.

“There seems to be a complete lack of understanding why he’s been getting drubbed in the suburbs,” said Brendan Buck, who was a top aide to Republican officials including Rep. Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.) when Ryan was House speaker. “Educated suburban voters are not interested in — and are actually repelled by — his fearmongering and these racial dog whistles.”

I don't buy that at all.

Trump won college-educated white voters in 2016.

This plan worked perfectly four years ago, especially in the Rust Belt and Sun Belt states.  All Trump is doing now is dropping the pretense, and is straight up saying that he will work to preserve white neighborhoods and "property values" by ending housing desegregation.

Attitudes among white suburban voters have shifted somewhat, enough for Republicans to lose dozens of House districts in 2018, but let's also remember that Democrats lost several Senate seats regardless. It makes sense for Trump to go on the attack here, because it's an effective strategy that has worked in the past time and time again. The gains Trump has made by turning out rural white voters who never voted before was the key to his win then, and he's mashing on that button as hard as he can now.

What I'm saying is that college-educated white voters put Trump in power.

Don't depend on them taking him out of it.  He's playing to their weakness directly, and it's going to start tightening up the polls, especially if Trump can force armed confrontations in multiple major US cities.

Only Trump can save white America™

A hell of a motto for 2020, but one that's going to keep him close.

The State Of The Police State, Con't

Trump's illegal military invasion of Democrat-run cities is escalating quickly, as the regime is openly boasting that it will send in tens of thousands of troops to terrorize Biden voters this fall.

President Donald Trump said Thursday that he's willing to send as many as 75,000 federal agents into American cities to quell violent crime, a recent campaign theme for the President. 

Speaking in a telephone interview on Fox News, Trump began by saying he was ready to dispatch "50,000, 60,000 people" into American cities. 

But eventually he upped the figure to 75,000 -- but said it would require local authorities asking for help. 

"We have to be invited in. At some point we'll have to do something much stronger than being invited in," Trump said.

"We'll go into all of the cities, any of the cities. We're ready," he added. 

Deploying 75,000 officers would mark a significant portion of all federal officers in the country. According to a 2019 report from the Bureau of Justice Statistics, there were approximately 100,000 federal law enforcement officers in the entire United States in 2016, the last year for which data was available. 

Trump's comments come as he has tried to make federal policing a campaign issue, portraying cities as violent and out of control in an appeal to suburban residents. The President said Wednesday that he will "surge" federal law enforcement officers to Chicago and other American cities, despite resistance from local leaders, as he adopts a hardline "law and order" mantle ahead of November's election. 

Trump's campaign has increasingly turned to dark themes of violence and chaos as it seeks to falsely paint his Democratic rival Joe Biden as anti-police. Since protests spread throughout the country following the murder of George Floyd, Trump has worked to cultivate a tough-on-crime message that includes the federal law enforcement efforts now underway. 

Earlier on Thursday, Trump took to Twitter to address the "The Suburban Housewives of America," warning that "Biden will destroy your neighborhood and your American Dream. I will preserve it, and make it even better!"

He'll make it better even if you have to be gassed and shot.

Trump doesn't have the personnel to do this with existing federal agents, so he's turning to his old friend Erik Prince to make up the difference.

The Trump administration’s deployment of federal law enforcers in Portland, Oregon, as part of a supposed effort to protect government property has prompted at least two lawsuits alleging that their show of force has resulted in abuses of authority and the unnecessary use of violence against peaceful protesters, journalists and observers. 

What has not been reported widely in the media, however, is the fact that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) unit that is coordinating the “crowd control” effort — an agency called the Federal Protective Service (FPS) — is composed largely of contract security personnel. Those contractors are being furnished to FPS by major private-sector security companies like Blackwater corporate descendant Triple Canopy as well as dozens of other private security firms. 

In fact, FPS spends more than $1 billion a year on these contract security guards who are authorized to conduct crowd control at federal properties, such as those in Portland. And, based on available photographic and document evidence, it appears those private contractors are now part of the federal force arrayed in Portland and are likely to be part of the federal response President Trump has promised to stand up in multiple other cities, including Chicago, Detroit, New York, Philadelphia and other urban centers led by Democratic mayors across the country. 

There are some 13,000 security guards nationwide employed by FPS via contracts with private security firms, a figure that can be expanded through existing and future contracts. Via contracts with FPS, more than 50 private security firms provide guards — referred to as protective security officers (PSOs) — to the agency in the Washington, D.C., area alone. 

Among the responsibilities of these contract guards is to assist federal law enforcers with crowd control at federal properties as needed. 

“The most difficult tasks PSOs are called upon to perform include standing for prolonged periods of time and interacting with large volumes of people,” states a past interagency agreement involving FPS, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and the U.S. Office of Personnel Management. “Other demanding, but less frequent, tasks include responding to medical emergencies, performing CPR, and performing crowd control [such as is occurring in Portland in recent weeks].” 

There is a major problem, however, with using these FPS contract guards — who are supposed to be limited to patrolling and securing federal facilities and grounds — in long-running “civil disturbances” like those unfolding now in Portland, and elsewhere around the country. The FPS has a long history of failing to properly vet and adequately monitor and ensure that these guards have proper training and certifications, including proper firearms training. 

That lack of training can pose a great risk to the safety of protesters and the law enforcers they work with alike should a situation become heated. 

As outlined in a prior story on Medium, U.S. Government Accountability Office reports published between 2009 and 2014 on the FPS security guard program have uncovered guards with felony convictions; a large percentage of guard files examined with at least one expired certification, including a declaration they have not been convicted of domestic violence; and multiple security-guard files that were missing documentation on weapons training and security clearances, among other issues. 

The role that these private contractors are playing in current crowd-control efforts in Portland, and the role they will play going forward if Trump does expand the federal intervention to other cities across the nation, is best described as opaque — seemingly on purpose. The danger, however, is that Trump and his attorney general, William Barr, will expand this private contractor force in extending the reach of the federal response to recent civil rights protests — creating what is essentially a national paramilitary police force.

I guarantee you Erik Prince is mixed up in all this, as sure as I am that water is wet and that the sun is a burny hot ball of mostly fusion.  Trump renting a paramilitary force of thousands of military contractors from Afghanistan and Iraq to "pacify" Portland and Chicago?

Believe it.  It's happening right now, and when this story breaks wide open it's going to be go time.

The story between now and November is whether Trump can convince suburban voters that America's cities need to be invaded by troops to restore order or not. If he can, he wins in a landslide and America is done.

A lot can happen between now and November.  This is Trump's major play to win.

Be ready.

Bluenami Tsunami, Con't

Cook Political Report's Jessica Taylor now has the Democrats favored to take back the Senate with the needed net four pickups predicted in November.

With just over 100 days until Election Day, the political climate appears dire for Republicans across the board. President Trump is the decided underdog against former Vice President Joe Biden in our Electoral College ratings and Democrats could end up expanding their House majority.

