September 10, 2025

New York Times: “Charlie Kirk, the head of Turning Point USA, the nation’s pre-eminent conservative youth organization, was shot while speaking at a campus event at Utah Valley University on Wednesday, a university spokeswoman and Mr. Kirk’s spokesman said. The university spokeswoman, Ellen Treanor, said that Mr. Kirk was struck about 20 minutes after he began speaking on campus. She said a suspect had fired at Mr. Kirk from the Losee Center, a building about 200 yards away, and been taken into custody. The suspect was not a student, she said. Ms. Treanor said Mr. Kirk’s security had taken him away after the shooting, and she did not have any information on his condition. Andrew Kolvet, a spokesman for Turning Point USA, confirmed that Mr. Kirk had been shot in the neck.” At 3:15 pm ET, this is the pinned item in a liveblog. ~~~

     ~~~ Update: Donald Trump just posted that Charlie Kirk has died. ~~~

    ~~~ NYT Update: “Charlie Kirk, a close ally of President Trump and the founder of the nation’s pre-eminent right-wing youth activist organization, was fatally shot on Wednesday while speaking at a campus event at Utah Valley University, his spokesman Andrew Kolvet said.... A university spokeswoman, Ellen Treanor, said that Mr. Kirk, 31, was struck about 20 minutes after he began speaking on the university’s campus in Orem, Utah. She said a suspect had fired at Mr. Kirk from the Losee Center, a building about 200 yards away. The university originally said the shooter had been taken into custody. But officials later determined that the person being detained by police officers in videos posted online was not the gunman, said another spokesman, Scott Trotter.” At 5:00 pm ET, this is is the pinned item.

Alan Feuer & Glenn Thrush of the New York Times: “The White House has exerted extraordinary influence over decisions at the F.B.I., issuing political loyalty tests and directly ordering the firings of agents targeted by ... [Donald] Trump and his allies, according to a lawsuit filed on Wednesday by three former bureau officials who accused the administration of illegally dismissing them. The sprawling suit, filed in Federal District Court in Washington, provides a disturbing account of what it describes as efforts by Mr. Trump’s top aides to strip the bureau of its century-long history of independence. It paints an unflattering portrait of the F.B.I. director, Kash Patel, as a middleman executing the orders of top Justice Department and White House officials, including Stephen Miller, Mr. Trump’s chief domestic policy adviser. The former officials who brought the suit — Brian J. Driscoll Jr., Steven J. Jensen and Spencer L. Evans — once occupied senior positions in the F.B.I. They accused Mr. Patel of dismissing them as part of 'a campaign of retribution' for their 'failure to demonstrate sufficient political loyalty.' 'Patel not only acted unlawfully but deliberately chose to prioritize politicizing the F.B.I. over protecting the American people,' the lawsuit said....

“The lawsuit describes Mr. Patel and his top deputy, Dan Bongino — right-wing influencers with far less experience than any of their predecessors — as almost cartoonish figures more interested in social media or handing out oversized 'challenge coins' than in running the day-to-day operations of the nation’s flagship law enforcement agency.” Politico's report is here. ~~~

