The Ledes

Thursday, September 19, 2024

New York Times: “A body believed to be of the suspect in a Kentucky highway shooting that left five people seriously injured this month was found on Wednesday, the authorities said, ending a manhunt that stretched into a second week and set the local community on edge. The Kentucky State Police commissioner, Phillip Burnett Jr., said in a Wednesday night news conference that at approximately 3:30 p.m., two troopers and two civilians found an unidentified body in the brush behind the highway exit where the shooting occurred.... The police have identified the suspect of the shooting as Joseph A. Couch, 32. They said that on Sept. 7, Mr. Couch perched on a cliff overlooking Interstate 75 about eight miles north of London, Ky., and opened fire. One of the wounded was shot in the face, and another was shot in the chest. A dozen vehicles were riddled with gunfire.”

The Wires
powered by Surfing Waves
Help!

To keep the Conversation going, please help me by linking news articles, opinion pieces and other political content in today's Comments section.

Link Code:   <a href="URL">text</a>

OR here's a link generator. The one I had posted died, but Akhilleus found this new one that he says is easy to use.

OR you can always just block, copy and paste to your comment the URL (Web address) of the page you want to link.

Note for Readers. It is not possible for commenters to "throw" their highlighted links to another window. But you can do that yourself. Right-click on the link and a drop-down box will give you choices as to where you want to open the link: in a new tab, new window or new private window.

Thank you to everyone who has been contributing links to articles & other content in the Comments section of each day's "Conversation." If you're missing the comments, you're missing some vital links.

The New York Times lists Emmy winners. The AP has an overview story here.

New York Times: “Hvaldimir, a beluga whale who had captured the public’s imagination since 2019 after he was spotted wearing a harness seemingly designed for a camera, was found dead on Saturday in Norway, according to a nonprofit that worked to protect the whale.... [Hvaldimir] was wearing a harness that identified it as “equipment” from St. Petersburg. There also appeared to be a camera mount. Some wondered if the whale was on a Russian reconnaissance mission. Russia has never claimed ownership of the whale. If Hvaldimir was a spy, he was an exceptionally friendly one. The whale showed signs of domestication, and was comfortable around people. He remained in busier waters than are typical for belugas....” ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Oh, Lord, do not let Bobby Kennedy, Jr., near that carcass. ~~~

     ~~~ AP Update: “There’s no evidence that a well-known beluga whale that lived off Norway’s coast and whose harness ignited speculation it was a Russian spy was shot to death last month as claimed by animal rights groups, Norwegian police said Monday.... Police said that the Norwegian Veterinary Institute conducted a preliminary autopsy on the animal, which was become known as 'Hvaldimir,' combining the Norwegian word for whale — hval — and the first name of Russian President Vladimir Putin. 'There are no findings from the autopsy that indicate that Hvaldimir has been shot,' police said in a statement.”

New York Times: Botswana's “President Mokgweetsi Masisi grinned as he lifted the diamond, a 2,492-carat stone that is the biggest diamond unearthed in more than a century and the second-largest ever found, according to the Vancouver-based mining operator Lucara, which owns the mine where it was found. This exceptional discovery could bring back the luster of the natural diamond mining industry, mining companies and experts say. The diamond was discovered in the same relatively small mine in northeastern Botswana that has produced several of the largest such stones in living memory. Such gemstones typically surface as a result of volcanic activity.... The diamond will likely sell in the range of tens of millions of dollars....”

Click on photo to enlarge.

~~~ Guardian: "On a distant reef 16,000km from Paris, surfer Gabriel Medina has given Olympic viewers one of the most memorable images of the Games yet, with an airborne celebration so well poised it looked too good to be true. The Brazilian took off a thundering wave at Teahupo’o in Tahiti on Monday, emerging from a barrelling section before soaring into the air and appearing to settle on a Pacific cloud, pointing to the sky with biblical serenity, his movements mirrored precisely by his surfboard. The shot was taken by Agence France-Presse photographer Jérôme Brouillet, who said “the conditions were perfect, the waves were taller than we expected”. He took the photo while aboard a boat nearby, capturing the surreal image with such accuracy that at first some suspected Photoshop or AI." 

Washington Post: “'Mary Cassatt at Work' is a large and mostly satisfying exhibition devoted to the career of the great American artist beloved for her sensitive and often sentimental views of family life. The 'at work' in the title of the Philadelphia Museum of Art show references the curators’ interest in Cassatt’s pioneering effort to establish herself as a professional artist within a male-dominated field. Throughout the show, which includes some 130 paintings, pastels, prints and drawings, the wall text and the art on view stresses Cassatt’s fixation on art as a career rather than a pastime.... Mary Cassatt at Work is on view at the Philadelphia Museum of Art through Sept. 8. philamuseum.org”

New York Times: “Bob Newhart, who died on Thursday at the age of 94, has been such a beloved giant of popular culture for so long that it’s easy to forget how unlikely it was that he became one of the founding fathers of stand-up comedy. Before basically inventing the hit stand-up special, with the 1960 Grammy-winning album 'The Button-Down Mind of Bob Newhart' — that doesn’t even count his pay-per-view event broadcast on Canadian television that some cite as the first filmed special — he was a soft-spoken accountant who had never done a set in a nightclub. That he made a classic with so little preparation is one of the great miracles in the history of comedy.... Bob Newhart holds up. In fact, it’s hard to think of a stand-up from that era who is a better argument against the commonplace idea that comedy does not age well.”

Washington Post: “An early Titian masterpiece — once looted by Napolean’s troops and a part of royal collections for centuries — caused a stir when it was stolen from the home of a British marquess in 1995. Seven years later, it was found inside an unassuming white and blue plastic bag at a bus stop in southwest London by an art detective, and returned. This week, the oil painting 'The Rest on the Flight into Egypt' sold for more than $22 million at Christie’s. It was a record for the Renaissance artist, whom museums describe as the greatest painter of 16th-century Venice. Ahead of the sale in April, the auction house billed it as 'the most important work by Titian to come to the auction market in more than a generation.'”

Washington Post: The Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington, D.C., which houses the world's largest collection of Shakespeare material, has undergone a major renovation. "The change to the building is pervasive, both subtle and transformational."

Contact Marie

Click on this link to e-mail Marie.

Page Links

Constant Comments

A nation of sheep will beget a government of wolves. -- Edward R. Murrow

Publisher & Editor: Marie Burns


Thursday
Aug152024

The Conversation -- August 15, 2024

If You Can't Do the Time.... Erica Orden of Politico: "Attorneys for Donald Trump asked the judge overseeing the former president's Manhattan criminal case to postpone his sentencing, now set for Sept. 18, until after November's presidential election. In a letter to the court dated Wednesday but made public Thursday, Trump's lawyers noted that the sentencing for the Republican presidential nominee's conviction on falsifying business records to cover up a hush money payment to a porn star is currently scheduled to take place after the start of early voting. And they argued that the sentencing should be delayed in order to allow Trump to weigh appellate options in response to Justice Juan Merchan's upcoming ruling on whether Trump's conviction should be tossed out in light of the Supreme Court's July 1 decision on presidential immunity. Merchan is set to rule on Sept. 16, two days before the scheduled sentencing, on whether the presidential immunity decision should have an impact on Trump's conviction."

Simon Levien & Maggie Astor of the New York Times: "Gov. Tim Walz of Minnesota and Senator JD Vance of Ohio have agreed to participate in at least one vice-presidential debate this fall, with both candidates accepting an invitation from CBS News to face off on Oct. 1. The network announced Wednesday on the social media platform X that it had offered Mr. Walz and Mr. Vance ... four potential dates: Sept. 17, Sept. 24, Oct. 1 and Oct. 8. 'See you on October 1, JD,' Mr. Walz wrote in response. The Harris campaign confirmed that it had accepted the network's invitation for that day. On Thursday, Mr. Vance said he had accepted the Oct. 1 invitation, as well. He also said he was willing to have a second, earlier debate on Sept. 18, a date offered by CNN."

digby looks into Donald Trump's absurd claims that rising sea levels will create more beachfront property, but it's nothing to worry about because the seas will rise only an eighth-of-an-inch in 400 years. In fact, the seas have risen on average more than an eighth-of-an-inch every year since 1901, and failing to curb emissions could increase sea levels by as much as 5 feet by the end of the century. MB: I don't know how long Trump has been telling the 1/8" porkie, but I've heard him make the senseless, counterintuitive beachfront expansion claim before. His brain doesn't work right. When he calls Kamala Harris (or anyone else) "stupid," he is projecting on an elementary level. Thanks to RAS for the link.

Curt Devine, et al., of CNN: “For nearly two hours [last month, key Project 2025 author Russell Vought] talked candidly about his behind-the-scenes work to prepare policy for ... Donald Trump, his expansive views on presidential power, his plans to restrict pornography and immigration, and his complaints that the GOP was too focused on 'religious liberty' instead of 'Christian nation-ism.' But the men Vought was talking to [-- whom he thought were relatives of a rich donor --] actually worked for a British journalism nonprofit and were secretly recording him the entire time.... Vought said his group, the Center for Renewing America, was secretly drafting hundreds of executive orders, regulations, and memos that would lay the groundwork for rapid action on Trump's plans if he wins, describing his work as creating 'shadow' agencies. He claimed that Trump has 'blessed' his organization and 'he's very supportive of what we do.'... A Trump spokesperson declined to comment on the video, but his campaign has stressed that he sets his own agenda and that Project 2025 and other outside conservative groups don't speak for him." MB: Vought was director of Trump's Office of Management & Budget. ~~~

~~~ More on Project 2025. Thanks to RAS for the link: ~~~

Texas. Sorry, Greggers. Laura Strickler & Didi Martinez of NBC News: "Republican National Convention delegates erupted in applause last month when Texas Gov. Greg Abbott doubled down on his commitment to send buses full of migrants to blue cities.... But the buses have not been rolling on a consistent basis for months because of a steep drop in the number of migrants apprehended at the southern border, according to officials and migrant shelter operators in Texas and in a half-dozen big cities across the U.S."

