;)
October 31, 2022
Thanks to a friend for the link to this festive photo.
Afternoon Update:
Glenn Thrush, et al., of the New York Times: "Federal prosecutors charged the man accused of breaking into the home of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi with attempting to kidnap Ms. Pelosi and with assaulting a relative of a federal official, according to charging documents filed on Monday.... [David] DePape ... was carrying 'a roll of tape, white rope, a second hammer, a pair of rubber and cloth gloves, and zip ties,' according to the U.S. attorney's office for the Northern District of California, which filed the charges. The swift action by the Justice Department in bringing federal charges -- on the same day the San Francisco District Attorney's Office was expected to file its own charges against Mr. DePape -- reflects the Biden administration's urgency in addressing what it sees as a politically motivated crime shortly before the 2022 midterm elections.... [Paul] Pelosi remains in the intensive care unit of a San Francisco hospital...." ~~~
~~~ Marie: According to MSNBC, Paul Pelosi has spoken with investigators. The DOJ's press release is here. ~~~
~~~ Jeff Pegues & Gina Martinez of CBS News: "The suspect in the attack on House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's husband Paul Pelosi had a list of people he wanted to target, law enforcement sources briefed on the investigation confirmed...." The story does not specify who may have been on the attacker's list.
New York Times: "The trial of Donald J. Trump's family business opened on Monday, with prosecutors accusing the company of running a 15-year scheme to help its executives evade taxes by compensating them with lavish off-the-books perks.... 'This case is about greed and cheating,' a prosecutor told jurors as the tax fraud trial of two of the former president's companies started in Manhattan." This is a liveblog.
Running-Out-the-Calendar Ploy May Work for Trump Again. Charlie Savage of the New York Times: "... Donald J. Trump asked the Supreme Court on Monday to intervene in the long-running dispute over whether a House committee can obtain access to his tax returns. In a 31-page filing, lawyers for Mr. Trump asked Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. to freeze matters while they prepare a formal appeal of a ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, which held that the House Ways and Means Committee had a right to see his returns.... Whether the Supreme Court decides to extend a judicial order that has blocked the Treasury Department from complying with the request while the matter was litigated before the appeals court could effectively decide whether the House committee obtains the documents, which it has sought since 2019. That is because if Republicans retake control of the House in the midterm elections next week, as polls indicate is likely, they are almost certain to drop the request when the new Congress is seated in January." CNN's report is here.
Washington Post: "Conservative Supreme Court justices on Monday seemed open to ending decades of precedent allowing race-conscious admission decisions at colleges and universities, expressing doubt that the institutions would ever concede an ';endpoint' in their use of race to build diverse student bodies. After nearly five hours of oral argument, the programs at Harvard College and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill seemed in doubt. The question is how broad such a decision by the court's conservative majority might be, and what it would mean for other institutions of higher education. Overturning the court's precedents that race can be one factor of many in making admission decisions would have 'profound consequences' for 'the nation that we are and the nation that we aspire to be,' Solicitor General Elizabeth B. Prelogar told the justices during arguments in the Harvard case." This is a liveblog.
~~~~~~~~~~
Katelyn Polantz of CNN: "The House select committee investigating the January 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol has obtained eight emails from late 2020 that a judge determined show Donald Trump and his lawyers planning to defraud courts and obstruct the congressional vote on the presidency.... [Attorney] John] Eastman is now asking the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals for an order telling the House to return or destroy the eight emails."
Robert Barnes of the Washington Post (Oct. 29): "The most diverse group of Supreme Court justices in history will gather Monday to confront the issue that has vexed and deeply divided past courts: whether affirmative action in college admissions recognizes and nourishes a multicultural nation or impermissibly divides Americans by race.... The court on Monday will be reviewing the admission policies at Harvard and the University of North Carolina, cases brought by longtime affirmative action opponent Edward Blum and his Students for Fair Admissions." MB: Another fine example of right-wing counter-labeling. The AP's story is here. ~~~
~~~ Theodoric Meyer & Tobi Raji of the Washington Post: "... the Supreme Court is now more diverse along racial and gender lines than ever before, with four female justices, two Black justices and one Latina justice. The elite group of lawyers who argue before the justices, however, remains mostly White and male.... As the Supreme Court grapples with several cases involving race, including affirmative action cases set to be argued on Monday, the paucity of Black and Hispanic lawyers who argue before the court spotlights how people of color are often excluded from the rooms in which decisions that affect them are made."