   ~~~ You can read the lawsuit here (not firewalled). MB: I haven't scanned it yet, but Kyle Cheney & Josh Gerstein of Politico call it “an eye-popping indictment of the bureau by people who occupied some of its most senior and sensitive positions for years.”

Charlie Savage & Helene Cooper  of the New York Times: “A Venezuelan boat that the U.S. military destroyed in the Caribbean last week had altered its course and appeared to have turned around before the attack started because the people onboard had apparently spotted a military aircraft stalking it, according to American officials.... Mr. Trump announced the strike last week, saying it took place in international waters and had killed 11 people who he said were transporting drugs 'heading to the United States' and were part of a Venezuelan gang, Tren de Aragua.... While the White House has not provided a detailed legal rationale, it has put forward the outlines of a novel argument that using lethal military force was permissible under the laws of armed conflict to defend the country from drugs because 100,000 Americans die annually from overdoses.... Many legal specialists, including retired top military lawyers, have rejected the idea that Mr. Trump has legitimate authority to treat suspected drug smuggling as legally equivalent to an imminent armed attack on the United States. Even if one accepted that premise for the sake of argument, they added, if the boat had already turned away, that would further undermine what they saw as an already weak claim of self-defense.” Looks like a gift link.

Karen Tumulty of the Washington Post on the Atlantic excerpt (gift link below) of Kamala Harris's new book: “The headline is that she now regrets not having attempted to dissuade Biden from running for a second term.... But the excerpt also reveals, with uncharacteristic candor, Harris’s own resentment of how she was treated by Biden and his team over the four years that she served as his vice president. In her narrative, she was constantly being undercut by them, shoved into the background and rarely defended when she was under attack.... Biden’s team disputes that characterization. His former White House chief of staff Ron Klain told me in a text that he found the portrayal unfairly harsh.”

Alex Horton of the Washington Post: “The National Guard, in measuring public sentiment about ... Donald Trump’s federal takeover of Washington, D.C., has assessed that its mission is perceived as 'leveraging fear,' driving a 'wedge between citizens and the military,' and promoting a sense of 'shame' among some troops and veterans, according to internal documents reviewed by The Washington Post. The assessments ... underscore how domestic mobilizations that are rooted in politics risk damaging Americans’ confidence in the men and women who serve their communities in times of crisis. The documents reveal, too, with a rare candor in some cases, that military officials have been kept apprised that their mission is viewed by a segment of society as wasteful, counterproductive and a threat to long-standing precedent stipulating that U.S. soldiers — with rare exception — are to be kept out of domestic law enforcement matters.... A National Guard official acknowledged the documents are authentic but downplayed their sensitivity, saying the assessments are intended for internal use and were inadvertently emailed to The Post last week.” MB: Oops!

⭐Russia/Poland, et al. Michael Schwirtz & Qasim Nauman of the New York Times: “More than a dozen Russian drones entered Poland overnight, prompting NATO to scramble fighter jets to shoot them down in what Western officials described on Wednesday as a dangerous escalation of the war in neighboring Ukraine. It was the first time in the history of NATO that alliance fighters had engaged enemy targets in allied airspace, officials said. The drone incursion prompted Poland’s government to invoke Article 4 of the NATO treaty, a rarely used mechanism triggered when a member is under threat that prompts a formal discussion within the alliance.... The crossover into Poland came amid a large-scale drone and missile attack on Ukraine, officials said. According to the Ukrainian Air Force, as many as 415 drones were launched in that attack, and at least eight were detected crossing the border with Poland.” This is an update of a story linked earlier today. ~~~

     ~~~ Leo Sands & Victoria Bisset of the Washington Post: “Poland accused Russian forces of violating its airspace with hostile drones overnight in the course of conducting attacks on Ukrainian targets, and it activated Article 4 of NATO’s treaty.... Under NATO’s founding treaty, any member can unilaterally invoke Article 4. It allows allies to register their concerns but stops short of a formal request for assistance and does not oblige fellow members to take any action. Instead, it triggers a consultation mechanism — giving members a chance to 'exchange views and information, and discuss issues prior to reaching agreement and taking action.' This could pave the way for joint NATO action, but it does not necessitate it.”

Let's just buy Senate Republicans a big ole rubber stamp: ~~~

~~~ Colby Smith & Tony Romm of the New York Times: Donald “Trump’s pick to join the Federal Reserve moved a step closer to joining the central bank on Wednesday, as the Senate Banking Committee advanced his nomination to the full Senate despite mounting concerns about his commitment to upholding the institution’s longstanding political independence. The 13-11 vote could allow Stephen Miran to be in place for the Fed’s next two-day meeting, which takes place Sept. 16-17. Mr. Miran ... was tapped to fill what could be one of the shortest stints on the Board of Governors [-- about four months --] after Adriana Kugler abruptly stepped down from the Fed last month. He has moved through the confirmation process at warp speed as Republican lawmakers try to get him seated ahead of the Fed’s vote on interest rates next week.... But perhaps the biggest break with tradition involves Mr. Miran’s stated plans to remain tied to the White House while he serves at the Fed. Rather than resign his post advising the president on economic policy as chair of the Council of Economic Advisers, Mr. Miran said, he would instead take a unpaid leave of absence. That would enable him to return to the administration once his term at the central bank was complete.”

