This week, Tucker Carlson calls white supremacy a hoax, just like the Russia thing. Maybe he meant that white supremacy is not a hoax just the way the Russia thing is not a hoax. It is so far past time for ALL of us to take a stand against white supremacy. Any of you who still pretend it’s not a thing need to take a deep look inside about why it’s so important to hold on to the idea that we don’t have a white supremacist problem in this country. Because we do. We really, really do.

Here’s what happened in politics in the week ending August 11…

Shootings This Week:

1. Here’s a list of the week‘s mass shootings (defined as killing or injuring four or more people):

• • A drive-by shooter in Chicago injures six people.
  • Another drive-by in Chicago injures four people.
  • A drive-by shooter in San Francisco injures four people.
  • A shooter injures four people near Richmond, VA, outside a hotel and bar.
  • Two people are dead and two injured in a shooting connected to a traffic accident in St. Louis.
  • A shooter kills one person and injures three at an altercation following a funeral in Maryland.
  • A shooter or multiple shooters injure four people at a community vigil in Brooklyn.
  • And a near miss in Springfield, MO. After an alert Walmart clerk pulls the fire alarm to get people out of the store, a former firefighter detains a man armed with tactical weapons, body armor, and over 100 rounds of ammunition.

2. Trump calls for stronger background checks, but earlier he threatened to veto House legislation that strengthened background checks.
3. Gun rights supporters single out mental health as the big issue in gun violence, but only a small fraction of mass shooters have a previous history of mental illness (and most mentally ill aren’t violent). The most common factors of mass shooters are:

• • Strong sense of resentment
  • Desire for infamy
  • Domestic violence
  • Study of other shooters
  • Narcissism (not to be confused with Narcissistic Personality Disorder, which is a mental illness)
  • Misogyny (so if you think the Incel movement is nothing to worry about, think again)
  • Access to firearms

4. Trump speaks out against white supremacy, bigotry, and hatred, and says we need to do something about gun safety… and that maybe we should tie that together with immigration reform. I’m not sure what the two have to do with each other.
5. Whoops! Trump refers to Toledo instead of Dayton in his speech. And then Joe Biden refers to Houston instead of El Paso, and to Michigan instead of Ohio.
6. Trump calls for unity in his speech, but then later that day he and his staff were back to targeting his perceived political opponents, including those affected by the shootings.
7. Trump tweets that the Dayton shooter supported Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, and Antifa. Police haven’t determined a political motive for that particular shooting, though violent misogyny seems to have played a part.
8. None of the El Paso shooting victims are willing to meet with Trump, so they make a photo op by bringing in the baby whose parents were both killed in the shooting.
9. FBI Director Christopher Wray orders the FBI to conduct a threat assessment to help find and stop possible mass shootings in the future. They’ll work to identify threats similar to the recent shootings and hopefully stop them before they occur.
10. The FBI has around 850 active domestic terrorism investigations, down from nearly 1,000 a year earlier.
11. The FBI opens a domestic terrorism investigation into the Gilroy Garlic Festival shooting after finding a list of additional targets.
12. After the recent mass shootings, Trump says “fake news” contributed to the anger and fate that led to these problems. The problem is, most of the recent shooters cited race and immigration, and echoed rhetoric used by Trump and white supremacists. The Dayton shooter was different–a violent misogynist whose motivation in unclear.
13. Following the recent shootings, the FBI urges Congress to make domestic terrorism a federal crime, as it should be.

• • The gap in the law allows self-radicalized Americans who attack immigrants, Jews, African Americans, etc., to be tried for hate crimes instead of terrorism.
  • Even though both the Gilroy and El Paso shooters are being investigated for domestic terrorism, there’s no law that lets them get charged with that.

14. The El Paso shooter said he was targeting Mexicans.
15. Google and Amazon are both found to be selling gun accessories in violation of their own policies.
16. Ohio’s Governor Mike DeWine listens to his people and rolls out a 17-point gun safety plan that includes expanded background checks, red flag laws, improved access to mental health services, and social media monitoring.

• • These are the same laws Democrats have been trying to pass in the state (and around the country) for 20 years.
  • The state’s GOP legislators are dragging their feet on the bills already.
  • A Republican state representative in Ohio backs a ban on assault weapons and limits on magazine sizes. His change of heart came because his daughter was near the shooting in Dayton.
  • A group of activists is already working to get expanded background checks on the ballot in November 2020 as a voter referendum. If legislators won’t act, the people will.