That leaves the Senate as Republicans' firewall—the final barrier to unified control for Democrats in 2021. While GOP incumbents are trying to run races independent of the president, if Trump’s polling numbers remain this dismal come November, that’s an unenviable and likely unsuccessful strategy, according to several top party strategists. As of now, Democrats are a slight favorite to win the Senate majority.

“Something remarkable would have to happen for Republicans to still have control of the Senate after November,” remarked one GOP pollster. “It’s grim. There’s just so many places where Democrats either have the upper hand or are competitive in states that six months ago we wouldn’t have considered at risk.”
“If you’re an incumbent in a bad environment sitting at 44 percent, you should be pretty damn scared,” another alarmed Republican strategist said. “The expanding map has made it really hard, and there’s just a lot of Democratic momentum right now."

We wrote four months ago that the worsening pandemic, along with Biden emerging as the Democratic nominee instead of Bernie Sanders, was the “perfect storm” Republicans feared. Now, with the death toll nearing 150,000, the environment has gotten even worse for the GOP, prodded along by Trump’s missteps. Racial injustice protests after the deaths of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and Ahmaud Arbery in early June further galvanized the nation, leading to rapid cultural shifts against Confederate monuments and even the long pushed for change of the Mississippi state flag, which still bore the Confederate battle flag emblem.

Taken together, that’s not just a perfect storm for Democrats, but perhaps a perfect tsunami. “The bottom fell out for us at the end of May and June,” with worsening numbers continuing into July now, one national GOP strategist looking at polls across the map bemoaned.

Ultimately, every day that Trump stubbornly refuses to change course is another day that it becomes increasingly likely he may not only tank his own re-election bid but could be on a kamikaze mission to take the Republican-held Senate down with him. At this point, a net gain of five to seven seats for Democrats looks far more probable than the one to three seat gain that would leave them shy of a majority.  

July Ratings Changes:

Arizona: Martha McSally (R) — Toss Up → Lean D
Iowa: Joni Ernst (R) — Lean R → Toss Up
Georgia: David Perdue (R) — Lean R → Toss Up
Minnesota: Tina Smith (D) — Likely D → Solid D
New Mexico: OPEN (Udall) — Likely D → Solid D

With McSally's loss now countering Doug Jones's uphill climb to keep his seat, Cook now has Republicans defending a whopping nine seats in November to Dems' two (the other being Gary Peters in Michigan, who is Lean D still). Six of those Republican seats are toss-ups now: Perdue in GA, Ernst in IA, Collins in ME, Daines in MT, Tillis in NC, and Gardner in CO, plus McSally now favored to lose in AZ.

It's entirely possible that Dems end up with a net gain of six seats and maybe, maybe eight or nine.

We'll see how this holds up.

StupidiNews!

• Donald Trump has canceled the Republican national convention in Jacksonville, with reduced events held as planned in Charlotte, the convention's original location.
• Homeland Security is openly threatening two filmmakers who plan to air disturbing footage of the department's practices before the election.
• Inspectors general of Homeland Security and Justice are looking into the decision to tear-gas Washington DC's Lafayette Park to clear the way for a Trump regime photo op in June.
• Senate Republicans say they want to include a second stimulus check in August using the same criteria at the first check earlier this year, Democrats want monthly checks.
• Automaker Tesla says it will open its next facility in Texas and CEO Elon Musk claims the company's energy division will eventually be as large as its vehicle division.

Last Call For The State Of The Police State, Con't

The deployment of federal Customs and Border Patrol agents to "assist law enforcement" is far bigger than Portland, Chicago, or Albuquerque. It's nationwide, it involves thousands of agents and dozens of drones, and it's been going on for six weeks.

In a conspicuous show of force, armed Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers were recently seen in Portland carrying out surveillance and arrests. Agency director Mark Morgan has defended the deployment as measured and restrained. “I will not send any resource out anywhere to confront American citizens,” he told Time. But CBP’s support to local law enforcement has extended far beyond its controversial Portland deployment, and includes not just thousands of personnel, but drones and dozens of other aircraft, according to a CBP document obtained exclusively by The Nation.

The document, a draft of the agency’s answers to questions posed to them by Senator Kamala Harris on June 5, 2020, details the assets CBP deployed in response to requests for assistance from local law enforcement agencies across the country. So many local law enforcement agencies requested support that, according to the document, CBP was not aware of any state or local entities that explicitly declined assistance. The assistance includes a broad array of services like aerial surveillance, crowd control, unmarked vehicles, and plainclothes surveillance. Several requests involve specialized tactical units like CBP’s amphibious Riverine Force.
An index lists requests from various metropolitan police departments, including the NYPD, Chicago PD, Miami PD, Philadelphia PD, San Diego PD, and DC’s Metropolitan PD. Even federal agencies requested assistance, including several FBI field offices and the Drug Enforcement Agency. CBP aerial assets have been deployed to a variety of states including Illinois, New York, Ohio, Texas, Michigan, California, Florida, and Minnesota.

When Minneapolis erupted in protest in response to the police killing of George Floyd, CBP deployed a predator drone over the airspace. Several members of Congress sent CBP a letter demanding that the agency “cease any and all surveilling of Americans engaged in peaceful protests,” while CBP response to the protests also prompted Senator Harris to send the agency her list of questions. Director Morgan testified to the US Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs on June 25, on the subject of “CBP Oversight.”

The document was provided to The Nation by a CBP official on condition of anonymity to avoid professional reprisal. It is unclear when CBP intends to provide the information to Senator Harris.

According to the document, between May 20 and June 10, these requests resulted in 326.4 hours of aviation assets deployments as well as 2,174 personnel. Aviation support—CBP’s Air and Marine Operations possesses hundreds of aircraft—totalled 326.4 flight hours and included 38 rotor wing, eight fixed wing, and two unmanned aircraft systems. Included in the deployment was one Bearcat, two ATVs, three “vessels,” 50 marked vehicles, and 52 unmarked vehicles. Federal law enforcement’s reported use of unmarked vehicles in Portland led to uproar after video surfaced on social media showing what appeared to be a demonstrator arrested by an unidentified federal agent who ushered him into an unmarked vehicle. Among these federal agents were BORTAC agents—CBP’s elite tactical unit.

Although the document states, “The policies require the use of identifiable agency uniforms with badging and name tapes on the outermost garment (e.g. jacket, body armor),” CBP has offered no explanation about its use of agents who did not carry such identification.

The document is often vague on the deployments, especially regarding the aircraft deployments, saying only that “the nature of these deployments were based on the requests.” But answers to questions about surveillance capabilities provide some clues about the measures taken.

“CBP’s aircrafts can be equipped with cameras, radar and/or other technologies to support CBP components in patrolling the border, conducting surveillance as part of a law enforcement investigation or tactical operations, and respond to other significant incidents as directed,” the document states.

Portland meanwhile remains the test run for Trump's brownshirt thugs, as Mayor Ken Wheeler was among those tear gassed by armed goons last night.

The mayor of Portland, Oregon was tear-gassed by U.S. government agents late Wednesday as he stood outside a federal courthouse during another night of protests against the presence of the agents dispatched by President Donald Trump to quell the city’s ongoing unrest.

