;)
September 2, 2022
Late Morning/Afternoon Update:
Trump Gets the View from Under the Bus. Alex Griffing of Mediaite: "Former Trump Attorney General Bill Barr on Friday smacked down various defenses of ... Donald Trump when it comes to the FBI's execution of a search warrant at his Florida estate. During an appearance on Fox News's America Reports, Barr argued that Trump taking 'classified material' with him to a 'country club' was just as unprecedented as the federal government raiding a former president's home -- swatting down the notion that the raid was an unwarranted political move. Barr also took issue with Trump's defense that he already declassified the documents, arguing that doing so would be 'an abuse' that 'shows such recklessness that it's almost worse than taking the documents.'... 'You know, they jawboned for a year. They were deceived on the voluntary actions taken. They then went and got a subpoena. They were deceived on that,' Barr continued, laying out the FBI's cause for the raid.... '... he facts are starting to show that they were being jerked around.'" Barr also said the whole idea of a special master was a "red herring."
Jim Tankersley of the New York Times: "Slowing job and wage growth, alongside rising labor force participation in August, is [are?] good news for President Biden and his hopes for a smooth transition to a more stable economic expansion. The jobs report on Friday was the first of the summer to support the case Mr. Biden and his economic aides have been making for months: that the economy is beginning to step down from a high-growth, high-inflation expansion coming out of the pandemic recession but avoiding another recession."
Tierney Sneed of CNN: "US District Judge Aileen Cannon on Friday released a detailed inventory from the Mar-a-Lago search that the Justice Department previously filed under seal in court. The search inventory released showed that classified documents had been mixed in with personal items and other materials in the boxes in which they were stored. Federal investigators also retrieved more than 11,000 non-classified government documents. One box containing documents marked with confidential, secret and top secret classification identifications also contained '99 magazines/newspapers/press articles,' according to the inventory from last month's search filed in federal court in Florida.... The court filing also provided a breakdown of the type of markings on the classified material taken from Mar-a-Lago, including 18 documents marked top secret, 54 documents marked secret and 31 documents marked confidential. In addition, federal investigators collected more than 48 empty folders with a 'classified banner' and 42 empty folders marked to return to the staff secretary or military aide." ~~~
~~~ Marie: Gosh, what do you supposed happened to the contents of all those empty folders that had once contained classified documents. It does not seem likely the folders were empty when they left the White House.
Almudena Calatrava & Daniel Politi of the AP: "Judicial and law enforcement authorities were investigating Friday whether a Brazilian citizen who appears to have tried to assassinate Argentina's politically powerful Vice President Cristina Fernández was a lone gunman or whether he was part of a larger organization.... The only reason the assassination attempt failed was because the handgun misfired, President Alberto Fernández, who is not related to the vice president, said Thursday night in a national broadcast in which he declared a national holiday Friday in light of the incident.
~~~~~~~~~~
Jonathan Lemire & Meredith McGraw of Politico: "With the political winds at his back, President Joe Biden commanded a prime-time stage Thursday in Philadelphia and singled out his predecessor as an example of the extremism that he believes 'threatens American democracy' and fuels many of the Republicans on the ballot in November.... Donald Trump and MAGA Republicans represent an extremism that threatens are very Republic,' said Biden, in a rare moment of calling out his predecessor by his name.... 'For a long time, we've reassured ourselves that American democracy is guaranteed. But it is not. We have to defend it. Protect it. Stand up for it. Each and every one of us,' Biden said.... And as Biden forcefully addressed election deniers and the rise in political violence, his predecessor spent the morning defending Jan. 6 rioters.... 'I will look very, very favorably about full pardons. If I decide to run and if I win, I will be looking very, very strongly about pardons,' Trump told [a radio] show. 'I mean full pardons with an apology to many.' Trump said he met with Jan. 6 defendants earlier this week at his office and said he will be financially supporting them." ~~~
~~~ The Washington Post report is here.
