;)
The Conversation -- September 27, 2023
Ryan Reilly of NBC News: "A federal judge overseeing ... Donald Trump's election interference case in Washington, D.C., had denied his request that she recuse herself from the case due to her prior comments in criminal cases against other Jan. 6 defendants. U.S. District Court Judge Tanya Chutkan wrote in her opinion that her comments in other Jan. 6 cases, which Trump's team took issue with, 'reflect the information and arguments presented by the defense in each case.'"
Tony Romm of the Washington Post: "With a government shutdown as few as four days away, the Biden administration has started to ration federal disaster aid, delaying the delivery of about $2.8 billion in grants so the money is available in the event of a crisis, according to state and federal officials and budget documents.... The last-minute move has allowed the Federal Emergency Management Agency to shore up its rapidly dwindling budget against the immediate threat of wildfires, hurricanes and other natural disasters as they arise, according to a senior agency official.... Over the past month, FEMA has paused at least $555 million for long-term recovery projects in Florida, including those related to Hurricane Ian last year. It has held back $101 million from Louisiana and another $74 million in California, according to the federal records, which reflect delays through Sept. 18." MB: Thanks, Kevin! Funny how your (probably very short-term) disaster relief comes before everybody else's.
Tracey Tully, et al., of the New York Times: "Senator Robert Menendez of New Jersey pleaded not guilty on Wednesday to bribery charges, standing before a magistrate judge in Manhattan federal court, his wife, Nadine, seated nearby. About three hours earlier, the Menendezes had held hands as they pushed through a crowd of journalists and entered the courthouse without answering questions. A lone protester shouted 'Resign!' Ms. Menendez, 56, also entered a not-guilty plea for her role in the bribery conspiracy, which prosecutors said involved weapons sales and aid to the government of Egypt." MB: The number of Democratic senators who have called for Menendez to resign stands at 30 as of early Wednesday afternoon, according to on-air reporting. ~~~
~~~ Ken Dilanian & Frank Thorp of NBC News: "Sen. Robert Menendez ... singlehandedly blocked passage of bipartisan legislation in 2020 that would have strengthened the law regulating foreign influence and lobbying in Washington, Senate records show. The proposed Foreign Agents Disclosure and Registration Enhancement Act grew out of widespread concerns that the current law regulating foreign lobbying had seldom been enforced, and that foreign influence campaigns had successfully infiltrated American politics. Strengthening the law had drawn support from Democrats and Republicans on key committees. In December 2020, after a Republican senator asked for unanimous consent to bring the bill to the Senate floor for a vote, Menendez stood and objected.... The bill had significant support from key Democrats.... Three years later, the Foreign Agents Registration Act, known as FARA, has not been updated."
Choe Sang-Hun & Michael Shear of the New York Times: "Pvt. Travis T. King, the American soldier who crossed into North Korea on July 18, was released into U.S. custody on Wednesday following weeks of diplomacy mediated by the Swedish government, according to senior U.S. administration officials. The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity to describe the details of Private King's release as he was in transit to a U.S. military base, said he would be reunited with his family in the United States and given physical and mental health support after being held by the North Koreans for 70 days. His first stop after leaving North Korea was China, where U.S. officials were waiting for him. Private King then was put on a plane and flown to a U.S. military facility, though the officials declined identify it."
~~~~~~~~~~
~~~ Lauren Egan of Politico: "President Joe Biden on Tuesday became the first sitting president to walk a picket line with striking workers, vividly demonstrating his commitment to labor and its central role in his reelection campaign. The president, donning a blue hat with a United Auto Workers symbol, used a bull horn to speak to the crowd of union members dressed in red. He was flanked by United Auto Workers president Shawn Fain. 'The unions built the middle class. That's a fact. Let's keep going,' the president told the crowd. 'You deserve what you've earned and you've earned a hell of a lot more than you're getting paid now.' Biden's choice to show solidarity with striking auto workers at a time of great promise and peril for the labor movement represented a tectonic shift for an office historically known for breaking strikes, not supporting them." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Marie: BTW, I heard on the teevee yesterday that Donald Trump will appear at a non-union shop today (as counter-programming to the GOP presidential* debate) and that his appearance there was arranged by an anti-labor organization. Nice. Trump is probably the most anti-labor president* since Ronald Reagan fired more than 11,000 air traffic controllers in 1981. That, at least, was an illegal strike, unlike the lawful UAW strike.
