The Conversation -- September 12, 2024

[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." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Who can blame him? His opponent would be a girl 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 after ABC 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 reliable poll.

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."

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."

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...." ~~~

     ~~~ 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!

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...."

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.

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.'"

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...."

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."

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."

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."

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." ~~~

     ~~~ 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 below on Merrick's "fiery" speech.

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.

The Company He Keeps, Ctd. 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."

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.'"

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Lola Fadulu & Alyce McFadden of the New York Times: "Mourners gathered in Lower Manhattan and across New York City on Wednesday to commemorate the nearly 3,000 people who died in the Sept. 11 attacks 23 years ago and the many who have died from related illnesses since.... Earlier this week, New York Fire Department officials announced a sad milestone: The department has now lost more than 360 members to illnesses related to Sept. 11, exceeding the 343 members who died in the attacks. At least 11,000 members have illnesses linked to time spent at ground zero, officials estimated, and at least 3,500 have cancer. Some families are still fighting to receive federal benefits from the World Trade Center Health Program and the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund."

Jennifer Peltz & Karen Matthews of the AP: "With presidential candidates looking on, some 9/11 victims' relatives appealed to them Wednesday for accountability as the U.S. marked an anniversary laced with election-season politics. In a remarkable tableau, President Joe Biden..., Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris stood together at ground zero just hours after Trump and Harris faced off in their first-ever debate. Trump and Biden -- the successor whose inauguration Trump skipped -- shook hands, and former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg appeared to facilitate a handshake between Harris and Trump. Then the campaign rivals stood only a few feet (meters) apart, Biden and Bloomberg between them, as the hourslong reading of victims' names began. At Trump's side was his running mate, Sen. JD Vance." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Trump also falsely claimed that on September 13, he went down to Ground Zero "with hundreds of workers that he paid out of his own pocket to help find and identify the victims" and that he "helped a little bit." See also this NPR story by Scott Simon. Rather than paying workers to help dig out the Ground Zero, Trump collected $150,000 in federal relief funds to help small businesses recover from the 9/11 attack.

Shawn McCreesh of the New York Times: "On 9/11, firefighters greeted [Donald Trump] with high fives and hugs. But across the street, other New Yorkers were icy.... [Inside the firehouse that covers Wall Street,] Mr. Trump received [a] warm reception, despite his own complicated history on Sept. 11. On the day of the attack in 2001, after the twin towers fell, he boasted about his own tower downtown. 'Now it's the tallest,' he said then. (It was not the tallest.) Also, during his first run for president, he spread a false story about thousands of Muslims cheering the fall of the towers from New Jersey."

The Company He Keeps. AP: "Laura Loomer, a right-wing activist who posted last year that 9/11 was an 'inside job,' joined ... Donald Trump in New York and Pennsylvania on Wednesday as he commemorated the anniversary of the attacks.... Loomer said in a text message to The Associated Press that she doesn't work for the Trump campaign and that she was 'invited as a guest.'... Loomer was also spotted departing Trump's plane when he landed in Philadelphia for Tuesday's debate. Trump has a long history of elevating and associating with people who trade in falsehoods and conspiracy theories.... [Loomer] frequently makes anti-Islam and anti-immigrant posts on social media and has been targeting ... Vice President Kamala Harris, with vile racist and sexist attacks."

Presidential Race

The debate in song, courtesy of Joseph Gordon-Levitt & the Gregory Brothers for the New York Times: ~~~

Alex Weprin of the Hollywood Reporter: "Taylor Swift's endorsement of Vice President Kamala Harris led to a surge of visitors to Vote.gov, the U.S. government website that helps citizens understand how they can register to vote. According to a spokesperson for the U.S. Government Services Administration, Swift's endorsement post on Instagram led directly to 337,826 people visiting vote.gov. [as of 2 pm on Wednesday]."

Josh Marshall of TPM: "... this debate was an absolute rout. Harris had a minute or two of nerves in her opening statement. But from the very first exchange she maintained the initiative, kept Trump on the defensive the entire time and simply dominated him.... Harris also managed what neither Joe Biden nor Hillary Clinton nor any of the 2016 Republicans managed to do which is successfully bait Donald Trump and get under his skin. Within a few minutes Trump was visibly angry and not in a way that empowered him but in a way that made him lose focus, go down rabbit holes and generally go off onto damaging tangents.... She came, she saw, she conquered. But tomorrow is another day. And there's still two hard fought months to go."

"What More Do You People Want from Kamala Harris?" Jonathan Last of the Bulwark: "Harris delivered the goods.... Harris has positioned herself as a centrist, Biden Democrat. Joe Biden made [Tuesday] night possible.... The ABC moderators did a good job.... As for the conservatives who are upset that ABC would point out Trump's lies, there is a simple remedy: Don't nominate as your presidential candidate an ignoramus who lies pathologically.... Also: If Donald Trump can't stand up to four fact checks from David Muir and Linsey Davis, then surely he's not capable of handling the demands of the presidency and facing down the Vladimir Putins of the world."

Jonathan Swan, et al., of the New York Times:"... Donald J. Trump went into sales-pitch mode immediately after Tuesday night's debate, walking into the spin room to extol his own performance, crowing on Fox News and going on a late-night posting spree to hype unscientific online polls that he said showed he had crushed Vice President Kamala Harris.... Mr. Trump was insisting the same things privately to advisers and allies in the hours after the debate, according to three people.... Mr. Trump appeared jubilant, as if he truly believed what he was telling them, the three people said. But Mr. Trump's actions after the debate told another story.... His aggressive spinning ... appeared to be an unspoken acknowledgment that his performance was suboptimal.... His aides and his allies were largely echoing his praise of his performance in public, but privately several conceded that the former president had a rough outing, in stark contrast to his more controlled appearance against [President] Biden. An exception was the recent Trump endorser Robert F. Kennedy Jr. 'Vice President Harris clearly won the debate in terms of her delivery, her polish, her organization and her preparation,' Mr. Kennedy said on Fox News on Wednesday...."

Marie: Here's what I thought was weird about the debate. Donald Trump is an experienced teevee actor. He used to play a business mogul on a popular teevee show. Yet here he was on the teevee, playing a president* -- another role he played for several years -- and when Kamala Harris spoke, all he did was glower at the camera. Harris, on the other hand, sometimes acting, sometimes not, reacted with any number of appropriate and animated expressions in response to Trump's attacks.

David Bauder of the AP: "An estimated 67.1 million people watched the presidential debate between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump, a sharp increase from the June debate that eventually led to President Joe Biden dropping out of the race. The debate was run by ABC News but shown on 17 different networks, the Nielsen company said. The Trump-Biden debate in June was seen by 51.3 million people. Tuesday's count was short of the record viewership for a presidential debate, when 84 million people saw Trump's and Hillary Clinton's first faceoff in 2016. The first debate between Biden and Trump in 2020 reached 73.1 million people."

