The Conversation -- July 4, 2024
The New York Times is liveblogging Britain's election results. Mark Landler: "Britain's Labour Party was projected on Thursday evening to win a landslide election victory, sweeping the Conservative Party out of power after 14 years, in a thundering anti-incumbent revolt that heralded a new era in British politics. A nationwide exit poll conducted for the BBC and two other broadcasters indicated that Labour was on course to win around 410 of the 650 seats in the British House of Commons, versus 131 for the Conservatives. If the projections are confirmed, it would be the worst defeat for the Conservatives in the nearly 200-year history of the party...." This is the pinned item in the liveblog.
Kenneth Vogel, et al., of the New York Times: "After several days of quiet griping and hoping that President Biden would abandon his re-election campaign on his own, many wealthy Democratic donors are trying to take matters into their own hands. Wielding their fortunes as both carrot and stick, donors have undertaken a number of initiatives to pressure Mr. Biden to step down from the top of the ticket and help lay the groundwork for an alternate candidate. The efforts -- some coordinated, some conflicting and others still nascent -- expose a remarkable and growing rift between the party's contributor class and its standard-bearer that could have an impact on down-ballot races, whether or not the donors influence Mr. Biden's decision.... A group of them is working to raise as much as $100 million for a sort of escrow fund, called the Next Generation PAC, that would be used to support a replacement candidate. If Mr. Biden does not step aside, the money could be used to help down-ballot candidates, according to people close to the effort. Supporters of potential replacements like Vice President Kamala Harris are jockeying to position their preferred successor. Other donors are threatening to withhold contributions not only from Mr. Biden but also from other Democratic groups unless Mr. Biden bows out." ~~~
~~~ Marie: In case you are thinking of all this as a massive reprise of "Democrats in Disarray!" stories -- take heart! Here are these fatcat Democratic donors devising ways to help the party come up with a candidate for president who can (a) win and (b) take positive steps to help the American people. Meanwhile, over at the GOP donors' club, everybody is bribing Trump to lower their taxes, write drilling & mining permits, appoint corrupt aides, department heads and judges, and fire all the "deep-state" regulators.
Jonathan Martin in Politico Magazine: "By descending on Washington to meet with President Joe Biden and then emerging from the West Wing to oh-so-earnestly pledge their public support to the beleaguered president, [Democratic] governors complicated the efforts of congressional Democrats to ease him off the ticket.... Most congressional Democrats simply see no path to take back the House and hold their Senate majority if they are led by a president who large majorities of the country, as new polls indicate, believe is too old for the job. Yet by showing up at the White House and then, more significantly, offering public displays of support, the governors only encouraged a standard bearer many lawmakers feel is doomed -- and will doom them. Most House Democrats are outrunning Biden in their internal surveys, I'm told by people familiar with the results. But they know they can't overcome his drag if he's losing their seats by 15 points...."
Reid Epstein & Maggie Haberman of the New York Times: "President Biden told a gathering of Democratic governors that he needs to get more sleep and work fewer hours, including curtailing events after 8 p.m., according to two people who participated in the meeting and several others briefed on his comments. The remarks on Wednesday were a stark acknowledgment of fatigue from the 81-year-old president during a meeting intended to reassure more than two dozen of his most important supporters that he is still in command of his job and capable of mounting a robust campaign against ... Donald J. Trump.... Mr. Biden told the governors, some of whom were at the White House while others participated virtually, that he was staying in the race."
Matthew Chapman of the Raw Story: "... Donald Trump kicked off the Fourth of July with a lengthy screed on Truth Social praising himself and lobbing insults at President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris -- barely mentioning anything at all about the founding of the country or any of its values."
And there it is https://t.co/wYZpDfvNZ4
— Anne Applebaum (@anneapplebaum) July 3, 2024
~~~ Thanks to RAS for the link.
~~~~~~~~~~
Marie: I do know today is what used to be the most important national holiday, but I not much for patriots to celebrate this year.
