;)
The Conversation -- September 18, 2024
They Knew They Were Lying from the Get-go. Matt Gertz of Media Matters: “Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance told reporters on Tuesday that it was their job — not his — to fact-check his claim that Haitians were stealing and eating pets in Springfield, Ohio. The Wall Street Journal did just that, revealing on Wednesday morning that Springfield’s city manager told Vance’s office that the story was baseless, soon after the Republican vice presidential nominee started publicly making the racist claim. A Vance staffer contacted Springfield City Manager Bryan Heck on the morning of September 9 and 'asked point-blank, “Are the rumors true of pets being taken and eaten?’” Heck told the Journal. 'I told him no. There was no verifiable evidence or reports to show this was true. I told them these claims were baseless.' The Haitian immigrant saga is a testament to the right’s refusal to abide by anything resembling evidentiary standards, their demagogic response when anyone dares to point out that their claims are unsubstantiated — and how their lies can spiral wildly out of control.”
Brooke Migdon of the Hill: “The House voted overwhelmingly Tuesday to award a Congressional Gold Medal to tennis legend and equal rights advocate Billie Jean King, bestowing the nation’s highest civilian honor on a female individual athlete for the first time. Sens. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.) and Kyrsten Sinema (I-Ariz.) introduced the bill to recognize King last September on the 50th anniversary of the tennis Hall of Famer’s 1973 victory over Bobby Riggs in the 'Battle of the Sexes,' still the most-watched tennis match of all time. The same year, King successfully lobbied for equal prize money for men and women at the U.S. Open and founded the Women’s Tennis Association.... A House companion bill to award King the medal drew broad bipartisan support, amassing nearly 300 co-sponsors from either side of the aisle.”
Josh Boak & Tom Krisher of the AP: “The International Brotherhood of Teamsters declined Wednesday to endorse Kamala Harris or Donald Trump for president, saying neither candidate had sufficient support from the 1.3 million-member union.... The Teamsters’ rebuff reflected a labor union torn over issues of political identity and policy, one that mirrors a broader national divide. Vice President Harris has unmistakably backed organized labor, while former President Trump has appealed to many white blue-collar workers even as he has openly scorned unions at times.” ~~~
~~~ BUT. Alex Nieves of Politico: “West Coast Teamsters announced their endorsement of Vice President Kamala Harris on Wednesday, just minutes after national Teamsters leadership declined to issue a presidential endorsement. The move represents a sharp break within the powerful union’s membership in liberal states like California, where ... Donald Trump remains a widely unpopular political figure. The union’s national headquarters released internal survey results earlier in the day that showed close to 60 percent of its members backed Trump.” Thanks to RAS for the link.
Christopher Rugaber of the AP: “The Federal Reserve on Wednesday cut its benchmark interest rate by an unusually large half-point, a dramatic shift after more than two years of high rates that helped tame inflation but also made borrowing painfully expensive for American consumers. The rate cut, the Fed’s first in more than four years, reflects its new focus on bolstering the job market, which has shown clear signs of slowing. Coming just weeks before the presidential election, the Fed’s move also has the potential to scramble the economic landscape just as Americans prepare to vote. The central bank’s action lowered its key rate to roughly 4.8%, down from a two-decade high of 5.3%, where it had stood for 14 months as it struggled to curb the worst inflation streak in four decades. Inflation has tumbled from a peak of 9.1% in mid-2022 to a three-year low of 2.5% in August, not far above the Fed’s 2% target.”
Court: Sometimes "Anti-gerrymandering" Equals "Gerrymandering"! Courtney Cohn of Democracy Docket: “On a 4-3 decision on Monday, the Ohio Supreme Court largely upheld ballot language for a redistricting amendment that the initiative’s organizers argue is misleading and deceptive. Secretary of State Frank LaRose (R) said the Ballot Board will reconvene Wednesday morning to make 'minor adjustments' to the initiative’s language as ordered by the state Supreme Court.... Citizens Not Politicians, a campaign to end gerrymandering, collected thousands of signatures for an initiative that would take the power of drawing congressional and legislative maps away from politicians and vest it in a citizen redistricting commission. Then, last month, the GOP-controlled Ballot Board voted to approve Secretary of State Frank LaRose (R)’s title and language for the amendment, instead of what the initiative’s organizers wrote. Citizens Not Politicians then sued the board, arguing the language they adopted was so biased and inaccurate it violated the Ohio Constitution.... The group said the purpose of the amendment is to end partisan gerrymandering, but the adopted ballot language said it would '[e]stablish a new taxpayer funded commission of appointees required to gerrymander the boundaries of state legislative and congressional districts to favor the two largest political parties in the state of Ohio.'” ~~~
~~~ Here is a Substack essay decrying the court's decision by David Pepper, former chair of the Ohio Democratic party. Thanks to RAS for the link.
The New York Times' live updates of developments Wednesday in Israel's wars is here: “Another wave of wireless devices, including walkie-talkies, exploded in Lebanon on Wednesday afternoon, local authorities said, a day after at least 12 people were killed and thousands more injured in Lebanon in an apparently coordinated attack that targeted members of Hezbollah by blowing up their pagers. Lebanon’s health ministry said the second wave of blasts involving wireless devices killed at least one person and wounded more than 100. A senior Lebanese security official and a Hezbollah official, who asked to remain anonymous because of the sensitivity of the issue, said among the devices that exploded were hand-held radios — commonly known as walkie talkies — belonging to Hezbollah members.”