Massachusetts. Jenna Russell of the New York Times: “Mayor Michelle Wu won a majority of votes in Boston’s preliminary mayoral election on Tuesday, easily surpassing her closest competitor, Josh Kraft, a political newcomer.... Both will advance to the general election in November, according to The Associated Press. Boston holds a nonpartisan preliminary election instead of party primaries, with the goal of winnowing the field of candidates to two.... Early results showed Ms. Wu, a progressive Democrat who was the first woman and person of color elected to lead the city of 650,000, winning about 65 percent of the vote. Mr. Kraft, a fellow Democrat and philanthropist, had about 30 percent as of 9 p.m. The race between Ms. Wu, 40, and Mr. Kraft, 58, took a combative tone from the start. Mr. Kraft, a son of the New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft, has assailed the mayor for months with claims that she has snarled city traffic by expanding bike lanes, allowed the opioid crisis to fester unchecked and obscured ballooning costs of a contentious stadium redevelopment project. Ms. Wu has called attention to her rival’s privileged background and his recent move to the city from its upscale suburbs, criticizing him in a recent statement for his 'relentlessly negative campaign and his attempt to buy this election.'” ~~~

~~~ MEANWHILE, the swells are panicking over New York City's mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani. Thanks to Tim Miller of the Bulwark for the lead: ~~~

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Rebecca Robbins, et al., of the New York Times: Donald “Trump signed a memorandum on Tuesday directing his administration to revive a decades-old policy that is likely to sharply restrict advertising of prescription drugs on television. The move reflects one of the top priorities of the health secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who has repeatedly called for a ban on drug advertising on television. The policy change threatens to dent the revenues of pharmaceutical companies. The memorandum also stands to hit major television networks, which earn substantial revenue from pharmaceutical advertisers trying to reach older viewers.The proposal, which would effectively reverse a 1997 policy change that opened the floodgates to a deluge of TV drug advertising, is likely to be aggressively opposed by the drug industry, which has long had the courts on its side on this issue.” An ABC News story is here.

Thank You, Protesters! Tyler Pager of the New York Times: Donald “Trump ventured one-tenth of a mile beyond the gates of the White House for dinner on Tuesday night, only to be met almost immediately by protesters.... Mr. Trump made the short trek from the White House to Joe’s Seafood, Prime Steak & Stone Crab to show that his federal crackdown on crime in the nation’s capital was working. But as he made his way through the restaurant, protesters began to heckle him. 'Free D.C.,' they shouted, according to videos posted on social media. 'Free Palestine. Trump is the Hitler of our time.'” A Mediaite post is here. 

Matthew Goldstein, et al., of the New York Times: Another entry in the Epstein “birthday book” “was made by Joel Pashcow, the former chairman of a real estate company in New York and a member of Mar-a-Lago.... It shows a photograph of Mr. Pashcow at the resort with Mr. Epstein, another man and a woman whose face is redacted. Mr. Pashcow is holding an oversize check that appears to have been doctored, with a seemingly phony 'DJ TRUMP' signature. A handwritten note under the photo, which was taken in the 1990s, joked that Mr. Epstein ... had sold a 'fully depreciated' woman to Mr. Trump for $22,500. The woman, whose name is also redacted in the files released by the House Oversight Committee, was a European socialite then in her 20s.... She had briefly dated both Mr. Epstein and Mr. Trump around that time.... The birthday book entry appears to be a reference to the competition between the two men for the woman’s affections.” ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Affections? Really? I don't think lowlifes Trump & Epstein were interested in the woman's affections. Pashcow's "joke" is indicative of Trump's and Epstein's -- and his own -- view of women as cheap slaves/commodities to be passed around and sold at devalued prices if men had bedded them or if they had grown too old. This isn't funny; it's disgusting. A Guardian story is here.

 

     ~~~ BTW, check out the "signature" on the check. That's the way people "forged" Trump's signature -- there was no attempt to make it look like Trump's real signature. ~~~

     ~~~ Jonathan Last of the Bulwark posts some entries from the Epstein "birthday book." Only the first part of his post is available to nonsubscribers: "When you read the book compiled by Jeffrey Epstein’s friends for his fiftieth birthday, they have a clear shorthand understanding of the man: Jeffrey is super-rich. He likes having sex with very young girls. Those are the two themes that show up over and over again.... These are not the descriptions of a normal, well-adjusted 50-year-old man. They are the descriptions of a sociopath. A predator.... It is clear from the entries in this book that Epstein’s friends knew he was a predator, saw his sociopathy as one of his two defining features, and celebrated it.... Donald Trump knew all about Jeffrey Epstein. He was at least complicit in Epstein’s criminality. And eventually, we will know if he was more than complicit." ~~~

     ~~~ “You Really Need to See Epstein's Birthday Book for Yourself.” Charlie Warzel of the Atlantic: “The Trump letter ... is far from the most disturbing or lecherous of the book’s contents. A section titled 'Brooklyn' includes recollections of Epstein’s horrible sexual escapades, apparently including making a maid watch people have sex and holding a knife up while telling women to take off their swimsuits on a boat — a story told in the book under the heading 'Girls on My Boat.' Given what we know about Epstein’s sex crimes, including his sex crimes against minors, the birthday book is a sickening document.... Epstein’s friends, 'girlfriends,' and business acquaintances offer lurid tributes to the pedophilic multimillionaire in the form of acrostic poems, drawings, and letters extolling him as 'a liver, a lover,' and, affectionately, the 'Degenerate One.'” Read on. Thank you to akaWendy for this gift link. ~~~

     ~~~ You can link to the pdf file here (click on Request No. 1). ~~~

