;)
Saturday
Sep072024
The Conversation -- September 7, 2024
Presidential Race
The Candidates' Debate. Jonathan Swan, et al., of the New York Times: "Vice President Kamala Harris is holed up for five days in a Pittsburgh hotel, doing highly choreographed debate practice sessions ahead of Tuesday night's clash. There's a stage and replica TV lighting and an adviser in full Lee Strasberg method-acting mode, not just playing Donald J. Trump but inhabiting him, wearing a boxy suit and a long tie. The former president's preparations are more improv. They are pointedly called not 'debate prep' but 'policy time,' meant to refresh him on his record. Nobody is playing Ms. Harris.... The Harris and Trump teams see [the debate] as a crucial moment to define Ms. Harris for millions of swing voters who know what they think about Mr. Trump but are still curious about her." MB: I hope if Trump stalks Harris on the debate stage the way he did Clinton, that she will at least threaten to flatten him.
Harris Gets the Darth Vader Vote. Megan Lebowitz of NBC News: "'Dick Cheney will be voting for Kamala Harris,' [his daughter, former Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wy.)] said Friday during an interview at the Texas Tribune Festival when asked in an interview if she knew who her father would vote for.... The former congresswoman also said during her Friday interview with The Atlantic's Mark Leibovich that she would support Rep. Colin Allred, D-Texas, in his Senate bid in the state. Allred is challenging Sen. Ted Cruz, who has served in the Senate since 2013.... Allred ... embraced Cheney's backing in a post to X, calling her a 'patriot who continuously puts country over party.' Asked for comment about Cheney's remarks, Trump campaign spokesperson Steven Cheung replied, 'Who the f--- is Liz Cheney?'" MB: Elegant. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Update. Annie Karni of the New York Times: "Former Vice President Dick Cheney, one of the most influential and hawkish conservatives in the modern Republican Party and a figure reviled by the left, said Friday he would be voting for Vice President Kamala Harris because he regards ... Donald J. Trump as a grave danger to the country. 'In our nation's 248 year history, there has never been an individual who is a greater threat to our republic than Donald Trump,' Mr. Cheney, 83, said in a statement. After Mr. Trump's actions trying to steal the 2020 presidential election and then using 'lies and violence' to keep himself in power, Mr. Cheney said, 'he can never be trusted with power again.'"
~~~ Marie: If staunch conservatives like Liz & Dick Cheney can vote for a Democratic candidate for president, what's the matter with so-called moderate Republicans like Larry Hogan & Chris Sununu? Are they just gutless.
Are the MSM finally getting it?? Here are two back-to-back headlines on the front page of today's WashPo online main page:
(1) "Trump turns to outlandish promises to offset $7 trillion in tax cuts"
(2) "Trump rants, resurfaces sexual assault allegations for 49 unfocused minutes"
Maggie Haberman of the New York Times: "If any voters had forgotten that Donald J. Trump was accused by multiple women of sexual misconduct, he spent roughly 45 minutes reminding them on Friday, eight weeks before Election Day. At a lectern in the lobby of Trump Tower, Mr. Trump, flanked by seven of his lawyers, laid out years-old allegations from the women in detail as he denied that they were telling the truth.... [After leaving a hearing in the E. Jean Carroll case against him (story linked below)], he went to his eponymous building for what ... [his] campaign called a 'press conference.' But he ended it without taking questions..., [although] Mr. Trump criticized his rival, Vice President Kamala Harris, for avoiding reporters...." MB: Kind of a fun read. Haberman, who seldom directly criticizes Trump (her methods is to report what he says and does, which is self-damning), seems to have had it with him here. ~~~
~~~ Marianne LeVine, et al., of the Washington Post: "Donald Trump railed against women who have accused him of sexual assault. He baselessly blamed the Biden-Harris administration for his legal difficulties. He appeared to criticize the physical appearances of some of his accusers. 'She would not have been the chosen one,' he said of one, later adding that he would 'not want to be' involved with another accuser, even as he acknowledged his advisers urged him not to make such a comment.... In a roughly 49-minute appearance that sometimes verged into a stream-of-consciousness rant that was hard to follow, Trump also reminisced about his early career as a real estate mogul and reality television star. ('I was ... a celebrity for a long time.')" ~~~
~~~ Politico's report is here. Jennifer Bendery has the Huffington Post story, which includes this: "Without any evidence, [Trump] accused Carroll of 'stealing her story from an episode of a popular legal drama TV series. 'Her favorite show is "Law & Order,"' Trump claimed. 'There's an almost exact story as her story in Law & Order" about being attacked in the dressing room of a department store.' 'That's her favorite show, "Law & Order,"' he repeated. 'She said that.'"
