The Ledes

Thursday, September 19, 2024

New York Times: “A body believed to be of the suspect in a Kentucky highway shooting that left five people seriously injured this month was found on Wednesday, the authorities said, ending a manhunt that stretched into a second week and set the local community on edge. The Kentucky State Police commissioner, Phillip Burnett Jr., said in a Wednesday night news conference that at approximately 3:30 p.m., two troopers and two civilians found an unidentified body in the brush behind the highway exit where the shooting occurred.... The police have identified the suspect of the shooting as Joseph A. Couch, 32. They said that on Sept. 7, Mr. Couch perched on a cliff overlooking Interstate 75 about eight miles north of London, Ky., and opened fire. One of the wounded was shot in the face, and another was shot in the chest. A dozen vehicles were riddled with gunfire.”

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The New York Times lists Emmy winners. The AP has an overview story here.

New York Times: “Hvaldimir, a beluga whale who had captured the public’s imagination since 2019 after he was spotted wearing a harness seemingly designed for a camera, was found dead on Saturday in Norway, according to a nonprofit that worked to protect the whale.... [Hvaldimir] was wearing a harness that identified it as “equipment” from St. Petersburg. There also appeared to be a camera mount. Some wondered if the whale was on a Russian reconnaissance mission. Russia has never claimed ownership of the whale. If Hvaldimir was a spy, he was an exceptionally friendly one. The whale showed signs of domestication, and was comfortable around people. He remained in busier waters than are typical for belugas....” ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Oh, Lord, do not let Bobby Kennedy, Jr., near that carcass. ~~~

     ~~~ AP Update: “There’s no evidence that a well-known beluga whale that lived off Norway’s coast and whose harness ignited speculation it was a Russian spy was shot to death last month as claimed by animal rights groups, Norwegian police said Monday.... Police said that the Norwegian Veterinary Institute conducted a preliminary autopsy on the animal, which was become known as 'Hvaldimir,' combining the Norwegian word for whale — hval — and the first name of Russian President Vladimir Putin. 'There are no findings from the autopsy that indicate that Hvaldimir has been shot,' police said in a statement.”

New York Times: Botswana's “President Mokgweetsi Masisi grinned as he lifted the diamond, a 2,492-carat stone that is the biggest diamond unearthed in more than a century and the second-largest ever found, according to the Vancouver-based mining operator Lucara, which owns the mine where it was found. This exceptional discovery could bring back the luster of the natural diamond mining industry, mining companies and experts say. The diamond was discovered in the same relatively small mine in northeastern Botswana that has produced several of the largest such stones in living memory. Such gemstones typically surface as a result of volcanic activity.... The diamond will likely sell in the range of tens of millions of dollars....”

