Good morning.

Sunday in Whitewater will be partly cloudy with a high of eighty-three.  Sunrise is 6:11 AM and sunset 7:42 PM, for 13h 31m 24s of daytime.  The moon is a waxing crescent with 25.3% of its visible disk illuminated.

 On this day in 1864, the Union Navy captures Fort Morgan, Alabama, thus breaking Confederate dominance of all ports on the Gulf of Mexico except Galveston, Texas.

Recommended for reading in full — 

 Michael Hiltzik writes DeJoy’s appointment as postmaster general looks even more dishonest than you thought:

Thus far, speculation about the appointment of DeJoy, who assumed his job in mid-June, has focused on his role as a major fundraiser for President Trump and the fact that he is the first postmaster general in some two decades to not have any experience with the USPS.

But congressional testimony this week by David Williams, a former USPS inspector general and former vice chairman of the service’s board of governors, put some meat on those bare bones.

Williams told the Congressional Progressive Caucus that he resigned from the USPS board when it became clear it was about to appoint DeJoy.

He says DeJoy’s name came to the board outside the normal route, which went through the headhunting firm Russell Reynolds. Instead it came from board member John M. Barger, a Southern California investment executive who was supervising the postmaster search.

Barger told the board he had had lunch with DeJoy and “wanted to move his name forward,” Williams said. “It wasn’t clear how [Barger] had met Mr. DeJoy to me, and I don’t think anyone was clear on it.”
….
Williams said that DeJoy did not appear to have received the background check normal for appointees to high government positions. That should have included an audit of a contract his former company had held with the USPS.

“It looked like there were concerns about whether his company was billing correctly and performing fully,” Williams said. “That contract file needs to be examined. … We didn’t do that.”

 Robyn Dixon reports Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny, comatose in a Berlin with suspected poisoning, was under covert surveillance, Russian media reports:

As Russia’s most prominent opposition politician was fighting for this life in a Berlin hospital Sunday, Russian media reported that he was under constant surveillance by federal security agents during the Siberian trip where he fell ill with suspected poisoning.

Alexei Navalny was evacuated from the Siberian city of Omsk to Berlin Saturday in a medical ambulance funded by the foundation of Russian philanthropist and former telecommunications mogul, Dmitry Zimin, after doctors initially denied permission for him to leave the country.
….
A Russian news report cited sources in Russian security agencies who said Navalny was subject to an intense plainclothes surveillance operation during his entire trip.

The report in Moskovsky Komsomolets published details of the surveillance of his every movement, including what he and his associates ate, who he met, his credit card records, shopping receipts, where he stayed, what vehicles he traveled in, even down to a sushi order and a nighttime swim in the river.

Navalny was extremely cautious when he traveled, keeping a low profile and taking safety precautions, according to the security agents cited in the report. He stayed in safe houses in the Siberian city of Novosibirsk and in a hotel in Tomsk. In the hotel, Navalny’s team took more rooms than they required and Navalny did not stay in the room that was registered in his name, according to the report.

How Tokyo’s Massive Lost & Found Works:

Good morning.

Saturday in Whitewater will be partly cloudy with a high of eighty-three.  Sunrise is 6:10 AM and sunset 7:44 PM, for 13h 34m 06s of daytime.  The moon is a waxing crescent with 16.2% of its visible disk illuminated.

 On this day in 2007, the Texas Rangers defeat the Baltimore Orioles 30–3, the most runs scored by a team in modern Major League Baseball history.

Recommended for reading in full — 

 Nolan D. McCaskill reports ‘It was great’: In leaked audio, Trump hailed low Black turnout in 2016:

In a private meeting inside Trump Tower days before his inauguration, Donald Trump told a group of civil rights leaders something most Republicans wouldn’t dare publicly acknowledge: lower turnout among Black voters did, in fact, benefit him in the 2016 presidential election.

