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The Best Thing This Week

"There's no chance," says a scouting expert. Thank God somebody finally stood up for the integrity of our baseball team.

Did the Phillies scout Donald Trump? The presidents baseball prowess as a New York high-schooler appears to have been surprise! overstated. (Photo by Andrew Harrer-Pool/Getty Images)

Were not saying the President of the United States is a liar. We prefer the term embellisher, particularly when it comes to the truth. Hey, we understand how easy it can be to get carried away when youre chitchatting about, you know, your IQ,or your penchant for science, or your great good looks, or even your mental stability. Who among us doesnt do that every now and again, right? Right?

But when rumors get spread around that our very own Phillies were so impressed with your athletic ability that they scouted you when you were in high school, well, thats just a bridge too far. And back in 2013, Donald Trump proudly tweeted that he was said to be the best bball player in N.Y. State when he attended New York Military Academy in the 1960s. He was backed up by one of his former coaches there, the now, alas, deceased Theodore Dobias, who told both Rolling Stone and the Daily Mail that the Phils were interested in signing the schools supposed standout first baseman. The President has reminisced fondly about winning games with thunderous home runs but ultimately choosing a career in real estate because there just wasnt enough money in baseball back then.

Well, this week an enterprising reporter with the unlikely name of Leander Schaerlaeckens decided to look into the Presidents record on his high-school team. Slate published the result, and its delightful. Turns out Trumps memories of his prowess on the diamond are, oh, just a tad larger than life. His batting average, as Schaerlaecken determined by poring through regional newspaper accounts of NYMAs games, hovered at around .138. Dobias, according to the Washington Post, would say anything that his former protg told him to say. Schaerlaecken took the stats he found to the Athletics senior baseball writer, Keith Law, and asked point-blank: Would this guy have been recruited by the pros? Theres no chance, Law responded. You dont hit .138 for some podunk cold-weather high school playing the worst competition you can possibly imagine. You wouldnt even get recruited by Division I baseball programs, let alone by pro teams. Law declared the idea absolutely laughable. So, the evidence seems pretty conclusive. The Phillies, at least, have had their dignity restored.

See the article here:
The Best Thing That Happened This Week: No, the Phillies Didnt Scout Donald Trump in High School - Philadelphia magazine

Photo illustration: Elise Swain/ The Intercept, Getty Images

Americas accountability problem is being laid bare. Once a global superpower, today jeers of failed state better describe our geriatric empire. Having survived impeachment, Americas acquitted president poorly navigates an unclear future as a pandemic rages and a recession looms, leaving hundreds of thousands dead in its global wake. An embattled population barrels toward a national election between two accused rapists and known liars: President Donald Trump and former Vice President Joseph Biden.

Biden, accused of sexual assault by one woman, has all but secured the Democratic nomination, gearing up for a general election against Trump, who faces at least 25 sexual misconduct allegations that range in criminal severity. Both men deny all the allegations.

Bidens accuser, Tara Reade, was one of eight women who registered complaints of inappropriate touching in April of last year before Biden ever jumped into the presidential race. As Biden appeared likely to be the Democratic nominee, Reade came forward in late March and told her story about her former boss. In an interview with podcast host Katie Halper, Reade said Biden penetrated her vagina with his fingers. She alleges the incident occurred in 1993, while she was an aide in his Senate office. What Reade describes is rape, according to the Department of Justices own definition. In an interview with Megyn Kelly, Reade has called on Biden to end his presidential bid and step forward and be held accountable.

Now Reade, not Biden, is on trial in the American media landscape. Democrats, the party of believe women, are changing their tune, terrified at the prospect of another four years of a Trump presidency. After all, 2016 proved that lugging a litany of sexual assault and harassment accusations does not guarantee an electoral loss. Before the election, at least four women were on record accusing Trump of sexual misconduct. American flags aloft, his fanatical base laughed along with the presidential candidate as he called his accusers liars and implied that they werent attractive enough for him to assault. When youre a star, they let you do it, Trump said on the infamous Access Hollywood recording. Grab em by the pussy. You can do anything.This unearthed admission did not cost him the election either.

