THE DAILY DONALD: Direct criticism, comparable replacements, and "the beauty that is being taken out of our cities"

FILED IN: PRESIDENT TRUMP, PROTECTIVE RIGHTS, "THE EFFECT OF RETARDING"

As you'll soon see, I decided to give the editorial nod to the more pressing issue of our precarious democracy (terrorist attacks are a relatively more common occurrence, and to overstate one attack's impact is to let terror win). However, before we get going, President Trump had a pair of morning announcements:

• "The Obstructionist Democrats make Security for our country very difficult. They use the courts and associated delay at all times. Must stop!"

• "Radical Islamic Terrorism must be stopped by whatever means necessary! The courts must give us back our protective rights. Have to be tough!"

In related news...

The Terrorist Attack in Charlottesville:
27 different Congressional Republicans have directly criticized President Trump for his now-infamous defense of white nationalists following the events in Charlottesville ("The president has not yet been able to demonstrate the stability, nor some of the competence, that he needs to demonstrate in order to be successful"), the mother of the late Heather Heyer is publicly advising the president to "think before [he] speak[s]," Mar-a-Lago has already seen at least three multi-million fundraisers cancel plans to hold their respective events there, and 21st Century Fox CEO James Murdoch (Rupert's son) reportedly sent an email to employees last night pledging to donate $1 million to the Anti-Defamation League because "what we watched this last week in Charlottesville and the reaction to it by the President of the United States concern all of us as Americans and free people."

Nevertheless, an indignant President Trump continues to double down on his newfound hardline beliefs regarding Confederate memorials ("In 2015, Trump endorsed ... Nikki Haley’s decision to remove a Confederate flag from the statehouse after the shooting in Charleston. 'I would take it down, yes. I think they should put it in a museum and respect whatever it is you have to respect.'"), tweeting yesterday afternoon that "the beauty that is being taken out of our cities, towns and parks will be greatly missed and never able to be comparably replaced!"

* Something worth knowing: In San Antonio, as city council members debated removing a Confederate monument in the city's Travis Park, "about 10 individuals donning kevlar vests and assault rifles stood guard outside. They arrived as escorts for This Is Texas Freedom Force (TITFF) Vice President Brandon Burkhart, who addressed Councilmen Roberto Treviño (D1) and William 'Cruz' Shaw (D2) – authors of the Council Consideration Request to relocate the monument – during his time to speak."

** Something else worth knowing: "An NPR-PBS survey conducted earlier this week by Marist College found that 62 percent of Americans think statues honoring Confederate leaders should remain as a historical symbol. Only 27 percent said they should be removed because they are offensive to some people ... Republicans prefer to keep statues by 86 percent to 6 percent, while Democrats split 44 percent for keeping them and 47 percent for removing them."

*** One last thing worth knowing: General Robert E. Lee was himself not a fan of erecting Confederate memorials: "I think it wiser ... not to keep open the sores of war but to follow the examples of those nations who endeavored to obliterate the marks of civil strife, to commit to oblivion the feelings engendered ... As regards the erection of such a monument as is contemplated, my conviction is, that however grateful it would be to the feelings of the South, the attempt in the present condition of the Country, would have the effect of retarding, instead of accelerating its accomplishment; [and] of continuing, if not adding to, the difficulties under which the Southern people labour."


The Terrorist Attack in Spain:
Yesterday, multiple, coordinated attacks rocked Spain, leaving at least 13 dead and over 100 others hospitalized. Logistical details are still fuzzy when it comes to exactly what happened at the tourist site of Las Ramblas and a seaside resort in the country's Catalonia region hours after, but The New York Times incredibly well-sourced Rukmini Callimachi‏ took to Twitter early this morning to lay out what she believes happened: "There were 3 related events: 1. An explosion in a house in Alcanar on Wed, the van attack in Barcelona Thurs and car attack in Cambrils ... Investigators believe the attackers had a Plan A, a plan B and a Plan C. Plan A was to load the large truck with explosives & ram it causing a catastrophic explosion. That failed bc they couldn't rent big truck. Plan B was to load 2 smaller vans with explosives. That failed too. They didn't know how to prep the explosive & blew up house instead. That brought them to Plan C which was to use 2 smaller cars to ram people, first on the Ramblas, and later in the town of Cambril."

Five of the attackers, all wearing fake bomb belts, were shot by authorities in Catalonia while three others were arrested, though the driver of the van used in the Barcelona attack remains at large. Meanwhile, President Trump told Spain, via Twitter, that he "will do whatever is necessary to help"; before advising his followers to "study what General Pershing of the United States did to terrorists when caught" — a reference to a since-debunked story involving a U.S. general from the early 1900's who supposedly discouraged Muslim terrorists in the Philippines by killing them with bullets dipped in pigs' blood.