“Many Blacks didn’t go out to vote for Hillary ‘cause they liked me. That was almost as good as getting the vote, you know, and it was great,” the president-elect said, according to an audio recording of the meeting shared with POLITICO.

Brandy Zadrozny and Ben Collins report QAnon looms behind nationwide rallies and viral #SavetheChildren hashtags:

On the second Saturday of August, about 100 protestors gathered at the “Big Red Wagon,” a well-known attraction in downtown Spokane, Washington. Men, women and children marched through the streets chanting, “Save the children.” It was ostensibly an effort “to raise awareness and start a conversation” about child trafficking, according to a local television reporter at the scene.

Many of the marchers held signs that would be expected at such a rally: “Save our kids,” “Your silence is deafening,” and “Wake up 4 our children,” to name a few.

But other signs were less clear, and suggested that something darker was going on during an event that otherwise seemed organic and sympathetic. “Symbolism will be their downfall,” one read. Another featured the hashtag “#Pedowood.” Yet another was a strange acronym: “WWG1WGA,” short for “Where we go one, we go all.”

These signs, similar to those found at many such rallies now taking place around the U.S., are references to QAnon, the conspiracy theory that has surged in popularity in recent months. It turned out that the rally had nothing to do with the century-old humanitarian charitable group Save the Children.

QAnon is a sprawling and baseless conspiracy theory alleging that President Donald Trump is engaged in a secret war against a cabal of Satanist child abusers in government, entertainment and the media. The conspiracy — which has spread to millions of users in Facebook groups during the pandemic — has been linked to several violent crimes and was last year labeled a potential domestic terror threat by the F.B.I.

See also Inside the Completely Nutso Universe of QAnon and Fox’s whitewash of Trump’s QAnon endorsement helps explain how it happened in the first place.

The Truth Is Essential: Life Needs Truth:

Good morning.

Friday in Whitewater will be sunny with a high of eighty-three.  Sunrise is 6:09 AM and sunset 7:46 PM, for 13h 36m 47s of daytime.  The moon is a waxing crescent with 7.8% of its visible disk illuminated.

 On this day in 1770, James Cook formally claims eastern Australia for Great Britain, naming it New South Wales.

Recommended for reading in full — 

Justin Baragona, Maxwell Tani, and Andrew Kirell report How Fox News Helped Boost Bannon’s ‘We Build the Wall’ Fiasco:

According to federal prosecutors, Bannon and Kolfage, along with two others, defrauded the hundreds of thousands of donors who gave $25 million to their effort to privately fund a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border. The alleged wall scammers used those funds—despite publicly claiming “All money donated to the campaign goes directly to the wall!”—to line their own pockets and purchase luxury items, the indictment claimed.

Since the viral fundraiser launched in late 2018, Bannon and Kolfage separately appeared on Fox News on more than a few occasions to tout their efforts to the network’s audience and its uncritical, often credulously supportive on-air personalities. While the effort garnered some mainstream media attention, few outlets were as openly supportive of Kolfage and Bannon in their endeavor.

“A story of the can-do American spirit in action,” Fox News primetime host Laura Ingraham beamed about the fundraiser before interviewing Kolfage during her Dec. 20, 2018 broadcast.

During their chat, Ingraham repeatedly praised Kolfage and teed him up to bash critics who argued against a border wall or called the fundraiser a publicity stunt. “I’d say they’re full of crap. And this is the United States and we can do anything we want,” Kolfage said. “And if people want to donate to that wall and give their money, they can do it. I mean, what’s 80 bucks for 60 million people? The common person can give that kind of money.”

Toluse Olorunnipa and Isaac Stanley-Becker report Touting conspiracy theories, Trump welcomes fringe views into the political mainstream:

Trump rose to political prominence pitching the racist and false conspiracy theory that former president Barack Obama was secretly born in Kenya and therefore ineligible for the presidency. He sought to associate the father of one of his primary opponents, Republican Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas, with the assassin who shot John F. Kennedy. And once in office, he peddled the debunked idea that millions of illegal votes cost him the popular vote.