Anton Troianovski & Ivan Nechepurenko of the New York Times: "A court in Russia sentenced a dual citizen of Russia and the United States on Thursday to 12 years in prison on accusations that she committed treason by donating money -- about $50 -- for Ukraine's armed forces. The court, in the city of Yekaterinburg, claimed to have found that the funds donated by the woman, Ksenia Karelina, 32, 'were subsequently used to purchase tactical medicine, equipment, weapons and ammunition' for Ukraine."

~~~~~~~~~~

Man with Work Experience Seeks Employment. Zach Montague of the New York Times: President Biden addressed "a room of dozens of online content creators whom he referred to as 'the future' and his grandchildren's preferred news source during a meeting at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building on Wednesday, trying on a new face as a statesman enjoying the twilight of his career. 'You break through in ways that I think are going to change the entire dynamic of the way in which we communicate, and that's why I invited you to the White House, because I'm looking for a job,' he told the crowd, drawing big laughs."

Patrick Svitek of the Washington Post: "President Joe Biden reiterated his call Wednesday for the release of freelance journalist Austin Tice, saying that his administration has 'repeatedly pressed' Syria to work with the United States to secure his return. Biden's comments came in a statement marking 12 years since Tice was abducted in Syria.... Tice, a Marine veteran and Texas native, was abducted on Aug. 14, 2012, while reporting on the civil war in Syria. He disappeared at a checkpoint outside Damascus, and video surfaced months later showing him blindfolded and being held by a group of armed men. U.S. officials have long insisted that the Syrian government is holding Tice, which the country has denied. Biden said in 2022 that his administration knows 'with certainty' that Syria has had Tice in captivity."

Presidential Race

Charles Blow of the New York Times: "Misogyny has been central to Donald Trump's identity, rise and political movement, but it is now central to his distemper, as Kamala Harris's remarkable campaign rollout has frustrated and unnerved him.... Trump praises autocrats (male autocrats, that is), calling them 'strong,' 'smart' and 'savvy' -- he even once described Kim Jong-un as 'honorable.'... In recent days, he has referred to Harris as 'incompetent,' 'nasty' and 'not smart.' Behind closed doors, he has reportedly referred to her, repeatedly, using the B-word.... Writing in 2022 for Foreign Affairs, the Harvard Kennedy School scholars Erica Chenoweth and Zoe Marks explained that the 21st century 'is demonstrating that misogyny and authoritarianism are not just common comorbidities but mutually reinforcing ills.'"

Annals of "Journalism," Ctd. Margaret Sullivan of the Guardian argues that Kamala Harris must "do what's right" and explain herself to the press in "both a lengthy press conference and a televised, in-depth interview." MB: Ironically, Sullivan devotes most of her column to outlining good reasons Harris should not accommodate the press's demands: (1) she's already getting lots of positive media attention; (2) the press asks her silly questions; (3) the White House press corps in particular is "broken"; (4) Harris isn't very good at answering press questions; (5) if Harris does speak to reporters at length, "some unfavorable headlines will result." So Sullivan's message here is (a) you must speak to the press, and (b) it will be a disaster! Thanks to Patrick for the link. ~~~

~~~ Marie: An excellent discussion near the end of yesterday's Comments follows. Patrick starts the conversation by listing a few more reasons Harris is on the right track, including a brief look-back at Vice President Hubert Humphrey's failure in 1968 to negotiate an effective response to the Viet Nam war debacle. Humphrey's dilemma -- how to (or if he should) delineate differences with his boss President Johnson -- led to a number of mini-disasters, ending with the big one: the election of Tricky Dick Nixon. RAS links to an opinion piece by John Stoehr, who also thinks Harris is doing the right thing by largely ignoring the press, mainly because she was an eye-witness to how the press mistreated her boss, President Biden. Elizabeth links to a column by Markos Moulitsas (Kos) in which he points to "the imbalance in how that press has covered Democrats and Trump." With examples. For instance, "The same outlets that literally had live blogs of the Clinton leaks [in 2016] suddenly decided that their ethics forbade them from publishing whatever [leaked Trump campaign documents] they received." And see Akhilleus' comment at the top of today's thread.

Stefan Becket, et al., of CBS News: "Gov. Tim Walz on Wednesday agreed to participate in a vice presidential debate hosted by CBS News on Oct. 1 in New York City.... Donald Trump's campaign has not yet agreed to the date, leaving GOP Sen. JD Vance's participation in question. Earlier in the day, CBS News proposed four dates for a debate between the two vice presidential nominees: Sept. 17, Sept. 24, Oct. 1, and Oct. 8. The Harris-Walz campaign soon agreed to the Oct. 1 date.... Later, in an interview with Fox News' Laura Ingraham, Vance said he was open to debating Walz on Oct. 1, but did not firmly commit to the date."

Alex Griffing of Mediaite: "... Donald Trump was campaigning in Asheville, North Carolina on Wednesday and gave an 'intellectual' speech on the economy.... 'We're talking about a thing called the economy. They wanted to do a speech on the economy. A lot of people are very devastated by what's happened with inflation and all of the other things,' Trump began, adding: 'So we're doing this as an intellectual speech.... [Digression.] But from today and from the day I take the oath of office, we will rapidly drive prices down.... [Blah blah blah.] Under Kamala's extreme high cost energy policy known as net zero. You know what? Net zero. They have no idea what it means. By the way, it's net zero. What does that mean? Nobody knows what it means. We're going to go to a net zero policy. What does that mean? I have no idea.... She's attempting to abolish oil, coal, and natural gas. 84% of U.S. energy supply. She wants it ended,' Trump continued, despite the fact that the U.S. has recently broke[n] oil production records under the Biden administration." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Wow! Now that I've learned so much about a thing called the economy, I think I'll apply for Krugman's job at the New York Times. Imagine all the intellectual columns I could write about net zero, which is secret code for something not even a person with a very good brain can decipher. ~~~

~~~ How to End an Intellectual Trump Lecture. Alex Griffing of Mediaite: "... Donald Trump dodged on Wednesday when asked about his odd and easily disproven claim that images of Kamala Harris's crowds were generated by artificial intelligence. 'And you said that Harris's crowd sizes were "A.I."d and there weren't people there. There's all kinds of video evidence and people who were there who've proven that false. Can you tell us about why you made that claim,' Trump was asked by an off-camera reporter. 'Well, I can't say what was there, who was there. I can only tell you about ours. We have the biggest crowds ever in the history of politics,' [Trump said.]... 'We have crowds that nobody's ever seen before, and we continue to have that. We have a level of enthusiasm that nobody's seen before. They want to make America great again. That's what's happening. We're going to make it great again. Right now we have a failing nation. We're in a failing nation and, become in many ways, a third world nation. And we're not going to let that happen. Thank you very much. Thank you everybody.'"

Marianne LeVine & Clara Morse of the Washington Post think they have found the reason that Donald Trump keeps bringing up the fictional Hannibal Lecter during his rallies: "A Trump rally is a sort of time capsule, a frozen-in-amber moment from an earlier era -- the 1980s -- when Trump ruled the New York City clubs and tabloids and first graced the cover of Time magazine. His self-curated rally playlists include hits like 'Y.M.C.A.' (1978) and 'Gloria' (1982). The fit of his suits and the length of his ties scream 1980s. Trump is the 'crypt keeper for the 1980s,' which was 'the high point of his life until he became president,' said Tim O'Brien, a Trump biographer who has criticized the former president.... 'None of his tastes have been updated in decades.' Trump's Hannibal Lecter obsession fits perfectly in this mold." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: This sounds right. It's also the period in which the U.S. took a sharp right turn after a decades-long, if sputtering, progressive period in which the nation, at least on the surface, very slowly became more inclusive. Beginning in 1980, we had a backlash: Republican presidents for 12 years, followed by a Democratic president who, as a Southerner, adopted many ring-wing positions. Another conservative Republican followed him. The '80s changed the country in a profound and deleterious way.

And now for our feature presentation, "Ask Jay Dee." A woman of a certain age writes, "Jay Dee, what is a woman like me to do when she ages out past the barefoot and pregnant years? Does my life have any meaning?" ~~~

~~~ Clare Olson of Heartland Signal: "While appearing on 'The Portal' podcast in April 2020, Sen. JD Vance (R-OH) agreed with host Eric Weinstein's claim that 'postmenopausal females' exist just to help take care of children. In the podcast, the current Republican vice-presidential nominee mentioned that his son benefited from having exposure to his grandparents, expressing importance for the multigenerational family. Weinstein replied saying 'that's the whole purpose of the postmenopausal female in theory,' to which Vance immediately agreed with by saying 'Yes.' Vance went on to explain that his mother-in-law, who worked as a biology professor, took a sabbatical for a year to move in and help take care of his newborn child. He says it's just 'what you do.' He also agreed with Weinstein that grandparents helping raise his children is a 'weird, unadvertised feature of marrying an Indian woman.'" MB: Go fuck a couch, Jay Dee.