President Biden Awards the Medal of Honor to Two Civil War Soldiers. John Ismay of the New York Times: "In the spring of 1862, a small group of Union Army saboteurs came up with a daring idea to cut off Confederate supply lines near Chattanooga by stealing a train, tearing up railroad tracks, burning bridges and cutting down telegraph wires -- which would have denied means of travel and communication to enemy forces in the area. Dressed in plain clothes, they launched their mission in April, sneaking behind enemy lines in Georgia, taking over a locomotive near Marietta and wreaking havoc for seven hours along miles of railway in an effort to help take the battle deep into Tennessee. But the stolen train, called 'the General,' ran out of fuel 18 miles from Chattanooga, according to a U.S. Army account of the heist, which became known as the Great Locomotive Chase. The Union soldiers and civilians who took part in the mission fled, but all were captured after less than two weeks on the run. Most were sent to prisoner of war camps. The rest were hanged as spies. In 1863, six survivors of the raid were the first American soldiers awarded the Medal of Honor, the nation's highest decoration for valor in combat, which had been authorized by President Abraham Lincoln the year before. In all, 19 of the men received the Medal of Honor.... But two soldiers who were executed by Confederates soon after the mission were never recognized.
"Those two men, Pvt. Philip G. Shadrach and Pvt. George D. Wilson of the 2nd Ohio Volunteer Infantry, finally received the honor posthumously on Wednesday afternoon, 162 years after their service was cut short by a hangman's noose in Atlanta. In a ceremony at the White House, President Biden bestowed the medals to their family members, some of whom were unaware of their ancestors' actions until contacted by historians." Okay, a little something to celebrate. ~~~
~~~ Marie: You can rent the film "The Great Locomotive Chase" on YouTube. It's a Disney film, so probably pretty hokey. If I'd been a better film critic when I saw the movie in 1956, I could provide a more definitive review. But at seven or eight years old, I perhaps was not all that discerning.
Presidential Race
Katie Rogers of the New York Times: "President Biden has told a key ally that he knows he may not be able to salvage his candidacy if he cannot convince the public in the coming days that he is up for the job after a disastrous debate performance last week. The president, whom this ally emphasized is still deeply in the fight for re-election, understands that his next few appearances heading into the holiday weekend must go well, particularly an interview scheduled for Friday with George Stephanopoulos of ABC News and campaign stops in Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. 'He knows if he has two more events like that, we're in a different place' by the end of the weekend, said the ally, referring to Mr. Biden's halting and unfocused performance in the debate. The person, who talked to the president in the past 24 hours, spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss a sensitive situation. Andrew Bates, a White House spokesman, said the report was 'absolutely false' and that the White House had not been given enough time to respond." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ The story has been updated. New Lede: "President Biden has told key allies that he knows the coming days are crucial and understands that he may not be able to salvage his candidacy if he cannot convince voters that he is up to the job after a disastrous debate performance last week. According to two allies who have spoken with him, Mr. Biden has emphasized that he is still deeply committed to the fight for re-election but understands that his viability as a candidate is on the line. The president sought to project confidence on Wednesday in a call with his campaign staff, even as White House officials were trying to calm nerves among the ranks inside the Biden administration." A related Guardian story is here.~~~
~~~ Carol Lee & Monica Alba of NBC News: "In recent conversations with aides, family members and allies outside the White House, President Joe Biden has vacillated between acceptance and defiance in the face of the seismic shift in his political standing within his own party, according to four people familiar with the matter. In some discussions, Biden has acknowledged that the blowback from his debate performance last week may grow too large to overcome, while in others he has been completely dismissive of any notion that he might walk away from his re-election campaign, these people said."
~~~ Michael Scherer, et al., of the Washington Post: "President Biden and his senior team said they accepted Wednesday the grim ultimatum they have been hearing from almost all quarters of the Democratic Party this week: quickly demonstrate his fitness for office or face a significant effort to force him to step aside.... His critics have been shaken by his relative inaction over the previous six days to directly address the panic ignited by his halting debate performance. Starting Tuesday afternoon, he started calling top congressional leaders, scheduled a sit-down interview with ABC News and announced weekend campaign travel plans that will be closely scrutinized." ~~~
~~~ Brian Steinberg of ABC News: "ABC News said it will move an interview between [George Stephanopoulos] and President Joe Biden to Friday evening, rather than waiting until Sunday morning as previously planned, a sign of the extreme interest in seeing the Commander-in-Chief address issues of physical and mental fitness in the wake of a poor debate performance against ... Donald Trump last week. The interview is the first Biden has granted to a mainstream national news outlet since the debate performance."
