;)
Tuesday
Oct012024
The Conversation -- October 1, 2024
Ian Philbrick of the New York Times: “... Jimmy Carter ... is set to celebrate his 100th birthday on Tuesday, the first president in American history to hit the centennial mark. The last chapter of Mr. Carter’s already remarkable life story is turning out to be one of astonishing resilience. The peanut farmer turned global statesman has over the years beaten brain cancer, bounced back from a broken hip and outlived his political adversaries. And now he is setting a record for presidential durability that may be hard to break. Though frail and generally confined to his modest ranch house in Plains, Ga., Mr. Carter has not only refused to surrender to the inevitability of time, he has perked up in recent months, according to family members. He has become a little more engaged again, telling his children and grandchildren that he has a new milestone he wants to reach — not his birthday, which he professes not to care that much about, but Election Day, so that he can vote for Vice President Kamala Harris.” ~~~
~~~ Tim Craig & Casey Parks of the Washington Post: “Jimmy Carter turns 100 Tuesday, and his hometown [of Plains, Georgia,] is pulling out all the stops to celebrate the milestone — even if the former president himself isn’t expected to be attending. The birthday bash for the first U.S. president to reach 100 will include a military jet flyover, a naturalization ceremony and a concert. Carter, who is in hospice care, has not attended a major event since his wife’s memorial in November 2023. Throughout Plains, locals are excited to honor the man they know simply as 'Mr. Jimmy.' Many residents here have stories about running into Carter at the pharmacy or the peanut shop that sells the flavor of ice cream he enjoys. And even though Plains leans Republican, some houses with yard signs supporting ... Donald Trump also have signs commemorating Carter.”
Presidential Race
Nicholas Nehamas of the New York Times: “Vice President Kamala Harris on Sunday tried to taunt ... Donald J. Trump into participating in another debate as she rallied supporters in Nevada.... 'The American people have a right to hear us discuss the issues. And as you say here in Las Vegas, I’m all in. I’m all in. Even if my opponent is ready to fold.'... [Mr. Trump] has said he will not participate in another debate....” (Also linked yesterday.)
New York Times Editors declare Kamala Harris “The Only Patriotic Choice for President.” (Also linked yesterday.)
Tonight is Veep Debate Night.
Katie Glueck, et al., of the New York Times assess Tim Walz's past debate performances: “Mr. Walz and his allies have tried to set expectations high for Mr. Vance, emphasizing his Yale Law School credentials. And Mr. Vance is a practiced verbal pugilist who seems to delight in combative exchanges on cable news and Sunday morning shows. But a review of a half-dozen recorded debates over Mr. Walz’s career makes clear that while the camo-wearing, car-tinkering man from Mankato may not be his party’s most stirring speaker, he is in fact a seasoned debater himself. He is capable of both delivering punchy criticisms and exuding the Everyman appeal that helped propel him to the Democratic ticket.... At times, though, Mr. Walz has been knocked off-kilter, too.” ~~~
Michael Bender, et al., of the New York Times assess JD Vance's past debate performances: “JD Vance loves debates.... Mr. Vance, a best-selling author with a rebellious streak, brings a similarly distinct style to his debates. He is aggressive and bold in his assertions. His pugnacity often leads to over-the-top claims, but he is also careful to present as more polite and thoughtful than the caricature of him portrayed by opponents.... He is quick on his feet.... He has some Trumpy moves.”
Marie: Man, am I glad I have Jim Comer (R-Ky.) protecting me from Commie Tim Walz. If not for Jim, the next thing you know, all the kidz would be speaking Mandarin. ~~~
~~~ Emily Brooks of the Hill: “House Oversight and Accountability Committee Chair James Comer (R-Ky.) subpoenaed Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas on Monday for information relating to Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D), the Democratic nominee for vice president, and a vague alleged connection to the Chinese Communist Party. Comer said in a letter accompanying the subpoena – issued on the day before the vice presidential debate between Walz and Republican Sen. J.D. Vance – that his committee received whistleblower disclosures about 'serious concern among Department of Homeland Security (DHS) personnel regarding a longstanding connection between' Walz and China.” (Also linked yesterday.)
