The Morning Dispatch: A Strong June Jobs Report

Plus: The West Coast braces for another explosive wildfire season.

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533

Happy Tuesday! We hope you had a wonderful Independence Day weekend and ate enough hot dogs and hamburgers to sedate a medium-sized horse.

Quick Hits: Today’s Top Stories

  • The U.S. economy added a net 850,000 jobs in June, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, with the unemployment rate ticking up to 5.9 percent from 5.8 percent in May. The 850,000 jobs are the most added in one month since last August.

  • Johnson & Johnson released data demonstrating that its coronavirus vaccine produced “strong, persistent activity” against the Delta variant and other SARS-CoV-2 variants. The studies also noted that the antibody response lasted at least eight months.

  • U.S. forces fully vacated Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan, clearing the way for the Afghan army to take control of the premises. Meanwhile, more than 1,000 Afghan troops fled into Tajikistan after a Taliban offensive in northern Afghanistan.

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  1. Avatar photo
    Kevin C. Smith

    You guys missed Episode 2 of John Adams. I know you were shooting for movies, but “C’mon man!”

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      Sgrantsm

      Ooo - gonna stream that one again!

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    Kevin C. Smith

    WHO HIJACKED TMD FROM DECLAN? Such not-pro-Cubs tweets in the APWC section is disturbing. Someone make sure Declan is safe.

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    William Miller

    I think we need a Fact Check on the lede and the use of tubular meat products as horse-sedatives. If only there were a reputable Fact-Checking organization we could call on.

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    Jen

    Adam Kinzinger gave an interview to NY Times Magazine. In it he says he suspects some members of Congress knew what was going to happen on 1/6. That is a serious charge to make. Especially if he’s insinuating they knew people were going to breach the Capitol. Unless he has actual evidence (and no I don’t think ‘look at the tweets’ is sufficient) he probably shouldn’t be making that accusation. There’s plenty you can say about Republicans who seem to want to downplay 1/6 without suggesting they were in on it. I think Josh Hawley and Ted Cruz were reckless and shouldn’t have done what they did but I don’t see any evidence they knew these rally goers were going to storm the Capitol. Now if Kinzinger has real evidence that Paul Gosar or MTG or Lauren Boebert or whoever was coordinating with Amy Kremer or others who did storm the Capitol then he certainly should present it to the select committee.

    https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2021/07/05/magazine/adam-kinzinger-interview.html

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      cheerio

      There are I think at least 3 Senators who were involved with war room meetings on the day before the 1/6 rally at the Trump Int'l Hotel and I think even the Oval in Dec.

      From Proof by Seth Abramson:
      "Tuberville says that the January 5 event was a fundraiser. It was not a fundraiser, according to attendees Charles W. Herbster and Daniel Beck, who insist the meeting was a strategy session squarely focused on January 6 and the possibility of overturning the 2020 presidential election by (as the Omaha World-Herald has reported was the subject of the meeting) “discuss[ing] how to pressure more members of Congress to object to the Electoral College results that made Joe Biden the winner.” Herbster—not just a meeting attendee but a Nebraska gubernatorial candidate and the national chairman of Trump’s Agriculture and Rural Advisory Committee as of January 5—wrote on Facebook, as the meeting was occurring, that its topic was “patriots…joining…in a battle for justice and truth.” No mention was made of fundraising. As for Beck, he says that he “spent the day” at Trump International Hotel on January 5, and in doing so “got to hang out with Rudy Giuliani, Kimberly Guilfoyle, Don Jr., Michael Lindell…and talk about the status of things. Several senators sat with us…it was a really intimate setting and it was really cool because we got to hear first-hand their take on how things are going, what things are looking like, and what to expect for tomorrow [January 6] and through inauguration. And there’s a lot of people showing up today in DC—I can’t wait for tomorrow. It’s gonna be a big day. A lot of big things are going to be happening. So hang in there, keep the faith…” Another of the apparent meeting attendees, Ali Alexander, who spoke to meeting attendee Kimberly Guilfoyle by phone as the meeting was unfolding, has publicly said that he and three Trump Congressional allies (Reps. Paul Gosar, Andy Biggs and Mo Brooks) “schemed up” putting “maximum pressure” on Congress by putting so many people at the Capitol on January 6 that Congress would “hear[ ] our loud roar from outside” and choose to back Trump rather than the results of the 2020 election. Within an hour or so of the phone call, Alexander had led a “Victory or death!” chant at Freedom Plaza. {Note: Media Matters reports that at a December rally Alexander said he was in touch with “people from the White House”; per Media Matters, Alexander “appeared to encourage physical violence against members of Congress and other politicians who he claimed helped ‘steal’ the [2020] election.”}"

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        Sgrantsm

        Sounds like proof to me. Shouldn't all of these people be subpoenaed by the committee to testify under oath?