Nahal Toosi of Politico in Politico Magazine: "By the time the debate was over, several foreign officials from both U.S. allies and more neutral countries told me they felt more confident that [Kamala] Harris could handle the tricky personalities she'd encounter while in the world's most powerful job. 'Composed, authoritative, and presidential,' one European diplomat raved.... Her ability to manage Trump offered assurance that she could navigate tough personal relationships. Given that international relations often come down to the nature of personal relations, this matters." (Also linked yesterday.)

Miriam Jordan of the New York Times: "Barely an hour before the presidential debate the father of an 11-year-old Ohio boy killed when an immigrant's minivan crashed into a school bus lashed out at Donald J. Trump and ... JD Vance. Speaking during public comment at a regular meeting of the Springfield City Commission, the father, Nathan Clark, called them 'morally bankrupt' politicians spreading hate at the expense of his son, Aiden.... The death of Aiden Clark ... just over a year ago shook residents of Springfield, a blue-collar town between Dayton and Columbus. And it touched off a wave of angry rhetoric over the thousands of immigrants from Haiti who have settled in the area since the pandemic.... Since [July], Mr. Vance has been highlighting the influx of Haitians to Springfield as a detrimental consequence of the Biden administration's border policies.... On Monday, the Trump campaign posted on social media about Aiden, including his photo and that of Hermanio Joseph, the Haitian immigrant who struck the bus. Then, on Tuesday, Vance referred to Aiden in a post on X, saying that 'a child was murdered by a Haitian migrant.'"

Ted Hesson, et al., of Reuters: "Haitian Americans said they fear for their safety after Donald Trump repeated a false and derogatory claim during this week's presidential debate about immigrants in Ohio. Haitian community leaders across the U.S. said the Republican candidate's remarks about immigrants eating household pets during his debate with Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris could put lives at risk and further inflame tensions in the small city of Springfield, Ohio, where thousands of recent Haitian arrivals have boosted the local economy but also strained the safety net."

Peter Hermann & Jacqueline Alemany of the Washington Post: "The federal government will dramatically increase security protections for the joint session of Congress where lawmakers count states' electoral votes, an escalation of government-wide efforts to prevent a repeat of the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol, the Secret Service said Wednesday in a statement provided to The Washington Post. The Department of Homeland Security has designated the next electoral count -- scheduled for Jan. 6, 2025 -- a National Special Security Event, giving the once-routine post-election gathering the same level of security accorded to presidential inaugurations and political conventions, the Secret Service, which will take over security for the count, confirmed." The Hill's story is here. MB: So yet another cost of once having Donald Trump as president*.

Sarah Ellison, et al., of the Washington Post: Elon Musk's "false and misleading election posts add to the deluge of inaccurate information plaguing voting officials across the country. Election officials say his posts about supposed voter fraud often coincide with an increase in baseless requests to purge voter rolls and heighten their worry over violent threats. Experts say Musk is uniquely dangerous as a purveyor of misinformation because his digital following stretches well beyond the political realm.... After Musk bought Twitter, he made deep cuts in staff responsible for maintaining standards on the site, courted major conservative figures, and reoriented the platform to boost the reach of his account, which frequently spreads false statements without being subject to the kinds of fact checks that previously existed on the site. He reinstated accounts previously banned for violating the platform's rules, including Donald Trump's, and promised to usher in a less restrictive era."

Brianna Sacks of the Washington Post: "During a scorching, relentless wildfire season, Facebook has been flagging and removing dozens of posts containing links and screenshots from Watch Duty, a widely relied-upon wildfire alert app, as well as from federal and state agencies.... And it's ... happening ... to volunteer responders, fire and sheriff departments, news stations and disaster nonprofit workers across California and in other states, according to screenshots. The Washington Post has collected more than 40 examples of Facebook removing emergency-related posts.... In nearly every instance, the platform tells users that they violated the company's 'Community Standards on Spam' due to trying to get likes, follows, shares or views in a 'misleading way.'... Erin McPike, a Facebook spokesperson, said that the company is 'investigating this issue and working quickly to address it.' Facebook was not aware of the problem until The Post contacted the company."

Caitlin Emma & Olivia Beavers of Politico: "House GOP leaders pulled their six-month stopgap funding plan on Wednesday, hours before a scheduled floor vote. Facing a number of Republican holdouts, Speaker Mike Johnson said they'll delay the vote until next week as they work to quell Republican opposition and 'build consensus.'" (Also linked yesterday.)

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Arizona Republicans Are the Stupidest People in the World. Kyle Melnick of the Washington Post: "'EAT LESS KITTENS,' the billboards say. 'Vote Republican!' Arizona's Republican Party announced Tuesday that it had designed about a dozen of the billboards in the Phoenix area in response to false claims shared by some top Republicans [-- like Donald Trump & JD Vance --] that Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio, were eating Americans' pets.... In a news release, the Arizona GOP said the billboards are 'a humorous, but sobering reminder of the stakes involved in the fight for secure borders and safe communities.'" ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: No, in reality, it's a sobering reminder that you pathetic nitwits have no familiarity with facts OR with the English language. If you insist upon slathering your racist, xenophobic lies over giant billboards, you might want to make that, "EAT FEWER KITTENS," you ignorant scum.

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Israel/Palestine, et al. Miriam Berger, et al., of the Washington Post: "The [Israeli Defense Forces] said [American] Aysenur Eygiwas shot 'unintentionally' during a 'violent riot.' A Post analysis shows clashes had subsided and protesters had retreated."

Ukraine, et al. Deborah Haynes & Adam Parker of Sky News: "... a day after the US said it believes the Russian military [had] received shipments of Iranian Fatah-360 ballistic missiles, satellite imagery ... captured a Russian-flagged cargo ship suspected of transporting ballistic missiles from Iran docked at a port in Russia a week ago. A Ukrainian source told Sky News the Port Olya 3 vessel had shipped around 220 short-range ballistic missiles via the Caspian Sea to Russia to be used for its war in Ukraine." The Sky News Data & Forensics team examined the satellite images.

News Ledes

New York Times: "Firefighters continued to battle three major wildfires burning through the steep mountains and brushy canyons of Southern California on Thursday. Cooler and wetter weather aided their efforts, but the destructive blazes remained worrisome enough to keep tens of thousands of people from returning to their homes. The three fires around Los Angeles, which together have charred 100,000 acres and destroyed dozens of homes, were among more than 65 large blazes burning across the United States on Thursday, mostly in the West." This is a liveblog.

New York Times: "Jon Bon Jovi helped talk a woman off the ledge of a bridge in Nashville earlier this week, the police said. Mr. Bon Jovi was filming a music video on the bridge just after 6 p.m. on Tuesday.... In a video released by the police, Mr. Bon Jovi and another person, whom other news outlets have identified as a production assistant, slowly approach the woman, who is on the edge of the bridge, facing outward, on the far side of a railing. They are seen speaking to her for a minute or so, before she turns around to face them, and they lift her over the railing to safety. Mr. Bon Jovi then hugs the woman and the three walk together along the bridge, attended by law enforcement officials." CNN's story is here.

