The Conversation -- September 15, 2024

⭐ CNN Liveblog: "Donald Trump is 'safe following gunshots in his vicinity' Sunday, his campaign said in a statement. The former president was playing at Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach, Florida, when shots were fired. Officials believe an armed individual intended to target Trump, according to sources briefed on the matter. A person has been detained in connection to the incident, according to a law enforcement source. The Secret Service said it is working with the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office to investigate a protective incident involving Trump. The Secret Service said the incident occurred shortly before 2 p.m.... Secret Service fired at the suspect, according to multiple sources. A long gun has been recovered, according to [a] source.... President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris are both 'relieved to know' that Donald Trump is safe and have been briefed on the security incident involving the former president while he was golfing earlier Sunday, according to the White House....

"A suspect who authorities believe is connected to Sunday's incident at Trump International Golf Course has been taken into custody, according to a Facebook post from the Martin County Sheriff's Office in Florida.... Martin County is north of Palm Beach County, where Sunday's incident at Trump International took place....

"... Donald Trump said in a fundraising email that he is 'safe and well' following the security incident at his golf course in South Florida earlier Sunday." [MB: Yes, of course a fundraising email.]

[MB: According to John Miller, speaking on CNN, the Secret Service spotted the suspect in the woods as they were clearing the way for Trump to play through on the course. Agents confronted the suspect who had a rifle, and the agents shot at the suspect. The suspect did not open fire, but he fled the area.]

"... Donald Trump was moving between holes five and six at his South Florida golf course when the security incident happened Sunday, a source briefed on the matter told CNN. The suspect, who the Secret Service engaged with, was a number of holes ahead of the former president.... The Secret Service fired at the suspect as a protective measure....

“The FBI said Sunday it is responding to West Palm Beach, Florida, and 'is investigating what appears to be an attempted assassination' of ... Donald Trump.... West Palm Beach Sheriff Ric Bradshaw said that a Secret Service agent was able to spot the rifle barrel sticking out the fence and 'engaged' with the suspect....

"A witness saw the suspect later detained in the security incident ... run from the bushes and took a picture of his vehicle that led to the suspect's apprehension, according to the Palm Beech County sheriff.... 'We are able to catch a witness that came to us and said, "Hey, I saw the guy running out of the bushes, he jumped into a black Nissan and I took a picture of the vehicle and the tag," which was great,' [Ric] Bradshaw said. Authorities were able to get a hit on the vehicle and alerted the Martin County Sheriff's Office, which detained the suspect. The witness was able to then identify the man....

"Law enforcement officials found a weapon and other items left behind by the suspect where he was positioned in the bushes near the Trump International Golf Club in South Florida on Sunday. 'In the bushes, where this guy was, is an AK-47 style rifle with a scope; two backpacks, which were hung on the fence and had ceramic tile in them; and a GoPro.... So, those are being processed right now,' Palm Beach County Sheriff Ric Bradshaw said.... The suspect has not made any statements regarding his involvement in the alleged assassination attempt, said Palm Beach County Sheriff Ric Bradshaw. Authorities have not named the suspect.

"Golf courses, and in particular Donald Trump's own properties, have long been a source of concern among Secret Service officials tasked with securing the grounds while the commander n chief plays, according to people familiar with the matter." [MB: If you recall, President Obama often played on the course at Andrews AFB because the AFB provided a relatively easier site for the Secret Service to protect him.]

     ~~~ NBC News live updates: "The person in custody who was shot at by the Secret Service while in possession of a semi-automatic rifle is Ryan Wesley Routh, 58, three senior law enforcement officials briefed on the matter said." ~~~

     ~~~ The New York Times story is here.

MEANWHILE, in other news re: violence connected to a weird presidential candidate ~~~

~~~ Simon Levien of the New York Times: "At his first major campaign event for ... Donald J. Trump, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., told a crowd on Saturday night that he was being investigated for his handling of a whale carcass decades ago. Mr. Kennedy ... said at the event in Glendale, Ariz., that he had received a letter from a national fisheries institute 'saying they were investigating me for collecting a whale specimen 20 years ago.' He suggested that the inquiry was politically motivated, and said that he believed he was protected by the statute of limitations."

Luke Garrett of NPR: "Sen. JD Vance stood by his false claim that Haitian migrants were eating pets in Springfield, Ohio -- an unsupported story that ... Donald Trump has also echoed on the debate stage and on social media. During a Sunday interview on CNN, the Ohio senator and Republican vice presidential nominee said his evidence for this claim was 'the first-hand accounts of my constituents.' He then went on to defend the dissemination of this false story. 'The American media totally ignored this stuff until Donald Trump and I started talking about cat memes,' Sen. Vance said. 'If I have to create stories so that the American media actually pays attention to the suffering of the American people, then that's what I'm going to do.'" ~~~

~~~ Summer Concepcion of NBC News: "Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine [R] on Sunday decried ... Donald Trump's baseless claims that Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio were eating dogs and other pets as 'garbage,' but stopped short of directly condemning the former president and his running mate, Sen. JD Vance, for spreading the false claims. 'There's a lot of garbage on the internet. You know, this is a piece of garbage that was simply not true. There's no evidence of this at all,' DeWine said during an interview on ABC's 'This Week.'..."

⭐ Jodi Kantor & Adam Liptak of the New York Times have written a stunning indictment of Chief Justice John Roberts, exposing him as the manipulative architect of the immunity case (and two related cases), which gave Donald Trump most of what he wanted (and we still don't know how much, since the opinion, crafted by Roberts, is quite vague); i.e., let the treacherous bastid off the hook for past and future crimes committed in office. Thanks to RAS for the link. MB: I remember back when Elena Kagan joined the Court, I held out the hope that she was clever enough to "turn" Roberts on important decisions. Well, the joke's on me. To those of us who began suggesting this was the Thomas Court, Roberts has given a big middle finger. He has taken back the Court as his own, if only by emerging as a bigger dickhead than he previously appeared to be.

Marie: Ever since President Biden pretended to appoint a commission that pretended to explore reformations of the court system, I have thought he should just appoint a new Chief Justice. The Constitution is silent on how the Chief Justice is appointed, so I think the President, with consent of the Senate, can appoint her. There's nothing in the Constitution that says or implies the old Chief has to retire or die. IMO, the President can replace the current Chief and demote him (or her!) to Associate Justice. If Vice President Harris wins the presidency, and the Senate retains its Democratic majority, she should appoint a new Chief. If she wins and Republicans regain a Senate majority, Biden should appoint a new Chief after the election but before the new year when the new Senate is seated.

Paul Campos in LG&$: A "good in-depth piece of reporting from the NYT about how John Roberts 'steered' the SCOTUS to one of the very worst opinions in the often sordid history of that institution.... The bottom line appears to be that Roberts somehow managed to convince himself that intervening in the case had nothing to do with Donald Trump per se, but was all about crafting some Principles of Constitutional Integritude, that Would Stand the Test of Time in their Principled Balls and Strikes Principledness.... It's hard to overstate what a fundamentally empty piece of nonsense Roberts's opinion is. It's about 2000 pages long..., but can be reduced to the following proposition: It would be good if Donald Trump isn't tried for his attempted autogolpe before the November election, so we will invent out of almost literally nothing a rule of Constitutional Law immunizing ex-presidents named Donald Trump from criminal prosecution from pretty much anything ex-presidents (named Donald Trump) did while in office.... Per the Times's reporting, Roberts has somehow managed to convince himself that he's doing the exact opposite of what he's actually doing, which -- breaking news -- illustrates that the human capacity for rationalization is essentially infinite."

Steve M. explains why so many non-MAGA voters will choose Trump: "Trump supporters who aren't superfans already seem to recognize that he's an obnoxious, angry blowhard. They've priced that in to their decision this year. Their view is that if he's elected president, he'll say a lot of awful things, and he'll post terrible things on social media, but he'll also make inflation go away magically. So it doesn't matter to them that he looked like an idiot on Tuesday night. They already thought he was an idiot -- but they think he's an idiot who can make prices lower using that business magic they saw him display on The Apprentice.... The gettable voters [Harris] needs are willing to vote for a guy who says immigrants eat pets if they think he can lower the price of eggs." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: I think Steve has it just right. These voters are stupid, but they're not stupid AND delusional. A lot of them probably agree with some of Trump's awful statements; they're probably afraid of Haitians; they probably think Mexicans are taking "white jobs"; they just won't say so with such crude force. But mostly, they are of the opinion that Trump's "business experience" means he understands macroeconomics. He does not. And Harris has not yet effectively explained that. She hints at it; she seems to know it; but she has to hammer it down in ways that are easy to understand. I don't think she's good at macroeconomics, either. She needs to get better. And fast. Some of it is way over my head. But the basics are kinda easy to understand. And they make sense, even in a way that people who think Trump is a business genius can understand.

~~~~~~~~~~

Presidential Race

Self-Described "Extraordinary Genius" Is Rage-Posting. Caleb Howe of Mediaite: "Donald Trump rage posted about the ABC News presidential debate for the fourth day running on Saturday.... A post went viral on X/Twitter this week, with the help of Elon Musk, that claimed a 'whistleblower' will be exposing ABC News as having collaborated with the campaign of Vice President Kamala Harris ahead of the September 10th debate.... [According to the post, ABC News gave Kamala Harris sample questions that were essentially the same as those asked on-air. Trump] said in [an] angry post that 'ABC FAKE NEWS has been completely discredited, and is now under investigation. Did they give Comrade Kamala the questions? It was 3 on 1, but they were mentally challenged people, against one person of extraordinary genius. It wasn't even close, as is now reflected in the polls. I WON THE DEBATE!' [he wrote]." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: To understand how stupid Trump & Elon & the original conspiracy theorist are, you need to look at the questions the moderators asked Harris. Things like, "Are Americans better off today than they were four years ago?" and "Why did the Biden administration keep some of the Trump tariffs in place?" and "Will you respond to what President* Trump said?" You have to be quite stupid yourself to think that Harris and her debate prep team are so stupid that they couldn't anticipate -- without any insider help -- that questions like these would be asked. Had Harris correctly answered questions on subjects that only a NASA astrobiologist or Dr. Fauci could be expected to have mastered, then yes, that would have seemed fishy.

Stephen Starr of the Guardian: "In addition to Tuesday's debate, Trump held a news conference Friday in which he rambled without evidence about how Haitians had descended on Springfield 'and destroyed the place'.... Haitians and immigrants from Central American countries have been in high demand at Springfield's Dole Fresh Vegetables -- where they've been hired to clean and package produce -- and at automotive machining plants whose owners were desperate for workers due to a labor shortage in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic.... But the glut of new arrivals has also stretched hospitals and schools in the area, angering many locals who resented their presence.... Soon, rightwing extremists seized on Springfield's unrest. Armed neo-Nazi members of Blood Tribe -- a hardcore white supremacist group, according to the Anti-Defamation League -- flew flags bearing swastikas and marched through a prominent downtown street while a jazz and blues festival was taking place nearby in August." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