Maggie Haberman, et al., of the New York Times: "President Biden told a group of Democratic governors on Wednesday that he was staying in the 2024 campaign, as the group peppered the president with questions about the path forward after Mr. Biden's disastrous debate performance last week. After the meeting, a handful of governors spoke with reporters outside the White House, with one, Gov. Kathy Hochul of New York, declaring, 'President Joe Biden is in it to win it, and all of us said we pledged our support to him.' Gov. Tim Walz of Minnesota, the chair of the Democratic Governors Association, said: 'He has had our backs through Covid, through all of the recovery, all of the things that have happened. The governors have his back, and we're working together just to make very, very clear on that.' But he added, 'A path to victory in November is the No. 1 priority, and that's the No. 1 priority of the president.'"
Elena Schneider, et al., of Politico: "President Joe Biden on Wednesday evening told more than 20 Democratic governors in a private meeting that he underwent a medical checkup after last week's debate and is fine, according to three people with knowledge of the discussion.... That statement -- in a hastily arranged White House meeting that saw nearly a dozen governors travel to Washington while others participated virtually -- came just hours after press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre sidestepped direct questions from reporters who asked if he'd been examined since the debate.... Biden's remark, according to a person familiar with the president's schedule, was in reference to a short checkup by a White House physician in the days following the debate due to lingering symptoms from his cold. The exam, that person added, was brief and did not include any major tests." ~~~
~~~ Marie: I'll just guess that a White House physician routinely has given this President -- as well as every recent president -- "brief" medical checkups several times a week. So the check-up President Biden described to the governors likely was quite perfunctory. And there seems to be some disagreement on whether or not Biden has had a medical exam in the past several months.
Irie Sentner of Politico: "Democratic Rep. Jim Clyburn, a top ally of Joe Biden, said Wednesday that if the president steps aside from the election, he would expect to see a 'mini-primary' ahead of the Democratic National Convention with Kamala Harris and Democratic governors vying for the top two spots on the party's ticket. Responding to a question on CNN about whether Harris should be the party's automatic nominee if the president were to step aside or if there should be a 'mini-primary' between several candidates, Clyburn (D-S.C.) said: 'Well, I think we're going to have a mini-primary leading into the convention.'... He added, 'You can actually fashion the process that's already in place to make it a mini-primary, and I would support that absolutely. We can't close that down, and we should open up everything for the general election.' A spokesperson for Clyburn emphasized in a statement to Politico that the congressman was answering 'a hypothetical question.'..."
Tim Balk of the New York Times: "Representative Raúl M. Grijalva, a progressive Arizona Democrat, on Wednesday became the second House Democrat to publicly urge President Biden to leave the race, citing the 'precarious' state of the president's campaign."
Kathleen Culliton of the Raw Story: "Democrats fearful that President Joe Biden will cost them control of Congress are mulling calling on him to withdraw from the race against convicted felon ... Donald Trump, according to a new report. Dozens of Democrats in the House of Representatives terrified of what Republican control would mean should Trump reclaim the White House in 2025 are now considering co-signing a letter to that effect, a senior party official told Bloomberg Wednesday. 'Democrats running for reelection in traditionally safe Democratic districts are circulating the letter,' the report notes, 'underscoring how widespread the panic is within the party.'" ~~~
~~ Marianna Sotomayor, et al., of the Washington Post: "As of early Wednesday morning, President Biden had called just one congressional leader personally in the wake of his faltering debate performance: Hakeem Jeffries.... The New York Democrat may be the only thing standing between Biden and a flood of panicked House Democrats -- few of whom have so far gone on the record -- demanding the president exit the race, hopefully saving their chances of regaining the slender House majority in the process. On Wednesday evening, Jeffries led a tightly controlled conference call of House Democratic leaders.... According to four people..., the leader mainly listened, as some panicked participants worried about Biden's electability and said the president should step aside. Some argued, however..., that it would be too 'messy' to replace him. Jeffries acknowledged being concerned about Biden's situation but held his fire, according to one person familiar with the call."