~~~ Uh, Forced Labor Is Not a Good Look During a Union Strike. Evan Halper of the Washington Post: "Ford Motor Co. is pausing plans to build a $3.5 billion electric vehicle battery plant in Marshall, Mich., as the company faces financial pressure from striking autoworkers and political pressure from lawmakers demanding it sever its ties to a Chinese firm collaborating on the plant. The automaker unveiled plans to build the plant in February, promising it would employ about 2,500 workers to make batteries for new and existing electric vehicles. Ford announced at the time that it would use technology from the Chinese firm Contemporary Amperex Technology Co. Limited, or CATL, the larges battery maker in the world. But since unveiling those blueprints, Ford has become a focus of congressional investigators, who accuse CATL of doing business with mining firms in the Xinjiang region of China. Rampant forced labor in Xinjiang moved the United States to enact a law last year prohibiting import of any materials from there unless it can be proven they were not made with forced labor."
Steve Lohr of the New York Times: "The Biden administration plans to bring back open internet rules that were enacted during the Obama administration and then repealed by the Trump administration. In a speech on Tuesday, Jessica Rosenworcel, chairwoman of the Federal Communications Commission, declared that the repeal in 2017 put the F.C.C. 'on the wrong side of history, the wrong side of the law, and the wrong side of the public.' The earlier open internet rules, known as net neutrality, prohibited broadband internet suppliers -- telecommunications and cable companies -- from blocking or slowing online services. It also banned the broadband companies from charging some content providers higher prices for priority treatment, or 'fast lanes' on the internet."
David McCabe of the New York Times: "The Federal Trade Commission and 17 states accused Amazon on Tuesday of illegally protecting a monopoly over swaths of online retail by squeezing merchants and favoring its own services, in the government's most significant challenge to the power of the e-commerce giant and one that could alter the way Americans shop online for everything from toilet paper to electronics. In a highly anticipated lawsuit, the F.T.C. and state attorneys general from New York and other states said that Amazon had stopped merchants on its platform from offering lower prices elsewhere and forced them to ship products with its logistics service if they wanted to be offered as part of its Prime subscription bundle. Those practices led to higher prices and a worse shopping experience for consumers, the agency and states said." NPR's report is here. (Also linked yesterday.)
Michelle Lee & Ellen Francis of the Washington Post: "North Korea announced Wednesday that it has decided to deport Travis King, a U.S. soldier who crossed into the country in July, after determining he entered illegally.State media did not specify when or how King would be released.... The United States, which has no formal diplomatic relations with North Korea, has worked with Sweden to help secure King's return. Sweden has an embassy in Pyongyang, but its diplomats have not returned to North Korea since they were ordered to leave during the coronavirus pandemic."
Carl Hulse & Catie Edmondson of the New York Times: "Senate Republicans and Democrats reached agreement on Tuesday on a stopgap spending plan that would head off a government shutdown on Sunday while providing billions in disaster relief and aid to Ukraine.... The legislation cleared its first procedural obstacle Tuesday night on a bipartisan vote of 77 to 19. It would keep government funding flowing through Nov. 17 to allow more time for negotiations over yearlong spending bills.... Senate leaders hoped to pass it by the end of the week and send it to the House in time to avert a shutdown now set to begin at midnight Saturday. But there was no guarantee that Speaker Kevin McCarthy would bring the legislation to the House floor for a vote, since some far-right Republicans have said they would try to remove him from his post if he did." ~~~
~~~ Jeff Stein, et al., of the Washington Post: "With days left before the government shuts down, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) has embraced steep reductions to the U.S. safety net in an attempt to appease far-right Republican demands for lower spending. If McCarthy can win over conservatives and pass legislation funding the government, Republicans hope to have greater leverage in negotiations with the Democratic-controlled Senate and White House. But far-right votes have remained elusive, leading McCarthy to propose ever larger and still evolving spending cuts.... Hard-right lawmakers have warned that if McCarthy relies on Democratic votes to pass any fiscal bill, they would move swiftly to force him from the speakership.... But even if those bills were approved by the Senate, which they will not be, much of the government would still shut down because federal operations are funded by 12 different bills." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Jacob Bogage of the Washington Post: "Here's what you need to know about a government shutdown, and how it could affect you." (Also linked yesterday.)
Tracey Tully of the New York Times: "Senator Robert Menendez of New Jersey is expected to appear in Manhattan federal court on Wednesday morning to be arraigned on federal bribery charges for the second time in eight years. Mr. Menendez, a Democrat, is accused of using his political clout to assist the government of Egypt and three New Jersey businessmen in exchange for hundreds of thousands of dollars, bars of gold bullion and a Mercedes-Benz convertible. Nadine Menendez, 56, the senator's wife of three years, is also expected to be arraigned, alongside her husband, in the federal court after being charged with participating in the yearslong bribery scheme."