Marie: Earlier today, RAS posted a tweet in which we learned that Trump's plan to lower the cost of groceries was to raise the prices of imported foods. Sure, that's obviously crazy, but it turns out that Trump said something different from that, and the "raise the price of imported food" was a summary/guess/sanewash of what Trump actually said. Here it is. Spelled out. (Scroll down a bit.) ~~~
~~~ In fairness to Trump, his ramblings about energy and interest rates and farmers and the nice room where he met some farmers and windmills is just as coherent as his answer to a question about why cryptocurrency (Trump's newest venture/Scam-o'-the-Week) is so important to the U.S.: ~~~
It’s A.I., it’s so many other things. You know, A.I., speaking of an interest in future, it needs tremendous electricity capability beyond anything I’ve ever heard. If you take all the electricity coming out of the U.S., in order to have it to be dominant in A.I. you need twice that amount. Just for this one thing. Who would make that? You need twice the electricity we already have. China is already building electric plants. They want to build them for the A.I., and it’s very important, but you need tremendous electric — and in this country, because of our strong environmental impact statement problems that we have, you know, China doesn’t have those problems. -- Donald Trump, "explaining" the impact of cryptocurrency
Peter Baker of the New York Times: “More than 100 former national security officials from Republican administrations and former Republican members of Congress endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris on Wednesday after concluding that their party’s nominee, Donald J. Trump, is 'unfit to serve again as president.' In a letter to the public, the Republicans, including both vocal longtime Trump opponents and others who had not endorsed Joseph R. Biden Jr. in 2020, argued that while they might 'disagree with Kamala Harris' on many issues, Mr. Trump had demonstrated 'dangerous qualities.' Those include, they said, 'unusual affinity' for dictators like President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia and 'contempt for the norms of decent, ethical and lawful behavior.' 'As president,' the letter said, 'he promoted daily chaos in government, praised our enemies and undermined our allies, politicized the military and disparaged our veterans, prioritized his personal interest above American interests and betrayed our values, democracy and this country’s founding documents.'”
Trump Tries to Turn the Tables. Lisa Lerer of the New York Times: “For months, Donald J. Trump and his allies have described a nation facing almost unthinkable darkness. The United States is under 'under invasion' from 'thousands and thousands and thousands of terrorists,' Mr. Trump told thousands at a rally on Friday in Las Vegas. Babies are being 'executed after birth.' America faces the prospect of a 'nuclear holocaust.' Three days later, after facing his second assassination attempt in two months, Mr. Trump raised what has become an all-too-common American problem: incendiary political speech. But not his — that of his rivals.... 'Because of this Communist Left Rhetoric, the bullets are flying, and it will only get worse!' Mr. Trump wrote in a social media post on Monday.... Such methods are part of a signature playbook Mr. Trump returns to when he is accused of wrongdoing: He accuses his opponent of the exact same thing.... His remarks amount to a flip of a well-worn political script....
“On Monday, Mr. Vance used the assassination attempt to deflect from Democratic denunciations over his own role in stoking fear in Springfield, calling on Democrats to tone down their rhetoric toward Mr. Trump and Republicans, while also ratcheting up his accusations that they bore responsibility for the two assassination attempts. In a 1,200-word social media post Monday night, [JD] Vance accused Democrats of 'censorship' and 'moral blackmail.'...” ~~~
~~~ Marie: So, after telling Democrats and the media to self-censor because they have been calling out Trump for doing and saying anti-democratic, dangerous things, Vance now accuses them of censoring Trump and him. Maybe Vance means this to be political sleight-of-hand, but I'm not 100% sure JayDee realizes how abhorrent his double standard is. He's essentially arguing that his side should be free to say what it wants, but their side must STFU.
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Presidential Race
Erica Green & Nicholas Nehamas of the New York Times: “Vice President Kamala Harris said on Tuesday that ... Donald J. Trump’s unfounded claims about Black migrants in an Ohio city were 'hateful rhetoric' and 'tropes' that had been 'designed to divide us as a country.' 'This is exhausting, and it’s harmful,' she said during an interview with Black journalists in Philadelphia. 'And it’s hateful, and grounded in some age-old stuff that we should not have the tolerance for.... It’s got to stop.' Ms. Harris’s remarks on Tuesday at a gathering of the National Association of Black Journalists were her most forceful yet about the Trump campaign’s escalating attacks on migrants and communities of color, and her first time directly addressing the situation in Springfield, Ohio.... In her interview, Ms. Harris laid out the city’s distress, pointing to children who could not attend school and law enforcement officers who had been stretched thin.... She said she had spoken with Mr. Trump earlier on Tuesday, checking in to make sure that he was OK and reiterating her sentiment that 'there’s no place for political violence in our country.'” (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Matt Brown & Darlene Superville of the AP: “Vice President Kamala Harris on Tuesday decried ... Donald Trump for inflammatory rhetoric about migrants in Springfield, Ohio, and on other topics, saying voters should make sure he 'can’t have that microphone again.'” ~~~
Joseph Menn of the Washington Post: “Russian propagandists are escalating attacks on the presidential campaign of Vice President Kamala Harris with false but widely circulated videos on social media, including one that featured an actor accusing Harris of a nonexistent hit-and-run that paralyzed a girl, Microsoft researchers said Tuesday. That video was a viral hit, spread by X accounts with as a many as a half-million followers, despite first appearing on a newly minted San Francisco news outlet that soon vanished. Posts featuring the video racked up 7 million views on X alone, and were also on Facebook, TikTok and YouTube. Another video manufactured an assault on an attendee of a rally for ... Donald Trump, garnering millions of views, Microsoft said. One depicted a fake New York billboard with vulgar messages saying Harris wanted to change children’s gender. It drew hundreds of thousands of views on X. In all, Microsoft called out three Russian government-backed groups in addition to those described in federal charges last week against employees at propaganda network RT.” (Also linked yesterday.) The AP story is here.
