;)
The Conversation -- July 12, 2024
Julia Jacobs of the New York Times: "A judge in New Mexico dismissed the case against Alec Baldwin on Friday after finding that the state had withheld evidence that could have shed light on how live rounds got onto a film set where the cinematographer was fatally shot. The dismissal was with prejudice, meaning that the prosecution of Mr. Baldwin is over.... 'There is no way for the court to right this wrong,' Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer said in court as Mr. Baldwin wept. It was a stunning end to the trial of Mr. Baldwin, who was rehearsing with a gun on the 'Rust' film set in 2021 when it fired a live round, killing Halyna Hutchins, the movie's cinematographer. Mr. Baldwin had been told the gun was 'cold,' meaning it should have been impossible to fire."
Washington Post Editors: "With time running out before the Democratic National Convention opens Aug. 19, [President] Biden and his inner circle of advisers seem to be playing for time. Indeed, based on his comments Thursday, Mr. Biden seems to be somewhat oblivious to the political furor surrounding him and in denial about his frailty, personally and politically.... What makes Mr. Biden's cognitive decline especially damaging is that he and his aides have systematically failed to level with the public about it.... Eighty-five percent of Americans now say Biden is too old to serve four more years as president, according to a Post-ABC News-Ipsos poll published this week, and 56 percent of Democrats say he should end his candidacy. His approval rating is 36 percent. Just 14 percent of adults think Mr. Biden has more of the mental sharpness it takes to effectively serve as president than Mr. Trump. Of course, Mr. Biden's defenders are right to insist on more attention to the dangers Mr. Trump poses.... But the best way to keep Mr. Trump away from the Oval Office is by offering a strong alternative."
Dana Milbank of the Washington Post contrasts President Biden and Donald Trump. "In Washington, President Biden assembled world leaders to mark the 75th anniversary of the founding of NATO, which Biden has rebuilt and expanded over the last 3½ years.... In Miami a few hours later, former president Donald Trump assembled supporters at his Doral golf club -- another transfer of wealth from his campaign to his personal accounts -- and ridiculed NATO partners. 'I didn't even know what the hell NATO was too much before' he became president, Trump told them.... If [Biden graciously bows out]..., he will be remembered for the most substantial record of accomplishment of any president in decades. If he holds on in the face of mounting evidence that he can't win, he will be remembered for selfishness -- a trait incompatible with his character...." ~~~
~~~ Marie: Here's a quote Milbank relates which I had not heard: "Also this week, longtime Trump adviser Sebastian Gorka told Newsmax that Vice President Harris is 'a DEI hire, right? She's a woman. She's colored.'" The last public figure to use such language was probably Strom Thurmond. Really unbelievable in the 21st century.
Katelyn Polantz of CNN: "Rudy Giuliani is no longer entitled to bankruptcy protection, a judge decided Friday, making it possible for creditors to immediately pursue his assets within days. The former mayor of New York sought bankruptcy protection after a jury awarded two Georgia election workers $148 million because Giuliani defamed them after the 2020 election. The judge's decision Friday, to end his bankruptcy, paves the way for Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss, as well as other creditors, who are trying to collect on the more than $150 million Giuliani owes. Judge Sean Lane of the federal bankruptcy court in New York made the decision partly because of Giuliani's lack of transparency after he filed for bankruptcy more than six months ago..... 'Mr. Giuliani has failed to provide an accurate and complete picture of his financial affairs in the six months that this case has been pending,' Lane wrote in his decision Friday. 'The lack of financial transparency is particularly troubling given concerns that Mr. Giuliani has engaged in self-dealing and that he has potential conflicts of interest that would hamper the administration of his bankruptcy case.'" The Washington Post's story is here. ~~~
~~~ Marie: Who could possibly have guessed America's Mayor was a lying SOS?
