Good morning.

Monday in Whitewater will be partly sunny with a high of seventy-six. Sunrise is 5:15 AM and sunset 8:35 PM, for 15h 19m 44s of daytime.  The moon is a waning crescent with 29.5% of its visible disk illuminated.

Whitewater’s Library Board meets via audiovisual conferencing at 6:30 PM.

On this day in 1215, King John of England puts his seal to Magna Carta.

Recommended for reading in full —

Asawin Suebsaeng and Lachlan Markay report Trump Aides Know His Polls Are Terrible—And Tell Him Otherwise:

This past week, Donald Trump’s campaign did what one senior aide on the president’s 2020 team described to The Daily Beast as the “dumbest thing I’ve read in a long time.”

In a cease-and-desist letter dated June 9, 2020, the president’s re-election staff demanded that CNN retract and apologize for a recently released poll that had presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden leading Trump by 14 points. The letter, which the cable news network immediately laughed off, heavily cited the work of Trump pollster John McLaughlin, whose company alleged that CNN had somehow engaged in a “defamatory” act of “misinformation” and deliberately “skewed” data in an attempt to depress the president’s supporters.

….

In the characterization of one source close to the president, a chunk of the re-election team focuses on proving to the president that his “dumpster-fire numbers” aren’t as bad as they seem, or reinforcing Trump’s conviction that pollsters get it wrong “all the time.”

But not everyone on Team Trump is buying the spin. In fact, efforts to pacify the president about the polls and his campaign’s position ahead of November have been undercut from within, with several key advisers making personal entreaties to Trump in the past few weeks to try to convince him that he should not brush off the numbers, even unpleasant ones that comes from news organizations such as CNN.

“I have told the president that the numbers are real and that I believe he can and will win, but that right now it looks bad,” said a Republican who recently spoke to Trump. “He said, ‘Come on, don’t you know that’s all fake?’ But in a lot of these internal numbers [that I’ve seen], we’re way down right now.”

 Catherine Rampell writes Trump wasted so much money harassing immigrants that his immigration agency needs a bailout:

The immigration agency admonishing immigrants to pull themselves up by their bootstraps seems to have destroyed its own boots.

For three years, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services — the federal agency that processes visas, work permits and naturalizations — has lectured immigrants about how they should become more self-sufficient. It has alleged, without evidence, that too many immigrants are on the dole. (Actually, immigrants pay more in taxes than they receive in federal benefits, and the foreign-born use fewer federal benefits than do their native-born counterparts.)

The agency implemented a broad, and likely illegal, rule allegedly designed to weed out immigrants who might ever be tempted to become a “public charge” and try to benefit from taxpayer largesse.

Well, now USCIS is broke — and is trying to become a “public charge” itself, by begging Congress for a bailout.

Can Kohl’s Survive?:

Good morning.

Sunday in Whitewater will be mostly sunny with a high of seventy. Sunrise is 5:15 AM and sunset 8:35 PM, for 15h 19m 24s of daytime.  The moon is a waning crescent with 38.1% of its visible disk illuminated.

On this day in 1855, Robert M. La Follette is born.

Recommended for reading in full —

 David Roberts writes The Tom Cotton op-ed affair shows why the media must defend America’s values:

Last week, the New York Times editorial page published an op-ed by Arkansas Sen. Tom Cotton calling for a wide-scale military crackdown on riots and looting that broke out on the periphery of protests against police brutality.

….

The small-l liberal model is roughly as follows: Certain shared values and rules, enshrined in America’s founding documents and developed in its social and legal traditions, define the small-d democratic playing field. Values like respect for accuracy and shared facts, devotion to equality under law and democratic participation, and opposition to unlawful power are necessary to create a level playing field, but on that field, ideas about government and issues of the day should compete on merit. The more speech the better; let the best speech win. (Obviously I’m describing the liberal ideal, never actually reached in practice, either journalistically or politically.)

To act with good faith in this model is to accept those shared values, rules, and norms and agree to compete within the boundaries of the playing field — to play by the rules. The marketplace of ideas only works if it is open to any idea that conforms to those rules and closed to ideas that reject them.

Here’s the thing, though. While Cotton very deftly exploited the liberal tolerance that Sulzberger and Bennet are so proud of to get his piece published, he does not share that tolerance. The movement he represents — he is often identified as the “future of Trumpism” — is ethnocentric and authoritarian. It is about maintaining the power and status of rural and suburban white people, even as they dwindle demographically, by allying with large corporate interests and using the levers of government to entrench minority rule.

Such a movement is incommensurate with the shared premises that small-l liberals take for granted. Minority rule is incompatible with full democratic participation. A revanchist movement meant to restore power to a privileged herrenvolk cannot abide shared standards of accuracy or conduct. Will to power takes precedent over any principle.