Elizabeth Spiers of the New York Times: “Figures on the political right, including JD Vance, Donald Trump and various conservative internet celebrities, have accused [Vice President] Harris of affecting a Southern accent on the campaign trail, and implied that it was a kind of deception. Ms. Harris, who is not from the South, wasn’t using a Southern accent, though.... What Ms. Harris was slipping into was Black English. There’s nothing unusual about her using Black English because to state the obvious (to everyone except Donald Trump, apparently) Ms. Harris is Black.... Conservatives find her accent infuriating for one very specific reason: because they buy the negative stereotypes. They associate Southern accents with less educated, working-class people who, if they’re white, might be racist — and that’s a demographic that conservatives cynically regard as their property. So Republicans who think that ... a Black Democrat using a Southern accent is stealing their shtick, or their votes.” ~~~
~~~ Marie: Never mind, I guess, that Trump and Vance each have affected not an accent but an entire personal identity that does not comport with reality, and they have done so for political purposes. Trump, the bankruptcy king, pretends he was a successful businessman. And JayDee, well, JayDee is still trying on identities. For a while he pretended to be a hillbilly, and for another (possibly overlapping) while, he played the part of a slick investment advisor. And now, after condemning GOP racism (see, for instance, Andrew Kaczynski's post, linked below), he's doing the xenophobic racist thing.
Brett Samuels of the Hill: “Former President Trump said Tuesday that both President Biden and Vice President Harris were 'so nice' in their calls following an apparent assassination attempt on Trump, hinting that it made it more difficult to attack them. 'He was so nice to me yesterday. In one way I sort of wish the call wasn’t made because I do feel a little — He’s so nice. “I’m so sorry about what happened and all that,'” Trump said at a campaign town hall in Michigan, recounting his call with Biden on Monday. 'Same with Kamala today. She could not have been nicer,' Trump added. 'But the fact is we have to have people that are respected by the opponent.' Earlier in the event, Trump referred to the 'very nice call' he had with Harris, eliciting boos from the crowd. 'No, it was very nice,' Trump said as the crowd jeered.” Of course, Trump mispronounced Harris's name, calling her KaMAHlah instead of KAmala. ~~~
~~~ Marie: In the same fake town hall, Trump boasted about allowing oil drilling in "Bagram in Alaska," although Bagram was a US Air Force base in Afghanistan. Moments later, he tried to clean up his mistake, only to descend into meaningless babble. Meanwhile, the so-called moderator Sarah Huckleberry Sanders looked on lovingly through it all. Link is to a Mediaite post. ~~~
~~~ Earlier in the event, Gov. Sanders went down the well-trod childless cat lady path: ~~~
~~~ Michael Luciano of Mediaite: “Arkansas Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders took a potshot at Vice President Kamala Harris because the Democratic nominee does not have biological children.... 'So, my kids keep me humble,' she told the crowd. 'Unfortunately, Kamala Harris doesn’t have anything keeping her humble.'... Last year, Sanders signed a bill into law making it easier for employers in Arkansas to hire children.”
It's OK If You're Trump. Aaron Blake of the Washington Post: “Donald Trump and his campaign have quickly responded to Sunday’s threat to the former president’s life by blaming Democrats. High on their list of alleged offenses? Democrats’ having called Trump a 'threat to democracy' and a 'fascist.'... There remains no evidence that the gunmen in the two incidents were actually incited by Democrats’ rhetoric. But even if we set all that aside, Trump’s argument is flawed by a significant deficit: He uses these talking points a lot more than his opponents right now — and has been for months.... According to a Washington Post review of campaign appearances and social media posts, Trump has called Harris, the Democrats or other perceived foes a 'threat to democracy' a dozen times in the past month and more than 20 times since Harris got into the race.... Trump has also used the 'fascist' label at least seven times in the past month, and he used it dozens more times before that. He invoked fascism twice Friday alone, including by calling Harris a 'radical-left Marxist communist fascist.' Harris and her campaign haven’t used such rhetoric nearly as much in recent months.... [Over the years, Trump] has repeatedly and suggestively promoted the prospect of political violence.” ~~~
~~~ CNN ran an (incomplete) montage Tuesday of Trump's calling Harris a fascist and scum and so on. Via Mediaite.
Huh. Kate Kelly, et al., of the New York Times: “... Donald J. Trump gave his Secret Service detail short notice that he would be golfing at his course in West Palm Beach, Fla., on Sunday, causing agents to forgo a scan of the perimeter, according to two people familiar with the events. The decision not to survey the course at Trump International Golf Club, because of a lack of time, before Mr. Trump’s outing allowed a man with a gun to sit concealed in bushes for almost 12 hours.” ~~~
~~~ Jonathan Swan, et al., of the New York Times: “The acting director of the Secret Service told ... Donald J. Trump that significant additional security arrangements and planning would be needed if he wanted to continue safely playing golf, according to three people with knowledge of their conversation. The agency’s acting director, Ronald L. Rowe Jr., made the recommendation on Monday afternoon at a meeting with Mr. Trump in his office at Mar-a-Lago, his private club and home in Palm Beach, Fla.” (Also linked yesterday.)
