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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The Conversation -- July 11, 2024

The New York Times is liveblogging developments in the presidential race. Reporters are folowing Biden's press conference here; I know I won't be watching live as I'm no glutton for punishment. ~~~

David Sanger: "Biden's opening statement is being read from a teleprompter."

Maggie Haberman: "Biden's presentation is fairly forceful as he talks. Biden is invoking Trump, 'my predecessor,' saying he has 'no commitment to NATO.'"

Reid Epstein: "It is pretty unusual for a president to use a foreign policy event to attack a political opponent, but Biden is making all efforts to focus attention on what Trump would do if he returns to the White House."

Haberman: "This is a mini-campaign speech.'

Epstein: "Biden just said 'Vice President Trump' when he meant Harris."

Sanger: "Biden says his fellow leaders told him 'you've got to win,' because Trump would be a disaster."

Michael Crowley: "Biden has his wobbly rhetorical moments, but his answer to our colleague David Sanger's question about Chinese economic support for Russia shows a strong grasp of U.S.-China relations.... Biden's ability to speak in detail about policy highlights something important: No one has clearly shown that he is losing his grasp on the substance of his job. His problems are mainly to do with public speaking, appearance and fatigue."

Lisa Lerer: "Biden is demonstrating control and fluency when discussing the thorny situation in Gaza and Israel, drawing parallels with Afghanistan, and addressing a series of criticisms of how he's handled the conflict."

Nicholas Nehamas: "'I've taken three significant and intense neurological exams,' Biden says, in response to a question about whether he would take a cognitive test before the election."

Erica Green: "Biden said that if his staff showed him data that Vice President Harris could beat Donald Trump, he wouldn't consider dropping out unless he was shown he couldn't win. He said no one is saying that to him."

Theodore Schleifer: "President Biden says his campaign fundraising is going great. In reality, his high-dollar fundraising has cratered, as Reid and I report in this article tonight."

Katie Rogers: "Biden confirms a story Lisa Lerer and I wrote in February about Biden's gait being impaired by breaking his foot. He was told to wear an orthopedic boot afterward.... After about about an hour, Karine Jean-Pierre, the White House press secretary, ended the news conference and the president left the stage."

Brett Samuels of the Hill: "President Biden on Thursday mistakenly referred to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky as President Putin when introducing him at a NATO event, a gaffe that came shortly before a high-stakes press conference.... 'Now, I want to hand it over the president of Ukraine, who has as much courage as he has determination. Ladies and gentleman, President Putin,' Biden said. 'He's going to beat President Putin. President Zelensky,' Biden said, quickly correcting himself. 'I'm so focused on beating Putin, we've got to worry about it.' 'I'm better,' Zelensky quipped. 'You are, a hell of a lot better,' Biden added."

MJ Lee, et al., of CNN: "At a star-studded fundraiser for President Joe Biden in Los Angeles last month, George Clooney wasn't the only one who came away concerned about the president.... 'There is a marked difference in the president from the spring to the summer,' a senior Democrat told CNN.... Back in Washington, there have been clear signs throughout his term of Biden being increasingly stage-managed, with lists of talking points, names of questioners and drawings of where he should walk presented to him by aides. Ahead of closed-door Cabinet meetings that Biden attends, it is customary for Cabinet officials to submit questions and key talking points that they plan to present in front of Biden ahead of time to White House aides, two sources with direct knowledge told CNN.... 'There's this general sense of just, unbelievable holding your breath every time he does an event, every time he's with people,' one top Democrat in close touch with Biden's inner circle of advisers told CNN. This person added that some of those advisers have privately acknowledged: 'This is going to get worse.'"

Ken Bensinger of the New York Times: "A close look at more than two dozen radio and podcast interviews given by [President] Biden over the past two years reveals a distinct pattern: In appearance after appearance, the president has been served up nearly identical questions, prescreened or suggested ahead of time by campaign staff members. And in nearly every case, the questions set the president up to deliver on-message talking points, without notable flubs. The review sheds light on a tactic the Biden campaign has used liberally to control the president's interactions in public, one that appears to have accelerated as the election has approached. Mr. Biden has given fewer interviews with news outlets than any modern president, and many of those have been with friendly interviewers, rather than journalists...."