Theodore Schleifer, et al., of the New York Times: "Wealthy Democratic donors who believe a different nominee would be the party's best chance to hold the White House are increasingly gritting their teeth in silence about President Biden, fearful that any move against him could backfire.... Earlier moves by donors to mount their own campaigns to pressure Mr. Biden to step down as the party's presidential candidate have either fizzled out or prompted pushback from fellow contributors and operatives. The deadlock reflects a broader paralysis within the party about how to handle a fraught situation that could inflame intraparty rifts, alienate key constituencies, damage personal relationships and benefit a Republican candidate most of the donors believe poses a threat to democracy." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Theodore Schleifer of the New York Times: "Reed Hastings, the Netflix co-founder who in recent years has become one of the biggest donors to the Democratic Party, called on Wednesday for President Biden to relinquish his place atop of the Democratic presidential ticket. Mr. Hastings became one of the first to say publicly what many Democratic megadonors are saying privately. 'Biden needs to step aside to allow a vigorous Democratic leader to beat Trump and keep us safe and prosperous,' he said in an email with The Times." ~~~
~~~ Kenneth Vogel of the New York Times: "A group of business leaders is calling on President Biden to step aside and make way for a replacement atop the Democratic Party's presidential ticket. Leadership Now Project, a coalition of 400 politically active current and retired executives who mostly but not entirely lean left, issued a statement on Wednesday urging Mr. Biden to 'pass the torch of this year's presidential nomination to the next generation of highly capable Democrats.' The statement is unsigned, but Daniella Ballou-Aares, the group's founder and chief executive, said that it was supported by an overwhelming majority of the members of Leadership Now Project.... In its statement, Leadership Now Project called the prospect of a second Trump term 'an existential threat to American democracy' and said that at the debate Mr. Biden 'failed to effectively make the case against Trump, and we now fear the risk of a devastating loss in November.'" (Also linked yesterday.)
Kelly Gerrity of Politico: "The Boston Globe urged President Joe Biden to bow out of the presidential race Wednesday, citing a lack of sufficient explanation for Biden's 'historically bad' debate performance last week. 'In the days since last week's presidential debate, President Biden's team has said little that adequately explains why his performance was historically bad, beyond that he had a cold,' the editorial board wrote in a column [firewalled].... 'What we mostly heard instead was the closing of ranks around a beleaguered and wounded candidate.' The Globe is the latest in a flurry of news outlets -- including the New York Times -- to use its editorial pages to urge Biden to step aside."
Matthew Chapman of the Raw Story: "New video footage obtained by The Daily Beast shows ... Donald Trump at a golf outing, boasting that he forced President Joe Biden out of the race and speculating that he'll have to run against Vice President Kamala Harris. 'He just quit, you know -- he;s quitting the race,' Trump can be heard saying in the video. 'I got him out of the -- and that means we have Kamala.' He went on to call Biden a 'broken-down pile of crap' and said of Harris, 'I think she's gonna be better' as an opponent, but even so 'she's so bad. She's so pathetic.'" ~~~
~~~ According to Charlie Nash's Mediaite transcript, Trump added to his assessment of Harris, "She's so fucking bad." As for Biden's being "an old broken-down pile of crap," Mediaite's screenshot of Trump in his golf cart sure suggests that the pot is calling the kettle "an old broken-down pile of crap."
Media Matters provides a transcript of remarks by Kevin Roberts, the Heritage Foundation's president to David Brat*, a college professor & former righty-right Virginia Congressman: "... the left has taken over our institutions. The reason that they are apoplectic right now, the reason that so many anchors on MSNBC, for example, are losing their minds daily is because our side is winning.... We are in the process of the second American Revolution, which will remain bloodless if the left allows it to be." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
* And why David Brat? Because Brat was filling in for Trumpy luminary Steve Bannon, who currently is in the federal pen.
