Attention to the Unseen

Peter Wehner writes: During the 2016 campaign, I received a phone call from an influential political journalist and author, who was soliciting my thoughts on Donald Trump. Trump’s rise in the Republican Party was still something of a shock, and he wanted to know the things I felt he should keep in mind as he went about the task of covering Trump. At the top of my list: Talk to psychologists and psychiatrists about the state of Trump’s mental health,…

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Graeme Wood writes: Donald Trump tweeted this morning that he had fired his national security adviser, John Bolton, and that Bolton’s “services are no longer needed at the White House.” The cold language was not accidental, and it was a strategically odd way to fire a man best known for being hell-bent on revenge against those who have crossed him. This is not how you release a valued counselor who has rescued you from repeated embarrassment, but whose views have…

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I know nothing about an Air Force plane landing at an airport (which I do not own and have nothing to do with) near Turnberry Resort (which I do own) in Scotland, and filling up with fuel, with the crew staying overnight at Turnberry (they have good taste!). NOTHING TO DO WITH ME — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 9, 2019 November, 2014: “Donald Trump pledges to make Prestwick Airport 'really successful'” http://t.co/JZ1dnBqwV1 via @STVNews — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump)…

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Mark Malloch-Brown writes: Remainers have nothing to fear from an election so long as we work together; and because we will work together, the country has nothing to fear from Corbyn. The present polling gives Johnson an ebbing lead, but a lead nonetheless. It is likely he will strike a deal with Nigel Farage in any snap election. Perhaps Farage’s non-aggression pact in which the Brexit Party does little campaigning in swathes of the south, and the Tories do even…

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Polly Toynbee writes: When parliament reconvenes in October it will have 12 days to close all loopholes and prevent a no-deal exit. Johnson may resign, or as a last resort Labour may need to depose him with a no-confidence vote. If so, the leader of the opposition would be called first to form an interim government; but will the alliance [with the SNP, the Liberal Democrats, Greens and Plaid Cymru, and exiled Tories] stomach him? When first mooted, the answer…

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The New York Times reports: The Secretary of Commerce threatened to fire top employees at NOAA on Friday after the agency’s Birmingham office contradicted President Trump’s claim that Hurricane Dorian might hit Alabama, according to three people familiar with the discussion. That threat led to an unusual, unsigned statement later that Friday by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration disavowing the office’s own position that Alabama was not at risk. The reversal caused widespread anger within the agency and drew…

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Aaron Blake writes: Early Monday afternoon, acting Customs and Border Protection head Mark Morgan offered some peace of mind to Bahamians seeking humanitarian relief in the United States in the wake of Hurricane Dorian, following the news that some were turned away for not having visas. “This is a humanitarian mission,” Morgan assured. “If your life is in jeopardy and you’re in the Bahamas … you’re going to be allowed to come to the United States, whether you have travel…

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‘I was the sole survivor of the Kingsmill massacre. Ten of my friends were shot dead beside me.’ In 2016, UK political commentator Peter Oborne voted for Brexit. A vote he now regrets.@obornetweets went to the border to discover the reality of Boris Johnson's no deal plan pic.twitter.com/2yFMW2UwHy — JOE.ie (@JOEdotie) September 4, 2019 The Guardian reports: The Irish prime minister has warned Boris Johnson there will be no “clean break” from the EU, with further fraught negotiations to come…

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The Guardian reports: A former supreme court justice has said Boris Johnson would be in contempt of court if he applied for article 50 extension while simultaneously trying to get the EU to reject it. Reports in the Daily Telegraph suggested that the prime minister has drawn up plans to “sabotage” parliament’s efforts to force through a Brexit extension to prevent the UK leaving the bloc without a deal. He is said to be considering sending an accompanying letter to…

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CNN reports: In a previously undisclosed secret mission in 2017, the United States successfully extracted from Russia one of its highest-level covert sources inside the Russian government, multiple Trump administration officials with direct knowledge told CNN. A person directly involved in the discussions said that the removal of the Russian was driven, in part, by concerns that President Donald Trump and his administration repeatedly mishandled classified intelligence and could contribute to exposing the covert source as a spy. The decision…

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The New York Times reports: Britain and the United States have often seemed lashed together amid the populist storms of the last few years — Brexit and the Trump White House echoing and amplifying each other across the Atlantic. But in one respect they have radically diverged. In London, rebels in the Conservative Party staged a dramatic insurrection in the past week against Prime Minister Boris Johnson, blocking his plan to withdraw Britain from the European Union even without a…

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On Friday, an official at NOAA who thus far remains anonymous, released the following statement: From Wednesday, August 28, through Monday, September 2, the information provided by NOAA and the National Hurricane Center to President Trump and the wider public demonstrated that tropical-storm-force winds from Hurricane Dorian could impact Alabama. This is clearly demonstrated in Hurricane Advisories #15 through #41, which can be viewed at the following link. The Birmingham National Weather Service’s Sunday morning tweet spoke in absolute terms…

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