Michael Schmidt, et al., of the New York Times: "Some longtime aides and advisers to President Biden have become increasingly convinced that he will have to step aside from the campaign, and in recent days they have been trying to come up with ways to persuade him that he should, according to three people briefed on the matter.... They said they have to make the case to the president, who remains convinced of the strength of his campaign, that he cannot win against ... Donald J. Trump. They have to persuade him to believe that another candidate, like Vice President Kamala Harris, could beat Mr. Trump. And they have to assure Mr. Biden that, should he step aside, the process to choose another candidate would be orderly and not devolve into chaos in the Democratic Party." ~~~

~~~ Jonathan Allen, et al., of NBC News: "Several of President Joe Biden's closest allies, including three people who are directly involved in efforts to re-elect him, told NBC News they now see his chances of winning as zero -- and the likelihood of him taking down fellow Democratic candidates growing. 'He needs to drop out,' one Biden campaign official said. 'He will never recover from this.'... The set of Democrats who think he should reconsider his decision to stay in the race has grown to include aides, operatives and officials tasked with guiding his campaign to victory."

From the New York Times liveblog of election developments: "Under siege from fellow Democrats, President Biden's campaign is quietly testing the strength of Vice President Kamala Harris against ... Donald J. Trump in a head-to-head survey of voters, as Mr. Biden fights for his political future with a high-stakes news conference on Thursday.'

Anthony Adragna of Politico: "Rep. Hillary Scholten (D-Mich.), a frontline Democrat from a critical swing state, became the 11th Democratic member of Congress and 10th from the House to call for President Joe Biden to stand down from his reelection bid on Thursday. In a Thursday statement and social media post, Scholten said, 'President Biden has served his country well, but for the sake of our democracy, he must pass the torch to a new candidate for the 2024 election.' In an interview with The Detroit News, she said she would respect Biden's decision and vote for him if he ultimately continues in the race."

Mike Can't Count. Caitlin Emma & Jennifer Scholtes of Politico: "House Republicans failed to pass their $7 billion funding bill for parts of the legislative branch on Thursday, a surprise misstep in what should have been an easy victory for GOP leaders. The failure is an ominous sign for Republicans' push to pass the rest of their fiscal 2025 spending bills on the floor before August recess, with seven bills -- most of which are far more politically divisive -- tentatively slated for floor action during the last two weeks of July. The measure collapsed on the House floor in a 205-213 vote, with 10 Republicans joining Democrats to tank the legislation as well as severaL GOP absences. A longstanding and contentious freeze on a cost-of-living pay raise for members of Congress, in addition to concerns about higher spending, contributed to the GOP dissension."

Katie Lillis, et al., of CNN: "US intelligence discovered earlier this year that the Russian government planned to assassinate the chief executive of a powerful German arms manufacturer that has been producing artillery shells and military vehicles for Ukraine, according to five US and western officials familiar with the episode. The plot was one of a series of Russian plans to assassinate defense industry executives across Europe who were supporting Ukraine's war effort, these sources said. The plan to kill Armin Papperger, a white-haired goliath who has led the German manufacturing charge in support of Kyiv, was the most mature. When the Americans learned of the effort, they informed Germany, whose security services were then able to protect Papperger and foil the plot. A high-level German government official confirmed that Berlin was warned about the plot by the US."

Jordain Carney of Politico: "The House on Thursday rejected a rare effort to hold Attorney General Merrick Garland in 'inherent contempt' after a handful of Republicans helped squash the resolution. Democrats and a handful of Republicans defeated the measure on a 204-210 vote. It was forced by Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-Fla.) and would have required the top Justice Department official to pay fines of $10,000 per day until he handed over audio of former special counsel Robert Hur's interview with President Joe Biden."

~~~~~~~~~~

** Read Ian Millhiser's analysis of Supreme Court incompetence, also linked below.

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." (Also linked yesterday.)