If Democrats continue to do nothing, Reades accusation should prove that sexual misconduct allegations in either party are nothing more than a mild political inconvenience.

Protestors demonstrating against torture stand in front of the White House in Washington, D.C., February 18, 2015.

Photo: Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images

The lack of impetus to replace Biden speaks to how Washington, D.C., has long neglected creating a culture of accountability. Some of the darkest chapters of U.S. history have been classified away. Our villainous past remains unprosecuted as bipartisan bombs continue falling. Americas lack of understanding wrongdoing enables figures who should have atoned in order for the country to progress to instead linger in political relevance.

If you supervised torture and destroyed evidence, like Gina Haspel, you can still get promoted. If youre a war criminal, like George W. Bush, you can be rehabilitated. If youre a judge, credibly accused of sexual conduct, like Clarence Thomas and Brett Kavanaugh, you, too, can become a Supreme Court justice.

Now, high-profile Democratic endorsements for Biden signal that a quest for the truth and a reckoning for the allegations against him will never come.

I think thats really whats corrosive about this moment, is this idea that you can try to shred Tara Reades credibility and stick up for Joe Biden and still say that you have any kind of commitment to ending sexual violence, that you have any kind of commitment to womens rights, Melissa Gira Grant, a staff writer at the New Republic, explained on Intercepted. I dont think you get to have it both ways.

The name Lucy Flores may be all but forgotten in an exhausting year of political reporting. Flores was the first to come forward and register publicly that an encounter with Biden made her deeply uncomfortable. In a viral essay, Flores described how, in 2015, then-Vice President Biden made her feel uneasy, gross, and confused as she campaigned for lieutenant governor in Nevada.

I feel him come up close behind me, and thats when he leans in and he lingers around my head, Flores recounted on Intercepted. I hear him kind of inhale. And then he proceeds to plant this low kiss on the top of my head. (Biden denied that he had acted inappropriately toward Flores.)

Seven more women came forward with similar stories of Bidens manner of unwanted, inappropriate touching. Descriptions told of how his hands intimately lingered on everything from the womens necks, shoulders, backs, or thighs. Some say his forehead pressed against theirs. Noses so close that they rubbed together. Breathing in the smell of hair. Kissing the back of the head.

The bottom line with that kind of behavior is entitlement.

The bottom line with that kind of behavior is entitlement, Gira Grant explained. Both entitlement to someones physical body, but then also entitlement to characterize what happened through whatever lens you have that allows you to continue that behavior.

Flores was precise in calling out the inequality inherent in how womens bodies were assumed to be touchable, especially by powerful men. Most people acknowledge that men dont usually kiss, smell, rub noses with, place their hands on the thighs of, or touch foreheads with random women they dont know, Flores opined in the New York Times. Yet some men do, especially powerful men, who are protected by privilege and a crew of self-interested enablers who dont want to lose their access to power by calling out the obvious.

Lucy Flores in the lobby of the office building where she works in downtown Los Angeles, on May 25, 2019.

Photo: Jenna Schoenefeld for The Washington Post via Getty Images

When allegations of inappropriate kissing and touching surfaced against Sen. Al Franken, D-Minn., from seven accusers, dozens of his Democratic Senate colleagues quickly called for his resignation. With a professed zero-tolerance position for any sexual misconduct, Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., led the charge. Within weeks, Franken took the incredibly rare step of resigning from his Senate seat.

Biden, apparently lacking a particularly damning enough photograph of misconduct, has been given a pass. And Gillibrand, despite Reades allegation, has maintained her support and endorsement of Biden. Democratic National Committee Chair Tom Perez has dismissed the accusations. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., also supports Biden. A day after Business Insiders investigation further corroborated Reades story, Hillary Clinton, too, threw in her high-profile endorsement of Biden.