Christopher Maag of the New York Times: "Senator Cory Booker called on Senator Robert Menendez, his fellow New Jersey Democrat, to resign Tuesday morning, ending days of silence after Mr. Menendez was indicted on bribery charges. As New Jersey's junior senator, Mr. Booker often has described Mr. Menendez, the senior senator, as a friend, ally and mentor. His decision to condemn Mr. Menendez, and to join the growing chorus of state and federal officials calling on him to step down, demonstrates the deepening crisis facing a senator who until last week had occupied one of the most powerful and secure positions in American politics.... A flood of Democrats, particularly those facing re-election next year in politically competitive states, issued statements calling on Mr. Menendez to step aside." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Marie: Early Tuesday afternoon, MSNBC reported that 14 U.S. senators had called for Menendez to resign. Update: Annie Karni of the New York Times reports on the "stampede of Senate Democrats" who are urging Bribe-Me Bob to relinquish his lucrative Senate seat. (Also linked yesterday.) Update 2: MSNBC reported on-air Tuesday night that 24 Democratic senators now have called for Menendez to resign. ~~~
~~~ Michael Luciano of Mediaite: Kevin McCarthy said Menendez should resign, uh, until CNN's Manu Raju reminded him that George Santos too had been indicted on federal criminal charges.
There were people running into the burning building to save the virtue of the Senate over a dress code, but when it comes to a stash of gold bars and 'wads of cash all over the house,' they're silent. It's confusing. -- Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.) ~~~
~~~ Michelle Goldberg of the New York Times: "... here we are, four days after the Department of Justice gave us all a look at [Sen. Robert] Menendez's [D-N.J.] cash-stuffed jacket and one-kilo gold bars, and a united front of condemnation has yet to materialize.... [Menendez'] refusal to resign is a problem for Democrats both substantively and politically.... His continued tenure in the Senate is an embarrassment to the institution and to the Democratic Party, an embarrassment that will only grow more acute as his prosecution proceeds..., which is why the right-wing senator Tom Cotton [R] of Arkansas declared that Menendez should stay put. And while Menendez's indictment demonstrates the absurdity of Donald Trump's ranting that the Justice Department is rigged against Republicans, it also makes it harder for Democrats to keep the spotlight on Trump's baroque corruption.... The Senate's top Democratic leaders are so far standing behind him, with [Leader Chuck] Schumer (N.Y.) calling him a 'dedicated public servant' who 'is always fighting hard for the people of New Jersey.'"
Benjamin Weiser of the New York Times: "Wael Hana, an Egyptian American businessman who prosecutors say was the linchpin of a corrupt scheme that funneled hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes to Senator Robert Menendez of New Jersey, was arrested at Kennedy International Airport Tuesday morning after he voluntarily flew to the United States from Egypt to face federal charges in Manhattan, his lawyer said. Mr. Hana pleaded not guilty late Tuesday afternoon before a federal magistrate judge, who ordered him released on a $5 million personal recognizance bond and strict conditions, including the surrender of his passport and the wearing of a GPS monitoring device."
All the Ex-President*'s Trials
** Biggest Loser, Biggest Liar Loses Big on Big Lies. Jonah Bromwich & Ben Protess of the New York Times: "The New York attorney general won a major victory in her civil case against Donald J. Trump on Tuesday when a New York judge determined that the former president fraudulently inflated the value of his assets to obtain favorable loans and insurance deals. The decision by Justice Arthur F. Engoron precedes a [MB: bench] trial that is scheduled to begin Monday, and will considerably smooth Attorney General Letitia James's path forward as she seeks a penalty of about $250 million. Justice Engoron's decision narrows the issues that will be heard, effectively deciding that the trial was not necessary to find that Mr. Trump was liable and that the core of Ms. James's case was valid. It represents a major blow to Mr. Trump.... In his order, Justice Engoron wrote scathingly about Mr. Trump's defenses, saying that the former president and the other defendants, including his two adult sons and his company, ignored reality when it suited their business needs.... The judge also levied sanctions on Mr. Trump's lawyers for making arguments that he previously rejected.... [The lawsuit] to sever the Trump family from leading the Trump Organization." The AP's story is here. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Maggie Haberman & Alan Feuer of the New York Times: "... a ruling on Tuesday by a New York State judge that [Donald] Trump had committed fraud by inflating the value of his real estate holdings went to the heart of the identity that made him a national figure and launched his political career. By effectively branding him a cheat, the decision in the civil proceeding by Justice Arthur F. Engoron undermined Mr. Trump's relentlessly promoted narrative of himself as a master of the business world, the persona that he used to enmesh himself in the fabric of popular culture and that eventually gave him the stature and resources to reach the White House.... [Justice Arthur Engoron's] finding imperils both Mr. Trump's public image and his business empire. The former president now faces not only the prospect of having to pay $250 million in damages, but he could also lose properties like Trump Tower that are inextricably linked to his brand. Mr. Trump's lawyer in the case, Christopher M. Kise, called the ruling 'outrageous' and said the decision would be appealed." ~~~
~~~ Charlie Nash of Mediaite: "... Donald Trump lashed out in an all-caps rant on Tuesday after a New York judge ruled he had committed fraud. It's worth reading Trump's screed, which includes an all-caps paragraph, claiming, among other things, "I AM WORTH MUCH MORE THAN THE NUMBERS SHOWN ON MY FINANCIAL STATEMENTS." He also says, "THE COMPANY HAS HUNDREDS OF MILLIONS OF DOLLARS IN CASH, AND VERY LITTLE DEBT." MB: Unless he's had a real bonanza in the past couple of years and used it to pay down his debt, his claim about having "very little debt" is a colossal lie. According to an October 2021 Forbes story, Trump's company then had an estimated $1.3 billion in debt. ~~~
~~~ BTW, the NYT story by Haberman & Feuer linked above describes Trump's response to Justice Engoron's ruling like so: "Mr. Trump, in a lengthy post on his social media site, called the statements in the ruling about fraud 'ridiculous and untrue,' and said the decision was a political attack against him in the midst of the presidential campaign." Hardly does it justice.
Kyle Cheney of Politico: "Donald Trump's lawyers said Monday that a gag order proposed by prosecutors would unconstitutionally silence him during key months of the 2024 presidential campaign, urging a federal judge in Washington, D.C. to reject the proposed limits. In a 25-page filing that mirrored some of Trump's own heated political rhetoric, Trump's attorneys said the former president's attacks on potential witnesses, special counsel Jack Smith and even U.S. District Court Judge Tanya Chutkan herself are protected by the First Amendment and were not actual threats or incitement of attacks.... Trump has spent the days since prosecutors' gag order proposal went public assailing Smith for making the request. And over the weekend he unleashed a lengthy attack on Mark Milley, the outgoing chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who is also a potential witness in both of Trump's pending federal criminal trials." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Marie: Of Milley, Trump wrote on his Twitter-clone site, "This guy turned out to be a Woke train wreck who, if the Fake News reporting is correct, was actually dealing with China to give them a heads up on the thinking of the President of the United States.... This is an act so egregious that, in times gone by, the punishment would have been DEATH!'" Mark Esper, who was Trump's Secretary of Defense when Milley made one of those calls to China, said Monday he had directed Milley to make the call after he himself made a similar call to Chinese officials. Esper called Trump's remarks about Milley "intolerable." (Also linked yesterday.)
There Might Be a Reason Trump Went to That Gun Store. Tori Otten of the New Republic, republished by Yahoo! News: "During a campaign trip to South Carolina, Donald Trump took some time to visit the gun store that sold weapons to the racist Jacksonville, Florida, mass shooter.... The Jacksonville shooter shouldn't have been able to buy the guns in the first place. He was held in Florida state custody in 2017 for mental health issues, disqualifying him from owning a gun under a statute called the Baker Act.... Palmetto State Armory has openly embraced far-right ideology. In 2020, it began marketing its products using imagery and language associated with the 'boogaloo,' slang for racist violence and even a call for full-on race war. It has also come to mean war to topple the government.... You could argue that [Trump's] campaign stop is a kind of tacit statement. He put the spotlight on Palmetto State Armory, praised its inventory, and tried to offer it business...."
Marie: A story by Brett Meiselas of Meidas Touch linked in yesterday's Comments is titled, "Trump Chanted 'Hang Mike Pence' with the Crowd as He Watched on TV." But that title is highly misleading. Meiselas bases his unsupported assertion on an excerpt from Cassidy Hutchinson's newly-released book. According to the excerpt, on the afternoon of January 6, 2021, while the insurrection was in full swing, Hutchinson stood just outside the Oval Office dining room, where Donald Trump was watching the insurrection unfold on TV. The TV was blaring, Hutchinson wrote, and she strained to hear the conversation that was going on inside the dining room. "What is he [Trump] saying? I can't make it out. I hear him say 'hang' repeatedly. Hang? Hang? What's that about?" A few minutes later, when she returned to her office, she learned the insurrectionists "are calling for the vice president to be hanged." While we might speculate Trump was chanting "Hang Mike Pence" along with the mob, Hutchinson never claimed he did so. When a partisan makes an explosive claim, it's essential to evaluate the basis for the claim. In this case, there is no basis.