Space.com: &"SpaceX's private crew of four astronauts performed the world's first commercial spacewalk while soaring high above Earth on Thursday (Sept. 12) during the third day of a five-day trip to Earth orbit. 'SpaceX, back at home we have a lot of work to do, but from here it looks like a perfect world,' Polaris Dawn commander Jared Isaacman, the American billionaire who financed the mission, said as he looked down on Earth while standing mostly outside the Dragon hatch."

The New York Times: is live-updating developments in tropical depression Francine which flooded New Orleans when it hit as a hurricane and is now moving inland.

The Conversation -- September 11, 2024

Caitlin Emma & Olivia Beavers of Politico: "House GOP leaders pulled their six-month stopgap funding plan on Wednesday, hours before a scheduled floor vote. Facing a number of Republican holdouts, Speaker Mike Johnson said they'll delay the vote until next week as they work to quell Republican opposition and 'build consensus.'"

Jennifer Peltz & Karen Matthews of the AP: "With presidential candidates looking on, some 9/11 victims' relatives appealed to them Wednesday for accountability as the U.S. marked an anniversary laced with election-season politics. In a remarkable tableau, President Joe Biden, former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris stood together at ground zero just hours after Trump and Harris faced off in their first-ever debate. Trump and Biden -- the successor whose inauguration Trump skipped -- shook hands, and former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg appeared to facilitate a handshake between Harris and Trump. Then the campaign rivals stood only a few feet (meters) apart, Biden and Bloomberg between them, as the hourslong reading of victims' names began. At Trump's side was his running mate, Sen. JD Vance."

Nahal Toosi of Politico in Politico Magazine: "By the time the debate was over, several foreign officials from both U.S. allies and more neutral countries told me they felt more confident that [Kamala] Harris could handle the tricky personalities she'd encounter while in the world's most powerful job. 'Composed, authoritative, and presidential,' one European diplomat raved.... Her ability to manage Trump offered assurance that she could navigate tough personal relationships. Given that international relations often come down to the nature of personal relations, this matters."

CNN anchors & others analyze the Harris-Trump debate:

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Presidential Race

Okay, so Kamala Harris pulled off the best debate performance in history. But let's get to the big news! ~~~

     ~~~ Daniel Arkin of NBC News: "Pop superstar Taylor Swift endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris' presidential candidacy Tuesday night after the high-stakes debate. 'I will be casting my vote for Kamala Harris and Tim Walz in the 2024 Presidential Election,' Swift said in a post on Instagram. 'I;m voting for @kamalaharris because she fights for the rights and causes I believe need a warrior to champion them. I think she is a steady-handed, gifted leader and I believe we can accomplish so much more in this country if we are led by calm and not chaos. I was so heartened and impressed by her selection of running mate @timwalz, who has been standing up for LGBTQ+ rights, IVF, and a woman's right to her own body for decades." ~~~