Mayor Ted Wheeler, a Democrat, appeared slightly dazed and coughed and said it was the first time he’d been tear-gassed.

He put on a pair of goggles someone handed him and drank water but did not leave his spot at the front and continued to take gas as the protest raged — with demonstrators lighting a large fire between the fence and the Mark O. Hatfield Federal Courthouse amid the pop-pop-pop sounds of the federal agents deploying tear gas and stun grenades into the crowd.

It wasn’t immediately clear if the agents knew Wheeler was among those in crowd when they used the tear gas.

Earlier in the night, Wheeler was mostly jeered as he tried to rally demonstrators who have clashed nightly with federal agents but was briefly applauded when he shouted “Black Lives Matter” and pumped his fist in the air.

Wheeler has opposed federal agents’ presence in Oregon’s largest city, but has faced harsh criticism from many sides and his presence wasn’t welcomed by many demonstrators who yelled and swore at him.

Wheeler has his own sins to atone for when it comes to Portland's cops and Oregon's long history of white supremacist violence against Black Americans, but he stood up for the right thing last night.

Retribution Execution, Con't

The Trump regime is so blatantly, ham-handedly, obviously evil in its clear efforts to make a retributive strike against convicted former Trump scumbag lawyer Michael Cohen that a judge actually took pity on the asshole and he's going back to home confinement rather than solitary at federal prison.

Michael Cohen will be released to home confinement, a judge ruled on Thursday, finding that the government acted in a retaliatory manner when it took President Donald Trump's former personal attorney and fixer into custody earlier this month. 

"The purpose of transferring Mr. Cohen from furlough and home confinement to jail is retaliatory and its retaliatory because of his desire to exercise his first amendment rights to publish a book and discuss anything about the book or anything else he wants on social media and others," Judge Alvin Hellerstein ruled during a telephonic hearing. 

Cohen, who has been held in solitary confinement at federal prison in Otisville, New York, since he was remanded on July 9, will be released by 2 p.m. ET Friday after he takes a test for the coronavirus. 

Cohen and prosecutors will have one week to negotiate the terms of his release as it relates to his involvement with the media. 

"Just as you wouldn't have a press conference from a jail cell, you shouldn't be able to have a press conference from your home. You can communicate, you can discuss, you can post on social media, but you can't make a confinement into a free person. You can't make a person confined in jail or at home into totally free person. There's got to be a limit," Hellerstein said. 

Cohen's attorney called the judge's order a "victory for the First Amendment." 

The ruling confirms "that the government cannot block Mr. Cohen from publishing a book critical of the president as a condition of his release to home confinement," Danya Perry, who argued on behalf of Cohen at the hearing, said in a statement. "This principle transcends politics and we are gratified that the rule of law prevails."

Cohen's book profits should frankly be seized, as with John Bolton's Mustache Memoirs, but he should be able to write his book.  Trump tossing him in solitary confinement was such a blatantly crooked act that Cohen, the lawyer who arranged Trump's payoffs to porn stars to keep quiet during the 2016 campaign and was convicted for it, actually ended up a sympathetic figure in all this.

I'm sure Barr has more tricks up his sleeve to punish Cohen, or Cohen will simply get in trouble again for being a scumbag and skip his home confinement to eat out, but for now it looks like there is a limit to Trump's perfidy.

The key being "for now".

Householder Of Cards, Con't

The bribery, conspiracy, and racketeering charges against Ohio GOP state House Speaker Larry Householder is much bigger than just the $61 million he and his co-conspirators allegedly took from FirstEnergy.  The Feds say Householder had several industries lined up for pay-to-play schemes, encompassing much of the corporate bills in the 2019 GOP legislative session.

Ohio House Speaker Larry Householder’s alleged pay-to-play scheme to pass legislation for special interests extended beyond House Bill 6 and its $1 billion ratepayer bailout of a pair of ailing nuclear power plants.

Householder and charged co-conspirator Neil Clark, a lobbyist, are portrayed in a federal affidavit as engaging in an active effort to solicit big, secretive checks in exchange for favorable consideration of bills.

The Perry County Republican talked of adding money from the payday-loan, nursing home and other industries to the $60 million funneled by FirstEnergy to Generation Now, the “dark money” nonprofit Householder allegedly controlled to defend House Bill 6 from a repeal attempt.
An affidavit from an FBI agent detailing the federal racketeering charges against Householder and his alleged co-conspirators reveals that “other” non-energy interests paid nearly $2.9 million into Generation Now, which was not required to reveal its donors.

In a 2019 recorded meeting, Clark “discussed making ‘soft money’ payments to Householder relating to the passage of unrelated legislation” aside from House Bill 6, the affidavit states.

Clark, who represented both payday lending and nursing home interests as a lobbyist, stated Householder wanted to see the checks from special interests in person before they landed at Generation Now.

The long-time GOP-aligned lobbyist talked of the size of the expected checks. “A noticeable number ... $15-$20-$25,000 ... to Gen Now and hand-deliver the check to the speaker,” the affidavit quotes Clark.

In a Jan. 10, 2018 phone call with Clark recorded by the FBI, Householder (who was not yet speaker) said: “So we are looking at payday lenders. And we are expecting big things in (Generation Now) money from payday lenders.”

“So far, I think we are, what, 50 (thousand dollars)? I think,” Householder said.

Clark replied, according to the affidavit: “You should have gotten 25 or 50 (thousand dollars) from [owner of firm], correct?” Householder answered: “Yes” before confirming with someone in the room it was only $25,000.

In an Aug. 19, 2019 phone call captured by federal authorities, Clark talked of making a road trip with Householder or his advisers to pick up a check and advance unspecified legislation.

Clark said the targeted individuals “might write a check to (Generation Now)” totaling $50,000, again saying it should personally be handed to Householder.

The federal affidavit claims the alleged pay-to-play scheme dated to 2017, the first year of Householder’s return to the Statehouse after his earlier tenure as speaker in the early 2000s. He became speaker again in 2019.

Subpoeaned bank records from Generation Now match recorded conversations between Householder and Clark about the president of a payday lending company writing a $25,000 check on Oct. 18, 2017 and a $30,000 check from an unidentified party the next day.

But, Householder’s apparent designs on helping out the payday loan industry apparently were thwarted by the last House speaker to confront controversy and scandal.

While denying wrongdoing, then-Speaker Cliff Rosenberger, R-Clarksville, resigned on April 12, 2018 as the FBI investigated overseas trips he took with payday-lending lobbyists. No criminal charges have ever surfaced.

The Ohio GOP is corrupt as hell, and I really, really hope voters throw them out in November.

Last Call For Confederate Relics

The House passed a bill to remove Confederate statues from the Capitol building. The Confederate statue running the US Senate probably won't even allow a vote.

The House voted overwhelmingly Wednesday to remove Confederate statues from the Capitol, the latest effort by Congress to respond to the nationwide protests over systemic racism and injustice. 

