;)
The Commentariat -- Sept. 24, 2020
Late Morning/Afternoon Update:
Here's a letter from "generals, admirals, senior noncommissioned officers, ambassadors, and senior civilian national security leaders" endorsing Joe Biden for president. Includes a list of signers.
"Fraud Was a Way of Life.” Alan Feuer of the New York Times: "In her best-selling memoir, Mary L. Trump, President Trump's niece, told a family story that detailed the ways in which she claims her relatives -- the president among them -- tricked, bullied and ultimately cheated her out of an inheritance worth tens of millions of dollars. On Thursday, more than two months after the book was published and a little more than one month before the election, Ms. Trump told her story again -- this time in a lawsuit. The suit, filed in State Supreme Court in Manhattan, accused Mr. Trump, his sister Maryanne Trump Barry and their brother Robert Trump, who died in August, of fraud and civil conspiracy. It seeks to recover the millions of dollars Ms. Trump claims to have lost. In its first sentence, the lawsuit says that, for the Trumps, 'fraud was not just the family business -- it was a way of life.' Beginning in the 1980s, the suit contends, the president and his siblings took control of the New York City real estate empire their father, Fred Trump Sr., had built and 'exploited it to enrich themselves' to the detriment of everyone around them." A copy of the complaint, via the Times, is here. It's an entertaining read. ~~~
~~~ The Daily Beast's story is here. A ScribD copy of the complaint, via the Hill, is here.
When We Should Believe the Biggest Liar. Chuck Todd, et al., of NBC News argue that we should take Trump at his word that he will fight an orderly transfer of power. ~~~
~~~ Kevin Liptak of CNN lists "a string of provocative comments by the President openly undermining the electoral process[.]" ~~~
~~~ Notice how, as the reporter asks the question about the peaceful transfer of power, Trump "signs" an objection to the reporter's mask:
~~~ Orion Rummler of Axios: "FBI Director Christopher Wray responded to a question on the security of mail-in voting to the Senate Homeland Security Committee on Thursday by saying that the agency has 'not seen, historically, any kind of coordinated national voter fraud effort in a major election, whether it's by mail or otherwise.'"
Cameron Joseph of Vice: "President Trump's campaign is running a television ad claiming that he built 'the best' economy in history, and will do so again. But it uses film of a visit he made to a steel plant that recently furloughed hundreds of workers.... The clip is from a 2018 visit to the company's Granite City, Illinois plant.... U.S. Steel notified employees that they would lay off as many as 737 workers at the Granite City plant in late April following news that major auto companies would stop production at many plants as COVID cases spiked across the country. That came as part of a wider series of cuts. A company spokeswoman said at the time that 2,700 total layoffs would occur immediately, and the company warned 6,500 total workers that they could face furloughs or layoffs — one third of the company’s total staff."
Anybody Having Anything to Do with Trump Is Corrupt. Jamie Ross of the Daily Beast: "Alexander Nix, the man who was running Cambridge Analytica when it harvested the Facebook data of tens of millions voters without their knowledge so it could be exploited by the Trump 2016 campaign, has been banned from directing any companies for seven years. The now-defunct Cambridge Analytica was a U.K. digital black-ops firm that collapsed in 2018 following revelations that it secretly collected Facebook profile information on 87 million people. The Daily Beast revealed two years ago that Team Trump used audience lists created by Cambridge Analytica to target 'dark ads' on Facebook during the final months of the 2016 campaign up to Trump's inauguration. Nix ... was secretly recorded by Britain's Channel 4 blabbing about its work for Trump and effectively claiming that Cambridge Analytica was to thank for Trump becoming president."
Lachlan Markay of the Daily Beast: "A leading congressional ally of ... Donald Trump alleged last week that Sen. Kelly Loeffler (R-GA) threatened to withhold financial support for the president's re-election effort unless he helped get her top Republican opponent out of the race. According to Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL), Loeffler or her representatives approached the Trump campaign and offered to spend tens of millions of dollars on Trump's behalf. But that financial support would only come, Loeffler's team supposedly said, if Trump helped convince Rep. Doug Collins (R-GA) to drop his Senate bid. Gaetz supports Collins and was speaking at a campaign event. The post is members-only firewalled, but you can read the first bit. The Raw Story has a summary report here.
Robert McCarthy of the Buffalo News: "Michael R. Caputo, the East Aurora political consultant at the center of controversy over the Trump administration's Covid-19 messaging, has been diagnosed with cancer. Assemblyman David J. DiPietro, R-East Aurora, acting as Caputo's spokesman, said Thursday that the Health and Human Services spokesman on leave from his assistant secretary post has 'squamous cell carcinoma, a metastatic head and neck cancer which originated in his throat.'... Caputo said he entered the National Cancer Institute at the urging of Dr. Robert Redfield, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, who noticed the lump, and that the president directed arrangements for his admission and had checked on him."
Another Ungrammatical Trump Super-lie. I think we're rounding the turn very much. -- Donald Trump, on U.S. progress on management of the coronavirus, September 23 "briefing" ~~~
~~~ Sam Baker & Andrew Witherspoon of Axios: "The coronavirus is surging once again across the U.S., with cases rising in 22 states over the past week.... There isn't one big event or sudden occurrence that explains this increase. We simply have never done a very good job containing the virus, despite losing 200,000 lives in just the past six months, and this is what that persistent failure looks like.... The U.S. is now averaging roughly 43,000 new cases per day, a 16% increase from a week ago." Mrs. McC: Includes a map which shows the virus on the increase mostly in Midwest & Western states; IOW, Trump territory. "Rounding the turn very much"? Uh, very not so much.
David Lieb & Jim Salter of the AP: "Missouri Gov. Mike Parson, a Republican who has steadfastly refused to require residents to wear masks, tested positive for the coronavirus, his office said Wednesday. Parson was tested after his wife, Teresa, tested positive earlier in the day. Teresa Parson had experienced mild symptoms, including a cough and nasal congestion, spokeswoman Kelli Jones said. She took a rapid test that came back positive and a nasal swab test later confirmed the finding. The governor's rapid test showed he tested positive and he is still awaiting results from the swab test.... 'Right now I feel fine. No symptoms of any kind,' Parson said in the video. 'But right now we just have to take the quarantine procedures in place.'"
Fred Imbert of CNBC: "The number of first-time filers for unemployment benefits were slightly higher than expected last week as the labor market continues its sluggish recovery from the coronavirus pandemic. The Labor Department reported Thursday that initial jobless claims for the week ending Sept. 19 came in at 870,000, adjusted for seasonal fluctuations."