Amy Wang & Molly Hennessy-Fiske of the Washington Post: "Several Republicans on Sunday tempered their denunciations of an attack on Paul Pelosi, the husband of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), casting blame for political violence on 'both sides' of the aisle.... Donald Trump has so far remained silent.... [And] Ronna [Romney] McDaniel, chairwoman of the Republican National Committee, said Sunday it was 'unfair' for Democrats to link Republicans' inflammatory rhetoric toward their political opponents to the attack on Paul Pelosi. 'I think this is a deranged individual,' McDaniel said on 'Fox News Sunday.'"(Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~
~~~ Marie: The New York Times published an op-ed this weekend by biographer David Nasaw (linked yesterday). Nasaw writes that Elon Musk is no special genius, but merely another boorish robber baron with a big megaphone. Musk seems determined to prove this: ~~~
~~~ Kurtis Lee of the New York Times: "Three days after Elon Musk purchased Twitter, the billionaire posted a tweet that advanced baseless allegations about the recent attack on the husband of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.... On Saturday, Hillary Clinton ... posted a tweet assailing Republicans for spreading 'hate and deranged conspiracy theories' that she said had emboldened the man who attacked Ms. Pelosi's husband, Paul, inside the couple's home in San Francisco early Friday. Mr. Musk's tweet was later deleted, and it was not immediately clear who had deleted it. In a reply to Mrs. Clinton's tweet, Mr. Musk wrote, 'There is a tiny possibility there might be more to this story than meets the eye' and then shared a link to an article in the Santa Monica Observer. The article alleges that Mr. Pelosi was drunk and in a fight with a male prostitute.... In 2016, for example, the publication advanced a claim that Mrs. Clinton had died and that a body double was sent to debate ... Donald J. Trump." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) CNN's report is here. ~~~
~~~ Marie: I'll admit that "blaming it on the gays" was not a conspiracy theory I anticipated, but maybe we're supposed to be pleased Twitter has become an equal-opportunity conspiracy hub. At any rate, all of this highlights the obvious fact that we have to tax the multi-billionaires into relative oblivion. See also Akhilleus' comment yesterday. ~~~
~~~ Elon Had Company. Isaac Stanley-Becker of the Washington Post: "Elon Musk and a wide range of right-wing personalities cobbled together misreporting, innuendo and outright falsehoods to amplify misinformation about last week's violent assault on Paul Pelosi to their millions of online followers. A forum devoted to former White House adviser Stephen K. Bannon's right-wing radio show alerted its 78,000 subscribers to 'very strange new details on Paul Pelosi attack.' Roger Stone, a longtime political consigliere to former president Donald Trump, took to the fast-growing messaging app Telegram to call the assault on House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's husband an 'alleged attack,' telling his followers that a 'stench' surrounded mainstream reporting about the Friday break-in that left Pelosi, 82, hospitalized with a skull fracture and other serious injuries.... The rush to sow doubt about the assault on Pelosi's husband illustrates how aggressively influential figures on the right are seeking to dissuade the public from believing facts about the violence, seizing on the event to promote conspiracy theories and provoke distrust." ~~~
~~~ (Conservative) Max Boot of the Washington Post: "It should not be controversial to say that America has a major problem with right-wing political violence. The evidence continues to accumulate -- yet the GOP continues to deny responsibility for this horrifying trend.... Republican leaders cite [the few] attacks to exonerate themselves of any responsibility for political violence.... They are evading their responsibility for their extremist rhetoric that all too often motivates extremist actions. The New America think tank found last year that, since Sept. 11, 2001, far-right terrorists had killed 122 people in the United States, compared with only one killed by far-leftists.... There is little doubt about what is driving political violence: the ascendance of Trump. [Trump's] type of extremist rhetoric ... now [is] the GOP mainstream, with predictable consequences. The U.S. Capitol Police report that threats against members of Congress have risen more than tenfold since Trump's election in 2016, up to 9,625 last year."