Jeff Stein of the Washington Post: "... Donald Trump has outlined policies that could add trillions of dollars to the rising national debt if he wins in November, and analysts are skeptical of the new claims and proposals he says would mitigate their fiscal impact. In a speech at the Economic Club of New York on Thursday, Trump promised 'trillions' of dollars in spending cuts from a new government commission that budget experts largely regard as unrealistic, while floating a new U.S. sovereign wealth fund that members of his party have traditionally opposed. Trump also insisted that a new round of tax cuts would lower the debt -- a claim disputed by most mainstream economists, and undermined by the actual budgetary effects of the tax cut he signed into law during his administration."
Steve Benen of MSNBC has some thoughts on Donald Trump's and JD Vance's prescriptions for easing the cost of child care. Vance suggested parents get a relative to take care of the kids for free, as if parents hadn't thought of that themselves (and as if most parents had relatives who were competent caregivers just sitting about waiting to be asked to babysit the kids all the time). "To the extent that Trump said any understandable words in his response, the Republican seemed to suggest that he'll impose tariffs on trading partners, which he believes will generate money that he can then apply to child care costs. But that's bonkers: Not only will the tariffs fail to create some giant pool of money for Trump to draw from, but those same tariffs would raise costs for the families looking for relief." ~~~
~~~ Marie: Vance's and Trump's "answers" to the child-care crisis provides a window into why women are sometimes better problem-solvers than men: women have more experience at facing dilemmas and finding solutions. It is obvious that JayDee and Donald have never dealt with child-care issues, but the fact is that they have never confronted a lot of everyday problems. Think, for instance, of Trump: he goes to work where his "problem-solving" is limited to yelling at employees and blaming others when he screws up. One of the many upsides of the family dynamic where husbands and fathers truly participate in performing household tasks is that men gain experience in confronting common problems, too.
Mia McCarthy of Politico: "... Donald Trump told a crowd of Jewish Republicans that if Vice President Kamala Harris wins the presidential election this fall that 'Israel is gone' and said Jewish Democrats who support Biden should have their 'head examined.'... Trump said to the Republican Jewish Coalition on Thursday. 'You can forget about Israel, that's what's going to happen. So they have to get out on Nov. 5 and they have to vote for Trump. If they don't, I think it's going to be a very terrible situation.'... Trump also acknowledged the death of the six Israeli hostages, including Israeli-American Hersh Goldberg-Polin, who Trump appeared to first refer to as 'Hersh Goldman.' He also repeated his comment that the Oct. 7 attacks on Israel would have never happened if he had been president at the time." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Wow! That Kamala! Yesterday we found out people were stampeding to get out of California because of fear of Kamala. Now we learn she is about to obliterate an entire country. Because she can!
Zack Beauchamp of Vox: "Though [Tucker] Carlson has been off of Fox News for over a year, broadcasting on Twitter/X instead, he remains influential in the [Republican] party. He delivered a primetime speech at the 2024 RNC and reportedly played a major role in the JD Vance vice presidential pick. Now that he's crossing the reddest of red lines -- actively apologizing for Adolf Hitler -- can the party cut ties? The answer has been a resounding no. The Trump camp -- which sets the tone for the entire party -- has so far done nothing to distance itself from the increasingly toxic Carlson. Vance, who has pre-taped a Carlson interview and is scheduled to speak with him at a live event in two weeks, refused to denounce Carlson after the [pro-Hitler] fiasco -- with a spokesperson saying in a statement that 'Senator Vance doesn't believe in guilt-by-association cancel culture.'... [Meanwhile, many conservative commentators] are expressing shock ... that Tucker Carlson is soft on Nazis...."
Filip Timotija of the Hill: "A Michigan court ordered Friday that former independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s name be removed from the state's general election ballot, overturning previous efforts to keep his name on the ballot. The Michigan Court of Appeals ruled that Kennedy, who suspended his White House bid in August and endorsed former President Trump, can have his name withdrawn from Michigan's ballot.... [A] spokesperson for the Michigan secretary of state's office, said in a statement to The Hill that the office will be 'appealing to the Michigan Supreme Court.'" (Also linked yesterday.)