Ask Jay Dee. A recent college grad writes, "Jay Dee, I need to buy a car to get to my new job. But I'm just starting out in my career and I'm worried about how much it might cost. What would my monthly payments be?" ~~~

~~~ Ahmad Austin of Mediaite: "Vice presidential candidate JD Vance was roasted on social media for claiming new cars cost $50,000 annually -- and blaming Vice President Kamala Harris for it.... According to data gathered by AAA..., last year, the average annual cost of new car ownership was a little over $12,000 -- or about $1,015 per month. While that number is still high, it;s nowhere near Vance's claims." MB: Also, I'll need the intellectual Donald to explain to me how a vice president sets automobile prices.

Michael Scherer & Josh Dawsey of the Washington Post: "Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. sought a meeting last week with Democratic nominee Kamala Harris to discuss the possibility of serving in her administration, perhaps as a Cabinet secretary, if he throws his support behind her campaign and she wins, according to Kennedy campaign officials. Harris and her advisers have not responded with an offer to meet or shown interest in the proposal, say people familiar with the conversations.... The Kennedy outreach, made through intermediaries, follows a meeting in Milwaukee last month between Kennedy and Republican nominee Donald Trump to discuss a similar policy role and endorsement that resulted in no agreement. In those discussions, Kennedy spoke about advising Trump in a second term on health and medical issues." MB: Yup, I'd definitely put Kennedy in charge of Health & Human Services.

Sean Lyngaas of CNN: "Google said Wednesday that an alleged Iranian hacking operation aimed at US presidential campaigns is ongoing and more wide-ranging than previously known as the hackers continue to target the email accounts of current US officials and people associated with Vice President Kamala Harris, President Joe Biden and ... Donald Trump. In May and June, a hacking group linked with Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps targeted the personal email accounts of about a dozen people associated with Biden and Trump, including current government officials, Google researchers said in a blog post. And even today, Google is seeing unsuccessful attempts by the Iranian hackers to log into the accounts of people associated with Biden, Harris, Trump and both presidential campaigns."


Colin Kalmbacher of Law & Crime: 'A state appeals court on Wednesday quietly denied a request by Donald Trump's lead attorney to push back some key proceedings in the case aimed at dismissing the former president's racketeering (RICO) and election subversion charges in Georgia. In a terse, one-sentence-long order, the Georgia Court of Appeals declined to reschedule oral arguments -- ruling against a request by Trump's attorney, Steve Sadow, to grant a continuance for him to accommodate long-ago scheduled international travel plans.... 'It was booked more than two years in advance to ensure a date certain to celebrate lead counsel's 70th birthday and 45th wedding anniversary,' Sadow explained in a July 23 motion obtained by Atlanta-based NBC affiliate WXIA. 'It is fully paid for and nonrefundable except for health-related issues.'"

Michael Sisak & Jennifer Peltz of the AP: "Donald Trump has lost his latest bid for a new judge in his New York hush money criminal case as it heads toward a key ruling and potential sentencing next month. In a decision posted Wednesday, Judge Juan M. Merchan declined to step aside and said Trump's demand was a rehash 'rife with inaccuracies and unsubstantiated claims' about his ability to remain impartial. It is the third time that Merchan has rejected such a request from lawyers for the former president...." (Also linked yesterday.)

Beware Disney+. Jordan Valinsky of CNN: "A man suing Walt Disney Parks and Resorts for the wrongful death of his wife is facing a new legal hurdle: Disney is trying to get it thrown out of court and sent to arbitration -- because he signed up for Disney+ years earlier. Court documents show that the company is trying to get the $50,000 lawsuit tossed because the plaintiff, Jeffrey Piccolo, signed up for a one-month trial of the streaming service Disney+ in 2019, which requires trial users to arbitrate all disputes with the company. Company lawyers also claim that because Piccolo used the Walt Disney Parks' website to buy Epcot Center tickets, Disney is shielded from a lawsuit from the estate of Piccolo's deceased wife, Kanokporn Tangsuan, who died of a reaction to severe food allergies. In a legal filing responding to Disney's claims, Piccolo's lawyer Brian Denney called Disney's argument 'preposterous' and said that the notion that signing up for a Disney+ free trial would bar a customer's right to a jury trial 'with any Disney affiliate or subsidiary, is so outrageously unreasonable and unfair as to shock the judicial conscience.'"

~~~~~~~~~~~

Connecticut. Alice McFadden of the New York Times: "A Connecticut state representative lost a primary election Tuesday, just hours after a video surfaced of her saying that her challenger should not represent the district because he is Jewish. The incumbent, Anabel Figueroa, a Democrat, made the comments in a late July interview posted to YouTube. 'We cannot allow for a person of Jewish origin, of Jewish origin, to represent our community,' Ms. Figueroa said in Spanish. 'It's impossible.' Ms. Figueroa's statement comes as Jewish Democrats across the country are contending with anxiety about antisemitism both within and outside their party. Democrats in Connecticut and beyond were quick to condemn Ms. Figueroa on Tuesday, and her opponent, Jonathan Jacobson, went on to win with a decisive 63 percent of the vote."

New Jersey Senate. Matt Friedman & Daniel Han of Politico: "New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy plans to name his former chief of staff -- who was a longtime Senate aide -- as the state's temporary replacement to the seat of disgraced Sen. Bob Menendez, according to three people familiar with the decision. Murphy will appoint George Helmy, a former staffer for Sen. Cory Booker who is now a health care executive in one of the biggest hospital systems in New Jersey, to the seat following Menendez's resignation that takes effect Aug. 20. The people with knowledge were granted anonymity to discuss an impending announcement.... Murphy's appointment of Helmy, though not unexpected, will likely lead to some Democratic grumbling if not criticism. [Rep. Andy] Kim [D], who's heavily favored to win the November election for the Senate seat, had said he was interested in being appointed as interim senator. However, the Murphys' relationship with Kim remains strained following the Senate [primary] campaign [in which Kim effectively defeated Gov. Murphy's wife Tammy]." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: I guess Murphy is putting his marriage before his politics, but appointing Kim to finish out Menendez's term would have been good for New Jersey as it would have given Kim, if elected, seniority over other senators newly-elected in November.