“These folks — QAnon supporters and other conspiracy-minded people — brought him to the prom,” said Joseph Uscinski, a political scientist at the University of Miami and co-author of “American Conspiracy Theories.” “Now he has to dance with them.”

The president’s willingness to embrace fringe conspiracies has only increased as he has spent more time in office, despite his access to top-notch intelligence assessments that debunk many of his views. Trump has increasingly turned to conspiracy theories as his presidency has faced its greatest head winds yet, amid a pandemic, economic downturn and racial unrest.

Robbie Whelan reports Troubled Covid-19 Data System Returning to CDC:

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services is reversing course on a change to the way hospitals report critical information on the coronavirus pandemic to the government, returning the responsibility for data collection to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Can Chuck E. Cheese Survive Bankruptcy?:

Good morning.

Thursday in Whitewater will be sunny with a high of eighty-two.  Sunrise is 6:08 AM and sunset 7:47 PM, for 13h 39m 27s of daytime.  The moon is a waxing crescent with 2.6% of its visible disk illuminated.

 On this day in 1968, Warsaw Pact troops invade Czechoslovakia, crushing the Prague Spring.

Recommended for reading in full — 

David Smith and Julia Carrie Wong report Trump tacitly endorses baseless QAnon conspiracy theory linked to violence:

Followers of the QAnon movement believe without evidence that Trump is fighting a Satanic “deep state” of global elites involved in paedophilia, human trafficking and the harvesting of a supposedly life-extending chemical from the blood of abused children.

Yet asked about the theory at Wednesday’s White House press briefing, the US president failed to condemn it. “I don’t know much about the movement other than I understand they like me very much, which I appreciate,” he said. “I have heard that it is gaining in popularity.”

Supporters of QAnon share Trump’s concerns about rising crime in Democratic-led cities, the president continued. “These are people that don’t like seeing what’s going on in places like Portland and places like Chicago and New York and other cities and states. I’ve heard these are people that love our country and they just don’t like seeing it.”

A reporter followed up, pointing out that QAnon supporters believe Trump is “secretly saving the world from this Satanic cult of pedophiles and cannibals”. The president replied flippantly: “I haven’t heard that but is that supposed to be a good thing or a bad thing?

See also FBI Labels Fringe Conspiracy Theories as Domestic Terrorism Threat.

 Benjamin Wittes writes Republican Senators Misrepresent Their Own Russia Report:

Here are some of the committee’s own findings about Trump campaign engagement with the Russian electoral interference—findings subscribed to by each and every one of the senators who protests that they did not find “collusion”:

• “The Committee found that Manafort’s presence on the Campaign and proximity to Trump created opportunities for Russian intelligence services to exert influence over, and acquire confidential information on, the Trump Campaign. Taken as a whole, Manafort’s high-level access and willingness to share information with individuals closely affiliated with the Russian intelligence services . . . represented a grave counterintelligence threat.”
• “While [Russian military intelligence] and WikiLeaks were releasing hacked documents, the Trump Campaign sought to maximize the impact of those leaks to aid Trump’s electoral prospects. Staff on the Trump Campaign sought advance notice about WikiLeaks releases, created messaging strategies to promote and share the materials in anticipation of and following their release, and encouraged further leaks. The Trump Campaign publicly undermined the attribution of the hack-and-leak campaign to Russia and was indifferent to whether it and WikiLeaks were furthering a Russian election interference effort.”
• “Trump and senior Campaign officials sought to obtain advance information about WikiLeaks’s planned releases through Roger Stone.”
• “The Committee further found that Papadopoulos’s efforts introduced him to several individuals that raise counterintelligence concerns, due to their associations with individuals from hostile foreign governments, as well as actions these individuals undertook. The Committee assesses that Papadopoulos was not a witting cooptee of the Russian intelligence services, but nonetheless presented a prime intelligence target and potential vector for malign Russian influence.”