Amy Gardner & Azi Paybarah of the Washington Post: "A state appeals panel upended election preparations in North Carolina on Friday, ordering a halt to the distribution of mail ballots in the battleground state after granting Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s request that his name be removed from contention for the presidency. Friday was the deadline for local election officials to mail ballots to the roughly 130,000 North Carolinians who had requested them so far. County offices had been preparing for weeks with ballot design, printing orders and envelope preparation. That effort immediately stopped under instructions from the State Board of Elections following the court ruling, and officials estimated it will take a minimum of two weeks and more than $1 million -- borne by cash-strapped county offices -- to design, print and prepare new ballots. An anonymous three-judge panel of the North Carolina State Court of Appeals offered no explanation for its decision...." ~~~
~~~ Marie: So unnamed judges changed the presidential ballot and they don't say why? -- The secret judges' decision theoretically could change the outcome of the entire U.S. presidential election because North Carolina is verging on becoming a battleground state. Does anybody see a problem here? Hint: star chamber, def: "characterized by secrecy and often being irresponsibly arbitrary and oppressive"
Ben Protess, et al., of the New York Times: "The judge overseeing Donald J. Trump's criminal case in Manhattan postponed his sentencing until after Election Day, a significant victory for the former president as he seeks to overturn his conviction and win back the White House. In a ruling on Friday, the judge, Juan M. Merchan, cited the 'unique time frame this matter currently finds itself in' and rescheduled the sentencing for Nov. 26. He had previously planned to hand down Mr. Trump's punishment on Sept. 18, just seven weeks before Election Day.... 'This is not a decision this court makes lightly but it is the decision which in this court's view, best advances the interests of justice,' Justice Merchan wrote in the four-page ruling, which noted that 'this matter is one that stands alone, in a unique place in this nation's history.'" (Also linked yesterday.) The AP's story is here. ~~~
~~~ From the WashPo story linked above, by Marianne LeVine & others: "During an afternoon event addressing the Fraternal Order of Police, Trump mischaracterized the decision by Merchan.... 'Big news today is that the Manhattan [district attorney] witch hunt against me has been postponed because everyone realizes that there was no case, because I did nothing wrong,' Trump said. 'It's a witch hunt. It's an attack by my political opponents in Washington, D.C.'" ~~~
~~~ Marie: After a discussion near the end of yesterday's thread, I posted a rationale, proferred by Andrew Weissmann, for Judge Merchan's ruling. In addition, as RAS notes, former federal prosecutor Kristy Greenberg, appearing on MSNBC last night, said that the prosecution, by not contesting the sentencing delay Trump had requested, made it difficult for Merchan to sentence Trump in September. During the same MSNBC segment, former prosecutor Duncan Levin said that sentencing Trump to a "period of confinement" after the election, if he loses, will be easier than it would be before the election. ~~~
~~~ Jonathan Alter of the New York Times agrees with that: "Ironically, the justice that was delayed on Friday could be justice enhanced in the future. If Justice Juan Merchan -- an exceptionally wise jurist -- had stuck to his Sept. 18 schedule, it's hard to see how he could have sentenced a possible future president to anything more than probation. If he sentenced Trump to prison, it would have seemed highly political, even if it wasn't, and would have probably helped Trump. And Merchan knows that if Trump wins, any decision to incarcerate the president-elect would almost certainly be viewed as impractical by a higher court. But if Kamala Harris wins, the judge -- who is clearly fed up with Trump's shenanigans -- will be free of political pressure and can impose an appropriately stiff sentence.... Voters were always going to be the ultimate jurors. If they do their job properly, Trump may well end up in a prison jumpsuit."
Kara Scannell of CNN: Lawyers for Donald Trump and E. Jean Carroll squared off Friday in lower Manhattan as the former president tries to convince a federal appeals court that he should get a new trial after a jury found he sexually abused and defamed the one-time columnist.... Trump did not attend the trial or call any witnesses, but he was seen arriving at Friday's oral arguments. Carroll also attended. The hearing wrapped around 10:30 a.m. ET. The court will not issue a decision Friday and one is unlikely before November's presidential election.... The case is separate from a related defamation trial that was held earlier this year. A jury awarded Carroll $83.3 million in damages after finding Trump defamed her in 2022 when he repeated similar statements about Carroll. In appealing the 2023 [$5 million] judgment, Trump's attorneys have argued the trial judge made mistakes by allowing the jury to hear evidence from two other women who claimed Trump sexually assaulted them...." (Also linked yesterday.)