~~~ Brandy Zadrozny of NBC News: "The day after the presidential debate at which ... Donald Trump spread a false story about Haitian immigrants eating pets in Springfield, Ohio, Christopher Pohlhaus, leader of the national neo-Nazi group Blood Tribe, took to his Telegram channel to take credit. Pohlhaus, a Marine-turned-tattoo artist known as 'Hammer' to his hundreds of followers, wrote Blood Tribe had 'pushed Springfield into the public consciousness.' Members of his hate group agreed. 'The president is talking about it now,' a member wrote on Gab, a Twitter-like service popular with extremists. 'This is what real power looks like.'" (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

~~~ Irie Sentner of Politico points out that "... Donald Trump used increasingly harsh rhetoric Friday in describing Haitian migrants in Ohio, saying they're 'destroying their way of life' and threatened mass deportations." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

~~~ All in the Family. Simon Levien of the New York Times: "Donald Trump Jr. suggested on Thursday that Haitian immigrants were less intelligent than people from other countries, and claimed that there was demographic evidence to back this up. He provided none. 'You look at Haiti, you look at the demographic makeup, you look at the average I.Q. -- if you import the third world into your country, you're going to become the third world,' Mr. Trump said in an interview with Charlie Kirk on Real America's Voice, a conservative broadcasting network. 'That's just basic. It's not racist. It's just fact.'" MB: Remember, between Dumb & Dumber, Junior is not the dumber one.

Marcy Wheeler: "At about the same time that several of Donald Trump's most loyal supporters were warning that Laura Loomer's access to the former President threatens his presidential bid, Tim Walz was in Grand Rapids mocking how easy it is to manipulate Donald Trump. 'Kamala Harris was able to, in a matter of a few seconds, use this guy's inflated ego and narcissism to bait him into melting down on a national stage in front of 60 million. You don't think Vladimir Putin could do that? You don't think Xi Jinping could do that?'... The problem isn't Laura Loomer. She&'s little different than all the other extremists who remain in Trump's good graces by performing near-perfect sycophancy. The problem is precisely what Tim Walz warned: Trump's narcissism and his ego make him weak, vulnerable to any person willing to use flattery to win their objectives." (Also linked yesterday.)

Dan Balz of the Washington Post: "... Donald Trump has long inhabited a bizarre world of his own creation. He rewrites history -- or makes it up entirely -- to aggrandize himself, denigrate others and spread the basest of lies. It keeps getting worse. Since Tuesday's debate with Vice President Kamala Harris, he's spiraled ever deeper into conspiracy theories, falsehoods and grievances. He insists he is not a loser. He never lost the 2020 election, he says falsely, and he certainly didn't lose that debate in Philadelphia. He claims victory in an event in which he spent 90 minutes chasing Harris's barbs down every possible rabbit hole. He rarely managed to get off the defensive long enough to make a case against her -- and when he did, he was barely coherent."

JayDee's "Blood-and-Soil Nationalism." Jamelle Bouie of the New York Times: "In his speech accepting the Republican nomination for vice president, [JD] Vance ... said, '[America] is not just an idea. It is a group of people with a shared history and a common future. It is, in short, a nation.' He went on to add that America is a 'homeland' and that 'people will not fight for abstractions, but they will fight for their home.'... In waging rhetorical war on the Haitian immigrants of Springfield, Ohio, Vance has clarified the meaning of his convention speech.... [The Haitian immigrants] don't belong to this soil, he might say, and therefore they don't belong. Right now, the most Vance can do to wage this war is use his words. I shudder to think what might be possible if he had the authority of the state to wield as well." ~~~

     ~~~ Kipp Jones of Mediaite: "The New York Times updated a headline in a Saturday opinion piece that sparked controversy after it appeared to link Sen. JD Vance (R-OH) to Nazism and White Supremacy. A story published Saturday morning by Jamelle Bouie was headlined 'JD Vance's Blood-and-Soil Nationalism Finds Its Target.'... Bouie's headline sparked outrage among conservatives who took to social media to attack the newspaper for, as they argued, connecting the Ohio Republican to White supremacy." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Yeah, I went out of my way not to change the title, without apologies. When you accuse a group of innocent people of a different race of killing and eating white folks' pets, when you accuse the people of spreading HIV & other diseases, when you know these people are being subjected to bomb threats & other harassment, and when you keep escalating your false accusations after they've been debunked, when you say these people don't share "our" experience and don't belong in our "homeland," well, yeah, I do suspect you're practicing your Sieg Heil salute in the bathroom mirror.

Annals of "Journalism," Ctd., New York Times Bonus Edition. Jamison Foser: Here's how the Times opinion page weighed in on the Harris-Trump debate, and after each night of the Democratic and Republican National Conventions: they printed short takes by their staff opinion writers and by outside writers whom the Times chose as contributors: "All together these nine opinion roundups feature 36 appearances by outside contributors with readily-apparent ideological backgrounds or affiliations -- and all 36 are conservatives. (To be clear, there are fewer than 36 people involved; the Times turned to most of the right-wing writers multiple times.)" Emphasis added. Thanks to RAS for the link. (Also linked yesterday.)

I Will Say Anything, Do Anything to Sell My Overpriced "Memoir." Philip Nieto of Mediaite: "Former first lady Melania Trump bashed the FBI for the 2022 raid of Mar-a-Lago over Donald Trump's storage of classified documents in a new video. The video was a promotion for her new upcoming memoir with the title 'Melania.' She opens her remarks with the words of the Fourth Amendment of the Constitution present on the screen followed by music and images of Trump's estate as she slams the FBI's decision to raid her home.... 'I never imagined my privacy would be invaded by the government here in America,' Melania said in the video posted to X on Sunday. 'The FBI raided my home in Florida and searched through my personal belongings.'" MB: You know, Melanie, you should have "imagined" that if you married a crook, the law might one day come along & search through your undies drawers.

Tara Suter of the Hill: "A Democratic strategist who helped organize a 'White Dudes for Harris' call said he is fighting back against a subpoena from Republican House Judiciary Committee Chair Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) on Friday.... The House Judiciary Committee previously subpoenaed Authentic Campaigns, a company the daughter of [Juan Merchan,] the New York judge overseeing former President Trump's hush money trial, has worked for. In a letter late last month, Jordan requested that [Authentic Campaigns CEO Mike] Nellis sit for a deposition alongside the company, as well as sign a sworn affidavit that Authentic Campaigns never had contact with Judge Juan Merchan." (Also linked yesterday.)

The do-nothing Congress out-does-nothing itself: ~~~

~~~ Jacob Bogage & Julie Weil of the Washington Post: Although a majority of both Houses agree that U.S. hostages should not have to pay penalties on taxes for the periods of time they were detained by terrorists or hostile foreign governments, the House & Senate can't get together and pass a bill that forgives any penalties that might be levied. "... there' very little time left in the congressional session, so the Senate probably will not be able to consider the bill this year, and lawmakers will have to start the process from the beginning in 2025." (Also linked yesterday.)

~~~~~~~~~~

Arizona. Filip Timotija of the Hill: "The 19th-century abortion law in the battleground state of Arizona was officially repealed on Saturday. The 1864 law, which was initially passed even before Arizona became a state, was revoked ... Saturday.... The Civil War-era law banned nearly all abortions except in the cases to save the life of the mother.... With the repeal being official, the state will revert back to the 15-week abortion ban. The law has an exception for the life of the mother, but none for cases of incest or rape." An initiative to make abortion a state constitutional right is on the November ballot.

News Lede

Washington Post: "The five-day space voyage known as Polaris Dawn ended safely Sunday as four astronauts aboard a SpaceX Dragon splashed down off the coast of Florida, wrapping up a groundbreaking commercial mission. Polaris Dawn crossed several historic landmarks for civilian spaceflight as Jared Isaacman, a billionaire entrepreneur and adventurer, performed the first spacewalk by a private citizen, followed by SpaceX engineer Sarah Gillis."

