8.16 Paul Waldman in the Post: “The problem of inequality didn’t start with Trump. He has, however, done everything he can to make it worse. He gave a gargantuan tax break to the wealthy and corporations; the latter took that tax break and spent it on stock buybacks, which has the effect of boosting stock prices but doesn’t do anything for workers. As a result of the GOP’s sabotage of the Affordable Care Act, the number of Americans without health insurance rose by more than 3 million in 2017, after years of declines following the implementation of the ACA. The Republican war on unions continues to erode workers’ power to negotiate better wages, benefits and working conditions. Trump’s trade war has so far produced no discernible benefits.
8.16 Lawrence Mishel and Jessica Schieder of the Economic Policy Institute: “In 2017 the average CEO of the 350 largest firms in the U.S. received $18.9 million in compensation, a 17.6 percent increase over 2016. The typical worker’s compensation remained flat, rising a mere 0.3 percent. The 2017 CEO-to-worker compensation ratio of 312-to-1 was far greater than the 20-to-1 ratio in 1965 and more than five times greater than the 58-to-1 ratio in 1989 (although it was lower than the peak ratio of 344-to-1, reached in 2000). The gap between the compensation of CEOs and other very-high-wage earners is also substantial, with the CEOs in large firms earning 5.5 times as much as the average earner in the top 0.1 percent”
8.16 Fox News honors the life and career of the late Aretha Franklin, but shows an image of Patti LaBelle.
8.16 Aretha Franklin dies at 76. Billy Preston: “She can be hiding out in her house in Detroit for years. She can go decades without taking a plane or flying off to Europe. She can cancel half her gigs and infuriate every producer and promoter in the country. She can sing all kinds of jive-ass songs that are beneath her. She can go into her diva act and turn off the world. But on any given night, when that lady sits down at the piano and gets her body and soul all over some righteous song, she’ll scare the shit out of you. And you’ll know—you’ll swear—that she’s still the best f***in’ singer this f***ed-up country has ever produced.”
8.16 David Ignatius in the Post: What Donald Trump did Wednesday isn’t supposed to happen in a democracy. A president who swore an oath to uphold the Constitution just carried out a personal political vendetta against a career intelligence officer. In revoking the security clearance of former CIA director John Brennan, Trump took another step toward the abyss. He cited the “risk posed by [Brennan’s] erratic conduct and behavior,” a ludicrous charge coming from our unguided missile of a chief executive. Brennan’s real crime is that he has been in Trump’s face nearly every day, trading insults on Twitter and cable television. Brennan has taken to using words such as “high crimes and misdemeanors” and “nothing short of treasonous” to describe Trump’s behavior, and likened him to convicted fraudster Bernie Madoff. Stripping Brennan’s clearance was presidential payback, dressed up in national security language.
8.16 More than a dozen former top U.S. intelligence officials released a sharply-worded letter late Thursday describing Trump’s decision earlier this week to revoke the clearance of former CIA director John Brennan as a blatant attempt to “stifle free speech” and send an “inappropriate and deeply regrettable” signal to other public servants. The signers — who served in Democratic and Republican administrations — called Trump’s action “ill-considered.”
8.16 William H. McRaven, retired Admiral, in the Washington Post: “Dear Mr. President: Former CIA director John Brennan, whose security clearance you revoked on Wednesday, is one of the finest public servants I have ever known. Few Americans have done more to protect this country than John. He is a man of unparalleled integrity, whose honesty and character have never been in question, except by those who don’t know him. Therefore, I would consider it an honor if you would revoke my security clearance as well, so I can add my name to the list of men and women who have spoken up against your presidency.”
8.16 John Brennan in the Times: “Russian denials are, in a word, hogwash.”
8.16 The president revoked the security clearance of John O. Brennan, a former C.I.A. director, because Mr. Brennan had been part of what Mr. Trump has called the “sham” Russia investigation. That move, and the threats of more revocations, were the latest signs that the president seems determined to punish anyone connected to the Russia inquiry.
8.15 John Brennan on MSNBC: “America’s standing the world has been tarnished. Trump is the most divisive president we have ever had in the Oval Office. He is feeding and fueling hatred and animosity and misunderstanding among Americans.”