The bill would remove the bust of Chief Justice Roger B. Taney from the Old Supreme Court Chamber, in the Capitol. Taney authored the Dred Scott decision in 1857, which declared African Americans couldn’t be citizens and was later widely panned. The Taney bust would be replaced with a statue of Thurgood Marshall, the first African American Supreme Court justice. 

The legislation would also remove three statues of Americans who promoted slavery and white supremacy — Charles Aycock, John C. Calhoun, and James Paul Clarke — and require states to reclaim and replace their Confederate statues in the Capitol. There are 12 Confederate statues in the Capitol collection.

“Today will be a historic day in the history of the Congress of the United States and of our country,” House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer said. “The House is taking a long-overdue and historic step to ensure that individuals we honor in our Capitol represent our nation’s highest ideals and not the worst in its history.” 

Despite overwhelming support for the bill in the House, it’s unclear whether the GOP-controlled Senate will take up the legislation. Senate Republican leaders have so far declined to take action on the issue, saying it is up to states to replace the statues they send to the Capitol. A spokesman for Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell declined to comment on whether the upper chamber will consider the House bill. 

It’s also unclear whether President Donald Trump would sign the bill given that he has used Confederate symbolism as a cause célèbre to rally his supporters in recent weeks.

GOP firmly on the side of the Confederacy here.

Remember that this November.

The State Of The Police State, Con't

Once again the goal is for the Trump regime to terrorize Democratic-led cities with troops to prevent anyone there from voting in November, and most likely we're going to see a trigger event soon that will lead to hundreds, maybe thousands of deaths.

Federal law enforcement agencies are gearing up to expand their footprint nationwide in the coming weeks, despite concerns about the recent scenes of violence and chaos in Oregon.

Department of Homeland Security officials have considered deploying mobile field forces to protect federal property in cities around the country that experience unrest, two people familiar with the discussions told POLITICO. And the Department of Justice is planning to expand “Operation Legend,” a law enforcement initiative launched by Attorney General Bill Barr earlier this month to fight “the sudden surge of violent crime” in Kansas City, Mo.
DOJ plans to announce this week that the operation, which involves agents from the FBI and the Drug Enforcement Administration, will expand into more cities, a DOJ official told POLITICO. “We are seeing success in our Kansas City operation and have already arrested some wanted fugitives,” the DOJ official said.

The discussions have followed weeks of clashes between federal agents and protesters in Portland, which Trump on Monday called “worse than Afghanistan.” The president has vowed to use the power of the federal government to crush what his officials deem “violent anarchists,” wielding his authority to bolster the law-and-order theme he’s woven increasingly into his campaign messages.
The threat of force against cities whose residents overwhelmingly oppose the president has outraged Democratic lawmakers and mayors, several of whom told POLITICO they have yet to receive a formal heads-up about any forthcoming deployments.

Democrats say the federal units are unwelcome and unnecessary — if not unlawful. But the Trump administration insists they are needed to protect American cities from the more unruly elements of a movement protesting police brutality and systemic racism.

“Portland was totally out of control,” the president said on Monday, blaming “liberal Democrats” for incidents of vandalism and clashes between protesters and law enforcement. “They were ripping down — for 51 days, ripping down that city, destroying the city, looting it.”

Senior DHS officials said they expect the unrest to escalate at least through the November election, and noted that the protection of federal buildings falls squarely within their remit. DHS can temporarily authorize officers and agents from its other components — including Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) — to protect federal buildings.
The Federal Protective Service (FPS), the DHS component that’s specifically responsible for securing federal buildings around the country, has been training officers and agents from other DHS components on its legal powers. And an FPS document reviewed by POLITICO shows more trainings are scheduled for this month. Those trainings are not routine, one person familiar with the situation told POLITICO, and the plans indicate the department is preparing to deploy more officers around the country.

“As DHS cross-designated components to Portland, they received additional training from FPS specifically so they can fulfil their mission,” a DHS spokesperson told POLITICO in response to a request for comment on this story. The spokesperson declined to discuss any other details of this reporting.

We're now in a critical phase. More than anything, Trump wants an excuse to use overwhelming, deadly force to kill his own citizens in order to maintain his power in November.  He wants a deadly event he can replay on campaign ads and at rallies and press conferences and wants his followers to take up arms and fight for him if he is willing to go that far.

If this was happening in another country, we would call it what it is, a military crackdown by a despotic tyrant.

This is happening now, in America, today, right now.

I have been warning about the slide into authoritarianism for years here.

We're finally on the edge of the cliff, in the storm, and the ground is starting to crumble beneath us.

FEDS TO CHICAGO: President Trump says: The Department of Justice will immediately "surge" federal law enforcement -- DEA and other federal law enforcement officials-- to Chicago.

He adds officials will "vigorously charge federal crimes."

— Yamiche Alcindor (@Yamiche) July 22, 2020

If it goes, there's no easy way of turning back.  Not without catastrophic bloodshed in the middle of a pandemic.  What I fear most is national martial law and suspended elections, and a military willing to follow Trump's evil orders.

Be careful, folks.

This is where history has its eyes on us, as the song goes.

Why Don't You Golf-Huck Yourself

Donald Trump is the most corrupt human being on earth, it's not even close at this point, he has suborned the most powerful political office in the most powerful nation on Earth into making him sweet sweet kickback dollars from the rest of the planet, and it's embarrassing at this point.

The American ambassador to Britain, Robert Wood Johnson IV, told multiple colleagues in February 2018 that President Trump had asked him to see if the British government could help steer the world-famous and lucrative British Open golf tournament to the Trump Turnberry resort in Scotland, according to three people with knowledge of the episode.
The ambassador’s deputy, Lewis A. Lukens, advised him not to do it, warning that it would be an unethical use of the presidency for private gain, these people said. But Mr. Johnson apparently felt pressured to try. A few weeks later, he raised the idea of Turnberry playing host to the Open with the secretary of state for Scotland, David Mundell.

In a brief interview last week, Mr. Mundell said it was “inappropriate” for him to discuss his dealings with Mr. Johnson and referred to a British government statement that said Mr. Johnson “made no request of Mr. Mundell regarding the British Open or any other sporting event.” The statement did not address whether the ambassador had broached the issue of Turnberry, which Mr. Trump bought in 2014, but none of the next four Opens are scheduled to be played there.

Still, the episode left Mr. Lukens and other diplomats deeply unsettled. Mr. Lukens, who served as the acting ambassador before Mr. Johnson arrived in November 2017, emailed officials at the State Department to tell them what had happened, colleagues said. A few months later, Mr. Johnson forced out Mr. Lukens, a career diplomat who had earlier served as ambassador to Senegal, shortly before his term was to end.

The White House declined to comment on Mr. Trump’s instructions to Mr. Johnson, as did the ambassador and the State Department.

Although Mr. Trump, as president, is exempt from a federal conflict of interest law that makes it a criminal offense to take part in “government matters that will affect your own personal financial interest,” the Constitution prohibits federal officials from accepting gifts, or “emoluments,” from foreign governments.