The Conversation -- September 14, 2024

The do-nothing Congress out-does-nothing itself: ~~~

~~~ Jacob Bogage & Julie Weil of the Washington Post: Although a majority of both Houses agree that U.S. hostages should not have to pay penalties on taxes for the periods of time they were detained by terrorists or hostile foreign governments, the House & Senate can't get together and pass a bill that forgives any penalties that might be levied. :... there's very little time left in the congressional session, so the Senate probably will not be able to consider the bill this year, and lawmakers will have to start the process from the beginning in 2025."

He's making plans:

BREAKING: This stunning video was just released highlighting all the times Donald Trump allegedly had a plan to fix our healthcare system. Retweet so all Americans see this and call out Trump on his BS. pic.twitter.com/oeswT3Jf8j

— Kamala’s Wins (@harris_wins) September 14, 2024

     ~~~ Thanks to RAS for the link.

Stephen Starr of the Guardian: "In addition to Tuesday's debate, Trump held a news conference Friday in which he rambled without evidence about how Haitians had descended on Springfield 'and destroyed the place'.... Haitians and immigrants from Central American countries have been in high demand at Springfield's Dole Fresh Vegetables -- where they've been hired to clean and package produce -- and at automotive machining plants whose owners were desperate for workers due to a labor shortage in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic.... But the glut of new arrivals has also stretched hospitals and schools in the area, angering many locals who resented their presence.... Soon, rightwing extremists seized on Springfield's unrest. Armed neo-Nazi members of Blood Tribe -- a hardcore white supremacist group, according to the Anti-Defamation League -- flew flags bearing swastikas and marched through a prominent downtown street while a jazz and blues festival was taking place nearby in August." ~~~

~~~ Brandy Zadrozny of NBC News: "The day after the presidential debate at which ... Donald Trump spread a false story about Haitian immigrants eating pets in Springfield, Ohio, Christopher Pohlhaus, leader of the national neo-Nazi group Blood Tribe, took to his Telegram channel to take credit. Pohlhaus, a Marine-turned-tattoo artist known as 'Hammer' to his hundreds of followers, wrote Blood Tribe had 'pushed Springfield into the public consciousness.' Members of his hate group agreed. 'The president is talking about it now,' a member wrote on Gab, a Twitter-like service popular with extremists. 'This is what real power looks like.'" ~~~

~~~ Irie Sentner of Politico points out that "... Donald Trump used increasingly harsh rhetoric Friday in describing Haitian migrants in Ohio, saying they're 'destroying their way of life' and threatened mass deportations."

Marcy Wheeler: "At about the same time that several of Donald Trump’s most loyal supporters were warning that Laura Loomer's access to the former President threatens his presidential bid, Tim Walz was in Grand Rapids mocking how easy it is to manipulate Donald Trump. 'Kamala Harris was able to, in a matter of a few seconds, use this guy's inflated ego and narcissism to bait him into melting down on a national stage in front of 60 million. You don't think Vladimir Putin could do that? You don't think Xi Jinping could do that?'... The problem isn't Laura Loomer. She's little different than all the other extremists who remain in Trump's good graces by performing near-perfect sycophancy. The problem is precisely what Tim Walz warned: Trump's narcissism and his ego make him weak, vulnerable to any person willing to use flattery to win their objectives."

Marie: I think I've found evidence Trump lives in Springfield. I know that's Springfield; isn't that Trump? ~~~

Annals of "Journalism," Ctd., New York Times Bonus Edition. Jamison Foser: Here's how the Times opinion page weighed in on the Harris-Trump debate, and after each night of the Democratic and Republican National Conventions: they printed short takes by their staff opinion writers and by outside writers whom the Times chose as contributors: "All together these nine opinion roundups feature 36 appearances by outside contributors with readily-apparent ideological backgrounds or affiliations -- and all 36 are conservatives. (To be clear, there are fewer than 36 people involved; the Times turned to most of the right-wing writers multiple times.)" Emphasis added. Thanks to RAS for the link.

Tara Suter of the Hill: "A Democratic strategist who helped organize a 'White Dudes for Harris' call said he is fighting back against a subpoena from Republican House Judiciary Committee Chair Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) on Friday.... The House Judiciary Committee previously subpoenaed Authentic Campaigns, a company the daughter of [Juan Merchan,] the New York judge overseeing former President Trump's hush money trial, has worked for. In a letter late last month, Jordan requested that [Authentic Campaigns CEO Mike] Nellis sit for a deposition alongside the company, as well as sign a sworn affidavit that Authentic Campaigns never had contact with Judge Juan Merchan."

~~~~~~~~~~

Presidential Race

Nicholas Nehamas & Reid Epstein of the New York Times: "Vice President Kamala Harris campaigned through Pennsylvania's conservative interior on Friday, aiming to shave a few percentage points off ... Donald J. Trump's winning margins in parts of the state where he remains popular. At a campaign rally in Wilkes-Barre, the largest city in a county where Mr. Trump won 57 percent of the vote in 2020, Ms. Harris said she would remove 'unnecessary degree requirements' for some federal jobs, a pitch to Mr. Trump's base of voters without a college education in a part of the state where he expects to perform well. Ms. Harris also emphasized her work in California prosecuting Mexican drug cartels, and said as president she would continue to go after them 'for pushing poisons like fentanyl on our children.'... The Wilkes-Barre rally, which drew 6,000 people, according to the campaign, followed a stop in Johnstown, Pa., alongside Senator John Fetterman.... In between events, Ms. Harris recorded an interview with the ABC affiliate in Philadelphia -- the first solo television interview she has sat for since she replaced President Biden as the Democratic presidential nominee."

Peter Baker of the New York Times: "President Biden angrily denounced ... Donald J. Trump on Friday for continuing to traffic in false rumors about Haitian immigrants eating cats and dogs, unfounded tales that have roiled a community in Ohio and inflamed the presidential campaign. At a brunch on the South Lawn of the White House billed as a 'celebration of Black excellence,' Mr. Biden noted that Haitian immigrants were 'under attack in our country right now,' a reference everyone in the audience understood even though he did not name Mr. Trump. 'It's simply wrong,' Mr. Biden said, his voice rising in indignation. 'There's no place in America. This has to stop, what he's doing. It has to stop.'... As he mentioned the new jobs for Black Americans, he leaned into the microphone and alluded to Mr. Trump's recent reference to 'Black jobs,' as the former president put it. 'By the way,' Mr. Biden said, 'the next Black job to be filled is as president of the United States of America.'" (Also linked yesterday.)

Simon Levien & Michael Gold of the New York Times: "... Donald J. Trump capped off the week of his first, and possibly only, presidential debate against Vice President Kamala Harris with an unfocused speech at a rally in Las Vegas on Friday night, where he baselessly accused her of cheating, repeated a number of falsehoods on a wide range of topics and continued to try to stoke fear about immigration.... And even as Mr. Trump continued to insist that he had been victorious in the debate -- though some of his allies have acknowledged he had a rough outing -- he accused Ms. Harris of wearing an earpiece in their matchup, a baseless claim that has proliferated on right-wing social media. And he said that Ms. Harris had obtained the questions in advance, an assertion for which there has been no proof. Mr. Trump insulted his Democratic opponents, calling Ms. Harris 'Kambabla,' a mispronunciation of her given name, and he called her running mate, Gov. Tim Walz of Minnesota, 'the vice president,' as he did in a speech on Thursday."

Economic Times: "During a rally in Arizona on Thursday, Trump not only reiterated his false accusations that immigrants are stealing and consuming pets but also added geese to the mix. 'Haitian immigrants have descended upon Springfield, Ohio, and are destroying their way of life,' Trump told the crowd. 'A recording of 911 calls shows residents reporting that the migrants are walking off with the town's geese. They're taking the geese. You know where the geese are? In the park, in the lake. And even walking off with their pets.'" MB: And chickens. From the grocery store. Without any feathers. Or guts. (Also linked yesterday.) Update: See the story by Alicia Lozano of NBC News linked below for the probable source of Trump's goose story. ~~~

~~~ Miriam Jordan & Peter Baker of the New York Times: "The dogs and cats of Springfield, Ohio, appear to be perfectly safe, but many of its people are finding their lives upended this week by political rumormongering that has resulted in multiple bomb threats, school closures and a decision to dispatch the F.B.I. Ever since ... Donald J. Trump claimed on national television that undocumented migrants were stealing and devouring the household pets of Springfield -- 'they're eating the dogs,' he practically shouted, 'they're eating the cats' -- the rhythms and routines in the city have not been the same. Never mind that city authorities have refuted the story and that many residents called it ridiculous." ~~~

~~~ Alicia Lozano of NBC News: "The woman behind an early Facebook post spreading a harmful and baseless claim about Haitian immigrants eating local pets that helped thrust a small Ohio city into the national spotlight says she had no firsthand knowledge of any such incident and is now filled with regret and fear as a result of the ensuing fallout. 'It just exploded into something I didn't mean to happen,' Erika Lee, a Springfield resident, told NBC News on Friday. Lee recently posted on Facebook about a neighbor's cat that went missing, adding that the neighbor told Lee she thought the cat was the victim of an attack by her Haitian neighbors.... The neighbor, Kimberly Newton, said she heard about the attack from a third party.... Newton told [media watchdog] Newsguard that Lee's Facebook post misstated her story, and that the owner of the missing cat was 'an acquaintance of a friend' rather than her daughter's friend.... Other posts have also contributed to the false allegations, including a photo of a man holding a dead goose that was taken in Columbus, Ohio, but was spread by some online as evidence of the claims about Springfield. Graphic video of a woman who allegedly killed and tried to eat a cat was also found not to have originated in Springfield but in Canton, Ohio, and does not have any connection to the Haitian community." ~~~

     ~~~ Alicia Lozano & David Li of NBC News: "Bomb threats on Friday forced the evacuation and closure of [Springfield, Ohio,] public schools and municipal buildings for a second consecutive day, as the city continues to deal with sudden national attention due to false claims involving its Haitian population.... In addition to ... school evacuations, several city commissioners and a municipal employee were the target of an emailed bomb threat, city spokesperson Karen Graves said.... [JD] Vance has also said there's been a 'massive rise in communicable diseases' in Springfield, but Clark County Combined Health District Commissioner Chris Cook said Friday that's not accurate." (Also linked yesterday.) Update: See more on the "communicable diseases" claim in Christopher Wiggins' story for the Advocate, linked below. ~~~

~~~ Fictional Causes, Real Effects. Michael Gold & Jonathan Swan of the New York Times: "... Donald J. Trump said on Friday that if elected to a second term, he would begin his promised mass deportations of undocumented immigrants in two cities in Ohio and Colorado that have been the center of his baseless and exaggerated claims about migrants. 'We're going to have the largest deportation in the history of our country,' Mr. Trump said at a news conference at Trump National Golf Club in Rancho Palos Verdes, Calif., on Friday afternoon. 'And we're going to start with Springfield and Aurora.'... Mr. Trump on Friday dismissed the danger that his rhetoric might be posing to [Springfield's] residents. 'No, no,' he said. 'The real threat is what's happening at our border.'... 'We have millions of people pouring into our country,' he said at the debate in Philadelphia on Tuesday. 'You look at Aurora in Colorado. They are taking over the towns. They're taking over buildings. They're going in violently.'... On Wednesday, the day after the debate, two Republican officials from Aurora issued a joint statement saying that claims about the gang were 'overstated.'" A Guardian story is here. ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Although Gold & Swan don't bother to report it, Baker & Jordan -- in the NYT story linked above -- write, "The majority of Haitians in Springfield and elsewhere in the United States are in the country legally, having received temporary protected status from the Biden administration under a program started by President George W. Bush for nationals of countries in turmoil." That is, there is no reason to deport Haitian immigrants living in Springfield. They are legal residents. But Trump would just sweep everybody (or everybody who is not a blue-eyed blond) into his gigantic deportation dumpster. If thousands of legal residents or even native-born Americans wind up someplace else, too bad. And understand these people will be uprooted and deported because the cat of a daughter of an acquaintance of a friend of a neighbor of a lady in Springfield, Ohio, went missing. I can tell you with absolute certainty that my own cat went missing, and although I suspected a bear had eaten it, the general concensus around town was that it was more likely a bobcat who had my beloved cat for lunch. Everybody was very sorry about my cat and not a one of them blamed human beings for her demise. Still, I'm sad for the cat, and sad too, as things have developed, that I am no longer a bona fide cat lady.

And now, could we please add a dash of homophobia to our regularly-scheduled GOP racism and xenophobia report? Yes, yes, we can, and brought to you by the very same hatemonger, JayDee Vance: ~~~