If Republicans lose we will accept the result. If the Supreme Court rules in favor of Joe Biden, I will accept that result. -- Lindsey Graham on Fox "News" Thursday ~~~
~~~ Marianne Levine, et al., of Politico: "Congressional Republicans gently pushed back Thursday against ... Donald Trump's refusal to commit to a peaceful transfer of power if he loses the November election.... But no one condemned Trump directly by name, and they declined to weigh in on whether it was appropriate for the president to suggest he won't leave office. 'The winner of the November 3rd election will be inaugurated on January 20th,' [tweeted] Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. 'There will be an orderly transition just as there has been every four years since 1792.'... 'As we have done for over two centuries we will have a legitimate [and] fair election,' added Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), the chairman of the Intelligence Committee. 'It may take longer than usual to know the outcome, but it will be a valid one. And at noon on Jan 20, 2021 we will peacefully swear in the president.'... House GOP Conference Chair Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.), one of the few Republicans willing to publicly rebuke the president, said Thursday that transferring power 'is enshrined in our Constitution and fundamental survival of our Republic' and vowed that American leaders would uphold their oath to the Constitution. Rep. Steve Stivers (R-Ohio), a former chair of the House Republicans' campaign arm, echoed her remarks." ~~~
~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: This would be more reassuring if we knew how Mitch defines "an orderly transition." It very well could include complicity in Trump's plans to undermine the results. ~~~
~~~ Stephen Collinson of CNN: "... Donald Trump's refusal on Wednesday to guarantee a peaceful transfer of power if he loses to Joe Biden in November is leading America towards a dark place during a year of incendiary political tensions. Trump's intransigence, included in his latest assault on perfectly legitimate mail-in ballots on Wednesday, posed a grave threat to the democratic continuum that has underpinned nearly 250 years of republican government....The President's comments risked not only dealing another blow to an election in which he has been trailing and has incessantly tarnished, but could send a signal to his supporters about how to react if the Democratic nominee prevails in 41 days.... Trump's near simultaneous warning on Wednesday that he thinks the election will end up being decided by the Supreme Court also raises the risk of a constitutional imbroglio likely to be worse than the disputed 2000 election."
Emma Austin & Lewis Aulbach of the Louisville Courier Journal: "Louisville police arrested 127 people during Wednesday protests following the announcement that just one of three Louisville Metro Police officers who fired shots in Breonna Taylor's apartment will be criminally charged, and one suspect was arrested after LMPD officials said two officers were shot that night.... Police arrested one suspect in connection with the shooting that injured two police officers. Both victims were taken to the hospital and in stable condition, acting chief Robert Schroeder said Wednesday night. The suspect in that shooting was identified Thursday morning as Larynzo Johnson, of Louisville."
~~~~~~~~~~
Mark Leibovich of the New York Times: "As 20,000 tiny flags waved in the grass around the Washington Monument to memorialize more than 200,000 Americans dead from the coronavirus, mourners lined up on Wednesday to pay respects to Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, whose coffin lay outside at the top of the Supreme Court steps. At the same time, Senate Republicans worked to codify the compressed time frame to push through President Trump's conservative nominee to replace the liberal Justice Ginsburg. Senator Ron Johnson, Republican of Wisconsin, released an 87-page report targeting the work of Hunter Biden's doings in Ukraine. And President Trump tweeted yet again about his dislike for Senator John McCain while denigrating former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. ... as 'John McCain's lapdog.'... Justice Ginsburg's death has brought a particular whiplash of sadness and rage in recent days to Washington, an overwhelmingly Democratic city...."
Presidential Race, Etc.
Sydney Ember of the New York Times: "Less than six weeks from Election Day, Joseph R. Biden Jr. on Wednesday shied away from two major issues of deep importance to Democrats, giving cautious responses to reporters' questions about the police shooting of Breonna Taylor and President Trump's imminent nomination for the Supreme Court.... Mr. Biden said in response to a reporter's question that he had 'not seen the report' [on the Kentucky grand jury findings] and that he knew only broad information.... Two hours later, he issued a statement, sent by his campaign. 'A federal investigation remains ongoing, but we do not need to wait for the final judgment of that investigation to do more to deliver justice for Breonna,' Mr. Biden said in the statement. He said the use of 'excessive force' needed to be addressed and made an appeal against violence.... Mr. Biden's hesitancy to engage with top-of-mind issues reflected the risk-averse approach he has taken to several facets of his campaign...." ~~~
~~~ Mrs Bea McCrabbie: I think Ember is wrong about this. Biden knows how a real president reacts to legal controversies & presidential appointments, and Biden plans to be a real president. You may recall that Biden had to help clean up after President Obama muffed a response to a minor altercation Henry Louis Gates of Harvard had with Cambridge police in 2009. Don't believe everything you read in the papers. ~~~
~~~ Here's Joe Biden's full statement.
Courtney Kube & Dan De Luce of NBC News: "More than 200 retired generals and admirals endorsed Joe Biden for president in a letter published Thursday, saying he had the character and judgment to serve as commander-in-chief instead of ... Donald Trump, who has failed 'to meet challenges large or small.' Some of the officers who signed the letter supporting Biden had retired only in the past few years.... By law, military service members must remain apolitical while in uniform, but most senior officers stay out of the political arena even after they hang up their uniforms." Mrs. McC: Whither John Kelly, H.R. McMaster, Jim Mattis?
** Colby Itkowitz of the Washington Post: "President Trump refused Wednesday to commit to a peaceful transfer of power if he loses the election, asserting that if he doesn't win, it will be because of fraudulent mail-in voting and not because more Americans voted against him.... 'Well, we’re going to have to see what happens. You know that I've been complaining very strongly about the ballots and the ballots are a disaster --' Trump began when asked during a White House press briefing if he would ensure a peaceful transition.... 'Get rid of the ballots, and you'll have a very -- we'll have a very peaceful, there won't be a transfer, frankly. There'll be a continuation,' Trump said. 'The ballots are out of control. You know it. And you know who knows it better than anybody else? The Democrats know it better than anybody else.'" Emphasis added. A CNN story is here. ~~~
~~~ Mrs. Bea McCrabbie: Perhaps the most stunning part of this report is that it is not a banner headline in either the WashPo or the NYT. In fact, at 9:30 pm ET Wednesday, the Times doesn't even have a stand-alone story on a POTUS* who say he won't commit to leaving the White House at the end of his term. ~~~
~~~ Jordain Carney of the Hill: "Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) pushed back on Wednesday against President Trump, who refused to commit to a peaceful transition of power should he lose the election in November. 'Fundamental to democracy is the peaceful transition of power; without that, there is Belarus. Any suggestion that a president might not respect this Constitutional guarantee is both unthinkable and unacceptable,' Romney tweeted.... Romney, who is one of the GOP senators most willing to publicly criticize Trump, is the first Republican lawmaker to weigh in on the president's comments made from the White House on Wednesday." Mrs. McC: Romney, of course, knows what it's like to lose a presidential election that he thought he would win right up until the time the results rolled in.