Lisa Rein & Devlin Barrett of the Washington Post: “At least a dozen employees at the Department of Veterans Affairs improperly accessed the medical records of vice-presidential nominees JD Vance and Tim Walz this summer, VA investigators found, in a violation of federal health privacy laws that is under criminal investigation. VA officials notified the Vance and Walz campaigns about the breaches after discovering the unauthorized viewing by employees at the agency’s massive health-care arm, the Veterans Health Administration, according to people familiar with the investigation.... VA Inspector General Michael Missal’s office has shared evidence with federal prosecutors on the actions of several employees in the health system, including a physician and a contractor....” (Also linked yesterday.)
Open Mouth, Spout Lies. Maya King, et al., of the New York Times: “Minutes after touching down in storm-ravaged Valdosta, Ga..., Donald J. Trump made an elaborate false claim about the Biden administration’s response to Hurricane Helene. 'The governor’s doing a very good job,' Mr. Trump said of the state’s Republican governor, Brian Kemp. The problem, the former president insisted, was that Mr. Kemp was 'having a hard time getting the president on the phone.' Mr. Trump ... added: 'I guess, uh, they’re not, they’re not being responsive. The federal government is not being responsive.'But earlier on Monday, Mr. Kemp himself told a different story. He said that he and [President] Biden had spoken the night before, and made clear he appreciated the president’s responsiveness. 'He just said, Hey, what do you need?' Mr. Kemp said. 'And I told him, you know, we got what we need. We’ll work through the federal process.' Mr. Kemp said that Mr. Biden offered 'that if there’s other things we need, just to call him directly — which, I appreciate that.'...
“[Mr. Trump] repeatedly said that he had come bearing gifts to help the disaster response: semitrailer trucks filled with relief supplies and a tanker of gas, distributed by the evangelical Christian humanitarian aid group Samaritan’s Purse.... Shortly before he repeated his false claim that Mr. Biden had been unreachable by phone, the former president said he would refrain from talking about the politics arching over his visit....
“As president, [Mr. Trump] viewed federal aid through the prism of his personal politics, threatening to withhold money from governors of blue states whom he saw as enemies, and promising 'A-plus' treatment for his allies. The Trump administration proposed cutting the budget of the agency responsible for disaster relief, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, and his top officials diverted money away from FEMA to deal with immigration enforcement. FEMA was understaffed throughout Mr. Trump’s presidency and, until the coronavirus pandemic, he ... viewed the Homeland Security Department, which oversees FEMA, solely as an immigration enforcement agency.” The article also reprises a few specific Trump relief-fund stunts. ~~~
~~~ OR, as the Associated Pressed put it in its lede: ~~~
~~~ Adriana Licon, et al., of the AP: “Donald Trump repeatedly spread falsehoods Monday about the federal response to Hurricane Helene despite claiming not to be politicizing the disaster as he toured hard-hit areas in south Georgia. The former president and Republican nominee claimed upon landing in Valdosta that President Joe Biden was 'sleeping' and not responding to Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp, who he said was 'calling the president and hasn’t been able to get him.' He repeated the claim at an event with reporters after being told Kemp said he had spoken to Biden. 'He’s lying, and the governor told him he was lying,' Biden said Monday. The White House previously announced that Biden spoke by phone Sunday night with Kemp and North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper, as well as Scott Matheson, mayor of Valdosta, Georgia, and Florida Emergency Management Director John Louk. Kemp confirmed Monday morning that he spoke to Biden the night before.” ~~~
~~~ S.V. Date of the Huffington Post: “Just before flying to Valdosta..., [Donald Trump] posted on social media about western North Carolina: 'I’ll be there shortly, but don’t like the reports that I’m getting about the Federal Government, and the Democrat Governor of the State, going out of their way to not help people in Republican areas. MAGA!' He then posted an even more inflammatory claim, again with zero evidence of malfeasance: 'They have left Americans to drown in North Carolina, Georgia, Tennessee, Alabama, and elsewhere in the South.'... Trump, as he was leaving Valdosta, was confronted by a reporter about whether he had any evidence that assistance was being withheld from Republican areas. Trump did not provide any. 'Just take a look,' he said. The accusations, which have been amplified in right-wing, pro-Trump media, appear to have been invented out of whole cloth.... Trump’s accusations that [President] Biden is intentionally withholding assistance from areas where residents are largely critical of him, however, do mirror his precise behavior as president when he withheld $20 billion in congressionally approved aid to Puerto Rico following Hurricane Maria in 2017 and threatened to withhold federal assistance to California to deal with wildfires.” ~~~