~~~ Christopher Wiggins of the Advocate: "... U.S. Sen. JD Vance made a series of controversial, bigoted, and inflammatory statements during an interview with CNN's Kaitlan Collins. Vance doubled down on debunked claims about Haitian immigrants abducting pets to eat them and falsely linked the migrant community to rising rates of HIV and tuberculosis in Springfield, Ohio. His remarks have since drawn widespread condemnation for their harmful, fear-mongering nature.... 'Communicable diseases like HIV and TB have skyrocketed in this small Ohio town. This is what Kamala Harris' border policies have done,' he said, without offering evidence to support his claims.... [A] history of associating Haitians with disease resurfaced during the Trump administration, when Title 42 -- a public health measure aimed at stopping the spread of communicable diseases -- was invoked to justify the expulsion of Haitian migrants at the U.S.-Mexico border. Vance's claims that Haitian immigrants are responsible for a rise in HIV reinforce these historical stigmas, stoking xenophobia and racial fear." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: I sort of get why Trump is a narrow-minded bigot. He's Archie Bunker. He grew up in an area of New York where city blocks were defined by the ethnic origins of their residents, AND his father was a Nazi. But JayDee is a generation younger and he grew up in Midwestern small towns where straight white people dominated. What's his problem?

The Company He Keeps, Ctd. Steve Benen of MSNBC: "In theory, it seems utterly bonkers that a major-party candidate for the nation's highest office would bring a 9/11 truther to a 9/11 commemoration. In practice, Trump did it anyway, assuming he'd get away with it.... At a news conference, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries condemned Trump's choice of company, calling the decision 'shocking, irresponsible, and offensive.' The New York Democrat said the former president's actions 'should shock the conscience of all decent Americans.'" (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Jonathan Allen, et al., of NBC News: "Throughout his third presidential campaign, aides and advisers have done their best to shield him from Loomer, a far-right social media influencer, and similar figures who stroke his ego and stoke his basest political instincts. They lost that battle this week.... Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., and Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., major Trump allies in Congress who represent opposite ends of the Republican ideological spectrum, are publicly pressing him to ditch her. Loomer fired back Thursday with a string of invective about Graham." MB: Imagine the response if credible reports emerged that Kamala Harris had a squad of babysitters to keep her away from toxic flatterers. Observers of every stripe would say she was unfit for office and Democrats would demand she be removed from the ticket. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Un-effing-believable. Alexandra Marquez & Vaughn Hillyard of NBC News: "Donald Trump on Friday defended Laura Loomer after some of the former president's closest allies this week raised concerns about his relationship with the far-right activist. 'Laura has been a supporter of mine. Just like a lot of people are supporters, and she's been a supporter of mine. She speaks very positively of the campaign. I'm not sure why you asked that question,' Trump told reporters at a press conference in Rancho Palos Verdes, California.... 'I don't control Laura. Laura -- she's a, she's a free spirit. Well, I don't know. I mean, look, I can't tell Laura what to do,' Trump added on Friday.... Immediately following his press conference, NBC News asked Trump whether he'd been informed of Loomer's conspiracy theories. 'I don't know that much about it. No, I don't,' he said...." Thanks to RAS for the link. MB: We have to assume that Trump is so sick he sees nothing wrong with hanging out with malignant bigots. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

~~~ Chris Hayes' segment on Trump's history of choosing to hang around with crazy people is worth watching. At about 6 minutes in, Trump responds to a reporter's question about his association with Loomer. It's worth listening to in the same way it's fun to listen to a small child whose face is smeared with chocolate repeatedly insist that he did not get into Mom's box of chocolates. One thing we know for sure now: "Laura's a supporter." ~~~

     ~~~ As Hayes points out in the segment, it's mighty unlikely Trump is unaware of Loomer's bigoted remarks, as he reposts them on his failing social media site. ~~~

     ~~~ Michael Gold of the New York Times: Hours after defending Loomer & claiming he knew nothing about her views, "Mr. Trump distanced himself from Ms. Loomer in a post on his social media site, Truth Social, where he noted that she did not work for his campaign and then pivoted to criticizing his political opponents. 'She's a private citizen and longtime supporter,' Mr. Trump wrote. 'I disagree with the statements she made but, like the many millions of people who support me, she is tired of watching the Radical Left Marxists and Fascists violently attack and smear me.'... Asked about Ms. Loomer flying on his plane this week, Mr. Trump said only, 'A lot of people do. It's a very big plane.'" ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: After reporting throughout the story a number of Trump's claims that he had no idea of what-all crazy-ass stuff Loomer's has said & written, in the very last sentence of his report, Gold writes, "In the past, Mr. Trump has sometimes reposted some of Ms. Loomer's posts." A serious journalist would have reported the proofs-of-lies somewhere near the lies, not at the bottom of the page. ~~~

     ~~~ Kit Maher & Kate Sullivan of CNN: "... several people close to the former president say Loomer has contributed to some of the unseemly conspiracy theories Trump has elevated since [Vice President] Harris replaced [President] Biden on the ticket.... Speaking at a rally in Las Vegas later Friday, Trump echoed the baseless claim promoted by Loomer that Vice President Kamala Harris wore an earpiece at their debate Tuesday. 'I also heard she had something in the ear, a little something in the ear: "No, Kamala, do this. Say it this way, Kamala. OK, be quiet, too many people watching,"' he said." MB: The report says that Trump claims he didn't know what Loomer had said but does not mention that Trump reposts some of Loomer's social media posts.

He'll Huff & He'll Puff Til He Burns Your House Down. Soumya Karlamangla of the New York Times: "Donald J. Trump on Friday threatened to withhold federal wildfire aid from California, if elected as president, unless Gov. Gavin Newsom agrees to divert more water to farmers rather than allowing it to flow to the ocean. Mr. Trump, during a news conference in Rancho Palos Verdes, Calif., claimed that the state's devastating wildfires could be prevented by shifts in how California manages its limited water supply. 'If he doesn't sign those papers, we won't give him money to put out all his fires,' Mr. Trump said, referring to Mr. Newsom authorizing water diversions to farmers. 'And if we don't give him all the money to put out the fires, he's got problems.' In his remarks, Mr. Trump, the former Republican president, repeatedly called the Democratic governor 'Newscum.' Soon after, Governor Newsom posted a clip of Trump's comments on X.... Mr. Trump 'just admitted he will block emergency disaster funds to settle political vendettas,' Governor Newsom said. 'Today it's California's wildfires. Tomorrow it could be hurricane funding for North Carolina or flooding assistance for homeowners in Pennsylvania. Donald Trump doesn't care about America -- he only cares about himself.'" ~~~

     ~~~ Tyler Katzenberger, et al., of Politico: "A powerful statewide group representing California firefighters slammed Trump's rhetoric as 'dangerous' and 'ignorant' of the threat wildfires pose to public safety in a statement Friday. 'He would rather watch our state burn in the name of his political games, than to send help if he were to become president again,' said California Professional Firefighters President Brian K. Rice.... [Trump] changed Obama-era rules in order to send more water to farmers four years ago.... Newsom sued over the Trump administration's rules in February 2020, the day after Trump finalized them.... The Biden administration is currently rewriting the rules and plans to release its version by the end of the year, before a potential 2025 Trump presidency." ~~~

     ~~~ ⭐ See Akhilleus's comment at the top of today's thread. Yes, indeed, Trump delivered his dangerous & ignorant remarks at his golf club located in Rancho Pales Verdes.

Charles Homans & Alan Feuer of the New York Times: "Donald J. Trump has made his revisionist account of the [January 6, 2021,] Capitol attack the foundation of this campaign, even when there is little political advantage."

Bill Kristol in the Bulwark: "... it seems that Tuesday night's will be the only Trump-Harris debate. Multiple debates usually result in mixed verdicts, and a general blurring of any one encounter's impact. Trump's choice -- at least for now -- to reject any further debates turns Tuesday night's affair from a best-of-three series into a one-game elimination playoff. Trump lost that one debate. Bigly. And he's been losing as the aftershocks ripple through the political universe." (Also linked yesterday.)

Paul Krugman of the New York Times: "For policy wonks like me..., the most remarkable moment in the debate probably came when Trump was asked whether he had a plan for health care reform, and his answer was: 'I have concepts of a plan.'... Trump ... has repeatedly insisted that Obamacare is 'lousy' and that he can come up with something much better.... Trump ... has been denouncing Obamacare [for nine years] and promising a superior alternative the whole time. Yet the only policy alternative he has ever proposed was 2017 legislation that would have more or less dismantled the A.C.A. without a viable replacement -- and which the Congressional Budget Office estimated would have increased the number of Americans without health insurance by 32 million within a few years.... The truth, I'd argue, is that he's blowing smoke when he claims to have even 'concepts.' That is, neither he nor anyone around him has any real clue about how to do better than the A.C.A." (Also linked yesterday.)

Russ Buettner & Susanne Craig of the New York Times write a long piece on Donald Trump drawn from a book they are writing titled "Lucky Loser: How Donald Trump Squandered His Father's Fortune and Created the Illusion of Success." The article details "how the producers of 'The Apprentice' crafted a TV version of Mr. Trump -- measured, thoughtful and endlessly wealthy -- that ultimately fueled his path to the White House."

Putin Has Another Puppet! Julian Barnes of the New York Times: "Senator JD Vance outlined a peace plan to end the war in Ukraine. But objectively, it sounds a lot like Vladimir Putin's.... Victoria J. Nuland, a former senior State Department official who helped shape the Biden administration's Ukraine policy, said Mr. Vance's plan was very similar to what Mr. Putin had repeatedly offered as peace terms.... In an interview ... that was posted on Thursday, Mr. Vance ... was asked about ... Donald J. Trump's plans to end the war.... He went on to outline what he thinks a deal would entail: The Russians would retain the land they have taken and a demilitarized zone would be established along the current battle lines, with the Ukrainian side heavily fortified to prevent another Russian invasion. While the remainder of Ukraine would remain an independent sovereign state, Mr. Vance said, Russia would get a 'guarantee of neutrality' from Ukraine. 'It doesn't join NATO, it doesn't join some of these sort of allied institutions,' Mr. Vance said. 'I think that's ultimately what this looks like.'" (Also linked yesterday.)

Neither of the Above. Emma Bubola & Elisabetta Povoledo of the New York Times: "Asked his advice to Catholic voters in the coming U.S. presidential election, Pope Francis said they must choose the 'lesser of two evils' because 'both are against life' -- Kamala Harris for her support for abortion rights, and Donald Trump for closing the door to immigrants. 'Sending migrants away, not allowing them to grow, not letting them have life is something wrong; it is cruelty,' Francis said in a news conference on the plane as he returned to Rome after his long trip to Southeast Asia and Oceania. 'Sending a child away from the womb of the mother is murder because there is life. And we must speak clearly about these things.'" A CNN report is here.

Carol Leonnig of the Washington Post: "A Secret Service investigation has confirmed security breakdowns that paved the way for an attempted assassination of Donald Trump, while also revealing new information -- including that agents never directed local police to secure the roof of the building used by the gunman, according to two senior government officials.... The officials ... said the investigation found that agents from Secret Service headquarters and the Pittsburgh field office had an alarmingly slipshod strategy to block a potential shooter from having a clear sight of the Republican nominee for president at the July 13 rally in Butler, Pa."

Holly Bailey of the Washington Post: "A special prosecutor announced Friday that he would not seek criminal charges against Georgia Lt. Gov. Burt Jones (R) over his alleged efforts to help Donald Trump try to overturn his 2020 election loss in the state, finding that Jones had 'not acted with criminal intent.' The decision came five months after Pete Skandalakis, a longtime Georgia prosecutor and Republican, took on the case after he spent nearly two years trying to find another prosecutor to lead the investigation into Jones, a former state senator and prominent Trump surrogate who is said to be considering a run for governor in 2026. A judge disqualified Fulton County District Attorney Fani T. Willis (D) and her staff in July 2022 from investigating or charging Jones as part of her office's investigation into alleged election interference by Trump and his allies because Willis hosted a fundraiser for a former colleague and political rival of Jones.... And in a statement that is likely to seized upon by three Georgia Republicans who now face charges in part for their role as Trump electors, Skandalakis found that the actions Jones took as a Trump elector 'were based upon the advice of attorneys and legal scholars.'"

Here's a firewalled article about a firewalled article, but I can't find a "free" story anywhere, I guess I haven't used up my Beast freebies, so this is the best I can do: ~~~

     ~~~ Sean Craig of the Daily Beast: "Elon Musk secretly funneled hundreds of thousands of dollars into an effort to turf a Democratic prosecutor in Texas, according to a report in The Wall Street Journal. The Texas resident and Tesla and SpaceX CEO was the chief financier of Saving Austin, a group that distributed incendiary material attacking District Attorney José Garza during the Democratic primary, including fliers that baselessly accused him of 'filling Austin's streets with pedophiles & killers,' the Journal reports. Alongside that tagline, the fliers contained an image of the Travis County DA next to a bloody teddy bear and the warning, 'The next victim could be your loved one.' Musk's participation may have been more personal than political due to one key factor: his reported hatred of investor and philanthropist George Soros, a supporter of the DA.... Garza won the March primary with two-thirds of the vote and is expected to win re-election in November." (Also linked yesterday.)

Christina Jewett & Teddy Rosenbluth of the New York Times: "Boar's Head announced on Friday that it would indefinitely shut down the troubled Virginia deli meat plant that it acknowledged had caused a deadly listeria outbreak, killing nine people and sickening dozens more in 18 states. The company also said it had identified liverwurst processing as the source of contamination and would permanently discontinue the product."

