Talk Media News

Victoria Jones created and edits Quick Morning News. She is chief White House correspondent with Washington DC-based Talk Media News, where her insight and analysis are made available to over 400 news talk radio stations around the country and internationally.

Morning Jumpstart

  • Milwaukee: One shot, second night of unrest
  • Inside failing mission to tame Trump
  • Ukraine cash for top Trump campaign aide
  • Democratic hacking / FBI to release Clinton interview notes?
  • Louisiana: 20,000 rescued from floods
  • Boko Haram video: Bodies of kidnapped girls?
  • Rio: Usain Bolt world’s fastest man
Milwaukee: One Person Shot, Second Night of Unrest (AP, me)
• Police said one person was shot at a Milwaukee protest on Sunday evening and officers used an armored vehicle to retrieve an injured victim during a second night of unrest over the police shooting of a black man, but there was no repeat of widespread destruction of property. A police officer was hospitalized after a rock smashed a patrol car windshield
• Earlier in the evening, video taken from a media helicopter showed a small group of protesters running through the streets, picking up orange construction barriers and hurling them out of the way. There were no other reports of injuries and no major destruction of property after six businesses were burned Saturday
• Police Chief Edward Flynn said the man, 23-year-old Sylville Smith, whose death touched off Saturday night’s rioting, was shot after he turned towards an officer with a gun in his hand as he fled a traffic stop Saturday, based on silent video from the unidentified officer’s body camera
• Flynn declined to identify the officer but said he is black. Flynn said he wasn’t sure what prompted the traffic stop but described Smith’s car as “behaving suspiciously.” Flynn said Smith ran “a few dozen feet” and turned towards the officer while holding a gun. “It was in his hand. He was raising up with it,” Flynn said

Wisc National Guard on Standby
• Flynn said the officer had told Smith to drop the gun and he didn’t do so. It was unclear how many rounds the officer fired. Gov Scott Walker (R-Wis) put Wisconsin’s National Guard on standby, but the Guard hadn’t been deployed
• Milwaukee Alderman Khalif Rainey (D), who represents the neighborhood that erupted, said the city’s black residents are “tired of living under this oppression.” “Now this is a warning cry. Where do we go from here? Where do we go as a community from here?” he asked
• Milwaukee County Sheriff David Clarke said Smith had been arrested 13 times. Online court records showed many charges were misdemeanors. The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported that Smith was charged in a shooting and was later charged with pressuring the victim to withdraw testimony that IDd Smith as the gunman
• Nearly 40% of Milwaukee’s 600,000 residents are black, and they are heavily concentrated on the north side. Milwaukee was beset by protests and calls for police reform after an officer shot and killed Dontre Hamilton, a mentally ill black man, in 2014. In Dec, the Justice Dept announced it would work with Milwaukee police on changes

Inside Failing Mission to Tame Trump’s Tongue (NYT, me)

• On 20 June, Donald Trump’s advisers and family held an intervention. Trump was shaken that his newly fired campaign manager was discussing his dismissal at length on CNN. A cluster of Trump’s confidants pleaded with him to stick to a teleprompter, end his freestyle digressions and insults and deliver what they believed was his effective message

• For now, the campaign’s polling showed, too many voters described him as “unqualified” and “racist.” Trump bowed to his team’s entreaties, according to four people with detailed knowledge of the meeting – anonymous. It was time, he agreed, to get on track (depends what he meant by “on track”)

• Nearly two months later, the effort to save Trump from himself has plainly failed. He has only grown more volatile and prone to provocation since then, clashing with a Gold Star family, making comments that have been seen as inciting violence and linking his political opponents to terrorism (he doesn’t understand why bullying only works on some people, not on everyone)

• In private, Trump’s mood is often sullen and erratic, his associates say. He veers from barking at members of his staff to grumbling at how he was better off following his own instincts during the primaries and suggesting he shouldn’t have heeded their calls for change. He broods about his souring relationship with the news media (doesn’t understand why he can’t bully them any more)