Click on photo to enlarge.

~~~ Guardian: "On a distant reef 16,000km from Paris, surfer Gabriel Medina has given Olympic viewers one of the most memorable images of the Games yet, with an airborne celebration so well poised it looked too good to be true. The Brazilian took off a thundering wave at Teahupo’o in Tahiti on Monday, emerging from a barrelling section before soaring into the air and appearing to settle on a Pacific cloud, pointing to the sky with biblical serenity, his movements mirrored precisely by his surfboard. The shot was taken by Agence France-Presse photographer Jérôme Brouillet, who said “the conditions were perfect, the waves were taller than we expected”. He took the photo while aboard a boat nearby, capturing the surreal image with such accuracy that at first some suspected Photoshop or AI." 

Washington Post: “'Mary Cassatt at Work' is a large and mostly satisfying exhibition devoted to the career of the great American artist beloved for her sensitive and often sentimental views of family life. The 'at work' in the title of the Philadelphia Museum of Art show references the curators’ interest in Cassatt’s pioneering effort to establish herself as a professional artist within a male-dominated field. Throughout the show, which includes some 130 paintings, pastels, prints and drawings, the wall text and the art on view stresses Cassatt’s fixation on art as a career rather than a pastime.... Mary Cassatt at Work is on view at the Philadelphia Museum of Art through Sept. 8. philamuseum.org”

New York Times: “Bob Newhart, who died on Thursday at the age of 94, has been such a beloved giant of popular culture for so long that it’s easy to forget how unlikely it was that he became one of the founding fathers of stand-up comedy. Before basically inventing the hit stand-up special, with the 1960 Grammy-winning album 'The Button-Down Mind of Bob Newhart' — that doesn’t even count his pay-per-view event broadcast on Canadian television that some cite as the first filmed special — he was a soft-spoken accountant who had never done a set in a nightclub. That he made a classic with so little preparation is one of the great miracles in the history of comedy.... Bob Newhart holds up. In fact, it’s hard to think of a stand-up from that era who is a better argument against the commonplace idea that comedy does not age well.”

Washington Post: “An early Titian masterpiece — once looted by Napolean’s troops and a part of royal collections for centuries — caused a stir when it was stolen from the home of a British marquess in 1995. Seven years later, it was found inside an unassuming white and blue plastic bag at a bus stop in southwest London by an art detective, and returned. This week, the oil painting 'The Rest on the Flight into Egypt' sold for more than $22 million at Christie’s. It was a record for the Renaissance artist, whom museums describe as the greatest painter of 16th-century Venice. Ahead of the sale in April, the auction house billed it as 'the most important work by Titian to come to the auction market in more than a generation.'”

Washington Post: The Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington, D.C., which houses the world's largest collection of Shakespeare material, has undergone a major renovation. "The change to the building is pervasive, both subtle and transformational."

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Jul102024

The Conversation -- July 10, 2024

Michael Birnbaum, et al., of the Washington Post: NATO leaders, meeting in Washington, D.C. under the dark cloud of an impending Trump presidency*, are working to establish ways to Trump-proof the alliance and its support for Ukraine. "Alliance policymakers have moved control of major elements of military aid to Ukraine away from U.S. command to the NATO umbrella. They appointed a new NATO secretary general who has a reputation as being especially agile with Trump's unpredictable impulses toward the alliance. They are signing decade-long defense pledges with Ukraine to try to buffer military aid to Kyiv from the ups and downs of politics. And they are pushing up their defense spending, Trump's single biggest anger point when it comes to NATO.... Four nations also announced Wednesday that donated F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine will be operational later this summer. And alliance leaders called out China for being a 'decisive enabler' of Russia's war in Ukraine, its toughest language yet toward Beijing."

Nicholas Wu, et al., of Politico: "House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries has told lawmakers in private meetings that he'll relay concerns regarding the president's electability to Joe Biden, according to two people familiar with the situation, as more Democrats call for him to step aside. Jeffries has convened listening sessions in recent days with rattled members of the caucus, including a Wednesday meeting with members of the centrist New Democrat Coalition to discuss how having Biden at the top of the ticket could impact incumbents in battleground districts.... Some key Democrats who have won tough races have started to urge Biden to get out of the race. Rep. Pat Ryan (D-N.Y.), who represents a purple district, became the eighth House Democrat to publicly call for Biden to step aside on Wednesday, writing in an op-ed: 'for the good of our country, for the future of our kids and grandkids, I am asking Joe Biden to step aside in the upcoming election and deliver on his promise to be a 'bridge' to a new generation of leaders.'"

Rebecca Picciotto of CNBC: "Former Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Wednesday refused to explicitly endorse President Joe Biden as the party's presidential nominee, and encouraged her colleagues in Congress to pause from making public statements either for or against Biden. 'Let's just hold off. Whatever you're thinking, either tell somebody privately, but you don't have to put that out on the table until we see how we go this week,' Pelosi said on MSNBC's 'Morning Joe.'"

George Clooney in a New York Times op-ed: "... I have led some of the biggest fund-raisers in my party's history.... Last month I co-hosted the single largest fund-raiser supporting any Democratic candidate ever, for President Biden's re-election. I say ... this only to express how much I believe in this process and how profound I think this moment is. I love Joe Biden. As a senator. As a vice president and as president. I consider him a friend, and I believe in him. Believe in his character. Believe in his morals. In the last four years, he's won many of the battles he's faced. But the one battle he cannot win is the fight against time.... The Joe Biden I was with three weeks ago at the fund-raiser was not the Joe 'big F-ing deal' Biden of 2010. He wasn't even the Joe Biden of 2020. He was the same man we all witnessed at the debate.... We're all so terrified by the prospect of a second Trump term that we've opted to ignore every warning sign.... Joe Biden is a hero; he saved democracy in 2020. We need him to do it again in 2024 [by stepping aside]."

Marie: As we know, last week Donald Trump pretended he knew nothing about Project 2025 and its creators. Here was Trump in 2022 slurring his support for what would become the "Heritigsss (trails off in a mumble)" Project 2025 blueprint for a second Trump presidency*:

 

Israel/Palestine, et al. The New York Times' live updates of developments Wednesday in the Israel/Hamas war are here.

Russia. Neil MacFarquhar of the New York Times: "A Russian court on Tuesday ordered the arrest of the self-exiled widow of the opposition leader Aleksei A. Navalny, accusing her of 'participating in an extremist community.' The court order against Yulia B. Navalnaya, who left Russia in 2021, comes five months after her husband died under murky circumstances in a harsh Russian penal colony. He was imprisoned after being convicted of various trumped-up charges when he returned to Russia after a near-fatal attempt to poison him in August 2020. Ms. Navalnaya has repeatedly accused President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia of murdering her husband and has vowed to continue his opposition work. She has become an outspoken critic of Russia's war in Ukraine, using episodes like a Russian missile hitting a children's hospital in Kyiv on Monday to blame Mr. Putin and the Kremlin for the bloodshed." MB: Just a reminder: Trump and many of his followers think the U.S. should become more like Russia.