It goes on. And on. And on.

Tasmanian Devils:

Get a load of cuties Itchy and Scratchy, the latest baby Tasmanian devils born to conservation project Aussie Ark. The org works to replenish the devil population after disease depleted the species by up to 90% pic.twitter.com/bq44xThaX4

— NowThis (@nowthisnews) August 19, 2020

  more >>

Good morning.

Wednesday in Whitewater will be sunny seventy-nine.  Sunrise is 6:07 AM and sunset 7:49 PM, for 13h 42m 07s of daytime.  The moon is a waxing crescent with 0.2% of its visible disk illuminated.

 Whitewater’s Tech Park board meets via audiovisual conferencing at 8:00 AM, and the Parks & Rec Board by audiovisual conferencing at 5:30 PM.

 On this day in 1812, American frigate USS Constitution defeats the British frigate HMS Guerriere off the coast of Nova Scotia earning the nickname “Old Ironsides.”

Recommended for reading in full —

Luke Harding and Julian Borger report US Senate report goes beyond Mueller to lay bare Trump campaign’s Russia links (‘Bipartisan intelligence panel says that Russian who worked on Trump’s 2016 bid was career spy, amid a stunning range of contacts’):

A report by the Senate intelligence committee provides a treasure trove of new details about Donald Trump’s relationship with Moscow, and says that a Russian national who worked closely with Trump’s presidential campaign in 2016 was a career intelligence officer.

The bipartisan report runs to nearly 1,000 pages and goes further than last year’s investigation into Russian election interference by special prosecutor Robert Mueller. It lays out a stunning web of contacts between Trump, his top election aides and Russian government officials, in the months leading up to the 2016 election.

The Senate panel identifies Konstantin Kilimnik as a Russian intelligence officer employed by the GRU, the military intelligence agency behind the 2018 poisoning of the Russian double agent Sergei Skripal. It cites evidence – some of it redacted – linking Kilimnik to the GRU’s hacking and dumping of Democratic party emails.

Kilimnik worked for over a decade in Ukraine with Paul Manafort, Trump’s campaign manager. In 2016 Manafort met with Kilimnik, discussed how Trump might beat Hillary Clinton, and gave the Russian spy internal polling data. The committee said it couldn’t “reliably determine” why Manafort handed over this information, or what exactly Kilimnik did with it.

It describes Manafort’s willingness to pass on confidential material to alleged Moscow agents as a “grave counterintelligence threat”. The report dubs Kilimnik part of “a cadre of individuals ostensibly operating outside of the Russian government but who nonetheless implement Kremlin-directed influence operations”. It adds that key oligarchs including Oleg Deripaskafund these operations, together with the Kremlin.

The investigation found that Kilimnik tweets under the pseudonym Petro Baranenko (@PBaranenko). The account regularly propagates Moscow’s line on international issues, such as the conflict in Ukraine and the downing of Malaysian Airlines flight MH17.

The fact that a Republican-controlled Senate panel established a direct connection between the Trump campaign and Russian intelligence makes it harder for Trump and his supporters to allege that the investigation into possible collusion was a “witch-hunt” or “hoax” as the president has repeatedly claimed, in the remaining three months before the election.

 Paul Waldman writes A new bipartisan report raises the question: If this isn’t ‘collusion,’ what is?:

So here’s what we’re left with. The person running the Trump campaign had a close associate who is a Russian intelligence officer, with whom he was sharing confidential campaign information as Russia mounted its effort to help Trump get elected.

As part of that effort, Russia broke into Democratic systems, then passed damaging information to WikiLeaks for carefully timed release. The president’s longtime friend had a line into the “leak” part of Russia’s hack-and-leak, through which he learned the subject and timing of upcoming leaks and kept Trump personally informed.

If that’s not “collusion,” what is?

Elephant Shrew Species Rediscovered in Djibouti After 50 Years: