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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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Thursday
Sep282023

The Conversation -- September 29, 2023

First Flip. And Then There Were 18. Richard Fausset & Danny Hakim of the New York Times: “One of the 19 defendants in a Georgia racketeering case against ... Donald J. Trump and his allies pleaded guilty on Friday to five misdemeanor charges, under a deal with prosecutors in which he would receive five years of probation. The guilty plea of Scott Hall, 59, a Georgia bail bondsman, was a significant victory for Fulton County District Attorney Fani T. Willis, who secured an agreement from Mr. Hall to testify against other defendants.... Appearing in a Fulton County courtroom on Friday afternoon, Mr. Hall ... pleaded guilty to five misdemeanor counts of intentional interference with performance of election duties. Under the terms of the deal, Mr. Hall is to pay a $5,000 fine, surrender his firearms carry license, perform 200 hours of community service and write a letter of apology to the people of Georgia. He is not to participate in any activities related to the administration of elections, and he agreed to testify truthfully in all further proceedings in the case.” The NBC News story is here.

Hugo Lowell of the Guardian: "A federal judge on Friday denied a request from Jeffrey Clark, the former Trump justice department official, to transfer from state to federal court his criminal case for conspiring to overturn the 2020 election in Georgia, saying he had failed to prove he had been acting within the scope of his official duties. The ruling from the US district judge Steven Jones, which came a day after Donald Trump decided against making a similar request, means Clark will be tried in Fulton county superior court – with its mainly Democratic jury pool – unless the ruling is overturned by the 11th circuit appeals court." The article cites Judge Jones' reasons for rejecting Clark's specific arguments.

Sahil Kapur & Frank Thorp of NBC News: “Top Republican senators said Friday they won’t try to prevent Democrats from replacing the late Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., on the Judiciary Committee after the vacancy left Democrats without a majority on the key panel. Sen. John Cornyn of Texas, a senior Republican on the Judiciary Committee, told NBC News that 'there’s no doubt in my mind' Democrats will be able to fill her spot on the panel once there is a successor appointed to her Senate seat. Feinstein’s death means the key panel that processes President Joe Biden’s judicial nominees is now split evenly, 10 to 10, between Democrats and Republicans. A tie vote means a nominee fails to advance out of committee....”

The New York Times is liveblogging developments in the government shutdown fiasco: "Hard-line conservatives on Friday tanked Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s long-shot bid to pass legislation to avert a government shutdown, in an extraordinary display of defiance that made it clear that Congress would almost certainly miss a midnight deadline on Saturday to keep federal funding flowing." ~~~

     ~~~ The Hill's story on the failed legislation is here.

Annie Karni of the New York Times: “Senator Dianne Feinstein, the trailblazing Democratic power broker who served in the Senate for 30 years, died on Thursday night, according to a family member.” Update: The page has been converted to a liveblog of reactions to Sen. Feinstein's death. ~~~

    ~~~ Sen. Feinstein's New York Times obituary is here. NBC News' obituary is here; thanks to Forrest M. for the link. ~~~

     ~~~ President Biden's statement is here.

Seung Min Kim, et al., of the AP: At Tempe, Arizona, Thursday, President “Biden said that 'there is no question that today’s Republican Party is driven and intimidated by MAGA extremists.' He pointed to [Donald] Trump’s recent suggestion that Gen. Mark Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff who is stepping down from his post on Friday, should be executed for allegedly treasonous betrayal of him. 'Although I don’t believe even a majority of Republicans think that, the silence is deafening,” Biden added. He also noted that Trump has previously questioned those who serve in the U.S. military calling 'service members suckers and losers. Was John [McCain] a sucker?' Biden asked....” More on President Biden's remarks in Arizona linked below.

~~~~~~~~~~

Marie: As we watch the Greatest Clown Show on Earth -- the one where the clowns choose not to fund the federal government, where they run a sham impeachment inquiry (that is not going very smoothly) to placate their Insatiable Ringmaster, as the master faces 91 criminal charges and a civil suit that may strip him of millions of dollars and control of his little real estate empire, as he berates and threatens his enemies real and imagined, and as his presidential* rivals make fools of themselves -- we must always bear in mind that, at its heart, the clown show is deadly serious, as President Biden reminded us yesterday. ~~~