17. California Governor Gavin Newsom proposes expanding an existing commission on terrorism to find ways to reduce these kinds of gun violence at schools and at public events.
18. Foreign journalists covering mass shootings in the U.S. say it’s hard to explain the issues surrounding mass shootings in the U.S.—our gun culture, politics, and extremism. People abroad frankly think Americans are a little nuts.
19. Amnesty International issues a travel warning for the U.S. due to all the gun violence, as do countries like Japan, Venezuela, and Uruguay. Other countries urge caution when traveling here because of the number of shootings, especially mass shootings.

• • Trump threatens retaliation against these countries.

20. For over a year, the White House has been blocking requests from the DHS to make fighting domestic terrorism a priority. The White House preferred to concentrate on the jihadist threat… because, you know, brown people and scary Muslims.

• • The majority of domestic terrorist cases involve white supremacy.

21. A group of Walmart employees walk out in protest of the company continuing to sell guns.
22. Trump says he’s been tough on guns, but his administration has actually worked to make them easier to obtain over the past 2-1/2 years by:

• • Lifting bans on certain locations.
  • Limiting the capabilities of the background check database.
  • Reversing Obama’s limits on gun ownership by people with certain and severe mental disabilities.
  • Working to make it easier for private sellers to sell weapons to foreign buyers.

23. He‘s also banned bump stocks, increased penalties for agencies that don’t report information to the background check system, and approved funds to combat violence in schools. So it’s a mixed bag.
24. Ten new laws loosening up gun regulations in Texas are set to go into effect over the next month. These laws make it easier to carry weapons in churches, on school grounds, in apartments, and following natural disasters, among other things.
25. Congress calls the owner of the 8chan online message board to testify after the website is linked to the El Paso shooter (and it does seem to be the place to air your white supremacist angst).

Russia:

1. A blast kills five workers and two military personnel at the Russian nuclear agency during a missile test. Russia’s Defense Ministry says they were testing a liquid jet propulsion system and that there were no dangerous gases released, though local authorities reported a radiation spike.

• • Russia later confirms that there were radioactive materials involved in the blast.
  • Later yet, they confirm that they were testing a nuclear-engine missile.

2. JU.S. Ambassador to Russia Jon Huntsman resigns, possibly to run for governor of Utah.
3. The House Judiciary Committee files a formal lawsuit to force former White House Counsel Don McGahn to testify about Trump’s potential obstruction of justice. So far, the White House has blocked his testimony.
4. Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-NY), chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, says that formal impeachment proceedings have already begun in that they are investigating the allegations of obstruction of justice in Mueller’s report, as well as other potential crimes.

Legal Fallout:

1. Fired FBI Deputy Assistant Director Peter Strzok sues for reinstatement, saying he was unfairly terminated for criticizing this president (which we all have a right to do, even in the FBI).

• • He argues that the Trump administration has tolerated and encouraged partisan political speech by federal employees as long as Trump’s in agreement with them.
  • He also alleges that DOJ violated the Privacy Act in releasing the texts and that the DOJ violated Strzok’s Fifth Amendment rights by not allowing him to appeal.

2. Former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe sues the DOJ and FBI over his firing, saying it was politically motivated.

• • McCabe was hours from retirement when he was fired.
  • The lawsuit quotes a lot of publicly available material, like Trump’s tweets, so it will be hard to argue against that.

3. Accused child molester and sex trafficker Jeff Epstein is found dead in his cell by apparent suicide. He had been on suicide watch, but psychologists took him off it over a week ago.

• • The prison guards miss their scheduled cell check on Epstein the night before.
  • And then cue the conspiracy theories. Trump retweets a conspiracy theory that the Clintons killed Epstein (this one’s magnified on the right). Some on the left say it was Trump or Bill Barr (magnified on the left). Others say there are many judges and politicians who wanted him dead.

4. A federal judge orders the departments of State and Defense to produce thousands of documents related to the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
5. The DOJ urges a federal court to overrule a ruling that requires Trump’s accounting firm to release Trump’s financial records to Congress.
6. Six major banks comply with a House Judiciary Committee subpoena and turn over documents relating to Trump, his family, Russians who had dealings with Trump, and Trump Organization.
7. The founder of Students For Trump pleads guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud. He created a fake persona to run a legal consulting scheme that bilked victims out of $50,000.

Courts/Justice:

1. Two Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee ask the National Archives for Brett Kavanaugh’s records during his time serving under George Bush, since they were concealed during his hearings.

Healthcare:

1. A federal judge blocks Arkansas’ 18-week abortion ban as well as a new law preventing women from seeking abortion at any time based on a diagnosis of Down’s Syndrome.
2. Senator Lindsey Graham says that if Republicans take back the House in 2020, they’ll try to repeal and replace the ACA again. That’s what 2020 is all about, he says.