Experts on government ethics pointed to one potential violation of the emoluments clause that still may have been triggered by the president’s actions: The British or Scottish governments would most likely have to pay for security at the tournament, an event that would profit Mr. Trump.
It was not the first time the president tried to steer business to one of his properties. Last year, the White House chose the Trump National Doral resort in Miami as the site of a Group of 7 meeting. Mr. Trump backed off after it ignited a political storm, moving the meeting to Camp David before canceling it because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Mr. Trump also urged Vice President Mike Pence to stay at his family’s golf resort in Doonbeg, Ireland, last year during a visit, even though the vice president’s official business was on the other side of the country. That trip generated headlines for the golf club, but also controversy. And Mr. Trump has visited his family-owned golf courses more than 275 times since he took office, bringing reporters with him each time, ensuring that the resorts get ample news coverage.

The Trump International Hotel in Washington has done a brisk trade in guests, foreign and domestic, who are in town to lobby the federal government. Turnberry itself drew attention when the Pentagon acknowledged it had been sending troops to the resort while they were on overnight layovers at the nearby Glasgow Prestwick Airport.

It's just sad at this point, the sheer amount of Trump corruption, Republican corruption, billions and even trillions of dollars at this point, while the other 99% of us suffer.

Not only are they not hiding it, they're doing it in the open because they know everyone's so tired of it that they'll simply stop caring.

StupidiNews!

• House Democrats have passed a defense bill that would remove Confederate names from several military bases, the Trump regime says it will veto the bill entirely.
• At his press conference asking Americans to wear masks, Donald Trump refused to wear a mask.
• Joe Biden is proposing universal pre-school as part of a major caretaker benefit platform, Biden wants to spend $775 billion over ten years on programs for day care, the elderly, and disabled.
• The Trump regime says it will order the US Census not to count undocumented immigrants, an unconstitutional move that could cost blue states dozens of House seats.
• The US has uncovered a major Chinese government sponsored business hacking ring in operation since September 2009, two Chinese nationals were charged with 11 counts.

Last Call For Householder Of Cards

Things just got very interesting in Ohio politics this morning as GOP state House Speaker Larry Householder was busted by the FBI as part of a $60 million bribery case involving the $1.5 billion bailout of Ohio's two nuclear power plants that Householder made possible last year.

Ohio House Speaker Larry Householder’s political operation accepted more than $60 million in bribe money from FirstEnergy Corp. to secure the company a $1.3 billion public bailout, according to a federal complaint filed Thursday. 

Householder, chief political aide Jeff Longstreth, and lobbyists Matt Borges, Neil Clark, and Juan Cespedes used the bribe money to expand the speaker’s political power and enrich themselves by millions of dollars through a “web” of dark-money groups and bank accounts, including the 501(c)(4) Generation Now, according to the complaint.

Householder and the four others were charged with conspiracy to commit racketeering. Each could face up to 20 years in prison and a maximum $250,000 fine, court officials said Tuesday.

“(It) is likely the largest bribery, money-laundering scheme ever perpetrated against the people in the state of Ohio,” said David DeVillers, the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Ohio, during a news conference Tuesday.

In all, Householder received more than $500,000 for his personal benefit, according to DeVillers.

More than $100,000 of the bribe money from FirstEnergy Corp. was used to pay costs associated with Householder’s Florida home, and at least $97,000 was used to pay expenses for Householder’s 2018 House campaign, the complaint stated.

The complaint does not mention FirstEnergy Corp. by name. Nor does it name FirstEnergy Solutions -- FirstEnergy Corp.‘s then-subsidiary which operated the Perry and Davis-Besse nuclear power plants (and continues to operate them under the name Energy Harbor after splitting from FirstEnergy earlier this year.

Instead, the complaint refers to them both under the collective name “Company A.” There are numerous giveaways that FirstEnergy is “Company A,” including that the complaint quotes public comments from former FirstEnergy Corp. President/CEO Charles Jones, labeling him “Company A Corp. president and CEO.”

DeVillers said there’s a “strong inference” in the complaint that Householder and his allies approached FirstEnergy, rather than the other way around.

“This enterprise went looking for someone to bribe them,” DeVillers said.

Borges, a former Ohio Republican Party chair, had $1.62 million transferred to his lobbying firm’s account, and he paid himself about $350,000, the complaint stated. Borges also allegedly offered someone on the pro-referendum side $15,000 to become a mole within the pro-referendum campaign and hired a private investigator, which the complaint states is consistent with efforts to investigate petition collectors.

Longstreth, Householder’s chief political strategist, transferred more than $10.5 million in bribe payments to his firm, JPL & Associates, as well as another $4.4 million through indirect means, according to the complaint. Longstreth also allegedly benefitted personally, receiving more than $5 million in bribe money, including at least $1 million transferred to his brokerage account in January 2020.

Cespedes, FirstEnergy’s main lobbyist for HB6, served as a “key middleman” for the operation, according to the complaint. He allegedly received about $600,000 from Team Householder and $227,000 from FirstEnergy.

Clark, a prominent Capitol Square lobbyist who described himself as Householder’s “hit man,” got $290,000, according to the complaint.

The bottom line is that FirstEnergy created a dark money PAC, Generation Now, for the specific purpose of hiding their transfer of $61 million to Householder and Republicans who would support him as Ohio's House Speaker.  Householder pocketed some of this money directly, and most of the rest was given out as bribes to Ohio Republicans to support House Bill 6 creating the bailout, to create ads supporting House Bill 6 to give the Republicans political cover, and to defeat the planned ballot initiative overturning House Bill 6 (which died because there weren't enough signatures by the October 2019 limit).

They spent $61 million to get twenty times that in taxpayer cash.

And it was so obvious, even the FBI was able to build a two-year case and nail Householder.  His squad of utterly corrupt officials took home millions, they were bought and paid for, and the FBI promises more arrests are coming.

Complete, cartoonish corruption, breathtaking in scope, and they believed they had gotten away with it from the start, money they would use to remain in power for years.

This is what happens when you put Republicans in charge.  They're all corrupt.  I guarantee you that Republicans in every state are running some version of this same 401(c)(4) dark money PAC scam.  They were specifically designed for it.

Vote them all out in November.

Another #MeToo Moment, Con't

The #MeToo movement finally comes for Tucker Carlson, Sean Hannity and FOX News.

Fox News has been hit with a kitchen sink suit, replete with trigger warning, as a complaint was filed on Monday in New York federal court alleging sexual misconduct by some of its top hosts including Sean Hannity and Tucker Carlson. 

Jennifer Eckhart, a former associate producer on Fox Business Network, is a co-plaintiff in the suit. The most serious claim pertains to Eckhart's allegation that she was raped by former White House chief correspondent Ed Henry, who earlier this month was fired by Fox News as a result of the charge. 

