The Conversation -- September 10, 2024

"A Little, Tiny, Teeny, Itty, Bitty Weeny." Maggie Astor of the New York Times: "Vice President Kamala Harris’s campaign is running a trolling ad ahead of the debate Tuesday directed at exactly one person: ... Donald J. Trump. The ad highlights former President Barack Obamas mocking comment in his speech last month at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, referring to Mr. Trump's 'weird obsession with crowd sizes,' and an accompanying hand gesture. Mr. Obama brought his palms apart and then close together and glanced down at them meaningfully. If Mr. Obama's words and gesture retained some marginal degree of subtlety, the ad turned them into a sledgehammer, zooming in on his hands and his glance downward. Later, it showed empty seats against the sound of crickets and zoomed in on Mr. Trump's hand -- recalling Senator Marco Rubio's jabs from the 2016 Republican primary in which he said Mr. Trump had small hands.... The Harris campaign seemed to dispel any doubt that the ad was intended more for Mr. Trump's eyes than for voters, by noting that it was airing on Fox News in Mr. Trump's home media market, West Palm Beach, Fla., and in Philadelphia, where he will be on Tuesday for the debate." ~~~

     ~~~ The ad fits in quite well with our discussion ... in yesterday's thread. Akhilleus wrote, in response to a comment that Harris might want to knee Trump for stalking her on-stage: "Kneeing Fatty in the groin (to have the desired effect), would require surgical strike capability. That tiny mushroom head and microscopic balls would not be easy targets. It'd be like hitting a penny with a rock from a mile away. Maybe there's a strain of pigs who can root out teensy mushroom dick truffles. Hey, it's worth a try. Oink, oink, Donnie."

Johnson's Spending Bill DOA. Catie Edmondson of the New York Times: "Speaker Mike Johnson's initial plan to avert a government shutdown has run into a wall of Republican opposition, as lawmakers from an array of factions in his party balk at a six-month stopgap funding measure that Democrats have already rejected. Mr. Johnson has said he plans to bring up a spending bill this week that would extend federal funding through March 28, which includes a measure that would require proof of U.S. citizenship to register to vote. The addition of the voting restriction bill was a nod to the right flank of his conference and an effort to force politically vulnerable Democrats to take a fraught vote. But his $1.6 trillion proposal was almost immediately met with an outpouring of skepticism by House Republicans on Monday evening as they returned to Washington after a lengthy summer recess. Hard-line conservatives ... said they would oppose the legislation because it would extend current spending levels they believe are too high."

Joe DePaolo of Mediaite: "Melania Trump suggested there is a conspiracy behind the assassination attempt on her husband ... Donald Trump -- saying, 'there is definitely more to this story.'... Melania Trump is not the only member of the Trump family who seems to believe there was a larger plot surrounding the shooting. Both of Donald Trump's sons -- Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump -- floated the idea that Democrats were behind the attack."

Marie: I will be out most of the day today. There is definitely more to this story. Maybe Don Junior has kidnapped me. Maybe I'm in the (nonexistent) basement of Comet Ping Pong pizzeria eating Republican babies. Whatever. This has nothing to do with my having a doctor's appointment and some errands to run as well as it's being primary voting day for state and local elections in New Hampshire.

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Presidential Race

Sophia Cai of Axios: "Ten generals and admirals are mobilizing to defend Vice President Kamala Harris from Republican attempts to tie her to the chaotic 2021 U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan.... 'Without involving the Afghan government, [Trump] and his Administration negotiated a deal with the Taliban that freed 5,000 Taliban fighters,' the retired military officials wrote in a National Security Leaders for America letter.... The group accused Trump of leaving Biden and Harris with no plans to execute a withdrawal and little time to do so." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: The report is 354 pages. According to one of the generals who signed the letter and later appeared on MSNBC to discuss it, the report mentions Harris only three times. So it sounds to me as if what Rep. McCaul did when Harris replaced Biden at the top of the Democratic ticket was call up the draft report in his word-processing program, hit find-and-replace and change "Biden administration" to "Biden-Harris administration." Excellent work!

⭐ Jess Bidgood of the New York Times: "... the only man to have run against two female nominees in two presidential elections is one with a long and explicit record of denigrating women. From the earliest days of his presidential candidacy in 2015 to a Trump Tower news conference on Friday, Donald J. Trump has repeatedly attempted to attack, embarrass and threaten the women standing in his way -- especially on the debate stage.... A review of his onstage clashes with women shows how, over nine years in politics, he has honed a playbook of explicitly gendered attacks against both female candidates and journalists that he is likely to draw from on Tuesday when he debates Vice President Kamala Harris. Mr. Trump has used his physical presence and body language to intimidate women, made veiled threats, complained that they were uniquely mean and belittled their qualifications...." (Also linked yesterday.)