International:

1. For the third time in a month, Iran seizes a foreign tanker in nearby waters, this time an Iraqi ship that Iran said was smuggling fuel. The Iraqi oil ministry denies the ship is theirs.
2. Trump tells advisors that Israel should block Representatives Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib from entering the country because of their views on BDS (Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions). Israel says don’t tell us what to do.
3. Kim Jong Un supervises a demonstration of North Korea’s newly development short-range missiles.
4. The protests in Hong Kong continue, having evolved from a protest against an extradition law to a protest against China and for democracy. Though many protests have been peaceful, some protestors escalate the demonstrations, blocking traffic, starting fires, and occupying the airport.

• • China’s reaction is bringing up comparisons to their mishandling of the Tiananmen Square protests in 1989.

Travel Ban/Immigration/Discrimination:

1. Two Galveston police officers on horseback arrest a black man for trespassing and, instead of waiting for a transport vehicle, tie a rope to his handcuffs and make him walk alongside them while they ride through town. How did they miss the optics on this one? They say they made a bad decision and they’re very sorry.
2. A federal judge forces some of the people and groups involved in 2017’s Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville to pay attorney fees for the people who sued them.
3. The State Department suspends an official who was also a leader in the white nationalist movement. He attended the Charlottesville rally and posted Nazi propaganda online.
4. Here’s what else has happened to some of the rally attendees, who came from 39 states and represented about 50 different extreme-right groups:

• • Three former Marines were discharged from the corps.
  • More than a dozen attendees have been imprisoned for various crimes.
  • Unite the Right organizers have been hounded by lawsuits, several leaders have left the movement, and some leaders have moved into new roles in the white supremacist movement.
  • Several attendees have been banned from social media platforms or banned from travel. Some have lost their jobs and some have been ostracized by their communities.
  • But most importantly, most attendees are still active in white nationalist, white supremacist, and racist movements, and some are running for office.

5. John McCollister, a Republican State Representative in Nebraska, says the “Republican Party is COMPLICIT to obvious racist and immoral activity” inside the party, and that Trump “continually stokes racist fears in his base.” After listing some of Trump’s racist rhetoric, he says, “No more. When the history books are written, I refuse to be someone who said nothing. The time is now for us Republicans to be honest with what is happening inside our party. We are better than this and I implore my Republican colleagues to stand up and do the right thing.”

• • He clarifies that he’s not saying all Republican are white supremacists or racists.
  • In response, the Nebraska Republican Party says McCollister should leave the party. A little self reflection might be in order…

6. In the largest ICE raid in a decade, immigration officials sweep seven Mississippi food processing plants and arrest 680 people. They leave the children of the arrestees to fend for themselves, so neighbors take over the care of the families left behind.

• • The raid occurs just hours before Trump travels to El Paso and Dayton to “unify” the country.
  • The companies involved could be charged. One of the companies raided is Koch Foods, Inc.

7. A Michigan man who had been deported to Iraq, even though he had never lived in Iraq and doesn’t speak Arabic, is dead (possibly because he was unable to get his insulin).

• • This isn’t new. Investigators followed the lives of asylum seekers we’ve deported, and 62 of them were killed or died after being sent to the country they were born in.
  • Trump’s deportation policies hit the Iraqi Christian population in Michigan particularly hard, even though many family members of these deportees voted for Trump never thinking he would come after their non-citizen family members. We never think they’ll come for us, right?

8. Police in El Paso arrest an armed man found lurking outside a migrant shelter. The man had been sitting in a truck with a likeness of Trump as Rambo painted on it. Police release him because they found no crime was committed. Wut?
9. Trump says, “I am concerned about the rise of any group of hate, whether it’s white supremacy, or any other kind of supremacy.” What other kind of supremacy is there?
10. Trump Organization hires undocumented workers for construction projects, and has been doing it for two decades. New York’s attorney general is investigating allegations that Trump didn’t pay several of them.

• • We already knew they were hiring undocumented workers at their country clubs after some of them came out publicly and eight were fired last year (even though their employers helped them get the necessary documentation to work).

11. Federal agents arrest an Ohio man who threatened to shoot Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on social media. The man was also stockpiling weapons and says he’s proud of those posts.
12. The FBI arrests a neo-Nazi in Las Vegas who was plotting to bomb a gay club and a synagogue.
13. The DOJ files a petition to potentially decertify the union representing federal immigration judges. The union has been critical of Trump’s immigration policies.
14. The Trump campaign has paid for about $1.25 million in Facebook ads about immigration (over 20% of their Facebook ads). Over 2,000 of those ads refer to immigration as an invasion.

Climate:

1. The EPA reauthorizes using poison devices called cyanide bombs to kill wild animals like coyotes and foxes in order to protect livestock. This practice was previously considered inhumane, and has injured humans, domestic pets, and endangered species, too. During the public comment period, over 90% of the comments were opposed. I guess the EPA doesn’t really care what you think.

