;)
The Conversation -- September 5, 2024
Marie: Thursday, September 5, exactly two months before Election Day, the Republican candidate for president* was arraigned on criminal charges related to his attempt to overthrow the results of the last presidential election, which he lost. This has barely received mention in the day's news. We live in extraordinary times.
Eric Tucker & David Klepper of the AP: "The U.S. government has charged a Russian-born U.S. citizen and former adviser to Donald Trump's 2016 presidential campaign with working for a sanctioned Russian state television network and laundering the proceeds. Indictments announced Thursday by the Department of Justice allege that Dimitri Simes and his wife received over $1 million dollars and a personal car and driver in exchange for work they did for Russia's Channel One since June 2022. The network was sanctioned by the U.S. in 2022 over Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Simes, 76, and his wife, Anastasia Simes, have a home in Virginia and are believed to be in Russia." MB: Sorry, but this is too much. These people are called "Dimitri" & "Anastasia" and the Trumpies didn't figure out they might be Russian moles? Would "Boris" and "Natasha" have aroused suspicions? No? ~~~
~~~ Philip Bump of the Washington Post: "The new indictment reinforces that [the Russia investigation] wasn't [a hoax, as Trump claims]. Russia began trying to influence American politics a decade ago, ultimately finding a sympathetic ally in Trump. Now, instead of trying to make fake personalities who can elevate contentious issues to Russia's benefit, there's a stable of Trump-allied voices who already are." MB: No, the Russia investigation was not a hoax, but the subjects of the investigation -- Trump and his campaign -- were and are as comedic as Monty Python.
Alexandra Berzon of the New York Times: "There is no indication that noncitizens are voting in large numbers. And yet the notion that they will flood the polls -- and vote overwhelmingly for Democrats -- is animating a sprawling network of Republicans who mobilized around ... Donald J. Trump's false claims of a rigged election in 2020 and are now preparing for the next one. Activists..., prominent lawyers, Republican lawmakers, right-wing influencers and other allies of Mr. Trump have ramped up pressure on local election officials to take steps that they say will keep noncitizens from tilting the election in Democrats' favor. They have pressed for voter roll purges, filed lawsuits, prepared for on-the-ground monitoring of polling places and spread misinformation online. Republican elected officials have responded."
Marie: I have CNN on right now, and for some reason they are playing a speech Donald Trump is giving. So far, it sounds as if he's reading from a script, & I never guessed that Kamala Harris was so powerful. For instance, even though Harris has been living in Washington, D.C. since she was elected Vice President, "people are leaving California in droves" because they're so afraid of her.
Glenn Thrush & Lauren Herstik of the New York Times: "Hunter Biden pleaded guilty on Thursday to nine federal tax charges in Los Angeles, after telling his legal team that he refused to subject his family to another round of anguish and humiliation after a gut-wrenching gun trial in Delaware two months ago. The dramatic development signaled the final stages of a fraught five-plus year investigation into the period when Mr. Biden was bankrolling his uncontrollable drug and alcohol addiction by leveraging his famous last name into lucrative overseas consulting contracts -- while not paying his taxes. The guilty plea was a unilateral decision by defense lawyers who were persuaded they could not prevail in the trial. It was not part of a plea deal in exchange for reduced punishment. Mr. Biden, speaking in a low and clipped voice as he sat at the defense table, repeated the word 'guilty' nine times as Judge Mark C. Scarsi ticked off each charge.... The guilty plea now exposes President Biden's son to an outcome that seemed unthinkable last year, when his lawyers were on the cusp of a no-prison plea agreement: significant time behind bars."
~~~ Marshall Cohen, et al., of CNN: "Hunter Biden is attempting to resolve his federal tax evasion case in California with a plea where he maintains his innocence but will accept punishment, his lawyers announced in court Thursday, moments before jury selection was scheduled to begin. The arrangement won't be final until District Judge Mark Scarsi, a Trump appointee who has presided over the tax case, gives his stamp of approval in open court. The court is now on break and will resume at 2 p.m. ET. This type of arrangement, called an 'Alford plea,' would see Biden acknowledge that special counsel David Weiss has enough evidence to convict him -- and then he would accept whatever sentence Scarsi eventually hands down." ~~~
~~~ Udpate. "Hunter Biden is offering to plead guilty to the nine tax offenses he faces in federal court, without a deal with prosecutors, his attorneys said in court Thursday. Biden had earlier attempted to resolve his federal tax evasion case in California with a plea in which he would maintain his innocence but still accept punishment."
Katelyn Polantz of CNN: "Judge Tanya Chutkan has set a schedule in the federal election subversion case against ... Donald Trump that will allow prosecutors to release never-before-seen evidence, such as grand jury transcripts, ahead of the presidential election. The deadline for the filing from prosecutors is September 26, according to the latest order from the judge, which largely sides with special counsel Jack Smith's proposed schedule discussed at Thursday's hearing.... This is a developing story and will be updated."
The New York Times' live updates of developments Thursday in the Israel/Hamas war are here: "The second phase of a campaign to vaccinate children in Gaza against polio began on Thursday in southern Gaza, the World Health Organization said, continuing a frantic drive to avert a deadly outbreak in the war-battered territory. Israel has agreed to brief, staggered pauses in its military offensive in Gaza to allow health officials to conduct vaccinations. But ... hours after the first phase of the campaign wrapped up in central Gaza on Wednesday, an Israeli airstrike hit the courtyard of Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital, one of the largest in the area, Wafa, the Palestinian Authority's official news agency, reported. Four people were killed, including women and children sheltering in tents around the hospital, Wafa said on Thursday. Video taken by the Reuters news agency showed tents in ruins, their wooden beams flattened, and people's belongings strewed in the hospital's courtyard."