Unconscionable Fear-Mongering Hate Speech. Chris Cameron of the New York Times: "The Trump campaign promoted an outlandish false claim on Monday that Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio, have abducted and eaten their neighbors' pets, again demonizing migrants as the campaign seeks to attack Vice President Kamala Harris on immigration. A news release from the campaign on Monday recounted the falsehoods, which were amplified earlier in the day by ... Donald J. Trump's running mate, JD Vance, and sought to stoke fear, saying 'it's coming to your city next.' Mr. Vance, as Ohio's junior senator, has in recent months attacked the growing Haitian population in Springfield, a group whose members are living and working in the United States legally.... Mr. Vance has latched onto the complaints of community members and has denounced the Haitians as being in the United States illegally, 'draining social services' and 'generally causing chaos.'" An NBC News story is here. ~~~

~~~ Jeff Cercone of PolitiFact: “A Sept. 6 Facebook post said, 'Springfield is a small town in Ohio. 4 years ago they had 60K residents. Under (Kamala) Harris and (Joe) Biden, 20,000 Haitian immigrants were shipped to the town. Now ducks and pets are disappearing.'... The Facebook post was flagged as part of Meta's efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed.... The claim that Haitian immigrants are eating wildlife and pets in Springfield was also widely shared by conservative influencers such as Charlie Kirk and X owner Elon Musk, and political entities and figures including the House Judiciary Committee and vice presidential candidate Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio.... 'Reports now show that people have had their pets abducted and eaten by people who shouldn't be in this country. Where is our border czar?' he wrote, in an apparent reference to Vice President Kamala Harris." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Vance's assertion bald-faced lie is particularly egregious. (1) The underlying premise is false: Haitians aren't eating Fluffy or Fido. (2) It's racist. (3) The Haitians in Springfield came to the U.S. legally according to the NYT. (4) They did not row to Mexico in a leaky boat, then swim the Rio Grande to cross the U.S. border where Vice President Harris was waiting to greet them and wrap them in thick terry hotel towels.

Isabella Volmert & Gary Robertson of the AP: "The highest courts in two states ruled differently Monday on efforts by Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to be removed from their presidential ballots, with a divided North Carolina Supreme Court affirming he should be omitted and the Michigan Supreme Court reversing a lower court decision and keeping him on."

Annals of "Journalism," Ctd., New York Times Edition

Really Bad. Peter Baker of the New York Times was not the guy the New York Times should have picked to clean up their failure to raise the issue of Donald Trump's age & mental acuity after devoting untold column inches to wringing their hands over President Biden's age and mental fitness. As Lawrence O'Donnell emphasized at the top of his show Monday night, Baker tried to do this by publishing part of Trump's affordable-child-care "proposal"/word-slaw, which we posted in a video September 6 and Akhilleus spelled out in full at the end of the Comments on September 5. BUT THEN. Immediately after Baker posts part of the Trumplebabble, he just can't help translate, expand upon and explain it to us: "What he seemed to be saying was that he would raise so much money by imposing tariffs on imported goods that the country could use the proceeds to pay for child care. In itself, that would be a disputable policy assumption." Actually, no, Peter, Trump doesn't come out and say that. More important, his tariff plan is not "disputable"; it is a direct tax on American consumers, including (and especially) people who have problems paying for child care. (If you are a person rearing children, you will need to buy more stuff than I need to buy.) Understanding how tariffs work is not difficult, people. ~~~

~~~ Even Worse. Ana Swanson who "covers international trade" for the New York Times: allows "economists," some cited and some not, to obliquely hint that consumers pay tariffs, though it requires some intuition to glean that till you get deep into the article. Furthermore, she lets on in Graf 4 that "Economists have been skeptical of many of [Trump's] assertions [above the dollar-strengthening and revenue-raising bonanza his tariffs would be]." But it is not until Graf 25 that she writes, "In a report on Monday, the World Trade Organization said that tariffs tended to place the largest burden on low-income households, which spend a greater proportion of their income on traded goods, as well as women and smaller companies, which may be less able to pay the higher costs." MB: Peter Baker at least has the excuse of being outside his usual wheelhouse when he ventures into a discussion of tariffs; international trade is Swanson's beat, for Pete's sake.~~~

     ~~~ Say, here's something the Times could have done: Leave the Trumpy tariff-'splaining to another fellow on staff: the Nobel-Prize-winning economist and columnist Paul Krugman: "On Saturday, at a rally in Wisconsin, Donald Trump said some bizarre and potentially damaging stuff about economic policy.... To be honest, the most vile thing he said at that event wasn't about economics; it was his declaration that his vision or plan for 'getting them out' -- deporting undocumented immigrants -- 'will be a bloody story.' Still, his remarks about how he would use tariffs to preserve the dollar's status as a reserve currency should worry anyone.... Summaries of Trump's statements often make them sound more coherent than they are -- a process some have decried as sanewashing. So let me hand over the mic to Trump himself and reproduce his remarks verbatim. First, he proclaimed his own infallibility: 'Trump is always right. I hate to be right. I hate to be right. I'm always right.'"