Adam Nichols of the Raw Story: "Donald Trump's co-defendant Ken Chesebro argued Tuesday that giving the former president 'less than two months' of legal advice doesn't constitute racketeering.... Under Georgia law, for a scheme to be considered racketeering, it needs to have continued for a substantial amount of time.... 'Mr. Chesebro's total involvement in the matter lasted approximately six weeks,' lawyer Scott Grubman wrote." MB: Okay then. Forthwith, criminals must take their time in plotting unlawful schemes. And no bringing in a new gangster at the last minute.
Ryan Reilly of NBC News: "A conspiracy theorist convicted of felony Capitol riot charges told a federal judge at his sentencing Tuesday that he wanted to 'protect the Capitol' by 'arresting the traitors' on Jan. 6 before he was sentenced to more than four years in prison. Ed Badalian, of California, said at his sentencing Tuesday that he was 'frustrated' that officers protecting the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, 'did not join us in arresting the traitors,' referring to members of Congress who did not overturn the 2020 presidential election in Donald Trump's behalf." MB: "These are not very bright guys, and things got out of hand."
Abbie VanSickle of the New York Times: "The Supreme Court on Tuesday refused Alabama's request to reinstate a congressional map drawn by Republican lawmakers that had only one majority-Black district, paving the way for a new map to be put in place before the 2024 election. Alabama's request to keep its map was the second time in under a year that it had asked the Supreme Court to affirm a limited role of race in establishing voting districts for federal elections in what amounted to a defiant repudiation of lower-court rulings. In the latest twist in the case, the lower court had found that the state had brazenly flouted its directive to create a second majority-Black district or something 'close to it.' The court's order gave no reasons, which is often the case when the justices decide on emergency applications. There were no public dissents. The ruling clears the way for a special master and court-appointed cartographer to create a new map. The special master in the case submitted three proposed maps on Monday, the deadline set by the three-judge federal district court. All three proposals included a second district where Black voters would have the opportunity to elect a candidate of their choice, according to a report filed by the special master." CNN's report is here. Thanks to Ken W. for the link. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Marie: This strikes me as pretty amazing, inasmuch as the original decision was 5-4, and Alabama GOP legislators said they had "intelligence" that O'Kavanaugh would flip his vote and support them in a hearing on their latest unconstitutional map.
Graham Kates of CBS News: "Hunter Biden sued Rudy Giuliani and his former attorney Tuesday, claiming they hacked and manipulated data on an external hard drive associated with his laptop. Giuliani and the attorney, Robert Costello, have frequently acknowledged accessing the hard drive's data. The lawsuit accuses them of having 'dedicated an extraordinary amount of time and energy toward looking for, hacking into, tampering with, manipulating, copying, disseminating, and generally obsessing over data that they were given that was taken or stolen.'" Thanks to RAS for the link. (Also linked yesterday.)
Brooks Barnes of the New York Times: "After 148 days on strike, television and movie writers will begin returning to work on Wednesday. The Writers Guild of America, which represents 11,500 screenwriters, said on Tuesday that three internal boards had voted unanimously to end the strike and send a tentative contract with entertainment companies to members for ratification. The vote will start on Monday and end on Oct. 9. Members are expected to approve the three-year deal.... While not receiving everything it asked for, the union achieved major gains.... [But] much of Hollywood will stay at a standstill: Tens of thousands of actors remain on strike, and no talks between the actors' union, SAG-AFTRA, and the studios have been scheduled."
Presidential Race 2024. Darlene Superville of the AP:"The United Farm Workers on Tuesday announced its endorsement of President Joe Biden for reelection, saying that the Democrat has proven throughout his life to be an 'authentic champion' for workers and their families, regardless of race or national origin. The farm workers' union was co-founded by Cesar Chavez, the late grandfather of Julie Chavez Rodriguez, who[m] Biden named as his 2024 campaign manager. Her father, Arturo Rodriquez, is a past UFW president."
