PBC News & Comment: Dems’ Refusal to Impeach Fuels Trump’s Demagoguery

Trump’s racist tweets aimed at The Squad demonstrate the impunity he feels, and his lowball tactics for 2020 campaign…--while Pelosi is correct that “The Squad” only has 4 votes, she publicly rebuked them in Maureen Dowd column, creating the opening for Trump’s twitter bombs
--in follow-up column, Dowd quotes Rahm Emmanuel to slam AOC etal
--as Trump triples down, Pelosi defends her members and offers resolution condemning Trump
--WashPost media critic Margaret Sullivan scolds her colleagues for soft-pedaling Trump’s racist comments
--NY Times columnist Michelle Goldberg tells Pelosi to fight Trump, not The Squad
--in mostly-accurate editorial on deportations by recent presidents, NY Times editorial gets fuzzy on Obama’s record
--Trump imposes new rules on asylum—effective tomorrow—that are clearly illegal, and Guatemala’s president bailed from White House meeting on the plan
--in Tacoma, a man described as “anarchist and antifascist” dies in alleged attempt to torch ICE detention center
--after revelations of racist Facebook posts by border patrol agents, The Intercept reports that their boss was a member of the group implicated
--Jeffrey Epstein faced 2 accusers in bail hearing today, after resignation of Labor Secretary Alex Acosta over the lenient plea deal in 2008
--with boost from Adam Schiff, CIA works to expand law that punishes exposure of “covert” agents
--H.P. Albarelli, Jr., the courageous and meticulous muckraker who exposed CIA bioweapons including MK Ultra, has died
--after British ambassador to US resigned following leak of critical comments about Trump, European leaders are scrambling to keep the Iran nuclear deal
--Hong Kong protesters continue to challenge Beijing, and Ai Wei Wei writes op-ed in support