New York. Alan Blinder & Sharon Otterman of the New York Times: "Columbia University's president, Nemat Shafik, resigned on Wednesday after months of far-reaching fury over her handling of pro-Palestinian demonstrations and questions over her management of a bitterly divided campus. She was the third leader of an Ivy League university to resign in about eight months following maligned appearances before Congress about antisemitism on their campuses."

~~~~~~~~~~

Israel/Palestine, et al. Miriam Berger of the Washington Post: "More than 40,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israel's military campaign in the Gaza Strip, the local Health Ministry said Thursday -- a bleak indicator of the war's toll even as a full count remained out of reach amid a near-total collapse of the enclave's health-care system. The official figure of 40,005 killed since October does not distinguish between civilians and combatants. But the Gaza Health Ministry, which has operated for years under the Hamas-led government, says the majority of the dead are women and children. At least 92,401 have also been injured over more than 10 months of war.... Palestinian journalists, first responders, international aid workers and war casualty watchdogs all say that the official death toll in Gaza is probably an undercount...."

Ukraine/Russia. Anton Troianovski & Alina Lobzina of the New York Times: "Ukraine's surprise incursion into a sliver of Russia's Kursk region last week has not shifted the overall course of the war, but it has already struck a blow well beyond the few hundred square miles of Russia that Ukraine now controls: It has thrust a Russian government and society that had largely adapted to war into a new phase of improvisation and uncertainty. [Russian President Vladimir] Putin has said nothing about the incursion since meeting with security and regional officials, a tense gathering in which the president at one point berated the Kursk governor for revealing the depth and breadth of Ukraine's advance into Russia. Near the border, where, the authorities say, more than 130,000 people have fled or been evacuated, regional officials appeared unprepared for the crisis -- prompting grass-roots aid initiatives to jump in."

News Ledes

NBC News: "An arrest was made in Southern California on Thursday in connection with the accidental overdose death of actor Matthew Perry, law enforcement sources [said].... Perry, 54, was found face down in the heated end of a pool at his Pacific Palisades home on Oct. 28, 2023. The Los Angeles County Medical Examiner's Office attributed his death to the acute effects of ketamine, an anesthetic with psychedelic properties." ~~~

     ~~~ Update. New York Times: "Matthew Perry’s personal assistant, two doctors and two others have been indicted and charged with providing the ketamine that caused the death of Mr. Perry, the 'Friends' star, in October, the authorities said on Thursday. In documents filed in federal court in California, prosecutors said that Mr. Perry's assistant and an acquaintance had worked with two doctors and a drug dealer to procure thousands of dollars worth of ketamine for Mr. Perry, who had long struggled with substance abuse and addiction, in the weeks leading up to his death."

Washington Post: "Half of Puerto Rico was in the dark Wednesday after a tropical storm lashed the island archipelago with torrential rain and wind, damaging a power grid that has struggled to recover from repeated storms. Luma Energy, the private consortium operating Puerto Rico;s electricity transmission and distribution, reported that more than 700,000 of its nearly 1.5 million customers were without power -- meaning 50 percent of the system was offline as of Wednesday afternoon. Culebra and Vieques, two small islands off the east coast, are experiencing near-total blackouts."

Comments Off
Tuesday
Aug132024

The Conversation -- August 14, 2024

Marie: I set Colbert's monologue to start with the part about the Musk/Trump "conversation": ~~~

Michael Sisak & Jennifer Peltz of the AP: "Donald Trump has lost his latest bid for a new judge in his New York hush money criminal case as it heads toward a key ruling and potential sentencing next month. In a decision posted Wednesday, Judge Juan M. Merchan declined to step aside and said Trump's demand was a rehash 'rife with inaccuracies and unsubstantiated claims' about his ability to remain impartial. It is the third time that Merchan has rejected such a request from lawyers for the former president...."

Marianne LeVine & Clara Morse of the Washington Post think they have found the reason that Donald Trump keeps bringing up the fictional Hannibal Lecter during his rallies: "A Trump rally is a sort of time capsule, a frozen-in-amber moment from an earlier era -- the 1980s -- when Trump ruled the New York City clubs and tabloids and first graced the cover of Time magazine. His self-curated rally playlists include hits like 'Y.M.C.A.' (1978) and 'Gloria' (1982). The fit of his suits and the length of his ties scream 1980s. Trump is the 'crypt keeper for the 1980s,' which was 'the high point of his life until he became president,' said Tim O'Brien, a Trump biographer who has criticized the former president.... 'None of his tastes have been updated in decades.' Trump's Hannibal Lecter obsession fits perfectly in this mold." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: This sounds right. It's also the period in which the U.S. took a sharp right turn after a decades-long, if sputtering, progressive period in which the nation, at least on the surface, very slowly became more inclusive. Beginning in 1980, we had a backlash: Republican presidents for 12 years, followed by a Democratic president who, as a Southerner, adopted many ring-wing positions. Another conservative Republican followed him. The '80s changed the country in a profound and deleterious way.

~~~~~~~~~~~

Zach Montague of the New York Times: "Freed from the campaign trail and the grinding pursuit of another term, President Biden traveled to New Orleans on Tuesday to focus on a project close to his heart: the 'moonshot' effort to sharply cut cancer deaths in the United States that he carried over from his time as vice president and has become a hallmark of his presidency. Speaking at Tulane University, Mr. Biden and ... Jill Biden announced eight research centers, including one at Tulane, that will collectively receive $150 million in research awards aimed at pioneering new methods of precision cancer surgery. Before addressing a crowd on campus, the president and the first lady met with a team of researchers who demonstrated the technology under development at Tulane.... Mr. Biden described touring cancer centers in Australia and Ireland, and being frustrated by a lack of international collaboration."

Presidential Race

Michael Scherer of the Washington Post: "Vice President Kamala Harris aims to share the campaign trail vibes with the public in Chicago next week with free manicures, friendship bracelet making and campaign training at the city's convention center. The daytime programing, dubbed 'DemPalooza' by party bosses, will take place at the McCormick Place convention center, about 5 miles from the United Center where more than 4,000 credentialed delegates will gather Monday through Thursday.... The giveaways and celebratory atmosphere are a tactic Democrats and independent groups supporting them have been using this year to recruit volunteers and interest disaffected voters in the coming elections."

Since Donald Trump is so ignorant about how Kamala Harris got her last name, here's an article by Jeff Stein of the Washington Post which delves into the career of Kamala's father, Dr. Donald Harris, an economist who received Jamaica's Order of Merit for his work credited with boosting the nation's economy. (Also linked yesterday.)

Kellen Browning of the New York Times: "Speaking at the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees convention in Los Angeles, [Gov. Tim] Walz responded directly for the first time to the claims pushed by ... Donald J. Trump's campaign that he exaggerated his military record to suggest he had served in combat when he had not, and that he left his Army National Guard unit to run for public office in order to avoid deploying to Iraq.... Mr. Walz, a former teacher -- and, as he noted, the first union member on a presidential ticket since Ronal Reagan -- framed himself and Ms. Harris as warriors for the working class, highlighting pro-labor bills he signed in Minnesota and his support for federal legislation like the Protecting the Right to Organize Act, a labor rights bill. By contrast, Mr. Walz painted Mr. Trump and Mr. Vance as out-of-touch elitists. 'The only thing those two guys know about working people is how to work to take advantage of them.'" The Hill's report is here. MB: Think Walz' criticism of Trump's & Vance's labor records is unfair? Read some of the stories linked below.

Mitch Smith of the New York Times: "Gov. Tim Walz's response to the unrest [following George Floyd's murder] has attracted new scrutiny, and diverging opinions, since he joined Kamala Harris's ticket.... A series of official reports about that week found failures at all levels of government, including some on the governor's part.... Mr. Walz did not immediately anticipate how widespread and violent the riots would become and did not mobilize the Guard when first asked to do so. Interviews, documents and public statements also show that, as the violence increased, Mr. Walz moved to take command of the response, flooding Minneapolis with state personnel who helped restore order."

Rebecca Picciotti & Lora Kolodny of CNBC: "The United Auto Workers union on Tuesday filed federal labor charges with the National Labor Relations Board against ... Donald Trump and billionaire Elon Musk for publicly applauding the practice of firing employees who threaten to strike. 'I look at what you do,' Trump said to Musk during a two-hour interview Monday night on X.... 'You walk in, you say, "You want to quit?" They go on strike,' Trump said to Musk.... 'I won't mention the name of the company, but they go on strike and you say, "That's okay, you're all gone. You're all gone. So, every one of you is gone,"' Trump said. Trump was referring to the 2022 gutting of Twitter staff after Musk took over the social media business and renamed it X. It is illegal to fire workers who threaten to strike, because the right to strike is protected under federal labor law. 'When we say Donald Trump is a scab, this is what we mean,' UAW President Shawn Fain said in a statement Tuesday on the new charges. 'When we say Trump stands against everything our union stands for, this is what we mean.'" (Also linked yesterday.) The New York Times story is here.

Rex Huppke of USA Today, republished by Yahoo! News: "For a fascism-curious billionaire who loves cuddling up to right-wing loons, Elon Musk sure is good at making right-wing politicians look stupid.... Donald Trump had loudly trumpeted a planned Monday night interview with Musk that would stream on X. But much like the disastrous X-platformed launch of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis' presidential campaign, the Musk/Trump interview failed to launch, leaving social media users laughing at the collective incompetence.... Of course, things didn't get better for Trump once the interview was able to proceed.... He was rambling, babbling on about crowd sizes and immigration and President Joe Biden and whatever else seemed to pass through his mind. He was also badly slurring his words, raising questions about his health, and doing nothing to knock down rising concerns about his age and well-being. He sounded like a disoriented, racist Daffy Duck." (Also linked yesterday.)

Philip Bump of the Washington Post: "In keeping with his preference that the universe continue to engage with him as though he is still president, Donald Trump's team has adopted the habit of occasionally referring to his public comments and appearances as addresses to the nation,' [as they did with his conversation with Elon Musk Monday].... Highfalutin descriptors not withstanding, that conversation was not an address to the nation. It was two ideological allies touring the right-wing rhetorical bubble and, like new best friends in fourth grade, scrambling over each other to point out their favorite parts.... Over the course of the conversation, there were countless misrepresentations and dishonesties, the background noise of the Trumpian rhetorical space."~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Here's the good news about Bump's post: Bump writes from a liberal POV, but his posts -- even if they favor liberal interests -- are usually rather dispassionate. Bump normally lets the facts do the talking. However, here he just can't help himself, and he lets his disdain for the fatcat bros spill out on the page. This is going from neutral to mockery in at least second gear. To a more limited extent, I've noticed other reporters, even straight reporters, at least shift -- however temporarily -- into first.

