Good morning.
Wednesday in Whitewater will be rainy with occasional thundershowers and a high of seventy-seven. Sunrise is 5:19 AM and sunset 8:25 PM, for 15h 06m 02s of daytime. The moon is a waning gibbous with 99.1% of its visible disk illuminated.
On this day in 1911, the first Indianapolis 500 takes place:
The first “500” was held at the Speedway on Decoration Day (as Memorial Day was known from its inception in 1868 to 1967 when Federal Law made Memorial Day the official name), May 30, 1911,[9] run to a 600 cu in (9,800 cc) maximum engine size formula.[6] It saw a field of 40 starters,[6] with Harroun piloting a Marmon Model 32-based Wasp racer — outfitted with his invention, the rear view mirror.[10] Harroun (with relief from Cyrus Patschke)[11] was declared the winner, although Ralph Mulford protested the official result. 80,000 spectators were in attendance, and an annual tradition had been established. Many considered Harroun to be a hazard during the race, as he was the only driver in the race driving without a riding mechanic, who checked the oil pressure and let the driver know when traffic was coming.[12]
Recommended for reading in full —
Daniel Dale of the Toronto Star describes Trump’s serial lying:Great point by @ddale8 on today’s show: “Incessant dishonesty” is “a central feature of his presidency,” yet it’s too often treated as “a side show rather than THE show, rather than the central story.” https://t.co/HyPITIYCrJ
— Brian Stelter (@brianstelter) May 27, 2018
(See also Dale’s running total of Trump’s lies – now numbering over 1,600 – since becoming president.)
The Washington Post editorial board asks Does Maria count as a ‘real catastrophe’ now, Mr. President?:Philip Bump and Mark Berman report Federal prosecutors poised to get more than 1 million files seized from Michael Cohen’s phones:A NEW report by independent public-health researchers estimates that at least 4,645 people died as a result of Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico. Consider that number. Contrast it with those who died from Katrina (almost 2,000) and those killed in the 9/11 attacks (almost 3,000). Remember President Trump’s visit to the stricken island in the storm’s aftermath, tossing out paper towelsand telling Puerto Rican officials they should be “very proud” that hundreds didn’t die from Maria as in a “real catastrophe like Katrina.”
Think how many lives might have been saved if Puerto Rico’s devastation had been handled with the seriousness and urgency it deserved. Ask yourself whether Mr. Trump would have thought — or acted — differently if the American citizens who were affected had lived not in Puerto Rico but in Texas or Tennessee.
A study published Tuesday in the New England Journal of Medicine by scientists from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and other institutions takes aim at the official government count of 64 dead. It suggests the actual number of deaths — many caused by interruption and delays in medical care — is more than 70 times higher than that reported by Puerto Rico officials. Researchers acknowledged their estimate, based on calculations from surveys of randomly chosen households, is imprecise and further study is needed. But the report, along with earlier reporting and analysis by the New York Times, paints a devastating picture of how people, particularly the elderly and infirm, were imperiled by long-standing losses of electricity, water and communications.
David Frum describes The Measure of Trump’s Devotion (“On Memorial Day, as the nation turned to the president to lead its shared rituals of unity and common purpose, he revealed himself unequal to the office he holds”):NEW YORK — Federal prosecutors investigating President Trump’s personal lawyer Michael Cohen are poised to receive on Wednesday 1 million files from three of his cellphones seized last month, according to a filing submitted to the court Tuesday night by special master Barbara Jones.
In her update to the court, Jones said investigators from the Office of the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York have already been given access to nearly 300,000 pieces of potential evidence seized from Cohen’s office and residences in an April raid.
Jones was appointed by U.S. District Judge Kimba Wood late last month to review the material after attorneys for Cohen and President Trump said many seized documents and communications could be protected by attorney-client privilege.
Breathe Deep: How the Antarctic Sea Spider Gets Oxygen (“Antarctic sea spiders have no lungs or gills, so how do they get oxygen into their bodies? The answer is in their pores”):Donald Trump cares enormously about national symbols—the flag, the anthem—when he can use them to belittle, humiliate, and exclude.
Trump has called for revoking the citizenship of those who burn the flag. He has suggested that NFL players who do not rise for the Star-Spangled Banner should be deported. He scored one of the greatest victories of his presidency when the National Football League submitted to his demand to punish players who did not stand at attention for the anthem. Vice President Pence ran the victory lap for Trump on this one.
But when it comes time to lead the nation in its shared rituals of unity and common purpose, Donald Trump cannot do it. He is, at most, president of slightly more than half of white America, and often not even that.