The Conversation -- August 8, 2024
Bring in Da Joy! Ashley Parker & Josh Dawsey of the Washington Post: "Ever since President Joe Biden stepped aside as the Democratic presidential nominee a little more than two weeks ago, the heady combination of Democratic relief and genuine enthusiasm for his replacement has transformed the Democratic ticket -- a metamorphosis turbocharged by Tuesday's addition of [Gov. Tim] Walz as Harris's No. 2.... 'All the things that make me mad about those other guys and all the things they do wrong, the one thing I will not forgive them for is they tried to steal the joy from this country. They try and steal the joy, Walz ... said at a boisterous Detroit Metro Airport rally Wednesday for ... Vice President Kamala Harris. 'But you know what? You know what? Our next president brings the joy! She emanates the joy!'... [Meanwhile,] Donald Trump and ... Sen. JD Vance of Ohio, are offering a dark and dystopian vision of Democratic rule, running an operation laden with name-calling and trolling and rife with grievance. Their calculation is that the country believes things are way off track and that their darker message will resonate with how voters see reality."
In its daily election liveblog, New York Times reporters covered a press conference Donald Trump held Thursday afternoon. Here are a few of their entries: ~~~
Lisa Lerer: "Mr. Trump spoke at a news conference at Mar-a-Lago, where he repeatedly mispronounced Ms. Harris's first name, criticized her intelligence and resurrected a series of familiar attacks casting her as 'a radical left person.' As he continued answering questions, ABC confirmed that the network would host the two candidates for a debate on Sept. 10.... As is typical for the former president, his remarks were littered with falsehoods. He falsely accused Democrats of violating the constitution by replacing Mr. Biden on the ticket. He said nobody was killed on the Jan. 6 siege on the Capitol, when in fact several people died, including one Trump supporter, who was shot dead by the Capitol Police." This is the pinned entry.
[Marie: There are many fact checks, but to make a long story short, I can't reproduce them. Suffice it to say that Trump told a buncha porkies. If you have time & a subscription, it's worth scrolling through the fact checks, if only to wonder at the shear volume of them.]
Shane Goldmacher: "Trump says he is 'not complaining' about Democrats switching candidates but proceeds to air grievances about it."
Jonathan Weisman: "Trump seems to have engaged in some revisionist history of the transfer of power in 2020 that did not include an attack on the Capitol. 'Of course there will be a peaceful transfer, and there was last time,' he said."
Reid Epstein: "All these years later, Trump is still fixated on crowd sizes, which he regularly misrepresents. He began his administration by arguing about crowd sizes, and more than seven years later, he is still making false claims about crowd sizes." [MB: Trump said Harris had barely 1,000 or 1,500 people at her rallies, whereas he had more than Martin Luther King, Jr., attracted to the March on Washington. At one of their rallies this week, Harris & Walz (whose name Trump could not remember, BTW), could accommodate only 15,000; 47,000 people had applied.]
Weisman: "Trump said abortion wasn't really an issue in this campaign, then turned to attacking Gov. Tim Walz of Minnesota, the new Democratic vice-presidential candidate, for his position on abortion.... Trump repeats his aspersion on Kamala Harris, who is married to a Jewish man, Doug Emhoff: 'She's been very, very bad to Israel and very bad to Jewish people.'"
Alan Feuer: "Trump is now falsely claiming that his criminal trial in Manhattan was controlled by the Justice Department."
Weisman: "Trump just went on a lengthy digression about how he could have put Hillary Clinton in jail but opted for magnanimity, despite the demands of his 'people.'... Trump just said Biden sold off the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to lower gas prices, unsuccessfully. Biden did tap heavily into the reserve a while ago, but has been working to replenish it. On July 29, the administration announced that it had bought more than four million barrels.... Trump repeats his assertion that a president should have a say in the interest rate decisions of the Federal Reserve Board. This would fundamentally change the way the U.S. central bank operates, but Trump was often rankled by the Fed chairman during his term."
Katherine Faulders & John Santucci of ABC News: "... Donald Trump says he has agreed to an offer from ABC News to debate Vice President Kamala Harris on Sept. 10. Trump said so during a news conference at his Mar-a-Lago Club on Thursday. Trump previously said he had been willing to go toe-to-toe with President Joe Biden and agreed to ABC's first invitation issued in May. However, after Biden dropped out of the race last month and Harris became the presumptive Democratic nominee, Trump had implied he would not debate Harris on ABC."
Robert Costa of CBS News: "President Biden said he is 'not confident at all' that there will be a peaceful transfer of power in January 2025 if ... Donald Trump is defeated. 'He means what he says.... All the stuff about "If we lose, there'll be a bloodbath, it'll have been a stolen [election],"' Mr. Biden told CBS News chief election and campaign correspondent Robert Costa.... The interview will air on 'CBS News Sunday Morning' on Sunday, Aug. 11. 'Look what they're trying to do now in the local election districts where people count the votes,' said Mr. Biden. Repeating a familiar maxim about elections and democracy, the president said, 'You can't love your country only when you win.'"
