Daily Bread for 7.15.18

Today is the six hundred ninth day.Days since Trump’s election, with 11.9.16 as the first day.

On this day in 1980, the Western Wisconsin Derecho strikes:

The Western Wisconsin Derecho was a severe weather system that moved through several western counties on July 15, 1980. It cut a 20-mile-wide swath through St Croix, Pierce, Dunn, Eau Claire, Chippewa, and Clark counties. Although much of the storm’s damage was caused by straight-line winds in excess of 100 mph, several tornadoes were also reported. The storm caused nearly $160M in damage (1980 dollars) and killed three people.

Recommended for reading in full — 

  John Sipher reports Why American Spies Worry When Trump Meets Putin (“Just as the Russian leader has unleashed his intelligence and security services, the American president has kneecapped and undermined his own”):

It was going to be Donald Trump’s “easiest” meeting, at least according to Trump himself. After a week of tense exchanges with allies in Brussels and then the U.K., the U.S president would head to Helsinki for his first formal summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Then on Friday, right as the president was settling down to tea with the Queen, the indictments came; the Justice Department accused 12 officers of Russian intelligence with specific crimes related to meddling in the 2016 election—the one U.S. intelligence says the Russians wanted to throw to Trump.

If Trump is worried this will cast a pall over the summit, American intelligence officials have plenty of other reasons to worry about the meeting. Notwithstanding any indictment-related awkwardness, the summit will still be a gift to Putin—an unearned opportunity for him to break out of his immediate struggles and achieve a variety of otherwise impossible goals. Indeed, through a number of aggressive and provocative actions that appeared to provide short-term wins, Putin has nonetheless gotten himself trapped. His country is heavily sanctioned, economically weak, overextended, and lacking in allies. His unprovoked land grab in Crimea, attack on neighboring Ukraine, electoral interference in the U.S. and Europe, assassination of opponents, support to Syria’s bloody dictator Bashar al-Assad and constant lies have left him ostracized in much of the developed world. He can no longer offer his people wealth or the vision of a better future. He instead relies on the tools of oppression and scapegoats to blame for his failures. The dynamic is unlikely to change anytime soon.

And yet despite all this, and even with the indictments, Putin walks into the summit with a distinct advantage. Just as Putin has unleashed his intelligence and security services, Trump has kneecapped and undermined his own.

  Julia Davis writes On Russian state TV, Putin has already won the summit with Trump:

The fact that this top-level tête-à-tête is set to take place provides confirmation that Putin’s Russia was able to end the country’s isolation without giving an inch. The summit was preceded by the recent visit from eight Republican lawmakers, most of whom celebrated the Fourth of July in Moscow. On Russian state television, both of these events have been portrayed as concessions by the United States. Appearing on state TV, Igor Korotchenko, member of the Defense Ministry’s public advisory council, argued that Russia should look down on Americans the same way the Soviet Union did: “You came to us, because you need something.” In an ongoing confrontation with the Russians, America blinked first. The Kremlin is barreling through, with eyes wide open.

Russian state media are hard at work, praising Putin’s strategy that is finally paying off. That is not surprising, as the state media in Russia are fully controlled by the government. Positions conveyed by the Kremlin’s bullhorns reflect only what is considered permissible by the state. On Russian state television, criticism of  Putin is unheard of, and mildly dissenting views are allowed mostly so they can be mocked. Government-controlled propaganda, combined with fear of retribution, secure consistently high approval ratings for the seemingly irreplaceable Russian leader. Putin is always portrayed as a masterful chess player whose every move is pure genius. State TV is already providing a preview of Putin’s likely strategy: flatter Trump’s ego and bond over common enemies, blaming past U.S.-Russia tensions on the U.S. “deep state,” the news media and, most of all, President Barack Obama and Trump’s former rival, Hillary Clinton.

….

Officially, Russia admits nothing about interfering in the 2016 U.S. elections, but Kremlin-controlled state media is not as reserved in its messages designed for internal consumption. Russian state TV hosts brazenly assert, “Trump is ours,” and joke that the U.S. lawmakers traveled to Russia “to make deals with our hackers, so they can rig the midterms in favor of Trump’s team.” They gleefully anticipate that Putin will run circles around “political neophyte” Trump, “educating” him about world events from the Russian perspective.

(Julia Davis speaks Russian, and daily translates Russian state television’s utter contempt for Trump – as sucker and pawn – so that English-speaking readers will know, among other things, how little the Russians think of Trump. I’ve been following @JuliaDavisNews for quite some time – highly recommended.)

  Alec MacGillis contends This Is the World Mitch McConnell Gave Us:

His role in the election of Mr. Trump was even more direct. Most notable was his refusal to hold a confirmation hearing, let alone a vote on Merrick Garland, Mr. Obama’s nominee to replace Antonin Scalia on the Supreme Court, despite the fact that the nomination was made a full 10 months before the end of Mr. Obama’s term. This refusal exploded norms and dismayed Beltway arbiters who had long accepted Mr. McConnell’s claim to be a guardian of Washington institutions. It also provided crucial motivation to Republicans who had grave qualms about Mr. Trump but were able to justify voting for him as “saving Scalia’s seat.”

Mr. McConnell’s other form of aid for Mr. Trump was more hidden. As The Washington Post reported a month after the 2016 election, Mr. Obama had been prepared that September to go public with a C.I.A. assessment laying bare the extent of Russian intervention in the election. But he was largely dissuaded by a threat from Mr. McConnell. During a secret briefing for congressional leaders, The Post reported, Mr. McConnell “raised doubts about the underlying intelligence and made clear to the administration that he would consider any effort by the White House to challenge the Russians publicly an act of partisan politics.” The Obama administration kept mum, and voters had to wait until after Mr. Trump’s election to learn the depth of Russian involvement.

Now, with the retirement of Justice Anthony M. Kennedy, it is evident just how much of a lasting legacy Mitch McConnell’s will leave the country: Donald Trump will have at least two lifetime appointments to the Supreme Court. The president has — and will now enjoy — greater latitude in filling those seats as a result of Mr. McConnell’s doing away last year with the 60-vote requirement for Senate confirmation, to get Neil Gorsuch seated. In the day and a half before Justice Kennedy’s announcement, the impact of the Scalia seat was made plain again, as the court issued 5-4 rulings in favor of Mr. Trump’s “travel ban” and anti-abortion groups, and against public employee unions.

  Chuck Quirmbach reports Some Wisconsinites Will Watch World Cup With Passion For Ancestral Home (“Sunday’s Match Between France And Croatia To Be Seen On Big Screens Across The State”):

Anita Osvatic is a board member of the Croatian Eagles Soccer Club in Franklin, Wisconsin and is a second-generation Croatian-American.

Osvatic said there are about 15,000 people in Wisconsin of Croatian descent. Adding that for many of them, Sunday’s match is more than a sporting event.

….

Also watching, but at the French-themed Bastille Days in downtown Milwaukee, will be Fred Gillich.

He runs a T-shirt booth there, and is a longtime soccer fan. He says his ancestry goes back to the Alsace-Lorraine region of France and Germany.

Gillich said that while he’d prefer that the French team win Sunday’s match, he appreciates the Croatian team doing well as an  underdog.

  This is A Hidden Art Form You’ll Flip For:

Martin Frost is the last working fore-edge painter in the world. Dating back centuries, the delicate art form places intricate scenes on the side of books, cheekily hidden beneath gold gilded pages. The beautiful paintings are only visible to the trained eye, but once you unlock the secret, you’ll find pure magic.