~~~ The White People's Revolution. Philip Bump of the Washington Post: "It is true that, particularly of late, [Kevin Roberts'] side has been winning.... The court that made ... changes is one that arose largely despite popular will, not because of it.... This fear of a declining America because of an ascendant left is pervasive on the right.... So much of this is about demography and power.... America has for decades been shifting toward a government in which power is distributed broadly and irrespective of identity. On the right, this is a problem; getting more people to vote, for example, is positioned as 'rigging' elections since those more people are presumed to be Democrats. So we have Roberts, Trump and their revolution. This time, though, the aim ... is ... to largely reverse the trajectory of the first American Revolution, centralizing power in one leader who happens to look a lot like them." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ ** Amanda Marcotte of Salon: "Donald Trump has never been coy about his longing to kill people. [Marcotte gives many examples.] No doubt Trump uses intimidation to keep party members in line. But his real power comes less from scaring people and more from the widespread longing in the GOP ranks for a right-wing dictatorship.... People who are afraid of Trump would not be happy that he's been granted the license to kill by the Supreme Court.... [Speaker Mike] Johnson is hardly alone in expressing his elation over this. Politico described the Republican reaction as 'giddy,' with prominent politicians using language like 'win' and 'victory.' Right-wing media is also celebrating like it's their birthday, while, like Johnson, lying to their audiences about how much freedom Trump would have to commit crimes in office.... Trump wants to be a dictator. Republicans want that, too." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Maggie Astor of the New York Times reports on Kevin Roberts' declaration of revolution and on Donald Trump's history of promoting violence. As Patrick pointed out in yesterday's thread, this is a straight news report, not an opinion piece. (Also linked yesterday.)
Charlie Savage of the New York Times: "The Supreme Court seemed to take two views of executive power this term, saying presidents should have immunity to free them from constraints while also scaling back the ability of the executive branch to impose regulations. But both have been the targets of the conservative legal movement, which sees no contradiction.... In the eyes of the conservative legal movement, presidential power is good while that of regulatory agencies -- even though they are housed in the executive branch -- is bad. Indeed, the movement, and the wealthy donors who funded its rise, has sought to expand presidential power in part so that when Republicans win the White House, they would be better able to restrain and roll back the administrative state.
"The conflict traces back to the Great Depression and the New Deal, when it became clear that the economy, after the Industrial Revolution, technological change and banking crises, had grown too complex for Congress to capably regulate through statutes alone. In response, President Franklin D. Roosevelt and his Democratic allies in Congress created the modern administrative state. Congress passed laws that govern different sectors of the economy at a broad level and created specialized agencies to regulate them at a detailed level.... Regulatory agencies are staffed by career officials.... Since they chose to devote their careers to working there -- [they] most likely personally believe in the missions that Congress has given to their agencies. As a result, when Republican presidents have tried to impose deregulatory agendas, lawmakers and sometimes agency employees have resisted."
Kate Riga of TPM: "As the dust settles from Trump v. United States, those paying attention look out over the wreckage, contemplating an unbounded future President Trump, a system of checks and balances toppled, a super-executive free to commit crimes with impunity. 'Trump v. United States is one of the most, if not the most, authoritarian court opinions I have ever read in U.S. law,' Blake Emerson, professor of law and political science at UCLA, told TPM.... 'This is one of the most important Supreme Court cases of the past 100 years,' Emerson said. 'I'd put it up there with cases like Shelby County v. Holder, Plessy v. Ferguson, Dred Scott.' [MB: To be clear, neither Plessy nor Dred Scott was decided in the past 100 years.] David Super, a Georgetown Law School professor, ranked it alongside Bush v. Gore and another case from this Supreme Court term, the 14th Amendment disqualification case, in which the justices 'effectively read the insurrection clause right out of the Constitution,' he said.... [The decision creates] a new form of executive, a super president who, depending on his level of creativity, could stretch this newly invented immunity to cover huge amounts of criminal behavior."
Matthew Chapman of the Raw Story: "Chief Justice John Roberts and his right-wing colleagues on the Supreme Court are projecting their own insecurities and 'hurt feelings' onto women who are calling out their flawed and dangerous rulings, wrote Dahlia Lithwick in a scorching analysis for Slate.... It's hard to swallow this criticism [from Chief Justice Roberts (in his opinion) and right-wing pundits], wrote Lithwick, given that warnings that Roe v. Wade would be overturned were similarly dismissed as'hysterical' including by senators who voted to confirm Trump's Supreme Court Justices, like Sen. Ben Sasse (R-NE).... 'This isn't hypothetical. This isn't fearmongering. This is how Trump lives and will continue to live. It is how he governs and how he will continue to govern,' Lithwick concluded -- and people in power should stop laughing off women whenever they voice real fears about their rights and prospects. 'It's almost as if the conservative justices' commitment to originalism requires them to believe that women who raise any objection to their tidy paradigms should be viewed as either empty vessels or scheming witches.'" (Also linked yesterday.)