Here We Go Loopty-Loo. Isaac Arnsdorf of the Washington Post: The Heritage Foundation, progenitor of Project 2025, gave a presentation at its Washington, D.C., headquarters stating "as a given that the Biden administration was already engaged in a sweeping conspiracy to use multiple forms of federal power to influence the presidential election. It did not supply any evidence. 'As things stand right now, there's a zero percent chance of a free and fair election,' said Mike Howell, executive director of Heritage's Oversight Project.... The report said a key finding was that the sitting president is the greatest danger to the peaceful transition of power, with no mention of Trump's efforts to overturn his 2020 loss. Instead it offered that conclusion as justification for doubting the outcome of the 2024 election and trying to reject anything other than a Trump victory."
Caitlyn Kim of Colorado Public Radio: "Freshman Democratic Rep. Brittany Pettersen is calling on President Joe Biden to drop his bid for reelection. She is the first Colorado congress member to take such a step. 'Joe Biden saved our country once, and I'm joining the growing number of people in my district and across the country to ask him to do it again. Please pass the torch to one of our many capable Democratic leaders so we have the best chance to defeat Donald Trump, who is the greatest threat to the foundation of this country that we have ever faced,' she said in a statement."
Mike Lillis & Mychael Schnell of the Hill: "Former Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) is working furiously behind the scenes to put pressure on President Biden to reconsider his place at the top of the 2024 ticket, according to a number of Democratic lawmakers familiar with her efforts. The Speaker emerita is talking to a broad swath of House Democrats -- from front-liners in tough districts to hardened veterans with institutional clout -- to pump the brakes on the notion that Biden should definitively be the party's nominee heading into November, these lawmakers said."
Domenico Montanaro of NPR: "The race for the presidency remains statistically tied despite President Biden's dismal debate performance two weeks ago, a new national NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist poll finds. Biden actually gained a point since last month's survey, which was taken before the debate. In this poll, he leads Trump 50% to 48% in a head-to-head matchup. But Biden slips when third-party options are introduced, with Trump holding the slightest advantage with 43% to 42%. Those numbers, though, do not represent statistically significant differences, as the margin of error in the survey is +/- 3.1 percentage points, meaning results could be 3 points higher or lower. The poll also found that, at this point, no other mainstream Democrat who has been mentioned as a replacement for the president on the ticket does better than Biden." ~~~
~~~ Marie: In case you're thinking, "Okay, it's a toss-up," let me disabuse you of that idea. On November 2, 2020, Joe Biden was beating Donald Trump by an average of eight points. It was days after the election before he was declared the winner, and even then he barely won, eking out victories in a few swing states by a few thousand votes. (No doubt you know it was 11,700 votes in Georgia.) Therefore, Biden needs to be trouncing Trump in the polls to demonstrate even minimal dominance in the Electoral College count.
Annie Karni of the New York Times: "Representative Hakeem Jeffries, Democrat of New York and the minority leader, met one-on-one with President Biden on Thursday night to discuss the deep concerns many of his members harbor about the viability of the president's re-election campaign. In a brief letter he sent to House Democrats on Friday morning, Mr. Jeffries, a deliberate politician and a relatively untested leader, offered few details about the meeting, which took place at the White House after the president's high-stakes news conference. The private meeting, Mr. Jeffries told his colleagues, had been set at his request. 'In my conversation with President Biden, I directly expressed the full breadth of insight, heartfelt perspectives and conclusions about the path forward that the caucus has shared in our recent time together,' Mr. Jeffries wrote. In a moment when every word from Democratic leaders is being parsed, it was notable that Mr. Jeffries, who has said he supports Mr. Biden, left out any endorsement of the president in his three-paragraph letter."
Marie: According to Erica Green of the New York Times, writing in a liveblog covering President Biden's press conference and other aspects of the presidential race, "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." It struck me then that Biden had set up a "heads I win, tales you lose" challenge. ~~~
~~~ Philip Bump of the Washington Post agrees: "Those in the Democratic Party hoping to replace Biden with someone better positioned to win are obstructed, in part, by this obstinance from Biden. But they are obstructed, too, because while Biden's position is historically weak, polling doesn't (and perhaps can't) show someone else doing demonstrably better.... No poll says he can't win and no poll says that some other candidate definitely will win."