~~~ Peter Baker of the New York Times: “President Biden issued a broad and blistering attack against ... Donald J. Trump on Thursday, accusing his predecessor and would-be successor of inciting violence, seeking unfettered power and plotting to undermine the Constitution if he returns to office in next year’s elections. In his most direct condemnation of his leading Republican challenger in many months, [in a speech in Tempe, Arizona,] Mr. Biden portrayed Mr. Trump as a budding autocrat with no fidelity to the tenets of American democracy and who is motivated by hatred and a desire for retribution. While he usually avoids referring to Mr. Trump by name, Mr. Biden this time held nothing back as he offered a dire warning about the consequences of a new Trump term.... 'Seizing power, concentrating power, attempting to abuse power, purging and packing key institutions, spewing conspiracy theories, spreading lies for profit and power to divide America in every way, inciting violence against those who risk their lives to keep Americans safe, weaponizing against the very soul of who we are as Americans,' Mr. Biden said. 'This MAGA threat is a threat to the brick and mortar of our democratic institutions. It’s also a threat to the character of our nation.'” (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

 

     ~~~ Here is the text of President Biden's speech as delivered, via the White House.

Glenn Thrush of the New York Times: “Robert K. Hur, the special counsel investigating President Biden’s handling of classified documents while serving as vice president, has interviewed many of Mr. Biden’s closest aides and advisers in a quiet inquiry that over the last nine months has reached into the upper levels of the White House and the cabinet, people familiar with the case said. Those who have been questioned about how government documents came to be stored in a think tank office set up for Mr. Biden after his vice presidency and in his Delaware home include officials who worked with him both at the tail end of the Obama administration and now. Among them are Steve Ricchetti, a top White House aide, and Jake Sullivan, the national security adviser, the people familiar with the case said. Prosecutors have also spoken to Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken, who has been a key Biden foreign policy adviser for decades; Ron Klain, who served as White House chief of staff until earlier this year; and Michael R. Carpenter, the former managing director of the Penn Biden Center....”

The Greatest Clown Show on Earth

Tony Romm of the Washington Post: “The U.S. government started notifying federal workers on Thursday that a shutdown appears imminent, as a Republican-led standoff on Capitol Hill forced the Biden administration to embark on the formal, methodical process of preparing much of Washington to come to a halt. The messages acknowledged the growing risk that millions of employees and military service members may stop receiving pay in just three days, unless lawmakers in Congress can clinch a last-minute — and increasingly unlikely — deal that would extend government funding beyond Saturday.” (Also linked yesterday.)

The Washington Post is liveblogging developments in the looming shutdown: "With a federal government shutdown looming at 12:01 a.m. Sunday, the Republican-controlled House will try to pass a short-term spending measure Friday that would provide funding for 30 days. That’s less time than covered by a bill moving through the Democratic-led Senate, and the House bill contains steep spending cuts that are not in the Senate bill. If the two chambers fail to reach an agreement, the government will shut down...."

Mychael Schnell & Aris Folley of the Hill: "House Republicans late Thursday night approved legislation to fund the Department of Defense for fiscal year 2024, a success for GOP leaders after they decided to strip Ukraine funding from the legislation following two failed procedural votes. The chamber cleared the measure in a 218-210 vote.... The bill also includes a spate of riders that Democrats have slammed as divisive and said could hurt recruitment, such as measures targeting efforts aimed at diversity, equity, and inclusion, and others the party says would be potentially harmful to those in the LGBTQ community." First, Speaker Kevin McCarthy said he would strip Ukraine spending from the bill, then he said that was too difficult so he left it in, then the House Rules Committee stripped the Ukraine funding from the bill, and the stripped bill is what passed Thursday night. MB: I gather the Senate won't approve the bill without Ukraine funding, but it looks as if McCarthy is putting Ukraine funding in a separate bill, and maybe that will pass the House with Democratic support. I really don't know.

Leigh Ann Caldwell & Marianna Sotomayor of the Washington Post: “A contingent of far-right House Republicans are plotting an attempt to remove Kevin McCarthy as House speaker as early as next week, a move that would throw the chamber into further disarray in the middle of a potential government shutdown, according to four people familiar with the effort.... Some members of the far-right faction of the party are coalescing around nominating a member of McCarthy’s leadership team, Rep. Tom Emmer (Minn.), to be the next speaker if they can successfully oust McCarthy.... The members think Emmer is more attuned to their concerns and will better deliver conservative results.... It’s unclear if far-right members will move forward with the plan or if the plotting is simply a warning to McCarthy about the seriousness of their displeasure. But some members have emphasized that removing McCarthy is “inevitable” and “imminent” and they are calculating the right time to try to do it.” ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: You kinda have to think the Great Ringmaster is behind this potential move or at least does not oppose it.