~~~ Transcript of President Biden's remarks, as delivered, via the White House.
Steve M. "Is Trump really offering financial support to any of the rioters or their families? I doubt it -- although this won't prevent him from announcing the existence of a January 6 financial support fund, which will be flooded with donations, all or most of which will go straight into his pocket. Also, he might never get around to those pardons if he runs and wins, because what does he personally get out of fulfilling the promise? But making the promise is very good for his campaign. The right says that convicted January 6 insurrectionists are political prisoners in an 'American Gulag.' This is a mainstream GOP belief. So of course pardons will be promised." MB: Why didn't Trump grant these criminals amnesty before he left office? There's some kind of calculation there. Or maybe he just figured he would be right back & he could do it in, say, March 2021.
Patricia Mazzei, et al., of the New York Times: "A federal judge signaled on Thursday that she remained open to granting ... Donald J. Trump's request to appoint an independent arbiter to go through documents the F.B.I. seized from him last month, but stopped short of making a final decision. After a nearly two-hour hearing, the judge, Aileen M. Cannon of the Federal District Court for the Southern District of Florida, reserved judgment on the question of whether to appoint a so-called special master in the case, saying she would issue a written order 'in due course.' Notably, Judge Cannon did not direct the F.B.I. to stop working with the files, which the Justice Department has said have already undergone a preliminary review by law enforcement officials." Politico's story is here. MB: I think Judge Cannon is out of her depth here.
Katherine Faulders & John Santucci of ABC News: "Two former top Trump White House lawyers are expected to appear Friday before a federal grand jury investigating the events surrounding Jan. 6, sources familiar with the matter tell ABC News. Former White House counsel Pat Cipollone and former deputy White House counsel Pat Philbin were subpoenaed by a federal grand jury investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol and efforts to overturn the 2020 election, ABC News reported last month. The move to subpoena the two men has signaled an even more dramatic escalation in the Justice Department's investigation into the Jan. 6 attack than previously known."
Luke Broadwater of the New York Times: "The House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol on Thursday asked former Speaker Newt Gingrich to sit for a voluntary interview about his involvement in ... Donald J. Trump's effort to overturn the 2020 election. In a letter to Mr. Gingrich, the Georgia Republican who held the speakership in the late 1990s, the committee said its investigators had obtained evidence that he was in contact with senior advisers to Mr. Trump about television advertisements that amplified false claims of fraud in the 2020 election and other aspects of the scheme to block the transfer of power, both before and after a mob attacked the Capitol.... [Committee chair Bennie] Thompson [D-Miss.] said Mr. Gingrich pushed messages explicitly designed to incite anger among voters, even after Georgia election officials had faced intimidation and threats of violence. In particular, Mr. Gingrich advocated promoting the false claims that election workers in Atlanta had smuggled in fake votes in suitcases.... also pushed for a coordinated plan to put forward pro-Trump electors in states won by Joseph R. Biden Jr.... On the evening of Jan. 6, Mr. Gingrich continued to push efforts to overturn the election, emailing Mr. Meadows, at 10:42 p.m. after the Capitol had been cleared of rioters, asking if there were letters from state legislators about decertifying the results of the election." A CNN report is here.
Betsy Swan of Politico: "State Sen. Doug Mastriano, the Republican nominee for governor in Pennsylvania, is suing the Jan. 6 select committee.... Mastriano filed his suit on Thursday afternoon in federal court in Washington. It names the committee itself as a defendant, as well as each member of the panel and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. In the suit, Mastriano argues that the committee's rules and composition mean it cannot compel witnesses to sit for depositions.... In February, the committee subpoenaed Mastriano for documents and testimony. Shortly after winning the Pennsylvania GOP gubernatorial primary in May, Mastriano produced a tranche of documents for the committee. He also signaled that he would participate in a voluntary interview. But the committee insisted Mastriano be deposed on videotape, according to the lawsuit.... Mastriano's lawyer, Timothy Parlatore, told the committee he wanted to make his own recording of the interview. But the Jan. 6 panel did not allow the move, the suit said, resulting in a stalemate. Mastriano appeared for a video-conference meeting with the committee in August but left without answering questions."