Meredith McGraw, et al., of Politico: "... Donald Trump's advisers and allies viewed President Joe Biden's press conference as the best-case scenario for the Republican's campaign: not enough to force him out but with enough errors that they can mine the event for opposition material. Trump's campaign is still hoping Biden stays in the race, believing he is the weakest candidate for the former president to face in November. His strategy, in part, centers on the notion that Biden is not mentally fit to be president."
The Big Grift, Ctd. Russ Buettner of the New York Times: "As he seeks to reclaim the presidency, [Donald] Trump has reprised the pitchman role from his reality TV days, with a crucial difference: He has intertwined the marketing of his private business affairs with the messaging of his campaign, leveraging his political stature for profit. All of it could be described as Martyr Inc., a machinery that makes Mr. Trump money and promotes his re-election by characterizing him as unjustly persecuted and selflessly saving his supporters from a similar fate."
Angry White Male. David Edwards of the Raw Story: "Rep. Glenn Grothman (R-WI) blamed the 'angry feminist movement' for emasculating men and called for the nation to 'work our way back' to the 1960s if ... Donald Trump wins reelection. In a lengthy House floor speech on Thursday, Grothman claimed feminists and former President Lyndon B. Johnson's 'war on poverty' had removed men from families."
Patrick Smith & Jason Abbruzzese of NBC News: "Hackers stole six months' worth of call and text message records of nearly every AT&T cellular network customer, the company said Friday, a breach that has the potential to reveal sensitive information about millions of Americans. The company said in an SEC filing that it learned from an internal investigation that in April, hackers 'unlawfully accessed and copied AT&T call logs' that were saved on a third-party cloud platform."
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Presidential Race
Peter Baker of the New York Times: "For nearly an hour, at the most anticipated news conference of his presidency, Mr. Biden held forth on the nation, the world and his political future. He demonstrated a grasp of the issues and seemed most comfortable during a long discourse on foreign policy. He argued that age gave him wisdom and made clear that he had no intention of dropping out of the race. The challenge, however, is that every momentary flub, every verbal miscue, even if quickly corrected, now takes on outsized importance, ricocheting across the internet in viral video clips, some more distorted than others, that may reinforce doubts about his capacity. He gets no free passes anymore, not since last month's debate. The reality is that every public appearance between now and November will be scrutinized for evidence of infirmity."
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." (Also linked yesterday.)
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...." (Also linked yesterday.)
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." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ 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." (Also linked yesterday.)
Edward-Isaac Dovere & Jeff Zelany of CNN: "Barack Obama and Nancy Pelosi have spoken privately about Joe Biden and the future of his 2024 campaign. Both the former president and ex-speaker expressed concerns about how much harder they think it's become for the president to beat Donald Trump. Neither is quite sure what to do. Democrats are desperate for the dispiriting infighting to end so they can get back to trying to beat the former president. And they're begging either Obama or Pelosi to help them get there, aware that Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer doesn't have the trust of Biden and that House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries doesn't have the depth of relationship to deliver the message."
Nicholas Nehamas of the New York Times: "President Biden entered Thursday night hoping that a steady performance at a news conference with the national press corps would quell dissension among Democrats.... But within minutes of his departure from the stage, two more Democratic representatives joined the growing number of party members calling for him to end his re-election campaign.... 'The 2024 election will define the future of American democracy, and we must put forth the strongest candidate possible to confront the threat posed by Trump's promised MAGA authoritarianism,' Representative Jim Himes, a moderate Democrat from Connecticut and the ranking member of the House Intelligence Committee, said in a statement.... And Representative Scott Peters of California also argued that Mr. Biden should leave the race, saying, 'The stakes are high, and we are on a losing course.' Later in the evening, Representative Eric Sorensen of Illinois joined their ranks, becoming the 18th Democratic member of either the House or the Senate to call for Mr. Biden to step aside.... But other Democrats said Mr. Biden's deft grasp of policy -- and the fact that he answered questions for nearly an hour -- was heartening, despite awkward moments like a flub in which he referred to Vice President Kamala Harris as 'Vice President Trump.'" A related Politico story is here.