Jacqueline Alemany & Amy Wang of the Washington Post: “House Republicans are holding their first hearing Thursday as part of an inquiry into whether to impeach President Biden, which House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) has said will lay out the basis for a probe that has so far shown no evidence of wrongdoing by the president.... In his opening statement, Comer alleged Biden has for years 'lied to the American people about his knowledge of and participation in his family’s corrupt business schemes.'... Rep. Jamie Raskin (Md.), the ranking Democrat on the committee, hit back in his opening statement.... Raskin concluded his fiery remarks by saying that the inquiry all boils down to a “thoroughly demolished lie” that Rudy Giuliani and [Donald] Trump launched years ago regarding Hunter Biden’s business dealings in Ukraine.... [The GOP's own star witness Jonathan] Turley said that he supported an impeachment inquiry but that the current evidence did not warrant articles of impeachment.” The story has been updated. MB: I heard a clip of Raskin's saying, "No smoke. No gun." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Luke Broadwater of the New York Times: “The first hearing in House Republicans’ impeachment inquiry into President Biden featured their star witnesses testifying that they lacked proof that he committed impeachable offenses, multiple procedural skirmishes the G.O.P. majority nearly lost and, at times, nearly a dozen empty Republican seats. What it did not include was any new information about Mr. Biden’s conduct — or any support for Republicans’ accusations that he had entered into corrupt overseas business deals.... 'I am not here today to even suggest that there was corruption, fraud or any wrongdoing,' said Bruce G. Dubinsky, a forensic accountant [and a GOP witness]. 'In my opinion, more information needs to be gathered and assessed before I would make such an assessment.'... As the hearing ended, [Oversight Committee chair Rep. James] Comer [R-Ky.] said he was authorizing subpoenas for the personal bank records of Hunter Biden and James Biden, the president’s brother, and their affiliated companies. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

~~~ Like everyone else in the hearing room, Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-Texas) had trouble finding the crime here. Thanks to RAS for the lead: ~~~

BUT. Paul Campos in LG&$ explains why the whole charade works: "Hey, but if you hold months of hearings and comb through millions of pages of documents, you might find something. And if not something substantive, at least something that casts shadows/raises doubts/inspires many many many NYT stories and op-eds. About shadows and clouds and stuff. The real goal here, besides the standard destructive nihilism toward government in general, is to convince our delicately labeled “low information voters” that impeachments are just partisan witch hunts, because I mean obviously this one is on its face, so Both Sides Do It. Q.E.D."

The Trials of Trump

Olivia Rubin of ABC News: "Attorneys for Donald Trump have notified a Fulton County court that the former president will not seek to have his Georgia election interference case removed to federal court. The move comes three weeks after a judge denied a bid by co-defendant Mark Meadows, Trump's former chief of staff, to have his case moved.... Trump last month notified the court that he may file to remove, which the new filing says was done 'in an abundance of caution.'" MB: Probably not because he realizes an attempt to remove the case to federal court is a lost cause but because he wants the trial to be televised, which is unlikely in his federal trials. Just saying. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Update: Harry Litman, appearing on MSNBC, said one reason Trump may have opted to stay in state court is that the state judge is a Republican, while the federal judge overseeing the Georgia RICO cases is an Obama appointee. ~~~

~~~ AND There's This. Ben Protess of the New York Times: “... as [Donald] Trump’s legal problems have expanded, the ad hoc system [of 'helping' witnesses and some fellow (alleged!) criminals] has come under intense strain with the PAC doling out financial lifelines to some aides and allies while shutting the door on others. It is now running short of money, possibly forcing Mr. Trump to decide how long to go on helping others as his own legal fees mount.” ~~~

~~~ MEANWHILE. Jonah Bromwich & Ben Protess of the New York Times: “Donald J. Trump’s civil fraud trial over accusations that he inflated the value of his properties by billions of dollars could begin as soon as Monday after a New York appeals court rejected the former president’s attempt to delay it. The appeals court, in a terse two-page order Thursday, effectively turned aside for now a lawsuit Mr. Trump filed against the trial judge, Arthur F. Engoron. The lawsuit had sought to delay the trial, and ultimately throw out many of the accusations against the former president. Thursday’s ruling came two days after Justice Engoron issued an order that struck a major blow to Mr. Trump, finding him liable for having committed fraud by persistently overvaluing his assets and stripping him of control over his New York properties.” (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