Monica Alba, et al., of NBC News: "The families of American hostages being held by Hamas have pressed the White House to seriously consider cutting a unilateral deal with the terrorist organization to secure their loved ones' release, and the option is currently under discussion within the Biden administration, according to five people familiar with the discussions. In a meeting Sunday with national security adviser Jake Sullivan after Hamas killed six hostages, including American Hersh Goldberg-Polin, the relatives of U.S. citizens still in captivity urged the administration to evaluate options that do not include Israel, the sources said. Administration officials told the families that they would explore 'every option,' but a deal with Hamas that includes Israel is still the best approach, people familiar with the conversation said."
CNN is posting live updates on it cablecast of the courtroom proceedings in the federal election interference case against Donald Trump. ~~~
~~~ New York Times reporters are liveblogging court proceedings in the federal case against Donald Trump for his interference with the 2020 presidential election:
Alan Feuer: "Judge [Tanya] Chutkan notes this hearing has two purposes. One is to arraign Trump on the government's revised indictment. The other is to decide on a schedule for matters moving forward, which she hopes to issue in an order at some point today."
Charlie Savage: "[John] Lauro, the lawyer for Trump, confirms that Trump is entering a plea of not guilty. Chutkan says the arraignment is complete."
Feuer: "[Prosecutor Thomas] Windom explains that the brief the government plans to file will include a 'comprehensive discussion' about facts that are in the indictment as well as 'unpled facts' -- that is, facts that are not mentioned in the indictment. That would be new evidence about the election interference charges against Trump.... Windom says the new evidence, attached to the main brief as exhibits, would most likely include things like excerpted grand jury testimony from witnesses in the case and F.B.I. interviews with witnesses. This sort of evidence would generally not come out except at an evidentiary hearing or a full trial."
Savage: "Lauro and Chutkan are disagreeing about whether the Supreme Court had already decided that Trump's interactions with Vice President Pence were official. Lauro is explaining the issue is whether the presumption of immunity (because the interactions were official) can be overcome under the circumstances. If it is not overcome, the entire indictment is flawed, he argued. (He means, because the grand jury was exposed to information that was subject to immunity when it approved the indictment.)"
Feuer: "Lauro ... gets to the point about why he doesn't want the government to file a detailed brief first: It's because he's concerned about potentially damaging information about Trump getting out in public at this 'sensitive time,' meaning before the election." ~~~
~~~ Savage: "Judge Chutkan says she ... that the timing of the election 'is not relevant here.' She adds: 'That's nothing I'm going to consider,' adding, 'I am definitely not getting drawn into an election dispute.'"
Feuer: "Arguing again for the process to unfold gradually, Lauro says, 'There's something unseemly about a rush to judgment.' Rejecting that idea, Judge Chutkan reminds Trump's lawyer that the case has been stayed for nearly a year." ~~~
~~~ Savage: "Chutkan says everyone knows that whatever her ruling on immunity issues are, it will be appealed -- so there will be no rush to trial."
Feuer: "Lauro makes a little news. He says he's going to put on the public record through his filing some information that is 'exonerative' to Trump. He suggests there are F.B.I. interviews with witnesses and witness testimony that will help Trump.... A bit of tense humor: Lauro, Trump's lawyer, argues that the Supreme Court's ruling is ;crystal clear' and sufficient for Judge Chutkan to dismiss the new indictment as a legal matter. The court's decision was famously full of unclear passages, and Judge Chutkan chuckles to herself at Lauro's comment, slightly rolling her eyes."
Savage: "Judge Chutkan asks how much material would be filed under seal. The prosecutor, Windom, says a lot of it would be filed under seal at first, but then under the year-old protective order, it would be the court that decides what gets unsealed.... Chutkan tells Trump's lawyer, Lauro, she doesn't need any more rhetoric about how serious and grave it all is. Lauro says it's not rhetoric, it's legal argument.... Lauro, the Trump lawyer, says the Supreme Court told [Chutkan] to resolve the Pence issue first and says he is an originalist and believes they wrote what they meant. She responds: 'You may be an originalist, Mr. Lauro, but I'm a trial judge, and I have to follow the instructions of the Supreme Court, and I don't believe that is what I was instructed to do by the Supreme Court.'"
Feuer: "Lauro, bolstering his argument about Jack Smith being improperly appointed, notes that Justice Clarence Thomas questioned Smith's appointment in a concurrence to the immunity decision. He also says that a 'very respected judge' in Florida -- a reference to Judge Aileen Cannon -- tossed out Trump's classified documents case two months ago on those same grounds.... Chutkan notes that she's not really going to buy the claim that Jack Smith was improperly appointed, and she reminds Lauro that the federal appeals court in Washington has already upheld special counsel appointments in a separate case.... Despite her stated reservations, Judge Chutkan says she's going to let Lauro file his motion challenging Jack Smith's appointment."
Savage: "Judge Chutkan says it would be an exercise in futility to set a new trial date because of the immunity issue. However she rules, it will be appealed up to the Supreme Court again."
Feuer: "The hearing has adjourned."