November Elections
My role is not to represent community values. My role is to tell you what the damn law is. -- Pickens County Attorney Phil Landrum ~~~
~~~ Stephanie McCrummen of the Washington Post: A rural county lawyer fights back elections skeptics who wanted to unseal ballots. Republicans vilified him & accused him of standing against "community values." to which Landrum responded by explaining what being the Pickens County attorney meant. MB: This is an uplifting story, but in the real world there are far too few officials with Landrum's integrity -- and backbone.
Way Beyond the Beltway
Brazil. Jack Nicas of the New York Times: "Voters in Brazil on Sunday ousted President Jair Bolsonaro after just one term and elected the leftist former President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva to replace him, election officials said, a rebuke to Mr. Bolsonaro's far-right movement and his divisive four years in office. The victory completes a stunning political revival for Mr. da Silva -- from the presidency to prison and back -- that had once seemed unthinkable. It also ends Mr. Bolsonaro's turbulent time as the region's most powerful leader. It was the first time an incumbent president failed to win re-election in the 34 years of Brazil's modern democracy.... Without evidence, Mr. Bolsonaro criticized the nation's electronic voting machines as rife with fraud and suggested he might not accept a loss, much like... Donald J. Trump. Many of his supporters vowed to take to the streets at his command. Yet in the hours after the race was called, far-right lawmakers, conservative pundits and many of Mr. Bolsonaro's supporters had recognized Mr. da Silva's victory." CNN's report is here.
Ukraine, et al.
The New York Times' live updates of developments Monday in Russia's war on Ukraine are here. ~~~
~~~ The Washington Post's live briefings for Monday are here: "Strikes hit critical infrastructure in the Ukrainian capital and other key cities on Monday morning, with officials warning of power outages and water shortages.... The strikes come two days after drone strikes damaged Russian warships in the Crimean port of Sevastopol. Ukraine has not taken responsibility for the attack."
Shashank Bengali, et al., of the New York Times: "World leaders on Sunday urged Russia to reconsider its suspension of an agreement that allowed the export of grain trapped by the war in Ukrainian ports, warning that Moscow's decision could unleash dire consequences on a hungry planet.... Should Russia stick to the decision and continue blocking shipments from Ukraine, one of the world's biggest food exporters, the experts said, the effects will almost certainly be profound. The suspension threatens to stall more than 9.5 million tons of grain and other foodstuffs, according to the United Nations office that oversees the agreement.... In announcing its withdrawal from the agreement on Saturday, Russia cited what it said was a flurry of seagoing drone assaults by Ukraine on its fleet in the Black Sea. But in fact, the Kremlin long ago made known its unhappiness with the grain deal reached in July."
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Reader Comments (19)
Finger on the scale…
Well, that didn’t take long, did it? Elon Musk wastes no time in trying to Jimmy the election for his authoritarian pals. That incredible story about Paul Pelosi was all the dogs needed to start howling and yapping. Of course, there was no attack! Pelosi is a pervert, that’s all. Like all Democrats. He probably eats babies too.
And if that crap won’t sell, it’s all Biden’s fault for letting crime skyrocket.
They have a page in their playbook for everything. Everything except “We’re to blame”.
The Republican leaderships' reluctance to condemn the frequently despicable behavior of their adherents, either ignoring it, winking at it or blaming it on someone or something else makes perfect sense.
They are not outraged by it. They see ginning up hate to be a successful political ploy. They've been doing it very successfully for years thanks to the explosion of Right Wing media. The pretend president even conferred the Presidential Medal of Freedom on on its loudest, most dishonest (and fattest) practitioner, a perfect illustration of Republican family values.
In short, they like it....which should tell everyone all there is to know about the kind of low-lifes they are.
And speaking of the low. This report on some Republican worms in our local apple. Imagine this is happening everywhere...
https://www.king5.com/article/news/investigations/investigation-truth-voter-fraud-skagit-county/281-36c1b740-108a-45bf-8c45-e1aaa7123cc1
BTW the local chair of the party was once convicted of fraud....When he ran for office a few years ago, he lost. He probably thinks he was cheated out of office. Cheating, after all, is what he knows best.