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          cheerio

          Apparently there were 2 war rooms, - both had about the same number of people -20-23 and the cast of characters in general you would recognize the names from the administration and campaign of TFG. OathKeepers were driving/taxing many of them around in golf carts on the 6th (ones that were previously used by the SS?). Anyhow it is very interesting reading and there are pics/posts of the attendees on social media from these sites. Tuberville initially denied being present but then changed his story. It was posited that Trump phoned in on the conference line but I don't know if he has proof of this or not. I am sure this will all come out in the commission and further indictments by the Justice Dept (which is pretty disappointing, they are still trying to identify hundreds more of the insurrectionists). Perhaps the Capital needs some cameras with facial recognition software for the security in the building.

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        cheerio

        Here is a link: https://sethabramson.substack.com/p/us-senator-tommy-tuberville-admits

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    2. Anonymous

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        Jen

        Actually I’m not a fan of the ‘just asking questions’ crowd and I hope that’s NOT how this committee approaches it’s investigation.

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        1. Anonymous

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          1. Peter

            Its hypocrisy. I don’t think Jen is being honest.

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      Aylene Wright

      Yeah, unless he has actual evidence that Members were definitely aware of what would happen, it's quite irresponsible for a Member of Congress to make such accusations.

      That being said, one guy who joined MTG on her trip to AOC's office a couple years ago, Anthony Aguero, was filmed in the Capitol that day, and recently seen at the border interviewing Boebert and other Congressional Republicans. However that still doesn't mean MTG or Boebert or any other Republican knew he planned to breach the Capitol building.

      https://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/561361-suspected-capitol-rioter-at-border-during-republican-lawmakers

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        Jen

        Somehow I get the feeling Kinzinger knows he’s not getting re-elected and just doesn’t give AF anymore. I am curious how he’s viewed within the House GOP caucus. Are other members just annoyed with him? Are some secretly glad he’s speaking out? Are others waiting for him to be gone? As outspoken as Liz Cheney has been she hasn’t really gone after individual members the way Kinzinger has. And I don’t think she’s ever suggested members knew or were involved in the planning of what happened on 1/6.

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          Aylene Wright

          I am getting that Jeff Flake vibe from Kinzinger as well, that he knows he's toast and just wants to go out with a bang. (Though Flake's version of a bang was just blocking a slate of judges as a way to try to get the Mueller protection bill passed, and it didn't even work.

          Agree that Cheney (or whoever manages her social media) hasn't been as vocally critical of other Republicans, though I saw a Tweet of her condemning Gosar and also claiming she had to help him put his gas mask on. But other than that, nothing too edgy.

          I assume she already knew she'd likely be tapped by Pelosi for the Select Committee and didn't want to go scorched earth until after that duty ends, though I doubt she'll do that even then. Just don't get the same vibe from her as I do from Kinzinger.

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            Jen

            Flake definitely got annoying towards the end. I think what really turned me off him was his blocking judges and then admitting in a CNN interview he probably wouldn’t be doing it if he was running for reelection.

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      2. Anonymous

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          Jen

          It’s good enough for what? I want to see real evidence like emails or text messages or phone records. So far Kinzinger hasn’t presented anything other than a feeling he has.

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          1. Anonymous

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    Jen

    Newsweek has an op-ed from a guy by the name of Josh Blackman who is a professor at the South Texas College of Law in Houston. In it he argues that Thomas, Alito and Gorsuch are sounding the alarm on Kavanaugh and Barrett and that conservatives should take these warnings seriously.

    Personally I think it’s way to early to be sounding the alarm on any of the newer justices. I get that many on the Right feel they’ve been burned by Supreme Court nominees before but Barrett’s been on the court for less than a year. To sound the alarm already seems way premature and not fair to her at all. I’d love to hear David and Sarah’s opinion on this on their podcast.

    https://www.newsweek.com/conservative-justices-warn-kavanaugh-barrett-lack-fortitude-opinion-1606947

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      Kmregan7

      They wanted "their" judges? Isn't that why so many keep voting Republican? Because they want the 'right' judges - which implies that the 'right' judges won't actually rule based on the law or the Constitution but based on partisan leanings?

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      Cornelius O’Brien

      Post-script, that article is alarming due to the author's bias and his implicit support for political outcomes on the Court, not for anything it says about the newest justices. It lacks grounding in sound jurisprudence.