8.15 Aaron Blake in the Post: President Trump’s political knack, such as it is, is his ability to make his opponents overreach — to dangle bait in front of them and hope they take it. New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo may have just swallowed it whole. Appearing at a bill-signing ceremony in New York City, Cuomo took on Trump’s “Make America Great Again” slogan. But he may have protested a little too hard. “We’re not going to make America great again; it was never that great,” Cuomo said, drawing audible gasps and some applause. “We have not reached greatness. We will reach greatness when every American is fully engaged.”
8.15 Alyssa Rosenberg in the Post (originally published May 2016): “ James Bond should be played by a man because the character is a study of masculinity in a particular context. Having a woman play the premier spy in the British secret service, a character who uses her sexuality to gain information and advantage without being judged for it, and who goes to great lengths in defense of her country, would be fascinating. A performance like that would challenge assumptions for what men and women can do. But it wouldn’t explore the thing that James Bond movies are designed to explore: what’s considered desirable and admirable in a man at any given moment.”
8.15 The advice Lorne Michaels gives to all members of the SNL cast: “Build a bridge to the next thing, and when it’s solid enough, walk across it.”
8.14 NBC’s Kristen Welker asked Sanders whether she could guarantee the American public that Trump has never used that particular racial epithet on tape. “I can’t guarantee anything, but I can tell you that the President addressed this question directly,” Sanders replied.
8.14 Omirosa on the Daily Show: “If you ever see me in a fight with a bear, pray for the bear.”
8.14 Karen Tumulty in the Post: “It is often said of President Trump that he is careless in his use of language. . . . Consider the language the president chose on Tuesday morning to describe Manigault Newman herself, a notorious contestant on “The Apprentice” who became his most prominent African American hire at the White House. “When you give a crazed, crying lowlife a break, and give her a job at the White House, I guess it just didn’t work out. Good work by General Kelly for quickly firing that dog!” Trump tweeted to his 53.8 million followers.
8.14 FiveThirtyEight: Women have won 65 percent (90 of 138) of decided open Democratic primary races featuring at least one man and one woman. . . . All else being equal, being a woman has been worth an additional 10 percentage points over being a man in the open Democratic primaries we looked at.
OUR MAN IN AMERICA
Once every few years, a Supreme Court justice decides to step down or stop breathing, and the American political theater is enlivened with the confirmation process of a fresh justice. One party attacks, the other defends. Like a heavyweight boxing match, the event provokes a lot of hype, but the reality is less often a thrilling slugfest than a lopsided contest full of posing and pushing that merely affirms the status quo.
These days, however,Democrats are frothing because President Trump named an appellate judge, Brett Kavanaugh, to succeed the retiring Anthony Kennedy. For three decades, the donnish Kennedy took a primo donnish delight in being the swing vote on the court, defending individual liberties and corporate prerogatives with equal pleasure that he was pissing somebody off.
Which no one would have seen coming when he was appointed by President Reagan in 1988. Republicans thought Kennedy would be the magical Fifth Justice who would roll back Roe v. Wade, the decision that said women had a constitutional right to have an abortion. Instead, when given that opportunity, he affirmed that right.
Will Kavanaugh better serve his sponsors? He seems very familiar—preppie, Yalie, suburbanite, family man, the sort of man whose soft, privileged face might mask a bully. The wildest thing about him is that a few years ago, he went into debt somewhere between $60,000 and $200,000 to buy baseball tickets, a sum which he has since paid off. What does the reckless pursuit of the normalest pasttime tell us about a man?
What Democrats fear is that he will join the Court’s four other Republican appointees to form an invincible conservative block that will validate the entire radical Republican fantasy agenda. Attack unions! Restrict immigration! Roll back entitlement programs! Restrict LGBTQ rights and women’s rights and minorities rights. Most importantly, overturn Roe. V. Wade.
That’s not likely to happen. The reason has nothing to do with Kavanaugh, and everything to do with John Roberts, the Chief Justice with the Tom Hanks grin. With the departure of Kennedy, the swing supreme, Roberts will become the court’s most important justice.