~~~~~~~~~~
Presidential Race
Alex Gangitano of the Hill: "Vice President Harris on Wednesday went off script at a rally in New Hampshire to condemn gun violence following a shooting at a Georgia high school earlier that day.... '... our kids are sitting in a classroom, where they should be fulfilling their God-given potential, and some part of their brain is worried about a shooter busting through the classroom. It does not have to be this way,' she said. 'This is one of the many issues that's at stake in this election,' the vice president added, before moving back on script to talk about her economic plan." (Also linked yesterday) ~~~
~~~ Tami Luhby & Katie Lubosco of CNN: "Vice President Kamala Harris is adding tax relief for small businesses to her economic policy platform aimed at helping middle-class and working Americans. Harris unveiled Wednesday a proposal to massively increase the existing small business tax deduction for startup costs and cut the red tape that impedes small businesses' formation and growth. Her goal: 25 million new small business applications by the end of her first term, up from the record 19 million received under the Biden administration as of mid-August. Harris on Wednesday also proposed raising the capital gains tax rate, though by not as much as President Joe Biden has called for." (Also linked yesterday) A New York Times story is here. ~~~
~~~ Here is the statement by President Joe and Dr. Jill Biden on the shooting at Apalachee High School. (Also linked yesterday) Related links under Wednesday's & Thursday's News Ledes.
Kelly O'Donnell, et al., of NBC News: "Former Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., on Wednesday endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris for president, the latest high-profile Republican endorsement for Democrats. Cheney's comments took place during an appearance at Duke University's Sanford School of Public Policy. 'Because of the danger that Donald Trump poses, not only am I not voting for Donald Trump, but I will be voting for Kamala Harris,' Cheney said in a video of remarks posted to X. The former congresswoman said in her remarks that it is 'crucially important' for people to understand that people do not have 'the luxury of writing in candidates' names, particularly in swing states.'" (Also linked yesterday)
Lauren Irwin of the Hill: "Former Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.) said he is not courageous for speaking out against former President Trump.... Kinzinger joined 'Jimmy Kimmel Live' Tuesday evening.... [Kinzinger told Kimmel,] 'And that's the thing, is like, people will tell me sometimes, "Adam, you're courageous." And I appreciate it. I'm not courageous, though. I'm surrounded by cowards.'"
Meg Kinnard & Michelle Price of the AP: "Vice President Kamala Harris has accepted the rules set forth for next week's debate with ... Donald Trump, although the Democratic nominee says the decision not to keep both candidates' microphones live throughout the matchup will be to her disadvantage. The development, which came Wednesday by way of a letter from Harris' campaign to host network ABC News, seemed to mark a conclusion to the debate over microphone muting, which had for a time threatened to derail the Sept. 10 presidential debate at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia.... President Joe Biden's campaign had made the muting of microphones, except for the candidate whose turn it is to speak, a condition of his decision to accept any debates this year. Some aides have said they now regret that decision, saying voters were shielded from hearing Trump's outbursts during the June debate."
Michael Gold of the New York Times: "Hours after the Trump and Harris campaigns agreed to rules for their first presidential debate..., Donald J. Trump sought to instill doubt that the debate would be fair, downplayed his need to prepare and suggested he was more worried about the network hosting the debate than his opponent. Speaking at a Fox News town hall on Wednesday night, Mr. Trump insisted that ABC News, which will host next week's debate in Philadelphia, was 'dishonest,' even though he agreed months ago to allow the network to host a presidential debate. Pointing to Vice President Kamala Harris's longtime friendship with a senior executive whose portfolio includes ABC News, Mr. Trump insisted without evidence that Ms. Harris was 'going to get the questions in advance.' The network released agreed-upon rules that no topics or questions would be provided to either candidate or campaign." ~~~
~~~ Marie: Although Trump is downplaying his chances in the debate, it's worth noting that no other modern presidential candidate has had more experience in debating his general-election opponent than Trump, who has run for president* three times. Harris, by contrast, has debated her general-election opponent only once: pence in 2020.
Kate Brumback of the AP: "A federal judge in Atlanta ruled Tuesday that Donald Trump and his campaign must stop using the song 'Hold On, I'm Coming' while the family of one of the song's co-writers pursues a lawsuit against the former president over its use. The estate of Isaac Hayes Jr. filed a lawsuit last month alleging that Trump, his campaign and several of his allies had infringed its copyright and should pay damages. After a hearing on the estate's request for an emergency preliminary injunction, U.S. District Judge Thomas Thrash ruled that Trump must stop using the song, but he denied a request to force the campaign to take down any existing videos that include the song.... A string of artists and their heirs have objected to Trump using their songs during his events."
Adm. Mike Mullen, Ret., former Chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, in a Washington Post op-ed: "What was supposed to be a healing moment [last week] -- a simple wreath-laying at the Tomb of the Unknowns -- became a political event when campaign officials and cameramen attended the ceremony and visited Section 60 of the cemetery. Section 60 holds the remains of hundreds of men and women killed in Afghanistan and Iraq. I was sorry to see that happen and never want to see it happen again.... No part of Arlington -- or any veterans' cemetery for that matter -- should ever play host to partisan activity.... To intrude upon that scene -- to visit politics upon it -- is to do much more than violate [the] rules; it is to betray the very nature of Arlington. It is to mock the apolitical nature of our military and to dishonor the sacrifices made by those who rest there."