For quite the humorous take on the Trump-Musk fiasco, we turn to Guardian columnist Marina Hyde: "Let's deal only briefly with the eventual contents of Elon and Donald's fireside chat, as long as we're clear the fire they were sitting next to was a dumpster, sparks from which had long since set both their pants on fire." Droll throughout.

Jon Stewart points out how much Donald is missing Joe. In the end, Jon comes up with a plan that will certainly appeal to Trump, as it's kind of Trump's idea, and he has tried it before. I don't usually rerun videos, BUT I'm doing so here because the bit that begins at 11:25 min. in, where Stewart compares Trump's attacks on Biden to his attacks on Harris. A wonder to behold and something you should hear:~~~

JD Vance, "Nightmare" Employer. Allison Gordon, et al., of CNN: In 2017, JD Vance "invested in AppHarvest, a startup that promised a high-tech future for farming and for the workers of Eastern Kentucky.... Over a four-year span, Vance was an early investor, board member and public pitchman for the indoor-agriculture company.... Last year, facing hundreds of millions of dollars in debt, AppHarvest declared bankruptcy.... A CNN review of public documents, and interviews with a dozen former workers, shows that AppHarvest not only failed as a business after pursuing rapid growth, but also provided a grim job experience for many of the working-class Kentuckians Vance has vowed to help. AppHarvest employees said they were forced to work in grueling conditions inside the company's greenhouse, where temperatures often soared into the triple digits.... Despite promising local jobs, the company eventually began contracting migrant workers from Mexico, Guatemala and other countries...."

"Hillbilly Elegy" = Phony Screed Against Poor People. Lennard Davis in the Conversation, republished by Salon: "... there's a bit of a shell game going on when it comes to [JD] Vance's poverty credentials.... The reality -- one that Vance only subtly acknowledges in his memoir -- is that he is not poor. Nor is he a hillbilly. He grew up firmly in Ohio's middle class.... His family never had to worry about money; his grandfather, grandmother and mother all had houses in a suburban neighborhood in Middletown, Ohio. He admits that his grandfather 'owned stock in Armco and had a lucrative pension.'" Thanks to RAS for the link.

Cristiano Lima-Strong of the Washington Post: "Republicans have spent the better part of a decade accusing social media companies of 'censoring' conservative viewpoints ... to benefit Democrats. Now Democrats are ... questioning whether X -- owned by an outspoken GOP ally in Elon Musk -- is suppressing content favoring Vice President Kamala Harris to help ... Donald Trump's reelection bid. On Monday, Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-N.Y.) called on House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) to 'investigate political censorship' on X, citing reports that the company's chatbot, Grok, falsely told users Harris was ineligible to appear on the 2024 presidential ballot. The chatbot shared the false information for more than a week until it was corrected in late July.... Nadler voiced similar concerns in a letter last month after some users reported temporarily being unable to follow an X account for the Harris campaign. Nadler wrote that if X was 'intentionally throttling or blocking' the account, it would 'amount to egregious censorship.'... A handful of recent content moderation decisions by X have heightened those concerns."

Tania Ganguli of the New York Times: "More Than a Vote, a nonprofit organization founded by LeBron James in 2020, is rebooting this fall with a new focus on women's issues and reproductive rights. Nneka Ogwumike, a nine-time W.N.B.A. All-Star with the Seattle Storm and president of the players union, will take over James's role in leading the organization, and has recruited a group of female athletes to her cause. 'It's more than just abortion,' Ogwumike said in an interview. 'It's all about educating people about all the different roles that exist in society that support and protect the freedoms of women when it comes to family planning, I.V.F., birth control, everything. There's just a lot that's at stake.' More Than a Vote was founded when, motivated by nationwide protest movements after the killing by police of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor, athletes like James said they were starting to think more deeply about how they could use their platforms."

Annals of Journalism, Ctd. Will Sommer & Elahe Izadi of the Washington Post: "For now, the decision among the [news] outlets [-- Politico, the Washington Post & the New York Times --] that received documents [alleged obtained through an Iranian hacking operation] has been not to publish them, focusing instead on the possible hack itself.... In 2016, Trump relished Russian hacks of Democratic campaign emails, once asking the country to find more of Hillary Clinton's emails with the phrase, 'Russia, if you're listening.' But in the aftermath of its own possible hack, the Trump campaign told reporters that to publish the material would be assisting a foreign state actor in undermining democracy.... 'It would certainly be ironic if Trump, of all people, benefited from the media learning lessons from a situation he exploited,' said Ben Smith, Semafor editor in chief.... Despite the reluctance of news outlets to publish material, if the hackers want the documents to be available online, they will be."


More Boss-from-Hell Musk News: Irish Eyes Are Smiling. Ashley Belanger of Ars Publica: "Elon Musk had no business sending Twitter employees an email giving them 24 hours to click 'yes' to keep their jobs or else voluntarily resign during his takeover in 2022, an Irish workplace watchdog ruled Monday. Not only did the email not provide staff with enough notice, the labor court ruled, but also any employee's failure to click 'yes' could in no way constitute a legal act of resignation. Instead, the court reviewed evidence alleging that the email appeared designed to either get employees to agree to new employment terms, sight unseen, or else push employees to volunteer for dismissal during a time of mass layoffs across Twitter.... An adjudication officer for the Irish Workplace Relations Commission (WRC), Michael MacNamee, ruled that Twitter's abrupt dismissal of an Ireland-based senior executive, Gary Rooney, was unfair, the Irish public service broadcaster RTÉ reported.... Now, instead of paying Rooney the draft severance amount worth a little more than $25,000, Twitter[/X] ... has to pay Rooney more than $600,000. According to many outlets, this is a record award from the WRC...."

     ~~~ Marie: Musk's cruelty, intimidating behavior and lack of just normal human feelings here is jaw-dropping. He is a very damaged person, and walking evidence that billions of dollars cannot fix a person. If, on the surface, living well is the best revenge, it is not the best remedy.

Crooked Friend of Crooked Trump Has Crooked Lawyer. (Allegedly!) Spencer Hsu & Patrick Marley of the Washington Post: "A pro-Trump lawyer facing criminal charges for illegally accessing Michigan voting machines after the 2020 election was disqualified Tuesday from representing former Overstock CEO Patrick Byrne after a judge found her and Byrne responsible for leaking up to 1 million confidential records turned over in a separate defamation lawsuit. Stefanie Lambert was barred from representing Byrne, a prominent funder of adherents of election misinformation, in a $1.6 billion damages lawsuit brought by Dominion Voting Systems, the target of false attacks over ... Donald Trump's 2020 election loss. U.S. Magistrate Judge Moxila A. Upadhyaya of Washington disqualified Lambert over violations beginning last March with her disclosure of Dominion emails to a county sheriff in southwestern Michigan and to a court filing in her own criminal case in Michigan, despite a court order requiring that records in the defamation case be kept confidential." ~~~

     ~~~ Crooked Lawyer of Crooked Friend (Allegedly!) of Crooked Trump Arrested as Fugitive. Rachel Weiner & Patrick Marley of the Washington Post: "An attorney involved in efforts to upend the results of the 2020 election was arrested in federal court in Washington this week and ordered to turn herself in to authorities in Michigan as civil and criminal cases involving claims of voter fraud collided. Stefanie Lambert's arrest came more than a week after officials had issued a bench warrant for failing to appear for a hearing in her criminal case in Michigan, where she is charged with illegally breaching voting machines, and days after she came under scrutiny for the release of documents as the attorney for an ally of former president Donald Trump in a federal defamation case. Lambert was held at a D.C. detention center as a 'fugitive from justice' until Tuesday, when a judge released her on an unsecured $10,000 bond with orders to turn herself in to the police in Michigan by Wednesday or face rearrest."