Tom Jackman of the Washington Post: "A former New York City police officer and Marine Corps veteran ... was sentenced to 10 years in prison Thursday, the longest punishment handed down among the nearly 250 people sentenced so far for their roles in the [Jan. 6, 2021,] insurrection. Federal prosecutors sought a prison term of more than 17 years for Thomas Webster, 56, of Goshen, N.Y., who was the first riot defendant facing the felony charge of assaulting an officer to try his luck with a jury.... Webster took the witness stand at his trial and testified that he was acting in self-defense, saying D.C. police officer Noah Rathbun had instigated the fight. But video showed Webster yelling at police on the Lower West Plaza of the Capitol, as officers struggled to maintain a perimeter outside the building. Rathbun then pushed Webster in the face -- Rathbun testified his hand slipped off Webster's shoulder -- before Webster swung and smashed a Marine Corps flagpole on a bike rack and then tackled Rathbun. Webster pulled the officer's gas mask off, causing Rathbun to begin choking on tear gas, the officer testified." The NBC News report is here.
Alan Feuer & Ken Bessinger of the New York Times: "The top lawyer for the Oath Keepers militia, who was with the group's leader outside the Capitol on Jan. 6., 2021, was charged on Thursday with conspiring to obstruct a joint session of Congress that day as lawmakers met to certify the results of the 2020 election. The lawyer, Kellye SoRelle, was the latest member of the right-wing extremist group to be indicted in connection with the Capitol attack. The indictment, handed up in Federal District Court in Washington, also accused Ms. SoRelle, 43, of tampering with evidence connected to the Justice Department's grand jury investigation of Jan. 6 and illegally entering and remaining in a restricted area of the Capitol grounds." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Richard Fausset of the New York Times: "In a setback for Senator Lindsey Graham, a federal judge ruled on Thursday that prosecutors can ask him about certain elements of his November 2020 phone calls with Brad Raffensperger, the Georgia secretary of state. Mr. Raffensperger has said that in those calls, Mr. Graham suggested rejecting mail-in votes in the presidential election from counties with high rates of questionable signatures. The order from U.S. District Judge Leigh Martin May must now be taken up for consideration by the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals. It is the latest twist in a protracted legal drama in which Mr. Graham has sought to avoid appearing before a special grand jury in Atlanta that is investigating efforts by Donald J. Trump and his allies to overturn Mr. Trump's narrow loss in the state in 2020.... Judge May rejected Mr. Graham's argument that all questions about the calls should be barred. Secretary Raffensperger, the judge wrote, 'has stated publicly that he understood Senator Graham to be implying or otherwise suggesting that he (Secretary Raffensperger) should throw out ballots.' She continued: 'As the Court has previously stated, any such "cajoling," "exhorting," or pressuring of Secretary Raffensperger (or any other Georgia election officials) to throw out ballots or otherwise change Georgia's election processes, including changing processes so as to alter the state's results, is not protected legislative activity under the Speech or Debate Clause.'"
Emma Brown of the Washington Post: "Virginia 'Ginni' Thomas, the conservative activist and wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, pressed lawmakers to overturn Joe Biden's 2020 victory not only in Arizona, as previously reported, but also in a second battleground state, Wisconsin, according to emails obtained under state public-records law.... The new emails show that Thomas also messaged two Republican lawmakers in Wisconsin: state Sen. Kathy Bernier, then chair of the Senate elections committee, and state Rep. Gary Tauchen. Bernier and Tauchen received the email ... on Nov. 9, virtually the same time the Arizona lawmakers received a verbatim copy of the message from Thomas.... Thomas sent all of the emails via FreeRoots, an online platform that allowed people to send pre-written emails to multiple elected officials."(Also linked yesterday afternoon.) A CBS News report is here.