~~~ The Idiot Know-It-All. Ellie Houghtaling of the New Republic, republished by Yahoo! News: “... it’s not impossible to predict a storm’s scale, timing, and general path. Somehow, that information isn’t obvious to Donald Trump, who, after surveying some of the storm’s devastation in Georgia, told reporters Monday that 'nobody' could have forecast Helene.... Trump said during a presser in Valdosta, Georgia. 'It’s so extensive, nobody thought this would be happening, especially now it’s so late in the season for the hurricanes.' It is, of course, not late in the season for hurricanes: September tends to be the most active month in the calendar year for the superstorms.” As S.V. Date pointed out in the HuffPost report linked above, the National Hurricane Center & FEMA issued numerous warnings about the likelihood of inlandf lash-flooding while Helene was still in the Gulf of Mexico. In addition, FEMA had already deployed multiple incident teams bound for inland areas before the storm made landfall. ~~~
~~~ Rolling Stone's headline, BTW, is "Trump Says No One Could Have Predicted Hurricane at Peak of Hurricane Season." Perfect. ~~~
~~~ Kevin Brueninger of CNBC: "... Donald Trump traveled to hurricane-blasted Georgia to deliver remarks and help hand out supplies, one day after he leveraged the devastating storm as a political attack against Democratic nominee Kamala Harris.... [Trump's] short-notice trip to Georgia came as Harris scrapped planned campaign stops in Las Vegas to return to Washington, D.C., for a briefing with the Federal Emergency Management Agency. [President] Biden, meanwhile, said earlier Monday that he and Harris hope to travel to hurricane-damaged areas once they can be sure their presence will not disrupt emergency response efforts. He later said he expects to make a trip Wednesday or Thursday....
“'They raise a lot of money from bad people, fundraising events with their radical left lunatic donors, when big parts of our country have been devastated by that massive hurricane, and is underwater with many, many people dead,' Trump said at a campaign rally in Erie, Pennsylvania. 'She ought to be here. She ought to be down in the area where she should be. That’s what she’s getting paid for, right? That’s what she’s getting paid for,' Trump said.... Trump in Valdosta also said he had recently spoken with billionaire Elon Musk, the Tesla and SpaceX CEO, about using Starlink, SpaceX’s satellite internet service, to help restore communication in the region. The Department of Homeland Security said Monday that it had already provided 40 Starlink satellite systems to aid communications and recovery in North Carolina.”
~~~ Marie: As I'm sure you know, visits from high-profile individuals are disruptive, and thoughtful big shots like Biden and Harris routinely choose not to disrupt areas already in deep distress. Rather, they wait to survey damaged areas & console victims when local officials and personnel have more time to attend to poobah visits. Trump of course is oblivious to these standard forms of sense and sensibility.
Marshall Cohen & Daniel Dale of CNN: “... Donald Trump has escalated his long-running assault on the integrity of US elections as the 2024 presidential campaign enters its final stretch, using a new series of lies about ballots, vote-counting and the election process to lay the groundwork to challenge a potential defeat in November. Nonpartisan democracy experts say they’re seeing many of the same warning signs that were blinking red before Election Day four years ago, when Trump flooded the zone with election lies and conspiracy theories that he amplified after losing to Joe Biden.... Trump has made at least 12 distinct false claims over the last two months that raise baseless doubts about the validity of a potential victory by Vice President Kamala Harris.” (Also linked yesterday.)
Miriam Jordan of the New York Times: A Springfield, Ohio, owner of a metals manufacturing plant & his family have to take measures, including purchasing guns, to protect themselves from credible threats after the businessman praised his company's Haitian employees in national media outlets. See Patrick's commentary in yesterday's thread. (Also linked yesterday.)
Lori Rozsa & Mark Berman of the Washington Post: “The man charged with attempting to assassinate Donald Trump pleaded not guilty Monday morning during a brief appearance in federal court. Authorities say Ryan Routh, 58, lurked near Trump’s golf course here armed with a rifle while the former president — also the Republican nominee in this year’s election — was playing on Sept. 15.”
Nick Miroff of the Washington Post: “The Biden administration will expand asylum restrictions that have made it much more difficult for migrants who cross the border illegally to request protection in the United States, the Department of Homeland Security said Monday. Illegal crossings will now have to remain below a daily threshold of 1,500 for 28 days, up from seven days, before people who enter the country illegally may request asylum. The amended measures, which will take effect Tuesday, will begin counting unaccompanied minors in the daily number of crossings, the department said. Since the emergency procedures were implemented in June, they have helped reduce illegal crossings at the southern border to about 1,800 a day, the lowest level in four years, according to the latest enforcement data. The number of children and teenagers crossing without a parent has been about 200 per day in recent months.”