Budget/Economy:

1. China said to Trump, I see your bet and I raise you. After Trump says he’ll add a 10% tariff to an additional $300 billion of Chinese goods, China lets it’s currency drop to an 11-year low against the dollar, imposes additional tariffs, and suspends the purchase of all agricultural goods from the U.S.
2. Trump accuses them of currency manipulation, and the Treasury Department officially designates China as a currency manipulator. This is really just symbolic, and according to the IMF, China’s actions don’t technically qualify as that.
3. Many U.S. farmers lose one of their largest customers with China’s announcement, and after a year of devastating heat waves and floods, too.

• • China bought $19.5 billion in farm goods in 2017; just $9.2 billion in 2018; and so far this year, it’s down 20% more.

4. As a result of all the above, the Dow Jones has its worst day of the year, dropping 760 points, or nearly 3%. The S&P also fell 3% and Nasdaq fell 3.5%. The Dow was down nearly 1,000 at one point.
5. The international travel industry continues to lose business, with a loss of 14 million international travelers, $59 billion in income, and 120,000 jobs in the U.S. Forecasters expect the decline to continue at least through 2022.

Elections:

1. The Trump campaign and the Republican Party sue California over its new law requiring candidates for president to release five years of tax returns in order to be included on the ballot.
2. Joe Biden joins the ranks of Democratic presidential hopefuls calling Trump out directly for his racist statements. He says:

• • “How far is it from the white supremacists and Neo-Nazis in Charlottesville ― Trump’s ‘very fine people’ ― chanting ‘You will not replace us’ ― to the shooter at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh saying Jews ‘were committing genocide to his people?’ Not far at all. In both clear language and in code, this president has fanned the flames of white supremacy in this nation.”

• • Kamala Harris says it’s no longer debatable that Trump is a white supremacist with no empathy.
  • Even Paul Ryan has said Trump’s remarks are the “textbook definition” of racist.

Miscellaneous:

1. Puerto Rico gets its third governor in five days. After elected Governor Ricardo Rosselló resigns over homophobic and misogynistic text messages, Secretary of State Pedro Pierluisi is sworn in. But courts say that since Pierluisi wasn’t approved as SoS by both houses of congress, he’s not the legitimate successor. So then Justice Secretary Wanda Vázquez, who’s said she doesn’t want the job, gets sworn in.
2. Trump says his rhetoric brings people together. Like this tweet, right?

• • “Beto (phony name to indicate Hispanic heritage) O’Rourke, who is embarrassed by my last visit to the Great State of Texas, where I trounced him, and is now even more embarrassed polling at 1% in the Democratic Primary, should respect the victims & law enforcement – & be quiet!”

3. Mitch McConnell calls the police when a group forms a protest outside his home in Kentucky. He says their actions constitute calls to violence. Frankly, I’m with him on this one. Private homes should be off limits.

• • On the other hand, his campaign tweeted a photo of headstones emblazoned with the names of his political opponents, including Amy McGrath and Merrick Garland.
  • And then a photo of several “Team Mitch” high school boys groping a cardboard cutout of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez goes viral on Twitter. Teach your boys better—this is how we end up with grown men who demean women.

4. Cesar Sayac, who mailed pipe bombs to several Democratic targets of Trump’s rhetoric, receives a 20-year prison sentence for his crimes. Sayac drove a van covered in pro-Trump stickers. He sent the bombs to Hillary Clinton, Obama, Joe Biden, Eric Holder, George Soros, Maxine Waters, and more.
5. Criminals are invoking Trump’s name for their defense:

• • Sayac’s lawyers say that he was radicalized by Trump’s rhetoric.
  • A man who slammed a thirteen-year-old’s head to the ground because the kid didn’t take off his hat during the national anthem says he thought he was doing what Trump wanted.
  • Defendants raise objections to people who turn state‘s evidence because Trump says that “flippers” should be illegal.
  • The defendant in a mob killing cited QAnon conspiracies and says he thought his victim was a member of the “deep state” that’s out to get Trump.

6. Crime rates decreased from 2007 to 2017, and fewer people are in prison compared to 2007.
7. Intelligence sources say that after he resigned, Dan Coates interrupted a meeting Deputy Director Sue Gordon was running on election security to urge her to resign as well. Trump didn’t follow normal protocol, which would’ve been to make Gordon acting directory.
8. The White House drafts an executive order that would give the FCC more control over how social media sites curate what is allowed or suppressed on their websites.

Polls:

1. 54% of Republicans polled support a ban on assault-style weapons.
2. 85% of Democrats support one.
3. 70% of registered voters overall support one. (I could’ve tell whether they defined assault-style weapons in the poll.)