This Is Rich. Miranda Nazzaro of the Hill: "Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. slammed Vice President Harris's candidacy Tuesday ... while defending his choice to instead endorse former President Trump. 'I don't think that Vice President Harris is a worthy president of this country,' Kennedy told NewsNation host Chris Cuomo. 'I think we need to have a president who can give an interview, who can articulate a vision, who can put together an English sentence, who can articulate her and defend her policies and her record and who can engage in a debate with, and regular debates unscripted appearances, president or vice president.'" MB: Yes, because Donald Trump is so very, very good at articulating stuff in regular English sentences he has put together. (Also linked yesterday)
Lauren Irwin of the Hill: "A judge in Michigan ruled Tuesday that independent candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. must stay on the state's presidential ballot. Kennedy announced earlier this month he would be withdrawing from the race and threw his support behind former President Trump. He said he was trying to take his name off ballots in swing states where, if he stayed on the ticket, he could draw votes away from the former president. He will remain on blue and red state ballots. Michigan and Wisconsin, key Midwest purple states, rejected Kennedy's attempt to remove his name from the ballot, citing their state laws for a candidate or nominee withdrawing. In North Carolina, the state's board of elections said it was too late for Kennedy to withdraw since ballots had already begun being printed. Kennedy filed a lawsuit in an attempt to remove his name." (Also linked yesterday)
David Nakamura, et al., of the Washington Post: "The Justice Department on Wednesday charged two Russian media executives in an alleged scheme that authorities say illegally funneled millions of dollars to a Tennessee-based company to create and publish propaganda videos that racked up millions of views on U.S. social media." ~~~
~~~ Marie: The report never acknowledges that the Russian entities charged were producing pro-Trump propaganda. Maybe the Post editors thought this salient factor was too partisan to mention and would be unfa-a-a-a-ir to Trump. Update: Oh, look, WashPo, it can be done! ~~~
~~~ Eric Tucker, et al., of the AP: "The Biden administration seized Kremlin-run websites and charged two Russian state media employees in its most sweeping effort yet to push back against what it says are Russian attempts to spread disinformation ahead of the November presidential election. The measures, which in addition to indictments also included sanctions and visa restrictions, represented a U.S. government effort just weeks before the November election to disrupt a persistent threat from Russia that American officials have long warned has the potential to sow discord and create confusion among voters. Washington has said that Moscow, which intelligence officials have said has a preference for Republican Donald Trump, remains the primary threat to elections...." ~~~
~~~ Ryan Reilly, et al., of NBC News: "Employees of the Russia-backed media network RT funded and directed a scheme that sent millions of dollars to prominent right-wing commentators through a media company that appears to match the description of Tenet Media, a leading platform for pro-Trump voices, according to an NBC News review of charging documents, business records and social media profiles.... Tenet has emerged in recent years as a home for staunch pro-Trump voices, many of whom have interviewed [Donald] Trump and Trump family members while also supporting conservative causes that mesh with Russia's own interests." ~~~
~~~ Marcy Wheeler: "When DOJ announced [Wednesday] it would unseal legal actions against Russian influence operations, the former President's failson [Don Junior] complained, 'Here we go again. LOL'... Some hours later, it became clear that a number of right wing influencers, including Tim Pool, Dave Rubin, and Benny Johnson, were unwittingly on the take from Russia, via Tenet Media, which DOJ alleges in a new indictment is a front company for RT. I consider myself a connoisseur of a well-written indictments. And this, released days after Labor Day and implicating a number of Americans, may be one of my favorites.... Anyway, read the whole thing: It's a tale of right wing grift, sloppy operational security that was nonetheless adequate to satisfy far right grifters, and a far bigger spend on the part of Russia to play in this year's election."
Eric Tucker, et al., of the AP: "A judge will hear arguments Thursday about potential next steps in the federal election subversion prosecution of Donald Trump in the first hearing since the Supreme Court narrowed the case by ruling that former presidents are entitled to broad immunity from criminal charges. Prosecutors and defense lawyers submitted dueling proposals late Friday ahead of the status conference before U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan, who is presiding over the case charging Trump with plotting to overturn the results of the 2020 election in the run-up to the Jan. 6, 2021 riot at the U.S. Capitol. Trump is not expected to be present."
Lauren del Valle & Paula Reid of CNN: "... Donald Trump will continue to fight to move his New York hush money case into federal court -- and delay his sentencing on that conviction -- by now appealing to the Second Circuit Court of Appeals, according to a notice of appeal filed Tuesday night. A federal judge in Manhattan denied his initial request to move the case to the Southern District of New York on Tuesday. Trump's attorneys filed a notice of appeal of that decision soon after." (Also linked yesterday)
Cuff Him. Megan Lebowitz of NBC News: "A spokesperson for [Donald Trump's] 2024 campaign commented this week on reports of a Trump clemency recipient being convicted of a domestic violence-related charge by saying, 'President Trump believes anyone convicted of a crime should spend time behind bars.'... Trump was convicted in May by a Manhattan jury on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records."