It all fits.
Ken: Yes, it all fits. It was Bannon's plan from the get go and his whispers into the dear leader's ear sealed the deal. Steve took the worst from the book of chaos and deconstruction and made it mainstream for the Republican Party platform and made it possible for the likes of all the nutcrackers to vote in other nutcrackers and we gots what we got. All the warnings early on––and there were plenty––did not deter the election of that orange monster in our large pumpkin visual that is displayed here this morning.
The election of Lula gives us hope that maybe––-just maybe enough voters in this country want to save US from that chaos.
THE MONSTER MASH: for your Halloween delight:
https://youtu.be/yuy2fA6alfE
A partial explanation?
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/10/31/opinion/republican-apostate-midterms.html
Maybe.
Part of a long tradition evidenced by those fellow travelers who took a hard right turn after toying with Stalinism during the 30's and 40's.
They changed their stripes, those True Believers all. They just switched their allegiance, their skeptical bone still missing.
This time around, the R's new religion has turned its back, not on a political philosophy, but on fact.
Those right wing nutjobs insinuating that Paul Pelosi was attacked
by a male prostitute give a new meaning to gay bashing.
Possibly they don't understand that gay bashing is when a gay person
is beat up for no reason other than being gay.
In other words, gays don't do the bashing.
And if someone orders a male prostitute, would they call 911 upon
his arrival, with or without a hammer?
And would the male prostitute arrive shouting "Where's Nancy, Where's Nancy?"
I don't think these people are thinking this through, if they're doing
any thinking at all.
"... The pretend president even conferred the Presidential Medal of Freedom on on its loudest, most dishonest (and fattest) practitioner, ..."
After which the practitioner died.
Everything DiJiT touches dies.
"Another Successful 'Foxtober' Midterm Election is Under Way
In 2014, it was Ebola. In 2018, it was migrant caravans. In 2022, it’s crime.
But the issue in 2014 and 2018 (and is currently doing in 2022) had less to do with what Fox decided to air (because, as the hypothetical person reading this has already said, this is to be expected from Fox), and more with how eagerly other mainstream media outlets take cues from Fox’s coverage.
if reality mattered, Republicans probably wouldn’t want this to be an election about crime, as I just noted, the crime rates are actually higher in “red” states. But the reality, sadly, doesn’t matter. The GOP will play this to their advantage.
Once again, we are witnessing a news media that refuses to treat the act of informing the public as a core part of its mission. Rather than spending time telling us what it would mean for policy if a race goes one way or another, news organizations are busy chasing the narrative being set by Fox News, playing the role of horse race announcer, and again, failing the public."
Forrest,
Oh, they ARE thinking it through. You’re thinking like a normal sentient person for whom logic plays a not inconsiderable role in daily thought processes.
The inventors and repeaters of scurrilous lies like this Paul Pelosi conspiracy theory never worry about logic or consistency or sentience, at least the sort that normal people experience. They rely on emotional grenades designed to trigger hate and fear responses. All they have to do is say “Paul Pelosi:gay:male prostitute:underwear:cover up” and the droolers’ instant response makes Pavlov’s dog seem like he’s thinking it over.
That’s all they need. They don’t concern themselves with silly things like internal consistency to their lies. The audience for such bombast isn’t going to think “Well gee, if he hired a male prostitute, why does he call the cops when the guy shows up?”.
And then we have the second and third levels of horrible behavior. Instead of decrying an attack meant to murder the Speaker of the House, or even offering condolences and hope for a speedy recovery, Donald Trump, Jr. (is there a nastier fallen apple in presidential history?) makes fun of this murderous assault by posting a picture of underwear and a hammer with the caption “I have my Paul Pelosi Halloween costume all ready to go!”
I can’t even dredge up enough opprobrium to convey what a colossal asshole this prick is. But laughing at the attempted murder of the person third in line to lead the country just because she’s a Democrat who refused to bow to your serial lies is exactly the sort of fuel that keeps this sort of thing going and guarantees more attacks in the future.