~~~~~~~~~~

Massachusetts. Anna Phillips of the Washington Post: "Nearly every state-led effort to ban food waste analyzed by researchers appears to be failing -- except one, according to a new study. The study, published Thursday in the journal Science, singled out Massachusetts for reducing the amount of food that gets tossed in the trash.... Massachusetts reduced its solid waste by an average of 7.3 percent. But similar legislation in the other states -- California, Connecticut, Rhode Island and Vermont -- had no discernible effect.... Food waste is a pressing national problem. Of the millions of tons of food in the United States, more than 30 percent goes unsold and uneaten, according to ReFed, a research and advocacy group.... Spoiled food makes up the single largest volume of material sent to landfills and incinerators, where it decomposes, releasing methane...." Among the reasons for Massachusetts' success: (a) a network of conveniently-located composting centers and (b) extensive enforcement.

Pennsylvania Supreme Voter Suppression. Mark Scolforo of the AP: "Pennsylvania voters could have their mail-in ballots thrown out if they do not write accurate dates on envelopes they use to return them under a state Supreme Court ruling issued Friday that could impact the presidential race. The state's high court ruled on procedural grounds, saying a lower court that found the mandate unenforceable should not have taken up the case because it did not draw in the election boards in all 67 counties. Counties administer the nuts and bolts of elections in Pennsylvania, but the left-leaning groups that filed the case only sued two of them, Philadelphia and Allegheny counties. Commonwealth Court two weeks ago had halted enforcement of the handwritten dates on exterior envelopes. The Supreme Court's reversal of that decision raises the prospect that thousands of ballots that arrive in time might get thrown out in a key swing state in what is expected to be a close presidential contest. Far more Democrats than Republicans vote by mail in the state.... The justices ruled 4-3, with two Democrats joining both Republicans on the Supreme Court to vacate the Commonwealth Court decision. The dissent by three other Democratic justices said the high court should have taken up the dispute." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: The report I posted when the Commonwealth Court made its ruling included statements from elections officials who said the dates voters wrote (or failed to write) on the envelopes was of no consequence and did not affect whether or not the votes on the ballots were tallied. Now, with the supreme court's ruling, those erroneous or missing dates will mean the ballots inside are tossed.

Tennessee Waltz Three-Step. Rachel Bade of Politico: "House Homeland Security Chair Mark Green [R-Tenn.] engaged in an extramarital affair, the woman involved told Politico Friday -- speaking out after a text message from Green's estranged wife circulated among House Republicans. In that message, first sent to a group of acquaintances on Wednesday, Camilla Green announced that the Tennessee Republican, her husband of 35 years, was leaving her for a younger woman he had met in Washington. It also included an allegation about the identity of the woman's employer, sparking a legal threat from the company.... Camilla Green subsequently said she initially pointed the finger at the wrong person. Her message identified Green's romantic partner as a '32 year old woman that works for Axios,' the online news outlet. In fact, Green's relationship was with a different woman, who works in politics in Washington but has no affiliation with Axios, according to multiple people...."

~~~~~~~~~~

Ukraine, et al.

Michael Shear & David Sanger of the New York Times: "President Biden's deliberations with Prime Minister Keir Starmer of Britain about whether to allow Ukraine to attack Russia with long-range Western weapons were fresh evidence that the president remains deeply fearful of setting off a dangerous, wider conflict. But the decision now facing Mr. Biden after Friday's closed-door meeting at the White House -- whether to sign off on the use of long-range missiles made by Britain and France -- could be far more consequential than previous concessions by the president that delivered largely defensive weapons to Ukraine during the past two and a half years. In remarks at the start of his meeting with Mr. Starmer, the president underscored his support for helping Ukraine defend itself but did not say whether he was willing to do more to allow for long-range strikes deep into Russia."

Russia, Russia, Russia. Joseph Gedeon of Politico: "The State Department on Friday accused RT of having transformed from a state-backed propaganda outlet into a sophisticated arm of Russian intelligence, secretly operating a vast military procurement network to supply Russian forces in Ukraine. RT, formerly Russia Today, has been pulling this off by using a large online crowdfunding platform, promoted through social media, to buy military equipment and then channel it to Russian units in Ukraine, according to the State Department. The administration said the operations were administered by RT deputy editor-in-chief and head of international broadcasting for Sputnik Anton Anisimov and had avoided detection by importing small orders of weaponry and supplies." (Also linked yesterday.)

Ivan Nechepurenko of the New York Times: "Russia announced on Friday that it had decided to expel six British diplomats from the country, accusing them of engaging in espionage and sabotage work, in a move that highlighted the deepening tensions between Moscow and London. The Russian Federal Security Service, or F.S.B., said that the decision had been made in response to 'the numerous unfriendly steps taken by London,' a possible reference to signals from Britain that it was willing to allow Ukraine to use its 'Storm Shadow' long-range missiles against targets deep inside Russia. Speaking on Thursday about that potential shift on the use of missiles, President Vladimir V. Putin warned that such a decision would mean that NATO countries were 'at war with Russia' and that it would 'clearly change the very essence, the very nature of the conflict.'" (Also linked yesterday.)

The Conversation -- September 13, 2024

Putin Has Another Puppet! Julian Barnes of the New York Times: "Senator JD Vance outlined a peace plan to end the war in Ukraine. But objectively, it sounds a lot like Vladimir Putin's.... Victoria J. Nuland, a former senior State Department official who helped shape the Biden administration's Ukraine policy, said Mr. Vance's plan was very similar to what Mr. Putin had repeatedly offered as peace terms.... In an interview ... that was posted on Thursday, Mr. Vance ... was asked about ... Donald J. Trump's plans to end the war.... He went on to outline what he thinks a deal would entail: The Russians would retain the land they have taken and a demilitarized zone would be established along the current battle lines, with the Ukrainian side heavily fortified to prevent another Russian invasion. While the remainder of Ukraine would remain an independent sovereign state, Mr. Vance said, Russia would get a 'guarantee of neutrality' from Ukraine. 'It doesn't join NATO, it doesn't join some of these sort of allied institutions,' Mr. Vance said. 'I think that's ultimately what this looks like.'"

Peter Baker of the New York Times: "President Biden angrily denounced ... Donald J. Trump on Friday for continuing to traffic in false rumors about Haitian immigrants eating cats and dogs, unfounded tales that have roiled a community in Ohio and inflamed the presidential campaign. At a brunch on the South Lawn of the White House billed as a 'celebration of Black excellence,' Mr. Biden noted that Haitian immigrants were 'under attack in our country right now,' a reference everyone in the audience understood even though he did not name Mr. Trump. 'It's simply wrong,' Mr. Biden said, his voice rising in indignation. 'There's no place in America. This has to stop, what he's doing. It has to stop.'... As he mentioned the new jobs for Black Americans, he leaned into the microphone and alluded to Mr. Trump's recent reference to 'Black jobs,' as the former president put it. 'By the way,' Mr. Biden said, 'the next Black job to be filled is as president of the United States of America.'" ~~~