~~~ Rukmini Callimachi of the New York Times: “A New York judge ... determin[ed] in a ruling that [Donald Trump] had inflated the value of his properties by considerable sums to gain favorable terms on loans and insurance. If the ruling stands, Mr. Trump could lose control over some of his most well-known New York real estate — an outcome the state’s attorney general, Letitia James, sought when she filed a lawsuit last year that accused him of fraud and called for the cancellation of his business certificates for any entities in the state that benefited from deceitful practices.” The article lists the main New York properties that could be transfered to the control of an independent receiver. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

~~~ Ryan Grenoble of the Huffington Post: "New York Attorney General Letitia James intends to call ... Donald Trump ― and his three oldest kids ― to the stand next week, where prosecutors will press for $250 million in penalties as recompense for decades of financial fraud committed by Trump and the Trump Organization. James’ witness list includes Trump, Donald Trump Jr., Eric Trump and Ivanka Trump among its 28 names. Other notables include Michael Cohen, Trump’s former personal lawyer, and the Trump Organization’s former CFO Allen Weisselberg."

Alan Feuer of the New York Times: “Federal prosecutors on Thursday accused ... Donald J. Trump’s lawyers of trying to employ an arcane law governing the use of classified material to 'intentionally derail' the timing of his trial on charges of mishandling national security documents and obstructing efforts to retrieve them.... In court papers filed to Judge Aileen M. Cannon..., the prosecutors accused Mr. Trump’s legal team of seeking to delay by at least three months a crucial step in how the government intends to prepare the classified documents at the heart of the proceeding for review by the defense. That request for a delay, wrote one of the prosecutors, Jay I. Bratt, 'threatens to upend the entire schedule established by the court' and 'amounts to a motion to continue the May 20, 2024, trial date.'... In their filing, prosecutors said there were at least nine documents that were so sensitive they were not allowed to be stored in the SCIF in Florida and would be made available to Mr. Trump’s lawyers only in Washington.” The Guardian's story is here. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Hey, ya know the pictures of all those boxes full of classifed documents and golf shirts that Rep. Crockett held up during the fake impeachment inquiry? At least nine documents Trump stashed in a public Mar-a-Lardo crapper or on a ballroom stage are so super-secret that there's no place in the State of Florida that's secure enough to keep them. Maybe we'll just have to credit Trump with having the genius to hide them in plain sight. OR maybe he's more like a toddler who puts his hands over his eyes and exclaims, "You can't see me!" OR like a thieving, sloppy, mendacious hoarder.

Nadeem Badshah of the Guardian: “Donald Trump is suing a former MI6 officer and the intelligence consultancy he founded, high court records in England show. The former US president ... is bringing a data protection claim against Orbis Business Intelligence and its founder Christopher Steele, who previously ran the secret intelligence service’s Russia desk. According to a court order published on Thursday, a two-day hearing for the legal action is set to start on 16 October.... Steele was the author of the so-called Steele dossier, which included allegations that Trump had been 'compromised' by Russian security service the FSB.”

** Alex Kingsbury of the New York Times: “Though it was lost in the four-year cyclone that was the presidency of Donald Trump, one of his most immoral acts was to pardon soldiers who were accused of committing war crimes by killing unarmed civilians or prisoners. Military leaders, including his own defense secretary and the secretary of the Army objected, saying it would undermine good order and discipline.... According to a new article in The Atlantic, Gen. Mark Milley, upon becoming the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff in 2019, 'found himself in a disconcerting situation: trying, and failing, to teach President Trump the difference between appropriate battlefield aggressiveness on the one hand, and war crimes on the other.' Donald Trump ... is a man unencumbered by any moral compass.... It is no exaggeration to say that Mr. Trump is running for the presidency on a platform of lawlessness, promising to wield the power of the state against his enemies — real or imagined.” Read on. ~~~

** "Fear Factor." Mona Charen of the Bulwark: "On at least 24 occasions, [Donald Trump] has accused critics of treason.... Now Trump has upped the ante by including a reference to the death penalty, which is in fact a punishment available in cases of treason.... Trump knows full well that some of his more rabid followers may interpret this as an invitation to assassination.... The stench of political violence has attached to Trump from the start.... If some critical mass of Republicans had demonstrated the requisite political courage in 2016, it would never have come to this — that in the United States, political and other figures must think about their physical safety before deciding how to speak or vote.... It’s a mistake, in my judgment, to minimize the role that fear now plays in assisting and enabling Trump’s continued dominance.... After January 6th, the Capitol Police estimated that there were more than 10,000 threats of violence or death against members [of Congress].... A survey of mayors found that one in three had considered resigning due to death threats and 70 percent reported knowing of someone who chose not to run for office out of fear for their personal security.... We cannot have a viable political system that relies on extraordinarily brave people...."

Marie: Sorry, forgot this one earlier: ~~~