Unlike the late Justice Scalia, Roberts is not an exponent of a school of constitutional thought. During his confirmation hearings in 2003, he compared judges to umpires, (baseball again!), “calling balls and strikes.’’ Which he mostly has done, albeit conservatively. What he does care about, however, is his status as Chief Justice, the head of an equal branch of government. Nothing would horrify him more than for the Court to be regarded as a rubber stamp for the Republican wild men in the other two branches of government.
There’s a legal principle called stare decisis—literally, “to stand by decided matters.’’ It’s why lawyers don’t argue right or wrong or the merits of a case, but deal with precedents. Sometimes the Court overthrows a major precedent with dramatic consequences; like the famous Brown v. Board of Education decision that ended racial segregation in 1954. But a dramatic overturn of Roe doesn’t dramatically change the abortion status quo. Right now, women across the country possess a fundamental right to choose. But states have a lot of authority to regulate health care, and so many red states limit access to that right–times, places, practitioners–that makes it hard to exercise. If Roe were reversed, women would lose the fundamental right, but in half the states, the procedure is already or would become legal, so there would be only marginal change. It’s hard to believe that Roberts would violate stare decisis and risk looking like Trump’s toady for a decision that would achieve no real change.
There is a second reason to think that Roberts would uphold Roe: politics. There’s a famous aphorism: “The Supreme Court follows the election returns.’’ Justices don’t usually stray far outside the flow of public opinion. Justices have no troops to enforce their decisions; they are obeyed because we all agree to obey. And we know what happens if we stop: Tinkerbelle dies.
We are living in a weird bubble in the history of our republic. All three branches are nominally controlled by one party—but it is a minority party. The president received nearly three million fewer votes than his opponent. The peculiarities of state size and district drawing have given the Republicans majorities in both houses of Congress when raw vote totals suggest a more even split would be in order.
That bubble will burst in November. Umpire Roberts seems unlikely to be the agent that keeps the Trump yabbos from slipping into the minority status they so richly deserve.
Two thirds of voters favor some form of abortion rights. Three fifths support marriage equality Nearly three in ten support strong or moderate restrictions of firearms. Fifty six percent want the government to provide health care insurance. No government can long retain power by flouting the will of the people.
The Supreme Court follows the election returns. Whatever Brett Kavanaugh thinks, John Roberts certainly does. So relax–this is not the issue where change is coming.
8.13 The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced a new Outstanding Popular Film category
8.13 President Trump slammed Gov. Andrew Cuomo Monday on guns, high taxes and dared the Democrat to challenge him for the White House in 2020. Speaking at a campaign event in Utica, Trump said Cuomo telephoned him and pledged to “never” run against Trump for president. “But maybe he wants to,” Trump said of Cuomo’s aspirations. “Please do it. Please do it. Please! The one thing we know … anybody that runs against Trump suffers. That’s the way it should be.”
8.12 Gordon Lightfoot at the Paramount
8.11 The Meg with Cara, Molly, Shaw and Ginny, followed by dinner at Southern Table
8.10 Mission Impossible: Fallout with Ginny.
8.10 Nate Cohn and Alicia Parlapiano in the Times: “A small but meaningful number of his voters, particularly women, appear to have soured on him since the election.. . .[T]he midterms could be decided by … female, college-educated or nonwhite Trump supporters, who are somewhat likelier to harbor reservations about the president. They may have been reluctant to back him, but they were still essential to his 2016 victory and are essential to the G.O.P.’s chances today.”. . .”Trump won the presidency [for] one big reason: white voters without a college degree. They put Mr. Trump over the top in … Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Michigan. But just “33 percent of Mr. Trump’s supporters were white men without a college degree. A majority of Mr. Trump’s supporters defy the stereotype: They were either women, nonwhite or college graduates (or some combination). 47 percent of Mr. Trump’s voters were women. And … he … won 44 percent of voters making more than $150,000 per year, … and nearly 40 percent of college-educated white voters.”