~~~ Economic Times: "During a rally in Arizona on Thursday, Trump not only reiterated his false accusations that immigrants are stealing and consuming pets but also added geese to the mix. 'Haitian immigrants have descended upon Springfield, Ohio, and are destroying their way of life,' Trump told the crowd. 'A recording of 911 calls shows residents reporting that the migrants are walking off with the town's geese. They're taking the geese. You know where the geese are? In the park, in the lake. And even walking off with their pets.'" MB: And chickens. From the grocery store. Without any feathers.

Alicia Lozano & David Li of NBC News: "Bomb threats on Friday forced the evacuation and closure of [Springfield, Ohio,] public schools and municipal buildings for a second consecutive day, as the city continues to deal with sudden national attention due to false claims involving its Haitian population.... In addition to ... school evacuations, several city commissioners and a municipal employee were the target of an emailed bomb threat, city spokesperson Karen Graves said.... [JD] Vance has also said there's been a 'massive rise in communicable diseases' in Springfield, but Clark County Combined Health District Commissioner Chris Cook said Friday that's not accurate."

The Company He Keeps, Ctd. Steve Benen of MSNBC: "In theory, it seems utterly bonkers that a major-party candidate for the nation's highest office would bring a 9/11 truther to a 9/11 commemoration. In practice, Trump did it anyway, assuming he'd get away with it.... At a news conference, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries condemned Trump's choice of company, calling the decision 'shocking, irresponsible, and offensive.' The New York Democrat said the former president's actions 'should shock the conscience of all decent Americans.'" ~~~

     ~~~ Jonathan Allen, et al., of NBC News: "Throughout his third presidential campaign, aides and advisers have done their best to shield him from Loomer, a far-right social media influencer, and similar figures who stroke his ego and stoke his basest political instincts. They lost that battle this week.... Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., and Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., major Trump allies in Congress who represent opposite ends of the Republican ideological spectrum, are publicly pressing him to ditch her. Loomer fired back Thursday with a string of invective about Graham." MB: Imagine the response if credible reports emerged that Kamala Harris had a squad of babysitters to keep her away from toxic flatterers. Observers of every stripe would say she was unfit for office.

     ~~~ Un-effing-believable. Alexandra Marquez & Vaughn Hillyard of NBC News: “Donald Trump on Friday defended Laura Loomer after some of the former president's closest allies this week raised concerns about his relationship with the far-right activist. 'Laura has been a supporter of mine. Just like a lot of people are supporters, and she's been a supporter of mine. She speaks very positively of the campaign. I'm not sure why you asked that question,' Trump told reporters at a press conference in Rancho Palos Verdes, California.... 'I don't control Laura. Laura -- she's a, she's a free spirit. Well, I don't know. I mean, look, I can't tell Laura what to do,' Trump added on Friday.... Immediately following his press conference, NBC News asked Trump whether he'd been informed of Loomer's conspiracy theories. 'I don't know that much about it. No, I don't,' he said...." Thanks to RAS for the link. MB: We have to assume that Trump is so sick he sees nothing wrong with hanging out with malignant bigots.

Joseph Gedeon of Politico: "The State Department on Friday accused RT of having transformed from a state-backed propaganda outlet into a sophisticated arm of Russian intelligence, secretly operating a vast military procurement network to supply Russian forces in Ukraine. RT, formerly Russia Today, has been pulling this off by using a large online crowdfunding platform, promoted through social media, to buy military equipment and then channel it to Russian units in Ukraine, according to the State Department. The administration said the operations were administered by RT deputy editor-in-chief and head of international broadcasting for Sputnik Anton Anisimov and had avoided detection by importing small orders of weaponry and supplies."

Today's Art Lesson: Portraiture. Thanks to RAS for the link.

Bill Kristol in the Bulwark: "... it seems that Tuesday night's will be the only Trump-Harris debate. Multiple debates usually result in mixed verdicts, and a general blurring of any one encounter's impact. Trump's choice -- at least for now -- to reject any further debates turns Tuesday night's affair from a best-of-three series into a one-game elimination playoff. Trump lost that one debate. Bigly. And he's been losing as the aftershocks ripple through the political universe."

Paul Krugman of the New York Times: "For policy wonks like me..., the most remarkable moment in the debate probably came when Trump was asked whether he had a plan for health care reform, and his answer was: 'I have concepts of a plan.'... Trump ... has repeatedly insisted that Obamacare is 'lousy' and that he can come up with something much better.... Trump ... has been denouncing Obamacare [for nine years] and promising a superior alternative the whole time. Yet the only policy alternative he has ever proposed was 2017 legislation that would have more or less dismantled the A.C.A. without a viable replacement -- and which the Congressional Budget Office estimated would have increased the number of Americans without health insurance by 32 million within a few years.... The truth, I'd argue, is that he&'s blowing smoke when he claims to have even 'concepts.' That is, neither he nor anyone around him has any real clue about how to do better than the A.C.A."

Ivan Nechepurenko of the New York Times: "Russia announced on Friday that it had decided to expel six British diplomats from the country, accusing them of engaging in espionage and sabotage work, in a move that highlighted the deepening tensions between Moscow and London. The Russian Federal Security Service, or F.SB., said that the decision had been made in response to 'the numerous unfriendly steps taken by London,' a possible reference to signals from Britain that it was willing to allow Ukraine to use its 'Storm Shadow' long-range missiles against targets deep inside Russia. Speaking on Thursday about that potential shift on the use of missiles, President Vladimir V. Putin warned that such a decision would mean that NATO countries were 'at war with Russia' and that it would 'clearly change the very essence, the very nature of the conflict.'"

Here's a firewalled article about a firewalled article, but I can't find a "free" story anywhere, I guess I haven't used up my Beast freebies, so this is the best I can do: ~~~

     ~~~ Sean Craig of the Daily Beast: "Elon Musk secretly funneled hundreds of thousands of dollars into an effort to turf a Democratic prosecutor in Texas, according to a report in The Wall Street Journal. The Texas resident and Tesla and SpaceX CEO was the chief financier of Saving Austin, a group that distributed incendiary material attacking District Attorney José Garza during the Democratic primary, including fliers that baselessly accused him of 'filling Austin's streets with pedophiles & killers,' the Journal reports. Alongside that tagline, the fliers contained an image of the Travis County DA next to a bloody teddy bear and the warning, 'The next victim could be your loved one.' Musk's participation may have been more personal than political due to one key factor: his reported hatred of investor and philanthropist George Soros, a supporter of the DA.... Garza won the March primary with two-thirds of the vote and is expected to win re-election in November."

~~~~~~~~~~

Presidential Race

It's Friday the 13th. Let's try to think of somebody who deserves a little bad luck.

Erica Green & Maya King of the New York Times: "At her first post-debate campaign events, Vice President Kamala Harris repeatedly challenged ... Donald J. Trump to a second onstage clash and sought to use her opponent's erratic performance as a springboard into the race's final stretch.... Despite Ms. Harris's sharp performance on Tuesday night -- her team quickly said she would be willing to debate again -- her campaign has indicated that it sees the race as virtually unchanged, and has tried to keep Democrats grounded by reminding donors and supporters that 'elections are not won by debates.' But at back-to-back rallies in Charlotte and Greensboro, Ms. Harris signaled that she would try to make some of Mr. Trump's debate remarks echo through the rest of the campaign.... Ms. Harris's visit came as Democrats make a serious play for North Carolina, which was home to President Biden's narrowest loss in 2020 but has a large and growing population of Black people, young people and college graduates." Harris drew a crowd of 7,500 in Charlotte & 17,000 in Greensboro.

Theodore Schleifer & Shane Goldmacher of the New York Times: "Vice President Kamala Harris raised $47 million in the first 24 hours following her debate with ... Donald J. Trump on Tuesday night, a sum that will likely expand a widening funding gap between the two campaigns. That tally, shared by the Harris campaign with The New York Times, included donations from 600,000 people. It is her largest 24-hour fund-raising period since an initial burst of donations when she entered the race in July and raised $81 million on the first day."

Hmmm. Kaia Hubbard of CBS News: "Former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales on Thursday endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris for president, writing in an op-ed of the 'serious threat' Donald Trump poses to the rule of law.... The former attorney general, who resigned as attorney general in 2007 amid accusations that he had lied in front of Congress and a scandal over the firing of nine U.S. attorneys, argued that the 'character of the person we elect in November' is of particular importance because members of Congress 'have proven spectacularly incapable or unwilling to check abuses of executive power.' He noted that while the Supreme Court has the ability to check presidential power, the high court's recent ruling in the presidential immunity case 'might allow a president to take official actions for personal, self-serving reasons.'" (Also linked yesterday.)

[BLAH, BLAH BLAH.] THERE WILL BE NO THIRD DEBATE! -- Donald Trump, in a post ~~~