Kenneth Vogel of the New York Times: "Hunter Biden sought assistance from the U.S. government for a potentially lucrative energy project in Italy while his father was vice president, according to newly released records and interviews. The records, which the Biden administration had withheld for years, indicate that Hunter Biden wrote at least one letter to the U.S. ambassador to Italy in 2016 seeking assistance for the Ukrainian gas company Burisma, where he was a board member. Embassy officials appear to have been uneasy with the request from the son of the sitting vice president on behalf of a foreign company.... The State Department did not release the actual text of the letter. A White House spokesman said the president was not aware when he was vice president that his son was reaching out to the U.S. Embassy in Italy on behalf of Burisma."

~~~~~~~~~~

Arizona. Rio Yamat of the AP: "Arizona voters will get to decide in November whether to add the right to an abortion to the state constitution. The Arizona secretary of state's office said Monday that it had certified 577,971 signatures -- far above the required number that the coalition supporting the ballot measure had to submit in order to put the question before voters. The coalition, Arizona for Abortion Access, said it is the most signatures validated for a citizens initiative in state history. 'This is a huge win for Arizona voters who will now get to vote YES on restoring and protecting the right to access abortion care, free from political interference, once and for all,' campaign manager Cheryl Bruce said in a statement."

Kansas. Ben Brasch & Sofia Andrade of the Washington Post: "A former police chief in Kansas was charged Monday with a felony for allegedly tampering with an investigation into his raid of a small-town newspaper's office. Gideon Cody faces a single count of interference with a judicial process, according to Marion County court records. Barry R. Wilkerson, one of the two special prosecutors assigned to the case, alleged that Cody 'induced a witness to withhold information,' according to the court filing. No attorney was listed online as representing Cody. He could not immediately be reached by phone. The Aug. 11, 2023, raid of the Marion County Record's newsroom and the home of its editor and publisher, Eric Meyer, brought the nation's attention to a county of 12,000 residents roughly 60 miles north of Wichita. The raid sparked national outrage from press freedom advocates.... Meyer ... told The Post on Tuesday that ... the chief should be charged over the raid itself," not just the cover-up. (Also linked yesterday.)

Maryland. Katie Shepherd of the Washington Post: "Rep. Steny H. Hoyer (D), a former House majority leader and longtime Maryland politician, sought medical care for a mild stroke Sunday night, his office said in a statement Tuesday. 'Mr. Hoyer has responded well to treatment and has no lingering symptoms,' his ... spokesperson, Margaret Mulkerrin, said in a statement."

Minnesota Congressional Race. Neil Vigdor of the New York Times: "Representative Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, the progressive lightning rod whose unabated criticism of Israel has deepened the fissures in the Democratic Party over the war in Gaza, won her primary on Tuesday, according to The Associated Press. While she prevailed, it has been a rocky summer for the 'squad,' the ultraliberal faction of lawmakers in the House. Two other members of the group, Representative Jamaal Bowman of New York and Representative Cori Bush of Missouri, suffered primary defeats in June and August after pro-Israel groups spent millions trying to influence those contests."

Minnesota Senate Race. Friend of Bannon, Alex Jones Wins GOP Primary. Jared Gans of the Hill: "Former NBA player Royce White won the Republican Senate primary to take on Democrat Sen. Amy Klobuchar in Minnesota.... White, backed by the state GOP, emerged from a crowded field of candidates jockeying to go up against the Democrat incumbent, including business executive Joe Fraser. White reportedly boasts allies in ex-Trump aide Steve Bannon and conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, and went into Tuesday's contest as the top fundraiser, according to FEC filings. Fraser was backed by former Gov. Tim Pawlenty (R-Minn.) and former Republican Sens. Rudy Boschwitz and Norm Coleman...." MB: Okay, then, good choice, Minnesota Republicans!

Texas Congressional Race. Patrick Svitek of the Washington Post: "Former Houston mayor Sylvester Turner has won the Democratic nomination to replace the late Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Tex.), making Turner her likely successor next year in the heavily Democratic district that she represented for nearly three decades. Democratic precinct chairs in the 18th Congressional District on Tuesday night picked Turner to take Jackson Lee's place on the November ballot after she died last month. Turner faced five opponents in the first round of voting before advancing to a runoff against Amanda Edwards, a former Houston City Council member who ran against Jackson Lee in the March primary."

Wisconsin Senate Race. Maggie Astor of the New York Times: "Eric Hovde, a wealthy businessman, won the Republican nomination for Senate in Wisconsin on Tuesday, according to The Associated Press, setting up a key race this fall with Senator Tammy Baldwin, the Democratic incumbent.... He ... drew criticism this year for suggesting that 'almost nobody in a nursing home' is mentally competent to vote, saying he had gained expertise regarding nursing homes because the bank he owns lends to them."

~~~~~~~~~~

Israel/Palestine, et al.

Kyle Melnick & Karen DeYoung of the Washington Post: "The Biden administration has approved about $20 billion in new weapons sales to Israel over the next several years, amid fading hopes that a negotiating session scheduled for Thursday would lead to a Gaza cease-fire and hostage release. Notification of the pending sale was sent to Congress on Tuesday. It includes F-15 fighter jets, 120mm tank ammunition, tactical vehicles, AMRAAM antiaircraft missiles and high-explosive mortars. The tactical vehicles and about 50,000 mortar cartridges are expected to be delivered starting in 2026. The following year, more than 32,000 120mm tank-ammunition cartridges are estimated to arrive in Israel."

The New York Times' live updates of developments Tuesday in the Israel/Hamas war are here. (Also linked yesterday.)

Japan PM Does a Biden. River Davis of the New York Times: "Japan's prime minister, Fumio Kishida, intends to step down next month, bowing to pressure within his party to move on from his unpopular leadership, news outlets reported. Mr. Kishida has informed officials in his administration of his intention not to run in a governing-party election in September, according to Japanese news outlets...."

Thailand. Sui-Lee Wee of the New York Times: "Thailand's Constitutional Court dismissed Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin from office on Wednesday, throwing the country into fresh turmoil and creating deeper uncertainty about the political future of Southeast Asia's second-largest economy. In a 5-4 verdict, the court ruled that Mr. Srettha, who took office almost a year ago, violated moral and ethical standards set out in the constitution because he appointed an ally of his benefactor, Thaksin Shinawatra, to his cabinet. Mr. Srettha was seen as a figurehead prime minister, with Mr. Thaksin playing a powerful behind-the-scenes role. Wednesday's ruling served as a warning to the ambitions of Mr. Thaksin, himself a former prime minister and long a foil to Thailand's royalist-military establishment." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Oh why, oh why, can't we have a supreme court who would toss out leaders for gross moral turpitude?

News Ledes

New York Times: "Gena Rowlands, the intense, elegant dramatic actress who, often in collaboration with her husband, John Cassavetes, starred in a series of introspective independent films, has died. She was 94."

New York Times: "The Consumer Price Index cooled in July compared with a year earlier, providing further evidence that inflation is moderating and likely keeping the Federal Reserve firmly on track to cut interest rates at its meeting next month. Overall inflation was 2.9 percent in July on a yearly basis, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported, easing slightly from 3 percent in June. The figure was milder than economists had expected, and it marked the first time inflation has slipped below 3 percent since 2021. While inflation still exceeds the 2 percent that was normal before the coronavirus pandemic, it is much slower than the 9.1 percent peak in 2022."

New York Times: "Tropical Storm Ernesto lashed eastern Puerto Rico with strong winds and heavy rain early Wednesday as it strengthened, prompting warnings across parts of the Caribbean. Ernesto is expected to reach hurricane strength later on Wednesday while passing north of Puerto Rico, where it has brought 'torrential rainfall,' the National Weather Service said at 5 a.m. President Biden approved a declaration of emergency in Puerto Rico on Tuesday night. A hurricane watch is in effect for the British Virgin Islands. A tropical storm warning is active for the U.S. and British Virgin Islands, Vieques, Culebra and Puerto Rico, where flash flood warnings are also in place. The storm is not expected to approach the mainland United States."

Comments Off
Monday
Aug122024

The Conversation -- August 13, 2024

Since Donald Trump is so ignorant about how Kamala Harris got her last name, here's an article by Jeff Stein of the Washington Post which delves into the career of Kamala's father, Dr. Donald Harris, an economist who received Jamaica's Order of Merit for his work credited with boosting the nation's economy.

Rebecca Picciotti & Lora Kolodny of CNBC: "The United Auto Workers union on Tuesday filed federal labor charges with the National Labor Relations Board against ... Donald Trump and billionaire Elon Musk for publicly applauding the practice of firing employees who threaten to strike. 'I look at what you do,' Trump said to Musk during a two-hour interview Monday night on X.... 'You walk in, you say, "You want to quit?" They go on strike,' Trump said to Musk.... 'I won't mention the name of the company, but they go on strike and you say, "That's okay, you're all gone. You're all gone. So, every one of you is gone,"' Trump said. Trump was referring to the 2022 gutting of Twitter staff after Musk took over the social media business and renamed it X. It is illegal to fire workers who threaten to strike, because the right to strike is protected under federal labor law. 'When we say Donald Trump is a scab, this is what we mean,' UAW President Shawn Fain said in a statement Tuesday on the new charges. 'When we say Trump stands against everything our union stands for, this is what we mean.'"

Rex Huppke of USA Today, republished by Yahoo! News: "For a fascism-curious billionaire who loves cuddling up to right-wing loons, Elon Musk sure is good at making right-wing politicians look stupid.... Donald Trump had loudly trumpeted a planned Monday night interview with Musk that would stream on X. But much like the disastrous X-platformed launch of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis' presidential campaign, the Musk/Trump interview failed to launch, leaving social media users laughing at the collective incompetence.... Of course, things didn't get better for Trump once the interview was able to proceed.... He was rambling, babbling on about crowd sizes and immigration and President Joe Biden and whatever else seemed to pass through his mind. He was also badly slurring his words, raising questions about his health, and doing nothing to knock down rising concerns about his age and well-being. He sounded like a disoriented, racist Daffy Duck."