Amanda Marcotte of Salon: “... Sen. JD Vance went to Yale Law School. The Ohio Republican was selected as Donald Trump's running mate in no small part because of his overrated intellectual chops. In the 207-word announcement adding Vance to the ticket, Trump used the word 'Yale' four times and even made sure to note that Vance graduated 'Summa Cum Laude' from Ohio State University. Vance fashions himself a public intellectual, spending endless hours giving chin-scratching interviews on right-wing podcasts and to Ross Douthat of the New York Times. He name-drops far-right and even Nazi academics like Carl Schmitt and flings around plenty of five-dollar words.... Watching interviews with Vance suggests his main job is to 'translate' Trump's babble into coherent-sounding talking points.... The term 'sanewashing' was coined to describe the bad habit of journalists who rewrite Trump's rambling nonsense into sentences that make sense, but for Vance, it's a full-time job.” Do read on. (Also linked yesterday.)
Andrew Egger of the Bulwark: JD “Vance’s pivot to hand-wringing about extreme rhetoric is truly shameless coming from the current GOP ticket. Under Vance’s furrowed-brow rules of engagement, calling a political opponent a fascist threat to democracy is way over the line. But calling an opponent a communist threat to democracy, as Trump says daily of Kamala Harris? Less of an issue, apparently. Vance’s attempt at rhetoric-policing is particularly ridiculous this time around — and not just because Trump accused Harris of being a fascist less than two weeks ago.... [Trump and Vance are] crying foul on their opponents’ rhetoric while continuing shamelessly to hit below the belt. 'Their rhetoric is causing me to be shot at,' Trump said during a Fox News interview [Monday]. 'They are the ones that are destroying the country.... They are the real threat.' At about that same time, his campaign sent out a fundraising email saying Joe Biden 'truly hates our country' and was allowing 'an invasion' that is 'terrorizing U.S. citizens.'... But lowering the temperature doesn’t mean ignoring the truth. We needn’t lose sleep over calling Trump a 'threat to democracy,' for instance: In 2020, he ... [tried] by both fraud and force to reinstall himself as president contrary to the laws ... and the voted will of the people. He continues to deny the outcome of that election and is open about not accepting the outcome of the coming one.” (Also linked yesterday.)
Andrew Kaczynski of CNN: “A week after President Barack Obama won reelection in November 2012, JD Vance, then a law student at Yale, wrote a scathing rebuke of the Republican Party’s stance on migrants and minorities, criticizing it for being 'openly hostile to non-whites' and for alienating 'Blacks, Latinos, [and] the youth.' Four years later, as Vance considered a career in GOP politics, he asked a former college professor to delete the article. That professor, Brad Nelson, taught Vance at Ohio State University while Vance was an undergraduate student.... Nelson told CNN that during the 2016 Republican primary he agreed to delete the article at Vance’s request, so that Vance might have an easier time getting a job in Republican politics. However, the article ... remains viewable on the Internet Archive’s Wayback Machine.” (Also linked yesterday.)
Shakezula of LG&$: "If someone says they’re going to blow up a school, but no schools have exploded, does it count as a threat? According to Senator JD Vance, it does not. In fact, people who say the bomb threats are bomb threats are trying to silence him, because of course he’s the real victim.... To Vance the fact that investigators eventually determined a batch of threats are hoaxes means people who reported on the bomb threats that he inspired, and apparently wants, owe him an apology. 'I’m still waiting on a correction and apology from the left wing journalists. They lied about these bomb threats to silence us. Why? Because they don’t want to talk about Kamala Harris’s border policies making housing unaffordable for American citizen[s.]"
No Key to the City for Donald. Zoe Richards of NBC News: “The Republican mayor of Springfield, Ohio, the city that has been the target of unfounded claims from ... Donald Trump and his running mate about Haitian immigrants’ eating residents’ pets said Tuesday that a visit from Trump would tax the city's resources. 'It would be an extreme strain on our resources. So it’d be fine with me if they decided not to make that visit,' Mayor Rob Rue said at a news conference at City Hall.”
Annals of “Journalism,” Ha Ha Ha. Michael Luciano of Mediaite: “Fox News host Sean Hannity blamed liberal politicians for the actions of two would-be assassins of ... Donald Trump and falsely claimed they were Democrats.... [Ryan] Routh is registered as an 'unaffiliated' voter in North Carolina and donated more than $100 on ActBlue, a Democratic fundraising platform. According to CNN, Routh indicated on Facebook he may have voted for Trump in 2016, but had soured on the former president. [Thomas] Crooks, meanwhile, was a registered Republican and made a small donation on ActBlue. He had also searched for locations where Trump and President Joe Biden were scheduled to appear.”
Perry Stein of the Washington Post: “Donald Trump’s legal team has requested a 30-day extension to respond to the government’s appeal of U.S. District Judge Aileen M. Cannon’s dismissal of his classified-documents case, making it less likely that a ruling on whether the indictment should be restored will come before Inauguration Day. The former president is very likely to be granted the extension. Special counsel Jack Smith did not oppose the request, and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit in Atlanta — where the government’s appeal was filed — says first-time requests for 30-day extensions should be approved. Trump’s lawyers said they can’t meet the court’s Sept. 25 deadline because they are juggling other due dates related to Trump’s separate federal election interference case in D.C.” (Also linked yesterday.)