Tony Romm, et al., of the Washington Post: "Republican state attorneys general and other leading conservatives are exploring a slew of potential lawsuits targeting President Biden's plan to cancel some student debt -- challenges that could limit or invalidate the policy before it takes full effect. In recent days, a number of GOP attorneys general from states including Arizona, Missouri and Texas have met privately to discuss a strategy that could see multiple cases filed in different courts around the country.... Other influential conservatives -- including Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.) and allies of the Heritage Foundation ... -- are mulling their own options as they ratchet up criticism of Biden's debt-relief plan...." MB: Bad news for young people, but good news, I guess, for Democrats. Are these bozos planning to bring these suits before the November election?
Annie Karni of the New York Times: "The Senate's Republican campaign chief on Thursday appeared to escalate an ugly quarrel with ... Senator Mitch McConnell, in the latest sign of the G.O.P.'s eroding confidence about winning back the majority in November. Without naming Mr. McConnell, Senator Rick Scott of Florida ... lashed out in a blistering opinion piece in The Washington Examiner at Republicans he said were 'trash-talking' the party's candidates, an apparent reference to comments last month in which Mr. McConnell said that 'candidate quality' could harm the G.O.P.'s chances of retaking the Senate. Mr. Scott called such remarks 'treasonous' and said those who make them should 'pipe down.' 'Unfortunately, many of the very people responsible for losing the Senate last cycle are now trying to stop us from winning the majority this time by trash-talking our Republican candidates,' Mr. Scott wrote. 'It's an amazing act of cowardice, and ultimately, it's treasonous to the conservative cause.'" (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~
~~~ Marie. Wait, wait! It's an act of treason to suggest that Herschel Walker or Dr. Oz is unqualified to join the Senate?? Well, hang me by my toes.
Tom Cotton Finds Another Election to Deny. Rebecca Shabad of NBC News: "After Democrat Mary Peltola defeated Sarah Palin in Alaska's special election Wednesday, Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., discredited the voting system used by Alaska voters that they chose to implement in their state. Cotton tweeted that Alaska's new ranked-choice voting system 'is a scam to rig elections,' casting doubt on the outcome of the process to fill the seat of late GOP Rep. Don Young. '60% of Alaska voters voted for a Republican, but thanks to a convoluted process and ballot exhaustion -- which disenfranchises voters -- a Democrat "won,'" Cotton said in a separate tweet." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~
~~~ Marie: See, Tom, in theory, ranked-choice voting should have favored Palin in this election. Both she & the third-place candidate Nick Begich are Republicans. Therefore, you would expect that Palin -- rather than a Democratic candidate -- would get most of Begich voters' second-choice votes. But she didn't. Palin lost because a majority of voters didn't want the former half-governor to win this election, not because there was something unfa-a-a-air about the system. Dimwit. See also Patrick's comment near the end of yesterday's thread. ~~~
~~~ AND unwashed was a-wondering yesterday, "Do Rs think that ranked-choice voting is just Wordle for politics?" MB: Maybe so. Cotton thought the five letters in Alaska were P-A-L-I-N.
Christopher Flavelle, et al., of the New York Times: "... climate change has ... emerged as a growing threat to clean, safe drinking water across the country. The deluge that knocked out a fraying water plant in Jackson, Miss., this week, depriving more than 150,000 people of drinking water, offered the latest example of how quickly America's aging treatment plants and decades-old pipes can crumple under the shocks of a warming world.... Earlier this summer, more than 25,000 people lost their water, some for weeks, after deadly floods ripped through eastern Kentucky, breaking water lines as they obliterated entire neighborhoods.... Utility companies across Texas spent the summer coping with hundreds of water-main breaks as record heat baked and shifted the drought-stricken soil surrounding pipes.... And from the Gulf Coast to the East Coast, supercharged hurricanes ... now regularly debilitate water suppliers, forcing hundreds of thousands of people to boil their water or scramble for bottles days or weeks after the storms pass."