 Jim Brunner reports Fox News runs digitally altered images in coverage of Seattle’s protests, Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone:

Fox News published digitally altered and misleading photos on stories about Seattle’s Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone (CHAZ) in what photojournalism experts called a clear violation of ethical standards for news organizations.

As part of a package of stories Friday about the zone, where demonstrators have taken over several city blocks on Capitol Hill after Seattle police abandoned the East Precinct, Fox’s website for much of the day featured a photo of a man standing with a military-style rifle in front of what appeared to be a smashed retail storefront.

The image was actually a mashup of photos from different days, taken by different photographers — it was done by splicing a Getty Images photo of an armed man, who had been at the protest zone June 10, with other images from May 30 of smashed windows in downtown Seattle. Another altered image combined the gunman photo with yet another image, making it appear as though he was standing in front of a sign declaring “You are now entering Free Cap Hill.”

Fox’s site had no disclaimers revealing the photos had been manipulated. The network removed the images after inquiries from The Seattle Times.

In addition, Fox’s site for a time on Friday ran a frightening image of a burning city, above a package of stories about Seattle’s protests, headlined “CRAZY TOWN.” The photo actually showed a scene from St. Paul, Minnesota, on May 30. That image also was later removed.

A stolen #Banksy artwork has been recovered, over 870 miles from where it was originally painted:

Good morning.

Saturday in Whitewater will be mostly sunny with a high of sixty-eight. Sunrise is 5:15 AM and sunset 8:34 PM, for 15h 19m 01s of daytime.  The moon is a waning crescent with 47.7% of its visible disk illuminated.

On this day in 1971, the New York Times begins publication of the Pentagon Papers.

Recommended for reading in full —

Todd Gitlin contends This isn’t 1968. It’s 1969 (‘Today’s movement more closely resembles the antiwar Moratorium protests than the unrest of the previous year’):

Yes, there is something of 1968 in 2020. But the 1968 synapse oversimplifies greatly. The uprising underway now signals a vastly more popular and widespread movement reminiscent of the great outpouring of anti-Vietnam War action in October and November 1969, under the aegis of a national project called the Moratorium, which, amid outrage long in the making, cried out: Enough.

Even as the country’s largest radical organization of the 1960s, Students for a Democratic Society, broke up into warring “revolutionary” factions, the majority of war opponents, rallied by unsung leaders, turned to congenial tactics. The issue was different from today’s, but the ecumenical spirit, the resolve and the conviction about the need for a new political start were similar. Then as now, the rallies expressed both solidarity and self-interest. In 1969, with the draft in force, many in the Moratorium crowds had a huge personal stake, though many did not. Today, black protesters have the most obvious stakes, but whites in the far-flung crowds, under a broad range of leaders, are also moved selflessly and morally.

(About this Gitlin is easily right: these protests are overwhelmingly peaceful.)

Benjamin Parker asks Where is the DOJ Civil Rights Division? (‘Policing the police is a core reason the Department of Justice exists in the first place. But Attorney General Barr continues to defend the questionable actions of federal law enforcement officers’):

While the office of the attorney general dates from the Judiciary Act of 1789, the Department of Justice wasn’t created until 1870. Formed amid Reconstruction, its first tasks were to enforce the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments. The key provision of the 14th Amendment, then and now, is its mandate that

No state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any state deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.

In other words, the Justice Department was tasked with defending the civil rights of newly freed African Americans from infractions committed by the states.

The Civil Rights Act of 1957 recommitted the Justice Department to oversight of state and local law enforcement by creating the Civil Rights Division, which “works to uphold the civil and constitutional rights of all Americans, particularly some of the most vulnerable members of our society.”

Now would seem like a particularly busy time for the Civil Rights Division, considering how frequently images of Americans being bullied, beaten, tear-gassed, and even arrested for exercising their First Amendment rights have become in the past few weeks.

 Video from Space – Weekly Highlights – Week of June 7, 2020:

Good morning.

Friday in Whitewater will be partly sunny with a high of seventy-seven. Sunrise is 5:15 AM and sunset 8:34 PM, for 15h 18m 33s of daytime.  The moon is a waning gibbous with 57.4% of its visible disk illuminated.

Whitewater’s Fire Department Board meets via Zoom at 5:30 PM.

On this day in 1944, American paratroopers of the 101st Airborne Division secure the town of Carentan, Normandy, France.

Recommended for reading in full —

Michael Collins and David Jackson report Tickets for Trump campaign rally include liability disclaimer about possible exposure to coronavirus:

Want tickets to President Donald Trump’s campaign rally next week in Oklahoma? Then you’ve got to agree you won’t sue him if you contract coronavirus.

The sign-up page for free tickets on the Trump campaign website comes with a liability waiver that says the campaign or other parties associated with the event next Friday at the BOK Center in Tulsa cannot be held liable for exposure to coronavirus.

“By clicking register below, you are acknowledging that an inherent risk of exposure to COVID-19 exists in any public place where people are present,” the waiver says.