~~~ ** MEANWHILE. Barton Gellman of the Atlantic: "Donald Trump may win or lose, but he will never concede. Not under any circumstance.... A lot of people ... frame [this] as a concern, unthinkable for presidents past, that Trump might refuse to vacate the Oval Office if he loses. They generally conclude, as [Joe] Biden has, that in that event the proper authorities 'will escort him from the White House with great dispatch.' The worst case, however..., is that [Trump] uses his power to prevent a decisive outcome against him. If ... his Republican allies play the parts he assigns them, he could obstruct the emergence of a legally unambiguous victory for Biden in the Electoral College and then in Congress. He could prevent the formation of consensus about whether there is any outcome at all.... Trump's state and national legal teams are already laying the groundwork for postelection maneuvers that would circumvent the results of the vote count in battleground states." Gellman goes through a long list of those maneuvers until he gets to this: "According to sources in the Republican Party at the state and national levels, the Trump campaign is discussing contingency plans to bypass election results and appoint loyal electors in battleground states where Republicans hold the legislative majority. With a justification based on claims of rampant fraud, Trump would ask state legislators to set aside the popular vote and exercise their power to choose a slate of electors directly.... Republicans control both legislative chambers in the six most closely contested battleground states." ~~~
~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: The Atlantic story is firewalled; I used perhaps my last freebie on it. But Ken W. has provided a link to a synopsis published in Forbes. BTW, if you watched Frontline's "The Choice," which I did based on P.D. Pepe's advice, you'll understand why this is a genuine threat, not just hot air. And if you've been watching Republicans who condemned Trump before they embraced him, then you will know they will go along with treasonous insurrection. In fact, if you've heard them "explaining" why it's perfectly reasonable to allow Trump to make a Supreme Court appointment while the election was ongoing when they refused to allow Obama to do so many, many months before the 2016 election, then you'll know they will betray their oaths and sleep peacefully. ~~~
~~~ Ari Berman of Mother Jones: "Trump's effort to corrupt core institutions [like the USPS & Census, both of which are mandated in the Constitution] for the benefit of his ruling clique bears an eerie resemblance to the slide toward authoritarianism in other countries.... The extraordinary efforts to undermine the mail and census should prepare us for the possibility of an even more egregious abuse of power to keep Trump in office.... It's not difficult to imagine an Election Day scenario in which Trump prematurely declares victory based on his lead among in-person votes, which are quicker to tally than mail-in votes in many states and are expected to lean more Republican. Trump then seeks to invalidate the mail-in ballots that favor Democrats before they're counted.... If that happens, the question won't be whether American democracy can survive Trump. We'll already know that it hasn't." ~~~
~~~ Richard Hasen in Slate: "With less than six weeks to go before Election Day, and with over 250 COVID-related election lawsuits filed across 45 states, the litigation strategy of the Trump campaign and its allies has become clear: try to block the expansion of mail-in balloting whenever possible and, in a few key states, create enough chaos in the system and legal and political uncertainty in the results that the Supreme Court, Congress, or Republican legislatures can throw the election to Trump if the outcome is at all close or in doubt. It's a Hail Mary, but in a close enough election, we cannot count the possibility out. I've never been more worried about American democracy than I am right now.... This is a five-alarm fire, folks." ~~~
~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: It should be clear by now that Trump is not thinking about or planning to overturn a Biden victory; he is in the act of doing so right now.
~~~ Plus This: Trump, et al., Say New Justice Needed to Ensure Trump's Re-Election. Christopher Wilson of Yahoo! News: "President Trump, who has spent the past several months baselessly arguing that Democrats might try to steal the November election from him, now says that the Senate must quickly confirm a new Supreme Court justice to replace the late Ruth Bader Ginsburg in case the court has to rule on the outcome. 'We need nine justices,' Trump said at the White House Tuesday. 'You need that with the unsolicited millions of ballots that they're sending. It's a scam. It's a hoax. Everybody knows that. And the Democrats know it better than anybody else. So you're going to need nine justices out there. I think it's very important.'... Vice President Mike Pence reiterated the message during an interview with CBS News' Norah O'Donnell.... And in an interview with ABC News on Sunday, Republican Sen. Ted Cruz also said a new justice should be confirmed by Election Day in case it needs to weigh in on results." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Trump Plans to Make More Empty Promises Today. Josh Dawsey & Yasmeen Abutaleb of the Washington Post: "President Trump is pushing advisers to deliver health-care 'wins' in the final weeks of the campaign, leading to a frenzied rollout of proposals as polls show the president's handling of the coronavirus pandemic and health-care policy are two of his biggest vulnerabilities in his reelection bid. Trump is scheduled to deliver a speech Thursday in Charlotte, broadly outlining how he would approach health-care policy in a second term, though the speech is likely to be light on details. Instead, Trump will tout the administration's efforts to lower drug prices, address surprise medical bills and improve health-care price transparency, according to two senior administration officials and an outside lobbyist familiar with the plans. He is expected to mostly avoid speaking about repealing and replacing the Affordable Care Act, something he has long promised to do but a position that is unpopular with voters."
Dan Merica & Devon Sayers of CNN: "Florida's attorney general has requested that the FBI and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement investigate Michael Bloomberg's efforts to reinstate the voting rights of felons by paying their fees, according to a letter to the agencies provided to CNN by the attorney general's office. Republican Attorney General Ashley Moody said she requested that the agencies investigate 'potential violations of election laws.' Bloomberg ... and his political operation have raised more than $16 million from supporters and foundations over the last week to pay the court fines and fees for more than 30,000 Black and Latino voters in Florida with felonies, allowing them to vote in the upcoming election. The fundraising effort, according to multiple Bloomberg aides, will benefit the Florida Rights Restoration Coalition, an organization run by formerly incarcerated people who are working to make it easier for ex-felons to vote.... The attorney general said Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis' office had asked her to review the matter." Thanks to Bobby Lee for the lead. Mrs. McC: Floridians voted overwhelmingly to allow ex-felons to vote.