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        Aylene Wright

        Sarah recently wrote an article on CJ Roberts that revealed that some conservatives actually will admit that at times they wish Harriet Miers had actually been put on the Court because "at least she'd vote the right way". Although this is silly because if W had put Miers on the Court, it would have been Alito, not Roberts, who was left off. Doubt he'd have dared to ever nominate her for the Chief Justice spot, that actually involves more than just being the nominal leader of the SCOTUS Nine. The CJ actually is the top dog of the entire Federal Court system. Roberts isn't just trying to keep SCOTUS but the rest of the Article III branch robustly independent from the other branches.

        But that certainly reveals that some conservatives actually DO want partisan hacks on the Court who "vote the right way" over actual qualified jurists, and perhaps this Blackman is one of them.

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          Jen

          If I remember correctly wasn’t Roberts nominated to replace O’Connor who was retiring but then Rehnquist died so Bush moved Roberts to CJ and then nominated Alito to fill the open seat? It is fascinating that two of the most ‘conservative’ members of the court were appointed by GHWB and GWB.

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            Aylene Wright

            True, but after switching Roberts to the CJ vacancy, W then nominated Miers to fill the upcoming O'Connor vacancy. After being pilloried she withdrew her nomination, then W picked Alito instead. So "Miers instead of Roberts" was never a possibility.

            Although it occurs to me that Rehnquist was known to be dying of thyroid cancer and W really should have been prepared to nominate a new Chief Justice. Interesting to ponder who he'd have nominated if Rehnquist had decided to retire, and O'Connor hadn't? (I have also read that O'Connor eventually came to regret her retirement.)

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        2. Anonymous

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            Aylene Wright

            I think that Roberts will eventually be remembered as a very good Chief Justice though perhaps not quite a great one. Although he ditched the stripes that Rehnquist put on his robe, he has certainly carried on his predecessor's sense that the Chief Justice isn't just an honorary "first among equals" position but has a set of institutional obligations to the Article III branch, that a mere Associate Justice does not.

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      Cornelius O’Brien

      What is the point of "sounding the alarm"? They are lifetime appointees. The reality is that conservatives have been continually disappointed in the jurisprudence of justices appointed by Presidents they voted for. The classic is DDE's statement that he made two mistakes as President, "and they're both sitting on the Supreme Court". (Earl Warren and Bill Brennan). See also, Oliver Wendell Holmes. Was supposed to be near death, served 30 years and changed the Court's jurisprudence in ways unexpected when appointed from the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts. The job changes people more often than expected.

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        Sgrantsm

        Agree what's the point. Also, aren't they supposed to not speak publicly about each other?

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        Carol May

        The SCOTUS is a crapshoot. Good. I couldn’t be happier when conservatives and liberals are freaking out about how “their” appointed justices aren’t “representing” the people who sent them.

        I like to point out that it was Obama who has so far earned the record for the most unanimous losses at the Supreme Court. That required a lot of defections from “liberal” justices. I don’t know if Trump’s record has been calculated yet for his one term administration….

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          Jen

          I don’t mind Kagan even if I usually wouldn’t agree with her. But I think Obama could have nominated someone better than Sotomayer. I think she’s a lightweight and if the Left likes her it’s mostly because they know she’s going to be a solid liberal vote on the court.

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            Aylene Wright

            Kagan interestingly was never a judge and was Obama's Solicitor General when he tapped for the SCOTUS position. Yet she never struck me as a partisan. And although many assumed Kavanaugh would act as a partisan based both on his comments during the confirmation hearings and some of his prior jobs that were quite political, so far he has actually replaced Roberts as the most centrist Justice. So just because a Justice was involved in partisan politics before confirmation doesn't always mean they act partisan afterwards.

            And although I know judicial term limits are popular these days, I really do wonder if they would do more harm than good. Kavanaugh and Barrett are both relatively young and know they could be on the court for 30 years or more. I can see why that would make them more likely to favor an incremental approach and not want to burn bridges with both current and future colleagues. But would they do the same if they knew they would be looking for a new job in 18 years?

            That being said, although federal judges have had lifetime tenure since the Constitution, there was a time when it wasn't that uncommon for judges and even SC Justices to resign their seats to accept an ambassadorship, Cabinet position, or even run for a political office.

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      3. KIttye

        I agree. I have been pleasantly surprised by the comity on the Court. Although Justices do have some biases, I believe they rule on what they believe is the law. Sometimes I’m disappointed in a ruling but never think they should be partisan.

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        1. Anonymous

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            Jen

            Sotomayer is a partisan left wing hack. I could argue Breyer is too as was Stevens and RBG.

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        Jen

        ACB hasn’t even been on the court a year. It’s way to early to say who’s she’s going to be on the court. I’d even say the same for Gorsuch and Kavanaugh.