The Worst. Jamison Foser in Finding Gravity: "When former Vice President Dick Cheney endorsed Kamala Harris last week, the New York Times didn't even bother to print an article about the endorsement in the newspaper.... 'In our nation's 248-year history, there has never been an individual who is a greater threat to our republic than Donald Trump,' Cheney said in a statement.... That's as stark a demonstration of Trump's extremism as you could ask for, and a cross-party endorsement pretty much unprecedented in modern American history, but the New York Times couldn't be bothered to print its article about the endorsement in the newspaper, running it online only. Contrast that with the front-page above-the-fold treatment the New York Times gave RFK Jr.'s endorsement of Trump two weeks earlier -- and as you do so, keep in mind that RFK Jr. has never held any meaningful position in government; he's just a crackpot anti-vaccine activist trading on a famous name[.]" Thanks to RAS for the link.

Dan Lamothe of the Washington Post: "Sen. Tommy Tuberville has blocked the promotion of an Army general who is a senior aide to Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, people familiar with the matter said, threatening a confrontation between the Republican firebrand and the Pentagon just weeks before the presidential election while reviving a months-old furor over the military chief's medical secrecy. Tuberville (Ala.) has frozen the nomination of Lt. Gen. Ronald P. Clark to become the four-star commander of all U.S. Army forces in the Pacific, according to the senator's spokeswoman, Mallory Jaspers, and two other officials familiar with the emerging standoff. The maneuver, which has not been previously reported, restricts Clark's nomination from coming up for a vote in the Senate and could mark the beginning of the end of his 36-year military career.... Jaspers, in a statement, linked the hold on Clark's promotion directly to the political imbroglio over Austin's health crisis."