We as a community, we as a society, we as a country cannot condone the normalization of the January 6 Capitol riot. -- U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth, a Reagan appointee ~~~
Trump Loses Russia-Backed Media Ally. Ellie Houghtaling of the New Republic, republished by Yahoo! News: The pro-Trump "Tenet Media is no more. The conservative media network folded Thursday night, just one day after the Department of Justice unsealed an indictment accusing it of being funded by Russian state-controlled media, according to Tenet Media field reporter Tayler Hansen. The indictment accused Tenet and its founders of receiving nearly $10 million from employees of Russia Today as part of 'a scheme to create and distribute content to U.S. audiences with hidden Russian government messaging,' Attorney General Merrick B. Garland said in a statement.... YouTube also wiped Tenet Media's content from its platform 'after careful review' following the indictment, telling NBC News that its decision to erase the channel and its affiliates was part of 'ongoing efforts to combat coordinated influence operations.'" ~~~
~~~ Marie: OMG! Who's next? Not Hitler and Putin fanboy TuKKKer? Update: Uh, maybe so: ~~~
~~~ Brad Reed of the Raw Story: "As reported by Julia Davis at The Daily Beast, Russian state TV host Vladimir Solovyov appeared 'notably shaken' by the DOJ indictment of two Russian operatives for funneling money to right-wing media companies in the United States in exchange for airing pro-Kremlin propaganda. In particular, Solovyov feared that former Fox News star Tucker Carlson, who infamously filmed a propaganda video praising a high-end grocery store in Moscow, would be the next domino to fall. In fact, Solovyov went so far as to encourage Russian President Vladimir Putin to extend an offer of asylum to Carlson, as well as MAGA influencers Tim Pool, Dave Rubin, and Benny Johnson all of whom were secretly paid hefty sums of money in exchange for peddling Kremlin propaganda. The Russian media figures also expressed concern for Dimitri Simes, the former Trump adviser who was charged by the DOJ this week for working with sanctioned Russian media operations."
⭐ ~~~ Michael Kunzelman, et al., of the AP gather together some videos of the January 6, 2021, insurrection: "Inside Washington's federal courthouse, there's no denying the reality of Jan. 6, 2021. Day after day, judges and jurors silently absorb the chilling sights and sounds from television screens of rioters beating police, shattering windows and hunting for lawmakers as democracy lay under siege.... The cases have systematically put on record -- through testimony, documents and video -- the crimes committed, weapons wielded, and lives altered by physical and emotional damage.... But as he seeks to reclaim the White House, Donald Trump continues to portray the defendants as patriots worthy of admiration.... His relentless attempts to rewrite history have become foundational to the Republican's bid for another term, with campaign rallies honoring the rioters as heroes while an anthem plays in their name." The report ends with links to examinations of the cases of three of the most violent insurrectionists. MB: This is an extraordinary report, particularly extraordinary in that it frankly lays out the brazen lies of the Republican candidate for president*. I suspect these reporters were overwhelmed by the evidence they saw and felt compelled to, at least momentarily, drop the both-siderism charade. (Also linked yesterday.)
Here's how stupid (and murderous) the Supreme confederates are: ~~~
~~~ Shawn Hubler of the New York Times: "A federal appeals court on Friday partly reinstated firearm bans in California and Hawaii, finding that California could, for example, prohibit guns in parks, playgrounds and bars but not in banks or hospitals. The 3-0 ruling, by a three-judge panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, said that the Supreme Court's current interpretation of gun rights was 'seemingly arbitrary' and 'hard to explain' at the moment. The court's findings applied only to laws in those two states.... The Supreme Court found [in 2022] that restrictions on guns are constitutional only if courts can find an analogue 'consistent with this nation's historical tradition of firearm regulation.' But, the court added, states could ban guns in 'sensitive places' such as schools and courthouses.... In their decision on Friday, which reviewed three lower-court decisions, the Ninth Circuit panel traced state and municipal laws to the 1700s in some cases to determine whether a historical analogue existed for the gun bans that had been blocked in California and Hawaii."