• Trump tweeted Sunday morning: “The failing @nytimes talks about anonymous sources and meetings that never happened. Their reporting is fiction. The media protects Hillary!” / “The failing @nytimes, which never spoke to me, keeps saying that I am saying to advisers that I will change. False, I am who I am-never said”

• In interviews with more than 20 Republicans who are close to Trump or in communication with his campaign, many of whom insisted on anonymity to avoid clashing with him, they described the candidate as exhausted, frustrated and still bewildered by fine points of the political process and why his incendiary approach seems to be sputtering (he only understands being on top)

• He is routinely preoccupied with perceived slights. He has begun to acknowledge to associates and even in public that he might lose. On CNBC on Thursday, he said, At the very end, it’s either going to work, or I’m going to, you know, I’m going to have a very, very nice, long vacation.” (with his new “poll watchers,” setting up for crying that the election was stolen from him if he loses)

• Jason Miller, a Trump spox, said the nominee was still determined to win. “Behind the scenes we have a very motivated and very focused candidate in Donald Trump, who knows what he needs to do to win this race,” Miller said. Paul Manafort, Trump’s campaign chairman, said Sunday on CNN that the NYT story was “not correct.”

• Trump is in a dire predicament, Republicans say, because he’s profoundly uncomfortable in the role of a general election candidate, disoriented by the crosscurrents he must now navigate and still relying impulsively on a pugilistic formula that guided him to the nomination. People around Trump say they’re not ready to abandon hope of a turnaround (what choice do they have?)

• Trump tweets from Sunday: “If the disgusting and corrupt media covered me honestly and didn’t put false meaning into the words I say, I would be beating Hillary by 20 percent.” / “I am not only fighting Crooked Hillary, I am fighting the dishonest and corrupt media and her government protection process. People get it!”

• His advisers are still convinced of the basic potency of a sales pitch about economic growth and a shake-up in Washington, and they aspire to compete in as many as 21 states, despite Trump’s perilous standing in the four states – Florida, Ohio, Pennsylvania and North Carolina – likely to decide the election (but he was campaigning in Connecticut at the weekend – made no sense)

• Trump’s advisers now hope to steady him by pairing him on the trail with familiar, more seasoned figures – people he views as peers and enjoys spending time with, like former NYC Mayor Rudy Giuliani and former Gov Mike Huckabee (Ark) (but they seem to be feeding his fantasies every time they go on TV, with Huckabee going even further with nonsense)

• After a late May meeting between Trump and Karl Rove, the architect of George W. Bush’s presidential victories, Rove told associates he was stunned by Trump’s poor grasp of campaign basics. Rove told people he believed Trump was confused and scared in anticipation of the general election, according to people who have heard Rove’s account

• On Tuesday, hours before his explosive comment about “Second Amendment people,” Trump’s brain trust met again at Trump Tower and again urged him adjust his tone and comportment. Trump, people briefed on the meeting said, digested the advice and responded receptively. It was time, he agreed, to get on track (wow – just – wow)

• Trump will get another chance to reset his campaign today when he is expected to lay out his plan for defeating what running mate Mike Pence on Sunday called “radical Islamic terrorism” with “real specifics” on how to make the U.S. safer – plus there’s going to be a litmus test of an American way of thinking in order to immigrate (AP, me)