     ~~~ Nicholas Nehamas, et al., of the New York Times: "The endorsement by [Taylor] Swift, delivered minutes after [Vice President] Harris and Mr. Trump had stepped off the debate stage in Philadelphia, offers Ms. Harris an unrivaled celebrity backer and a tremendous shot of adrenaline to her campaign, especially with the younger voters she has been trying to attract.... She signed her post as 'Childless Cat Lady,' a reference to comments made by Mr. Trump's running mate, Senator JD Vance of Ohio, about women without children. The photo that accompanied her post showed her holding a furry feline, Benjamin Button, her pet Ragdoll." ~~~

~~~ Maybe you thought the Creep of the Night Prize should go to Trump. Nope: ~~~

     ~~~ Charlie Nash of Mediaite: "... Elon Musk offered to impregnate Taylor Swift on Tuesday after she endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris. Less than two hours after Swift endorsed Harris for president and signed her endorsement with, 'Taylor Swift, Childless Cat Lady' -- a dig at ... Donald Trump"'s running mate JD Vance -- Musk penned a bizarre proposal to the pop star on ... X. 'Fine Taylor ... you win,' wrote Musk, who has fathered twelve children. 'I will give you a child and guard your cats with my life.'"

Lisa Lerer & Reid Epstein of the New York Times: "From the opening moments of her first debate against Donald J. Trump, Kamala Harris craftily exploited her opponent's biggest weakness ...: his ego.... Ms. Harris questioned the size and loyalty of the crowds at his rallies. She said world leaders call him a 'disgrace.' And she claimed his fortune was built by his father, recasting a business mogul who proudly boasts of being a self-made man as just another nepotism baby. Then she stood by and watched, as Mr. Trump did himself a whole lot of damage. In answer after answer, the former president reminded Americans of his role in so much of what many would rather forget: the deadly and devastating pandemic, his refusal to accept the results of the 2020 election, a bloody siege on the U.S. Capitol and the fall of Roe v. Wade. He lingered on his criminal charges and praised Viktor Orban, the strongman leader of Hungary. He defended a false claim that migrants in Ohio are eating their neighbors' dogs and cats and recycled years-old anti-abortion attack lines that Democrats supported 'execution after birth.'... He's the former reality television star, but she clearly understood the power of the medium. Her expression was her rebuttal." Here's an ABC News highlights video:

     ~~~ If you want to watch the full debate (which is not painful!), YouTube video is here. ABC News has a transcript of the debate here.

Matt Flegenheimer of the New York Times: "... in an evening rife with missed opportunities and curious rabbit holes for Mr. Trump, [there] was the exchange where he seemed to lose his way -- the temptation he could not resist, no matter how many allies might have hoped he could hear their pleas to double back.... 'I'm going to actually do something really unusual,' she said, addressing the audience at home. 'I'm going to invite you to attend one of Donald Trump's rallies. Because it's a really interesting thing to watch.' Smirking, provoking, Ms. Harris ticked through some common Trump digressions, like windmills and the fictional killer Hannibal Lecter. Mr. Trump's eyes narrowed, and his head cocked to the left. 'And what you will also notice,' she said, as Mr. Trump bobbed a bit, pendulum-like, 'is that people start leaving his rallies early out of exhaustion and boredom.... The one thing you will not hear him talk about is you.'...

"As ... David Muir strained to redirect the conversation..., he was not interested. 'First, let me respond as to the rallies ....'... When Mr. Trump was done litigating his rally crowds ('We have the biggest rallies, the most incredible rallies in the history of politics') and conspiracy-casting about hers ('People don't go to her rallies -- there's no reason to go -- and the people that do go, she's busing them in and paying them to be there'), he turned to a widely debunked yarn about Haitian immigrants in Ohio abducting and feasting on their neighbors' pets. 'They're eating the dogs!' he said. 'The people that came in -- they're eating the cats!'"

Oh, Dear. When You've Lost Lindsey.... Igor Bobic of the Huffington Post: "Conservative pundits acknowledged on Tuesday that Vice President Kamala Harris got the better of former President Donald Trump in Tuesday's presidential debate in Philadelphia, citing her success in getting under his skin. 'Let's make no mistake. Trump had a bad night,' Fox News host Brit Hume said.... 'She was exquisitely well-prepared, she laid traps, and he chased every rabbit down every hole,' added former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R), who often appears as a commentator on ABC News. 'Whoever prepared Donald Trump should be fired. He was not good tonight at all,' Christie said.... 'Trump lost the debate, and whining about the moderators doesn't change it,' conservative radio host Erick Erickson wrote on X.... Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) ... said afterward that the former president's debate team should be fired and that Trump was unprepared, calling the debate a 'disaster,' according to The Bulwark's Tim Miller."

John Harris of Politico in Politico Magazine: Vice President Harris "plainly used her long days of debate prep in a Pittsburgh hotel to compile a rich anthology of taunts, putdowns and derisive one-liners against ... Donald Trump.... He responded to her jabs in detail, and thereby let her drive the agenda for the evening. He raised his voice and scowled.... While Harris was coached up to her eyeballs, Trump was improvisational to the point of incontinence.... By any conventional measure of debates, she won the debate by getting him to do most of her work."

David Firestone of the New York Times: After the first 10 minutes of the debate, during which Donald Trump managed to contain himself, "he descended from a discussion of tariffs into a description of immigrants -- one he returned to over and over again during the evening -- that could only be described as a form of nativist hysteria.... The debate was an unqualified success for Harris not just because she was able to define herself and her plans but also because she was able to push a few buttons and let Trump show off his truest self."

Aaron Blake of the Washington Post has some takeaways from the debate: "1. Harris successfully made it all about Trump -- and he struggled.... 2. Trump's fire hose of falsehoods.... 3. Harris delivered an impassioned case on abortion.... 4. Trump was all about undocumented immigrants and migrant crime[.]"

Nathaniel Weixel of the Hill: "Former President Trump said during Tuesday night's debate he was interested in trying to repeal ObamaCare again, but indicated he doesn't have a plan to replace it. 'We are working on things. We're going to do it. We're going to replace it,' Trump said.... 'I have concepts of a plan. I'm not president right now,' Trump said." MB: The MSNBC panel thought "concepts of a plan" was a mighty hilarious copout.

Michael Grynbaum of the New York Times: In the context of 105 minutes of fierce debate in Philadelphia, exchanges "in which ABC News moderators David Muir & Linsey Davis fact-checked Donald Trump] were fleeting. But they signaled a shift -- for an evening, at least -- in the balance of power between Mr. Trump and the many journalists who have struggled, or stopped trying, to construct factual guardrails around the bombardment of baseless claims that he regularly unleashes on live TV. Using calm and authoritative tones, Mr. Muir and Ms. Davis offered a model for real-time fact-checking that has been absent from many recent presidential debates. Mr. Trump's apocalyptic portrait of an America besieged by migrant crime was met by Mr. Muir&'s polite reply: 'As you know, the F.B.I. says overall violent crime is coming down in this country.' 'They didn't include the cities with the worst crime! It was a fraud!' Mr. Trump retorted. 'President Trump, thank you,' said Mr. Muir, before moving on.... Donald J. Trump Jr., in a social media post, referred to the moderators as 'hacks.' On Fox News, the partisan host Laura Ingraham declared that 'ABC's goal tonight was to help Kamala Harris' and Sean Hannity called ABC News 'the biggest loser in the debate.'" ~~~

     ~~~ David Bauder of the AP: "In an illustration of how difficult it is to conduct a presidential debate in a polarized country, ABC News moderators David Muir and Linsey Davis fact-checked and corrected Trump four times Tuesday and were attacked angrily by the former president and his supporters. Trump, shortly after he left the stage in Philadelphia, sent out a message on his social media platform: 'I thought that was my best debate, EVER, especially since it was THREE ON ONE!'" MB: News for Donnie & Junior & Laura & Sean: "Trump logged 43 minutes and 3 seconds of time talking, while Harris had 37 minutes and 41 seconds, according to a count by The New York Times." So the idea that the moderators favored Harris over Trump is nonsense. She just didn't lie like the rug on Trump's head. ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: It appears to me that Trump truly thinks it's unfa-a-a-air when someone calls out his lies. He believes he should be allowed to win a debate or dominate a conversation by simply telling effective lies -- like Haitian immigrants are eating your dog. And if someone says that's not true (as Muir did), then Trump follows up with, "They're eating your cat!" And when even that, for some odd reason, doesn't work, he provides a "source": "I saw it on TV!" Many people complained about Jake Tapper and Dana Bash who "moderated" the CNN debate between Biden and Trump but refused to do even a teensy bit of fact-checking. You really see what a difference it makes to have, you know, a couple of journalists weigh in with facts from time to time. (And of course it makes a tremendous difference to have an opponent who cleans your clock and laughs at your lies.) ~~~

~~~ Judy Berman of Time: "Whereas the moderators of the earlier debate, CNN's Jake Tapper and Dana Bash, faced widespread criticism for letting such flagrant falsehoods go uncorrected, [Linsey] Davis and ... David Muir repeatedly fact-checked responses in real time and asked follow-up questions when necessary.... Davis and Muir's fact-checks were sporadic but effective, tamping down Trump's most egregious inventions.... Fact-checking, following up, and holding candidates accountable for past statements are the bare minimum that news organizations hosting televised presidential debates must do to ensure that such spectacles are useful to --rather than just mildly entertaining meme fodder for -- the American public."

Charlie Nash of Mediaite: "A whopping 63% of those who watched the ABC News presidential debate between former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris told CNN on Tuesday that Harris won the debate.... CNN political director David Chalian said 37% said Trump had won.

New York Times reporters live-updated the presidential debate. Here are some excerpts:

Jess Bidgood: "Harris made a point of introducing herself by name. It's a reminder to viewers that this is the first time she and Trump are meeting." [MB: Because Trump didn't attend President Biden's & Vice President Harris's inauguration.]

Maggie Haberman: "So far, Harris appears to have irritated Trump and he sounds defensive, responding to what she's said or moderators have said instead of delivering his own message."

Alan Rappeport: "It is worth noting that Trump was incorrect when he said that his tariffs took billions of dollars away from China. The burden of the tariffs was largely borne by U.S. consumers." [MB: Thanks, Alan. Explain that to Peter Baker.]

Bidgood: "In his rambling answer on abortion, Trump mixed up the states of Virginia and West Virginia and said falsely that a baby could be executed at nine months."

Haberman: "Trump repeated the falsehood that Democrats wanted Roe v. Wade to end. It's basically handing Harris a line on an issue she's been a forceful voice on."

Michael Grynbaum: "The moderator Linsey Davis just now refuted Trump's false claim that some states allow for the killing of a baby after birth."

Haberman: "Trump is stumbling on a question about whether he would veto a national abortion ban, saying only that it won't pass Congress. He is clearly angry. And that is not what his advisers wanted to see."

Katie Rogers: "This lengthy exchange on abortion, with Trump getting visibly angry, is an advantage for Harris."