Ali Velshi of MSNBC fact-checks Vance's and Trump's attacks on Tim Walz:
Ha Ha! Alexandra Petri of the Washington Post -- with a little help from Virgil and maybe Dante -- takes Trump & Vance through the nine circles of HELL ON EARTH that Tim Walz has unleashed on Minnesota & that the Trump campaign warns Walz will impose upon the rest of us. Thanks to RAS for the link.
~~~~~~~~~~
Presidential Race
Creepy Guy Stalks Harris & Walz. Tyler Pager, et al., of the Washington Post: "Vice President Kamala Harris and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz continued their blitz through the country's battleground states Wednesday, rallying supporters in the Midwest and seeking to sustain their momentum as Republican vice-presidential nominee JD Vance followed closely behind and escalated his attacks on the Democratic ticket. Harris's and Vance's planes landed within minutes of each other Wednesday in Eau Claire, Wis., before they held dueling events just four miles apart. The gatherings had very different tones: Harris and Walz rallied more than 12,000 boisterous supporters outdoors, while Vance appeared with a handful of workers at an aviation factory at an event largely designed for the media.... Arriving shortly after Harris..., Vance walked over to Air Force Two.... 'I figured I'd come by and, one, just take a good look at the plane because hopefully it's going to be my plane in a few months, but I also thought you guys might get lonely because the vice president doesn't answer questions from reporters,' Vance told reporters....
"Following the Wisconsin rally, the Harris campaign took a page out of Trump's playbook, holding a 15,000-person rally in a hangar at Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport with Air Force Two sitting in the background. Several protesters interrupted Harris at the Michigan rally by shouting pro-Palestinian slogans. They were drowned out by shouts of 'Kamala!' but continued to chant about 'genocide,' referring to Israel's military campaign in Gaza.... 'You know what? If you want Donald Trump to win, then say that,' Harris told the protesters. 'Otherwise, I'm speaking.' The Harris campaign has struggled to find venues large enough to hold the crowds.... In contrast to the Democrats' large rallies, Vance has held small events, designed to attack Harris and Walz in front of cameras."
Theodore Schleifer & Erin Griffith of the New York Times: "The latest affinity group to organize behind Kamala Harris on Wednesday represented the lowly millionaire and billionaire investors of Silicon Valley. Relative to the massive Zoom telethons that other groups had been hosting for Ms. Harris over the last two weeks, the 'VCs for Kamala' call was a small group of around 600 people. But they represented some of the country's most notable donors who have outsize influence in technology and Democratic politics.... Ms. Harris, who grew up in Bay Area politics and has stronger personal relationships with tech executives and investors than did President Biden, has ushered in an enthusiasm for the Democratic ticket not seen in years. She is set to return to San Francisco for a fund-raiser this weekend, and the event is already sold out at all but the most expensive price points. On the call, Reid Hoffman, a major donor to President Biden and Ms. Harris, made the business case for supporting Ms. Harris ... Donald J. Trump. 'No chaos' was far better for business, he said. Other chief executives of major companies he has spoken to agreed, he added.... In total, the group received pledges of roughly $135,000 for the Harris campaign." ~~~
~~~ Marie: Say what? $135K?? That's not even lunch money for this gang.
So Unfaaair. Josh Dawsey & Michael Scherer of the Washington Post: "As staffers and allies gathered at the GOP nominating convention in Milwaukee last month, some privately discussed what administration jobs certain people wanted -- and predicted a landslide election.... Trump now finds himself back in a dead-even contest and with new signs of strain in his orbit. In the face of new Democratic momentum, he has grown increasingly upset about [Vice President] Harris's surging poll numbers and media coverage since replacing [President] Biden on the ticket, complaining relentlessly and asking friends about how his campaign is performing.... 'I's unfair that I beat him and now I have to beat her, too,' Trump told an ally in a phone call last weekend....
"Since the June 27 debate, Trump has held eight campaign rallies, besides his nominating convention, including events in Minnesota, Florida and Virginia, all outside the main battleground map. Harris will visit six states this week. Beyond interviews, the only event Trump has scheduled is a rally in Montana, a state where he is almost certain to win by double digits." ~~~
~~~ Marie: As Lawrence O'Donnell said Wednesday, there was no evidence Trump even got out of bed yesterday. Meanwhile, Harris & Walz held large rallies in two battleground states Wednesday: Wisconsin & Michigan. Montana, BTW, has four, count 'em 4, Electoral College votes. The state last sent Democratic electors to college in 1992. Anyhoo, my guess is that Trump is too old and tired to handle a "normal" campaign schedule, but Democratic strategist Simon Rosenberg has another plausible explanation: "... After his disastrous week last week, where he repeatedly embarrassed himself, his campaign has taken him off the trail. His campaign knows."