"On July 1, 2020, Fox News disclosed to the public that it had terminated Mr. Henry based on the findings of an internal investigation, and purported to take credit for acting appropriately," states the complaint. "However, nothing could be further from the truth. In reality, Fox News knew that Mr. Henry had engaged in sexual misconduct as far back as early 2017. At that time, when Fox News was conducting a company-wide investigation into issues of sexual harassment, multiple women came forward to complain that Mr. Henry had engaged in sexually inappropriate conduct towards them." 

Fox News now faces a sex trafficking claim as a result of Eckhart's allegation. The rape allegedly happened in 2017 in a hotel room after the two had met for drinks. Two years earlier, according to the complaint, Henry had romantically pursued her, forced a kiss on her, convince her to have sex by holding her career over her head, and months later assaulted her in Fox News' New York offices. 

Catherine Foti, Henry's lawyer, responds by saying, "The evidence in this case will demonstrate that Ms. Eckhart initiated and completely encouraged a consensual relationship." 

Cathy Areu is the other co-plaintiff in this case, which also asserts Fox News subjected women to a hostile workplace.

Once an on-air regular on Fox News, Areu says she was victimized by Henry through a "slew of wildly inappropriate sexual images and messages." The complaint details the contents of these messages. 

Additionally, Areu targets several of Fox News' other stars. She alleges that Hannity once threw $100 on the desk of his set and called for the men around to take her on a date for drinks. She says that Carlson once probed to see whether she'd be interested in a sexual relationship. She accuses Howard Kurtz of inviting her to a hotel room. After allegedly spurning advances or enduring comments, Areu says she stopped being invited to appear on each of their respective programs. The three Fox News hosts are co-defendants in the suit and face claims of retaliation. 

Here's the full complaint.

It's utterly brutal, inexcusable, inhumane stuff.

Of course, FOX News is full of brutal, inexcusable, and inhumane bastards like Henry, Hannity, and Carlson.

I frankly hope this costs the three of them their careers and a healthy stint in prison, but we all know that won't happen.  Carlson will come back from his "vacation" just like Hannity has, and the two of them will continue to be hosts of America's most-watched cable TV news shows.  Carlson's White Power Hour is the most-watched cable TV show in American history right now, averaging almost 4.5 million viewers a night, and Hannity is right behind him.

Henry may have been fired, but Hannity and Carlson have so far been untouchable.

I expect a quick settlement, and soon.  FOX News has too many resources and too much invested in these two in order to give them up.

I don't think #MeToo can bring them down.  They are too powerful.

But we'll see if that's the case.

Our Little White Supremacist Domestic Terrorism Problem, Con't

In a move right out of the "America: 2020" series writers' room, an white supremacist incel terrorist went to the home of New Jersey's first Latina judge and shot her husband and shot and killed her son.

The man suspected of ambushing the family of the first Latina federal judge in New Jersey posted thousands of pages of writing to the internet in recent years decrying feminism and ranting against her, according to websites registered in his name and address.

Roy Den Hollander, an anti-feminist activist and lawyer, who law enforcement officials say shot and killed the son of Judge Esther Salas in an ambush at her home in North Brunswick on Sunday, wrote about his hatred of her in a self-published book this year.

Hollander pushed books of his writing on several websites, according to domain registration records examined by NBC News that match his known address and phone number. In the recently published memoir Hollander left online, he called Salas “a lazy and incompetent Latina judge appointed by Obama.” Referring to a 2015 case Salas presided over, Hollander said he “wanted to ask the Judge out, but thought she might hold me in contempt.”

Hollander is accused of approaching Salas’ home dressed as a FedEx driver, fatally shooting her son, Daniel Anderl, 20, and critically injuring her husband, Mark Anderl.

Salas, who presided over a civil case five years ago in which Hollander provided representation, was in the basement during the attack and was not injured, according to NBC New York.

Hollander was pronounced dead by a self-inflicted gunshot wound, officials said Monday.

Hollander's writings are littered with language common among the most extreme anti-feminist communities on the web, some of which he was a member. He was active in anti-feminist and misogynist groups on Facebook, including groups titled Humanity Vs. Feminism and Men Going Their Own Way, according to an analysis of accounts linked to him.

The suspect wrote an entire book on how he hated this woman, and went to her home with the intent to kill her. He allegedly did kill her son and badly injured her husband. But it will be dismissed as a "lone-wolf" killing and we'll shrug our shoulders and wonder why white men are so violent.

It's a mystery.  Perhaps we should throw more Black and Latino men in jail.

StupidiNews!

• Senate Republicans say any possible Supreme Court vacancies during the election will be filled "quickly" in an absolute reversal of 2016's denial of Merrick Garland's appointment by Obama.
• The GOP is considering redirecting Trump campaign funds to help embattled Senate Republicans who are now expected to lose control of the chamber in November.
• Congressional Democrats are expected to begin negotiations with the White House over a new COVID-19 package as extended unemployment benefits for tens of millions expire.
• FOX News and former anchor Ed Henry are now facing a major sexual harassment lawsuit after Henry was fired by the network earlier this year.
• ATM maker Diebold says thieves have acquired software that could leave cash machines open to "jackpot" attacks that could cost banks billions.

Last Call For Missouri Goes Viral, Con't

Add Missouri to the list of Republican states where COVID-19 will kill tens of thousands.

A series of controversial remarks by Missouri Gov. Mike Parson on a St. Louis radio show are getting widespread attention — and some pushback.

In an interview on Friday with talk-radio host Marc Cox on KFTK (97.1 FM), Parson indicated both certainty and acceptance that the coronavirus will spread among children when they return to school this fall. The virus has killed 1,130 people in the state despite a weekslong stay-at-home order in the spring that helped slow the virus’ spread — and the state set a record on Saturday with 958 new cases.

In the same 10-minute interview, Parson said that if it came to it, he would probably pardon the Central West End couple who pointed guns at protesters marching past their home on a private street on June 28.

Parson’s comment on the coronavirus signaled that the decision to send all children back to school would be justified even in a scenario in which all of them became infected with the coronavirus.

St. Louis-area schools are expected to release their reopening plans on Monday.

“These kids have got to get back to school,” Parson told Cox. “They’re at the lowest risk possible. And if they do get COVID-19, which they will — and they will when they go to school — they’re not going to the hospitals. They’re not going to have to sit in doctor’s offices. They’re going to go home and they’re going to get over it.”

He emphasized that people who are at high risk of becoming seriously ill should be protected but said most people in the state were smart enough to figure out how to stay safe without government interventions such as mask mandates.

“We gotta move on,” he said. “We can’t just let this thing stop us in our tracks.”

The kids are going to go to school, they're going to get sick, and they are going to infect parents, family members, neighbors, friends, on down the line.

But we gotta move on, you see.  Tens of thousands of Missourians will have to die, but that's a price Mike Parson is willing to pay, I guess.

Good luck, Show Me State.

The Great Kentucky Jobless Job

Gov. Andy Beshear and Lt. Gov. Jackie Coleman are infinitely preferable to another Matt Bevin term, and thousands of lives have been saved already over what COVID-19 would look like in Bevinstan. But Beshear and Coleman have royally screwed up regarding Kentucky's unemployment system, which broke immediately in March and hasn't recovered with people still waiting on benefits from four months ago.