Chutzpah & Corruption, Ctd.
Dan Alexander of Forbes: "Donald Trump never really got out of business. Sure, he handed day-to-day management of his companies to his children, like a lot of tycoons who get preoccupied with other interests late in life. But the president held onto ownership of his assets after taking office, ensuring that he would continue to generate money while serving in the White House. From 2017 to 2019, the president's businesses raked in an estimated $1.9 billion of revenue." --s
Taking the DOJ Further Down the Rabbithole. Adam Goldman, et al., of the New York Times: "From the beginning, John H. Durham's inquiry into the Russia investigation has been politically charged. President Trump promoted it as certain to uncover a 'deep state' plot against him, Attorney General William P. Barr rebuked the investigators under scrutiny, and he and Mr. Durham publicly second-guessed an independent inspector general and traveled the globe to chase down conspiracy theories. It turns out that Mr. Durham also focused attention on certain political enemies of Mr. Trump: the Clintons.... Mr. Durham ... has sought documents and interviews about how federal law enforcement officials handled an investigation around the same time into allegations of political corruption at the Clinton Foundation.... Mr. Durham's efforts suggest the scope of his review is broader than previously known.... Right-wing news media and prominent Republicans have long promoted a narrative that the F.B.I.'s leadership and the Justice Department under the Obama administration were biased in favor of Hillary Clinton."
Michael Schmidt & Charlie Savage of the New York Times: "White House aides improperly intervened to prevent a manuscript by President Trump's former national security adviser John R. Bolton from becoming public, a career official said in a letter filed in court on Wednesday, accusing them of making false assertions and trying to coerce her to join their efforts, and suggesting that they retaliated when she refused. In an extraordinary 18-page document, a lawyer for the official who oversaw the book's prepublication review, Ellen Knight, portrays the Trump administration as handling its response to the book in bad faith. Her account implied that the Justice Department may have told a court that the book contains classified information -- and opened a criminal investigation into Mr. Bolton -- based on false pretenses. An aide to Mr. Trump also 'instructed her to temporarily withhold any response' to a request from Mr. Bolton to review a chapter on Mr. Trump's dealings with Ukraine so it could be released during the impeachment trial, wrote Ms. Knight's lawyer, Kenneth L. Wainstein. He said that his client had determined in April that Mr. Bolton's book, 'The Room Where It Happened,' no longer contained any classified information, but the 'apolitical process' was then 'commandeered by political appointees for a seemingly political purpose' to go after Mr. Bolton. The actions she was asked to take were 'unprecedented in her experience,' the letter said." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~
~~~ The Washington Post's story, by Spencer Hsu & Rosalind Helderman, is here. See also Patrick's commentary yesterday. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Julia Ainsley of NBC News: "The consulting firm where the wife of acting Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf is an executive has been awarded more than $6 million in contracts from the Department of Homeland Security since September 2018, according to records on the federal government website USA Spending. Wolf became chief of staff at the Transportation Security Administration, a DHS agency, in 2017 and chief of staff to Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen in 2018. He took over as acting secretary in November and has been nominated to become secretary. His confirmation hearing before the Senate is scheduled for 10 a.m. Wednesday...." --s
All the Best People, Ctd. Julian Barnes of the New York Times: "President Trump nominated on Wednesday a onetime aide to one of his top congressional allies to serve as the inspector general of the intelligence community, succeeding a former official who played a role in revealing the Ukraine whistle-blower complaint that prompted impeachment proceedings and was later fired. The nominee, Allen Robert Souza, who must be confirmed by the Senate, is a senior intelligence official on the National Security Council staff who previously served on the intelligence staff of Representative Devin Nunes, Republican of California and one of the president's fiercest supporters on Capitol Hill. The inspector general is traditionally meant to be an apolitical watchdog of the nation's spy agencies.... Critics have seen Mr. Nunes's aides as deeply ideological, in large measure because they viewed the investigation into Russian influence in the 2016 election as a liberal plot to undermine Mr. Trump. As the minority staff director, Mr. Souza helped shape the Republican attack on the report by Robert S. Mueller...." Emphasis added.
Adam Schiff, Jerrold Nadler, Carolyn Maloney, John Yarmuth, Zoe Lofgren, Eliot Engel & Richard E. Neal, all chairs of House committees, in a Washington Post op-ed, propose legislative reforms to curb the illicit activities of "a lawless president." Thanks to Ken W. for the link. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Kevin Williams, et al., of the Washington Post: "A Kentucky grand jury determined Wednesday that two officers involved in the death of Breonna Taylor were justified in firing their weapons into her apartment, while another was charged with recklessly firing rounds into a neighboring unit, an outcome that has inflamed racial protests nationwide. After a four-month investigation into Taylor's death on March 13, Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron (R) made the announcement at an emotional news conference that he said marked the end of the state's formal investigation into a death that has galvanized the nation's Black Lives Matter movement. Cameron said the three officers who served a warrant at Taylor's apartment after midnight were justified in shooting at Taylor, a 26-year-old emergency room technician, because her boyfriend fired at them first after officers used a battering ram to break into the unit." Mrs. McC: This is not going to cut it, to say the least. ~~~
~~~ Richard Oppel, et al., of the New York Times: "... no one was charged for causing Ms. Taylor's death." Mrs. McC: This is probably the most stunning outcome of a grand jury probe led by the state's attorney general Daniel Cameron, a protégé of Mitch McConnell's, who spoke at Trumpapalooza convention. One pundit on MSNBC suggested that Cameron was waiting for a federal judgeship. Sounds plausible. ~~~
~~~ Ray Sanchez & Elizabeth Joseph of CNN: "A former Louisville police officer has been indicted by a grand jury on three counts of wanton endangerment in the first degree in connection with the fatal shooting of Breonna Taylor. The long-awaited charges against the former officer, Brett Hankison, were immediately criticized by demonstrators who had demanded more serious counts and the arrests of the three officers involved in the March shooting. The other two officers -- Sgt. John Mattingly and Det. Myles Cosgrove -- were not charged following months of demonstrations." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~
~~~ From New York Times live updates: "Two Louisville police officers were shot during demonstrations on Wednesday night, the police chief said, after a grand jury decided to not charge any officer in the killing of Breonna Taylor, instead indicting one former detective for recklessly firing into another apartment during the raid of her home. Robert J. Schroeder, the Louisville police chief, said at a brief news conference that a suspect was in custody and that neither of the officers' injuries were life-threatening. One of the officers was alert and stable, and the other was in surgery, he said." ~~~
~~~ Chelsea Janes of the Washington Post: "Top Democrats decried the decision by Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron (R) to charge only one officer involved in Breonna Taylor's shooting, and not for her death, calling it another example of the systemic injustice faced by Black Americans. 'Breonna Taylor. Breonna Taylor. Breonna Taylor,' House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) interrupted as a previously planned segment on MSNBC wrapped up Wednesday afternoon. 'Say her name.' Pelosi and other congressional leaders also used the moment to call for police reform and an overhaul of the criminal justice system."