Here's the New York Times list of Democratic members of Congress, as well as one senator and one governor who have called on President Biden to resign as well as those who have expressed "concern" or support. Earlier on Thursday, the following members of the House called on him to resign: Greg Stanton, Arizona; Brad Schneider, Illinois; Marie Gluesenkamp Perez, Washington; Ed Case, Hawaii, and Hillary Scholten, Michigan. ~~~
~~~ 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." (Also linked yesterday.)
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.'" (Also linked yesterday.)
AND, as a reminder, an effigy of Joe Biden would be a better president than Donald Trump: ~~~
~~~ Dictators' Club Members to Meet. Mariana Alfaro & Michael Birnbaum of the Washington Post: "As President Biden met with world leaders at the NATO summit this week, his opponent..., Donald Trump, was scheduled to meet with Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orban -- the autocratic leader who, like Trump, has questioned NATO policy toward Ukraine and Russia. The two will meet in Florida, a Trump campaign official confirmed. Orban, who attended this week's NATO summit, has pursued a Russia-friendly foreign policy that has put him out of step with the Biden administration and with other European allies. Inside NATO, he has slowed steps to bolster defenses against Moscow. At the European Union, which handles economic policy, he has watered down Russia sanctions."
Annals of "Journalism," Ctd. If you read yesterday's long New York Times editorial declaring Donald Trump was not fit to be president*, you may have noticed what Steve M. points out: "...what's really striking about the editorial -- although it's not surprising at all, given the tone of mainstream media coverage since the Reagan era -- is the fact that its message is 'Republicans have an awesome party, and it's really a shame that that Trump fellow came along to ruin it.' Many Republicans are trotted out as examples of the party's awesomeness, though, notably -- although the editorial never notes it -- all are dead or estranged from the GOP."
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." (Also linked yesterday.)
Katie Lobosco of CNN: "The Internal Revenue Service said Thursday that it has collected more than $1 billion in past-due taxes from millionaires since last fall -- thanks to a ramp up of enforcement efforts funded by the Democrat-backed Inflation Reduction Act that passed Congress nearly two years ago. The Biden administration is eager to show how the IRS is using the money to crack down on wealthy tax cheats and improve taxpayers services. Republicans, who have criticized the funding as wasteful spending, have made several efforts to chip away at the 10-year investment provided by the legislation."
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." (Also linked yesterday.)
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." (Also linked yesterday.)** Read Ian Millhiser's analysis of Supreme Court incompetence, also linked yesterday.
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Israel/Palestine, et al.
The New York Times' live updates of developments Friday in the Israel/Hamas war are here.
Eric Schmitt of the New York Times: "The Biden administration will soon permanently shut down the star-crossed $230 million temporary pier that the U.S. military built to rush humanitarian aid to Gaza, American officials said on Thursday.... On Wednesday, personnel from the military's Central Command attempted and failed to reattach the makeshift pier to the beach in Gaza after rough seas forced operators to remove the structure several days ago to avoid damage, the Pentagon said."
News Lede
New York Times: "Shelley Duvall, whose lithesome features and quirky screen personality made her one of the biggest film stars of the 1970s and early '80s, appearing in a string of movies by the director Robert Altman and, perhaps most memorably, opposite Jack Nicholson in 'The Shining,' died on Thursday at her home in Blanco, Texas. She was 75."
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Reader Comments (11)
https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/july-11-2024
A must read of the dangers of a trump presidency.
Brian Klaas
"The Case for Amplifying Trump's Insanity
The "Banality of Crazy" has warped American politics, as few voters recognize just how deranged, delusional, and dangerous Donald Trump is...because the press rarely reports on his routine insanity."
Jay Willis
"the Supreme Court issued its decision in Murthy v. Missouri, a case about whether the First Amendment affords the internet’s most obnoxious anti-vaccine conspiracy theorists a constitutional right to post.
The dissenting opinion, written by Justice Samuel Alito and joined by Justices Clarence Thomas and Neil Gorsuch, is a bingo card of right-wing grievances, railing with equal vigor against a Democratic president’s dastardly impositions on free speech and the Supreme Court’s unconscionable decision not to put a stop to it. The opinion is the work product of a Newsmax-pilled grandpa who, in the era of a six-justice conservative supermajority, has clearly grown accustomed to getting his way—and who figured that if he wasn’t going to win this time, he would at least get some shit off his chest in the process."