Kylie Cheung of Jezebel: “John McEntee, who served in the Trump administration and helped write Project 2025, said in a viral TikTok that women aren’t 'bleeding out' from abortion bans [as Vice President Harris asserted during her debate with Donald Trump].... 'Can someone track down the women Kamala Harris says are bleeding out in parking lots because Roe v. Wade was overturned? Don’t hold your breath,' McEntee says in the clip, posted to ... his right-wing dating app.... Since McEntee posted his TikTok on Thursday, dozens of women have taken him up on his challenge, starting with Carmen Broesder, an Idaho woman who documented her 19-day miscarriage on TikTok in December 2022, expressing fear that she would die before any hospital helped her.... As of Tuesday, Broesder’s TikTok has six million views and over 34,000 comments, including many from women sharing similar horror stories. She said the response has been 'overwhelming and reinforcing,' but expressed concern 'that many feel dismissed and erased in their own experiences.'” MB: This site may have a subscriber firewall.
Summer Ballentine & Steve Leblanc of the AP: “The FBI and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service on Tuesday were investigating the origin of suspicious packages that have been sent to or received by elections officials in more than 15 states, but there were no immediate reports of injuries or that any of the packages contained hazardous material.... The FBI is collecting the packages, some of which contained 'an unknown substance,' agency spokesperson Kristen Setera in Boston said in a statement.... The latest scare comes as early voting has begun in several states....” ~~~
~~~ Marie: What kind of a nitwit thinks a fun thing to do is to sit home addressing envelopes to elections officials, shaking baby talc into the envelopes, sealing (licking?) the envelopes, stamping them (not cheap these days), then running them down to the post office? I mean, really, why would anyone do that?
MSNBC: “The Senate once again took a vote on protecting IVF, but Trump — the self-proclaimed 'leader on fertilization' who is never shy about forcing his Republicans to support or kill a bill — was nowhere to be found. All but two Republicans voted against the bill—and JD Vance skipped the vote.” ~~~
~~~ Annie Karni of the New York Times: “Senate Republicans on Tuesday blocked an election-season bid by Democrats to advance legislation that would guarantee federal protections and insurance coverage for in vitro fertilization treatments, the second time in three months that the G.O.P. has thwarted the broadly popular measure. Democrats orchestrated the failed vote, just weeks before the November elections, in part to highlight Republican opposition to abortion rights and its implications for access to other reproductive health care services. They sought to remind voters that the G.O.P. was holding firm against federal protections for I.V.F. even after ... Donald J. Trump called himself a 'leader' on the issue and said he supported requiring insurance companies or the federal government to cover the treatments.” CNN's story is here. (Also linked yesterday.)
Alexander Bolton of the Hill: “Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.) is warning colleagues that it would be 'politically beyond stupid' for Congress to stumble into a government shutdown a few weeks before Election Day, saying Republicans would 'certainly' get the blame. McConnell made his comments a few hours after Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) unveiled his plan to vote this week on a bill that pairs a six-month continuing resolution with legislation backed by former President Trump that would require proof of citizenship to vote. Johnson was forced to yank the same bill from the floor last week in the face of widespread opposition within his own party.” ~~~
~~~ Marie: So, Mitch, was it “politically beyond brilliant” to vote, with nearly your entire caucus, against federal IVF protections? Just asking.
Let's hear from Sen. Foghorn Leghorn (R-La.), who stands up for his right to bigotry: ~~~
Ben Sisario & Julia Jacobs of the New York Times: “Sean Combs, the embattled music mogul, has been indicted on three counts of sex trafficking, racketeering and transportation to engage in prostitution. In the indictment, which was unsealed on Tuesday, prosecutors in the Southern District of New York accused Mr. Combs of running a 'criminal enterprise' that for years threatened, abused and coerced women, and included accusations of forced labor, kidnapping, arson, bribery and obstruction of justice. To commit these acts, the prosecutors said, Mr. Combs relied on the help of the employees of his business.” (Also linked yesterday.) An AP report is here. ~~~
~~~ CNN live-updated developments yesterday. The liveblog includes a copy of the indictment: “Sean 'Diddy' Combs was denied bail and taken into custody Tuesday after pleading not guilty in federal court to charges of racketeering conspiracy and sex trafficking. Prosecutors argued the music mogul should not be released because he had previously reached out to witnesses and victims.” (Also linked yesterday.)
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Arizona. Wayne Schutsky of NPR: "Election officials in Arizona have discovered a flaw in the state’s voter registration system that could disqualify nearly 100,000 people from voting in state and local races just weeks before early ballots will hit mailboxes. A state law that went into effect in 2004 requires Arizona voters to provide proof of citizenship to register to vote in state and local elections, though individuals that do not provide proof can still register to vote for federal offices like president and U.S. Senate using a federal only form. Arizona’s voter registration system pulls information from the state’s driver's license database as a method of proving citizenship, but the Maricopa County Recorder’s office found a flaw with the database, which incorrectly showed that some people provided proof of citizenship when they applied for a driver’s license.... The discovery sent election officials in Arizona down a rabbit hole that revealed tens of thousands of voters in every county in the state have not provided the documentation required to vote a full ballot under Arizona law. Now [elections officials] are asking the Arizona Supreme Court to decide how to deal with the voters affected by the revelation."
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Israel/Palestine, et al.