Bidgood: "Harris looks straight at the camera as she urges viewers to go to a Trump rally. There, she says, they'll hear him talk about nonsensical things, and they'll see people leaving early. This is something that clearly annoys him."

Rappeport: "It appears that Harris successfully goaded Trump on crowd size. He responds angrily and accuses Harris of busing people into her rallies."

Rogers: "Trump just started talking about an online conspiracy theory about Haitian immigrants eating dogs in Springfield, Ohio, which gets a laugh out of the vice president. Her mic is off, but she laughed and shook her head and appeared to mouth, 'What?'"

Jonathan Weisman: "... we have now had the first moment where Harris intentionally tried to get under Trump's skin -- and it worked. Going after the former president's ego, Harris said people leave his rallies exhausted and bored. He had to respond, saying no one goes to her rallies. Then he angrily fell back to his immigration issues, bringing up baseless rumors of Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio, eating pet dogs and cats. Again, a moderator, David Muir, interjected, saying the town's city manager had told ABC News there was no credible allegation that any pets had been killed."

Jonathan Swan: "Trump is visibly infuriated at the ABC fact-checking."

Rogers: "One of the interesting themes of this debate so far is how Harris has been on the offensive for most of it, and how Trump's angry rebuttals are laced with misinformation, mixed-up facts and kernels of conspiracy theories."

Haberman: "Trump essentially repeated his false claim that Harris suddenly started calling herself Black."

Grynbaum: "There was much ado about muted microphones before this debate. But ABC News has taken a pragmatic approach: On several occasions, the network has turned the microphone on when a candidate requests time to respond to a particularly sharp attack. In some cases, it has allowed the candidates to engage directly with each other. But a few of those exchanges have descended into crosstalk, and were hard for viewers to follow."

Weisman: "The first, and probably the only, presidential debate of this fall neared its end on friendly turf for Harris, race and division in the United States. She used it to bring up Trump's racist past, his early legal troubles for refusing to rent to Black tenants and his push for the death penalty for the later-exonerated 'Central Park Five.'"

Rappeport: "Trump, declining to end on an optimistic note, concludes by calling Harris 'the worst vice president in the history of our country.'"

Weisman: "The closing arguments framed the election -- and the campaign of the next two months. Harris used her last time with the microphone to strike a tone of moderation and project politics into the future. Trump used his to attack his opponent, bringing back a line of attack he used effectively against Hillary Clinton eight years ago: If you have so many great ideas to solve the nation's problems, why haven't you done them? To Harris's optimism, Trump ended with this: 'We're a failing nation. We're a nation in serious decline.'"

CNN reporters are providing what they call "instant analysis" on CNN's main page. So far (20 minutes in), they're doing a pretty good job.

Moderator David Muir has been doing some serious fact-checking of Trump. He lets Trump get away with dozens of ancillary lies (and Harris attacks many of those lies), but Muir shut down the Big Lie and others. He's also raising some good questions of the candidates.

"A Little, Tiny, Teeny, Itty, Bitty Weeny." Maggie Astor of the New York Times: "Vice President Kamala Harris's campaign is running a trolling ad ahead of the debate Tuesday directed at exactly one person: ... Donald J. Trump. The ad highlights former President Barack Obama's mocking comment in his speech last month at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, referring to Mr. Trump's 'weird obsession with crowd sizes,' and an accompanying hand gesture.... If Mr. Obama's words and gesture retained some marginal degree of subtlety, the ad turned them into a sledgehammer, zooming in on his hands and his glance downward. Later, it showed empty seats against the sound of crickets and zoomed in on Mr. Trump's hand -- recalling Senator Marco Rubio's jabs from the 2016 Republican primary in which he said Mr. Trump had small hands.... The Harris campaign seemed to dispel any doubt that the ad was intended more for Mr. Trump's eyes than for voters, by noting that it was airing on Fox News in Mr. Trump's home media market, West Palm Beach, Fla., and in Philadelphia, where he will be on Tuesday for the debate." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ The ad fits in quite well with our discussion in yesterday's thread. Akhilleus wrote, in response to a comment that Harris might want to knee Trump for stalking her on-stage: "Kneeing Fatty in the groin (to have the desired effect), would require surgical strike capability. That tiny mushroom head and microscopic balls would not be easy targets. It'd be like hitting a penny with a rock from a mile away. Maybe there's a strain of pigs who can root out teensy mushroom dick truffles. Hey, it's worth a try. Oink, oink, Donnie."

Shawn McCreesh of the New York Times: "Melania Trump has a memoir coming out on Oct. 8.... She has been releasing short-form videos of herself talking into the camera, which her husband ... Donald J. Trump has been reposting to his own social media feeds. True to Mrs. Trump's sphinx-like style, her videos are somewhat cryptic. In one posted on Tuesday, she appears before a shadowy backdrop, dressed all in black, to muse conspiratorially about the attempt on her husband's life.... In another video, posted on Sunday, Mrs. Trump narrates while white text crawls across a black background: 'It has become increasingly apparent that there are significant challenges to free speech, as demonstrated by the efforts to silence my husband.' The mysterious videos about mysterious forces are the most the public has heard from the mysterious former first lady in a long while."

Philip Bump of the Washington Post: "A quarter of Republicans think Trump should seize power even if he loses.... That's the determination of new national polling from PRRI."

Alex Henderson of AlterNet: "On Sunday, September 8, polling expert and FiveThirtyEight founder Nate Silver updated his presidential election forecast and gave GOP nominee Donald Trump a 63.8 percent chance of winning the Electoral College in November and Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris only a 36 percent chance. But veteran conservative consultant Stuart Stevens -- a Never Trumper conservative who is supporting Harris -- is critical of Silver's forecast, arguing that there is a connection between Silver's FiveThirtyEight and billionaire Trump supporter Peter Thiel. In a September 10 post on X..., Stevens wrote, 'Polymarket is Peter Thiel's creation. @NateSilver538 is being paid by Peter Thiel.'... According to Axios' Sara Fischer, the predictions market platform Polymarket hired Silver as an adviser in July."

Johnson's Spending Bill DOA. Catie Edmondson of the New York Times: "Speaker Mike Johnson's initial plan to avert a government shutdown has run into a wall of Republican opposition, as lawmakers from an array of factions in his party balk at a six-month stopgap funding measure that Democrats have already rejected. Mr. Johnson has said he plans to bring up a spending bill this week that would extend federal funding through March 28, which includes a measure that would require proof of U.S. citizenship to register to vote. The addition of the voting restriction bill was a nod to the right flank of his conference and an effort to force politically vulnerable Democrats to take a fraught vote. But his $1.6 trillion proposal was almost immediately met with an outpouring of skepticism by House Republicans on Monday evening as they returned to Washington after a lengthy summer recess. Hard-line conservatives, including Representative Thomas Massie of Kentucky, said they would oppose the legislation because it would extend current spending levels they believe are too high." (Also linked yesterday.)