Andy Kroll, et al., of ProPublica: "Ginni Thomas, the wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, privately heaped praise on a major religious-rights group for fighting efforts to reform the nation's highest court -- efforts sparked, in large part, by her husband's ethical lapses. Thomas expressed her appreciation in an email sent to Kelly Shackelford, an influential litigator whose clients have won cases at the Supreme Court. Shackelford runs the First Liberty Institute, a $25 million-a-year organization that describes itself as 'the largest legal organization in the nation dedicated exclusively to defending religious liberty for all Americans.' Shackelford read Thomas' email aloud on a July 31 private call with his group's top donors.... According to Shackelford, Thomas wrote in all caps: 'YOU GUYS HAVE FILLED THE SAILS OF MANY JUDGES. CAN I JUST TELL YOU, THANK YOU SO, SO, SO MUCH.'" Thanks to RAS for the link. (Also linked yesterday)"
Ruth Marcus of the Washington Post: "Now Ginni Thomas's isn't just lobbying to 'Stop the Steal' -- she's trying to Stop the Reform of her husband's own institution. So much for separate careers. Ginni Thomas's own behavior around the 2020 election, and Clarence Thomas's conduct in accepting, and failing to disclose, thousands of dollars' worth of gifts from wealthy conservatives helped trigger the push for court reform in the first place.... [And First Liberty is] a frequent litigant before the Supreme Court and the lower federal courts.... There's a federal law that requires justices, like all other judges, to recuse themselves in situations in which their impartiality might reasonably be questioned.... How can [Clarence Thomas] justify continuing to sit on cases involving First Liberty now that we know Ginni Thomas's is 'SO, SO, SO' beholden to the group?... There is a persuasive reason the high court does need an enforcement mechanism. Her name is Ginni Thomas."
Perry Stein & Matt Viser of the Washington Post: "Jury selection is set to begin Thursday in Los Angeles for the second criminal trial of President Joe Biden's son Hunter -- a case that over the next few weeks could detail for a jury his lavish lifestyle while he was addicted to drugs.... Hunter Biden is accused of failing to pay at least $1.4 million in federal taxes from 2016 through 2019. Prosecutors also allege that when he filed his taxes, he wrongfully wrote off payments as business expenses -- including payments to sex workers, membership to a sex club and fancy car rentals. The charges include failing to file and pay taxes, tax evasion and filing false tax returns. Three are felonies and six are misdemeanors."
~~~~~~~~~~
Texas Voter Suppression. David Goodman & Edgar Sandoval of the New York Times: "Attorney General Ken Paxton of Texas went to court on Wednesday to try to stop county leaders in San Antonio from sending out more than 200,000 voter registration applications to unregistered residents of Bexar County. The lawsuit by Mr. Paxton followed a letter he sent days earlier warning Bexar County officials, most of whom are Democrats, against proceeding with the mailing. The county's governing commissioners voted 3 to 1 on Tuesday to approve the proposal anyway. Mr. Paxton has also threated to sue Harris County, which includes the Democratic stronghold of Houston, where officials have been weighing a similar effort to expand the number of registered voters ahead of the registration deadline early next month for the November election. The suit is the latest chapter in a yearslong conflict over voting and elections in Texas between Republicans, who dominate state government, and Democrats, who control most of the state's largest urban areas." MB: If I was about to get stuck on a desert island with either Paxton or Trump, I'd pick Trump.
News Ledes
CNBC: "Private sector payrolls grew at the weakest pace in more than 3½ years in August, providing yet another sign of a deteriorating labor market, according to ADP. Companies hired just 99,000 workers for the month, less than the downwardly revised 111,000 in July and below the Dow Jones consensus forecast for 140,000. August was the weakest month for job growth since January 2021, according to data from the payrolls processing firm. 'The job market's downward drift brought us to slower-than-normal hiring after two years of outsized growth,' ADP's chief economist, Nela Richardson, said. The report corroborates multiple data points recently that show hiring has slowed considerably from its blistering pace following the Covid outbreak in early 2020."
The New York Times' live updates of developments in the Georgia school massacre are here, a horrifying ritual which we experience here in the U.S. to kick off each new School Shooting Year. "A 14-year-old student opened fire at his Georgia high school on Wednesday, killing two students and two teachers before surrendering to school resource officers, according to the authorities, who said the suspect would be charged with murder." ~~~
~~~ Marie: I heard Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp (R) speak during a press conference. Kemp is often glorified as one of the most moderate, reasonable GOP elected public officials. When asked a question I did not hear, Kemp responded, "Now is not the time to talk about politics." As you know, this is a statement that is part of the mass shooting ritual. It translates, "Our guns-for-all policy is so untenable that I dare not express it lest I be tarred and feathered -- or worse -- by grieving families." ~~~
~~~ Washington Post: "Police identified the suspect as Colt Gray, a student who attracted the attention of federal investigators more than a year ago, when they began receiving anonymous tips about someone threatening a school shooting. The FBI referred the reports to local authorities, whose investigations led them to interview Gray and his father. The father told police that he had hunting guns in the house, but that his son did not have unsupervised access to them. Gray denied making the online threats, the FBI said, but officials still alerted area schools about him." ~~~
~~~ Marie: I heard on CNN that the reason authorities lost track of Colt was that his family moved counties, and the local authorities who first learned of the threats apparently did not share the information with law enforcement officials in Barrow County, where Wednesday's mass school shooting occurred. If you were a parent of a child who has so alarmed law enforcement that they came around to your house to question you and the child about his plans to massacre people, wouldn't you do something?: talk to him, get the kid professional counseling, remove guns and other lethal weapons from the house, etc.
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Reader Comments (23)
When you got nothin’, go full Full KKK.
The propagandists on Trump TV are never at a loss for attack material. If you don’t have anything substantive, put on your white hood and brandish your button signifying your lifetime membership in the he-man woman haters club:
“Fox News' Jesse Watters said: ‘Kamala was raised by an Indian mother in Canada, but now she sounds like Fani Willis.’ He was referring to the district attorney of Fulton County, Georgia, who has a traditional Southern accent.
Matt Gertz, a researcher who focuses ‘on the relationship between Fox News and the Trump administration,’ said the coverage was ‘racist.’ He wrote on X: ‘As Trump's supporters have struggled to figure out how to effectively respond to Harris replacing Biden on the Democratic ticket, Watters has repeatedly tried to fill that void with what he knows best: racist and misogynistic commentary.’”