Ukraine Cash for Top Trump Campaign Aide (NYT, me)
• A NYT investigation into Donald Trump’s campaign chairman, Paul Manafort’s, time consulting for Ukraine’s ruling political party has revealed that the top political adviser has ties to a large network that Ukrainian anti-corruption investigators say was used to loot assets and influence elections – it’s a lengthy, complex, in-depth piece (that will drive Trump insane – (r)
• Manafort’s involvement with moneyed interests in Russia and Ukraine had previously come to light, but the piece offers new details of how Manafort mixed politics and business out of public view and benefited from powerful interests now under scrutiny by the new govt in Kiev
• Handwritten secret ledgers show $12.7 million in undisclosed cash payments designated for Manafort from former President Yanukovych’s pro-Russian political party from 2007 to 2012, according to Ukraine’s newly formed national anti-corruption bureau. Investigators assert that the disbursements were part of an illegal off-the-books system whose recipients also included election officials
• In addition, criminal prosecutors are investigating a group of offshore shell companies that helped members of Yanukovych’s inner circle finance their lavish lifestyles, including a palatial residence with a private zoo, golf course and tennis court
• Among the hundreds of murky transactions their companies engaged in was an $18 million deal to sell Ukrainian TV assets to a partnership put together by Manafort and a Russian oligarch, Oleg Deripaska, a close ally of President Vladimir Putin (there’s more to the story – but it’s long – and this gives a sense of the basics)

• Who will win the presidency? Fivethirtyeight has Hillary Clinton at 89.2% this morning and Donald Trump at 10.8% (this is his worst number so far – but there’s still time…)

Democratic Hacking / FBI to Release Clinton Interview Notes? (AP, CNN, Politico, me)

• After receiving a deluge of obscene voicemails and texts, House Minority leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif) informed her fellow Democrats on Saturday of an “electronic Watergate break-in” and warned them not to allow family members to answer their phones or read incoming texts. She said she is changing her phone number and they should do the same

• The breach targeted the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee and other Democratic Party entities, Pelosi said in a statement. As a result, a mix of personal and official info of Democratic members and hundreds of congressional staff, purportedly from a hack of the DCCC, was posted online, she said (what a mess)

• A hacker who calls himself Guccifer 2.0 took credit for posting the info Friday night. Online investigators say he is linked to Russia. Two cybersecurity firms have said their analysis of computer breaches at the DCCC showed detailed evidence that the intrusions were likely linked to Russian hackers

• Members of Congress could receive notes from Hillary Clinton’s interview with the FBI over her private email server as early as today, according to sources, CNN reported. Several Republican lawmakers have requested the notes – they initially thought there would be a transcript – and were livid when they found out in a hearing that there wasn’t

• The FBI doesn’t have a complete transcript of the interview, FBI director James Comey told Congress in long testimony earlier this summer. Clinton wasn’t under oath, he added. (GOP livid) The Obama admin has been debating how to release the documents over concerns that there may be classified information in them – some experts see this as Congress playing detective

• Hillary Clinton released her tax returns on Friday – Donald Trump has still not released his, citing an audit. The joint filings from Bill and Hillary Clinton show $10,745,378 in total declared income, with a federal tex rate of 34.2%, a state and local rate of 9%, bringing their combined tax rate to 43.2% according to their returns (TMN)

Louisiana: 20,000 Rescued From Floods (AP, me)
• Across southern Louisiana Sunday, residents scrambled to get to safety as rivers and creeks burst their banks, swollen from days of heavy rain. In high-water vehicles, boats and helicopters, emergency crews hurried to rescue scores of south Louisiana residents as the governor warned that it wasn’t over
• From the air homes in southwest Louisiana looked more like little islands surrounded by flooded fields. Farmland was covered, streets descended into impassable pools of water, shopping centers were inundated with only roofs of cars peeking above the water. From the ground it was just as catastrophic
• Drivers tried to navigate treacherous roads where the water lapped at the side or covered the asphalt in a running stream. Abandoned cars were pushed to the side of the road, lawn furniture and children’s toys floating through the waters. More than 10,000 people are in shelters