For Flores, Bidens conduct that day was disqualifying. But, for the Democratic establishment, perhaps fearing both more years of Trump and a Bernie Sanders presidency, Bidens conduct has been accepted. His character has been troublingly defended by colleagues especially by women eyeing a vice presidential nomination.

As complaints from women mounted, Biden told reporterslast year, Im not sorry for any of my intentions. Im not sorry for anything that I have ever done. Ive never been disrespectful intentionally to a man or a woman. With this, Biden revealed an inability to comprehend culpability.

This is what hes known for, Flores told Intercepted. He is not known for voluntarily or willingly acknowledging that he has made mistakes in the past, whether its around his position on the Hyde Amendment, whether it was around how he mishandled the Clarence Thomas hearings, school busing and segregationist policies I mean, the list is pretty long.

Bidens record is long and troubling. Some voters, myself included, are struggling with a moral debate in response to the electoral options before us. We face an impossible choice and feel disgust at being put in this position.

Its a mind-fuck. Gira Grant said, about the inevitable choice between Trump and Biden. I want to appreciate how that feels and how uncomfortable that is. I think its just, like, ripping something back about our culture and our politics and revealing it to us. I dont think its necessarily new.

I think its just, like, ripping something back about our culture and our politics and revealing it to us. I dont think its necessarily new.

Yet it isnt surprising. Bidens inability to admit fault he has said, I am not sorry for anything I have ever done simply shows that he is a byproduct of an institution of impunity. America, too, doesnt do apologies. Reparations for black people and native people are nowhere in sight. We didnt prosecute torture and we wont prosecute war crimes. The cancer at the core of this nation is one of fundamental injustice, hidden beneath platitudes of freedom, liberty, and equality for all. To remove Biden would be to indict American exceptionalism itself.

Liberals like Biden, who believe that Americas divisions can be healed by a new president, dont see this country as built on exploitation. To understand how we heal, we have to view America through the painful lens of wrongs committed. Accountability must be viewed as a feminist issue, especially in a nationthatwove oppression into every fiber of its flag.

America should live in shame until we admit fault, recognize hurt, and ask for forgiveness. Joe Biden can go first.

Read more here:
How Donald Trump, Joe Biden, and America Get Away With It - The Intercept

Sessions said in a statement that he recused himself because he was abiding by the law.

"To not recuse myself from that investigation, of which I was a target as a senior campaign official and a witness, would have been breaking the law. I do not and will not break the law," Sessions. "I did the right thing for the country and for President Trump. If I, as a target of the investigation, had broken the law by not recusing myself, it would have been a catastrophe for the rule of law and for the President."

The President was asked during a Friday morning call to "Fox & Friends" if there would have been a Russia probe had Bill Barr, the current attorney general, been attorney general during the start of the Trump administration.

"No, there wouldn't be. He would have stopped it immediately. ... Jeff Sessions was a disaster. I made him -- I didn't want to make him attorney general but he was the first senator to endorse me so I felt a little bit of an obligation," Trump said.

Trump added that Sessions "came to see me four times, just begging me to be attorney general. He wasn't, you know, to me, equipped to be attorney general. But he wanted and wanted and wanted it."

Sessions said in his statement that he continues to support Trump and will vote for him in the fall, but he said he "never begged for the job of Attorney General, not 4 times, not 1 time, not ever."

On "Fox and Friends," Trump said of Sessions, "He goes in -- he was so bad in his nomination proceedings. I should have gotten rid of him there," adding that he "knew less about Russia than I did."

"But they got him standing on a line with Kislyak ... everyone in Washington knew Kislyak," he remarked.

While past US presidents have largely left the Justice Department and, within it, the FBI, to be independent, Trump has said he has seen himself as the country's "chief law enforcement officer" -- a title typically used to refer to the attorney general.

Barr's Justice Department has acted more as an arm of Trump's defense than an independent arbiter of justice.