Sarah Mervosh of the New York Times: "National test results released on Thursday showed in stark terms the pandemic's devastating effects on American schoolchildren, with the performance of 9-year-olds in math and reading dropping to the levels from two decades ago. This year, for the first time since the National Assessment of Educational Progress tests began tracking student achievement in the 1970s, 9-year-olds lost ground in math, and scores in reading fell by the largest margin in more than 30 years. The declines spanned almost all races and income levels and were markedly worse for the lowest-performing students. While top performers in the 90th percentile showed a modest drop -- three points in math -- students in the bottom 10th percentile dropped by 12 points in math, four times the impact." CNN's report is here. MB: On the upside, parents, the kids are now as dumb as you are. Maybe your efforts to help them with their homework will now be useful. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) The AP's report is here.
Benjamin Mueller of the New York Times: "The director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Thursday recommended updated coronavirus booster shots to the vast majority of Americans, adding a critical new tool to the country's arsenal as it tries to blunt an expected wintertime surge of the virus. The decision cleared the way for health workers to begin giving people the redesigned shots within days. And it marked a milestone in the fight against a rapidly shape-shifting pathogen: For the first time in the pandemic, manufacturers have capitalized on the potential of mRNA technology to begin distributing a Covid vaccine that perfectly matches the circulating strain of the virus, a feat that had long seemed improbable.... Now [vaccine recipients] face a weighty new question: how long to wait after their last vaccine dose or infection before seeking an updated booster. In authorizing the new boosters, federal regulators said on Wednesday that people needed to leave at least two months between doses. Several members of a panel of expert advisers to the C.D.C. expressed concern during a meeting on Thursday that two months was too short, but the C.D.C. pushed to endorse the same minimum interval." The Washington Post story, which is free to nonsubscribers, is here.
Beyond the Beltway
California. Brad Plumer of the New York Times: "California, with an economy that ranks as the world's fifth-largest, embarked this week on its most aggressive effort yet to confront climate change, after lawmakers passed a flurry of bills designed to cut emissions and speed away from fossil fuels. Legislators approved a record $54 billion in climate spending and passed sweeping new restrictions on oil and gas drilling as well as a mandate that California stop adding carbon dioxide to the atmosphere by 2045. And they voted to extend the life of Diablo Canyon, California's last nuclear power plant, by five years, a step once unthinkable to many environmentalists. Proponents said that California, which is again struggling to keep the lights on amid a scorching heat wave this week, needed the emissions-free electricity from the nuclear plant while other clean sources like wind and solar ramp up."
Florida. Bob Brigham of the Raw Story: "'A jury of six people found Seminole County GOP Chairman Ben Paris guilty on Thursday of a misdemeanor charge that he arranged to put his cousin's name on independent "ghost" candidate Jestine Iannotti's campaign contribution forms in 2020,' the Orlando Sentinel reported. 'Paris was sentenced to 12 months of probation and 200 hours of community service and ordered to pay roughly $42,000 -- the cost of the Florida Department of Law Enforcement investigation into the apparent vote-siphoning scheme.' Attorney Matthews Bark, who represented Paris, said his client would resign as chairman of the Seminole GOP."
Ohio Senate Race. Where's J.D.? Manu Raju & Alex Rogers of CNN: "Ohio voters will begin casting their ballots in six weeks -- and J.D. Vance has been difficult to find. The rookie GOP candidate goes days without any public events, and his campaign gives little information about his whereabouts. He has been slow to build a fundraising operation, and a ground game, and is being dramatically outspent on air while racking up a nearly $900,000 in campaign debt last quarter. And now, a super PAC with ties to Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell is planning to spend a staggering $28 million on television ads here to save a Senate seat once viewed as a lock -- and deny Democratic Rep. Tim Ryan a chance for a major, midterm upset."