Alexander Bolton of the Hill: "Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) on Monday announced that his panel will hold a hearing on the Supreme Court's controversial 6-3 ruling giving former President Trump broad immunity from prosecution for crimes related to his official acts as president.... 'Congress can't turn a blind eye to the dangers of the Donald Trump immunity decision by the Supreme Court. We're going to highlight the blaring dangers of this far-right ruling for the American people,' he said in statement posted on the social media site X. Liberal Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson has warned the court's conservatives placed the president of the United States above other Americans in applying criminal laws and created in essence a two-tier justice system." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

~~~ Devin Dwyer of ABC News: "An alleged private message from Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas' wife Ginni to the leader of First Liberty Institute, which describes itself as the nation's largest religious liberty organization, has triggered a wave of criticism from top Democrats, including a new call for the justice to recuse himself from future cases involving that organization.... 'YOU GUYS HAVE FILLED THE SAILS OF MANY JUDGES,' Ginni Thomas apparently wrote to First Liberty head Kelly Shackelford, according to ProPublica. 'CAN I JUST TELL YOU, THANK YOU SO, SO, SO MUCH.'... 'The reported comments by Ginni Thomas are deeply problematic,' said Senate Judiciary Committee chairman Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., in a statement Monday."

Sam and the Princess, Ctd. Abbie VanSickle & Philip Kaleta of the New York Times: "An eccentric German princess who evolved from a 1980s punk style icon to a conservative Catholic known for hobnobbing with far-right figures said on Monday that she hosted Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. and his wife at her castle during a July 2023 music festival.... The 64-year-old princess [Gloria von Thurn und Taxis] said that Justice Alito and his wife, Martha-Ann, are her 'friends' and that after her castle festivities, the three attended the opening of the Bayreuth Festival, the world's premier venue for the performance of Wagner's operas." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: I absolutely, fucking knew Wagner had to be in the picture. And you will not be surprised to learn that Adolf Hitler was a strong supporter of the Bayreuth Festival. During WWII, the Nazi party ran the show. According to the Times story, while in Regensburg enjoying his stay in the 500-room castle, Alito told a local journalist, "I will enjoy [the Bayreuth Festival]. A friend of mine has waited his whole life to get tickets to go, and so it's quite a privilege to be able to go."

Ann Marimow of the Washington Post: "Justice Elena Kagan on Monday brushed aside concerns about whether lower-court judges could effectively enforce the Supreme Court's new ethics rules, saying those on the federal bench are more than capable of holding justices to account. 'I just think judges are not so afraid of us,' Kagan said. 'I think there are plenty of judges around this country who could do a task like that in a very fair-minded and serious way.' Kagan was expanding on her recent suggestion that Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. appoint an outside panel of highly experienced judges to review allegations of wrongdoing or questions about recusal decisions by the justices, some of whom have faced questions in recent years over unreported gifts of luxury travel and potential conflicts of interest in key cases."

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Florida. Patricia Mazzei of the New York Times: "A traffic stop that led to Tyreek Hill, a wide receiver for the Miami Dolphins, being handcuffed outside the team's stadium on Sunday escalated quickly after a police officer knocked on the player's car window and he objected, body camera footage of the incident shows. The Miami-Dade Police Department released the video on Monday evening after initially delaying its release pending an internal affairs investigation into the officer's actions. The investigation is ongoing. Mr. Hill's brief detention -- he was later released and went on to score a touchdown in the Dolphins' season opener on Sunday against the Jacksonville Jaguars -- prompted concerns about police use of force. The president of a local police union countered those accusations by saying that the officers had followed policy after Mr. Hill was being 'uncooperative.'" MB: Hill is Black; Ana Navarro said on CNN that the arresting officers were Hispanic (races not specified).

Idaho. Kim Bellware of the Washington Post: "An Idaho judge has moved the location for the murder trial of Bryan Kohberger, the man accused in the stabbing deaths of four University of Idaho students in 2022 while they were asleep in their home near the campus. In an order issued Monday, Latah County Judge John C. Judge agreed with the defense's overarching argument that, despite the best efforts of the court, the international media sensation over the killings had probably tainted the pool of local jurors, making it impossible for Kohberger to receive a fair trial in Latah County."

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Israel/Palestine, et al.

The New York Times' live updates of developments Tuesday in the Israel/Hamas war are here.

The New York Times' live updates of developments Monday in the Israel/Hamas war are here: "The Israeli Air Force conducted strikes in a humanitarian area in the southern Gaza Strip, targeting what it said was a militant command center, the Israeli military said Tuesday.... A spokesman for the Civil Defense in Gaza said on social media that entire families had disappeared in the strike, along with about 20 tents and that the attack had left three deep craters, suggesting that more than one missile had hit the area, Al-Mawasi. They said that there had been no warning and that there was a severe shortage of equipment needed for search and rescue efforts." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: I do get that Hamas is a barbaric organization. But so is the Israeli government.

News Lede

New York Times: "On Tuesday morning, Jared Isaacman, a billionaire entrepreneur, launched to space for a second time. The mission, known as Polaris Dawn, is a collaboration between Mr. Isaacman and SpaceX, the rocket company led by Elon Musk.... At 5:23 a.m. Eastern time, a Falcon 9 rocket lifted off from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Less than 15 minutes later, the crew of four astronauts inside the Crew Dragon capsule -- that will be their home for the next five days -- were in orbit.... The Polaris Dawn mission will mark some milestones for private spaceflight -- the first spacewalk conducted by nonprofessional astronauts, and the farthest journey from Earth by anyone since NASA's moon landings more than 50 years ago."

The Conversation -- September 9, 2024

⭐ Jess Bidgood of the New York Times: "... the only man to have run against two female nominees in two presidential elections is one with a long and explicit record of denigrating women. From the earliest days of his presidential candidacy in 2015 to a Trump Tower news conference on Friday, Donald J. Trump has repeatedly attempted to attack, embarrass and threaten the women standing in his way -- especially on the debate stage.... A review of his onstage clashes with women shows how, over nine years in politics, he has honed a playbook of explicitly gendered attacks against both female candidates and journalists that he is likely to draw from on Tuesday when he debates Vice President Kamala Harris. Mr. Trump has used his physical presence and body language to intimidate women, made veiled threats, complained that they were uniquely mean and belittled their qualifications...."

Alexander Bolton of the Hill: "Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) on Monday announced that his panel will hold a hearing on the Supreme Court's controversial 6-3 ruling giving former President Trump broad immunity from prosecution for crimes related to his official acts as president.... 'Congress can't turn a blind eye to the dangers of the Donald Trump immunity decision by the Supreme Court. We're going to highlight the blaring dangers of this far-right ruling for the American people,' he said in statement posted on the social media site X. Liberal Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson has warned the court's conservatives placed the president of the United States above other Americans in applying criminal laws and created in essence a two-tier justice system."

Sophia Cai of Axios: "Ten generals and admirals are mobilizing to defend Vice President Kamala Harris from Republican attempts to tie her to the chaotic 2021 U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan.... 'Without involving the Afghan government, [Trump] and his Administration negotiated a deal with the Taliban that freed 5,000 Taliban fighters,' the retired military officials wrote in a National Security Leaders for America letter.... The group accused Trump of leaving Biden and Harris with no plans to execute a withdrawal and little time to do so." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: The report is 354 pages. According to one of the generals who signed the letter and later appeared on MSNBC to discuss it, the report mentions Harris only three times. So it sounds to me as if what Rep. McCaul did when Harris replaced Biden at the top of the Democratic ticket was call up the draft report in his word-processing program, hit find-and-replace and change "Biden administration" to "Biden-Harris administration." Excellent work!