~~~ Martin Pengelly of the Guardian: “Donald Trump’s son-in-law and senior White House adviser, Jared Kushner, tried to persuade the publisher of the Washington Post to fire its editor over coverage of the Russia investigation, that editor, Marty Baron, writes in a new book.... 'In December 2019, Kushner would lean on [publisher Fred] Ryan to withdraw support for me and our Russia investigation.... “He aims to get me fired,” I told Ryan.'... Kushner, Baron now writes, 'suggested the Post issue an apology and there be a “reckoning of some sort” – as he advised that he himself had made a huge mistake in once standing by a former editor of the New York Observer and one of its stories when he owned the publication.... The Post won a Pulitzer prize (shared with the New York Times) for its coverage of the investigation of Russian election interference in 2016 and links between Trump and Moscow.... [When special counsel Robert Mueller did not indict Trump himself,] Trump claimed exoneration – which Mueller did not offer – and called for prizes awarded for Russia reporting to be rescinded; calls rejected by the Pulitzer board.” (Also linked yesterday.)


Karoun Demirjian of the New York Times: “Senator Robert Menendez of New Jersey made a defiant and impassioned speech to his fellow Senate Democrats on Thursday, maintaining his innocence and repeating that he had no intention of stepping down after being indicted on bribery charges, despite calls from many of his colleagues to do so. Mr. Menendez’s obstinate address at a closed-door luncheon in the Capitol followed appeals by more than half of the Senate Democrats, including the head of their campaign arm, for him to resign. It prompted one of his Democratic colleagues, Senator John Fetterman of Pennsylvania, to float the idea of forcing him to leave office.... Any senator can file a resolution to expel a member of the body, but two-thirds of the Senate — 67 votes — is required to eject any member.... Thus far, it does not appear there would be enough votes in the Senate to support a measure to oust him.... Senators Chris Coons of Delaware, Brian Schatz of Hawaii and Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire, the three Democratic members of the Senate Ethics Committee, voluntarily left the room before Mr. Menendez spoke, according to Mr. Coons.” (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ One Senator missed the whole lunch: ~~~

Presidential Race 2024

Isaac Arndorf of the Washington Post: “... Donald Trump sharpened a stridently nationalist pitch for a general election rematch against President Biden, trading the GOP primary debate stage for a factory floor where he demanded union support for his vision of more aggressive state intervention in industrial policy.” (Also linked yesterday.)

Aaron Blake of the Washington Post: “Even before the debate officially wrapped up, Trump's campaign issued a statement ... [that] urged the Republican National Committee to 'immediately put an end to any further primary debates' to focus on beating President Biden. Translation: We want a coronation for Trump. In September. Of the year before the election.... [This] certainly align[s] with his various other undemocratic moves and impulses.... Fewer than half of those Trump supporters — and fewer than one-fourth of potential Republican primary voters overall — said they were locked in.... It seems unlikely the GOP will do what he asks yet, but consider it Trump’s opening bid in his latest attempt to cast aside the will of the voters in the service of empowering himself.”

A President* DeSantis Would Sign a 15-Week Federal Abortion Ban. Nicholas Nehamas of the New York Times: “In the chaos of Wednesday night’s noisy Republican presidential debate, Senator Tim Scott of South Carolina interrupted Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida to pose a question on abortion that Mr. DeSantis had dodged directly answering for months. Would the Florida governor sign a '15-week limit' on abortion as president, Mr. Scott asked, talking over both Mr. DeSantis and Dana Perino, one of the moderators, in a way that made his full remarks difficult to hear. 'Yes, I will,' Mr. DeSantis replied.... Mr. DeSantis signed a six-week abortion ban in Florida this year, but had not clearly committed to supporting federal legislation restricting the termination of pregnancies.Mr. DeSantis is using abortion to attack ... Donald J. Trump, particularly in socially conservative states like Iowa....”