~~~~~~~~~~

David Sanger & Lara Jakes of the New York Times: "President Biden opened NATO's 75th anniversary summit on Tuesday seeking to bolster confidence in both the alliance and his own political standing with a forceful speech warning of the threat posed by Russia and other authoritarian states as the world plunges into a new era of superpower conflict. Mr. Biden, speaking in a strong voice, with few errors, sounded themes from some of the most memorable speeches of his presidency, painting an image of a fearsome and growing NATO with an ironclad commitment to Ukraine in its fight against a Russian invasion. And he announced a pledge of more weapons to help the Ukrainians fend off air attacks.... The three-day celebration, opened with pageantry in the same gilded auditorium where the NATO treaty was signed by a dozen nations in 1949, came at a moment of enormous testing for both Mr. Biden and the alliance." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: I'll be damned if I can understand some of the words & phrases Biden slurs.

Presidential Race

Annie Karni of the New York Times: "... Democrats on Capitol Hill are stifling their doubts and falling in line behind [President Biden] anyway. Having spent the last week and a half in various stages of private panic and public skepticism about Mr. Biden's viability as a candidate and whispering among themselves about what the best way to push him aside might be..., top Democrats on Tuesday settled on a strategy many of them conceded could be disastrous: They would do nothing, at least for now.... Never mind that Mr. Biden had done almost none of the kind of unscripted events, town halls or interviews his critics had said he needed to show that he was still fit to run.... A defiant letter Mr. Biden sent to lawmakers on Monday in which he refused to drop out of the race -- coupled with members of the influential Congressional Black Caucus vociferously rallying to his side -- appeared to have successfully paralyzed the entire party into a state of uncertainty and inaction...."

Mariana Alfaro, et al., of the Washington Post: "No additional House Democrats publicly called on President Biden to abandon his reelection campaign after an all-member meeting Tuesday morning, suggesting the ground may be subtly shifting toward acceptance that Biden will remain in the race. As they trickled out of the Democratic National Committee's headquarters, some House Democrats expressed brief support for Biden's bid and at times gave stilted comments to reporters. And while many described the meeting as positive for Biden, others privately scoffed at their colleagues' comments. Rep. Jerry Nadler (N.Y.) -- who just two days ago privately called for Biden to leave the ticket -- said that, while he still has concerns over the president's candidacy, those are now 'beside the point.'... He's going to be our nominee, and we all have to support him,' Nadler said." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Marie's Translation: "Donald Trump will be the next president*." We can quit pointing at Republicans for capitulating to Donald Trump. Democrats are doing so as well. Shame on the lot of them.