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Jennifer Hansler & Kylie Atwood of CNN: "Republicans and Democrats released dueling documents on the deadly August 2021 US withdrawal from Afghanistan on Monday, as ... Donald Trump's campaign seeks to make the decisions surrounding the exit a key issue in the final weeks before the presidential election. The release -- after years of investigation by the Republicans on the House Foreign Affairs Committee -- of the report by GOP Chairman Rep Michael McCaul and a minority memorandum by Democratic Ranking Member Rep. Gregory Meeks underscore how partisan the debate over the frenzied US exit from Afghanistan has become.... The Republican report is highly critical of the Biden administration and pins the blame for the chaotic exit exclusively on its decisions. It also aims to implicate Harris, now the Democratic nominee for president, in its accusations by referring to the current government as 'the Biden-Harris administration.'... 'Everything we have seen and heard of Chairman McCaul's latest partisan report shows that it is based on cherry-picked facts, inaccurate characterizations, and pre-existing biases that have plagued this investigation from the start,' said Sharon Yang, a White House spokesperson for oversight and investigations."

Presidential Race

Tal Axelrod of ABC News: "Former Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo..., slammed [Donald Trump] ... in her call for other Republicans to vote against him this year. 'We see it on a daily basis, somebody who was willing to use violence in order to attempt to seize power, to stay in power, someone who represents unrecoverable catastrophe, frankly, in my view, and we have to do everything possible to ensure that he's not reelected,' Cheney told 'This Week' co-anchor Jonathan Karl. 'You have many Republicans out there who are saying, "Well, you know, we're not going to vote for him, but we will write someone else in." And I think that this time around, that's not enough, that it's important to actually cast a vote for Vice President Harris,' Cheney added."

Grifter-in-Chief. Josh Dawsey & Ashley Parker of the Washington Post: "No presidential candidate has ever so closely linked his election with personal for-profit enterprises, selling a staggering array of merchandise that includes signed Bibles where he receives a royalty for hawking them, pricey sneakers, gold necklaces, cryptocurrency cards, pens, books, licensing fees on overseas properties and more. His company's website also sells a variety of political merchandise at higher prices than his campaign charges for the same items." (Also linked yesterday).

digby: "Trump excited the crowd [Saturday] with promises of bloodshed with his mass deportation policy.... And his followers are thrilled at the prospect."

The Company He Keeps. Abbie VanSickle of the New York Times: "On his most recent financial disclosure form, Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. reported a single gift: $900 concert tickets from a German princess known for her links to conservative activists. The disclosure does not list the event's details, including the concert's name, location or how many tickets the princess provided. But in an interview with a German news organization, the gift provider, Princess Gloria von Thurn und Taxis, described Justice Alito and his wife as 'private friends' and said the tickets were for the Regensburg Castle Festival, an annual summer celebration she hosts at her 500-room Bavarian castle. The princess, known in earlier decades as a party-loving, art-collecting aristocrat and who was once christened Princess TNT for her explosive personality, has become known in recent years for her close relationships with several high-profile people who oppose the current pope, as well as with Stephen K. Bannon...." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: If you read through the article, I think you'll conclude that VanSickle has given new depth to the meaning of "conservative." I expect there's a lot of Wagner on the Regensburg Castle Festival program, and perhaps some serious group goose-stepping about the castle's courtyard preceding private dinners. If you'd like to know what the old pile looks like, here are a couple of pages of snapshots. Not only does it appear that Princess von Thurn has not given up her party days after all, someone in a crowd outside the castle displays a homemade sign which reads, in German, "Nazis dine secretly in the [Thurn und Taxis] castle."

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Florida. DeSantis Thugs at the Door. Charles Davis of Salon: "Florida voters who signed a petition to place a pro-choice abortion referendum on the ballot this November say they have been visited by police who are investigating claims of fraud at the behest of Gov. Ron DeSantis' administration, the Tampa Bay Times reported Saturday. Last year, DeSantis, a Republican, signed into a law a ban on abortion after six weeks of pregnancy. In response, pro-choice campaigners gathered and submitted nearly one million signatures to place on the ballot Amendment 4, a referendum that would overturn the ban and restore reproductive rights in the state. Now Florida's Department of State is claiming it suspects fraud in the signature-gathering process. In an email to county election officials, the department's Brad McVay requested that they hand over their already-verified petitions so that the signatures can be reexamined, claiming without evidence that those who circulated the petitions 'represent known or suspected fraudsters,' Tampa Bay television station WTVT reported." MB: This really is quite scary.

Tennessee. Emily Holzknecht & Taige Jensen of the New York Times post a video describing how the state keeps half a million people from voting. "While nearly all states suspend or withdraw people's right to vote when they are convicted of felonies, most allow restoring that right after they have served their sentences. Many states have made that process easier in recent years -- one of them being New York, to the advantage of felon-of-the-moment Donald Trump, who retains his right to vote as long as he's not incarcerated. But Tennessee has moved in the opposite direction, making the process significantly more difficult. (Think: bureaucratic maze from hell.)"

Texas. David Goodman of the New York Times: "Days before the 2020 election, supporters of ... Donald J. Trump driving in vehicles festooned with flags as part of a so-called 'Trump Train' surrounded a Biden-Harris campaign bus as it sped along a Texas interstate highway. Images of the impromptu convoy of antagonists were memorable.... Now those same images from Interstate 35 will be used as evidence in a federal civil trial that seeks to hold the Trump supporters responsible for assault and political intimidation tactics. Opening arguments begin on Monday.... Lawyers for the plaintiffs have argued that in organizing to harass and intimidate the campaign bus, the defendants violated state law and the federal Enforcement Act of 1871, also known as the Ku Klux Klan Act."

News Lede

New York Times: "James Earl Jones, a stuttering farm child who became a voice of rolling thunder as one of America's most versatile actors in a stage, film and television career that plumbed race relations, Shakespeare's rhapsodic tragedies and the faceless menace of Darth Vader, died on Monday at his home in Dutchess County, N.Y. He was 93." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: I was walking down Fifth Avenue one spring day in the 1990s when I thought I was hearing the voice of god. (Okay, slight exaggeration.) But no. NYU was holding its commencement exercises in Washington Square Park (which sits at the bottom of Fifth Avenue), and James Earl Jones was accepting (with a boost from amplifiers) an honorary degree.

The Conversation -- September 8, 2024

Grifter-in-Chief. Josh Dawsey & Ashley Parker of the Washington Post: "No presidential candidate has ever so closely linked his election with personal for-profit enterprises, selling a staggering array of merchandise that includes signed Bibles where he receives a royalty for hawking them, pricey sneakers, gold necklaces, cryptocurrency cards, pens, books, licensing fees on overseas properties and more. His company's website also sells a variety of political merchandise at higher prices than his campaign charges for the same items.:

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Presidential Race

Marie: Thanks to NiskyGuy, I ordered a sign like this. I will plant it on the right-of-way next to the federal/state road that runs through my town. ~~~

Tim Balk of the New York Times: "Vice President Kamala Harris's campaign released a TV advertisement on Saturday reminding voters that ... Donald J. Trump has taken credit for helping overturn Roe v. Wade, and targeting the growing share of voters who say that abortion is their top issue. The new 30-second ad will appear on broadcast and cable networks in seven swing states -- Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin -- and in Nebraska's competitive Second Congressional District, the campaign said." ~~~

How Racist Is Trump? Oh, Way Racist. ~~~