&&&

• The low pressure system that wreaked such havoc moved into Texas, but the National Weather Service warned that there’s still danger of fresh floods, as swollen rivers drain towards the Gulf of Mexico. Most of the rivers have crested, but several are still rising
• Gov John Bel Edwards (D-La) said Sunday that at least 20,000 people have been rescued so far. Edwards called on people not to “sightsee.” “This is a serious event. It is not over,” Edwards said. Four people have been reported dead, said Devin George, the state registrar for vital records
• The federal govt declared a major disaster in the state. Edwards declared a state of emergency Saturday, calling the floods “unprecedented” and “historic.” He and his family were forced to leave the Governor’s Mansion when chest-high water filled the basement and electricity was cut off
Boko Haram Video: Bodies of Kidnapped Girls? (NYT, BBC, me)
• The militant group Boko Haram released a video on Sunday purporting to show the bodies of several kidnapped schoolgirls who fighters claim were killed by Nigerian airstrikes. A masked, camouflaged fighter who appears says many of the schoolgirls died in the strikes. The fighter also demands the release of imprisoned militants in exchange for the release of the girls
• The strikes are part of a broader offensive by the Nigerian military to rid the region of Boko Haram. Nigerian Info Minister Alhaji Mohammed insisted the govt was doing everything possible to secure the girls’ release. “We are being extremely careful because the situation has been compounded by the split in the leadership of Boko Haram,” he said (why not get them before that?)
• Boko Haram appears to have split into two factions, apparently over the killing of other Muslims and whether fellow believers should be spared. Boko Haram pledged allegiance to ISIS last year. One faction has been recognized by ISIS
• In the video, the camera pans across a group of somber-faced girls cloaked in robes with hair coverings. The video cuts to a fighter, calling on the govt to release fighters. He conducts a brief interview with one of the girls, as others are grouped behind them. Some can be seen weeping. The last few minutes show what appear to be the bodies of several dead girls (horrible)
• Samuel Yaga, father of abducted schoolgirl Serah Samuel, said, “I have watched the video several times. I saw her sitting down. The fact is we are overwhelmed with a feeling of depression. It’s like being beaten and being stopped from crying. You helplessly watch your daughter but there is nothing you can do. It’s a real heartache.” (gutwrenching)

Rio: Bolt World’s Fastest Man (Reuters, AP, Slate, Reuters, Deadspin, BBC, me)
• Jamaica’s Usain Bolt became the first athlete to win three Olympic 100m titles by beating American Justin Gatlin to gold at Rio 2016. Watch Bolt cross the finish line as the fastest man alive. Gatlin, twice banned for doping offenses, was booed by the crowd and finished 0.08 seconds behind Bolt to take silver (hell no, Bob Costas – Bolt isn’t bigger than Bob Marley, you bleep)
• Simone Biles scooped her third gold medal when she soared to victory in the vault final on Sunday. Biles beat world champion Maria Paseka of Russia who claimed silver. “I feel very excited because having gone to worlds and having two silvers and a bronze it means a lot to me,” Biles said. Biles could win as many as five golds
• U.S. gold medal swimmer Ryan Lochte and three team mates were robbed in a taxi hold-up by men posing as armed police officers who apparently held a gun to Lochte’s forehead and “demanded the athletes’ money and other personal belongings,” the U.S. Olympic Committee confirmed on Sunday. All four athletes are safe and cooperating with authorities (weird story)
• Briton Justin Rose won the first gold medal in golf since 1904 in St Louis in a final round on Sunday so tense that no one led by more than one shot. Rose won on the last hole. Rose thrust his fist into the air and popped the British crest on his shirt before turning to embrace Henrik Stenson. Rose raised both arms, pumped his fist again and took a bow (GB second in medals? WTF?)
• “The food is, to put it gently, bad,” Igor Kazikov, a senior Russian Olympic official, told Russian media. “And at first there were normal, metal forks and spoons, but it seems they’ve run out, and now we’re getting disposable ones.” “There are big problems with tea in Brazil. Everyone tries to push coffee on you,” he said. And it’s always the same fruit “over and over.” (quit whining)

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__________________
Victoria Jones – Editor
News is news
Comments are mine

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