Peter Baker of the New York Times: "As NATO leaders gathered in Washington this week, one American president [Biden] hailed the 75-year defensive alliance as the greatest 'in the history of the world.' Another described it as a virtual protection racket and declared that he would abandon 'delinquent' members to the mercies of Russian invaders.... Mr. Trump..., at a campaign event in Doral, Fla..., acknowledged that he had been largely ignorant about the organization until he became president. But he then boasted about how he berated the allies as deadbeats.... Every recent American president has pressed NATO allies to spend more on their own armed forces, but Mr. Trump is the only one who has ever threatened to let them be attacked by Russia.... As he has done repeatedly over the years, Mr. Trump distorted how NATO works, making it sound like the allies were supposed to pay the United States.... During his term in the White House, Mr. Trump came close more than once to pulling the United States out of NATO altogether, only to be talked out of it by his advisers.... Many European officials credit Mr. Biden with strengthening the alliance, which had frayed under Mr. Trump." ~~~

~~~ Digby in Salon: At a rally Donald Trump held Tuesday "at his Doral golf resort..., he sounded as unhinged as usual, delivering his greatest hits to a hot and wilted but adoring Florida crowd. He admitted that when he became president he didn't even know what NATO was before he launched into his tiresome rant about making the alliance countries pay their dues (they don't have dues) and reiterating that he told some unnamed foreign leader that he wouldn't defend them against Russian aggression if they were 'delinquent.'... It was especially crude of him to say it on the day the NATO meeting began in Washington D.C., marking the 75th anniversary of the alliance. He was speaking at roughly the same moment as President Biden, in fact, and the contrast couldn't be starker[.]" ~~~

Missy Ryan of the Washington Post: "Britain's new Labour government will make supporting Ukraine's war against Russia a top international priority, the country's incoming defense chief said, as he takes on a mission to counter Kremlin adventurism and bolster British military might at a time of fiscal constraints.... Tasked with ensuring Britain's military, a close but smaller partner of the United States, can meet global security demands in that context is John Healey, a veteran Labour politician whom [PM Keir] Starmer named as defense secretary. Healey visited Ukraine's Black Sea city of Odessa on his second day in the job, holding talks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and emphasizing the United Kingdom's commitment to blocking Russian President Vladimir Putin's attempt to overwhelm Ukraine by force."

Presidential Race

Tyler Pager, et al., of the Washington Post: "Democratic leaders called on President Biden and his campaign Wednesday to provide convincing evidence of a viable path to victory amid a steady tide of bad battleground state polling and growing concerns that he cannot defeat ... Donald Trump in November. The calls came as top union leaders expressed grave concerns about his candidacy, more members of Congress and other Democrats called on him to step aside, and even members of Biden's senior campaign staff began to exchange doubt about his prospects. In a closed-door meeting Wednesday, some of the country's union leaders -- many of whom are strident backers of Biden -- said Americans' doubts about Biden's ability to do the job were damaging his candidacy and repeatedly asked Biden campaign officials for their plan to defeat Trump, according to two people familiar with their comments...." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: IOW, Democrats are getting real and concentrating on what really bothers them about Biden's candidacy: he will lose the race and bring down Congressional candidates with him. (If he were winning by a large margin instead of losing by an increasingly larger margin, most probably would care of their candidate were a drooling fool.) IMO, if Biden continues to stubbornly refuse to exit stage left, the professions of love we're hearing from Democrats will become more muted.

Robert Jimison of the New York Times: "Senator Peter Welch of Vermont on Wednesday became the first Democratic senator to publicly call on President Biden to withdraw as the party's presidential candidate in the aftermath of his disastrous debate performance last month." Politico's story is here. ~~~

     ~~~ Sen. Peter Welch (D-Vt.) in a Washington Post op-ed: "I have great respect for President Biden. He saved our country from a tyrant. He is a man of uncommon decency. He cares deeply about our democracy. He has been one of the best presidents of our time. But I, like folks across the country, am worried about November's election. The stakes could not be higher. We cannot unsee President Biden's disastrous debate performance. We cannot ignore or dismiss the valid questions raised since that night.... For the good of the country, I'm calling on President Biden to withdraw from the race.... States that were once [Democratic] strongholds are now leaning Republican. These new shifts -- in Minnesota, New Hampshire, Nevada, Arizona and Georgia -- must be taken seriously, not denied or ignored. The good news is that President Biden has united the party and created a deep bench that can defeat Trump. Vice President Harris is a capable, proven leader, and we have other electable, young, energizing Democratic governors and senators in swing states."

Hans Nichols & Stephen Neukam of Axios: "Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer is privately signaling to donors that he's open to a Democratic presidential ticket that isn't led by President Biden.... In public, Schumer has been insistent that he is 'for Joe.' In private, he's singing a different tune.... The majority leader is one of several Democrats, including former President Obama and former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who has the political and personal standing to convince Biden to step aside. Even so, Biden can still dig in and the delegates are pledged to him."