~~~ Donald JimCrow Trump. Alex Woodward of the Independent (Sept. 3): "During a campaign stop at the Livingston County Sheriff's Office in Howell, Michigan, Donald Trump suggested that deputies there should be deployed to the majority-Black city of Detroit. 'I'd love to have them working there during the election,' he told the group on August 20, standing in front of law enforcement officials and squad cars. A week later, Trump held a 'town hall' in La Crosse, Wisconsin. The next day, he rallied in Johnstown, Pennsylvania. He will speak in the town of Mosinee, Wisconsin, on September 7. These relatively small cities -- spread across midwestern swing states and far from dense metropolitan areas -- all have one thing in common: They are former 'sundown' towns, where threats of Jim Crow-era violence enforced racial segregation.... Viral criticism across social media has argued that Trump's latest campaign stretch [is] ... a 'dogwhistle' to racist supporters. Vice President Kamala Harris's campaign accused the former president of deliberately campaigning in the former 'KKK capital of Michigan' [Howell]."

Voter Suppression on Steroids. Jillian Frankel of NBC News: "... Donald Trump ... warned Saturday that he would attempt to imprison anyone who engages in 'unscrupulous behavior' during the 2024 race results. The threat was issued in a post on Truth Social ... and repeated his false claims that the 2020 election was stolen, accusing Democrats of 'rampant Cheating and Skullduggery.' 'The 2024 Election, where Votes have just started being cast, will be under the closest professional scrutiny and, WHEN I WIN, those people that CHEATED will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the Law, which will include long term prison sentences so that this Depravity of Justice does not happen again,' he wrote.... 'Please beware that this legal exposure extends to Lawyers, Political Operatives, Donors, Illegal Voters, & Corrupt Election Officials. Those involved in unscrupulous behavior will be sought out, caught, and prosecuted at levels, unfortunately, never seen before in our Country.'" MB: This is a bald-faced attempt to discourage anyone from voting for or advocating for Kamala Harris or other Democrats.

Abbie Cheeseman & Marianne LeVine of the Washington Post: "A day after spending much of a 49-minute news conference revisiting -- and denying -- sexual misconduct allegations leveled against him, Donald Trump used part of a campaign rally in Wisconsin on Saturday to discuss another subject that has bedeviled his campaigns for president: Russian interference in U.S. elections.... But Trump, who has repeatedly described the probes into Russian interference in the 2016 election as a 'hoax,' is dismissing [Russia's 'more sophisticated covert efforts'] this time around, too. 'The Justice Department said Russia may be involved in our elections again,' Trump told the crowd at his rally. 'And, you know, the whole world laughed at them this time.'... Trump's rally, at the airport in Mosinee, Wis..., featured a stump speech that meandered from familiar attack lines about inflation and jobs to falsehoods about sex-change operations for minors, conspiracy theories about government employment statistics and dismissals of Russian interference in American elections.... 'I knew Putin, I knew him well,' Trump said at the rally Saturday. 'The other day he endorsed Kamala. He endorsed Kamala. I was very, offended by that ... I think it was done maybe with a smile.'" More on Russia's support for Trump linked below. ~~~

~~~ Michael Gold of the New York Times: "... Donald J. Trump vowed to vastly reshape the federal bureaucracy on Saturday in a wide-ranging, often unfocused speech at a rally in Wisconsin. He pledged to ultimately eliminate the Department of Education, redirect the efforts of the Justice Department and fire civil servants charged with carrying out Biden administration policies that he disagreed with. And he told his supporters that Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a leading vaccine skeptic who recently endorsed him, would be 'very much involved' in a panel on 'chronic health problems and childhood diseases.'... Many of the proposals in Mr. Trump's speech align with [his] plans reported by The New York Times to conduct a broad expansion of presidential power over government, and to effectively concentrate more authority within the White House, if he wins in November. And many of his pledges dovetailed with the stated goals and proposals of Project 2025, an effort by a group of conservative organizations to develop policies for the next Republican president." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: I too am developing a list of personnel for Trump's 2nd administration, based on some statements he has made. So far I've got Bobby Junior for HHS Secretary, Elon for Commerce Secretary & TuKKKer for press secretary. ~~~