Kansas. Ben Brasch & Sofia Andrade of the Washington Post: "A former police chief in Kansas was charged Monday with a felony for allegedly tampering with an investigation into his raid of a small-town newspaper's office. Gideon Cody faces a single count of interference with a judicial process, according to Marion County court records. Barry R. Wilkerson, one of the two special prosecutors assigned to the case, alleged that Cody 'induced a witness to withhold information,' according to the court filing. No attorney was listed online as representing Cody. He could not immediately be reached by phone. The Aug. 11, 2023, raid of the Marion County Record's newsroom and the home of its editor and publisher, Eric Meyer, brought the nation's attention to a county of 12,000 residents roughly 60 miles north of Wichita. The raid sparked national outrage from press freedom advocates.... Meyer ... told The Post on Tuesday that ... the chief should be charged over the raid itself," not just the cover-up.

The New York Times' live updates of developments Tuesday in the Israel/Hamas war are here.

If, like Seth Meyers, you've been on vacation for three weeks, not to worry. Seth is here to catch you up on the news. Thanks to RAS for the link: ~~~

And Jon Stewart points out how much Donald is missing Joe. In the end, Jon comes up with a plan that will certainly appeal to Trump, as it's kind of Trump's idea, and he has tried it before. BUT the part that's most compelling is the part that begins at about 11:25 min. in, where Stewart compares Trump's attacks on Biden to his attacks on Harris. A wonder to behold: ~~~

Presidential Race

On the Cover of Time Magazine. Cover story by Charlotte Alter: Kamala "Harris has pulled off the swiftest vibe shift in modern political history.... Over the span of a few weeks in late July and early August, Harris became a political phenomenon.... Suddenly, she seems matched to the moment: a former prosecutor running against a convicted felon, a defender of abortion rights running against the man who helped overturn Roe v. Wade, a next-generation Democrat running against a 78-year-old Republican. Perhaps above all, she has given Americans the one thing they overwhelmingly told pollsters they wanted: a credible alternative to the two unpopular old men who have held the job for the past eight long years." (Also linked yesterday.)

Marie's Sport's Report. In the Athletic (New York Times), fellow high school football coaches and players at remember defensive coach Tim Walz.(Also linked yesterday.)

Crash of the Titans. Musk's X Fails, Trump Slurs His Lies. Marianne LeVine, et al., of the Washington Post: "Donald Trump's much anticipated conversation on the social media platform X with owner Elon Musk was marred by technical errors Monday evening, starting more than 40 minutes late as more than a million users tuned in to the event. It was the latest mishap for the Republican nominee as he has sought to regain his footing amid a surge in Democratic enthusiasm for his new rival, Vice President Kamala Harris. The joint appearance was also a high-profile embarrassment for Musk's X, which has faced numerous outages since the entrepreneur's takeover and suffered from a server meltdown during [Ron DeSantis's] presidential campaign launch last year.... During much of the discussion Monday, [Musk] focused on comfortable topics for Trump, such as undocumented immigration. He also allowed the former president to deliver his preferred talking points and a stream of false statements, giving the chat some of the hallmarks of Trump's signature campaign rallies."...

Musk blamed the long delay in the start of the interview on bad actors who attacked X, but "an X adviser in a position to know said he saw no evidence of an attack, but cautioned that he could not immediately rule out a stealthier offensive.... The former president's speech during the interview sounded different from his usual delivery.... Some on social media said it sounded like he was slurring his words.... Trump made a flurry of posts on X earlier in the day ahead of the interview, reviving a social media account that was central to his 2016 election and turbulent presidency but had been dormant since last August." MB: But otherwise, everything went very smoothly.

Gaby Del Valle & Kylie Robison of the Verge dispute Musk's claim that outsiders attacked X.

Shoring up the White Bro & Incel Votes. Leigh Ann Caldwell & Marianna Sotomayor of the Washington Post: "... several Republican operatives ... told us [the Trump-Musk chat] was also likely to help him reach a specific pro-Trump group: young White men."

He Called Her "Camilla." Tommy Christopher of Mediaite: During the interview, "... Donald Trump went on a bizarre riff in which he claimed that Vice President Kamala Harris resembled his wife ... Melania Trump in her TIME Magazine cover illustration.... '... I saw a picture of her on time magazine today. He looks like the most beautiful actress ever to live. It was a drawing. And, uh, actually, she looked very much like a great first lady. Melania. She looked --.... She didn't look like Camilla. That's right. But of course, she's a beautiful woman, so we'll leave it at that, right?'"

Sarah Rumpf of Mediaite: "Vice President Kamala Harris' campaign bashed Elon Musk's interview with ... Donald Trump that was hosted on X..., issuing a statement that dunked on the two participants as 'self-obsessed rich guys' who couldn't run a livestream.... 'Donald Trump's extremism and dangerous Project 2025 agenda is a feature not a glitch of his campaign, which was on full display for those unlucky enough to listen in tonight during whatever that was on X.com,' the statement read. 'Trump's entire campaign is in service of people like Elon Musk and himself -- self-obsessed rich guys who will sell out the middle class and who cannot run a livestream in the year 2024.'... The campaign also posted several clips from the interview on its official X account, @KamalaHQ, throughout the evening." One notes that Trump was "slurring" his words.

How Not to Run a Gigantic Social Media Site. Seb Starcevic of Politico: "The European Union's digital enforcer wrote an open letter to tech mogul Elon Musk on Monday ahead of a planned interview with ... Donald Trump to remind him of the EU's rules on promoting hate speech.... Europe's Digital Commissioner Thierry Breton reminded the world's richest man of his legal obligation to stop the 'amplification of harmful content.' The EU in July charged X, which Musk bought in 2022, for failing to respect its social media laws. The platform faces multimillion euro fines.... It's in the context of [the Trump-Musk] interview that Breton made his intervention, posting a link to the letter on X itself, with the caption: With great audience comes greater responsibility #DSA.'... Responding to Breton, Musk tweeted out a meme containing the words: 'Take a big step back and literally, fuck your own face!'"

Marie: At first, I thought the video here was fake, but a cursory Internet search provides evidence it is not. It turns out that Donald Trump's bizarre claim (see link in yesterday's Conversation) that Kamala Harris was speaking before fake crowds has its roots, as is often the case, in Trump's penchant for projection. Trump, it seems, waves to fake crowds all the time. Thanks to RAS for the lead: ~~~

Philip Bump of the Washington Post: "Why would Trump and his allies spread a false claim about attendance at a rally that was covered on C-SPAN? In part because many elements of Trump's base have embraced rejections of basic reality ... for years.... But in part, it's because Trump and his allies are already eagerly raising questions about the reliability of measures of Harris's support -- and by extension, the reliability of the results in November.... Recall that his efforts to reject the 2020 results did not emerge out of the blue in November of that year.... [He began claiming mail-in ballots were insecure months before the election.] His base was more than prepared when he subsequently challenged the actual election results. That's the pattern that is again underway...." (Also linked yesterday.)

Michelle Goldberg of the New York Times: "When Donald Trump says something ludicrous and unhinged, it is often difficult to tell if he is acting out of feral political calculation or narcissistic injury. We saw this on Sunday, when he claimed that Kamala Harris had used A.I. to fake an image of an enthusiastic crowd greeting her when she arrived in Michigan.... By insisting that Harris's support isn't real, Trump is bolstering the idea that if she prevails, it won't be legitimate.... At his Mar-a-Lago news conference last week..., [Trump] claimed that the MAGA movement encompasses 75 percent of Americans.... Even if the system holds, Trumpist officials are likely to cause delay, confusion and uncertainty over the election's outcome, all justified by the big lie that America has a MAGA majority. The people who refuse to accept that Kamala Harris's crowds are real are telling us they won't accept that her votes are either."

Eugene Robinson of the Washington Post: "... Donald Trump's ongoing meltdown over his changed electoral prospects is becoming genuinely bizarre. It is foolish to underestimate him, but this doesn't come off as any kind of subtle gambit in a game of three-dimensional chess. It looks and sounds like angry, disoriented flailing that inflicts more self-harm than damage on his opponents.... Away from social media, Trump's public statements have become increasingly divorced from reality. At a rally Friday in Montana, Trump said the following: 'Kamala Harris, you know, it's interesting, nobody really knows her last name. If you ask people, "Do you know what her last name is?" nobody has any idea what it is. Harris, it's like Harris. I don't know, how the hell did this happen?'" MB: Another bizarre, offensive attempt to delegitimize (or should I say "illegetimize"?) Harris. Trump won't say her first name properly and now asserts that her last name is not legitimate, either because she was born out of wedlock or because she stole the name, maybe to seem more English-y. Everything about Harris is fake -- even her name -- Drumpf says.

About Trump's claim that Kamala Harris STOLE Trump's original idea of eliminating taxes on tips for service workers, a claim that is neither original or particularly helpful to most workers, it turns out that it also is in direct conflict with a Trump screw-the-workers plans. Akhilleus pointed out in yesterday's Comments thread that in 2017 the Trump administration proposed a rule that would take an estimated $5.6 billion from workers' tips and turn the money over to employers. Sweet. But, as NPR reported in 2019, hundreds of thousands of people wrote in objecting to the rule, "Congress passed a law preventing business owners from skimming tips, but also allowing for more mandatory tip-sharing." The Trump administration then responded by proposing a rule that "would allow employers to require more widespread sharing of tips with 'back of the house' coworkers, such as cooks and dishwashers." The rule went into effect as a Grinch-y parting shot at workers on December 22, 2020. The Biden administration rescinded this and other rules that hurt tipped workers.