Robert Barnes, et al., of the Washington Post: "Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. eulogized Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg as a 'rock star' whose legal victories as a crusading lawyer for women's rights and her decisions over 27 years as a justice moved the nation closer to the goal of 'equal justice under law.... Among the words that describe Ruth: Tough. Brave. A fighter. A winner,' a red-eyed Roberts said during a ceremony in the Supreme Court's Great Hall. 'But also: Thoughtful. Careful. Compassionate. Honest.' Dozens of black-clad former clerks lined the steps of the marble building as Supreme Court police officers delivered Ginsburg's casket to the Great Hall, where justices traditionally have been remembered.... A small gathering of family and close friends gathered for words from Rabbi Lauren Holtzblatt, whose husband, Ari, is among 159 former clerks who served Ginsburg in her more than 40 years as a justice and an appeals court judge." A Politico story is here. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Andrew Keh of the New York Times: In 1972, Ruth Bader Ginsburg & an ACLU colleague filed a lawsuit on behalf of Abbe Seldin, a 15-year-old Teaneck, New Jersey, tennis player who wanted to play on her school's only tennis team, which was limited to male players. The State of New Jersey & the school ultimately relented before the case was tried.
Abby Livingston of the Texas Tribune: "A ceremonial resolution honoring the life of the late U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg failed in the Senate on Tuesday after U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz objected to language his Democratic counterparts added noting her dying wish that a successor not be chosen until after the presidential inauguration early next year. The war of words on the Senate floor is likely a preamble to a coming brawl to replace Ginsburg.... 'Under the Constitution, members of the judiciary do not appoint their own successors[, Cruz said]. [Minority Leader Chuck] Schumer took to the floor immediately after Cruz spoke, stating that he believed 'Justice Ginsburg would easily see through the legal sophistry' of Cruz's argument. He said Cruz turned the late justice's 'dying words' against her, which Schumer said is 'so, so beneath the dignity of this body. I do not modify.' Cruz then objected to the resolution, and it did not pass." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Jamelle Bouie, speaking to Mary Harris of Slate: "On a practical level, the United States population has grown by about 100 million since the last time the courts were expanded under Jimmy Carter. So there's a very real need for more judges at the district and circuit court level. Create more circuits and create more districts -- that would have the side effect of basically nullifying most of Trump's additions to the judiciary. And that can stand as a threat to the Supreme Court, to say that if you stand in our way, we will just add more seats to your lower courts." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
The Trumpidemic, Ctd.
The New York Times' live updates of coronavirus developments Thursday are here.
Sheryl Stolberg of the New York Times: "President Trump said on Wednesday that the White House 'may or may not' approve new Food and Drug Administration guidelines that would toughen the process for approving a coronavirus vaccine, and suggested the plan 'sounds like a political move.'... 'That has to be approved by the White House.'... The pronouncement once again undercut government scientists who had spent the day trying to bolster public faith in the promised vaccine. Just hours earlier, four senior physicians leading the federal coronavirus response strongly endorsed the tighter safety procedures, which would involve getting outside expert approval before a vaccine could be declared safe and effective by the F.D.A.... [Trump] pointedly said he had 'tremendous trust in these massive companies' that are testing the vaccines, adding, 'I don't know that a government as big as' the federal government could do as well."
Ed Pilkington of the Guardian: "There is a Groundhog Day quality to the American experience of Covid-19. Back in March there was public outcry that, under Trump, protective gear to keep health workers safe was in critically short supply, testing for coronavirus was woefully inadequate and black Americans were dying in grotesquely disproportionate numbers. Today, six months later, exactly the same laments can be heard.... In March the Guardian asked Jeremy Konyndyk ...[of] the Center for Global Development who was at the forefront of the US government response to Ebola in 2014, to give his take on how the pandemic was being handled. He called the Trump administration's effort 'one of the greatest failures of basic governance in modern times'." --s
In testimony Wednesday morning, Dr. Tony Fauci politely slaps down a self-certified know-it-all ophthalmologist:
~~~ Brianna Ehley of Politico: "The government's top infectious disease doctor on Wednesday accused Sen. Rand Paul of repeatedly misconstruing information about the U.S. response to the coronavirus pandemic, including making misleading claims about herd immunity and the effects of mitigation measures. Testifying before the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, Anthony Fauci rejected Paul's assertion that the United States' mitigation and lockdown efforts were misguided. Paul cited the experiences of countries like Sweden that did not take aggressive measures to control the virus, arguing that 'our death rate is essentially worse than Sweden's.'" (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Aaron Blake of the Washington Post: "Whenever Sen. Rand Paul and Anthony S. Fauci appear at the same hearing together, they are bound to clash.... Through it all, Fauci has been characteristically diplomatic. But on Wednesday, he seemed to reach his breaking point. Paul (R-Ky.), as he often has, questioned the strict mitigation measures that states across the country had undertaken. He accused Fauci of being too laudatory of New York Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo (D).... 'No, you misconstrued that, senator, and you've done that repetitively in the past,' Fauci shot back. 'They got hit very badly. They've made some mistakes. Right now — if you look at what's going on right now, the things that are going on in New York to get their test-positivity 1 percent or less is because they are looking at the guidelines that we have put together from the task force....' Paul interrupted, positing that New York is actually in much better shape right now because it has attained some form of herd immunity.... 'I challenge that,' [Fauci] said. He asked for more time to respond, 'because this happens with Senator Rand all the time.... You are not listening to what the director of the CDC [Robert Redfield] said,' Fauci added, 'that in New York, it's about 22 percent [that have tested positive]. If you believe 22 percent is herd immunity, I believe you're alone in that.'... Paul's claims are indeed highly questionable."