Way Beyond
Ukraine, et al.
The Washington Post's live briefings of developments Friday in Russia's war on Ukraine are here: "Two IAEA inspectors will remain at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant 'on a permanent basis,' Mikhail Ulyanov, Russia's envoy to the agency, told The Washington Post on Friday. 'I can confirm that to the best of my knowledge this is the intention of the IAEA. We welcome this intention,' he said. An IAEA official, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss a sensitive matter, also said two representatives of the U.N. nuclear watchdog would stay on-site, after agency chief Rafael Mariano Grossi led a tour of the Russian-occupied facility. 'The IAEA is now there -- and it is not moving,' Grossi told reporters when he returned to territory under Ukrainian control. It was not clear how extensive his team's access will be after his departure. Grossi said the IAEA plans to establish a 'resident' presence to monitor the security of the plant and that a core team will stay there over the coming days.... 'The physical integrity of the plant has been violated several times,' according to Grossi, who said he worries about the risks 'until we have a situation which is more stable.' His agency and Kyiv have urged a military withdrawal from the site, which is controlled by Russian forces but operated by Ukrainian engineers." ~~~
~~~ The New York Times' live updates for Friday are here. The Guardian's live updates for Friday are here. The Guardian's summary report is here.
Russia, Where Defenestration Qualifies as a "Severe Illness." Mary Ilyushina of the Washington Post: "The chairman of Russia's second-largest oil company, Lukoil, died Thursday after reportedly falling from the window of a Moscow hospital where he was being treated after suffering a heart attack. Ravil Maganov, 67, fell from a sixth-floor window at the Central Clinical Hospital around 7 a.m. local time, the state-run Tass news agency reported. It was not clear whether Maganov's death was an accident, a suicide or something more sinister.... Lukoil confirmed Maganov's death but said only that he 'passed away following a severe illness.'... Maganov's unexplained fall is at least the sixth fatal incident this year involving high-profile Russian oil and gas executives whose lives ended in gory or murky circumstances." The Guardian's report is here.
News Lede
CNBC: "Nonfarm payrolls rose solidly in August amid an otherwise slowing economy, while the unemployment rate ticked higher as more workers rejoined the labor force, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Friday. The economy added 315,000 jobs for the month, just below the Dow Jones estimate for 318,000 and well off the 526,000 in July and the lowest monthly gain since April 2021."
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Reader Comments (19)
I listened to President Biden’s speech tonight. It was a fist pumper. A proper and fiery Philippic crafted to put the MAGA monsters in a context that removed them and their fascist leader from the friendly and illusory confines of traitorous media supporters, holding them up as the dangerous and violent anti-American thugs they truly are.
And as he finished, I heard NPR commentators chastise him for being too hard on the MAGA horde. “Oh..he went too far. He’ll alienate all those nice Trump voters.”
What???? How is it possible to alienate people who already want to KILL YOU???
I haven’t read any other both sides bullshit, but I’m sure there will be plenty of this same crap. “Oh….we have to be nice to those people. And Democrats should be worried that they’ll vote for MAGA candidates! Oh.. !! Where are my pearls? Clutch, clutch, clutch!”
Are you for real? These fucking people wouldn’t vote for democracy and decency if you offered to pay their mortgage, buy them a vacation house, a giant new pickup, half a dozen AR-15’s, and bankrolled their kids’ college tuition.
They are lining up to piss on your grave! But, oh…don’t say anything they might think is mean. Even if—especially if—it’s true.
I can’t even tell you how fucking sick I am of this shit.
Let’s all lay down in the road so the shock absorbers on their pickup trucks won’t be rattled when they drive over us on the way to authoritarian nirvana.
Meanwhile, you go, Joe. Give these assholes hell.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/09/01/russia-lukoil-fall-hospital-window/
Lotsa defenestration going one in Putin's Russia.