     ~~~ The WashPo story has been updated. For instance, "In a searing indictment of the stakes for Democrats, Sen. Michael Bennet (Colo.) went on CNN on Tuesday night and said that as things stand, Trump would win in a 'landslide' in November.... 'The White House, in the time since that disastrous debate, I think has done nothing to demonstrate that they have a plan to win this election....'" ~~~

     ~~~ Stephen Neukam of Axios: "Sens. Jon Tester (D-Mont.), Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) and Michael Bennet (D-Colo.) told their colleagues during a closed-door caucus meeting that they doubt [President] Biden's ability to beat former President Trump, a source familiar with the session told Axios. Tester and Brown are waging two of the most competitive re-election campaigns in the country, trying to hold on to Democratic seats in states that Trump easily carried in 2020."

Andrew Jeong of the Washington Post: "George Stephanopoulos, the ABC news anchor who recently interviewed President Biden about his fitness for the presidential race, was caught on camera Tuesday indicating that he doesn't think Biden can serve another four years. Stephanopoulos, a former Democratic operative turned news anchor, is seen in gym clothes in a video published by TMZ when he is asked by a passerby: 'What do you think, do you think Biden should step down? You've talked to him more than anybody else has lately. And you can be honest.' Stephanopoulos, then just off camera, is captured on fuzzy audio responding that he doesn't think 'he can serve four more years.'"

Nick Robertson of the Hill: "Former President Trump is gaining ground in key swing states and could threaten to take states once considered to be safe for Democrats, as President Biden struggles to regain ground after a shaky debate performance, according to a new Cook Political Report analysis Tuesday."

Michael Luciano of Mediaite: "CNN commentator and New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman said Donald Trump and his team are 'delighting in' the fact that President Joe Biden is refusing to drop out of the presidential race.... On Tuesday, Cook Political Report moved five states Biden won in 2020 into Trump's column."

Andrew Goudsward & Christopher Bing of Reuters: "The U.S Justice Department said on Tuesday that it disrupted a Russian operation that used fake social media accounts enhanced by artificial intelligence to covertly spread pro-Kremlin messages in the United States and abroad." The DOJ's press release is here.

Dan De Luce of NBC News: "Russia's efforts to influence this year's U.S. election through information warfare have the same aim as in previous elections -- to undermine President Joe Biden's campaign and the Democratic Party and weaken public confidence in the electoral process, intelligence officials said Tuesday."

Marie: Yesterday, a commenter who has derided me in the past questioned my honesty and my intelligence. That's fair but I think wrong-headed. Apparently some people who disagree with me believe that an honest, intelligent person would not only see their point of view but adopt it. Another person said he found it wrong that "after a primary, some folks" would change the results. I see the point there, too, but a fundamental caveat arises when one learns that the Biden campaign deceived those primary voters about his competence. Evidence has emerged not just that Biden had "a bad debate night" but that his team -- including Lady MacBiden there -- have been knocking themselves out to hide Biden's cognitive decline from voters. Biden himself should know it's time for him to go, but few politicians are good at self-evaluation. So it was up to those close to him to be patriotic and discourage him from running for re-election.


Maya Miller of the New York Times: "Two top Democratic senators have asked the Justice Department to open a criminal investigation of Justice Clarence Thomas for possible violations of federal ethics and tax laws. Senators Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island and Ron Wyden of Oregon sent a letter to Attorney General Merrick B. Garland last week asking that he appoint a special counsel to investigate Justice Thomas's failure to disclose lavish gifts, luxury travel, a loan for a recreational vehicle and other perks given to him by wealthy friends." An NBC News story is here.