Joe DePaolo of Mediaite: "Melania Trump suggested there is a conspiracy behind the assassination attempt on her husband ... Donald Trump -- saying, 'there is definitely more to this story.'... Melania Trump is not the only member of the Trump family who seems to believe there was a larger plot surrounding the shooting. Both of Donald Trump's sons -- Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump -- floated the idea that Democrats were behind the attack." (Also linked yesterday.)

~~~~~~~~~~

Delaware, Rhode Island Primary Elections. Amy Wang & Staff of the Washington Post: "Delaware state senator Sarah McBride is projected to win the Democratic primary for the state's at-large congressional seat, according to the Associated Press, defeating two other candidates and setting her on a course to become the first openly transgender member of Congress in U.S. history.... Former police officer John Whalen III is projected to win the Republican primary.... New Castle County Executive Matt Meyer is projected to win the Democratic primary for Delaware governor, according to the Associated Press, upsetting Delaware Lt. Gov. Bethany Hall-Long, who had been dogged by a recent investigation into inconsistencies in her past campaign finance reports.

Incumbent Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) is projected to win the Democratic primary for U.S. Senate in Rhode Island, according to the Associated Press, defeating little-known challenger Michael Costa....

Missouri. Molly Hennessy-Fiske of the Washington Post: "Just several hours before ballots were to be finalized, the Missouri Suprem Court ruled Tuesday afternoon that a measure to enshrine abortion rights in the state constitution is specific enough to present to voters in November. The decision came after a short but politically fraught morning hearing before all seven judges -- four of them women, five of them appointees of Republican governors. Only days earlier, a lower-court judge had ruled the ballot measure invalid because it does not identify which laws it would repeal.... The outcome means that Missouri will remain among more than half a dozen states with measures to protect abortion rights on their ballots this fall, including in presidential battleground states such as Arizona and Florida."

New Hampshire Primary Election. Jenna Russell of the New York Times: "Maggie Goodlander, a former Justice Department official and political newcomer, won the Democratic primary for New Hampshire's Second Congressional District on Tuesday after a close race against Colin Van Ostern, according to The Associated Press. Ms. Goodlander, who grew up in Nashua, N.H., but spent most of her adult life elsewhere, is married to Jake Sullivan, President Biden's national security adviser.... More than a dozen candidates vied for the Republican nomination; Lily Tang Wiliams came out on top, according to The Associated Press, and will face Ms. Goodlander in November."

~~~~~~~~~~

Ukraine, et al. Michael Birnbaum of the Washington Post: Antony Blinken "made a rare wartime visit to Kyiv on Wednesday, offering a sympathetic ear to its leaders as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky mounted a push to win permission to use long-range U.S. missile systems to strike deep into Russia, despite being rejected last week by Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin. Kyiv's attempt to sway the Biden administration came as Ukraine has faced heavy bombardment from Russia in recent days -- especially on its power sector -- a situation that Blinken warned ahead of the visit could soon get worse after the United States accused Iran of shipping short-range ballistic missiles to Russia earlier this month. The Ukrainian effort is a continuation of a dynamic that has marked relations between Kyiv and Washington since the full-scale Russian invasion two and a half years ago. Ukraine has pushed for more and better weaponry, while Washington has resisted, fearing escalation with Russia, only to relent later.

News Lede

Washington Post: "The peak of Atlantic hurricane season has arrived, and right on schedule, a hurricane is bearing down on the Gulf Coast. Francine, upgraded from a tropical storm to a hurricane Tuesday night, is forecast to make landfall in Louisiana on Wednesday." ~~~

     ~~~ AP Update: "Hurricane Francine struck Louisiana on Wednesday evening as a Category 2 storm that forecasters warned could bring deadly storm surge, widespread flooding and destructive winds on the northern U.S. Gulf Coast. Francine made landfall in Terrebonne Parish, about 30 miles (48 kilometers) southwest of Morgan City, the National Hurricane Center announced at 4 p.m. CDT. Packing maximum sustained winds near 100 mph (155 kph), the hurricane crashed into a fragile coastal region that hasn't fully recovered from a series of devastating hurricanes in 2020 and 2021." ~~~

     ~~~ The Washington Post has live updates here.

The Conversation -- September 10, 2024

"A Little, Tiny, Teeny, Itty, Bitty Weeny." Maggie Astor of the New York Times: "Vice President Kamala Harris’s campaign is running a trolling ad ahead of the debate Tuesday directed at exactly one person: ... Donald J. Trump. The ad highlights former President Barack Obamas mocking comment in his speech last month at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, referring to Mr. Trump's 'weird obsession with crowd sizes,' and an accompanying hand gesture. Mr. Obama brought his palms apart and then close together and glanced down at them meaningfully. If Mr. Obama's words and gesture retained some marginal degree of subtlety, the ad turned them into a sledgehammer, zooming in on his hands and his glance downward. Later, it showed empty seats against the sound of crickets and zoomed in on Mr. Trump's hand -- recalling Senator Marco Rubio's jabs from the 2016 Republican primary in which he said Mr. Trump had small hands.... The Harris campaign seemed to dispel any doubt that the ad was intended more for Mr. Trump's eyes than for voters, by noting that it was airing on Fox News in Mr. Trump's home media market, West Palm Beach, Fla., and in Philadelphia, where he will be on Tuesday for the debate." ~~~

     ~~~ The ad fits in quite well with our discussion ... in yesterday's thread. Akhilleus wrote, in response to a comment that Harris might want to knee Trump for stalking her on-stage: "Kneeing Fatty in the groin (to have the desired effect), would require surgical strike capability. That tiny mushroom head and microscopic balls would not be easy targets. It'd be like hitting a penny with a rock from a mile away. Maybe there's a strain of pigs who can root out teensy mushroom dick truffles. Hey, it's worth a try. Oink, oink, Donnie."

Johnson's Spending Bill DOA. Catie Edmondson of the New York Times: "Speaker Mike Johnson's initial plan to avert a government shutdown has run into a wall of Republican opposition, as lawmakers from an array of factions in his party balk at a six-month stopgap funding measure that Democrats have already rejected. Mr. Johnson has said he plans to bring up a spending bill this week that would extend federal funding through March 28, which includes a measure that would require proof of U.S. citizenship to register to vote. The addition of the voting restriction bill was a nod to the right flank of his conference and an effort to force politically vulnerable Democrats to take a fraught vote. But his $1.6 trillion proposal was almost immediately met with an outpouring of skepticism by House Republicans on Monday evening as they returned to Washington after a lengthy summer recess. Hard-line conservatives ... said they would oppose the legislation because it would extend current spending levels they believe are too high."

Joe DePaolo of Mediaite: "Melania Trump suggested there is a conspiracy behind the assassination attempt on her husband ... Donald Trump -- saying, 'there is definitely more to this story.'... Melania Trump is not the only member of the Trump family who seems to believe there was a larger plot surrounding the shooting. Both of Donald Trump's sons -- Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump -- floated the idea that Democrats were behind the attack."