Bad for the victims. Good for the vocabulary.
Years ago, when I was leaving for a month or so in the Soviet Union, a number of people advised me that were I to get sick while there, to come back to the states immediately. I see now what they meant. “Hospital room with a view?” “Um…no thanks. I’ll just sit out in the corridor.”
What’s next from Aunt Pittypat? Riots in the street if anyone gets to ask him questions about his attempt to help Fatty subvert democracy?
Maybe this will be the new go to threat for confederates. Democrats win an election? Riots in the street! CVS out of Metamucil? Riots in the street! Paperboy missed the front porch again? Paper in the rose bush? Riots in the street!
@Ken Winkes: Okay, I changed my headline because you reminded me of a better word. I do think the most common use of "defenestration" is figurative rather than literal, as is what likely happened in Moscow.
https://www.yahoo.com/news/biden-host-obama-next-week-
170311890.html
President Biden will host former President Obama and former first
lady Michelle Obama next week to unveil their official White House
Portraits.
This event comes several years after Donald Trump snubbed them by
not hosting the unveiling, as is tradition (or was tradition before
Trump.)
I'm thinking it could be because the Obamas were black and also
the artists involved were black. Trump would have said "this is the
WHITE House. I can't have my people see me hosting a group
like that."
@Marie
I first came across that delightful word in reference to the demise of Jan Masaryck, whom the Soviets sacrificed for political purposes in 1948. I must have been in high school when my brain was still sticky. That word, anyway, stuck.
The practice apparently has a long tradition. Putin is just getting back to the good old days. MRGA.. Make Russia Great Again.
https://www.czechcenter.org/blog/2019/11/15/the-defenestrations-of-prague
A Trumpy judge out of her depth? Inconceivable! I wondered if Cannon was another Federalist Society right-wing rubber stamp hack, and sure enough, when you check out her bio, she lists, as associations, a Duke Alum society, a yacht and country club (natch), AND the Federalist Society (double natch).
Ah, gee-–-see what we gots here: Conservative (nice word) commentators are in "full meltdown" over Biden's speech, warning that the Republican Party and the MAGA (minions) movement are kinda like––big breath here–--"Semi-facism." Note the "semi"––not full blown, mind you but pretty damn close. OMG! scandalous! So MSNBC has put together a supercut showing how these same "I am appalled people" have no problem labeling the Dems facists–-they even leave off the "semi."
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/fox-news-fascism_n_631145fce4b0aefceeca0ff7
Loved by the way how Biden treated the MAGA crowd with their blowhorns last night. Someone said if it had been Trump speaking he'd have ordered them thrown out on their fannies.
@PD Pepe: Worse than that. During rallies in 2016, Trump encouraged violence against protesters, saying he would pay the legal fees of anyone arrested for violence against a protester. "'If you see somebody getting ready to throw a tomato, knock the crap out of them, would you? Seriously, OK? Just knock the hell ... I promise you I will pay for the legal fees. I promise, I promise,' the future president said on Feb. 1, 2016."
The contrast is striking, isn't it? The difference between, say, a real president & a fascist phony.
More than that, Marie, it’s the difference between a real man, a decent guy, someone in control of himself, and a chiseling, lying, cowardly bully who desperately needs to be seen by other bullies as a tough guy.
Picturing an indicted shoplifter whose excuse was that he had meant to pay for the 11,000 or so items he had stuffed in his capacious pockets, but just somehow forgot.
Wish I were a cartoonist.
@Ken Winkes: And then the judge says, "But look, you can have 18 months to return the stuff. And if you forget to return some of it, we'll send our bailiff around to pick it up when you're not home so it won't disturb you. And any empty cartons we find because you used up the contents of the boxes? No problem. Oh, and if any of the items you stole are embarrassing -- like deodorant or condoms or something -- I'll have a super-special bailiff remove them from the pile of other stuff."