Sheera Frenkel & Ronen Bergman of the New York Times: “Israel carried out its operation against Hezbollah on Tuesday by hiding explosive material within a new batch of Taiwanese-made pagers imported into Lebanon, according to American and other officials briefed on the operation. The pagers, which Hezbollah had ordered from Gold Apollo in Taiwan, had been tampered with before they reached Lebanon, according to some of the officials. Most were the company’s AP924 model, though three other Gold Apollo models were also included in the shipment. The explosive material, as little as one to two ounces, was implanted next to the battery in each pager, two of the officials said. A switch was also embedded that could be triggered remotely to detonate the explosives. At 3:30 p.m. in Lebanon, the pagers received a message that appeared as though it was coming from Hezbollah’s leadership, two of the officials said. Instead, the message activated the explosives. Lebanon’s health minister told state media at least 11 people were killed and more than 2,700 injured.” A Reuters report is here. (Reuters story linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ David Ignatius of the Washington Post: “The scene in Lebanon on Tuesday was like something out of a bizarre James Bond movie — with pagers exploding simultaneously in the pockets of hundreds of Hezbollah fighters around the country in what appeared to be an ingenious Israeli operation that combined cyberwar with sabotage. But Hezbollah ... could trigger the all-out regional war U.S. officials have been trying to head off for nearly a year.... Biden administration officials were quick to distance themselves from the attack in Lebanon, saying they had not been given any prior notice. For President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, the timing couldn’t be worse: This sharp escalation and risk of a wider war comes less than two months before the presidential election — and it might detonate any chance of a Gaza cease-fire deal and the release of Israeli hostages.”
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Reader Comments (27)
Election stealing starts early!
Because in Trump World, it’s never too early to rig elections. Down in Georgia, the Party of Traitors has a nifty plan to screw with democracy: give low level Trumpers the ability to stop election certification cuz they think “something is wrong”. It used to be their job just to certify the votes coming in from the various polling places. Now, they don’t even need a reason. If there are more votes for Harris than for the Fat Facist, three PoT apparatchiks can gum up the works for not just the state, but potentially the entire country.
And they’re trying to push through rule changes for an election being held in a matter of weeks.
Chaos and control. That’s the plan.
“The once-obscure state panel is already facing scrutiny for advancing a pair of rule changes in August that could disrupt the certification of election results. The moves by the board’s Republican majority have drawn praise from former President Donald Trump and pushback from Georgia’s GOP secretary of state, Brad Raffensperger, and other election officials…
The Georgia Association of Voter Registration and Election Officials, which represents 500 members statewide, has urged the state board to pause implementing new rules until after the election. In a letter, the association wrote that its members are ‘gravely concerned that dramatic changes at this stage will disrupt the preparation and training processes already in motion.’”
But disruption is the goal. If they can screw things up, if poll workers can’t be trained to follow draconian new rules to a T, these three PoT shills can stop the election. By the way, Fatty name checked these three at a rally recently and praised them for their efforts to help him achieve “victory”. They don’t even bother trying to hide the corruption.
It gets worse…
Close, but no cigar.
CNN tried but just couldn’t get through a segment ostensibly produced to demonstrate the ridiculous hypocrisy of Shady and Fatty without both sidesing it.
So here’s Shady Vance going to town taking umbrage at the horrible way Democrats are calling Fatty a fascist. It’s a terrible thing! Nothing like it ever in history! Has to stop! Aieeee!!
Some enterprising producer put together a string of clips of Trump calling Harris and Biden…fascists! Oh, and commies, and Marxists, and his usual raft of slurs.
Hypocritical, right? Good job, CNN!
BUT…
Both Sides! Coming out of that montage, they go to someone from the Dubya Debacle wagging his finger at Democrats as well. “Both sides need to stop!” he clucked.
But here’s the thing. Trump calling Harris a fascist is a complete fabrication. Democrats referring to Trump as a fascist is entirely accurate.
But hey, both sides. How to completely neutralize a useful and well done bit of journalism.
Nice try, CNN, but no cigar.
Postal Ratfucking
Marie writes: “What kind of a nitwit thinks a fun thing to do is to sit home addressing envelopes to elections officials, shaking baby talc into the envelopes, sealing (licking?) the envelopes, stamping them (not cheap these days), then running them down to the post office? I mean, really, why would anyone do that?”
Answer: to screw with elections officials. What kind of nitwit would do this? A Trump nitwit.
But here’s the thing. I’m guessing these threatening packages were delivered toot sweet. No problem.
But electoral ballots for mail-voting? Hmmm…not so much. Good ol’Louis DeJoy is still up to his usual tricks.
But you can bet that if Trump supporters voted overwhelmingly by mail, those fuckers would be hand delivered personally by DeJoy the next day.
I guess the trick is to sneak ballots out by printing “Anthrax to intimidate Democratic election officials” on the package. They’d make it in record time.
Postal Ratfucking
Sorry, this link belongs with the previous comment.
I’m rich and famous. Screw the law.
The Godfather of Evil Media, Rupert Murdoch, is having a sad. He created a legally irrevocable trust (supposedly) years ago that splits control of his media empire equally amongst his four kids. But now he realizes that they’re all not on board with Fox’s lying ways. Oh noes! They might try to turn Fox into…an HONEST BUSINESS! Mercy!
So now he’s demanding that a judge let him change his irrecoverable trust so that his most right-wing heir, Lachlan, gets control of Fox.
I guess this would be his version of Suck Session.
Irrevocable…
"Q: How would you lower the cost of groceries?
Trump: Raise prices on imported food"
Also a magical 50% cut in everyone's electric bill. And it wouldn't be a Trump story if there wasn't tears.
Trump and Vance want to take us back to our old broken health care system.
That time the Commander-in-Chief suggested the military shoot protesters in DC
Another preventable death.