Oh, and:

• "One U.S. soldier was killed and around 20 U.S. and Afghan troops were wounded during a push against Islamic State fighters in Afghanistan, officials said on Thursday, as Washington wrestled with a months-long debate about the 16-year-old war. Few details about the blast were available, including a firm number of U.S. wounded or the name of the soldier who was killed."

• "Three U.S. air strikes killed seven al Shabaab fighters in Somalia, the U.S. Africa Command said on Thursday. The strikes hit targets 200 miles (320 km) southwest of Mogadishu on Wednesday and Thursday in an operation conducted in cooperation with Somali forces, it said in a statement. Islamist militant group Al Shabaab has allied with al Qaeda and frequently bombs military and civilian targets in Somalia's capital and other cities."

• "As nuclear posturing between North Korea and the United States rivets the world, a quieter conflict between India and China is playing out on a remote Himalayan ridge — with stakes just as high. For the past two months, Indian and Chinese troops have faced off on a plateau in the Himalayas in tense proximity, in a dispute prompted by moves by the Chinese military to build a road into territory claimed by India’s close ally, Bhutan. India has suggested that both sides withdraw, and its foreign minister said in Parliament that the dispute can be resolved only by dialogue. Yet China has vociferously defended the right it claims to build a road in the Doklam area, territory it also claims."

• "Iranian authorities have denied the appeal of a Princeton University student who had been convicted on espionage charges and sentenced to 10 years in prison, the university and his wife said on Thursday. Xiyue Wang, a history doctoral student and U.S. citizen who was conducting dissertation research in Iran in 2016 when he was detained by Iranian authorities, was accused by Iran of "spying under the cover of research," a claim his family and university deny."

• "The number of asylum seekers who illegally crossed the U.S. border into Canada more than tripled last month, according to Canadian government data released on Thursday, as migrants worried about the U.S. administration's immigration crackdown head north. More than 3,100 people walked across the border illegally in July to file refugee claims and were arrested, up from 884 in June, the federal government said."

• "The American Civil Liberties Union, taking a tougher stance on armed protests, will no longer defend hate groups seeking to march with firearms, the group’s executive director said. Following clashes over the weekend in Charlottesville, Va., the civil-rights group also will screen clients more closely for the potential of violence at their rallies, said Anthony Romero, who has been the ACLU’s executive director since 2001."

• "A group affiliated with the online activist group known as Anonymous Thursday posted what it says are the private cellphone numbers and email addresses for 22 Republican members of Congress in a bid to push for President Trump's impeachment, reigniting the use of hacked information in U.S. political battles. Rob Pfeiffer, chief editor of online publication The Anon Journal, told The Washington Post this morning that the move was spurred by Trump's contentious reaction to violent clashes in Charlottesville over the weekend."

• "The Trump administration has lost a handful of individuals serving in top cybersecurity roles across the federal government in recent weeks, even as it has struggled to fill top IT positions. The developments present hurdles for the new administration and speaks to the longstanding challenge the federal government faces in competing with the private sector for top tech talent."

• "The Trump administration on Wednesday formally terminated an Obama-era program that granted Central American minors temporary legal residence in the United States, shutting the door on 2,714 people who had won conditional approval to enter the country. President Barack Obama’s administration established the 'CAM parole' program in 2014 to respond to a massive spike in the number of unaccompanied minors and families entering the country illegally from El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras. Under the terms, minors who failed to win refu­gee status could enter on a two-year, renewable parole if they had a parent already legally present in the country."

• "Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch is slated to headline a September event at the Trump International Hotel. The 'Defending Freedom Luncheon,' hosted by the non-profit Fund for American Studies, is an invitation-only event to celebrate 'the constitutional framework that has protected our free society and made America exceptional,' according to the group's website. Gorsuch, whose appointment to the Supreme Court is considered to be among Trump's most significant accomplishment in the White House, will deliver the keynote address."

• "Steve Bannon said Thursday that his controversial interview with a liberal magazine writer was a positive for the White House since it slowed down the media's momentum in covering President Donald Trump's remarks about the weekend's violence in Virginia ... Bannon told DailyMail.com that his remarks 'drew fire away from POTUS,' meaning President Trump, and that he successfully 'changed the [media] narrative' with a single phone call."

READ MORE ❯

• "What We Know About the Attacks in Spain"  by Russell Goldman

• "How Militias Became the Private Police for White Supremacists"  by Casey Michel

• "Bannon is right about North Korea"  by Josh Rogin

WHILE LISTENING TO ❯

• "Exit Launch" - Parsons Rocket Project