"The fix is in," said Honig, a legal analyst for CNN.

"This is an absolute injustice. Michael Flynn lied to the FBI, he pled guilty under oath in federal court to doing that, he took a plea, and then what does Bill Barr do? He says of all the tens of thousands of cases he's been in charge of in the Department of Justice, look at that one," Honig said. "And now we see Bill Barr doing Donald Trump's dirty work."

CNN's Marshall Cohen, Joe Johns Kaitlan Collins and Stephen Collinson contributed to this report.

Here is the original post:
Sessions responds to Trump attack: 'I do not and will not break the law' - CNN

Teenagers in the United States are informed about their political world and capable of effectively evaluating political leaders, including President Donald Trump.

This statement runs counter to stereotypes that adults tend to hold about teens. Ask most adults to describe the political abilities of the typical American adolescent and you may hear words like apathetic, uninformed and immature.

But a study I conducted in 2017 with Laura-Wray Lake of UCLA, Amy Syvertsen of the Search Institute and two of my graduate students, Lauren Alvis and Katelyn Romm, indicates that high school students are much more knowledgeable and have stronger feelings about their political world than they are usually given credit for.

We asked more than 1,400 high school students in grades 9 to 12 to evaluate President Trump and provide reasons for their approval or disapproval of the president. The teenagers came from Southern California near Los Angeles, suburban Minnesota and rural West Virginia. They were diverse 43% identified as Latino, 34% as white, 13% as African American and 6% as Asian American and lived in communities that support and oppose Trump.

Several key themes emerged from the responses.

One was enthusiasm. Teens had a lot to say about Trump. Both youth who approved of Trump and those who did not provided thoughtful reasons for their views of the president. Many youth wrote sophisticated responses that counter stereotypes of adolescents as indifferent to their political world.

Another theme was knowledge. Teens supported their views by pointing to specific policies or statements by the president. Many of them justified their opinions by mentioning Trumps policies on social and political issues such as economic policy, abortion and relationships with foreign countries.

A large percentage of teens mentioned immigration, pointing to specific Trump statements or policy proposals, like the construction of a border wall between the United States and Mexico.

An 18-year-old female, for example, expressed her approval of Trumps immigration policies: Regarding issues with immigrants and stuff, I am not completely against it. I think we should be more aware of who and what kind of people we are allowing into our country, to keep everyone safe.

A 15-year-old white female had this to say about Trumps border policies: I just dont understand how that would make us great again. Because America is made up of immigrants, so it wouldnt be America if he didnt allow immigrants.

Teenagers also demonstrated knowledge of the presidents leadership style and background. Many of them mentioned Trumps business portfolio or his extensive Twitter use as a communication tool.

I feel that [Trump] will bring more jobs to the economy since he is a businessman, said a 17-year-old Latina.

On the other hand, youth who disapproved of Trump pointed to his lack of political experience.

Political beliefs varied greatly among adolescents, with many teens expressing strong approval or disapproval of the president in a way that echoed the range of views we see among adult voters.

Trump is going to do many things such as lower taxes, repeal Obamacare and try to institute the travel ban, wrote an 18-year-old white male. He also is not going to be a gun control freak.

A 17-year-old African American female said: I give [Trump] some credit because he is against abortion and gay marriage.

By contrast, a 15-year-old white female from Minnesota wrote: President Trump is a climate change denier. He also is in support of defending the Second Amendment, which I also believe in. However, I also understand that gun violence is rampant in the United States and needs to be regulated more heavily.

The responses we gathered help counter another stereotype about American adolescents: that they are overwhelmingly liberal and likely to vote for Democratic candidates.

Yes, younger generations lean more liberal on some social and political issues compared to older generations. But our study indicates that its inaccurate to generalize about teens political inclinations, because they hold a full range of views.