"Afraid to Seek Care Amid Georgia’s Abortion Ban, She Stayed at Home and Died
Candi Miller’s family said she didn't visit a doctor “due to the current legislation on pregnancies and abortions.” Maternal health experts deemed her death preventable and blamed Georgia’s abortion ban.
But when the mother of three realized she had unintentionally gotten pregnant in the fall of 2022, Georgia’s new abortion ban gave her no choice. Although it made exceptions for acute, life-threatening emergencies, it didn’t account for chronic conditions, even those known to present lethal risks later in pregnancy."
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/09/18/opinion/leonard-leo-fundraising-supreme-court-irs.html
My comment:
Leo explains it to himself:
“Catholic evangelization faces extraordinary threats and hurdles. Our culture is more hateful and intolerant of Catholicism than at any other point in our lives. It despises who we are, what we profess, and how we act.”
Of course it does. Precisely because of people like you, who have no interest in anyone but yourself and your own contorted views of how a Constitutional democracy should govern for the benefit of all.
This man is a prime example of how dangerous concentrated wealth is the mortal enemy of democracy.
Leo is right....precisely because he and his ilk are despicable.
The Supremes who can make this up.
"Ohio Supreme Court OK's Blatant Ballot Manipulation
Recall that Issue 1 bans partisan gerrymandering, and would replace rigged maps currently in place (which were drawn by gerrymandered politicians) with maps drawn by a tri-partisan panel of citizens.
Then recall that LaRose’s Orwellian ballot language literally creates the impression that the opposite would happen if issue 1 passes. Among other things, the language falsely suggests that Issue 1 requires gerrymandering, and that the maps being replaced were the ones drawn by citizens. It’s an egregious lie, being placed right on the ballot that Ohio voters use to vote. A true abuse of power.
Well, last night, the Ohio Supreme Court gave a green light to almost every aspect of that misinformation disguised as ballot language."
Embarrassments
"How Trump made this the most dysfunctional Congress in 164 years
Republicans spent two years sabotaging the U.S. House. Another two years would be ruinous.
In the first 18 months of this Congress, only 70 laws were enacted. Calculations by political scientist Tobin Grant, who tracks congressional output over time, put this Congress on course to be the do-nothingest since 1859-1861 — when the Union was dissolving. But Johnson’s House isn’t merely unproductive; it is positively lunatic. Republicans have filled their committee hearings and their bills with white nationalist attacks on racial diversity and immigrants, attempts to ban abortion and to expand access to the sort of guns used in mass shootings, incessant harassment of LGBTQ Americans, and even routine potshots at the U.S. military. They insulted each other’s private parts, accused each other of sexual and financial crimes, and scuffled with each other in the Capitol basement. They screamed “Bullshit!” at President Joe Biden during the State of the Union address. They stood up for the Confederacy and used their official powers to spread conspiracy theories about the “Deep State.” Some even lent credence to the idea that there has been a century-old Deep State coverup of space aliens, with possible involvement by Mussolini and the Vatican."
A slightly misleading headline, but this poll has genuinely disturbing implications.
https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/4885895-mass-deportation-immigration-poll/
Knee slapper of the day.
This morning I heard this on the radio:
The Secret Service, in the wake of another assassination attempt, is being investigated…
Okay, nothing all that funny so far…but then…
…by Ron Johnson.
Hang on…say what? Ron Johnson is investigating the Secret Service?
Hahahahahahaha…
Isn’t this a bit like Inspector Clouseau demanding to see A lie-zahnce for ze minkey while a bank is being robbed five feet away from him?
So Ron Johnson sez the most recent attempt to bang-bang the fat guy was a failure on the part of the Service. Um..that fat guy is still alive, right?
Nope. A failure. And now they want more funding. That’s not the answer!
Okay, Inspector Clouseau, what is the answer?
“Close the border!”
But, um, both of those would-be assassins were native born Americans.
“Doesn’t matter. Close the border! And get a lie-zahnce for zat minkey while you are at it. Zut alors!”
Stop Political Violence
"'Lucky Loser' dispels the myth of Trump as a self-made billionaire
Pulitzer Prize-winning New York Times reporters Susanne Craig and Russ Buettner spent years examining Trump's finances and businesses. They trace how he squandered his father's fortune in a new book."
I have not read the comments today. But I can't wait on saying that the MAGA/repugnants, including in the congress, are the most vile, reprehensible, disgusting, shocking, idiotic monsters in history, closer to Nazis than anyone should be. Listening to that morally bankrupt Kennedy from LA sent me into a white hot rage so that I simply could not continue listening to him mock and badger that Muslim lady who was there for a diplomatic reason I am not sure of. I turned him off. I would like him to meet the same fate as the hillbillies that stand behind Dumpster at the so-called rallies/hate fests. That includes that nasty wench who was his "press secretary" and nepotismally became the governor of Arkansas. She is unspeakably vile. I am beginning to think listening to any of them is hazardous to our health. Maniacs, some of them, ghouls all.
RAS: In addition to the tears, there has to be at least one "Sir" from one supplicant begging to kiss the ring...
Oh, and PA high court just decided that if a mail-in ballot contains a mistake on the outer envelope with the date it is sealed by the voter, it will be tossed and not counted. The Rs managed to convince the court it mattered if the date was properly penned in the little idiotic squares. This was something deemed stupid by sensible people; it does not matter when it was dated as the only rule is that it must be received by 8pm on the election day to be counted. But now, doing a wrong date, omitting the little zero for single digit dates, wrong month or year, will make the ballot uncountable. Thousands of mistakes are made each election, and this was one they thought was dumb enough to clarify. So they thought it would not matter to NOT have it on there at all. But no. The Rs know the mail-ins are mostly Democratic ballots, so it is official vote suppression. They can now print the ballots. Hello, mistakes-- people are only human...