~~~ Lisa Kashinsky of Politico: "Donald Trump on Saturday floated changing the 25th Amendment to allow Congress to impeach a vice president for covering up a president's incapacity.... 'I will support modifying the 25th Amendment to make clear that if a vice president lies or engages in a conspiracy to cover up the incapacity of the president of the United States..., it's grounds for impeachment immediately and removal from office, because that's what they did,' the former president said during a rally in Mosinee, Wisconsin.... [Trump] has repeatedly, and without evidence, accused Vice President Kamala Harris and Democrats more broadly of covering up the state of [President] Biden's health -- particularly his mental fitness -- after the president's disastrous June debate performance that ultimately led to his exit from the race.... Trump's remarks on Saturday are also the latest sign of his continued struggle to adjust to running against a new opponent. Trump has repeatedly lamented the change at the top of the Democratic ticket, and has at times even appeared to confuse who he is competing against."

Yes, the Rich Are Different from You and Me. Ben Protess, et al., of the New York Times: "The decision [by Judge Juan Merchan to delay Donald Trump's sentencing] ... is a surprising validation of the former president's legal strategy to use his wealth and political status -- and an assist from the Supreme Court -- to drag out the case and diminish its impact on his campaign. The delay all but guarantees that, on Election Day, Mr. Trump will remain a felon, but also a free man.... Mr. Trump's critics perceive a justice system that treats normal defendants one way, and the singular Mr. Trump another." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Judge Merchan delayed Trump's sentencing until November 26, after the election, of course, and two days before Thanksgiving. As Jimmy Kimmel said the other night, "This will be the first time in history that the turkey had to pardon the president*."

Ken Bensinger & Richard Fausset of the New York Times: The Heritage Foundation has pumped several videos into social media this election season that falsely claim noncitizens are voting in droves. In one video, Heritage featured seven Georgia men saying in Spanish that they were not U.S. citizens but had registered to vote. The video concluded falsely that 14 percent of noncitizens in Georgia were registered voters. But "State investigators found no evidence that any of the seven people on the tape had ever registered to vote. A spokesman for Georgia's secretary of state, Brad Raffensperger, a Republican, called the video 'a stunt.'... While the once-staid think tank has received attention recently for Project 2025, the right-wing blueprint for a future Trump administration that the group funded, it has also made its mark with an aggressive effort to shape public opinion, seeding falsehoods about the integrity of the 2024 election across social media and conservative news outlets.... Borrowing from covert tactics used by the group Project Veritas, [Heritage's] Oversight Project has published videos about the supposed threat of migrant voting in shelters on the Texas border, in New York City and in North Carolina."

Ellen Nakashima of the Washington Post: "The Russian government's covert efforts to sway the 2024 presidential election are more advanced than in recent years, and the most active foreign threat this political season, U.S. intelligence officials said Friday. Russia's activities 'are more sophisticated than in prior election cycles,' said a senior official with the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) in a briefing with reporters, noting the use of 'authentic U.S. voices' to 'launder' Russian government propaganda and spread socially divisive narratives through major social media, as well as on sham websites that pose as legitimate American media organizations. Moscow is targeting U.S. swing states in particular, the official said, and using artificial intelligence to more quickly and convincingly create fake content to shape the outcome in favor of ... Donald Trump."

⭐ Paul Mozur, et al., of the New York Times: "Telegram has become a global sewer of criminal activity, disinformation, child sexual abuse material, terrorism and racist incitement, according to a four-month investigation by The New York Times that analyzed more than 3.2 million Telegram messages from over 16,000 channels. The company, which offers features that enable criminals, terrorists and grifters to organize at scale and to sidestep scrutiny from the authorities, has looked the other way as illegal and extremist activities have flourished openly on the app.... The Times investigation found 1,500 channels operated by white supremacists who coordinate activities among almost one million people around the world. At least two dozen channels sold weapons. In at least 22 channels with more than 70,000 followers, MDMA, cocaine, heroin and other drugs were advertised for delivery to more than 20 countries.Hamas, ISIS and other terror groups have thrived on Telegram, often amassing large audiences across dozens of channels."