~~~ Annie Karni of the New York Times: “After a congressional committee on Monday released a note and sexually suggestive drawing from Jeffrey Epstein’s lewd birthday book with what appeared to be the president’s signature, Republicans on Capitol Hill ... claimed they had not seen something that was circulating widely online and dominating cable news, while those who conceded that it had crossed their radars echoed Mr. Trump’s assertion that the whole thing was 'fake.' '“I haven’t seen it,' Representative Jim Jordan of Ohio, the chairman of the Judiciary Committee, told CNN of the drawing and signature.... Speaker Mike Johnson, who did not emerge from his office on Monday in the hours after the drawing was released...,  eventually said..., 'I’ve heard about it,' Mr. Johnson conceded to a PBS reporter who tailed him through the Capitol on Tuesday after his weekly news conference. 'But no. And the White House say it’s not true. So.' So, indeed.” ~~~

~~~ Garrett Hague & Megan Lebowitz of NBC News: “... Donald Trump declined to discuss the letter to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein that House Democrats released on Monday, calling it a 'dead issue.'” MB: Wait a minute. How can something that Trump still says is worth $10BB be a “dead issue”? Trump “filed a $10 billion lawsuit against The Wall Street Journal for earlier reporting on his link to the letter.” Yesterday, Karoline Leavitt wrote on X, “President Trump’s legal team will continue to aggressively pursue litigation.” (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

~~~ Update. Michelle Stoddart, et al., of ABC News: "... Donald Trump offered his first on-camera reaction to a drawing and signature in Jeffrey Epstein's 50th 'birthday book' which he allegedly signed in 2003 -- denying completely that what is in the book is his signature or his 'language,' while speaking to reporters outside of Joe's Seafood in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday night. 'It's not my signature. And it's not the way I speak. And anybody that's covered me for a long time, knows -- that's not my language,' Trump said, when asked about the matter by ABC's Hannah Demissie. 'It's nonsense,' he added."