“By attending the Rally, you and any guests voluntarily assume all risks related to exposure to COVID-19 and agree not to hold Donald J. Trump for President, Inc.; BOK Center; ASM Global; or any of their affiliates, directors, officers, employees, agents, contractors, or volunteers liable for any illness or injury.”

The event, which the Trump campaign officially announced Thursday, will be Trump’s first campaign rally since nationwide lockdowns took effect in March to slow the spread of COVID-19 and comes as the disease continues to rage across the country.

The disease already has infected 2 million Americans and killed nearly 114,000. Public health officials have warned that large gatherings could cause it to spread further.

(Emphasis added.)

  Justin Baragona and Will Sommer report on Lara Logan, the Fox ‘Investigative Journalist’ Who Keeps Falling for Antifa Hoaxes:

On May 31, for example, Logan tweeted out an image of a document she alleged to be an antifa battle plan, claiming they had infiltrated law enforcement and provided a “riot” manual for protesters.

“For those of you still in denial about who is directing & controlling the protests – take a close look at this,” Logan tweeted.

That document, however, was merely a recirculated version of a hoax first peddledduring the April 2015 Baltimore riots over Freddie Gray’s death in police custody. There’s no proof that the overwrought document, which urges antifa activists to communicate with “agitorg” leaders and rendezvous at a mystery location called “GAMMA PRIME,” is real.

Fox News and Logan didn’t respond to requests for comment.

The following day, Logan posted a picture of a tweet purporting to come from a national antifa group threatening to terrorize majority-white neighborhoods. The tweet she cited read: “Tonight’s the night, Comrades…Tonight we say ‘Fuck The City’ and we move into the residential areas… the white hoods…. and we take what’s ours,” along with a black raised-fist emoji.

That tweet turned out to have come from a fake account linked to white-nationalist group Identity Europa posing as antifa while calling for violence. The fake antifa account even included the acronym “I.E.” in its logo, a clear reference to its ties to Identity Europa.

Wagner in a car park: Berlin opera adapts to COVID-19:

Good morning.

Thursday in Whitewater will partly sunny with a high of seventy-eight. Sunrise is 5:15 AM and sunset 8:33 PM, for 15h 18m 00s of daytime.  The moon is a waning gibbous with 67.1% of its visible disk illuminated.

On this day in 1776, the Continental Congress appoints a Committee of Five to draft a declaration of independence.

Recommended for reading in full —

Steven Vladeck writes Why Were Out-of-State National Guard Units in Washington, D.C.? The Justice Department’s Troubling Explanation:

Over the previous week, thousands of National Guard troops from states across the country arrived in Washington, D.C., as part of the Trump administration’s response to the largely peaceful protests taking place across the city. After a great deal of controversy—including an argument over whether troops were allegedly kicked out of their hotels by D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser—they have now departed back to their home states. But under what legal authority were they deployed to D.C. in the first place? The answer was not obvious, and the administration initially remained silent as to its reasoning. Now, in a letter to Mayor Bowser, Attorney General William Barr has cleared up that mystery, explaining that the out-of-state National Guard troops were there under the authority of 32 U.S.C. § 502(f).

In solving one mystery, however, Barr unearthed several more. One of two things is true: Either § 502(f) does not authorize the use of out-of-state National Guard troops in the manner in which they were deployed in Washington last week, or it does—and is therefore a stunningly broad authorization for the president to use the military at any time and for any reason, including as a backdoor around the Posse Comitatus Act. Simply put, either Barr is wrong, or he’s right—in which case Congress should immediately close the loophole he’s identified (and, apparently, seized upon).

Masha Gessen describes Donald Trump’s Fascist Performance:

Trump thinks power sounds like this: “Our country always wins. That is why I am taking immediate Presidential action to stop the violence and restore security and safety in America . . . dominate the streets . . . establish an overwhelming law-enforcement presence. . . . If a city or state refuses . . . I will deploy the United States military and quickly solve the problem for them. . . . We are putting everybody on warning. . . . One law and order and that is what it is. One law—we have one beautiful law.” To Trump, power sounds like the word “dominate,” repeated over and over on a leaked call with governors. It sounds like the silence of the men in uniform when they are asked who they are.

Trump got these ideas from television and Hollywood movies, and he had the intuition to recognize them. He knew what he wanted to imitate. We know that he likes the military and its parades. (A senior Administration official, speaking with the Daily Beast, attempted to downplay the President’s interest in tanks: “I think that is just one of the military words he knows.”) Perhaps he has seen many movies that feature the Black Hawk, that monster of military-industrial production, the metal embodiment of brute force. Perhaps Trump heard that, when Russia occupied Crimea, it flooded the peninsula with men in unmarked uniforms—they dominated without ever identifying themselves. Perhaps he heard the word “dominate” in his recent telephone conversation with Vladimir Putin.