Ry Rivard of Politico: "One of the businesspeople convicted this summer of bribing former Sen. Bob Menendez pleaded guilty Thursday to a separate federal bank fraud charge, continuing a fall from grace for one of New Jersey's most powerful real estate developers. Th developer, Fred Daibes, literally rebuilt Edgewater, New Jersey, turning a once-industrial strip of riverfront properties into a 'Gold Coast' of high-rises with million-dollar views of Manhattan. Daibes, an affable former refugee with a rags-to-riches story, remains beloved by allies in Edgewater for his generosity and for the mark he left on the landscape. During the two-month Menendez trial, one government witness called one of Daibes' apartment complexes 'the most beautiful building I've ever seen.'... Federal prosecutors in New Jersey alleged that between 2008 and 2013, Daibes and others conspired to avoid federally imposed lending limits by having Daibes' friends and relatives falsely apply for loans in their own names that were, in actuality, for Daibes. According to a press release from the US Attorney's Office in New Jersey, Daibes pleaded guilty Thursday to making false entries to improperly obtain a $1.8 million loan from [a bank he had chaired called Mariners' Bank]." (Also linked yesterday.)
~~~~~~~~~~
Georgia. Patrick Smith, et al., of NBC News: "The teenager accused of shooting dead two students and two teachers at a Georgia high school appeared in court for the first time on Friday to face murder charges, hours after his father was arrested on suspicion of facilitating the shootings by allowing his son to possess a deadly weapon. Colt Gray, 14, appeared in Barrow County Superior Court in Winder at 8.30 a.m. ET, where the judge said he faces four counts of felony murder. He is being treated as an adult in the case.... The maximum penalty includes life with or without the possibility of parole, and does not include death.... Shortly afterward, his father, Colin Gray, 54, appeared in the same courtroom, faced with 14 charges, including four counts of involuntary manslaughter, two counts of second-degree murder and eight counts of cruelty to children. He was told he could face a maximum of 180 years in prison if convicted on all charges. Two law enforcement sources ... told NBC News Thursday night that Gray gave his son an AR-15 style rifle as a gift." (Also linked yesterday.)
Missouri. Kate Zernike of the New York Times: "A Missouri court late Friday moved toward striking a ballot measure in November that would ask voters whether to establish a right to abortion in the state Constitution. Judge Christopher Limbaugh of Cole County Circuit Court sided with anti-abortion lawmakers and activists who said that the abortion rights groups that gathered signatures to sponsor the ballot measure had not sufficiently explained its potential ramifications on the petitions they asked voters to sign. With the state scheduled to print ballots on Tuesday, the judge said he would wait until then to issue an injunction instructing the secretary of state to remove the measure that was certified last month. That will give the abortion rights groups a chance to appeal to a higher court. The coalition behind the measure vowed to do so immediately, calling the ruling 'a profound injustice to the initiative process.'" MB: Limbaugh, huh? I'm sensing a genetic disorder which causes acute feminitis.
Texas. Michael Wines of the New York Times: "Texas has sued to block federal rules that prohibit investigators from viewing the medical records of women who travel out of state to seek abortions where the procedure is legal. The lawsuit, filed on Wednesday in Federal District Court in Lubbock, targets medical privacy regulations that were issued in 2000, and takes aim at a rule issued in April that specifically bans disclosing medical records for criminal or civil investigations into 'the mere act of seeking, obtaining, providing or facilitating reproductive health care.' Texas bans abortions in almost all circumstances. Women are not subject to criminal prosecution for obtaining abortions, but state law imposes penalties of as much as life in prison for those who aid in obtaining abortions."
~~~~~~~~~~
Israel/Palestine, et al.
The New York Times' live updates of developments Friday in the Israel/Hamas war are here: "An American woman was shot and killed on Friday during a protest against Israeli settlements in the Palestinian town of Beita in the occupied West Bank, according to Palestinian officials and witnesses. The State Department identified the woman as Aysenur Eygi. Three activists who were at the protest on Friday said the woman had been shot by Israeli soldiers." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Kareem Fahim, et al., of the Washington Post: "The woman, Aysenur Eygi, [was] a 26-year-old volunteer with the International Solidarity Movement, a pro-Palestinian activist group.... The Israel Defense Forces said it was 'looking into reports that a foreign national was killed as a result of shots fired in the area.'... Jonathan Pollak, a volunteer with the ISM, said the shooting took place about 30 minutes after protesters had dispersed, when there were no active clashes, and as foreign volunteers, including Eygi, stood observing about 200 yards from the Israeli military.... [U.S.] National Security Council spokesman Sean Savett said in a statement that the United States was 'deeply disturbed by the tragic death' of Eygi and had contacted Israel 'to ask for more information and request an investigation into the incident.' Secretary of State Antony Blinken, during a trip to the Caribbean, said Friday that the U.S. government is 'intensely focused on getting those facts,' but he held back from detailing whether there would be consequences for the Israeli government ahead of understanding exactly what happened."