Louisiana. Mimi Dwyer of Reuters: "A Louisiana megachurch pastor charged with repeatedly violating state coronavirus orders was denied entry to his court hearing Tuesday morning after refusing to wear a face mask. Tony Spell, pastor of Life Tabernacle Church in Baton Rouge, was charged in late March with violating stay-at-home orders implemented by Governor John Bel Edwards. His lawyer pleaded not guilty Tuesday morning while Spell remained outside." --s
The Smear That Wasn't. Nicholas Fandos of the New York Times: "An election-year investigation by Senate Republicans into corruption allegations against Joseph R. Biden Jr. and his son, Hunter, involving Ukraine found no evidence of improper influence or wrongdoing by the former vice president, closing out an inquiry its leaders had hoped would tarnish the Democratic presidential nominee.... An 87-page report summing up the findings, released jointly on Wednesday by the Senate Homeland Security and Finance Committees, contained no evidence that the elder Mr. Biden improperly manipulated American policy toward Ukraine or committed any other misdeed. In fact, investigators heard witness testimony that rebutted those charges. The homeland security panel's Republican chairman, Senator Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, had made little secret of his political ambitions for his report, boasting for weeks that his findings would demonstrate Mr. Biden's 'unfitness for office.' Instead, the result delivered on Wednesday appeared to be little more than a rehashing six weeks before Election Day of unproven allegations that echo an active Russian disinformation campaign and have been pushed by Mr. Trump." ~~~
~~~ Ron & Chuck's Excellent Misadventure. Andrew Desiderio & Kyle Cheney of Politico: "For a year, Senate Republicans have teased a bombshell investigation into Joe and Hunter Biden that could rock the former vice president's campaign for the White House. But an interim report, issued by Sens. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) and Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) less than six weeks before the presidential election and released publicly on Wednesday, is largely a compilation of previously public information -- some of it rehashed anew by witnesses who already testified during the House's impeachment inquiry last year -- as well as news articles and strongly worded insinuations with little evidence to back them up.... The report does little to substantiate allegations against the Democratic presidential nominee, which have been fueled in part by foreign actors linked to the Kremlin whom U.S. officials have said are attempting to interfere in the 2020 election.... The investigation -- which lacked majority support among members of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee that Johnson chairs -- ... states that Hunter Biden's role 'cast a shadow' over U.S.-Ukraine policy, but provides no evidence that U.S. foreign policy was impacted." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~
~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: Sounds as if Ron & Chuck put together a teenage-type scrapbook of their childish hopes & dreams. Such a fun way to while away the hours -- and at taxpayer expense! ~~~
~~~ It Gets Worse. Josh Kovensky of TPM: "Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) accidentally revealed more evidence of corruption in the Trump administration's dealings with Ukraine in the course of his investigation into Hunter Biden, according to a letter from Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR).... Lawmakers came across the evidence last week during the testimony of Amos Hochstein, who serves on the supervisory board of state-owned Ukrainian oil and gas holding Naftogaz. Hochstein told the investigation that former Energy Secretary Rick Perry 'inappropriately pressured the Ukrainian government' to place a Houston-based businessman named Robert Bensch on the board of Naftogaz, while other DOE officials pressed Kyiv to sign an agreement with a 'private business entity connected to Mr. Bensh,' the letter reads." ~~~
~~~ Kovensky's post includes a reproduction of Wyden's letter, which also fingers Perry for placing a second guy, Michael Bleyzer, on the Naftogaz board; Bleyzer then miraculously got favorable business deals in Ukraine, too. Mrs. McC: So the Dumbest Senator tried to smear Joe Biden for exerting improper influence on the Ukraine government & instead he accidentally nailed Rick Perry for actually exerting improper pressure on Ukraine. Kinda perfect. ~~~
~~~ Greg Sargent & Paul Waldman of the Washington Post find this all fairly delightful: "President Trump has spent over two years trying to 'prove' that Joe Biden's activities in Ukraine were corrupt. He and lawyer Rudolph W. Giuliani schemed over this for many months, with Trump ultimately trying to strong-arm the Ukrainian president into announcing an investigation into those activities, which got Trump impeached even as the smears they manufactured crashed and burned. Now Trump has been counting on Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) to validate these narratives.... But as befits this cast of bumblers and incompetents, the star witness in the GOP's own investigation [--State Department official George Kent --] has actually further undermined those smears.... In that testimony, as the Democratic response to the GOP report details, Kent knocked down every key pillar of the GOP story line.... Just as Trump subverted U.S. foreign policy to his personal gain by attempting to bulldoze a foreign ally under duress into helping validate his campaign messaging, the GOP report is yet another attempt to manipulate a government product for Trump’s benefit.... It's just one more crass, shameless misuse of official resources."
Henry Fountain of the New York Times: "The chief executive of the partnership developing the Pebble Mine in Alaska resigned on Wednesday over comments made in meetings recorded by an environmental advocacy group. In a statement, Northern Dynasty Minerals, the Pebble Limited Partnership's Canada-based parent company, said the executive, Tom Collier, 'embellished both his and the Pebble Partnership's relationships with elected officials and federal representatives in Alaska.' The comments were 'offensive' to 'political, business and community leaders in the state and for this, Northern Dynasty unreservedly apologizes to all Alaskans,' the company said.... On Monday, a Washington, D.C.-based advocacy group, Environmental Investigation Agency, released video recordings of recent remote meetings between Mr. Collier; the chief executive of Northern Dynasty, Ronald W. Thiessen; and members of E.I.A. posing as potential investors." Related WashPo story also linked yesterday.