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          Cornelius O’Brien

          I would agree. My comment was directed toward the instinct to regret appointments, early or after many court sittings. I think it's a positive sign that proponents of particular appointees are disappointed in their rulings in particular cases. That's healthy.

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          Aylene Wright

          It was only a few months ago that disappointed Right Wing Culture Warriors were bashing Gorsuch as a cowardly traitor for his Bostock decision. All of a sudden he's one of the Pillars of Principled Judicial Conservatism again? The liberal critics seem to have forgotten it too, they praised Gorsuch then but are hating on him again now. 🤷‍♀️

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    Jen

    I find it hilarious that some are defending J.D. Vance over his 180 on Donald Trump. Over the weekend he pleaded with people to not judge him over his prior anti-Trump comments. This has all come to light because he deleted a bunch of anti-Trump tweets. His 180 has nothing to do with Trump’s policies while in office. It’s 100% about a political calculation he’s made that he needs to jump on the populist pro-Trump train in order to win a GOP primary in Ohio. Deleting his 2016 tweets when it’s easy for people to find them is just pathetic.

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      Aylene Wright

      Although to be fair he certainly isn't the only Republican who's ashamed of having voted for Evan McMuff ... er, McMullin. Much like Miles Taylor he has an exaggerated sense of his own importance to the Nevertrump cause. (Yet another reason I am disappointed that David decided against running as the conservative protest vote candidate in 2016)

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        Jen

        If that’s all it was I could understand. I voted for McMuffin in Minnesota and am kind of ashamed to admit it considering who he turned out to be. But Vance had pretty harsh criticisms of Trump back then. Now he’s completely on the Trump train.

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          Aylene Wright

          Any politician deleting Tweets except for routine maintenance, correcting a dead link, etc, is silly and invoking the Streisand effect. There's even a whole ProPublica project to keep track of the deleted Tweets of politicians.

          https://projects.propublica.org/politwoops/

          And while that only archives Tweets from those "currently in office and candidates for office" , obviously Neera Tanden had prior Tweets come back to haunt her. Susan Hennessy deleted a bunch of tweets just before she was appointed to a DoJ position. Most was Russiagate related, but I recall she once stated that Trump's ordering the killing of Soleimani meant he was to blame for the Iranians accidentally shooting down a civilian airliner. I recall admiring the flexibility of her mind at eye time. Didn't keep her from getting the job, but still rather embarrassing.

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          1. KIttye

            I am puzzled by your references to Russiagate. Are you implying it was a hoax? I admit it was over-hyped by some and I definitely think the Steele dossier was, but I think it was a needed investigation. I don’t think we have learned everything we need to know about it yet.

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            Jen

            Hmm…interesting. I wonder how they capture them.

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        Aylene Wright

        PS: For those who may not know, Miles Taylor recently stated that if Trump ran for POTUS again in 2024, he would run against him to split the conservative vote, which is a ridiculous statement. Perhaps even more so than McMullin who was pretty obviously just running to give a protest vote option to conservatives who didn't want to vote for HRC, at a time when pretty much everyone assumed HRC was going to win.

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        1. KIttye

          I don’t see anything wrong with McMullen running. Two of my Republican friends voted for him. I don’t know who Miles Taylor is, but if he wants to run, why not?

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    The Stray Goose

    Why would anyone bother to read an economics report from a partisan organization? Those who support the party in power are going to say the situation is just great, and those out of power are going to say, "Yeah, it'd not too bad, but if we were running things, life would be even better!" It's all B.S.

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      Cornelius O’Brien

      The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics is a partisan organization? That's depressing and also unintelligible.

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        The Stray Goose

        Clarification: 'Economics ANALYSIS'.

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        1. Peter

          Your statement is still BS.

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    Victor Clairmont

    Biden’s policies has led to slower growth and inflation, 5 straight months of dismal or misses on jobs report, while prices have gone up (beyond scarcity of demands) is not the victory lap they want.

    Let’s hope things keep improving, but the pumping of the dollar, policies that incentivized people to stay home, has made the first half of the year sluggish and tougher especially for the country that should not have been a net 5million behind on jobs.

    As for the wildfires, ack. I wish those the best living in those area’s, but California has been especially grievous in not controlling their burns and replanting tree’s too close together, which also has led to the tinderbox part.

    And finally, hope every had an amazing July 4th weekend.

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      2sequoia

      California is planting trees too close together ? Please explain.

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  9. David Murphey

    None of the movies they listed could possibly match the most obvious Independence Day movie - the wonderful musical, 1776.

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  10. Anonymous

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      Angie

      I love those movies....

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