⭐ Peter Eavis of the New York Times: “For the first time in nearly 50 years, longshoremen on the East and Gulf Coasts went on strike Tuesday, a move that will cut off most trade through some of the busiest U.S. ports and could send a chill through the economy. Members of the International Longshoremen’s Association union, which represents roughly 45,000 workers, started setting up pickets after 11th-hour talks failed to avert a work stoppage.... The United States Maritime Alliance, which represents port employers, declined to comment early Tuesday. The two sides were not able to agree on wage increases, and the use of new technology in the ports was a sticking point for the union.... Before the strike, [President Biden] said he was not going to use a federal labor law to force an end to a port shutdown — something President George W. Bush did in 2002 — but some labor experts said he might use that power if the strike started to weigh on the economy. White House officials had pressed both sides to reach a deal before the strike.”
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Southeastern U.S. Jeffrey Collins of the AP: “Widespread devastation left behind by Hurricane Helene came to light Monday across the South, revealing a wasteland of splintered houses, crushed cargo containers and mud-covered highways in one of the worst storms in U.S. history. The death toll topped 130. At least 133 deaths in six Southeastern states have been attributed to the storm that inflicted damage from Florida’s Gulf Coast to the Appalachian Mountains in Virginia. The toll steadily rose as emergency workers reached areas isolated by collapsed roads, failing infrastructure and widespread flooding. During a briefing Monday, White House homeland security adviser Liz Sherwood-Randall suggested as many as 600 people hadn’t been accounted for as of Monday afternoon, saying some might be dead.... Government officials and aid groups worked to deliver supplies by air, truck and even mule to the hard-hit tourism hub of Asheville and its surrounding mountain towns. At least 40 people died in the county that includes Asheville.”
Georgia. David Chen of the New York Times: “A Georgia judge on Monday struck down a state law effectively prohibiting abortions beyond six weeks of pregnancy. The ruling, by Judge Robert C.I. McBurney of Fulton County Superior Court, is unlikely to be the final word because of the expectation that the case will ultimately be decided by the Georgia Supreme Court. Still, the ruling means that women seeking abortions in Georgia will have greater access, at least temporarily, to a procedure that has become mostly inaccessible in the South since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022. Judge McBurney found that the six-week abortion ban, which was passed in 2019, violated Georgia’s Constitution, and his ruling returns the state to allowing the procedure up until about 22 weeks of pregnancy.”
New York. William Rashbaum & Dana Rubinstein of the New York Times: “One of Mayor Eric Adams’ closest aides and confidants resigned on Monday, less than a week after the mayor was indicted on corruption charges — and nearly a month after federal agents seized the aide’s phones in a separate corruption inquiry, according to a resignation letter his lawyer said had been sent to the mayor. The aide, Timothy Pearson, had a broad portfolio that included dealing with contracts for migrant shelters and focusing on public safety. He is the fifth senior member of the mayor’s administration to announce his departure in the past three weeks.”
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Israel/Palestine, et al.
The New York Times' live updates of developments Tuesday in Israel's wars are here: “Israel said early Tuesday that its forces had crossed into southern Lebanon in an operation aimed at Hezbollah targets in the border region, as the first Israeli ground invasion of the country since 2006 heralded an uncertain new phase of its decades-long conflict with the Iranian-backed militia. The Israeli military said on Tuesday that one army division — which typically numbers more than 10,000 soldiers — was involved in conducting 'limited, localized and targeted raids' along the border....”
Vivian Yee of the New York Times: “Hezbollah, the Iran-funded Shiite Muslim militia that doubles as a major political party and social services organization, does not run Lebanon in any official sense. But under [Hassan] Nasrallah, it sometimes seemed as if it was the only force that mattered: a state within a state with its own military, schools, hospitals and youth programs. Now his death [during a targeted Israeli bomb attack] has come as the latest thunderbolt to jolt Lebanon, a Mediterranean country of 5.4 million people already stuck in a dejected state of nonstop emergency.... Lebanon has gone nearly two years without a president and has only a caretaker government. The state provides barely any electricity, leaving everyone dependent on generators, if they can afford the fees.” Read on.