~~~~~~~~~~
Canada. Sammy Westfall & Amanda Coletta of the Washington Post: "The speaker of Canada's House of Commons [-- Anthony Rota --] resigned Tuesday amid mounting pressure from lawmakers across the political spectrum after he honored a Ukrainian veteran who fought in a Nazi unit during Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky's address to Parliament last week." MB: This was an extremely embarrassing international incident, but Rota's suggestion that he didn't know the old guy was a former Nazi seems credible on its face. However, it appears Canadians are more civilized and sensitive than we are, because even the leaders of our liberal-ish party think Bribe-Me Bob is a "dedicated public servant" who deserves to keep his title as the Honorable Gentleman from New Jersey.
Libya. Vivian Yee of the New York Times: "For years, the two aging dams [that broke during a flood two weeks ago] loomed in the mountains above the Libyan city of Derna, riddled with cracks and fissures, threatening the thousands of people living in the valley below. A Turkish company, Arsel Construction, was eventually hired by the Libyan government to upgrade the dams and build a new one. The work, Arsel said on its website at the time, was completed in 2012. By then, the government had paid millions of dollars to the Turkish contractor for preliminary work, according to a government assessment dated 2011. But Arsel left Libya in the turmoil of the 2011 popular revolt against Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi, the country's longtime dictator. Neither dam was ever repaired, the assessment said, and no third dam ever materialized.... Why the dams went unfixed despite repeated warnings is key to understanding the muddy disaster that wrecked a storied city and traumatized a country. It also goes to the heart of the dysfunction and corruption that have consumed Libya ever since rebels overthrew Colonel el-Qaddafi."
News Ledes
Maryland. Washington Post: "After the CEO of a Baltimore tech start-up was found dead in her apartment with signs of blunt-force trauma to her head, police announced Tuesday that there's a citywide manhunt for a suspect who is considered armed and 'extremely dangerous.' Pava LaPere, 26, who founded EcoMap Technologies and was on this year's Forbes 30 Under 30 list for social impact, was found dead about 11:30 a.m. Monday, according to Baltimore police. Officers had responded to a missing-person call made shortly beforehand, and discovered that LaPere had suffered severe injuries to her head."
Virginia. News4 Washington, D.C.: "Authorities arrested a man who they say was minutes away from carrying out a mass shooting at a church in Northern Virginia on Sunday morning. Rui Jiang, 35, was taken into custody with a loaded gun and extra ammo at Park Valley Church in Haymarket. Authorities said he was on a mission to kill. 'This was a thwarted diabolical plot to kill churchgoers in Haymarket, Virginia .. and local law enforcement stopped it," Chief Kevin Davis of the Fairfax County Police Department said. '... The congregation was making their way into the church. He was in the vestibule of the church about to enter,' Davis said. 'So, minutes or seconds away.' Investigators said they were able to stop the potential massacre thanks to someone who saw troubling posts on Instagram and called police. Several posts showed Jiang pointing a firearm at pictures of churches, authorities said." ~~~
~~~ From the Washington Post story: "'I believe God had a hand on us,' the Rev. Barry White, the church's senior pastor, said Tuesday." MB: No, Barry, that wasn't god; it was Fairfax County police and an alert citizen.
Share Article
Reader Comments (17)
Look for the Both Sides media to pin the blame for the upcoming government shutdown on Biden and the Democrats for not giving in to the traitors in the House. Their cries of “fiscal sobriety” and “our grandchildren will pay!” warnings never close to the event horizon when a Republican administration is increasing the national debt by leaps and bounds, will resonate in the tin ears of supine, horse race “journalists”.
I’m curious to see how the media compares Joe Biden’s support for UAW strikers with Fatty’s visit today to lie to unions about how only he can fix things.
“We can’t say something nice about Joe Biden then call Trump the leader of a union busting political power. That would be unfaaaaiiirrr.”
Let's see now. I did make a very public deal with the White House on the budget and yes, with Democrats' votes, I could easily pass budget resolutions that honor that deal.
But if I do, I may lose my speakership.
So on the one hand we have my integrity, the avoidance of guaranteed fiscal chaos and the general good of the country.
On the other, my Speakership...
How tough is that?
And if supine, horse race, Both Sides journalism isn’t bad enough, there’s also the supine, horse race, Both Sides, scared to death type as well:
While Trump ramps up calls for violence against his perceived enemies, up to and including death, and promises to convene kangaroo court trials against the media and endless rounds of revenge “investigations”, the MSM largely looks the other way so as not have to report such “unfaaaaiiirr” truths.
“Yet these realities have not dominated national news coverage. Indeed, Trump’s remarks about Milley scarcely registered in the headlines. The fact that the leader of the Republican Party is an authoritarian who tacitly (and sometimes explicitly) encourages political violence may have lost some novelty over the past seven years. But it’s shed none of its menace or import.