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Georgia. Sarah Blaskey & Teo Armus of the Washington Post: "The mother of the suspected Apalachee High School gunman told family members that she called the school on the morning of the shooting and warned a counselor about an 'extreme emergency' involving her 14-year-old son, according to text messages obtained by The Washington Post and an interview with a family member. That account is supported by a call log from the family's shared phone plan, which shows a 10-minute call from the mother's phone to the school starting at 9:50 a.m. -- about a half-hour before witnesses have said the gunman opened fire....

"A counselor told [Marcee] Gray during the call that her son had been talking about a school shooting that morning, according to Gray's sister, Annie Brown, who described family discussions of the events to The Post. Around the same time, a school administrator went to the son's math classroom, according to Lyela Sayarath, a student in the class. Sayarath said there seemed to be confusion involving another student in the class with a name similar to that of Gray's son. Neither student was in the room, and the official left with a backpack belonging to the similarly named student, she said. The shooting began minutes later.... The texts also show that the school and family were in contact about his mental health a week before the shooting, and that Brown told a relative the teen was at the time having 'homicidal and suicidal thoughts.'"

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Israel/Palestine, et al.

Yasmeen Abutaleb of the Washington Post: "President Joe Biden's months-long push for a cease-fire and hostage release deal between Israel and Hamas has been upended again in recent days, putting the deal on life support as U.S. officials say they are reassessing next steps.... The latest obstacle -- the abrupt introduction by Hamas of a new demand surrounding which prisoners Israel would release -- underscores the frustrating, often excruciating process that has preoccupied top U.S. officials, and Biden himself, for nine months. At several recent points the United States, along with Qatar and Egypt, believed a deal was within reach, only for Israel or Hamas to derail the talks with new demands that set negotiators back weeks or months. Overall, Biden's chances of ending the war in Gaza and bringing home the remaining hostages before he leaves office appear ever more remote...."

Erika Solomon & Rawan Ahmad of the New York Times: "The Israeli military said on Saturday that it had struck two school compounds in northern Gaza that Hamas was using as a military base, while the family of a young Turkish American woman released an angry statement blaming Israel for her killing in a West Bank protest on Friday. According to Gazan rescue services, an overnight Israeli strike on the Halimah al-Saadiyah school in the town of Jabaliya killed four people who had been sheltering in tents that displaced Palestinians have set up around the facility. A second strike on Saturday hit the Amr Ibn al-As school in Gaza City, which medics said had killed three people and wounded 20 more.... Schools closed down in Gaza after Israel's invasion, but many have been turned into makeshift shelters that now house tens of thousands trying to flee Israeli bombardment.... Gazans continue to crowd into the buildings, which provide toilets and running water that are in short supply elsewhere in the enclave." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: You know what Palestinians in Gaza can't get? Soap. In fact, a lack of soap is responsible for some of the disease that is spreading in Gaza. Many "are starving, no one can wash. No one is safe."

Venezuela. Genevieve Glatsky & Orlando Mayorquín of the New York Times: "The opposition candidate in Venezuela's disputed July presidential election left the country on Saturday, the authorities said, as a standoff deepened at the Argentine diplomatic residence in Caracas where six Venezuelan opposition leaders have been sheltering since March. President Nicolás Maduro has faced widespread domestic and international condemnation for proclaiming that he won that election, as well as for a violent crackdown on demonstrators protesting that declaration. The United States has said that the opposition candidate, Edmundo González, won. On Saturday, Vice President Delcy Rodríguez said on social media that Mr. González had left for Spain after voluntarily seeking refuge at the Spanish embassy in Caracas. Spain's foreign minister, José Manuel Albares, said that Mr. González was traveling on a Spanish Air Force plane at his own request."

News Ledes

Washington Post: "A quick-moving blaze in Southern California exploded in size this weekend, consuming more than 17,000 acres as of early Sunday and forcing evacuations amid a searing heat wave in the region. The Line Fire in San Bernardino County, which ignited late last week, quadrupled in size as the weekend began, scorching thousands of acres on Saturday alone. The flames raced up steep terrain, chewing through thick vegetation as they approached Running Springs, a mountain community of about 5,000 people that lies between the populated resort areas of Lake Arrowhead and Big Bear Lake. The community has been ordered to evacuate, while Lake Arrowhead and areas to its west are under an evacuation warning."

Washington Post: "Kentucky authorities intensified the search for a man accused of opening fire on Interstate 75, naming him as an official suspect Sunday in a shooting that injured five people from gunshots, three from car crashes and shut down a major highway the day before. The search for Joseph Couch, 32, has continued for 24 hours in southeastern Kentucky after authorities came upon a chaotic scene Saturday, where they found cars riddled with bullet holes and sheriff's deputies taking some injured to the hospital. The Laurel County Sheriff's Office warned Sunday that Couch is considered 'armed and dangerous,' as they continued a difficult backwoods search with the help of federal agencies."