The Manufactured Attack on LGBTQ+ Rights. Jon Swaine & Beth Reinhard of the Washington Post: “Before this summer’s landmark Supreme Court ruling that a Christian web designer in Colorado had the right to refuse to work on same-sex weddings, the legal advocacy group behind the case had spent nearly a decade laying the groundwork through similar lawsuits filed around the country. Among the wedding vendors represented by the Christian nonprofit Alliance Defending Freedom [ADF] were a photographer from Kentucky, videographers from Minnesota and a pair of Arizona artists who created stationery.... But an examination by The Washington Post of court filings, company records and other materials found that two of the three vendors cited in ADF’s September 2021 petition had stopped working on weddings, and the other did not photograph any weddings for two years.... ADF also had a hand in formally establishing companies for some of its clients, The Post found.” Read on. MB: For supposedly pious Christians, these people are remarkably devious, sleazy & bigoted.

Comments Off

Reader Comments (16)

Question of the day…

How is it that Party of Traitors sad congressional manqué, James Comer (🐵 KY), can look both smug and stupid at the same time?

This is quite a talent which seems to be shared, funnily enough, by all House PoT hostage takers (think Matt Gaetz, who manages smug, stupid, confused, and predatory simultaneously—impressive).

I used to think these idiots were talentless boobs. Guess I’ll have to reconsider. Although now that I think of it, this ability (smug+stupid) is more like the function of state physical and chemical properties (gas, solid, liquid, acid, base, etc.), which means it’s not any kind of talent, it’s just what they are.

So smug, stupid, talentless boobs. Yup. That’s it.

Oh yeah, and authoritarian traitors.

September 29, 2023 | Unregistered CommenterAkhilleus

Democracy at work?:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2023/09/29/house-shutdown-primaries-voters/

September 29, 2023 | Unregistered CommenterKen Winkes

Ahhh…those Christian values...

Ever wonder how it is that a religion supposedly based on love, kindness, and concern for one’s fellow human beings generates such appalling assholes? Sub-question: what is it about these people that makes them think that Christianity inoculates them from common decency and even a modicum of humanity?

Former thrower of baseballs, now flinger of nasty turds, Curt Schilling, the other day went waaaay out of his way to announce to the world that former teammate and longtime, beloved Red Sox standout Tim Wakefield, is suffering from an aggressive form of brain cancer.

Wakefield and his family were hoping to keep this to themselves, but Schilling stated that he was doing this because he’s a good Christian!!!!

This prick even admitted that the Wakefields didn’t want this information made public but, oh well, “I’m a Christian, and we do what we want.”

The Red Sox organization issued the following:

“We are aware of the statements and inquiries about the health of Tim and Stacy Wakefield. Unfortunately, this information has been shared publicly without their permission. Their health is a deeply personal matter they intended to keep private as they navigate treatment and work to tackle this disease. Tim and Stacy are appreciative of the support and love that has always been extended to them and respectfully ask for privacy at this time.”

But the best comeback was from former Sox catcher, Jason Varitek’s wife Catherine: “Fuck you Curt Schilling, that wasn’t your place!”

No. Most assuredly not. But Curt’s a “good Christian”, so…

But this wasn’t Schilling’s only big splash this week. Earlier in the week he ripped Jews for thinking they should be in charge of everything. What a guy. If you didn’t know (but could guess), like so many other right-wing pond scum creatures, Schilling is a huge Hitler fan. He’s a collector of Nazi memorabilia. (Is it just me or does the phrase “Nazi memorabilia” sound disturbingly weird? Memorabilia is stuff like old movie posters and autographs or Howdy Doody figurines from the 50s, not SS insignias and Gestapo switchblades. I mean, Jesus…)

People like Schilling (just think of chest thumping Christian nut jobs in Congress) seem to think that their religion gives them the right to be complete assholes and get away with it.

Oh, wait…was that line in the Sermon on the Mount?

“Blessed are the assholes for they shall get away with being evil pricks.”

September 29, 2023 | Unregistered CommenterAkhilleus

Where’s my crown? And why are these little people still talking?

So it’s no surprise that the Orange Monster is no fan of Democracy, but now he’s demanding that even the chintziest forms of pseudo-democratic Party of Traitors kabuki be halted. He’s the king and everyone else should just shut up already.