Chris Geidner, the Law Dork: "... John Roberts has shown a shocking spinelessness.... In case after case, the court has whispered, 'We'll hold off to see whether Donald Trump finds his way back into office,' even as the justices acted -- repeatedly -- to make that possible, if not more likely. Even where the court has purportedly decided a case, it has left open different pathways for differing applications of the decision going forward.... Roberts was in the majority the most of any justice, per Adam Feldman's analysis -- but ... [this also reflects] Roberts's lack of expressed concern about ethics questions and unwillingness even to engage with other national leaders on those questions.... Both Thomas and Alito should have recused themselves from multiple cases this term. They did not do so. Roberts said nothing. What we are left with, in issue after issue, is a set up for a 'choose your own right-wing adventure' Supreme Court."
Motoko Rich of the New York Times: "... with the United States Supreme Court granting ... presidents legal immunity, analysts in some [U.S.-allied] countries are even more concerned about the reliability of American power. Across Asia and Europe, where allied leaders have grown accustomed to dealing with threats from authoritarian leaders in Russia, North Korea and China, the idea that they might also have to deal with an unfettered American president is an unsettling prospect.... 'This may be rude to the U.S., but it is not that different from Xi Jinping in China,' ... said said Keigo Komamura, a professor of law at Keio University in Tokyo. 'The rule of law has become the rule of power.' Though some give limited immunity to leaders while in office, Japan, South Korea, Australia and Great Britain -- among the United States' closest allies in the world -- offer nothing like the sweeping protections the Supreme Court appears to have granted in its ruling this week. The court's decision to give the president immunity from criminal prosecution for official conduct -- which was itself vaguely defined by the court -- was 'out of line with global norms,' said Rosalind Dixon, a professor of law at the University of New South Wales in Sydney." MB: Not rude, professor; accurate. (Also linked yesterday.)
Julian Mark of the Washington Post: "A federal judge in Texas temporarily blocked on Wednesday a Federal Trade Commission rule banning noncompete agreements, a new regulation business groups have strenuously opposed. In a 33-page opinion, Judge Ada Brown found that the agency lacked the authority to issue the rule, which makes it illegal for employers to include noncompete agreements in workers' contracts." MB: Brown is a Trump appointee, natch. However, in view of the Supremes' decision to usurp the powers of regulatory authorities, Brown's decision very well may be a prudent reading of the New Order.
Salvador Rizzo of the Washington Post: "After sitting through 30 prosecution witnesses testifying at his federal corruption trial, Sen. Bob Menendez called on family and forensic accountants this week as his attorneys made the case that the New Jersey Democrat took no bribes from wealthy businessmen and that his Cuban-refugee parents taught him to stash bundles of money at home. Menendez, the former chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee..., declined Wednesday to take the witness stand in his own defense. Closing arguments in the case are expected to begin Monday. Five people -- his sister, sister-in-law, a prominent New Jersey lawyer and two forensic accountants -- testified on his behalf."
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Mississippi. Emily Pettus of the AP: "Three federal judges are telling Mississippi to redraw some of its [state] legislative districts, saying the current ones dilute the power of Black voters in three parts of the state. The judges issued their order Tuesday night in a lawsuit filed in 2022 by the Mississippi State Conference of the NAACP and several Black residents."
Texas. Anumita Kaur & Maria Paul of the Washington Post: "A state district court judge blocked Texas's attempt to shutter a decades-old migrant shelter network near the U.S.-Mexico border Tuesday, calling Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton's actions 'outrageous and intolerable.' Paxton earlier this year demanded that Annunciation House, which operates several shelters serving migrants and refugees, turn over records showing the names of those it housed. The nonprofit filed a lawsuit asking a judge to rule on the request; the attorney general responded with a countersuit seeking the closure of the shelters and accusing the nonprofit of violating smuggling laws. Judge Francisco X. Dominguez of the 205th District Court shot down the effort in a pair of rulings, writing that Paxton's allegations were unfounded and his request for documents violated the Fourth Amendment protection against unreasonable searches. Thus, his ruling said, it was void and unenforceable." (Also linked yesterday.)