The mainstream press is in a tough position. It has published reams of excellent reporting on Trump’s scandals and no shortage of op-eds denouncing him. The plurality of voters who support Trump over Biden in many recent polls are not ignorant of the ex-president’s contempt for election results or threats against federal law enforcement. Rather, they either believe that Trump’s conduct is justified given the deep state’s treachery, or they simply don’t care. Therefore, the electorate, the Republican Party, and every organ of mainstream conservatism are treating Trump as though he were an ordinary presidential candidate.
In this context, a news outlet can cover Trump’s affronts to democracy. But it can’t quite internalize them. For such a publication to fully behave as though it has a working memory — and a capacity to rationally weigh the significance of disparate pieces of information — would be for it to resemble a partisan rag.”
“Partisan rag”, in this context means a media operation that dares to expose Trump and his drooling MAGAts for the dangerous authoritarian thugs they are.
The War on Truth in journalism, started, really, by Nixon with his enemies list (the original enemies list contained 20 names but quickly expanded to 220; in contrast, Trump’s enemies list must be thicker than the Domesday Book), but developed into a true WMD by Newt Gingrich, has been wildly successful. The vast majority of current journalists came of age under this cloud which threatens to rain down on any who try to tell the truth about the racists, haters, white supremacists, religious quacks, and fascists on the right. Ergo, Both Sides. Both Siderism allows the vaguest intimations of horrors from the right as long as such reporting dutifully “balances” it with similar tales about the left, even if those examples are exaggerated beyond recognition or completely invented.
This is how we got here. This is how Trump and DeSantolini and Gosar and the rest of these fucking gangsters can call for the extra-judicial murder of those they see as enemies without suffering any of the consequences that would swiftly follow in a less warped and insane dimension.
@Akhilleus: I do see how the media are in a bind when it comes to reporting Trump's rants. But I think there's an out: they should report Trump's dangerous remarks at the same time they call them out: "Another unhinged rant from twice-impeached, 91 counts-indicted former president* is a lie-filled screed. Dr. Alphonse Magoo, chair of the psychiatry department at Wyoming's Wacko State University, said in an email, 'Trump appears to be batshit crazy.' The FBI has designated Trump Public Enemy No 1."
Merely reporting Trump's claims gives them both publicity and credence. Tearing them to shreds might work to mitigate them. Voters need to know the guy is batshit crazy, as Dr. Magoo says.
Hey! Happy Birthday to the US, er, Russian, um, whatever, Air Force!
Budding (bug-eyed?) MAGA star Anna Paulina Luna (PoT, DeSantoliniLand) wishes all the best to the, um, well, some Air Force on Twitter, um X, um, whatever, using a graphic that includes Russian fighter planes.
One might think this is an error, but more likely it’s just another example of how these MAGA creeps are much more aligned with Putin’s authoritarian state than with a democratic United States.
OR…
She could just be an idiot.
This Luna person, by the way, has a rather odd history of weird stuff including a spotty bio that includes questionable entries (this must be a thing with up and coming MAGAts). She has presented herself as white when it mattered, and as Hispanic when running in Florida. She campaigned with screeching harpy Lauren Bobo, and called Hillary Clinton a form of herpes. She also changed her name from Mayerhofer (too Jewish sounding?) to Luna, apparently her grandmother’s name.
But…another mistake: she forgot the tic after Luna.
Anyway, Go Russia!
Marie,
A reasonable solution. Of course such debunkings and critiques would be aimed solely at the undecideds (MAGAts being a lost cause), however, if at this very late date there are still those out there who are unsure of the stakes or aren’t quite certain that Trump and his entire party aren’t existential threats, I wouldn’t want to vouch for their mental fitness were I called as a character witness in a court of law.
“You see, your honor, my friend Jack here is a nice enough guy, but he’s more than a bit tetched.
Perhaps the journalistic plan you outline would help de-tetch Jack. It’s worth a try. What we got now ain’t working for shit.
But my invented pal Jack is not the only one tetched.
It appears that Fatty beat presidents he never ran against and…oops! if he’s not elected again, WORLD WAR II!
Um…what?
“Before bragging about besting two-term winner George W. Bush, Trump gave another speech boasting about his imaginary win against another two-termer, President Barack Obama. ‘With Obama, we won an election that everyone said couldn't be won,’ he prattled on in a speech in Washington, D.C. last week. In the same speech, he confused Obama with President Joe Biden, and warned that, if he didn't win in 2024, we would enter ‘World War II,’ which famously ended the year before Trump himself was born.”