Scientific American
"The Supreme Court’s Contempt for Facts Is a Betrayal of Justice
The Supreme Court majority’s recent decisions about homelessness, public health and regulatory power, among others, undermine the role of evidence, expertise and honesty in American democracy"
Brooks on the Pretender’s appeal:
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/07/11/opinion/trump-biden-authoritarianism.html
I suggest a shorter version:
HIs supporters are spoiled brats who don’t know or care how privileged they have been and are.
When they don’t get their way, they have a fit. Jan. 6 comes to mind.
When they are told they are wrong about the facts or their beliefs, they resent those who try to set them straight..
When they don’t like the truth, they lie.
When Daddy tells them what to do, they want to kill him. Patricide comes naturally to them.
Trump is their avatar. The deep state is the Daddy they want dead.
"Where are the Radical Republicans when we need them?
History teaches a clear lesson: When a nation's democratic institutions are facing an existential threat, relentlessly opposing it should be the sole focus. But over the last decade, large swaths of the United States — including its elites — have forgotten that lesson. And we are paying a huge price.
Unlike previous times when the nation faced a similarly existential crisis — including during the middle of the 19th and 20th centuries — there is no organized, institutional opposition representing the collective interests of the majority of Americans who stand to pay a huge price if Trump and the oligarchs who back him prevail."
The French's Center and Left coming together to defeat their Right made me wonder briefly if something like that could happen here. Unfortunately our third parties are headed by narcissistic assholes like Jill Stein and Kennedy Jr who would never throw their weight behind the Democrats to defeat MAGA Republicans even with the fundamental rights of the nation at stake.
Trump and the Supremes
"Centering the Republican Supreme Court as Donald Trump’s true running mate can help Democrats make clear Donald Trump’s responsibility for the deeply unpopular abortion bans he promised, caused, briefly took credit for, and is now trying to run away from.
The Republicans on the Supreme Court — three of whom were put there by Trump — have functioned as the legal department of his campaign. But that understates the role they play in imposing a radical, unpopular and anti-American agenda on the nation. They are Trump’s full governing partners, and have continued enacting their shared agenda after voters threw Trump out of the White House.
Trump and the Republican Supreme Court are joined at the hip substantively. Democrats should aggressively ensure they are just as closely linked politically."
The pressure's on:
https://www.nytimes.com/live/2024/07/12/us/biden-trump-election?
And what I hate most about it--aside from the minor issue of my country lost--is the glee the R's and their Fat F---- must be feeling.
https://substack.com/redirect/1e4ac49c-d1b7-494f-bdde-b78e0f7235ec?j=eyJ1IjoiM2Jxamx2In0.lTVBY-UadzDq_RqmVUYbjhN1lG5ODifKfkFZQxxjlGg
Finally, the NYT comes out with an editorial about the many reasons trump is totally unsuited to be president. Much much more at the link..
“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.”
@pat: Not only did I link to the NYT editorial on Trump's being unfit for office shortly after it was published, I gave it a couple of stars to indicate it was a "must-read" for those who have access to the NYT. Moreover, today I linked to Steve M.'s commentary on the editorial. So Reality Chex readers -- i.e., people who actually read the content here as opposed to those few who use it only as a vehicle for sharing their own POVs -- would be familiar with the Times editorial.
Therefore, linking to it a third time and pretending this is new information for readers is not helpful, IMO.
However, if the Substack link gets non-subscribers to a firewalled editorial without forcing them to "use up" their NYT freebies, then it's all to the good. If that's what you're doing, you should tell readers what you're doing, so they're not surprised. Based on the info you provided, it was not clear to me that you were redirecting readers to the original NYT Webpage.
And it still isn't clear to me if non-subscribers are getting a "free pass" or work-around the Times firewall. I just don't know if that's how "redirect" works. Can someone enlighten me? I don't want to con anyone into "using up" the limited number of stories a non-subscriber can access on some Websites like the NYT.
OK, I was out of town all day and when I came home I found this and had not yet had time to see what was going on with realitychex.
Sorry, it won't happen again.