Just imagine the outrage confederates would level against someone simply bumping into this asshole hard enough to knock him down.
They’d demand jail time.
https://amp.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/oct/31/donald-trump-jr-misinformation-memes-paul-pelosi-hammer
And one more thing…Elon Musk is a douchebag and an asshole but he’s not stupid. Retweeting that truly unbelievable story about Paul Pelosi was a purposeful attempt to stick it to Democrats days before the election. No one could possibly think there was anything to that ridiculous story, so to suggest that it might be true indicates the sort of person he really is: small, vindictive, hateful, narcissistic, and repulsive. Like Trump, his response to anything in the news is “But what about me?”
I don't think there is any point in ever expecting a runt rat like DJT Jr. to behave like a mature thoughtful human being. I get real tired of the MSM writing and televising stories about how any of these "people" who belong to the confederate state of hell will react to something like the attack on Paul Pelosi. They are not people. It is not happening on both sides. It is not being fanned by Democrats. I see no end to this, and there is no reason to expect any. This guy, the attacker, has tomato soup for brains at this point-- he should never see the light of day again. And there is no earthly reason to expect anything but mushbrains on the confederate side going forward. The idiot asked by Margaret on Sunday about his gun in his video and it was supposedly directed at Pelosi, was a hapless pig in response. Sununu replying to Chuckie babe was equally moronic. I don't even want to hear any of this. The press is failing miserably.
Jeanne,
This bullshit about how the Party of Trump Traitors are never responsible for anything cuz anything horrible done in their name because violence is only perpetrated by mentally disturbed individuals, and has zero to do with their hate fueled rhetoric and fascist-authoritarian ideology, is pure mendacity. If that were the case, we’d see an equal number of atrocities committed by crazies on the left.
We don’t.
But even if you want to grant that people like this puddle of inhuman goo that tried to kill Paul Pelosi (while looking to murder his wife and deciding he’d go with the consolation prize instead) is an unstable MAGA warrior, these people still need a trigger. Fox alone must provide dozens and dozens of triggers for the unstable every day, never mind colon polyps like Junior.
I’ve been reading about how “both sides” need to ratchet down the rhetoric. No, no, no! There’s only one side engaging in calls to violence. No Democrats are saying, like Bannon (bayonet Democrats!) and MTG (kill the liberals!).
There’s no both sides here.
And most definitely, there’s no one in the left who can come close to the viciousness, indecency, and criminal assholery of any of the Trump punks. And I include Princess Ivanka.
Rich guys keep trying to convince everybody that they are no better than the guy at the end of the bar.
In my state, there is a ballot question about reproductive rights. Of course, the right is making sure there are no questions that might interfere with their plan to mash everyone under their religious thumb. How are they doing that?
By sending out mail-in ballots that have deleted that question.
Abortion deniers are sniffing that only one ballot has been found with that question left off, but here’s the problem. Those ballots are printed under the aegis of Republicans, who rule this state. Is there really only ONE bad ballot? How was only one ballot, out of thousands, misprinted? And how do people receiving these ballots know that something has been left off?
The trail of dirty tricks is well trod by the Traitors. And they’re blazing new trails as we speak.
https://www.courier-journal.com/story/news/politics/2022/10/31/bobbie-holsclaw-offices-leaves-amendment-2-kentucky-off-ballot/69605679007/
RAS,
That drooling drunk at the end of the bar doesn’t have 100 million Twitter followers.
Akhilleus,
Douchebag he is, but I'm thinking that for Musk it's all about Twitter traffic. Inviting the Pretender (Douchebag Supreme) to return is a likely next step. I'd guess discussions are already in the works.
"We don't need a Walker, we need a runner."
Ken,
The Fat Fascist will definitely get the red carpet “welcome home” treatment from Me-me-me-Musk. He has stated that he’d never return to Twitter, but considering the fact that his own “anti-social media” platform has about 46 users vs. hundreds of millions on Twit Central, now happy home to bigots and liars of all kinds, how could he resist?
I am as proud to say that I have never twitted as I am that I've never changed a diaper.
There many be a certain commonality among the two.