Climate Change Moves an International Border. Italy/Switzerland. Kelsey Baker & Kasha Patel of the Washington Post: “Italy and Switzerland are set to redraw part of the mountainous border separating the two countries due to melting glaciers in the Alps. The change, which impacts an approximately 330-foot-long segment of the border, is happening near one of Europe’s most popular skiing destinations, Zermatt, and the iconic Matterhorn mountain. One of the biggest glaciers near Matterhorn, the Theodul Glacier, retreated almost 1,000 feet between 1990 to 2015. The melting, which has been attributed to climate change, revealed new topographical details that raised new questions about the dimensions of the border between the two countries. In 2022, the jurisdiction of a glacial Italian mountain lodge there came under question when melting ice revealed the refuge was actually straddling the border. 'Significant sections of the border are defined by the watershed or ridge lines of glaciers, firn or perpetual snow,' the Swiss government said in a statement obtained by Bloomberg. 'These formations are changing due to the melting of glaciers.'”
Mexico. Emiliano Mega of the New York Times: “Claudia Sheinbaum will take office on Tuesday, the first woman and Jewish person to lead Mexico in the country’s more than 200-year history as an independent nation. A former climate scientist and Mexico City mayor, Ms. Sheinbaum won in a landslide in general elections in June, and is succeeding her mentor, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, as president of the world’s largest Spanish-speaking nation — and the United States’ top trading partner. Ms. Sheinbaum, a leftist, campaigned on a vow to continue the legacy of her predecessor, and her win was seen by many as a clear vote of confidence in Mr. López Obrador and the party he started, Morena.” ~~~
~~~ Mary Beth Sheridan & Valentina Castillo of the Washington Post: “The incoming president, Claudia Sheinbaum, will govern with a cabinet that is half female and a Congress evenly divided between men and women. Women head the supreme court and central bank, and run top federal ministries. Mexico has become a global leader in gender parity thanks to aggressive laws establishing quotas for women in politics and government. They have had dramatic impact. Mexico’s legislature ranks fourth in the world for female representation, while the United States is No. 70 — just behind Iraq — according to the Inter-Parliamentary Union.”
⭐ U.K. William Booth of the Washington Post: “If you are looking for a signal event, a real ping, to mark humanity’s journey to slow global climate change, this is a thing. On Monday, the very last coal-powered electricity plant in Britain is closing. The coal age is over in the country that sparked the industrial revolution 200 years ago.... This was a country powered by coal — dug by a million miners, used to make cheap energy, to generate heat, then steam, then electricity. Coal heated the homes, ran the trains and made the steel and cement. The first coal-fired electric plant in the world was built in England in 1882. The term 'smog' was coined here, too. Now Britain is the first in the global club of wealthy countries to quit coal — relying instead on natural gas, nuclear power and a combination of renewable energy sources.” (Also linked yesterday.)
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Reader Comments (2)
Taking the liberty of reposting this from late last night because I thought it was worth a laugh....
Some petard hoisting for the Arizona R's:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/09/30/adrian-fontes-arizona-noncitizen-voters/
And this bleary early morning thought:
Does a taunt have to be successful to be a taunt?
Will be at a birthday party tonight for a four year old granddaughter who shares Jimmy Carter's birthday, so will miss the debate...Don't know how Walz will do or what difference it might make, but hope he stomps that Ivy League weasel.
Here's a comment Akhilleus made last night that's worth bringing forward:
By Akhilleus:
Handmaid’s Tale fans like Hit Man Sam Alito will not be happy!
“A new ruling from Judge McBurney in Georgia overturning the [Trump] abortion ban and allowing the procedure to continue is amazing.
‘While the State’s interest in protecting “unborn” life is compelling, until that life can be sustained by the State — and not solely by the woman compelled by the Act to do the State’s work — the balance of rights favors the woman.’
‘Women are not some piece of collectively owned community property the disposition of which is decided by majority vote. Forcing a woman to carry an unwanted, not-yet-viable fetus to term violates her constitutional rights to liberty and privacy, even taking into consideration whatever bundle of rights the not-yet-viable fetus may have.’
‘For these women, the liberty of privacy means that they alone should choose whether they serve as human incubators for the five months leading up to viability. It is not for a legislator, a judge, or a Commander from The Handmaid’s Tale to tell these women what to do with their bodies during this period when the fetus cannot survive outside the womb any more so than society could — or should — force them to serve as a human tissue bank or to give up a kidney for the benefit of another.’”
Trump, Shady, and their rabid misogyny bros will not be liking this.