Here's how one of Trump's corrupt pardons is working out: ~~~

     ~~~ Matthew Chapman of the Raw Story: "A drug dealer whom ... Donald Trump controversially granted clemency to in 2021 once again faces violent criminal charges following a long string of other arrests in the intervening years. According to The Daily Beast, Jonathan Braun 'faces up to five years in prison if [convicted] for all of the new crimes,' which include 'allegedly swinging an IV pole at a hospital nurse, harassing a family nanny, and evading at least 75 tolls in his white Lamborghini and black Ferrari.' Braun, who has been arrested five times since being released and is currently under federal lockup, has also been found guilty of violating his parole.... This is the latest in a long line of people Trump pardoned or commuted who went on to get in further legal trouble." Braun had connections to Charles Kushner, our illustrious Ambassador to France & Monaco, whom Trump also pardoned for a variety of crimes for which he served time.

Lauren Gurley of the Washington Post: “Job growth the year ending in March was far weaker than previously reported by the federal government, in a warning sign that the labor market had soured more than expected under President Joe Biden and the first few months of ... Donald Trump’s term. U.S. employers created 911,000 fewer jobs from April 2024 through March 2025 than initial reports showed, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, in the biggest initial revision to federal jobs data on record going back to 2000. The figures are preliminary and will be finalized early next year.... The revisions are part of a routine annual process, in which monthly jobs figures based on surveys of businesses are adjusted based on more comprehensive statistics from state unemployment office records.” The AP story is here. (Also linked yesterday.) 

Ana Swanson of the New York Times: “Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick has been putting the squeeze on companies and trading partners in an unusual effort to raise revenue and expand the president’s role over the economy.... In recent months, Mr. Trump has announced a series of convention-bashing moves that have expanded the economic reach of the government into corporate America.... Mr. Lutnick has publicly praised Mr. Trump for these moves, applauding his deal-making and leadership. But Mr. Lutnick ... has played an important role in facilitating and, in some instances, thinking up these plans. As commerce secretary and a top official in charge of Mr. Trump’s trade negotiations, Mr. Lutnick has an array of powerful economic levers to deploy. They include threatening to impose tariffs on goods like cars, chips and steel; halting manufacturing grants; and withholding licenses to export.”

 

     ~~~ Thanks to RAS for the link.  

Jesse Drucker of the New York Times: “The Trump administration is quietly dismantling efforts by the Internal Revenue Service to shut down a slew of aggressive tax shelters used by America’s biggest multinational companies and wealthiest people. The administration, bowing to pressure from industry groups, right-wing activists and congressional Republicans, is quickly rolling back several I.R.S. law enforcement efforts, including one aimed at a lucrative tax shelter used by companies like Occidental Petroleum and AT&T. The I.R.S. crackdown was projected to raise more than $100 billion over 10 years. In April, the I.R.S. said it would rescind Biden administration rules that had required companies using such tax strategies to report them to the agency, a change making it more difficult for auditors to find the transactions. The agency also eased a pair of rules that target abusive shelters, including one that imposes penalties on wealthy Americans who used an insurance tax scheme that multiple courts have tossed out.” (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: So that's $100BB more ordinary taxpayers will have to shell out. (More, if we don't pay our bills on time and have to borrow. But thank goodness, rich people & big corporations are spared.)

Dani Blum, et al., of the New York Times: “For all of Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s high-profile moves over the last few weeks, a new report from the 'Make America Healthy Again' commission he leads released Tuesday arrived with little fanfare — or teeth. The White House commission report, which outlines strategies to combat childhood chronic disease, lands at a time when the health secretary has plunged the nation’s public health apparatus into chaos.... In the report, Mr. Kennedy has returned to his usual talking points: that American children are sick, stressed and screen-addicted, and that corporate interests and prescription medications are to blame. It is the clearest articulation yet of how the administration plans to carry out the aims of the MAHA movement.... It demonstrates both the ambitions and limits of his agenda.” The AP report is here.