David Badash of the New Civil Rights Movements, republished by the Raw Story: "U.S. Senator Josh Hawley (R-MO) declared Monday he is advocating for Christian nationalism, a far-right ideology that claims there is no separation of church and state in the Constitution, and promotes as a national religion Christian fundamentalism, a hardline, extremist brand of Christianity at odds with the religious beliefs of many Christians across the country.... 'Some will say I'm calling America a Christian nation. And so I am. Some will say I'm advocating Christian nationalism. And so I do. My question is - is there any other kind worth having?' Senator Hawley said at 'NatCon 4,' the National Conservatism conference being held in Washington, D.C., this week..., as reported by Semafor's David Weigel. Sen. Hawley, not backing down, promoted his remarks by reposting them on social media."

Benjamin Weiser, et al., of the New York Times: "A lawyer for Senator Robert Menendez of New Jersey, in a fiery closing argument on Tuesday at the senator's trial on bribery charges, accused prosecutors of building a case that relied on half-truths, unsupported inferences, factual leaps and guesses. 'The gaps you are being asked to fill are not based on evidence,' the lawyer, Adam Fee, told the jury at the trial, which is in its ninth week in Federal District Court in Manhattan. 'Don't fall into a trap of buying a story -- a forceful, well-told, long, long story,' Mr. Fee said.... Mr. Fee's presentation followed a vigorous closing argument lasting about five hours over two days by a federal prosecutor, Paul M. Monteleoni, who asked jurors to return a guilty verdict against Mr. Menendez and two businessmen -- Wael Hana and Fred Daibes -- on trial with him."

Sorry, Kids, Bob Is a Violent Felon. Tom Jackman of the Washington Post: "Actor Jay Johnston, who voiced a pizzeria owner in the television show 'Bob's Burgers' and had roles in 'Better Call Saul,' 'Arrested Development' and the movie 'Anchorman,' has pleaded guilty to interfering with police at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. Johnston admitted being part of a crowd that pressed up against officers in the lower West Terrace tunnel at the height of the uprising, including the widely shown incident in which a D.C. police officer screamed for help as he was being crushed between the rioters and a door. Johnston, 55, pleaded guilty to felony civil disorder in a hearing Monday before U.S. District Judge Carl J. Nichols.... Johnston was fired from the popular cartoon ['Bob's Burgers'] after his role in the uprising was publicized...."

Spencer Hsu of the Washington Post: "An attorney for the Oath Keepers charged in the Jan. 6 Capitol attack will plead guilty after being charged with conspiring with the right-wing group's founder to obstruct Congress's certification of the results of the 2020 election, her attorney and federal prosecutors said. In separate court filings Monday, Kellye SoRelle's federal defender and a prosecutor wrote that SoRelle is set to enter a guilty plea on July 17 after entering into a deal with the government." (Also linked yesterday.)

Kyle Cheney of Politico: "A member of Justice Sonia Sotomayor's protective detail fended off and shot an armed attempted carjacker in the early morning of July 5, according to a charging document recently unsealed in federal court in Washington, D.C. U.S. marshals wearing shirts that identified the agency were sitting in an unmarked car near Sotomayor's residence when a silver van pulled up and an individual -- later identified as Kentrell Flowers -- exited, pointing a gun into the window of the marshals' vehicle. One of the marshals drew his gun and fired it four times at Flowers, striking him in the mouth, according to the complaint. The marshal then recovered the weapon Flowers had pointed at them and administered first aid until he was transported to a hospital."

Robert McFadden of the New York Times: "James M. Inhofe, a five-term Republican senator from Oklahoma and, until ... Donald J. Trump's arrival in 2017, arguably Washington's most prominent denier of the established science of human-generated climate change, died on Tuesday in Tulsa, Okla. He was 89." (Also linked yesterday.)

Comments Off

Reader Comments (14)

Would someone, anyone, please please tell me exactly how another Democrat can be nominated and get on all the state ballots?

What state was it that had to be basically sued to put his name on the ballot because their rules said it had to occur before the convention?

President Biden may be slurring his words. Trump is ranting unintelligibly with a constant stream of lies. Please, NYT, WaPo, tell it like it is. Trump is not a politician. He is a con man, a pathological liar, a mob boss, and the republican party has become his mob.

I wish they would quit talking about Biden and tell us all about the 900 page Project 2025 that is a blueprint for the end of our democracy and our government and our rights.