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.'" (Also linked yesterday.)

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.'" (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Watch at least the part (begins at about 1:18 min. in) where Fallon recounts the discussion between Pelosi & Biden:

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]." (Also linked yesterday.)

David Firestone of the New York Times: "The president should be required to watch all 80 minutes of the unhinged rant let loose by [Donald Trump] on Tuesday in Florida.... [Trump's] 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." (You'll probably have to scroll down to read this essay.) Thanks to laura h. for the link.

Dan Balz, et al., of the Washington Post: "Most Democrats nationwide say that President Biden should end his reelection campaign based on his performance in the presidential debate two weeks ago, according to a Washington Post-ABC News-Ipsos poll. The poll results contradict Biden's claim that only party elites want him to step aside.... The poll finds that 56 percent of Democrats say that he should end his candidacy, while 42 percent say he should continue to seek reelection. Overall, 2 in 3 adults say the president should step aside, including more than 7 in 10 independents....

"The poll finds Biden and ... Donald Trump in a dead heat in the contest for the popular vote, with both candidates receiving 46 percent support among registered voters. Those numbers are nearly identical to the results of an ABC-Ipsos poll in April. That finding is at odds with some other recent public polls. Across eight other post-debate national polls tracked by The Post, Trump leads by 3.5 percentage points on average, compared with a one-point Trump edge in those same polls before the debate."

Annals of "Journalism," Ctd.

Marcy Wheeler complains about the New York Times' David Sanger & Lara Jakes' coverage of President Biden's NATO speech (story also linked here yesterday), which Wheeler says was written to "sustain [the] NYT's non-stop campaign against Joe Biden." Wheeler proves her point.

Seth Abramson, in a Substack essay, goes over-the-top in extolling Biden's virtues and making excuses for his poor debate performance. Marie: Abramson's criticisms of Trump and of the MSM for their coverage of both candidates is closer to realistic. As far as I can tell, the major media outlets -- with the exception of MSNBC -- have done very little to record Trump's obvious cognitive decline. I know about it only because of liberal-leaning reports. At the same time, until the debate, these same outlets also did little or nothing to highlight Biden's decline, even though various MSM reporters (Jeff Zeleny of CNN & Peter Baker of the NYT come immediately to mind) are suddenly claiming they have been aware for months that Biden was falling to pieces. In any event, what's happening now, in regard to Biden, is that news outlets are playing catch-up. In regard to Trump, crickets. Thanks to pat for the link.

Shawn McCreesh of the New York Times: "... in an uncharacteristic display of discipline, [Donald Trump has] restrained his id and listened to his superego, largely disappearing from view to let the Democratic infighting play out." On Tuesday night, he spoke to a crowd at his Doral club in Southeast Florida. "Mr. Trump had every reason to be magnanimous Tuesday night: He was on his own property, playing paterfamilias, while his wife was out raising money for him and his opponents were dissolving into molten dread. And yet, at various points in his 90-minute performance, Mr. Trump sounded eye-wateringly cruel." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: No, Trump has not "restrained his id and ... largely disappearing from view," as Chris Hayes pointed out on his Wednesday night MSNBC show. Trump has been posting daily on his failing social media platform, and as Hayes said, if Joe Biden ever wrote or said anything as crazy as any one of Trump's posts, the entire Democratic party would rise up and demand Biden drop out of the race.


Marie: Yesterday, a reader wondered how Democrats could possibly nominate a presidential candidate other than Biden. Over the past couple of weeks, I have linked to several opinion pieces suggesting ways that could happen in a more-or-less orderly manner. As I stated from the get-go (and as some of these opinionators -- including George Clooney [opinion linked above] -- agreed), the 2024 Democratic convention could be the most interesting major party convention in decades. I do recall watching the 1956 convention when presidential nominee Adlai Stevenson left the selection of the vice-presidential nominee up to the convention and nobody knew what the outcome would be. I was too young to fully grasp the thrill of it all, but my mother found the proceedings really exciting. Since then, with the exception of a few well-received speeches and a few crisis moments -- Democrats 1964, 1968 & 1980 -- the major parties' conventions have been borrrring. ~~~

     ~~~ Update: The New York Times publishes an article today spelling out exactly how Democrats would nominate a candidate for president under a few different scenarios.

** New York Times Editors: "Next week, for the third time in eight years, Donald Trump will be nominated as the Republican Party's candidate for president of the United States. A once great political party now serves the interests of one man, a man as demonstrably unsuited for the office of president as any to run in the long history of the Republic, a man whose values, temperament, ideas and language are directly opposed to so much of what has made this country great.... Mr. Trump has shown a character unworthy of the responsibilities of the presidency. He has demonstrated an utter lack of respect for the Constitution, the rule of law and the American people. Instead of a cogent vision for the country's future, Mr. Trump is animated by a thirst for political power: to use the levers of government to advance his interests, satisfy his impulses and exact retribution against those who he thinks have wronged him. He is, quite simply, unfit to lead."

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*:

~~~ Steve Contorno of CNN: "Donald Trump has lately made clear he wants little to do with Project 2025, the conservative blueprint for the next Republican president that has attracted considerable blowback in his race for the White House. 'I have no idea who is behind it,' the former president recently claimed on social media. Many people Trump knows quite well are behind it. Six of his former Cabinet secretaries helped write or collaborated on the 900-page playbook for a second Trump term.... Four individuals Trump nominated as ambassadors were also involved, along with several enforcers of his controversial immigration crackdown. And about 20 pages are credited to his first deputy chief of staff. In fact, at least 140 people who worked in the Trump administration had a hand in Project 2025, a CNN review found, including more than half of the people listed as authors, editors and contributors.... Dozens more who staffed Trump's government hold positions with conservative groups advising Project 2025, including his former chief of staff Mark Meadows and longtime adviser Stephen Miller. These groups also include several lawyers deeply involved in Trump's attempts to remain in power, such as his impeachment attorney Jay Sekulow and two of the legal architects of his failed bid to overturn the 2020 presidential election, Cleta Mitchell and John Eastman." Emphasis added.

Sarah Murray & Zachary Cohen of CNN: "Seven battleground states are sending fake electors and others who worked to upend the 2020 election results to represent their state parties at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, where they will officially anoint Donald Trump as their presidential nominee. The fake electors and other election deniers identified by CNN include several who are currently facing criminal charges for their efforts in helping Trump try to overturn Joe Biden's 2020 victory. They hail from the states that were central to that plot last presidential cycle: Arizona, Georgia, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Nevada, New Mexico and Wisconsin, according to lists published by state parties and other documents obtained by CNN."


Maxine Joselow of the Washington Post: "The Energy Department on Thursday unveiled $1.7 billion for retooling 11 auto factories to make electric vehicles and their components, with a focus on facilities that have shuttered or could close without federal help. The funding underscores how the Biden administration is racing to get climate money out the door before the November election, even as it faces criticism for not moving faster on green lending. Should ... Donald Trump win a second term, he could try to scrap billions of dollars worth of federal spending aimed at accelerating America's shift to clean energy and electric vehicles. Much of this money comes from President Biden's signature 2022 climate law, the Inflation Reduction Act, which also provides tax credits of up to $7,500 for consumers to buy EVs. Trump has falsely claimed that EVs don't work, and he vowed to gut Biden's EV policies during an April meeting with oil industry donors."

Sahil Kapur & Frank Thorp of NBC News: "Senate Republicans on Wednesday blocked legislation led by Democrats to revive the protections of Roe v. Wade in the wake of the Supreme Court eliminating the nationwide right to abortion. The vote was 49-44, falling short of the super-majority needed to defeat a filibuster due to broad opposition from Republicans, who dismissed it as a political stunt. The Reproductive Freedom for Women Act, introduced last month around the second anniversary of the court decision that overturned Roe v. Wade, is just a few sentences long. It states that ... 'the protections enshrined in Roe v. Wade ... should be restored and built upon, moving towards a future where there is reproductive freedom for all.' It's part of a series of reproductive rights bills that Senate Democrats, who narrowly control the chamber 51-49, have forced votes on ahead of the 2024 elections."

Sam Levine & Maya Yang of the Guardian: "Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez introduced articles of impeachment against the conservative US supreme court justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito on Wednesday over the justices' 'pattern of refusal to recuse from consequential matters before the court'. The articles of impeachment are unlikely to gain traction in the US House, which is controlled by Republicans. The effort follows calls from two US senators, Sheldon Whitehouse and Ron Wyden, for the US attorney general to appoint a special counsel to investigate potential criminal violations of federal ethics and tax laws by Thomas. 'Justice Thomas and Alito's repeated failure over decades to disclose that they received millions of dollars in gifts from individuals with business before the court is explicitly against the law. And their refusal to recuse from the specific matters and cases before the court in which their benefactors and spouses are implicated represents nothing less than a constitutional crisis,' Ocasio-Cortez, a Democrat from New York, said in a statement." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: While you might be tempted to consider AOC's impeachment move a stunt akin to, say, MTG's various efforts to impeach whoever, to the extent that AOC's effort involve, well, facts, it fundamentally differs from right-wing impeachment movements against Democrats Biden and Garland.