Thank You, Protesters! Gino Finelli of WXXI (Rochester, NY): “Federal immigration agents were seemingly forced to retreat from a roofing job site Tuesday in the Park Avenue neighborhood [of Rochester, NY??] after being confronted by more than 100 protesters. The group shouted 'shame' and 'Gestapo,' and applauded as agents in the ICE-led action drove a Border Patrol SUV away on four flat tires, which had been slashed. One of the roofers was taken into custody, but agents left others apparently unchecked on the rooftop of the Westminster Road rental house.... Roofing contractor Clayton Baker identified the man taken into custody by ICE as 'Chino,' one of his employees. Baker said the man has been in the United States for about 25 years and had legal documentation to work.... Rochester’s sanctuary status already has drawn the attention of Trump’s Border Czar Tom Homan and the Department of Justice, with a federal lawsuit filed by the administration against Mayor Malik Evans and City Council President Miguel Meléndez over the policy.” Read the story for Baker's full remarks.

Ann Marimow & Adam Liptak of the New York Times: “The Supreme Court on Tuesday agreed to fast-track review of the Trump administration’s sweeping tariffs, accepting a case that will test the limits of executive power and the president’s signature economic initiative. The court set a brisk briefing schedule and said it would hear arguments in early November. A federal appeals court last month invalidated many of ... [Donald] Trump’s punishing global tariffs, saying the law he relied on did not authorize the administration’s program. The import taxes remain in effect while the litigation continues. In a 7-to-4 ruling in late August, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit said the president had unlawfully used the International Emergency Economic Powers Act to impose steep taxes on major U.S. trading partners.”

John Fritze of CNN: “Justice Brett Kavanaugh’s breezy suggestion this week that Americans who are roughed up by ICE can sue agents in federal court is drawing pushback from civil rights attorneys who note the Supreme Court’s conservative majority has in recent years made those cases nearly impossible to win. Writing to explain the court’s emergency ruling Monday that allowed the Trump administration to continue 'roving' immigration patrols in Southern California, Kavanaugh brushed aside concerns that masked ICE agents had pushed, shoved and detained Hispanics.... 'To the extent that excessive force has been used,' Kavanaugh wrote in a 10-page concurrence, 'the Fourth Amendment prohibits such action, and remedies should be available in federal court.'” ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: The question goes far beyond cases where federal agents rough up "suspects." According to O'Kavanaugh (no Irish need apply), a person's appearance, his fluency in a language other than English, and/or his whereabouts (Home Depot parking lot), are reasons to suspect him of being in the U.S. unlawfully. I'm sure we all either are or know U.S. citizens who are not violent criminals who meet one or more of these "suspect" criteria. Why should masked ICE agents be allowed to humiliate, detain & possibly arrest us for walking across a parking lot or "looking Hispanic" or speaking another language? That is the Fourth Amendment violation, O'Kavanaugh, as Justice Sotomayor spelled out to you.

     ~~~ Marie: The Bill of Rights appears in the U.S. Constitution in the form of amendments -- rather than in the body of the document -- for a reason. Most of the founders didn't think it necessary to include them in the Constitution. They did so only after the fact when it became clear that all the states and the Congress wouldn't ratify the new Constitution without these guarantees. The idea that some of these rights are unnecessary has endured, and confederates particularly think individual rights should be squelched -- except in cases where the rights inure to their benefit. O'Kavanaugh is pretty sure ICE won't be coming after him, so he finds the Fourth Amendment to be superfluous. ~~~

     ~~~⭐digby quotes some people & has some thoughts. Read it all. Thanks to RAS for the link. 