It’s become a daily fascination, taking note of the efforts of the Biden Administration and congressional Democrats, who work constantly to address serious problems while trying to make life better for Americans.
Every day, it seems, there’s a new initiative, a new bill, new ideas to fix the damage caused in just four years by a stunningly unqualified liar and his grasping, greedy cohort, and attempts to craft a smarter, healthier, more generous, more equal world.
The contrast with the hackministration of the former guy and his howling sycophants in congress, all of whom worked (when they did actual work), to grab whatever they could for themselves while making life harder, more miserable, and more dangerous for everyone else, couldn’t be more stark. Or more instructive. At least to those with a working brain.
What Abelard sez about MAGAs
Lately, I’ve been reading Abelard on the concept of universals. The idea of universals, beginning, as far as we know, with Plato, deals with the problem of how we can conceive of an individual entity but connect it, via certain values or qualities, with all others of the same genera (how can something be its own thing but still part of a much larger group?). So, you might have a couple dozen coffee mugs, all different shapes, colors, sizes, etc., but they all have certain universal qualities in common (they hold hot liquids and keep them warm, and have a handle of sorts), which allows us to consider them all “coffee mugs”.
So, all humans might look and act vastly differently (Trump and Gandhi) but they share universal qualities that get them all lumped into the “Human” box. There are certain qualities shared by humans with other mammals, even other vertebrates, but the signal qualifications for “human” keeps those other things in their own, separate box.
If we extend Abelard’s concept of the problem of universals to our current political/social state, you find that the vast majority (all?) of these people do not share the universal qualities of either citizenship, or qualities that would place them squarely in the box labeled “American”, especially if we rely on the founding principles of American-hood and the evolution of those principles over time (an acknowledgement of basic human rights, for instance, and the rights of all citizens under the constitution).
Therefore, we’re talking about an entirely different species. One that cannot be reasoned with or trusted to abide by the basic tenets of good citizenship, or even to share a belief in the necessity of the rule of law (or the existence of law as applied solely to their group).
The idea, floated by so many both-sides commentators, that Democrats should just be nicer to confederate supporters of treason, insurrection, authoritarianism, and white supremacy and try to see their point of view is ridiculous on its face. It’s like trying to suggest that paying more attention to rattlesnakes might make them more human.
It’s a waste of time. Abelard sez fuggedaboutit.
Akhilleus, about 25 years ago I worked for a guy who had recently been a Democratic U.S. Senator from a border state (Civil War border, not Mex-Can border). He was a gentlemanly person who had been in politics all his life, professional and elected, intimately familiar with his state and region as well as the ways and persons of the U.S. capitol.
He told me that you should always treat Republicans with respect and attentiveness, because there were many people who considered that despite appearances they could well be human.
I suppose he is right, and who are we to say he isn't, but there are many days when it is hard to honor that advice.
I guess I owe fat-45 an apology. I wrote that he did not unveil the
Obama portraits as he should have done,
I was wrong as I have since read somewhere that the Obamas
requested that he not unveil the portraits. They would wait until
someone better came along.
Patrick,
I noted that your friend said “could be human”, but he didn’t say positively.
Whatever else they might be, they ain’t Americans.
Forrest!!
Are you sure, man? You want to APOLOGIZE???
Why, why…that would make you…a DECENT PERSON!!!
Fuggedabout visits from Betsy or any other R/Trumpy/Nazi roadkill. I mean, just don’t even think about it. Those people don’t ‘pologize fer nothin’. You run over little Jimmy’s grandma with your new giant gas guzzling SUV? Her fault. You sold an assault rifle with 3 million rounds of ammunition to a kid wearing a MAGA hat and a t-shirt saying “Third Graders Must Die”? Sorry. Biden’s fault.
You lie incessantly about everything??
WHO CARES?
Sorry, dude. You ain’t a Republican.