Way Beyond the Beltway
Emma Graham-Harrison of the Guardian: "China has built nearly 400 internment camps in Xinjiang region, with construction on dozens continuing over the last two years, even as Chinese authorities said their 're-education' system was winding down an Australian thinktank has found.... That is over 100 more than previous investigations have uncovered, and the researchers believe they have now identified most of the detention centres in the region.... The information has been made public, including the coordinates for individual camps, in a database that can be accessed online, the Xinjiang Data Project.... Many are also near industrial parks; there have been widespread reports that inmates at some internment camps have been used as forced labour.... Uighur families have been forced to have Han Chinese officials living in their homes as 'relatives', part of a comprehensive surveillance system" --s ~~~
~~~ Cate Cadell of Reuters: "China is pushing growing numbers of Tibetan rural laborers off the land and into recently built military-style training centers where they are turned into factory workers, mirroring a program in the western Xinjiang region that rights groups have branded coercive labor. Beijing has set quotas for the mass transfer of rural laborers within Tibet and to other parts of China, according to over a hundred state media reports, policy documents from government bureaus in Tibet and procurement requests released between 2016-2020 and reviewed by Reuters. The quota effort marks a rapid expansion of an initiative designed to provide loyal workers for Chinese industry." --s
News Lede
New York Times: "Harold Evans, the crusading British newspaperman who was forced out as editor of The Times of London by Rupert Murdoch in 1982 and reinvented himself in the United States as a publisher, author and literary luminary, died on Wednesday night in New York City. He was 92. His wife, the editor Tina Brown, confirmed his death in a statement."
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Reader Comments (19)
We’re still weeks away and Trump and the Party of Traitors (and getting more treasonous by the day) are running wild. They’re (and I mean all of them) getting set to retain the White House by whatever means possible. Discounting ballots, challenging the results, packing the Supreme Court as a backup to make sure Trump’s rubber stamps hand him the victory no matter how many votes he loses by. Trump is talking insurrection and violence. And we still have weeks to go.
We all knew this was going to be bad, but this is shaping up to be third world police state bad. I hope the Democrats have a plan besides asking people to calm down. I can easily see people getting killed over this as Trump pumps up his most unstable supporters and force feeds them fairy tales about Democrats stealing his crown. He doesn’t care. For him it’s all about the chaos. And we all know how much human life matters to him. He cares more about his nine iron.
For those with a little time on your hands (about 50 minutes), here's a very interesting Australian documentary that ropes in Erik Prince with another mercenary wanna-be from Australia and a United Nations investigation of their covert activities in Libya trying to overthrow the UN-recognized government. Makes me wonder if this has anything to do with Pompeo announcing sanctions against prosecutors of the International Criminal Court.
https://www.npr.org/2020/09/02/908896108/trump-administration-sanctions-icc-prosecutor-investigating-alleged-u-s-war-crim?t=1600935998324
It's also very interesting that US media has barely touched this story.
For what's it worth, there's quite a bit of chatter on twitter of some of the people interviewed in the documentary that US media outlets have the same documentation on Erik Prince but are holding off for some reason.
Either way, it's a very interesting look into the Brave New World of private armies and guns for hire, with Erik Prince right in the middle.
https://www.abc.net.au/4corners/soldiers-of-fortune/12662570
In Louisville, we find an entirely original application of justice. One of the cops (only one, of course) is charged with being wantonly wanton cuz when he and his two Sherlock Holmes pals burst in and, oops, killed Breonna Taylor in her own bed(!), he sent a bullet into an adjoining apartment. Naughty, naughty! Of course sending a bullet into Breonna Taylor’s body was perfectly okay. I mean, shit happens, right? But a stray bullet into the wall? Bad boy!
And, of course, the Fat Racist will demand that anyone protesting this entirely novel application of justice be put in chains. Bill (dis) Barr will prosecute them for sedition. And long may the Stars and Bars fly over Taylor’s dead body. They seen their duty and they done it.
Who could have a problem with that?
But hey, no racism in ‘merica, right? That’s what Fatty and his white supremacist pals all say.
But...
So yesterday I heard an interview with a couple from Jacksonville, FL, who were trying to get their home refinanced. I don’t know how I missed this story when it first came out a few weeks ago, but maybe some of you did too...
Anyway, the husband, who is white, and his wife, who is black, and their bi-racial son, have pictures of family up in their home (like just about everyone else, except for Trump, who allows only pictures of himself). Appraisers (white, natch) came in, saw the pictures, plus s poster of Barack Obama, and said “Hmmm, black family lives here. Appraisal: $330,000.” Now this was waaay below what the homeowners expected. So they got another appraisal. But first, they took down all the pictures, except those with white people, and removed everything from sight that said BLACK! Including the mom and her son.
New appraisal: $465,000.
Racism? Soitanly not! No racism in Donald Trump’s ‘merica.
Pretty amazing story.
Reminds me of an old SNL skit with Eddie Murphy as a black man made up to be white. He’s on a midtown bus with all white people who are partying, drinking champagne, exchanging insider trading tips, and other money making schemes. At the next stop, a black man gets on. Champagne disappears as do all the stock tips. Black guy gets off and, bang!, party starts back up.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/25/realestate/blacks-minorities-appraisals-discrimination.amp.html
Matt Gaetz (R-Fl) is getting his wish. The Florida AG is going to launch a criminal investigation into Bloomberg for paying fines and restitution of Florida felons who had registered to vote before the recent court ruling.
In his painfully stumbling way the Pretender's remarks yesterday about voting do strike to the heart of the matter:
"....the ballots are a disaster — Get rid of the ballots," he says, and he was absolutely right.
Get rid of the ballots and voila! all the messy problems presented by democracy will just go away.
It’s Outrageous!!
Big-wigs in government who are making money off hotels they own! It must stop, demands the Orange Menace.
Oh, not him making money off hotels HE owns. Government officials in Cuba. Dirty rat bastards. The idea!
Is he really this dense or does he simply not care how hypocritical he looks? I guess it’s the same old crap with the Dear Leader, who can never be wrong.
This is no different than saying “It’s an outage that Barack Obama thinks he can nominate a Supreme Court justice 10 months before an election!” and replacing this “rock solid belief in the will of the people” with “It’s an outrage that anyone thinks that Donald Trump should not nominate a Supreme Court justice less than 40 days before an election!”
Shameless hypocrisy doesn’t cover it.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/travel/hotels/2020/09/23/cuba-trump-bars-american-travelers-more-than-400-hotels/3506370001/
Mr. Weird Hair Endless Nothing Burger Benghazi Trials, good ol’ Trey Gowdy, sez “If you wanna name your own Supreme Court justices, then WIN AN ELECTION.”
Gee, maybe Democrats should do what Weird Hair’s party does. Suppress Republican votes, get foreign help to steal elections, then pack the court as a bulwark against ever losing another election.
And not for nothin’, but we did win an election. Barack Obama was the democratically elected president when Weird Hair’s party told him that wasn’t good enough.