July 10, 2024 | Unregistered Commenterpat

I'm not saying trump supporters are gullible, but he's selling them
$2.00 bills with his face printed on them for $19.95, plus shipping
and handling.
I always thought it was illegal to deface or alter U.S. currency. But
of course, he'll say he didn't do it personally, so not liable.

https://www.reddit.com/t/PoliticalHumor/comments/1dyz9zb/im_not_
saying_trump_thinks_his_supporters_are/#lightbox

July 10, 2024 | Unregistered CommenterForrestMorris

@pat: It's a good idea to check the Googles before asking questions for which there are easy answers. Biden could -- and should -- withdraw from the 2024 race and release his delegates, perhaps to Kamala Harris, perhaps as "free agents." (If he doesn't withdraw, a majority of delegates could just refuse to abide by their pledges, but that won't happen.) When you vote in a primary, you're not voting for president; you're voting for delegates who promise to vote for the candidate you choose. As happens quite often at national conventions, delegates pledged to candidates other than the one who garners a majority of votes might vote in the first roll call for the candidate to whom they are pledged, then change their vote in the second (or later) ballot to vote for the candidate who will become the nominee in order to demonstrate party unity.

Technically, no presidential candidate is on state ballots before he or she is nominated at the party convention and accepts the nomination. However, "Alabama, Ohio, and Washington all have early deadlines for confirming the nominee for each party. Ohio’s was originally slated for Aug. 7, nearly two weeks before the Democratic convention starts. To work around this, the DNC set plans in motion to nominate its candidate via virtual roll-call votes before the convention."

July 10, 2024 | Registered CommenterMarie Burns

@Forrest Morris: Yeah, I thought it was illegal to deface U.S. currency, too, so I checked the Googles earlier this morning. Turns out that unless you do something to alter the denomination -- i.e., change a $1 bill to make it look like a $20 -- it's not illegal.

It is illegal to deface or alter U.S. coins, though. So if, when you were a kid, you set a penny on a railroad track for a train to run over, I'm turning you in and you'll be spending your golden years in a federal pen.

July 10, 2024 | Registered CommenterMarie Burns

Reuters

"The U.S. is "no longer an overheated economy" with a job market that has cooled from its pandemic-era extremes and in many ways is back where it was before the health crisis, Fed Chair Jerome Powell said in remarks to Congress that suggested the case for interest rate cuts is becoming stronger."

July 10, 2024 | Unregistered CommenterRAS

Clean energy.

"The US is about to get its first solar-covered canal
Thousands of miles of canals stretch across the U.S. A pilot project on tribal land in Arizona shows the benefits of covering these waterways with solar panels.

Erecting solar on top of federally owned canals could be a win-win. The approach limits the disruption to ecosystems, and some studies suggest it actually has the potential to help canals do their jobs better; an over-the-canal design can prevent water from evaporating and inhibit algae growth. The comparatively small installations can also connect clean power directly to the distribution grid, an important distinction as it has become increasingly difficult to connect large projects to the transmission grid."

July 10, 2024 | Unregistered CommenterRAS

Here's a photo of trump holding hands with Kevin Roberts, the man
he claims he doesn't know.
Kevin Roberts is the driving force behind Project 2025.

https://www.reddit.com/r/pics/comments/1dysmj8/trump_with_
man_he_doesnt_know_kevin_roberts_the/#lightbox

July 10, 2024 | Unregistered CommenterForrestMorris

I have bounced from Biden, to Harris, to Biden again, but maybe to Harris again. This is making my stomach hurt and my head explode. It seems that everyone makes sense at the time he or she says it. But I am angrier and angrier with MSM (all of them--) for keeping the whole multiple years' worth of ridiculous pretending that the worst prez in US history is worth even reporting about. I so agree with the listings that describe the Orange Monster as what he is: demented, mean, stupid, dishonest, cruel, a lying creep, gullible, uneducated, unsound, has terrible judgement, doesn't work well with anyone, friendless, con artist, nonaffable, bad businessman, wannabe Nazi, sexual predator, rapist, believer of any lie told to him, horrible mob boss. I'm sure I left out some, but so be it. And that also describes his circle of misfits, and worse. It describes the R part of congress, the high court, the lower courts, the agencies like SS and FBI and the various state agencies that buy into his crap. And this is what we are facing., almost no matter what. "Enraged" doesn't describe any of my feelings and those of my friends and family.