Colby Smith & Tony Romm of the New York Times: “A federal judge late Tuesday temporarily blocked ... [Donald] Trump from removing Lisa Cook from the Federal Reserve’s Board of Governors, allowing her to continue serving as she contests her recent dismissal. The decision dealt a blow to Mr. Trump, who had tried to fire Ms. Cook over allegations that she had falsified documents related to her mortgages, even though she had not been charged or convicted of a crime.... The decision from Judge Jia M. Cobb of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia marked only the first salvo in what is likely to be a lengthy legal battle over the president’s ability to remove a Fed official 'for cause,' a term generally understood to mean professional neglect or wrongdoing.” The NBC News story is here.

Patrick Marley of the Washington Post: “A Michigan judge threw out charges Tuesday against Republicans who claimed to be presidential electors for Donald Trump in a state he lost in the 2020 election.... A month after Trump lost the 2020 race, his supporters gathered in Michigan and other swing states and signed documents claiming they were the state’s presidential electors. That paperwork was forwarded to the National Archives and used to argue Congress should certify Trump as the winner or withhold certification while the results were reviewed. Those claims fueled the riot at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.... At a hearing Tuesday, Ingham County Judge Kristen Simmons determined prosecutors had not shown that the Republicans had intended to defraud anyone and dismissed the cases. 'I don’t believe there’s evidence to prove intent,' she said from the bench.” (Also linked yesterday.)

David Gilmour of Mediaite: “Kamala Harris has offered her most scathing assessment yet of former President Joe Biden’s fateful 2024 decision to remain in the presidential race, calling it 'recklessness,' while fuming that Democrats were burdened by the then-president’s 'ego' and 'ambition' to back his campaign. The former vice president-turned-2024 Democratic presidential nominee unloaded in a first-look excerpt from her forthcoming book 107 Days published in The Atlantic on Wednesday, an account of her brief campaign sprint. “‘It’s Joe and Jill’s decision.” We all said that, like a mantra, as if we’d all been hypnotized,' Harris wrote.... 'Was it grace, or was it recklessness? In retrospect, I think it was recklessness. The stakes were simply too high. This wasn’t a choice that should have been left to an individual’s ego, an individual’s ambition.'” ~~~

     ~~~ Update: Here's a gift link -- courtesy of akaWendy -- to the excerpt of Harris's book that appears in the Atlantic. ~~~ 

     ~~~ Marie: Here's what I think Biden's big mistake was: ~~~ 

     ~~~ Reid Epstein & Tyler Pager of the New York Times (August 1, 2025): “Mike Donilon, the longtime strategist and confidant for former President Joseph R. Biden Jr., told congressional investigators Thursday that he would have received a $4 million bonus had Mr. Biden won re-election last year. That shows how Mr. Donilon held a financial interest in Mr. Biden’s remaining in the presidential race, all while Mr. Donilon was part of a very small inner circle of aides who kept damaging information from Mr. Biden.” MB: Sorry, but you don't dangle a $4MM prize in front of somebody -- even somebody who is already wealthy -- and expect him to ignore it.

A Remarkable Wedding Announcement. Michael Levenson of the New York Times: “Oliver L. North, a decorated former Marine and onetime national security aide in the Reagan administration, and Fawn Hall, his former secretary, were married in Virginia last month, four decades after they became central figures in the arms-for-cash scandal known as the Iran-Contra affair. Mr. North, 81, and Ms. Hall, 65, were married on Aug. 27 in a civil ceremony in Arlington County.... The wedding was reported on Substack by the journalist Michael Isikoff.... Mr. North’s wife of 56 years and the mother of their four children, died in November at age 80. Ms. Hall had previously been married to Danny Sugerman, a manager of the rock band the Doors, who died of lung cancer in 2005 at age 50.... Sarah Katz, one of Mr. North’s daughters, said she and her three siblings were 'not aware' that their father was in a relationship with Ms. Hall.”

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California. Vivian Ho & Joshua Partlow of the Washington Post: “A group of California’s beloved giant sequoia trees in an isolated grove in the central part of the state appear to have survived a major wildfire, although a few lingering embers were lodged in some of the branches, a spokesman for the U.S. Forest Service said Tuesday. A crew of wildland firefighters specializing in parachuting into fire zones is expected to climb the sequoias to extinguish those last smoldering bits, Joe Zwierzchowski said.”