Shane O'Neill & Taylor Lorenz of the Washington Post: "On Tuesday night, following his first public appearance as Vice President Kamala Harris's running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz posted a photo of himself wearing the just-released'Harris-Walz Camo Hat.' The official campaign merch was modeled after the cap Walz wore in a video circulated by the Harris campaign, in which he accepted Harris's offer to be her running mate. According to the campaign, it sold out of its initial inventory of 3,000 hats within 30 minutes -- with camo-hat sales totaling nearly $1 million Tuesday via its online store. As governor of Minnesota, Walz has advocated for stricter gun-control laws and signed a bill that included universal background checks and a red-flag law. But he is also an avid hunter who has boasted about being a good shot. 'That's what JD Vance's shtick is, talking about guns,' Walz told Anderson Cooper last month. 'I guarantee you he can&'t shoot pheasants like I can.'... Randy Kozuch ... of the NRA Institute for Legislative Action, wrote via email that 'a camo hat can't camouflage the fact that Kamala Harris and Tim Walz are gun-grabbing radicals who support confiscating firearms from law-abiding hunters and gun owners.'"
Reid Epstein, et al., of the New York Times write that Tim Walz is a calculating politician: After the 2022 midterm elections, Tim &"Walz and his aides crafted a strategy to inject him into the national political conversation.... They would build his profile, one state party dinner and cable news appearance at a time. And few Democratic politicians, officials or members of the party faithful would see them coming because they would do it in a way that was, above all, Minnesota Nice. Their plan exploded into the public consciousness over a turbulent two weeks. Mr. Walz transformed from a little-known governor of a blue state to one of his party's most prominent and powerful messengers.... Mr. Walz also relied on a skill he had refined over a career in the classroom and a conservative congressional district: being pleasantly agreeable." MB: Sorry, NYT. All this sounds pretty normal: you know, a politician promoting his brand and being pleasant. But, sure, I can see that "pleasantly agreeable" is the sort of scandalous behavior you might want to highlight on the front page of the paper of record.
Vance Swift-Boats Walz. Michael Bender & Thomas Gibbons-Neff of the New York Times: "Senator JD Vance of Ohio accused Gov. Tim Walz of Minnesota on Wednesday of quitting the Army National Guard two decades ago to avoid being deployed to Iraq and of exaggerating his service record to claim falsely that he had served in combat.... Mr. Vance said Mr. Walz had effectively deserted his fellow soldiers to avoid serving in Iraq because he retired from the National Guard in May 2005, several months before his artillery unit received orders to deploy there.... Mr. Vance based his accusations on a Facebook post from 2018, and a paid letter to the editor to The West Central Tribune that same year in which the writers, Thomas Behrends and Paul Herr, both retired command sergeant majors in the Minnesota National Guard, accused Mr. Walz of 'conveniently retiring a year before his battalion was deployed to Iraq.' But Joseph Eustice, a 32-year veteran of the national guard who led the same battalion as Mr. Walz and served under him, said in an interview on Wednesday that the governor was a dependable soldier and that the attacks by his fellow comrades were unfounded....
"Mr. Vance's comments were also reminiscent of the 'Swift boat' attacks in 2004 that effectively cast doubt on the military exploits of Senator John Kerry, then the Democratic presidential nominee. A key strategist behind those attacks, which helped doom Mr. Kerry's bid for the White House, was Chris LaCivita, who is a senior strategist for the Trump campaign." ~~~
~~~ "Privileging the Lie." Jamison Foser on Finding Gravity: "Tim Walz 'enlisted Army National Guard in Nebraska in 1981 and retired honorably in 2005,' according to his military records. Months after Tim Walz retired from the Army National Guard in 2005, his unit received orders to deploy to Iraq. But now JD Vance is lying about Tim Walz' military service, falsely claiming 'When Tim Walz was asked by his country to go to Iraq, you know what he did? He dropped out of the Army and allowed his unit to go without him.' Again, this is false, as CNN explains: 'Walz retired from the Army National Guard in May 2005, according to the Minnesota National Guard. Typically, service members need to submit papers several months before they can retire. A National Guard article on his unit's deployment states that it received alert orders to deploy to Iraq in July 2005, two months after Walz retired....' This is an extremely simple situation: JD Vance is lying about the military service of a fellow veteran for political gain. The story is extremely simple, and extremely important -- and it is a story about JD Vance being a liar. Journalists have a responsibility to tell that story, the story about JD Vance smearing a fellow veteran.... Predictably, Vance and Trump are already getting a helping hand from the news media, which is privileging their lies. The New York Times, for example, leads with Vance's false accusation, not with the truth[.]... The first seven paragraphs of the New York Times article are devoted to recounting Vance's false claims -- without once even hinting at their falsity." Emphasis added. ~~~
~~~ Alex Henderson of AlterNet publishes more reactions to Vance's attack on Walz's military record.