~~~ ⭐ Trump Turns Tail. Brett Samuels of the Hill: "Former President Trump said Thursday he would not participate in another debate with Vice President Harris.... Shortly after Trump's social media post, Harris took to the stage for a rally in North Carolina where she addressed her desire to face the former president again. 'I believe we owe it to the voters to have another debate, because this election and what are at stake could not be more important,' Harris told supporters.... A CNN rapid poll found 63 percent of debate watchers said Harris won Tuesday's debate, compared to 37 percent who said Trump won. Multiple polls released Thursday showed Harris widening her lead over Trump nationally." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Who can blame him? His debate opponent would be dumb as a rock, an ignorant chick from India, who suddenly turned Black, then stole the votes of 14 million people & forced Joe Biden to pick her for president, then acted real nice to everybody except Trump, then whupped his ass in a debate because ABC cheated & gave her the questions in advance and ordered both moderators to help her out. And he still won anyway 93% to 7%, according to a very fake poll. ~~~

     ~~~ Oliver O'Connell of the Independent, republished by Yahoo! News: "Karl Rove, the Republican political consultant and deputy chief of staff in the George W Bush administration, has pulled no punches in an op-ed saying that Donald Trump's debate against Kamala Harris was a 'train wreck' for him. Calling Trump's debate performance 'catastrophic', he goes as far as to say that he was 'crushed by a woman he previously dismissed as "dumb as a rock".' Writing in The Wall Street Journal, Rove says the former president's performance was 'far worse than anything Team Trump could have imagined' and Trump was 'visibly rattled' as Harris 'launched rocket after rocket at him.'" Here's a big piece of the op-ed, which Rove published on his own Website.

A Failure by Another Measure. Matthew Goldstein of the New York Times: "Shares of Trump Media & Technology Group, the parent company of Truth Social, fell more than 10 percent by the market's close on the day after the debate between Mr. Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris. Since Trump Media's debut on Wall Street in March, the company's stock has traded as something of a proxy for Mr. Trump's prospects in the November presidential election.... Shares of Trump Media, which were down as much as 15 percent on Wednesday, have fallen to their lowest level since the money-losing company went public in March, after its merger with a cash-rich shell company, Digital World Acquisition Corporation."

Michael Shear, et al., of the New York Times: "For years..., Donald J. Trump has tried to stir up fears about immigrants with claims of caravans full of criminals and rapists heading toward America's southern border. In Tuesday night's debate with Vice President Kamala Harris, he doubled down on the vitriol, promoting a debunked conspiracy theory that Haitian immigrants were killing Americans' house pets and eating them for dinner. Mr. Trump's political goals appear to be the same as they always have been: to stoke anger and give people someone to blame for their misfortunes. But the debate highlighted how Mr. Trump has escalated his assaults on immigrants in the 2024 presidential campaign, and how he uses the issue to overshadow other topic...." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: I suspect that Trump, the quintessential bully, was bullied when he was a kid because his mother and his paternal grandfather were immigrants. Probably some of the rich kids he wanted to hang with traced their roots to the Mayflower or the Dutch colonists of New Amsterdam. And these mean boys let little Donnie know he could never be one of them. A sense of inferiority is what drives Donnie to try to give others a lower status than the one he feels he occupies. Sad! ~~~

~~~ AND now we find out that "They're eating dogs! They're eating cats!" was a planned attack on Harris! ~~~

     ~~~ Marc Caputo of the Bulwark: "Donald Trump had a plan for Tuesday night's presidential debate.... If the moderators hit him for spreading a baseless urban legend about Haitian immigrants eating cats in the small city of Springfield, Ohio, the ex-president was supposed to execute a classic rope-a-dope strategy: He would dodge the punch and place the blame for the story on town locals; then he'd pivot to attacking Vice President Kamala Harris and the media over the toll of rampant immigration on housing, healthcare, and crime in Springfield. It was all strategized in advance. There was just one problem: It required Trump to execute it.... But when the topic of immigration came up, the former president got sidetracked by taking umbrage with Harris's insistence that he had uninspiring rallies. He then mentioned the possibility of World War III.... [Then he said,] 'In Springfield, they're eating the dogs.... The people that came in. They're eating the cats. They're eating -- they're eating the pets of the people that live there.... The entire episode ended up being less rope-a-dope and more a dope who had hanged himself with some rope." ~~~

     ~~~ Azi Paybarah & Amy Wang of the Washington Post: "The mayor of Springfield, Ohio, said a bomb threat Thursday that led to the evacuation of City Hall and numerous buildings 'used hateful language towards immigrants and Haitians in our community.... Springfield is a community that needs help,' Mayor Rob Rue said in an interview with The Washington Post. The mayor added that national leaders should provide that help and not 'hurt a community like, unfortunately, we have seen over the last couple of days.'" An ABC News story is here. ~~~

     ~~~ Haley Wilt of NOTUS collects some Congressional Republicans' reactions to Donald Trump's pet-on-a-spit claims. It's fair to say that some of the members' responses are as bizarre as Trump's myth.

digby: "Trump has a very small vocabulary for a supposedly educated person and speaks at a 4th grade level according to experts. There's nothing new in that. And repeating himself is part of his strategy to convince people his lies are the truth. His 'cognitive tests' (which he says he 'aced' like nobody's ever aced them before) notwithstanding, he is getting worse. He can't seem to keep a single train of thought and that's actually new. He's calling this rambling 'the weave' and says his English professor friends call it brilliant. (He has no English professor friends.)" digby cites at length an Atlantic essay by psychiatrist Richard Friedman, who points to some evidence of Trump's cognitive decline. Friedman "says that if he had a patient with the 'verbal incoherence, tangential thinking, and repetitive speech' that Trump shows, he would definitely refer him for a thorough neuropsychiatric evaluation. Also, those characteristics make him completely unqualified to be president of the United States. I'm not a psychiatrist but would just add that he's also a puerile, self-centered asshole who only cares about himself which is also disqualifying." MB: Yup.

Isaac Arnsdorf of the Washington Post: "After an initial period of relative restraint, [Donald Trump] has begun blaming [the assassination attempt in Butler, Pa.,] on his opponents and amplifying conspiracy theories.... 'I probably took a bullet to the head because of the things that they say about me,' Trump said at Tuesday's ABC News debate.... 'It is creating a permission structure for at least some people to want to take matters into their own hands,' said Matt Dallek, a George Washington University professor...." (Also linked yesterday.)

The Company He Keeps, Ctd. Ken Bensinger of the New York Times: "Before Donald J. Trump traveled to Philadelphia for this week's debate, he invited one of the internet's most polarizing figures along for the ride. Laura Loomer was backstage with the Trump entourage.... She was in the spin room with the former president immediately after [the debate]. And the next day, she flew with him to New York City and Shanksville, Pa., to commemorate the anniversary of Sept. 11. A far-right activist known for her endless stream of sexist, homophobic, transphobic, anti-Muslim and occasionally antisemitic social media posts and public stunts, Ms. Loomer has made a name for herself over the past decade by unabashedly claiming 9/11 was 'an inside job,' calling Islam 'a cancer,' accusing Ron DeSantis's wife of exaggerating breast cancer and claiming that President Biden was behind the attempt to assassinate Mr. Trump in July. Just two days before the debate, Ms. Loomer, 31, posted a racist joke about the vice president, whose mother was Indian American.... For many observers, including some of Mr. Trump's most important allies, the Republican presidential nominee's choice ... to platform a social-media instigator ... was stunning." ~~~

~~~ Natalie Allison & Meredith McGraw of Politico: "Two loyal allies of Donald Trump are feuding over a bigoted post about Kamala Harris' Indian heritage, the latest sign of discord among MAGA surrogates as the former president seeks to regain his lead in the presidential race. Laura Loomer, a right-wing activist and close Trump ally, was rebuked by Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) on social media Wednesday evening after referencing racist and offensive cultural stereotypes about Harris, whose mother was Indian." (Also linked yesterday.)

Yes, this guy. Really. This guy.The Company He Keeps, Ctd. Tom Dreisbach of NPR: "Twice this past summer, Donald Trump's golf club in Bedminster, N.J. has featured speeches from a rioter convicted of participating in the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol, who has a well-documented history of extreme antisemitic and racist rants. One of those events -- a fundraiser for a controversial nonprofit group that supports Capitol riot defendants -- was personally endorsed by Trump himself in a video message that was played for the room. 'All of the people there, you're amazing patriots,' Trump said in the video. 'Have a great time at Bedminster.' As part of his criminal case over Jan. 6, federal prosecutors described the rioter, Timothy Hale-Cusanelli, as a 'white supremacist and Nazi sympathizer,' who told his coworkers at a naval weapons station that 'Hitler should have finished the job' and 'babies born with any deformities or disabilities should be shot in the forehead.'"

It saddens me to see the former president bring his hate show to Tucson, a town with deep Mexican American roots and a joyful, tolerant spirit. -- Linda Ronstadt, in a statement

Maggie Astor of the New York Times: "The singer Linda Ronstadt denounced Donald J. Trump on Wednesday night in a statement released before his scheduled visit to Tucson for a campaign rally on Thursday, saying she had felt compelled to speak out because his event would be held at a venue named after her. Her statement, which also endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris, took aim at the former president on a range of issues, including the rape allegations against him -- he was found liable for sexual abuse in a civil case last year -- and his felony convictions in New York. She particularly objected to the policy during his presidency that separated thousands of migrant families...." (Also linked yesterday.)

How Low Can They Go? Katie Glueck of the New York Times: "A super PAC that appears to have Republican ties is targeting Michigan residents -- including those in Detroit-area ZIP codes that are home to many Muslim Americans and Arab Americans -- with YouTube advertisements that highlight Vice President Kamala Harris's support for Israel and, in some cases, the Jewish faith of her husband, [Doug] Emhoff. As the narrator cheerfully notes Mr. Emhoff's religion, an image of the Israeli flag appears onscreen, a dog whistle conjuring the antisemitic trope of dual loyalty. 'Kamala Harris is a strong leader for these difficult times -- and joining Kamala will be her husband and top adviser, Doug Emhoff,' the narrator says, as images cycle across the screen of Mr. Emhoff wearing a yarmulke; visiting Oskar Schindler's factory; and lighting Hanukkah candles with Ms. Harris.... That group, which is scheduled to host an event for ... Donald J. Trump in Pennsylvania later this month, is led by Richard Grenell, who held a number of senior jobs in the Trump administration, and former Representative Lee Zeldin of New York, a Republican."