Fatty: "’They have to stop the debates,’ the former president demanded. ‘Because it is just bad for the Republican Party.’”

What he means, of course, is it’s bad for little King Donald.

Fuck it. Let’s just go to the coronation and get it over with. I have enemies to investigate, find guilty, and put to death.

September 29, 2023 | Unregistered CommenterAkhilleus

Well that’s one way to resign…

“Senator Dianne Feinstein, the trailblazing Democratic power broker who served in the Senate for 30 years, died on Thursday night, according to a family member.”

September 29, 2023 | Unregistered CommenterAkhilleus

@Akhilleus: In a New York Times op-ed, Menachem Kaiser attempts to answer the question, "What kind of person has a closet full of Nazi memorabilia?" Not sure he succeeds.

September 29, 2023 | Registered CommenterMarie Burns

"Comer alleged Biden has for years 'lied to the American people about his knowledge of and participation in his family’s corrupt business schemes.'"

Was this guy even awake the past 6 years? Sheesh.

September 29, 2023 | Unregistered Commentershawn

For those of us who can't go to the NY Times, here's an article
on Dianne Feinstein from NBC News:

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/dianne-feinstein-rcna18010

September 29, 2023 | Unregistered CommenterForrestMorris

We'll know in a few days:

What will the Speaker decide?

The country? Or Kevin?

September 29, 2023 | Unregistered CommenterKen Winkes

Marie,

Thanks for pointing me to the Kaiser op-Ed. I (sort of) agree that some of the interest on the part of collectors of Nazi stuff (can’t quite stomach these artifacts being called memorabilia*) is “historical” (hysterical?…and not the ha-ha kind), and there are those out there who are just obsessive gatherers, but the whole fascination with Nazi stuff originates, I believe, in a dark place. Nazi symbology has a sky high war porn quotient, not to mention the Jew hating connection. Are collectors of EZ Bake Ovens as bug eyed as guys staring at a Nazi officer’s deaths head dinner plate collection?

I dunno…maybe.

But here’s the other thing. So, okay. A lot of these guys are history buffs. Fine. But then there those for whom Nazi symbols and artifacts have a deeper, more meaningful attraction.

Can a guy like Curt Schilling, a virulent antiSemite, really claim that his interest in SS and Gestapo artifacts is purely about “preserving history”? What about a guy like Harlan Crow who dreams of an authoritarian system where guys like him call all the shots?

I don’t care what they say. Obsessing over Nazi stuff is not the same as making sure your collection of 1940s baseball cards is complete.

*Yeah, I understand that memorabilia are objects collected for their historical and sentimental value. What’s the history of Nazi Germany? Who gets sentimental about that? One of them is running for president.

September 29, 2023 | Unregistered CommenterAkhilleus

Shawn,

Good point. And the fact is that no matter what kind of hinky shenanigans Hunter Biden was up to, there is no comparison to the non-stop criminal scams perpetrated by the Orange Monster and his greedy spawn.

September 29, 2023 | Unregistered CommenterAkhilleus

Thanks much for the Rep. Crockett vid. I guess some politicians get it!

September 29, 2023 | Unregistered CommenterShawn

I did not/could not read the NYT piece, but daughter told me people were actually SAYING nasty things about Diane's death and retirement...I guess there is no haven from the ugliness that is half the country. I have liked the tributes coming in for her, and she is the only reason I still have the teevee on today. Shutdown-schmutdown...Why listen to any of it-- the people who should be run out of town on a rail (a very thin one--)won't be. The speaker is a piece of work as we knew he was back when he crawled to Marred-A-Lardo to kiss the ring. I suppose he has further kissed the Dear Leader's backside during all this, since DL runs all these a**holes. Sigh. Rep Crockett ROCKS...

September 29, 2023 | Unregistered CommenterJeanne

Raise your hand if you believe in equal justice. It's no surprise how kept their hands down.

September 29, 2023 | Unregistered CommenterRAS

Scott Hall took a deal in the Georgia case. I hope he has good security.

Enjoying a beautiful day in sunny Seattle. Hi Ken!

September 29, 2023 | Unregistered CommenterNiskyGuy

And Hi, Nisky Guy.

I'm on Camano Island, a little north of you, for the night, and just like Sarah I can see you from here.

September 29, 2023 | Unregistered CommenterKen Winkes
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