News Lede
New York Times: A section of a Kentucky highway was closed on Saturday night after five people were shot, the authorities said. What led up to the shooting was not immediately clear. All five shooting victims were in stable condition, said a spokesman for the Laurel County Sheriff's Office, Deputy Gilbert Acciardo. The Laurel County Sheriff's Office said on Facebook that the shooting happened on I-75, which was closed at Exit 49, nine miles north of London, Ky. It said the highway was closed 'due to an active shooter situation,' but did not elaborate."
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Reader Comments (14)
I’m thinking Marie’s observation that Judge Merchant could be playing chess with his decision to delay sentencing the Fat Felon is right on the money.
Three things: first, as a number of commentaries are suggesting, it’s looking more and more likely that Judge Merchan sees a DOC jumpsuit in the Orange Monster’s future. The chaos erupting from sticking that bloated carcass into a cell before the election, or even announcing a delayed appointment for incarceration would trigger the secind problem: the Supine Court rushing into emergency session to toss out the entire conviction, siding with Fatty’s contention that everything he does, including sucking a Big Mac in one hole and expelling it from another is an official act.
Third, it’s very possible that sentencing this mob boss to jail time could trigger a cascade of bad effects: chimerical undecideds feeling this was unfaaaair to Trump causing them to vote for him, as well as sending the PoT vote suppression squads into overdrive ending with that fat fuck being elected, in which case a jail sentence would be immediately appealed to the Trumpy “justices” on the Supine Court who would quash that decision.
All this means it’s imperative that voters who care about democracy and rule of law show up in unparalleled droves to end this farce of a campaign once and for all.
At that point, the multiple criminal prosecutions can move forward, ending with this monster in the slammer.
It’s a well known tactic for experienced chess players to give up pieces in the short term in order to trap an opponent in end game.
Hopefully Judge Merchan is channeling his inner chess master.
I'm thinking that Vlad isn't going to offer Donald asylum.
Donald would be a 'useful idiot' if he becomes president of the U.S.A.
In Russia, he'd just be an 'idiot'.
Is the recent instances of prosecutors also charging the parents of young school shooters with murder a recognition that people seldom act on their lonesome, that we are all members of communities and often express in our actions a community determined will?
It raises issues of sinning (criminality) by omission as well as commission and seems to grant the idea of aiding and abetting a wider reach.
Interesting.
I am willing to suspend my loath for cowardly judges for one more try at actually putting the Orange Whale into the pokey as justice attained. But the network of horrible politicians and judges continues; until they are dead, we won't see the end of this craven group. While most of the ire is directed at the Big Dump, we must not forget that the appointed, nonelected judges McConnell allowed Biden to appoint seem to be dwarfed by the ones appointed by the confederate senate of the US. It is certainly "uplifting" to realize that the dark cloud over this nation will not be lifted as long as the confederate appeals courts have new, liberal personnel. It seems a long shot. And yes, liberal groups endlessly said that we must not forget the judges in the past, but we liberals really do not have an entire evil network to blast out talking points. Somehow we thought it could all be overcome by being correct and wise. Good god, were we ever wrong about that.
GOP: Everything to me
Michigan's “I Voted” sticker contest
Salon
"The far right actually hates America: Its dark ideology has foreign roots
Why do conservatives wrap themselves in the flag so desperately? Maybe because their ideas are un-American"
Alexandra Petri in WaPo shows us how the "Tr*mp Headline Machine" rearranges DiJiT's utterances to create simulacra of intelligible meaning, which Big Media can then use in chyrons and heads.
She shows how great this is at the end, after quoting entire DiJiT's "childcare" answer at the NY Economic Brunch Club, these were the headlines (which you have seen, but once again ...).