So the latest attack turd is that Harris should sound like Raj’s mother on “Big Bang Theory”.
Steve Douchebag tried the same dirty trick with Karine Jean-Pierre, who dropped him faster than Trump’s stock price for wasting time with his usual Faux stupidity.
Of course, if Harris did sound as if she spent her first 30 years in Bombay, they’d attack her for that too.
Will the corporate media whack Fox for this latest racist attack? Or will we see a Times headline that asks “What is Kamala Harris trying to hide now?”
Of course, if they do, they’ll be sure to omit any reference to Watters’ long sordid history of misogyny and racism, like the time he flattened the tires of a woman he wanted to boink (while married to someone else), so he could play He-man to the Rescue (he actually bragged about this as if it were a great way to “meet” women). Or the time he claimed that women journalists sleep with sources “all the time” .
Unlikely. Cuz making those kinds of connections would be “partisan”.
Forbidden. Again.
Test.
Akhilleus,
You made my morning with your reference to The Big Bang Theory's Raj's mother.
I'm guessing it wasn't easy to break through the Squarespace barrier to do so, so a double thanks for making the effort.
You reminded me of the day many years since that I borrowed from both Big Bang and Star Trek for my second son's wedding toast.
A Classical education is nice to have in one's pocket but there's nothing like American TV for relevance.
Colorado
"Colorado’s Democratic governor called the special session of the Democratic-controlled legislature.
lawmakers say they were forced to cut property taxes further to keep measures introduced by a dark-money group and a Colorado tycoon off of the November ballot. If enacted, these measures would lead to far deeper property tax cuts of more than $2 billion per year."
"The Harris-Walz housing plan – detailed, serious, and impactful"
*@Marie: could you delete the mess I made of my previous post, thanks.
How Trump and the MAGA horde manufacture scandals out of thin air.
It’s EZ! C’mon, kids, to the Trump School for Scandal (apologies to Sheridan).
First, find some innocuous bit of data. Second, rejigger it so that vacation in a foreign country becomes proof of a lifetime of terrorism, spycraft, sabotage, and the Death of America! Aieeee!
Let AG and the corporate media run their predictable “People are saying” stories. Repeat as needed until that flatulence runs out of gas.
Find another innocuous bit. Repeat.
An example? Soitanly!
“Kamala Harris cannot legally become president!
Tiny particular: Neither of Kamala Harris’s parents was born in this country.
Full-blown scandal: Kamala Harris is ineligible for the presidency because she is not a natural-born citizen.
The pump-up: Harris’s mother was born in India, her father in Jamaica. In August 2020, conservative law professor John Eastman wrote an opinion column for Newsweek in which he argued that Harris might not be considered a ‘natural-born citizen’ under the law because her parents had not yet become naturalized citizens at the time of her birth, which is constitutionally irrelevant. The piece was roundly criticized; Harvard Law professor Laurence Tribe called it ‘garbage’ and ‘racist birtherism redux.’ It remains on the magazine’s website with a lengthy editor’s note apologizing for having run it at all.
A few days after Eastman’s column ran, Trump stated at a press conference: ‘They’re saying that she doesn’t qualify because she wasn’t born in this country.’ This was both not true—Harris was born in California—and not something anyone, Eastman included, was saying. But Trump forced Eastman’s argument to fit the concepts he’s most familiar with, and turned it into an accusation that Harris, like Obama before her, was not born in this country.”
See? Easy-peasy. Sheridan’s Lady Sneerwell and her scandal mongering lackey, Snake (yeah, that’s his name) couldn’t do better. (And you thought Eastman was only good for election stealing.)
And here’s the latest invented scandal:
The Orange Monster, who managed to tear himself away from cheating at golf (how sad is it that he cheats even when he’s playing by himself?) long enough to lie to a crowd of droolers in Pennsylvania that Kamala Harris will kill fracking!!!
This scandal is based on Harris’s statements that her administration will pursue alternate energy options. Fatty conveniently omits her acknowledgment in the Both Sides Dana Bash interview:
“What I have seen is that we can grow, and we can increase a clean energy economy without banning fracking,”
But never mind, Lord Sneerwell can turn “How are you this morning?” into a promise of nuclear war.
It’s EZ. If you’re a lying sack of shit.
@RAS: Okay, I deleted it. If I deleted the wrong post, let me know, because I saved it.
@Akhilleus: Jesse Watters' complaint, shared by many on the right, is part and parcel of their general deep-seated racism and misogyny, as you suggest. An American person is allowed to speak only with the accent of an American white person. (Barack Obama is very good at speaking White Guy, but he has a much broader range.)
There is more than one authorized white accent: for instance, a Western accent is okay, and a Southern (white!) accent is fine. A Manhattan accent is okay because it's "standard" American English, but an outer boroughs or New Jersey accent is not so good unless coming from the lips of a right-wing male politician, particularly one who tries to convey a tough-guy image. Anything that sounds too upper-crusty is suspect
Now, the accent has to be your "native" accent; that is, if you come from South Carolina, a South Carolina accent is fine, but it is not fine if you come from, say, Chicago. This is where the misogyny comes in, because the majority of men -- in my observation -- do not change their accents or patterns of speech to accommodate their audiences. Women are more likely to do so. You might conclude it's because women are more submissive, but I prefer to think it's because women, in general, are more empathetic.