News Ledes
New York Times: About 26,000 people have evacuated Northern California around Oroville because of a wildfire that already have destroyed 3,600 acres.
New York Times: "Jamaica was hammered by a surge of water, damaging winds and flooding rainfall on Wednesday as Hurricane Beryl delivered a glancing blow when it passed just south of the coast, claiming at least one life on the island. The effects of the storm, a Category 4, struck Jamaica just days after it swept through the eastern Caribbean, killing at least seven other people. Virtually every building on the islands of Carriacou and Petite Martinique in Grenada lay in ruins after the storm made landfall there earlier this week,leaving hospitals and marinas destroyed, rooftops torn away and tree trunks snapped like matchsticks across the drenched earth."
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Reader Comments (10)
On this 4th of July I'm thinking about those analyses of how differently liberals and conservatives view humanity.
Liberals are more optimistic, hopeful and believe that progress is possible. Left to their own devices, they think, people will generally do the right thing.
Conservatives, on the other hand, think the worst of humanity. They see laziness, dishonesty and bad behavior on all sides and use that view to justify their coercive impulses.
Methinks conservatives spend too much time looking in the mirror.
I'm wondering if today is the last Independence Day of the American Republic or the birth of an American Autocratic Imperium.
Either way it is a unique watershed moment. Never before has a leading world power seemed so willing to walk away from its position of leadership, influence and responsibility.
No matter the victor in November, we are going to be living in those "interesting times".
Non-compete clauses are economic shackles, the antithesis of the individual freedom that free enterprise is supposed to foster and protect.
Just more hooey from the top-down Right.
Just two weeks of Trump
Tom Sullivan
"Terminating America With Extreme Prejudice
MAGA hates you.
These guys reject the country’s founding principles.
“We’re coming for the Civil Rights Act next, then the New Deal. We’re gonna repeal the 20th century.”
Believe them the first time. Neo-feudalism, women barefoot and pregnant, minorities in their place, and LGBTQ+ types back in the closet, that’s the ticket. They want to rule.
Act like your very freedoms are at stake, because they are."
Happy Fourth
Langston Hughes
Let America Be America Again
"O, yes,
I say it plain,
America never was America to me,
And yet I swear this oath—
America will be!
Out of the rack and ruin of our gangster death,
The rape and rot of graft, and stealth, and lies,
We, the people, must redeem
The land, the mines, the plants, the rivers.
The mountains and the endless plain—
All, all the stretch of these great green states—
And make America again!"
Filipkowski wrote that those 33 clips of The Mar A Lago Mouth are from the past two weeks, as if to compare his maunderings to President Biden's train wreck during a contemporaneous period.
But many of those clips are several years old, or at least well before two weeks ago.
People will need to be very careful about facts over the next few months, to avoid allowing the MAGAts to claim that their opponents misrepresent or make up stuff. Which they will do anyway, but which need to be disproved immediately.
@RAS: At long last, we are now all in the same boat as Langston Hughes, no matter our race, ethnicity, gender or sexual orientation.
If we voters could never perfect the promise of the Declaration of Independence -- that "all ... are created equal" -- for Hughes, can we perfect it now that that promise is being denied every one of us? Perhaps the gift of Republican overreach will be that by victimizing all Americans, most of those Americans will unite to vanquish the thieves of human rights.
(And that's about as much hope as I can muster: that the dictator and his regime will prove to have gone too far.)
@Patrick: Oops! Thanks. That's what I get for not reviewing what I've posted. I removed the entire tweet. Once you pointed out that the clips were old, I noticed that Filipkowski's tweet was dated September 30, 2023. It's not Filipkowski's fault; it's mine.
You know you have really gone around the bend when you see "Dave Brat" resurrected. Gaacchhh-- It's like the gorgons on the right go into the soil and marinate for 100 years and they will emerge like the cicadas of this summer. It's all the same horrible people. Or, they just might hang upsidedown for the same 100 years like vampire bats. Dave B(r)at. Politics never dies, it just transmogrifies. I might have made up that term. But I am beside myself these days and just the name Dave Brat brings up vomitus. Why do we deserve all this?