The makeover of a fat loser.
Yesterday, I listened to an excellent interview on Fresh Air with the authors of the book mentioned in RAS’s comment (above), “Lucky Loser”, about how Trump’s entire life has been dedicated to creating the image of a titan of business out of the empty shell of a sleazy narcissist who was gifted a fortune by daddy.
Around the time many of his businesses were tanking, he was rescued by the producers of “The Apprentice”. NBC first considered three actual billionaires who were all successful businessmen, not bankrupt losers, Richard Branson, Jack Welch, and Warren Buffett, but they were all very busy (running successful businesses) and none of them had the sort of carny barker con man charisma that Trump had been developing for decades. So they went with the bankrupt loser, because he had a good act.
But they had to work hard at creating the phony image the show required. Even they were surprised at how little there was behind Trump’s braggadocio about being the King of New York.
“GROSS: Before "The Apprentice" started shooting, producers went to the floor of Trump Tower, where Trump's offices were. Describe what they saw on that floor.
BUETTNER: Well, the first thing they described to us was the smell. They stepped off the elevator, and everything had this musty carpet odor. It just made an immediate impression that this was not the center of a thriving, hugely prosperous, successful organization. And then as they look around - these are people who are trained to notice details. They had just come back from years in the jungles, like, taking films of spiders and snakes to, like, evoke danger in viewers. And they started noticing - while they're looking for signs of wealth, they notice that all the furniture seems to be chipped. There are all these marks out of it. Everything seems very dated back to when the building was opened in the mid-1980s.
They looked at Donald Trump's desk, and they saw no sign of, like, a thriving operation. They just saw stacks of newspaper clippings that were just all about him. And so right away, they had the impression that they had a challenging job to try to make this person look like an icon of business success…”
The fact is, they needed an actor, and con artists are often excellent actors, they’re lies made incarnate.
In one of his best short stories, “The Real Thing”, Henry James tells the tale of an artist hired to illustrate a magazine article. He must portray a wealthy married couple, avatars of aristocratic gentility. A friend let’s him know that a couple who fit the exact bill had recently fallen on hard times, having lost all their money. He hires them but is unhappy with the result. Instead, he finds new models, a street worker and a shop girl. They’re perfect. Thus, they are presented as “the real thing”, while those who truly were the genuine article are let go.
Fatty was NBC’s phony “real thing”. Then he became the MAGAts’ “real thing” president*.
A phony his entire life.
Ha! I see I linked the same piece as RAS. Nonetheless, check it out. No wonder Fatty had his mouthpieces in a tizzy trying to stop publication of this book.
@RAS & @Akhilleus: I linked a NYT piece adapted from Buettner & Craig's book
SundaySaturday. It includes the smelly carpet bit.Marie,
Sorry, there’s just too much Trump bullshit to keep up with. Smelly carpets, chipped, out of date furniture, no signs of any actual work being done except for endless “Mirror, mirror on the wall” sessions with himself; perfect analogs for a cheesy, sleazy liar’s life.
How dare they!
Yeah, how dare Democrats in Kentucky, led by Governor Beshear, deny haters and homophobes access to taxpayer money to fund their bullshit, unethical “conversion therapy” sessions, designed to screw with LGBTQ kids’ heads and hearts.
Haters whined that Beshear was taking away their First Amendment rights. Waaaahhh! No, assholes. He’s just saying you can’t use state and federal money to impose your religious nutjob hate therapy on vulnerable kids.
Why the right hates actual history…
So I was just listening to a piece on NPR (it hasn’t shown up on their website yet or I would have linked it) about claims of Native American tribes working with the Land Back Movement in Minnesota.
Interviewing some white snowmobile fan, it was clear this guy has zero knowledge of history and even less appreciation of irony.
The land in question, originally inhabited by native tribes, was stolen from them, their people dragged off the land (those who weren’t killed), stuck on a reservation somewhere, and told they had no rights to their ancestral lands anymore, land they inhabited for perhaps several thousand years.
So they interview this guy (ya know, to get both sides), and he’s whining “If you give these people a little bit, they’ll wanna take it all! And THEN!! they probably won’t let white people on the land anymore!” (The tribes have said no such thing, nor have they made any such demands, but you know…Indian givers! Right?)
Wow. You mean the way white people made it illegal for Native Americans to return to land that had been stolen from them? Hey, at least the tribal elders aren’t suggesting white people be forcefully removed, at gun point, and shoved into some shitty reservation somewhere.
I guess this is the kind of history that PoT snowflakes like Tom Cotton and Ron Johnson say could make people feel bad.
Ya think?
I understand that the Land Back idea could have logistical problems, but the complete lack of historical appreciation is stunning. It’s like Nazis complaining that Jews get everything.
Politico
"West Coast Teamsters break with national chapter in endorsing Harris
The announcement came minutes after the national Teamsters declined to make a presidential endorsement.
Teamsters Joint Councils 7 and 42 — which are made up of 39 local unions representing 300,000 members in California, Nevada, Hawaii and Guam — wrote in a statement that Harris and her running mate Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz have a history of supporting expanded labor protections for workers, like the proposed Protect the Right to Organize Act and a Minnesota law that will ban employers from forcing workers to attend anti-labor meetings."