** Ian Millhiser of Vox: "All of the United States' most important governing institutions are failing at once.... The [Supreme Court] justices are barely able to manage their own docket, even though it's been shrinking for decades. They publish incompetently drafted decisions that sow confusion throughout the judiciary, then refuse to accept responsibility when those decisions lead to ridiculous and immoral outcomes. They take liberties with the facts of their cases, and they can't even be trusted to read the plain text of an unambiguous statute correctly. In just the last few years, they've overruled so many seminal precedents that law professors no longer know how to teach their classes. If the justices did not wield such awesome power, and if lawyers who practice before them did not have to treat them with ritualized obsequiousness, most of the justices would be laughingstocks." Thanks to RAS for the lead. MB: If law professors "no longer know how to teach their classes," they might prepare their syllabi with Millhiser's essay as a guide. They must muster the guts to tell the bright-eyed young things that the Court's majority is a cabal of partisan nitwits.

~~~~~~~~~~

Israel/Palestine, et al. The New York Times' live updates of developments Thursday 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. (Also linked yesterday.)

News Lede

New York Times: "The Consumer Price Index climbed at a moderate pace in June compared with a year earlier and fell on a monthly basis, welcome news for Federal Reserve officials who are watching for further evidence that they have wrestled rapid inflation under control. Overall inflation was 3 percent in June on a yearly basis, down from 3.3 percent in May, and softer than the 3.1 percent that economists had forecast in a Bloomberg survey. After stripping out food and fuel prices for a sense of the underlying trend, the 'core' price index climbed 3.3 percent compared to year earlier, down from the previous report. And compared to the previous month, prices dropped 0.1 percent, while the core index ticked up only slightly." An NBC News report is here.

Comments Off

Reader Comments (7)

Note to Dem. voters: Voting to keep a fascist administration from
taking power is more important than having a perfect candidate.√

July 11, 2024 | Unregistered CommenterForrestMorris

Retribution

"Trump’s ‘Secretary of Retribution’ compiles hit list for ‘vigilante death warrant’

If Trump is re-elected, Raiklin wants to enlist so-called “constitutional” sheriffs in rural, conservative counties across the country to lock up Trump’s political enemies. He lusts for “live-streamed swatting raids” against Trump’s political enemies on his “Deep State target list.”"

July 11, 2024 | Unregistered CommenterRAS

Scott Lemieux

"The incompetent imperialism of the Roberts Court"

July 11, 2024 | Unregistered CommenterRAS

AOC's articles of impeachment are reasoned and reasonable. As some may recall, "The Judges, both of the supreme and inferior Courts, shall hold their Offices during good Behavior,". Although "good Behavior" doesn't specify 'so long as they obey the law' it seems a very long stretch to say it actually does not mean so long as they obey the law. The "Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors" that applies to the Executive certainly implies that even misdemeanors constitutes bad behavior. And I would argue that good behavior, in fact, means a good deal higher level of unimpeachable conduct. That so few of the spineless, un-democratic Democratic, and all sniveling, fascist Republican House members are unwilling to exert the Legislature's reasonable authority over the SC is one of our country's tragedies - and a reflection of how poorly designed our constitution is for the 21st century.

July 11, 2024 | Unregistered CommenterClinton Stone

Swamp State or State of Insanity? DeSantis keeps us guessing.

https://www.jacksonville.com/story/news/2024/07/10/desantis-free-state-of-florida-added-signs-state-line/74348927007/

July 11, 2024 | Unregistered CommenterBobby Lee

FWIW:

I think Marc Anthony's tribute to Brutus would be fitting for President Biden.

This was the noblest Roman of them all.
 All the conspirators save only he
 Did that they did in envy of great Caesar.
 He only in a general honest thought
 And common good to all made one of them.
 His life was gentle and the elements
 So mixed in him that nature might stand up
 And say to all the world “This was a man.”

"Julius Caesar" Act 5, Scene 5

July 11, 2024 | Unregistered CommenterDavid Feldman
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