So the right wing criticized Hillary Clinton when she gave speeches in the South and dropped the "g"s in gerunds (as she had learned to do during her years in Arkansas). I wasn't aware Kamala Harris changed her accent to fit her audiences, but I'm not surprised she does. It's a means of showing respect to your listeners. I do it, too, to some extent, to make people feel comfortable, in the same way I use slightly different vocabulary sets with "my English professor friends" (ha ha, unlike Trump, I actually have some!) than with the clerk at Lowe's.
This tendency is not entirely limited to women, My father, who was a very empathetic, liberal man would drop into a slight Irish lilt when he visited his Connecticut relatives, who were many decades off the boat but remained proud of their Irish heritage. And he did the same when he moved to New Mexico, where the locals, no matter what their native language, tended to speak English with a Spanish accent. So my father did, too. (My mother, who was less accommodating than my father, never lost her girlhood accent.)
Other men may alter their accents to accommodate others. I have never forgotten getting onto a Chicago city bus and exchanging brief pleasantries with the bus driver as I paid my fare. Following me, a Black guy got on the bus and he too exchanged pleasantries with the bus driver. Or so I surmised; I couldn't understand a word they said. The bus driver had accommodated me. Just to be nice.
I don't think Jesse Watters has ever done much just to be nice.
Lawrence O'Donnell said last night that he made the regrettable decision to watch the Trump townhall and that the the town was absent. He said Trump rambled for so long that Hannity never got around to any of the audience questions. I wonder if that was on purpose since even softball questions can cause the Convict to veer off down weird crazy paths.
@Marie: You got the right one.
There is Senator John Kennedy of Louisiana who famously changed to his cartoon southern accent after becoming a Republican.
@RAS: Well, okay, yes, there are exceptions. But here, as with speakers who actually give a damn about people they meet, Sen. Foghorn Leghorn definitely uses the technique of employing a good-ole-boy accent (to which he comes naturally) to make himself appear to be a backwoods man of the people.
(I'd like to have heard him when he was poncing around Oxford, probably trying to sound like Lord Leghorn of Foghorn-on-Avon.)
I guess that AI is sometimes smarter than humans:
https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/trump-harris-alexa/
Foghorn-on-Avon.
Hahahaha!
“I say, I say, to be or not to be…go ‘way boy, ya bother me!”
Good one.
Marie,
I will guarantee you that most of those Faux schmucks whining about Harris not sounding like a cashier from a Calcutta 7-11 have modified their own accents. Most people working in broadcasting have done it.
I grew up in Boston surrounded by family and friends with thick Irish accents. Funnily, I had no idea that I had that classic Boston accent (I thought I was unaccented) until I went to college. When I made my first trip down south to visit my roommate in Arkansas, his friends would come around just to hear me talk. “Say something. Anything” they’d say. I guess my accent was just so foreign to them it was like meeting some new species. That was fine, of course. I used to give my roommate shit about his accent as well. “Scott. Count to ten…eight, nahn, tin. Is tin a real number?” Of course he’s a big corporate lawyer in NYC now so I doubt he’s telling clients they stand to lose “Tin million dollahs” if they screw up.
I spent years in various media businesses myself, including TV and radio, and eventually smoothed off the most obvious bits of Boston, although certain pronunciation elements remain, but that took a while. Years ago, I met Massachusetts congressman Ed Markey while attending a hearing in Washington. I shook his hand and addressed him as Congressman Mahkey. He laughed. “Down here, I don’t get to hear real Boston accents very often” he said.
Once, driving down south with another classmate who grew up in a Boston suburb, we stopped at a gas station in West Virginia. The attendant (back when gas station attendants were still a thing) came out and talked to us. Neither of us had the tiniest sliver of an idea of what this kid was saying. He sounded like a “Deliverance” extra. He came over to my side and said something with a little rise in his voice. Thinking this might be a question, I nodded my head, yes. He smiled and walked away. My friend suggested that he might have just said “You northern boys sound like idiots.” I was happy to agree with that just as long as he wasn’t asking me something really weird.
All this was back before things became so flattened out across the board. It used to be, traveling cross country, you’d run into local stores, businesses, radio shows, different types of foods, beer, and certainly parochial expressions. It was great. A way to see how people lived in other places. Now, you get off a plane and everything looks the same. Your hotel could be in Jacksonville or Jackson Hole. There’s a Starbucks, a CVS, a Target. Local beers are mostly gone. You can get Maine lobster in Houston, and tacos anywhere.
But the importance of communication never flattens out.
Like you, I adjust my speech in certain ways without even thinking about it now, (I’m even related to several English professors). My choice of vocabulary as well. It’s a human thing.
Which is why they hate Harris. Signs of humanity don’t go in MAGAstan. Besides, they need SOMETHING to complain about.
Accents-are-us: I never thought I had an unusual accent until the
family moved from East Texas to North Central Michigan.
I was in the fifth grade at that time and took a lot of harassment, and
occasionally some beatings. This was before television, so no one
was accustomed to hearing accents other than their own brand.
I wasn't a fighter, so I joined a gang of tough girls, who I guess took
pity on me.
The harassment stopped. Problem solved.
Ken,
Nice to meet another “Big Bang” fan. A great show, especially for anyone even vaguely nerdy about science. Even though all the characters have their own special idiosyncrasies, Jim Parsons (and the writers) turned Sheldon into one of the most recognizable, and memorable, characters in TV history.