Teen views of Trump, like those of adults, were strongly related to where they live. Overwhelming majorities of adolescents in Southern California (85%) and Minnesota (84%) disapproved of Trump, but a majority of youth in West Virginia held positive views (66%). Adolescents with more conservative parents were more likely to approve of Trump, while youth from more liberal homes more strongly disapproved of the president. White youth generally held more favorable views of Trump, while females and black and Latino youth tended to reject him.

Our study also helps counter the notion that adolescents are not directly affected by political activity, that they have no skin in the game.

Adolescents in rural West Virginia underlined how Trumps energy policies could directly affect family members employed by power plants or coal mines. This is how one 14-year-old white female put it: I am happy Donald Trump is our president because my dad works for a power company, and that is how we made the majority of our money. Without his job we would have a hard time buying medicines and taking care of everyone in my family.

Many teen Trump skeptics from Southern California noted how his proposed immigration policies could threaten their families or neighborhoods. A 15-year-old Latina, for instance, noted: I am very scared [Trump] will harm my family. My parents are not from this country, but they do the best they can to be here with us and have us live the American dream.

One final theme present in our study highlights issues that will weigh on younger voters in the 2020 election and beyond. A large percentage of responses were framed around issues of racism, sexism and homophobia. Over half of the youth who dismiss Trump viewed his policies as potentially biased or loaded with discriminatory rhetoric, which is consistent with data indicating that younger generations are more attuned to issues of equity.

These concerns were not limited to any one group of teens. For example, an 18-year-old white male from West Virginia said, [Trump] is misogynistic and sexually offensive as audio clips of Donald Trump would prove more than once going as far to make fun of a disabled man in front of national television.

As this response shows, teenagers are more politically informed and opinionated than is usually assumed. This should encourage parents and teachers to engage teens in political discussion and anticipate that they will be able to effectively share informed views.

Additionally, our findings may be interesting to several U.S. districts mulling whether to lower the voting age from 18 to 16.

At very least, this study may help to counter concerns that youth dont care or will arrive at polls uninformed.

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Read more from the original source:
Teenagers reveal what they really think of Donald Trump - The Conversation US

For indispensable reporting on the coronavirus crisis and more, subscribe to Mother Jones' newsletters.

At a Fox News Town Hall in front of the Lincoln Memorial on May 3, President Donald Trump revised the US coronavirus death toll, citing a number significantly higher than what hed been predicting just a few weeks ago. I used to say 65,000, and now Im saying 80 or 90, and it goes up and it goes up rapidly, said the president.

Confused about what to make of this? Us too. And with new data and studies about the coronavirus coming out every day, understanding how science and statistics work has never felt more essentialand, lets admit it, overwhelming.

Thats why we brought two people onto the Mother Jones Podcast this week who can help sort through it all, providing tips and tricks for identifying reliable data. Sinduja Rangarajan, a senior data journalist at Mother Jones, has been analyzingdata to show how COVID-19 is infecting Black communities at alarming rates, to highlightwhich communities are the least prepared for the coronavirus, and to forecast when states will run out of hospital beds. Its not always clear what kind of data sources are trustworthy or not, Rangarajan tells host Jamilah King on the Mother Jones Podcast. When Im reporting on these topics, I tend to be skeptical of everything, no matter where that datas coming from, whether its from a city or a state or from universities or nonprofits or think tanks or private companies.

King also talks to Jackie Flynn Mogensen, an assistant editor at Mother Jones, who has been reporting on the medical science of the pandemic, answering key questions on immunity and antibodies and helping us make sense of all those terrifying death projections. Her recent reporting takes a step back and revealsjust how complicated all this science actually isand how, in the frantic rush to get more and more information about the new virus, it can sometimes be untrustworthy or riddled with conflicts of interest. Science isnt about being right. Its the process of becoming less wrong, Mogensen explains on the podcast. What the experts have told me is that making a mistake now, like in the case of ibuprofen, can cost lives.

See the rest here:
Donald Trump Can't Stop Spewing Bad Science. We're Here to Help. - Mother Jones