Virginia. Reid Epstein of the New York Times: “A Northern Virginia Democrat coasted to victory in a special election on Tuesday for the U.S. House seat left vacant after the death of former Representative Gerald E. Connolly, an expected result that will slightly narrow the party’s deficit in the chamber. James Walkinshaw, a former chief of staff to Mr. Connolly who won his former boss’s endorsement shortly before he died in May, defeated Stewart Whitson, a Republican lobbyist for a conservative think tank, according to The Associated Press. Mr. Walkinshaw, 42, who is an elected member of the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors, is the first Democrat to win a House special election since ... [Donald] Trump took office in January.... The district, most of which sits in Fairfax County across the Potomac River from the capital, has been solid Democratic territory since Mr. Connolly was first elected to Congress in 2008. Mr. Connolly carried at least two-thirds of the vote in each election since 2016.” The AP's report is here. ~~~

     ~~~ BTW, Ali Vitali of MSNBC noted this morning that Walkinshaw might provide the 218th vote needed to bring a discharge petition in the House to force the release of the huge trove of Epstein documents and other materials. 

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France. Catherine Porter of the New York Times: “France’s newest prime minister was preparing to take office on Wednesday as small groups of protesters across the country blocked highways, roundabouts and bridges.... The day of protest, a rejection of proposed austerity measures that is fueled by anger against President Emmanuel Macron, has been expected for weeks. But it arrived at a moment of extreme political volatility, less than 48 hours after the government lost a confidence vote and collapsed, opening a sudden vacuum of power. Mr. Macron moved swiftly to fill it, appointing Sébastien Lecornu, formerly the defense minister, as the new prime minister, late on Tuesday. Mr. Lecornu is expected to begin the job around midday. By naming a center-right ally, and a proven loyalist, Mr. Macron appeared to double down on an approach that has burned through two short-lived governments over the past year.”

Israel/Palestine, et al. Louisa Loveluck of the Washington Post: “Israel’s defense minister vowed Wednesday to continue attacks on its enemies 'everywhere,' a day after its attempt to assassinate Hamas’s leaders in the Qatari capital, Doha, appeared not to kill senior figures.... The Israeli airstrike Tuesday on the villa of Hamas chief Khalil al-Hayya, who was leading indirect ceasefire negotiations with Israel, upended diplomatic efforts to end the war in Gaza — where starvation looms and local health authorities say that more than 64,000 Palestinians have been killed — and to free Israeli hostages held for almost two years in the enclave.” ~~~

~~~ Erica Green of the New York Times: Donald “Trump said on Tuesday that he found out about Israel’s airstrike in Qatar from the United States military, rather than Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, whom he often describes as both a friend and his strongest ally in the Middle East.... Each time [Mr. Netanyahu has failed to notify Washington of an impending attack], he has learned that Mr. Trump and his administration will grumble about it as they did on Tuesday, but ultimately decide to let it pass unpunished. On Tuesday afternoon, Mr. Trump emphasized that the Israelis had left the United States in the dark again. 'I was very unhappy about it — very unhappy about every aspect,' he said. 'We’ve got to get the hostages back. But I was very unhappy about the way that went down.'”

Russia/Poland. Qasim Nauman of the New York Times: “Poland said on Wednesday that it had shot down Russian drones that entered its airspace during a massive attack on targets across the border in Ukraine, calling it an 'act of aggression' by Moscow. Poland and NATO air forces launched warplanes and put ground-based air defenses on high alert, the Polish military said, adding that Dutch F-35 fighters had taken part in the response. It said that drones had repeatedly violated the country’s airspace after Russia began a wave of strikes in Ukraine, near the Polish border. There were no immediate reports of casualties in Poland. The military did not say how many drones had entered the country’s airspace or how many were shot down. The military said it was looking for crash sites.” The Guardian's report is here. MB: Yes, Poland is a NATO country. An attack on one is an attack on all. How 'bout that, Donald?