Like thousands of other Kentuckians over the last few months, Travis Powell just wanted a simple answer from the state Office of Unemployment Insurance. 

Powell is not an unemployed worker; he’s vice president of the Council on Postsecondary Education, and he wanted to know what to tell state universities about how to handle unemployment claims from work-study students. On April 20, he was put in touch with Muncie McNamara, the executive director of the Office of Unemployment Insurance. 

According to emails obtained through an open records request, McNamara said he’d look into it. After a week went by with no answer, Powell followed up again. McNamara never responded, and after another week, Powell learned why: McNamara was no longer working for the state. 

The head of the Office of Unemployment Insurance was quietly fired on May 5, amid an unprecedented number of jobless claims, a race to overhaul an archaic computer system and a belatedly-reported data breach. 

McNamara had been on the job only four months. The 38-year-old lawyer from Nelson County had no experience with unemployment systems or state government before taking the job. 

But what he did have was connections. 

He volunteered for and donated to Gov. Andy Beshear’s campaign last year. His wife, a recent chair of the Nelson County Democratic Party, considers Lt. Gov. Jacqueline Coleman “a good friend,” according to an interview she gave to the Kentucky Standard. Coleman called McNamara to offer him the job personally, he said. 

He was paid $15,000 more than his predecessor, a career unemployment official who the cabinet kept on staff as a special assistant. 

But by early May, he was gone, fired “without cause,” according to his personnel file.
McNamara alleges he was fired for raising serious concerns about corners the office was cutting amid the rush to fulfill record-high unemployment claims. 

In an emailed statement, the Cabinet for Education and Workforce Development disputed that claim, saying the concerns he raised were not a factor in his firing. 

Travis Powell is still waiting for an answer to the question he asked McNamara on behalf of the state’s universities back in April. He said he’s happy to be patient. But for the over 68,000 Kentuckians whose claims have gone unresolved since the pandemic began — including over 5,000 who filed claims back in March — patience doesn’t pay the bills.

Everything that could have gone wrong with Kentucky's unemployment system did go wrong, and while a lot of it is inherited from Matt Bevin (and yes, from Andy Beshear's father Steve) it's pretty clear that treating the system as a plum to be given to a donor was just about the worst possible response from both Beshear and Coleman.

Beshear is trying to fix it, but at great expense, hiring Ernst & Young to provide the necessary experts to run the system. Don't get me wrong, a second Bevin term would have been just as bad on unemployment and lethal everywhere else, but Beshear and Coleman really screwed this up and so far they have not met this challenge.

Get this fixed, guys.

The State Of The Police State, Con't

Portland is already under daily assault by Trump's brownshirts.  Chicago may very well be next.

Chicago Fraternal Order of Police President John Catanzara Jr. issued a letter to President Donald Trump on Saturday, asking for help from the federal government to fight “chaos” in Chicago and calling Mayor Lori Lightfoot a “complete failure.” 

The letter was posted on the FOP Lodge 7 Facebook page on Saturday, with a note that it would “get to President Trump’s desk one way or another.” 

In the letter, Catanzara wrote: “I am certain you are aware of the chaos currently affecting our city on a regular basis now. I am writing to formally ask you for help from the federal government. Mayor Lightfoot has proved to be a complete failure who is either unwilling or unable to maintain law and order here.” 

Catanzara wrote that he would be willing to sit down anytime with President Trump and “discuss ideas about how we can bring civility back to the streets of Chicago.”
“These politicians are failing the good men and women of this city and this police department,” he wrote. 

Catanzara also noted that for a few years, he has “proudly and repeatedly” spoken in the City Council chambers wearing “Trump 45” gear, and wrote that whether the mayor was Rahm Emanuel or Lori Lightfoot, he has “pushed back on their failing liberal policies.” 

He wrote that he believes President Trump’s help and cooperation “could make a big difference and rally the silent majority to say enough is enough.” 

In response to the letter, Mayor Lightfoot’s office said: “We will not dignify this or any other political stunt. We will, however, continue to support the true, hard working men and women of the police department.”

It's a stunt.

Trump loves stunts. 

But if the next target isn't Chicago, it will almost certainly be Atlanta.

Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms believes "personal retaliation" is behind Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp's lawsuit challenging her decision to require masks in her city in response to the coronavirus pandemic. 

"I do believe it's personal retaliation and he sued us personally," Bottoms told CNN's Alisyn Camerota on "New Day" Friday morning. "He did not sue the city of Atlanta. He filed suit against myself and our city council personally." 

The ongoing feud between Bottoms, a Democrat, and Kemp, a Republican, reached new heights Thursday when Kemp challenged her mask requirement, saying it violates his emergency order prohibiting local action from being more prohibitive than the state's requirements. 

The controversy has attracted national attention not only due to the swirling debate about whether authorities should require masks but because Bottoms is viewed as a potential running mate for presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden. 

On Wednesday, Kemp issued a statewide executive order that voids mask mandates imposed by local governments, despite a rising number Covid-19 cases in the state. So far, more than 3,000 Georgians have died as a result of the virus, and under Bottoms' order, not wearing a mask within Atlanta's city limits was punishable by a fine and even up to six months in jail. 

The governor defended his move at a Friday morning press conference, saying he's "confident that Georgians don't need a mandate to do the right thing." 

"Mayor Bottoms' mask mandate cannot be enforced," he added. "But her decision to shutter businesses and undermine economic growth is devastating. ... I refuse to sit back and watch as disastrous policies threaten the lives and livelihoods of our citizens." 

In response, Bottoms -- who, along with her husband and one of her children, has tested positive for Covid-19 -- called his remarks "propaganda" and that her city was offering voluntary guidance for businesses as it relates to reopening. 

"For him to say that we are closing businesses in the city of Atlanta and costing people money is a blatant lie," she said. 

She noted to Camerota that Kemp's lawsuit was filed the day after President Donald Trump visited Atlanta. Upon his arrival, the President did not wear a mask. 

"I don't think it was happenstance that this lawsuit was filed the day after Donald Trump visited Atlanta," Bottoms said, because Kemp "does the bidding of President Trump."

Keep in mind Kemp's lawsuit would also impose a gag order on Atlanta's government and Mayor Bottoms specifically to forbid them for even talking about masks.

While Chicago's police union president might not be able to call in federal Trump jackboots, Brian Kemp, as Governor of Georgia, certainly can.

Keep an eye on this one.  It could get ugly fast.

And thatr's the point.

StupidiNews!

• House Democrats are calling on Homeland Security's Inspector General to investigate the use of unmarked federal troops in Portland to protect federal property.
• A Kentucky couple is under house arrest after refusing to sign a self-quarantine agreement after testing positive for COVID-19, the couple was heading for Michigan to see family.
• Kanye West's on-again, off-again presidential run is back on again after a campaign rally in South Carolina, West will not be able to get on the ballot in most states however.
• The UK plans to end its extradition treaty with Hong Kong as tensions between Britain and China continue to rise over Hong Kong's crackdown.
• Smithsonian researchers believe they have cracked the case on how certain deep-sea fish are able to absorb up to 99.5% of all light that hits their skin, with "ultrablack" applications in optics.