Devlin Barrett, et al., of the Washington Post: "The FBI is investigating suspected hacking attempts by Iran targeting both a Trump associate and advisers to the Biden-Harris campaign, according to people familiar with the matter, as the agency formally acknowledged Monday it has opened a high-stakes national security investigation months before Election Day. Three staffers on the Biden-Harris campaign received spear phishing emails that were designed to appear legitimate but could give a intruder access to the recipients' communications.... So far, investigators have not found evidence that those hacking attempts were successful.... When the Trump campaign initially concluded it had been hacked, it did not alert the FBI, according to campaign advisers....

People familiar with the matter said the phishing attempt appears to have succeeded in compromising the communications of at least one person...: Roger Stone.... That Stone was an apparent victim in the effort is remarkable given his long, tangled history with hacked emails. Stone was convicted of seven felonies, including lying about his attempts during the 2016 presidential campaign to get details of Hillary Clinton's private emails from the anti-secrecy group WikiLeaks. Trump pardoned him in 2020 a month before he left office."

Media Bend Over Backwards for the GOP Ticket. Again. David Bauder of the AP: "At least three news outlets were leaked confidential material from inside the Donald Trump campaign, including its report vetting JD Vance as a vice presidential candidate. So far, each has refused to reveal any details about what they received. Instead, Politico, The New York Times and The Washington Post have written about a potential hack of the campaign and described what they had in broad terms. Their decisions stand in marked contrast to the 2016 presidential campaign, when a Russian hack exposed emails to and from Hillary Clinton's campaign manager, John Podesta. The website Wikileaks published a trove of these embarrassing missives, and mainstream news organizations covered them avidly.... Steven Cheung, a spokesperson for Trump's campaign, said over the weekend that 'any media or news outlet reprinting documents or internal communications are doing the bidding of America's enemies.'... In 2016, candidate Trump and his team encouraged coverage of documents on the Clinton campaign that Wikileaks had acquired from hackers."

Chris Cameron & Michael Gold of the New York Times: "... Donald J. Trump's presidential campaign said on Monday that it was unaware that a private plane used by Mr. Trump for campaign travel on Saturday was once owned by Jeffrey Epstein, the disgraced financier and sex offender. Mr. Trump flew from Bozeman, Mont., to Jackson Hole, Wyo., and Aspen, Colo., on the jet, made by Gulfstream, to attend campaign fund-raisers after Mr. Trump's signature Boeing 757, often referred to as Trump Force One, experienced a mechanical issue en route to a campaign rally in Bozeman on Friday." MB: Bad look, maybe, but on the upside, Epstein's plane would be familiar to Trump.

Jamelle Bouie of the New York Times is already writing a post mortem for Trump's campaign and the loser party he heads. Perhaps a bit premature, but a welcome reverie.

Oh, Shame on Us. Alexandra Marquez of NBC News: "After years of condemning ... Donald Trump for spreading misinformation and conspiracy theories, Democrats are now poking fun at his running mate using a false, vulgar rumor. The rumor, first posted on X last month, involves a fake passage about a sex act and a couch supposedly in Sen. JD Vance's 2016 book, 'Hillbilly Elegy.' The lie spread like wildfire, spawning jokes and memes even as the original joke's author clarified that it wasn't real and later made his account private." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Yeah, well, you can't prove JayDee never fucked a sofa, either. Years ago, Akhilleus and I (and others) used to joke about Ross Douthat's having a relationship with a blow-up doll. I don't recall where we got that story, but I think it too came via something the subject of our derision had written, maybe about his technical celibacy. The point isn't that these stories are true but how easy it is to picture JayDee and Ross animating the inanimate for sexual gratification. And if you're an obnoxious jerk who aspires to celebrity, you just have to accept this kind of, well, gleeful flogging. ~~~

     ~~~ Update: Near the end of yesterday's Comments thread, RAS and others explain to media scolds what is vulgar. It is not vulgar to "poke fun at a weird loser who thinks he has the right and authority to tell others how they are allowed to live their lives."

New York Ballot. Of Bad News, Bears. Rebecca O'Brien, et al., of the New York Times: "Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s independent presidential campaign was dealt a blow on Monday when a judge ruled that his petition to appear on New York's ballot was invalid, saying Mr. Kennedy had used a 'sham' address to maintain his New York residency. The ruling, if it stands, would keep Mr. Kennedy off the ballot in a state where he lived for much of his adult life and could endanger his efforts to be placed on the ballot in dozens of other states. He has three days to appeal the decision, handed down by a judge in Albany, N.Y.... The trial began on Aug. 5.... Mr. Kennedy's testimony had been immediately preceded by a bizarre incident in which the candidate confessed to collecting a dead bear off the side of an upstate highway in 2014 and then ... dumping the carcass in Central Park."

North Carolina Ballot. Gary Robertson of the AP: "Robert F. Kennedy Jr. can remain on North Carolina's presidential ballots after a state judge on Monday refused to block printing his name and those of other candidates of the 'We the People' party that was recently certified by the State Board of Elections. Wake County Superior Court Judge Keith Gregory rejected the preliminary injunction request by the North Carolina Democratic Party, which challenged the board's decision last month that declared We the People an official party. Separately late Monday, a federal judge halted the board's rejection of official party status for another political group -- Justice for All -- that collected signatures to put progressive activist and professor Cornel West on the presidential ballot. U.S. District Judge Terrence Boyle told the board to declare Justice for All of North Carolina an official party and to accept its candidates for the fall ballot."

Lisa Rubin & Dareh Gregorian of NBC News: "An attorney for ... Donald Trump has filed a legal notice announcing that his client plans to sue the Justice Department and the FBI for $115 million for alleged 'malicious political prosecution' and 'abuse of process.' The notice, a copy of which NBC News obtained Monday, baselessly accuses DOJ leadership and special counsel Jack Smith of having perpetrated a 'malicious political prosecution aimed at affecting an electoral outcome to prevent President Trump from being re-elected'.... The filing says Trump is seeking "$15 million in actual harm due to his legal costs in defending the Special Counsel proceedings...." It's unclear how much of that money came from Trump personally. NBC News has reported previously that Trump appeared to be using money from a political action committee for his legal fees. He's also seeking $100 million in punitive damages." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ One minor flaw in Trump's suit: Rubin said on MSNBC that federal law prohibits awards for punitive damages against the federal government. Later, Andrew Weissmann, also on MSNBC, said Trump would not actually sue because to do so would open him up to massive fines for bringing a frivolous lawsuit.


Luke Broadwater of the New York Times: Rep. Jason Crow's (D-Colo.) "credentials -- including three tours of duty in Iraq and Afghanistan and a Bronze Star, as well as a law degree and a background in private-sector investigations -- have made Mr. Crow a go-to lawmaker for Democratic leaders on difficult national security issues.... [Then-Speaker] Pelosi tapped him in 2019 to manage the first impeachment of President Donald J. Trump. He was part of the whip operation to rally support for legislation to send tens of billions of dollars in aid to Ukraine. He was selected as the top Democrat on a subcommittee investigating the Biden administration's botched withdrawal from Afghanistan. And last month, he was named the senior Democrat on a bipartisan task force to investigate the attempted assassination of Mr. Trump at a campaign rally in Pennsylvania." (Also linked yesterday.)

Alex Griffing of Mediaite: "Donald Trump's media company, Trump Media, shed another five percent of its market value on Monday, closing at its lowest value since mid-April. The stock tumble came the day after the company's quarterly earning report on Friday revealed only $836,900 in revenue for the company valued at over $4.5 billion. The company register a net loss of $16.4 million for the second quarter, which ended on June 30th. Trump himself also began posting again on X Monday, which is a rival to his Truth Social platform that is the main holding of Trump Media."

~~~~~~~~~~

Colorado. Alan Feuer & Nick Corasaniti of the New York Times: "Tina Peters, the former clerk of Mesa County, Colo., was convicted on Monday of tampering with voting machines under her control in a failed attempt to prove that they had been used to rig the 2020 election against ... Donald J. Trump. After nearly five hours of deliberations, a jury in Grand Junction found Ms. Peters guilty of seven criminal charges connected to her efforts to breach a machine manufactured by Dominion Voting Systems. The jury determined that Ms. Peters had helped an outsider gain unauthorized access to the machine in May 2021 and obtain information that was later made public at a conspiratorial event held to undermine trust in Mr. Trump's defeat to Joseph R. Biden Jr."

~~~~~~~~~~

The New York Times' live updates of developments Monday in the Israel/Hamas war are here. (Also linked yesterday.)

Comments Off
Page 1 ... 11 12 13 14 15 ... 1737 Next 3 Entries ยป