So, okay, the occasional slip of the tongue is forgivable and expected, especially if you, like the Orange Monster, flap your lips like you’re under pain of death if you stop talking. But c’mon.
Another example of how the MSM, not just Amanda Marcotte on a relatively obscure website, should be reporting this stuff.
Of course, if Biden announced that he beat Nixon and was predicting a war in Southeast Asia, the press would cover that like the Hindenburg disaster.
Another report on the law 'n order party:
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/09/27/opinion/bundy-battle-federal-government.html
Can't seem to keep to a schedule these days. Call it a Wednesday Sermon.
"The writers who craft our Hollywood entertainment will soon be back on the job. Their part of the writers/actors’ strike appears to be over. The actors, though, are still on strike, along with thousands of the nation’s auto workers who live and work far from Hollywood.
In 2022 a threatened rail strike was averted only by a settlement imposed by government action. In 2023, thousands of teachers, Starbucks workers, Gannett journalists and hospital workers across the country walked off their jobs protesting poor pay and treatment.
It’s not hard to see what’s happening.
The uneasy truce between capitalism and labor established by the rising power of unions in the middle of the last century has foundered over the last fifty years. After six decades of increasing inequality, when by 2019 nearly 80 percent of the country’s wealth was owned by millionaires and billionaires (wikipedia.org) and corporate heads today make 300-400 times workers’ wages, it’s no wonder workers are restive.
Even Donald Trump, whose administration was belligerently anti-worker (cwa-union.org), is pretending concern for workers by visiting Drake Enterprises, a non-union parts manufacturing plant in Michigan instead of participating in the second Republican debate.
The comedic irony here goes far beyond Trump’s pretended concern for workers.
In the House, the same Republican Party that won’t increase taxes on the rich and ran up the national debt by $7.8 trillion during the Trump administration (propublica.org) a handful of party extremists is now about to shut down the government.
Because the Republicans’ House majority is so thin and Speaker McCarthy won’t invite Democrats’ votes on any budget resolutions, the extremists are in control.
It’s as if the Republican legislators who refuse to legislate are on strike, too.
Or are they simply auditioning for roles in a national farce?
If so, they need better writers."
I'm so excited that trump is coming to Michigan to make a speech
(lie fest?) that I can hardly contain my excitement, but afraid I
can't attend today.
Important things to do--there's weeding the garden, and I have to pot
up some herbs to bring in for winter under gro-lights.
Sorry, donald. Maybe next time.
So, the New York judge in the Tr*mp civil suit has ruled that his companies' fraud is prima facie given, so the trial moves on to determining damages and penalties. So, DiJiT is a fraud.
In other news:
-- Pope Francis, speaking ex cathedra, admits he is "still Catholic"
-- Department of Interior study of apex predators in the U.S. determines that all species of bears, in all locations, defecate in the woods
-- NASA has announced that the probable-to-certain location of tomorrow's sunrise is "in the east"
-- NOAA has determined that, if you stand out in the rain, you get wet
-- the US Census Bureau has announced that in his day P.T. Barnum was accurate, there WAS one born every minute, but today the rate seems much higher, possibly one every 13.972 seconds in the US alone
-- Pasadena JPL confirms that, within the earth's gravity field, "what goes up" indeed "comes down." However, "down" can mean "orbit" when lateral acceleration force exceeds the force of gravity for any body in motion, but does not exceed escape velocity, ceterus parabus.
-- And the American Psychiatric Association has reconfirmed that "it takes one to know one."
Further developments TBD.
We must presume that Pfc King will also be "reunited" with an ankle bracelet.
"27 Insane Things Trump Said He Will Do in a 2nd Term
Mainstream media is broken when it comes to Trump because Trump has broken too many of their brains.
They cover the personality, the insults, the election horse race and polls, and the court cases. However, what they almost completely ignore are they many policy proposals he has announced and other things he said HE IS GOING TO DO if elected. "
RAS,
And this time around he’ll make sure there are no adults in the room. No one but flunkies and MAGA-brain morons. No one to say “Mr. President*, I’m pretty sure Greenland is not for sale”, “Alligators in moats at the border? Great idea!”, and “Don’t you think Russia has enough nukes already? And why did you paint ‘This is for you Ukraine!’ on these bombs?”
David Leonhardt has a great piece on the problem with polemics.
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/09/26/briefing/me-too-black-lives-matter-occupy-wall-street.html
Is he taunting us?
Take the name of Trump's Twitter rip-off, Truth and you can read:
Trump Rarely Utters Truth Here!
Just sayng......
Oh Donald…message for you from Judge Chutkan…
🖕
Got it?