During my years working at a television station, I had the opportunity to stop the tape and read those vanity cards written by creator Jim Lorre that flash by for a couple of seconds at the end of each show. Some are just silly, but some offer a personal note on how certain plot elements or character traits were selected. Some are just kinda navel gazing. Pretty cool stuff, all in all. By the way, Raj’s interactions with his mummy and daddy were always a highlight, as well as the visits from Sheldon’s and Leonard’s mothers.
A fun show.
Scandal! Scandal! Stop the presses!
MAGA scandal mongers were twirling their mustaches and rubbing their filthy hands together in glee, awaiting horrible revelations from Tim Walz’s winger brother, whose dangled interest in supporting fascism and handing over damaging secrets about Walz had MAGAstan in a tizzy.
Oooh yes!! Let’s see, did he torture small animals as a kid? Oops, no, that was George Bush. Did he attack and punch a teacher he didn’t like? No, no, no…that was Trump. So what’s the dirt? Quick! Tell us. Fox is waiting for the blockbuster announcement. WHAT’S the BIG SCANDAL????
Walz got carsick as a little kid!
Oh yes!! He…what? He got sick on car rides? That’s the scandal?
“Yup. And sometimes he would THROW UP!!”
Yeah. That’s it. But don’t worry, they’ll find a way to make this work for them. Maybe puke stains on his little t-shirt resembled a hammer and sickle. Yeah, yeah. Let’s go with that…
Sad, in’it? Too stoopid to cross the street alone at night in a town of 25 with only two cars.
Dmitri and Anastasia? Hey, maybe that’s the Lost Princess Anastasia.
Hmmm, not likely. Trump will swear that that Anastasia was murdered by Harris and Biden and their Bolshevik pals, and dumped down a mineshaft by Walz.
In 1918.
Fox has the details.
I see that Fatty’s casuistry laden mouthpiece, John Lauro, thinks that “Hey, judge! This is some serious shit!” is a legal argument.
Is “I know you are, but what am I?” a legal argument as well? How about “Toljaso”? No? Oh, wait. I know. “Judge! He has an Article Two!”
In any sane world, that fat traitor would already be making license plates. But six little words guarantee that this latest effort to hold a treasonous prick accountable for his crimes is going nowhere:
“Appealed up to the Supreme Court.”
There’s a reason that sketchy immunity ruling is so flabby and filled with holes. If they came down with a solid, crystal clear, ironclad ruling, with definitive directions and limitations, they wouldn’t be able to say, as they will to anything an honest judge like Chutkan might rule on, “Oh we didn’t mean THAT. No…we meant THIS.”
Here’s a classic bit of AG both sides bullshit:
A Times piece (linked above) sez “There’s no evidence non-citizens are voting in large numbers”.
So…what is the number? Trump claims millions of non-citizens are voting illegally. The Times says “Well, not MILLIONS.”
So how many? Saying the numbers aren’t really that large still infers that quite a few could still be voting. So, what? Three hundred thousand? A hundred thousand? Ten? Surely there are numbers (or reasonable guesses) for this sort of count. Saying “Well, it’s not MILLIONS” doesn’t sound like there’s no problem at all. It’s saying “Okay, you have a point.”
But here’s the thing, something I’ve pointed out before.
You’re here illegally. You’re worried about a place to live, feeding the kids, finding or keeping a job. You know 100% that polling places will be crawling with MAGA goons eyeballing anyone who doesn’t look like Andy of Mayberry. Are you really gonna jeopardize all the effort it took to get here and start a new life so you can wait in line to vote and maybe be arrested and deported and never see your family again?
So I wanna know. What’s “not a large number”.
So tired of this bullshit.
Posting a lot of stuff while the Squarespace guys are at lunch…
Wow!
So the Fat Dementia Patient was asked what he’d do about childcare.
This is his, er, response…if you can call it that:
“Well, I would do that, and we’re sitting down — you know, I was, somebody — we had Senator Marco Rubio, and my daughter Ivanka was so impactful on that issue. It’s a very important issue. But I think when you talk about the kind of numbers that I’m talking about, that — because the childcare is childcare — there’s something, you have to have it in this country. You have to have it. But when you talk about those numbers compared to the kind of numbers that I’m talking about by taxing foreign nations at levels that they’re not used to — but they’ll get used to it very quickly — and it’s not going to stop them from doing business with us, but they’ll have a very substantial tax when they send product into our country. Those numbers are so much bigger than any numbers that we’re talking about, including childcare, that it’s going to take care — we’re going to have, I look forward to having no deficits within a fairly short period of time, coupled with the reductions that I told you about on waste and fraud and all of the other things that are going on in our country because I have to stay with childcare. I want to stay with childcare. But those numbers are small relative to the kind of economic numbers that I’m talking about — including growth — but growth also headed up by what the plan is that I just told you about. We’re going to be taking in trillions of dollars. And as much as childcare is talked about as being expensive, it’s, relatively speaking, not very expensive compared to the kind of numbers we’ll be taking in. We’re going to make this into an incredible country that can afford to take care of its people, and then we’ll worry about the rest of the world. Let’s help other people, but we’re going to take care of our country first. This is about America first. It’s about “Make America Great Again.” We have to do it because right now we’re a failing nation, so we’ll take care of it. Thank you.”
Didja get that? “We’re sitting down…Ivsnka…Childcare is childcare. You have to have it…but foreign nations…taxes…trillions of dollars…America first…MAGA! Thank you very much!
Just…wow. But don’t worry, by the time corporate media gets through fixing this mess, it’ll sound like a serious, completely understandable policy position. You’d never know it came from the mouth of a babbling idiot.
But yeah, let’s give this fucking guy the nuclear codes.