Last Call For Orange Meltdown, Con't

Yet another poll, this time from ABC News and the Washington Post, finds Joe Biden up 15 points among registered voters, and ten points among the poll's likely voter model.

President Donald Trump’s bad poll numbers are getting worse.

The latest data point: A new ABC News/Washington Post poll released Sunday shows Trump 15 points behind former Vice President Joe Biden among registered voters, 55 percent to 40 percent.

The margin is closer among likely voters, 54 percent for Biden and 44 percent for Trump, but whichever margin you look at, the survey is the fifth consecutive high-quality national poll — those conducted by live phone interviewers — to show Biden ahead of Trump by 10 points or more. Of the nine such polls conducted since the second half of June, Biden has led Trump by double digits in seven of them.

The surveys conducted over the past month put Biden in an enviable, even historic position. He has a greater advantage over the incumbent going into the final few months of the campaign than any challenger since Bill Clinton, who seized the lead in the summer of 1992 after third-party candidate Ross Perot dropped out.

Trump’s poll numbers — so stagnant for the first three years of his presidency — have taken a significant hit as a result of his handling of the coronavirus pandemic. Meanwhile, Biden’s long career has left him fairly defined already, as the Trump campaign has begun a barrage of attacks ads on TV nationally and in swing states. And while Trump voters are more enthusiastic about their candidate, Biden voters are also highly interested in voting — if only to oust Trump from the Oval Office.

Trump's starting to be in real trouble now, and his most recent actions show it.

Prior to the release of the ABC News/Washington Post poll Sunday morning, Biden held a 9-point lead in the RealClearPolitics average — a little lower than the live-caller polls suggest, mostly because of the inclusion of a GOP-friendler result from the automated firm Rasmussen Reports.

Still, that 9-point lead puts Biden in unusually commanding territory for a challenger. Only two challengers at this stage of the campaign — John Kerry in 2004 and Michael Dukakis in 1988, who was running against an incumbent vice president — ended up losing, and each held a smaller lead than Biden’s. (Dukakis would even pad his lead before losing it completely, thanks to a convention bump that receded quickly in August.)

For a more recent comparison, Biden’s advantage well outstrips the lead Hillary Clinton had at this point in the 2016 race, when she led Trump by 3 points in the RealClearPolitics average. Clinton’s lead would briefly top out at an 8-point lead in early August, and then again crest to 7 points in the immediate aftermath of the “Access Hollywood” video in October.

Biden is also much closer to earning majority support than Clinton at this point before the last presidential election. As of July 19, 2016, Clinton was only at 44 percent in the RealClearPolitics average, well short of Biden's 49 percent — and that Biden number is before the ABC News/Washington Post poll with him at 54 percent was added to the average.

Trump's response is fourfold: he's already taking hostages on the expected COVID-19 relief bill this week, he's sending out federal troops to terrorize urban and suburban voters, he's gaslighting Americans on voting-by-mail (this ABC/WaPo poll finds 49% of Americans now believe mail-in voting is vulnerable to fraud) and he's trying to demoralize Black and Latino voters like he did successfully in 2016 against Hillary Clinton.

President Donald Trump’s campaign is pouring millions of dollars into a plan to weaken Joe Biden among swing state voters of color — and it’s creating a sense of déjà vu among Democratic operatives.

Trump’s team is airing TV advertisements aimed at Black and Latino voters that attack the presumptive Democratic nominee over his past support of the 1994 crime bill, which led to increased incarceration, particularly among people of color, as well as his mental fitness in Spanish-language spots. It’s a sign that Trump aides, while struggling to find a consistent and effective line of attack against Biden, have settled on at least one strategy: dilute Biden’s strength among minority voters.

“It’s very clear the Trump campaign is trying to use much of the same playbook from 2016,” said Karen Finney, Hillary Clinton’s spokesperson during that campaign. “This should be a blaring call to all Democrats running for office this year, specifically Biden, that you cannot take anything for granted with Black voters, period. Because we made that mistake in 2016, and ended up with, just as an example, Hillary underperforming in Milwaukee, which has a high African American population.”

In the past three weeks alone, the Trump team has spent more than $2 million on the advertisements in six swing states and nationally, according to Advertising Analytics. The blueprint is similar to the one they successfully executed against Clinton in 2016, when the campaign helped drive down turnout among African American voters in key battleground states by focusing on her past comments about “superpredators" and advocacy for the crime bill. In 2016, Black voter turnout dropped in a presidential race for the first time in two decades, plummeting from nearly 67 percent to just under 60 percent, per Pew.

Biden campaign officials contend that there are key differences between now and 2016: Trump was widely expected to lose, they point out, making it easier at the time to persuade people to stay at home. Now, voters have seen 3½ years of his job performance, including, they say, his mishandling of the coronavirus pandemic that has disproportionately harmed Black and Latino Americans as well as his fanning the flames of racism amid nationwide protests against police brutality.

At the same time, “We're taking nothing for granted — the Vice President has a long history with the African-American community and we are reinforcing that," wrote Patrick Bonsignore, Biden’s director of paid media, in a June memo obtained by POLITICO.

I'm glad the Biden camp is taking this seriously, because they are going to need every vote.  Trump has shown his hand and he's playing some of his most powerful cards, and we still have 15 weeks to go.

But all of that leads up to this.

President Trump declined to say whether he will accept the results of the November election, claiming without evidence that mail-in voting due to the coronavirus pandemic could “rig” the outcome.
In a wide-ranging interview with “Fox News Sunday” host Chris Wallace, the president also continued to play down the severity of the coronavirus crisis in the country, declined to say whether he is offended by the Confederate flag and dismissed polls showing him trailing former vice president Joe Biden by a significant margin.

The interview comes as the 2020 campaign has been upended by the pandemic, which has claimed more than 137,000 lives in the United States. Most in-person events have been canceled, and both political parties are planning to hold smaller-scale conventions to limit the spread of the virus.

Several states switched to primarily vote-by-mail primaries earlier this year, and the U.S. Postal Service is bracing for an onslaught of mail-in ballots this fall as states and cities seek alternatives to in-person voting.

In the “Fox News Sunday” interview, Wallace asked Trump whether he considers himself a “gracious” loser.

Trump replied that he doesn’t like to lose, then added: “It depends. I think mail-in voting is going to rig the election. I really do.” Trump’s comment echoed unfounded claims he has made in recent weeks that mail-in voting is susceptible to widespread fraud.

“Are you suggesting that you might not accept the results of the election?” Wallace asked.

Trump responded, “No. I have to see.”

Later in the interview, pressed on whether he will accept the results of the November election, Trump again declined to say.

Trump does bluster a lot, but he's also made good on a lot of his threats.

The odds of a peaceful transition to the Biden administration is very, very low.

We need to be ready.