"And sure enough, out came the headlines: “Trump Praises Tariffs, And William McKinley, To Power Brokers” (New York Times). CNN’s website went with: “Trump Claims Boosting Tariffs Will Pay For Child Care But Doesn’t Explain How.”
RFK Jr and his millionaire benefactor should have to foot the bill in North Carolina to pay for reprinting ballots if they get off the ticket. Though for years we have been repeatedly told that we can't change things so close to voting...if you are a Democrat.
Oh noes! TuKKKer KKKarlson outed as a pro-Russian spreader of anti-democratic propaganda (like we didn’t already know that).
Will he flee to Russia to avoid arrest and prosecution as a foreign agent? If he does get an invite to Russia, at least he knows a good grocery store.
Maybe, like the infamous British traitor Kim Philby, they’ll put his stupid mug on a stamp and erect a statue in his dishonor.
After running off to Russia, he may find that grocery store, which was set up looking good just for his gaslighting performance, is no better than any other half stocked overpriced vendor in Moscow.
The Kim Philby character in John le Carré‘s “Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy”, the traitor Bill Haydon, didn’t fare as well. No stamps, no statues. He was shot in the head by an agent he outed to the Soviets.
If something similar were to happen to a disinformation, propaganda spreading, Nazi loving self-promoter like KKKarlson, well, Thots N Prayerz.
As another propaganda spreading prick, Shady Vance, sez about gun murders, “Shit happens”.
Speaking of Vance, here’s a fascinating look into the intellectual (as such) influences roiling the faux hillbilly’s gray matter.
Vance is clearly an opportunistic, flip-flopping con man, but his anti-democratic, misogynistic, illiberal core values seem unchanged, even in the face of accurate and acidic critiques of these ideas as they seep out into the light of day.
His beliefs seem completely rooted in certain forms of fascism and Catholic corporatism, a movement dead set against any progress away from a patriarchal system of control. This hatred of modernity is coupled with the familiar right-wing distrust of facts, data, and a knowledge base inextricably linked to the real world. It rests its hope for dominance and victory in the gut reactions of the strongman who should control every facet of society:
“One needn’t engage in endless debates about the nature of fascism to recognize corporatist Austrofascism as a political vision that treated individuals as parts of a societal collective, assigned the state responsibility for directing the pursuit of happiness, and had the audacity to equate its repressive regulation of people’s lives with human flourishing. That such a vision is deeply inimical to America’s Constitutional tradition should be self-evident to every honest legal scholar.
Which brings us back to JD Vance. One cannot tell the extent to which he is an unprincipled opportunist, a true believer, or just a very online guy. What we do know, however, is that he moves among a small circle of intellectuals who toy with dangerous, deeply un-American ideas. Vance’s remark that the United States is currently in a “late republican period” in need of a Caesar may be an indication that he’s studied De bello civili—but it’s much more likely he’s reading figures from the conservative revolution like Carl Schmitt and Oswald Spengler who talked about how Germany needed a Caesar to deliver it from parliamentary democracy. Or, likelier still, he’s reading others who have imbibed their ideas.
That ideas like these, and the people who promote them, have influence with a man who might be placed a heartbeat from the presidency is one more piece of evidence, if more were needed, of the threat today’s Republican party poses to so much of what is unique and great about America.“
A dangerous fucker who truly believes, like Trump, that he’s smarter than everyone else. The difference is that Trump doesn’t read anything. His philosophy is purely solipsistic: me, me, me.
Vance does read, apparently, or at least converses with other dangerous fuckers whose idea of the perfect society is one set in the distant past when pain in the ass ideas like constitutional democracy, equality, and bodily autonomy didn’t exist and the Strong Man ruled over all.
A good (and scary) read.
Just when I thought things were working…
Arghhh
Assisted Living
"The press corps is Trump’s assisted living program
We are beyond “sane-washing.”
Think about the most basic component of communication: words. Politicians, or any public speaker, not only must choose words, but also base their choices on how those words will affect their audience.
Trump can no longer make such decisions on his own. After watching him respond to a question at the Economics Club of New York, the Post’s Catherine Rampell said, “my job is to analyze policy. I can’t even find a complete sentence in this.” Later, on CNN, she said his remarks seemed like “words randomly chosen out of the dictionary.”
My wife saw the following sign while out for a walk:
Harris
*
Walz
*
Obviously