Marie: I will be out most of the day today. There is definitely more to this story. Maybe Don Junior has kidnapped me. Maybe I'm in the (nonexistent) basement of Comet Ping Pong pizzeria eating Republican babies. Whatever. This has nothing to do with my having a doctor's appointment and some errands to run as well as it's being primary voting day for state and local elections in New Hampshire.

~~~~~~~~~~

Presidential Race

Sophia Cai of Axios: "Ten generals and admirals are mobilizing to defend Vice President Kamala Harris from Republican attempts to tie her to the chaotic 2021 U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan.... 'Without involving the Afghan government, [Trump] and his Administration negotiated a deal with the Taliban that freed 5,000 Taliban fighters,' the retired military officials wrote in a National Security Leaders for America letter.... The group accused Trump of leaving Biden and Harris with no plans to execute a withdrawal and little time to do so." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: The report is 354 pages. According to one of the generals who signed the letter and later appeared on MSNBC to discuss it, the report mentions Harris only three times. So it sounds to me as if what Rep. McCaul did when Harris replaced Biden at the top of the Democratic ticket was call up the draft report in his word-processing program, hit find-and-replace and change "Biden administration" to "Biden-Harris administration." Excellent work!

⭐ Jess Bidgood of the New York Times: "... the only man to have run against two female nominees in two presidential elections is one with a long and explicit record of denigrating women. From the earliest days of his presidential candidacy in 2015 to a Trump Tower news conference on Friday, Donald J. Trump has repeatedly attempted to attack, embarrass and threaten the women standing in his way -- especially on the debate stage.... A review of his onstage clashes with women shows how, over nine years in politics, he has honed a playbook of explicitly gendered attacks against both female candidates and journalists that he is likely to draw from on Tuesday when he debates Vice President Kamala Harris. Mr. Trump has used his physical presence and body language to intimidate women, made veiled threats, complained that they were uniquely mean and belittled their qualifications...." (Also linked yesterday.)

Unconscionable Fear-Mongering Hate Speech. Chris Cameron of the New York Times: "The Trump campaign promoted an outlandish false claim on Monday that Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio, have abducted and eaten their neighbors' pets, again demonizing migrants as the campaign seeks to attack Vice President Kamala Harris on immigration. A news release from the campaign on Monday recounted the falsehoods, which were amplified earlier in the day by ... Donald J. Trump's running mate, JD Vance, and sought to stoke fear, saying 'it's coming to your city next.' Mr. Vance, as Ohio's junior senator, has in recent months attacked the growing Haitian population in Springfield, a group whose members are living and working in the United States legally.... Mr. Vance has latched onto the complaints of community members and has denounced the Haitians as being in the United States illegally, 'draining social services' and 'generally causing chaos.'" An NBC News story is here. ~~~

~~~ Jeff Cercone of PolitiFact: “A Sept. 6 Facebook post said, 'Springfield is a small town in Ohio. 4 years ago they had 60K residents. Under (Kamala) Harris and (Joe) Biden, 20,000 Haitian immigrants were shipped to the town. Now ducks and pets are disappearing.'... The Facebook post was flagged as part of Meta's efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed.... The claim that Haitian immigrants are eating wildlife and pets in Springfield was also widely shared by conservative influencers such as Charlie Kirk and X owner Elon Musk, and political entities and figures including the House Judiciary Committee and vice presidential candidate Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio.... 'Reports now show that people have had their pets abducted and eaten by people who shouldn't be in this country. Where is our border czar?' he wrote, in an apparent reference to Vice President Kamala Harris." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Vance's assertion bald-faced lie is particularly egregious. (1) The underlying premise is false: Haitians aren't eating Fluffy or Fido. (2) It's racist. (3) The Haitians in Springfield came to the U.S. legally according to the NYT. (4) They did not row to Mexico in a leaky boat, then swim the Rio Grande to cross the U.S. border where Vice President Harris was waiting to greet them and wrap them in thick terry hotel towels.

Isabella Volmert & Gary Robertson of the AP: "The highest courts in two states ruled differently Monday on efforts by Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to be removed from their presidential ballots, with a divided North Carolina Supreme Court affirming he should be omitted and the Michigan Supreme Court reversing a lower court decision and keeping him on."

Annals of "Journalism," Ctd., New York Times Edition

Really Bad. Peter Baker of the New York Times was not the guy the New York Times should have picked to clean up their failure to raise the issue of Donald Trump's age & mental acuity after devoting untold column inches to wringing their hands over President Biden's age and mental fitness. As Lawrence O'Donnell emphasized at the top of his show Monday night, Baker tried to do this by publishing part of Trump's affordable-child-care "proposal"/word-slaw, which we posted in a video September 6 and Akhilleus spelled out in full at the end of the Comments on September 5. BUT THEN. Immediately after Baker posts part of the Trumplebabble, he just can't help translate, expand upon and explain it to us: "What he seemed to be saying was that he would raise so much money by imposing tariffs on imported goods that the country could use the proceeds to pay for child care. In itself, that would be a disputable policy assumption." Actually, no, Peter, Trump doesn't come out and say that. More important, his tariff plan is not "disputable"; it is a direct tax on American consumers, including (and especially) people who have problems paying for child care. (If you are a person rearing children, you will need to buy more stuff than I need to buy.) Understanding how tariffs work is not difficult, people. ~~~

~~~ Even Worse. Ana Swanson who "covers international trade" for the New York Times: allows "economists," some cited and some not, to obliquely hint that consumers pay tariffs, though it requires some intuition to glean that till you get deep into the article. Furthermore, she lets on in Graf 4 that "Economists have been skeptical of many of [Trump's] assertions [above the dollar-strengthening and revenue-raising bonanza his tariffs would be]." But it is not until Graf 25 that she writes, "In a report on Monday, the World Trade Organization said that tariffs tended to place the largest burden on low-income households, which spend a greater proportion of their income on traded goods, as well as women and smaller companies, which may be less able to pay the higher costs." MB: Peter Baker at least has the excuse of being outside his usual wheelhouse when he ventures into a discussion of tariffs; international trade is Swanson's beat, for Pete's sake.~~~

     ~~~ Say, here's something the Times could have done: Leave the Trumpy tariff-'splaining to another fellow on staff: the Nobel-Prize-winning economist and columnist Paul Krugman: "On Saturday, at a rally in Wisconsin, Donald Trump said some bizarre and potentially damaging stuff about economic policy.... To be honest, the most vile thing he said at that event wasn't about economics; it was his declaration that his vision or plan for 'getting them out' -- deporting undocumented immigrants -- 'will be a bloody story.' Still, his remarks about how he would use tariffs to preserve the dollar's status as a reserve currency should worry anyone.... Summaries of Trump's statements often make them sound more coherent than they are -- a process some have decried as sanewashing. So let me hand over the mic to Trump himself and reproduce his remarks verbatim. First, he proclaimed his own infallibility: 'Trump is always right. I hate to be right. I hate to be right. I'm always right.'"

The Worst. Jamison Foser in Finding Gravity: "When former Vice President Dick Cheney endorsed Kamala Harris last week, the New York Times didn't even bother to print an article about the endorsement in the newspaper.... 'In our nation's 248-year history, there has never been an individual who is a greater threat to our republic than Donald Trump,' Cheney said in a statement.... That's as stark a demonstration of Trump's extremism as you could ask for, and a cross-party endorsement pretty much unprecedented in modern American history, but the New York Times couldn't be bothered to print its article about the endorsement in the newspaper, running it online only. Contrast that with the front-page above-the-fold treatment the New York Times gave RFK Jr.'s endorsement of Trump two weeks earlier -- and as you do so, keep in mind that RFK Jr. has never held any meaningful position in government; he's just a crackpot anti-vaccine activist trading on a famous name[.]" Thanks to RAS for the link.

Dan Lamothe of the Washington Post: "Sen. Tommy Tuberville has blocked the promotion of an Army general who is a senior aide to Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, people familiar with the matter said, threatening a confrontation between the Republican firebrand and the Pentagon just weeks before the presidential election while reviving a months-old furor over the military chief's medical secrecy. Tuberville (Ala.) has frozen the nomination of Lt. Gen. Ronald P. Clark to become the four-star commander of all U.S. Army forces in the Pacific, according to the senator's spokeswoman, Mallory Jaspers, and two other officials familiar with the emerging standoff. The maneuver, which has not been previously reported, restricts Clark's nomination from coming up for a vote in the Senate and could mark the beginning of the end of his 36-year military career.... Jaspers, in a statement, linked the hold on Clark's promotion directly to the political imbroglio over Austin's health crisis."

Alexander Bolton of the Hill: "Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) on Monday announced that his panel will hold a hearing on the Supreme Court's controversial 6-3 ruling giving former President Trump broad immunity from prosecution for crimes related to his official acts as president.... 'Congress can't turn a blind eye to the dangers of the Donald Trump immunity decision by the Supreme Court. We're going to highlight the blaring dangers of this far-right ruling for the American people,' he said in statement posted on the social media site X. Liberal Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson has warned the court's conservatives placed the president of the United States above other Americans in applying criminal laws and created in essence a two-tier justice system." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