July 10, 2024 | Unregistered CommenterJeanne

@Jeanne: I totally agree with everything you're saying.
I would also add that if Donald Trump is elected president* this
year, there probably won't be an election in 2028.
If he lives that long, he's going to be dicktator for life.
Thankfully, I probably won't be around to witness that outcome.

July 10, 2024 | Unregistered CommenterForrestMorris

Jeanne, I'm sorry for your pain. But "enraged" and "disgusted" are recognized as prime motivators to get people to vote. (Not that you needed motive.) The Rs try to keep their base in a state of froth all the time, for that reason. It may be low class, but we're going to need a lot of outraged Ds for the next few months and beyond.

I don't care what they're outraged about, just so they shove that ballot in the slot.

July 10, 2024 | Unregistered CommenterPatrick

Spending way too much time doomscrolling lately, this piece by
David Firestone in the New York Times caught my interest for its appeal for self-sacrifice:

"Several voices in the Democratic Party are telling President Biden to either stay in the race or leave. He seems to be listening only to those telling him, against all evidence, that he can still win in November. But the real voice Biden should care most about isn’t that of a Democrat at all. The president should be required to watch all 80 minutes of the unhinged rant let loose by the Republican candidate on Tuesday in Florida.
It couldn’t really be called a speech; Instead ...Trump just lobbed random lies and nonsense into the crowd, as if firing a T-shirt gun. There was no particular coherence or theme to it, beyond apocalyptic descriptions of the failures of the Biden administration, now featuring the new cartoon character 'Laffin’ Kamala Harris.' His weird pauses and bumbled words often rivaled Biden’s speaking problems, and the content was far worse.
...
Trump’s remarks should prompt revulsion and an immediate desire to do whatever it takes to keep him from the White House. No sacrifice should be considered too great for this cause, even the self-sacrifice of Biden’s personal ambitions. By staying in the race, Biden is making it far more likely that a disordered fearmonger is going to displace him. Dave Wasserman, a prominent political analyst at Cook Political Report, says the race is no longer a tossup; Trump has a considerable advantage since the debate, and Cook just shifted six important states in Trump’s direction.

The Biden campaign put out a sharp retort to Trump’s rant, but news releases won’t do the job when the infirmities of the man at the top of the Democratic ticket continue to drive away voters, state by state."
Biden Should Listen Hard to Trump’s Ravings

July 10, 2024 | Unregistered Commenterlaura hunter

Patrick and Forrest: yes, voting is paramount. We must and we will. I have never missed a presidential election since I was old enough to vote. But I won't be around for that long either. I do count on those in the family and friends to carry on somehow. I agree that we need to expose the insanity on the other side as much as we can. I am unsure what to do about our candidate...

July 10, 2024 | Unregistered CommenterJeanne

https://sethabramson.substack.com/p/we-now-know-what-really-happened

Seems that Biden had been overdoing it during his trip to Europe and had a bad cold and still thought he could handle the debate. Supposedly advised by his staff that even a person half his age would have problems with this schedule.

July 10, 2024 | Unregistered Commenterpat

Thanks, Marie. I missed your response.
So Google would tell me that Biden's delegates could be released to.. Kamala Harris or a "free agent." Well that seems easy-peasy.

Then what? Another Chicago convention, huh? Sounds like something the MSM would love to cover. Would probably keep them away from watching the unhinged rants of the mentally compromised .. opponent who will take us back to the 19th century for personal rights, and put in place the apparatus to destroy our democracy.

My primary beef is with the MSM who seem to be obsessed with Biden's bad "debate" and refuse to even consider that perhaps the other "debater" ought to be subject to the same analysis..

July 10, 2024 | Unregistered Commenterpat
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