8.10 Harry Litman in the Post: A stunning feature of the drama Trump has inflicted on the country is that we have become inured to daily dishonesty of an unprecedented sweep and magnitude. We acquiesce, or at least cease to push back against, the argument that lying to the media and public is no crime. Consider, though, the consequences of the president’s denials and obfuscations on issue after issue in this probe (combined with the cravenness of congressional Republicans). Trump’s successful dodging would leave a permanent hole in the historical record, particularly on a hostile foreign power’s attempt to influence our elections. There will be no future David Frost interviews to fill in the facts, and if there were, we could never believe them anyway. It is true, of course, that Trump could respond to a subpoena by invoking his Fifth Amendment rights. He is not legally required to fill in Mueller’s case for him. But that act would speak volumes to the country, while subjecting the president to historical ignominy. And there is no constitutional reason it shouldn’t: We are not an impaneled jury, but a citizenry entitled to know whether the president committed crimes and conspired with a hostile foreign power to try to swing the election.
8.9 On his first play from scrimmage in an NFL game (Pre-season vs. the Browns), Saquon Barkley ran for 39 yards.
8.9 David McCormick: Hey Ron (and Jamie)—this is something else. You’ve done an amazing job. The writing is terrific, the stories are just as good. The voice is funny, wise, observant. You’ve done a wonderful job of telling the story of the team and the times and your own life.
8.8 Michael Morel in the Post: Putin is afraid of one thing. He is afraid that one day the Russian middle class will finally rebel against his regime and rush into the streets demanding change. It happened in Tunis, Cairo and other Middle Eastern and North African cities between 2010 and 2012, and it happened most alarmingly, from Putin’s perspective, four years ago in Kiev when Ukrainians threw out a government beholden to Moscow. Sanctions that bite at the heart of the Russian economy — sanctions that increase the risk that Russia’s middle class will become restive — will get Putin’s attention.
8.8 Laura Ingraham on Fox: “In some parts of the country, it does seem like the America that we know and love doesn’t exist anymore,” she complained. “Massive demographic changes have been foisted upon the American people, and they are changes that none of us ever voted for, and most of us don’t like. From Virginia to California, we see stark examples of how radically, in some ways, the country has changed.” In case it was unclear, she explicitly said it: “Now, much of this is related to both illegal, and in some cases legal immigration that, of course, progressives love.”
8.8 China Just Tested a Hypersonic Weapon That Could Launch Nukes at 6 Times the Speed of Sound
8.7 Mark Liebovich in the Times: Trump used to call Ryan “Boy Scout.” “I thought it was a compliment,” said Ryan, a former altar boy and habitual people-pleaser. But after the Republican-controlled Congress passed a few bills Trump announced to Ryan that he would stop using the nickname. “So I guess he meant it as an insult all along,” the speaker said. “I didn’t realize.” Ryan shrugged.
8.7 LA Times: “The Mendocino Complex fire is now the largest wildfire in modern California history, scorching more than 283,000 acres and frustrating firefighters as it continues to leap across natural and man-made barriers in Lake County,” north of Sacramento. “The blaze is only 30% contained and is still growing.”
8.4 Michael Hayden: “We are, to put it simply, the most destabilizing force in the world today.”
8.3 Hudson River ride with Paul, Anne, Greg, Susan and Ginny.
8.3 In a wide-ranging interview with Don Lemon on CNN, LeBron James spoke about a school for at-risk children that he recently helped open in his hometown, Akron, Ohio, in a partnership between his philanthropic foundation and the city’s public schools. During the interview on Monday, he also said Mr. Trump was using sports to divide the country. Trump replied
Lebron James was just interviewed by the dumbest man on television, Don Lemon. He made Lebron look smart, which isn’t easy to do. I like Mike!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 4, 2018
Jordan said: “I support L.J. He’s doing an amazing job for his community.”
8.1 Tim Smith-Laing in the The Economist: “making a living” is a species of spiritual prestidigitation perpetrated upon workers by a social order in which, under the influence of a puritan morality, the idea of human worth has been conflated with the notion of merit, merit with diligence, and diligence with the willingness to sell your free time in return for tokens that will allow you to buy free time. In this way, the worker in actual fact exchanges life – hour by hour – for death. Working day by week by year, we sell our lives to Capital so that we may have the means one day to buy our lives back from Capital, only to find, when we have accumulated the means to do so, that there is no more life to buy. And thence to the grave. It is a system in which people are not people but “human resources” – in the same way that coal, oil, timber and ore are. They, we, are mere matter to be excavated, extracted, burned, chopped and moulded into power, money and so much waste to be pumped up into the skies or down into the seas. It is an iniquitous system.