Joe DePaolo of Mediaite: "A viral clip has been making the rounds on the Right -- purporting to show music superstar Usher, during an appearance on The View, declining to endorse Vice President Kamala Harris.... Turning Points USA founder Charlie Kirk posted the clip on X... Prominent Right-wing accounts shared Kirk's clip -- and applauded Usher for his comments.... But the full video tells a very different story.... 'So you're supporting Kamala Harris in this election, I understand?' Behar asked Usher. 'Yes!' Usher replied, enthusiastically." MB: It's no wonder that no one on the right know what's going on. (Also linked yesterday.)

Nandika Chatterjee of Salon: "During Wednesday's 'Cavuto: Coast to Coast,' the eponymous host bashed [Donald Trump], saying that 'he decisively lost' the debate with Harris. 'This was the first occasion where it wasn't just a close call, it was a lopsided one.'... Fox News chief political analyst Brit Hume ... agreed, saying: 'Trump had a bad night. He rose to the bait repeatedly when she baited him, something I'm sure his advisers had begged him not to do.'... Trump was not happy with Cavuto's remarks and responded on Truth Social, writing: 'Neil Cavuto, Fox's Lowest Rated Anchor, is one of the WORST on Television. I actually prefer the losers at CNN and MSDNC!'"

Annals of "Journalism," Ctd. Dan Froomkin of Press Watch: "Is [Donald Trump] competent to be president? That's a question journalists should be asking, prominently and relentlessly, until Election Day. After the June debate that so clearly exposed Joe Biden's cognitive decline, news coverage questioning his competence to hold office for another term was seemingly never-ending, and for good reason.... Now Trump has had a debate that raises serious questions about his competence. And although his party remains solidly behind him, leading Democrats are increasingly willing to raise the issue. In the wake of the debate, for instance, House minority leader Hakeem Jeffries called for Trump to take a cognitive test.... There are some signs that journalists may rise to the occasion. The day after the debate, in an NPR article that went viral (thanks to me) Domenico Montenaro wrote boldly [linked in the Comments here] -- and accurately -- that 'The spotlight should now be on Trump's incoherence and general lack of any serious grasp on policy.'... The first thing reporters can do is stop covering up for the crazy."

Marshall Cohen, et al., of CNN: "A judge on Thursday threw out three charges in the sweeping Georgia election subversion case, including two charges that ... Donald Trump faces. The decision hasn't yet been formally applied to Trump because his case has been paused pending appeals. In a separate ruling, Fulton County Judge Scott McAfee also upheld the marquee racketeering charge in the case, which Trump is also facing." (Also linked yesterday.)

Michael Shear of the New York Times: "The Justice Department on Thursday charged two men with assaulting a New York Times photographer on Jan. 6, 2021, accusing them of pushing her to the ground and stealing her camera as they participated in the storming of the Capitol. The two men, Philip and David Walker, are brothers who authorities say were part of the mob that breached security around the Capitol that day and pushed their way into the building...."

Steve Karnowski of the AP: "Package delivery company DHL is suing MyPillow, alleging the company synonymous with its founder, chief pitchman and election denier Mike Lindell owes nearly $800,000 for unpaid bills. The lawsuit is the latest legal dispute to emerge against MyPillow and Lindell, a prominent supporter of Donald Trump who has helped amplify the former president's false claims that the 2020 election was stolen from him.... [Lindell is] being sued for defamation by two voting machine companies. Lawyers who were originally defending him in those cases quit over unpaid bills.... A judge in Februaryaffirmed a $5 million arbitration award to a software engineer who challenged data that Lindell said proved that China interfered in the 2020 election."

Hannah Rabinowitz of CNN: "Attorney General Merrick Garland slammed efforts to turn the Justice Department into a 'political weapon' during a fiery speech Thursday to department staff and US attorneys from across the country amid attacks from ... Donald Trump and his allies. Garland decried the 'escalation of attacks' against its career staff in years through 'conspiracy theories, dangerous falsehoods, efforts to bully and intimidate career public servants by repeatedly and publicly singling them out, and threats of actual violence.' The attorney general's comments come as Trump has claimed that the Justice Department has been weaponized against him amid his criminal prosecutions and suggested that he would politicize the department should he return to the Oval Office.... 'Our norms are a promise that we will not allow this nation to become a country where law enforcement is treated as an apparatus of politics,' Garland added to applause. Trump and his associates have publicly discussed plans to dismantle the department and its law enforcement components like the FBI, or to prosecute his political enemies.... Neither Trump nor his allies were mentioned by name." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Sorry, it's not a gutsy speech if you don't explicitly finger the perp, something Garland should have done years ago. Merrick the Unready remains unready. See Akhilleus's and Jeanne's commentary in yesterday's thread on Merrick's "fiery" speech.

Stephen Neukam of Axios: "Sen. Joe Manchin (I-W.Va.) has given Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer a potentially easier path to helping President Biden beat former President Trump's record on judicial nominees.... Manchin backtracked Thursday on a March promise to vote 'no' on any purely partisan nominees. That's a huge win for Schumer, who was previously looking to capitalize on GOP absences or rely on Vice President Kamala Harris to break ties. In a surprise, Manchin voted to advance the nomination of Kevin Ritz for the U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals, even though it picked up no Republican support. One lingering question: Manchin's team didn't say whether he'd abide by that standard in the future."

Niraj Chokshi of the New York Times: "Thousands of Boeing workers walked off the job on Friday after rejecting a contract offer from the company, a potentially costly disruption as Boeing tries to increase airplane production after a safety crisis. The strike, the first at Boeing in 16 years, is expected to bring operations to a halt in the Seattle area, home to most of Boeing's commercial plane manufacturing. The slowdown could also further disrupt the company's fragile supply chain."

Hurubie Meko of the New York Times: "Harvey Weinstein, the disgraced Hollywood mogul whose conviction for sex crimes in New York was overturned in April, is facing a new indictment, Manhattan prosecutors said in a hearing on Thursday. Mr. Weinstein, 72, was not in court on Thursday morning. He was still in Bellevue Hospital after being rushed from the Rikers Island jail complex for emergency heart surgery on Monday morning, according to jail records. The new indictment is still sealed and awaiting Mr. Weinstein's recovery so he can be arraigned, prosecutors said." (Also linked yesterday.)

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Molly Hennessy-Fiske, et al., of the Washington Post: "An unprecedented number of abortion initiatives are on state ballots this November, nearly all seeking to protect reproductive rights, but opponents are trying to defeat them even before the start of voting through legal challenges, administrative maneuvers and, critics say, outright intimidation. In Missouri, the Republican secretary of state pulled an abortion rights measure from the November ballot until the state's highest court ordered him to include it. In Florida, the governor's election police arrived at voters' front doors to question them about signing a petition for an abortion referendum -- encounters that one man said 'left me shaken.' And in Arizona, the state's Supreme Court allowed government pamphlets on the proposed constitutional amendment there to describe a fetus as an 'unborn human being.'" (Also linked yesterday.)

More Voter Suppression. Colby Itkowitz of the Washington Post: A GOP lawsuit to reject mail-in ballots with minor errors "is part of a nationwide legal campaign that the GOP has waged since 2020 to reject mail-in ballots. Republicans say the litigation is aimed at enforcement of election law, down to the letter. But critics see a strategy that has nothing to do with election integrity and everything to do with disqualifying voters who cast ballots by mail, an overwhelming majority of whom support Democrats.... Republicans have engaged in similar legal battles to throw out mail-in ballots over technical reasons in other states, including those, like Pennsylvania, considered crucial to the outcome of the presidential vote." The article cites efforts in Wisconsin, North Carolina, Georgia, Michigan and Nevada. (Also linked yesterday.)

New York. Maria Cramer, et al., of the New York Times: "Edward A. Caban, the New York City police commissioner, announced his resignation in an email to the Police Department on Thursday, eight days after federal agents seized his phone as part of a criminal investigation. Commissioner Caban, 57, had been under pressure to resign from Mayor Eric Adams's administration, which had asked him to step aside on Monday, according to two people with knowledge of the matter." (Also linked yesterday.)

North Dakota. Kate Zernike of the New York Times: "A North Dakota judge overturned the state's near-total abortion ban on Thursday, saying that the State Constitution protected a woman's right to abortion until the fetus was viable. 'The North Dakota Constitution guarantees each individual, including women, the fundamental right to make medical judgments affecting his or her bodily integrity, health and autonomy, in consultation with a chosen health care provider free from government interference,' wrote Judge Bruce Romanick of the district court in Burleigh County. The judge, who was elected to his position, also ruled that the law violated the State Constitution's due process protections because it was too vague in how it defined exceptions to the ban. The North Dakota attorney general has vowed to appeal the decision. And while the judge's order means that abortion will become legal soon, the procedure will remain largely unavailable because the only clinic in the state has moved to Minnesota, according to the Center for Reproductive Rights, which brought the suit in 2022 on behalf of that clinic." (Also linked yesterday.)

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Israel/Palestine, et al. The New York Times' live updates of developments Thursday in the Israel/Hamas war are here: "Condemnation of a deadly Israeli strike on a school turned shelter in central Gaza mounted on Thursday, as Israel said that the complex crowded with people driven from their homes had become a headquarters for militants. The site, once known as Al-Jaouni School, had been home to around 12,000 displaced people from the Gaza Strip, mainly women and children, according to the United Nations, which operated the school. Israel has struck the compound five separate times since the war began last October, it said. The Palestinian authorities said the Israeli strike on Wednesday killed 18 Gazans. Among them were six U.N. employees, including the shelter's manager, the most U.N. employees to die in a single strike in Gaza since the war began, the organization said." (Also linked yesterday.)