~~~ Devin Dwyer of ABC News: "An alleged private message from Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas' wife Ginni to the leader of First Liberty Institute, which describes itself as the nation's largest religious liberty organization, has triggered a wave of criticism from top Democrats, including a new call for the justice to recuse himself from future cases involving that organization.... 'YOU GUYS HAVE FILLED THE SAILS OF MANY JUDGES,' Ginni Thomas apparently wrote to First Liberty head Kelly Shackelford, according to ProPublica. 'CAN I JUST TELL YOU, THANK YOU SO, SO, SO MUCH.'... 'The reported comments by Ginni Thomas are deeply problematic,' said Senate Judiciary Committee chairman Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., in a statement Monday."

Sam and the Princess, Ctd. Abbie VanSickle & Philip Kaleta of the New York Times: "An eccentric German princess who evolved from a 1980s punk style icon to a conservative Catholic known for hobnobbing with far-right figures said on Monday that she hosted Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. and his wife at her castle during a July 2023 music festival.... The 64-year-old princess [Gloria von Thurn und Taxis] said that Justice Alito and his wife, Martha-Ann, are her 'friends' and that after her castle festivities, the three attended the opening of the Bayreuth Festival, the world's premier venue for the performance of Wagner's operas." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: I absolutely, fucking knew Wagner had to be in the picture. And you will not be surprised to learn that Adolf Hitler was a strong supporter of the Bayreuth Festival. During WWII, the Nazi party ran the show. According to the Times story, while in Regensburg enjoying his stay in the 500-room castle, Alito told a local journalist, "I will enjoy [the Bayreuth Festival]. A friend of mine has waited his whole life to get tickets to go, and so it's quite a privilege to be able to go."

Ann Marimow of the Washington Post: "Justice Elena Kagan on Monday brushed aside concerns about whether lower-court judges could effectively enforce the Supreme Court's new ethics rules, saying those on the federal bench are more than capable of holding justices to account. 'I just think judges are not so afraid of us,' Kagan said. 'I think there are plenty of judges around this country who could do a task like that in a very fair-minded and serious way.' Kagan was expanding on her recent suggestion that Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. appoint an outside panel of highly experienced judges to review allegations of wrongdoing or questions about recusal decisions by the justices, some of whom have faced questions in recent years over unreported gifts of luxury travel and potential conflicts of interest in key cases."

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Florida. Patricia Mazzei of the New York Times: "A traffic stop that led to Tyreek Hill, a wide receiver for the Miami Dolphins, being handcuffed outside the team's stadium on Sunday escalated quickly after a police officer knocked on the player's car window and he objected, body camera footage of the incident shows. The Miami-Dade Police Department released the video on Monday evening after initially delaying its release pending an internal affairs investigation into the officer's actions. The investigation is ongoing. Mr. Hill's brief detention -- he was later released and went on to score a touchdown in the Dolphins' season opener on Sunday against the Jacksonville Jaguars -- prompted concerns about police use of force. The president of a local police union countered those accusations by saying that the officers had followed policy after Mr. Hill was being 'uncooperative.'" MB: Hill is Black; Ana Navarro said on CNN that the arresting officers were Hispanic (races not specified).

Idaho. Kim Bellware of the Washington Post: "An Idaho judge has moved the location for the murder trial of Bryan Kohberger, the man accused in the stabbing deaths of four University of Idaho students in 2022 while they were asleep in their home near the campus. In an order issued Monday, Latah County Judge John C. Judge agreed with the defense's overarching argument that, despite the best efforts of the court, the international media sensation over the killings had probably tainted the pool of local jurors, making it impossible for Kohberger to receive a fair trial in Latah County."

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Israel/Palestine, et al.

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

The New York Times' live updates of developments Monday in the Israel/Hamas war are here: "The Israeli Air Force conducted strikes in a humanitarian area in the southern Gaza Strip, targeting what it said was a militant command center, the Israeli military said Tuesday.... A spokesman for the Civil Defense in Gaza said on social media that entire families had disappeared in the strike, along with about 20 tents and that the attack had left three deep craters, suggesting that more than one missile had hit the area, Al-Mawasi. They said that there had been no warning and that there was a severe shortage of equipment needed for search and rescue efforts." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: I do get that Hamas is a barbaric organization. But so is the Israeli government.

News Lede

New York Times: "On Tuesday morning, Jared Isaacman, a billionaire entrepreneur, launched to space for a second time. The mission, known as Polaris Dawn, is a collaboration between Mr. Isaacman and SpaceX, the rocket company led by Elon Musk.... At 5:23 a.m. Eastern time, a Falcon 9 rocket lifted off from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Less than 15 minutes later, the crew of four astronauts inside the Crew Dragon capsule -- that will be their home for the next five days -- were in orbit.... The Polaris Dawn mission will mark some milestones for private spaceflight -- the first spacewalk conducted by nonprofessional astronauts, and the farthest journey from Earth by anyone since NASA's moon landings more than 50 years ago."