If this were a bad detective story, confederates would be the idiot perpetrator who gives himself away at the first opportunity. “Hey, I’m not the guy who stole $325.55, a Rolex watch with the initials VB on the back, and a Sony Blue Ray DVD player, model S-D345, from 88 Pleasant Street, with a 2018 gold Lexus ES in the driveway, at 4:15 in the morning of August 23rd. Honest!”
Bobby Lee,
Yaaaawn. And Nazis goose step down there street. What else is new?
Yesterday I heard a clip from Tom Tillis in which he remarked that Obama was a "lame-duck president" his entire last year, and thus had to acquiese to R demands that NO SC JUDGE SELECTION occur upon the death of Scalia. It was (naturally) broadcast on NPR, at which point I zapped it again... I simply marvel at the nerve of wingnuts-- they know no one will object, cuz "decency..." This morning I heard Joe Manchin lauding the basic "decency" of his colleagues...yeah...
People at RBG's lying-in this morning weren't having President Pigsnout's visit to the casket-- much booing and loud chants of "vote him out." That probably fried his bacon...
Have not read the Atlantic piece but my friend said it chilled her to the bone. Last night's remarks about banning ballots confirmed it all.
Went for a walk in a local park this morning. On a barn on the edge of the park, HUGE sign lauding Fatty's name-- My daughter shouted in that direction HE HATES YOU, IDIOT FARMER...
I do NOT understand why an apartment was more important than the life of a young woman. That AG is a tool.
@safari: so I took that little time and watched SOLDIERS OF FORTUNE: sounds like an old Errol Flynn flick. I encourage others to watch this––it's something we knew about in a vague sort of way but this documentary gives you the chilling details of these mercenaries who are described as "just an instrument––a tool"–-in what we could call a killing machine––an illegitimate "army in a box." And our very own Eric Prince plays a major role here––is known as a shadow CIA operative. The fact that Prince is cozy with our King is just another quiver in the many operations of this corrupt administration.
If these killers aren't brought to justice––if the world allows these kinds of operations then we can kiss any semblance of actual military interventions goodbye and "war" as we know it will be severely compromised.
Thanks safari––-glad I took the time to watch.
On the home front was delighted to learn that Ron Johnson, from Wisconsin, got his pecker in a pickle instead of the "great reveal" that was going to "shake the world." Send the guy a chunk of cheese and maybe one of those cows that dot the landscape in his home state.
It's stunning to observe the juxtaposition between RBG's brilliant career that made such a difference in all our lives for the better and Fatty fomenting about mail-in ballot corruption along with his intent to win at any cost. Ignore Ruth's message, disregard what the republican wimps said yesteryear–– we are rolling full stream ahead because we care only for that power that keeps us afloat––they say without actually saying it.
I'd say, surveying this territory, we are in for something like a real breakdown in our democracy–– never mind the "fasten your seat belts, we are in for a bumpy ride", this will be something much worse and the damage will be monumental.
How odd that we've arrived at a point where a senator can casually say he will accept the SCOTUS' determination of who won an election, as if a court's decision, not a vote tally, is how a democracy selects its winners.
I don't know if the progressively more addled Lindsey understood that mplicit in his remark was the assumption that votes cast by the people don't count.
But votes (but for one on the Court) didn't count in 2000, so I guess I shouldn't be surprised.
Outraged, yes, but not surprised, for discounting the people's will is the Republican way.
@PD
It's a very interesting documentary indeed. From what I've understood, it sounds like Prince has gotten in bed with a lot worse actors than the UAE and Libyan warlords. Apparently he's involved with the Chinese, linking him to the democratic crackdown in Hong Kong and the Uighur concentration camps. I don't have any evidence on this, but I'm VERY anxious to see what happens on American media (NYT, Washington Post) finally gives their own version.
I wonder how long the GOP "gently pushing back" on Trump's declaration of defiance of the constitution and law will last once the Big Orange turns to Twitter to rage at them?
Lindsay (Bowl-O-Jello) Graham sez that he will accept the outcome of the election.
Right.
Just like he said four years ago that Obama shouldn’t be able to pick a Supreme Court justice and now says “Whatev” to Fatty’s fascist power grab.
Wait til Fatty McStalin decides he doesn’t like the idea of leaving the White House. What’ll Bowl O Jello say then? “Well, I meant I’d accept the outcome as long as we won!”
Just like Moscow Mitch McConnell sniffs that he’s looking at an orderly transition. Yeah, to a permanent R dictatorship.
After all those years and billions of rubles spent trying to destroy American democracy, Russian schemers must be surprised to learn that all they had to do to really screw America, was to get Republicans elected. No lifetime phalanx of deadly, trained, embedded KGB moles could do more to hamstring US democracy than one vile, venal Senate majority leader, and an ignorant dictator wannabe in the White House.
Putin should award all the traitors on the right the Order of Lenin for their tireless efforts on behalf of fucking America.
In the wake of the protests last night in Louisville, at which two police officers were wounded, after the report that no one is responsible for the killing of an innocent woman, shot by police who stormed her apartment, Republicans are lecturing us that “violence is not the answer”.
Seriously?
Violence is one of the primary tools of Republicans, and their Glorious Leader, who has bragged about how he’d punch out reporters he didn’t like, celebrated the shooting of a reporter, instructed supporters to attack protesters heckling him at a public event, threatens to have armed thugs police polling places and go after anyone who looks “suspicious” (ie, non-whites or anyone with a Biden shirt). And don’t forget that he famously suggested that Hillary Clinton needed to be assassinated.
But violence is not the answer, right?
@AK: The Trumpian coat of arms should be the digitus impudicus, the scroll below reading: "For thee, but not for me"
Amazing how Captain Cheeto can urge his minions on to ever greater violence yet angrily deplore any resistance by the unbelievers.
Bobby Lee,
It’s all of a piece with the reason no one is being held responsible for Breonna Taylor’s killing. The cops who broke into her house are allowed to defend themselves (from her boyfriend who believed intruders were attacking him). The people (Black) in the house they broke into, are not. If they try, they will be killed. Just like how an unarmed Michael Brown was murdered. The cop (poor man, also, white), was given leeway to defend himself with deadly force. For attempting to defend himself, Michael Brown (evil black kid) was killed.
No one needs to point out that had those people been white, the result (especially in Brown’s case) would have been much different.
What struck me odd with the video of OM "paying his respects" to RGB were his eyes. His porcine peepers were slits that barely moved as he blinked. Is that a side effect of Adderall? It couldn't have been due to the brightness under the portico.