Marie with news on an Important Election Controversy: So I was hunting down articles about JayDee when I came across a throw-away line that caused me to ask Google, "does JD Vance ..." whereupon Google, in that eerie way it does, finished my question for me: "wear eyeliner". Here's a Times of India post, republished by MSN, that pretty much answered that question for me.
Back When Trump Said Walz Was "Excellent." Lucien Bruggeman & Katherine Faulders of ABC News: "In the hours after Vice President Kamala Harris announced Gov. Tim Walz as her running mate, allies of ... Donald Trump rushed to denigrate the Minnesota Democrat, seizing on criticism of his handling of the riots in the wake of George Floyd's murder in May 2020. 'He allowed rioters to burn down the streets of Minneapolis,' Ohio Sen. JD Vance, the Republican candidate for vice president, said Tuesday. But at the time, Trump expressed support for Walz's handling of the protests, according to a recording of a phone call obtained by ABC News -- telling a group of governors that Walz 'dominated,' and praising his leadership as an example for other states to follow. 'I know Gov. Walz is on the phone, and we spoke, and I fully agree with the way he handled it the last couple of days,' Trump told a group of governors on June 1, 2020, according to a recording of the call, in which he also called Walz an 'excellent guy.' 'I was very happy with the last couple of days, Tim,' Trump continued. 'You called up big numbers and the big numbers knocked them out so fast it was like bowling pins.'" MB: I sure hope the Guard didn't "knock out protesters like bowling pins."
Brett Samuels of the Hill: "Former President Trump said Wednesday he'll debate Vice President Harris in the near future, suggesting the two sides could reach an agreement after Trump backed out of a planned ABC News debate. 'I hear she's sort of a nasty person, but not a good debater,' Trump said on Fox News's 'Fox and Friends.' 'But we'll see because we'll be debating her I guess in the pretty near future.... It's going to be announced fairly soon. But we'll be debating her. I would like to see it on Fox, by the way,' the former president added. Trump indicated that other networks, such as NBC and CBS, have also been lobbying to host the event. 'I want to debate her. I think it's important for the country that we debate,' the GOP nominee said. 'Now where it is, I'm all for Fox. I think Fox would do a really good job. But two people have to agree.'" (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Marie: That's super. The other day Trump said that he had "agreed" to a debate. Well, he hadn't agreed with Harris, because she said no. And he hadn't agreed with Fox, as Akhilleus pointed out, because the debate wasn't supposed to be between the Republican nominee/felon and the network that sponsors him. Besides, it wasn't clear that even Fox had "agreed" to host the debate Trump said he had agreed to. So now someone appears to have successfully explained to the fake author of "The Art of the Deal" (at least till he forgets) that "two people have to agree" to make an agreement/deal/contract.
Kevin Manahan of New Jersey Online: "As Democratic presidential nominee and Vice President Kamala Harris introduced her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, at a fiery campaign rally in a packed arena in Philadelphia on Tuesday..., Donald Trump was melting down on Truth Social. The GOP's nominee posted arguably his craziest social media rant -- a wacked-out fantasy that President Joe Biden would change his mind about stepping out of the race and demand the nomination back.... 'What are the chances that Crooked Joe Biden, the WORST president in the history of the US, whose presidency was unconstitutionally STOLEN from him by Kamabla [and others]..., CRASHES the Democrat National Convention and tries to take back the nomination, beginning with challenging me to another DEBATE....' [Trump wrote.] ... Reaction to Trump's cringy post was swift and widespread...: Was 'Kamabla' a typo? A new nickname? A racist play?... George Conway, an attorney who once worked for Republicans and former husband of Trump ex-spokesperson Kellyanne Conway, tweeted a question to Trump's campaign staff and his children: 'Are you guys gonna get this guy the help he so obviously needs, or are you all just there to cash his checks?'"
Yes, Trump & Project 2025 Are Joined at the Hip. Isaac Arnsdorf, et al., of the Washington Post: "... Donald Trump has repeatedly denied knowing about the Project 2025 policy blueprint or the people behind it.... But in April 2022, Trump shared a 45-minute private flight with Heritage Foundation President Kevin Roberts. They flew together to a Heritage conference where Trump delivered a keynote address that gestured to Heritage's forthcoming policy proposals. 'They're going to lay the groundwork and detail plans for exactly what our movement will do,' Trump said in the speech. Separately, Roberts told The Washington Post in an interview in April of this year that he had previously discussed Project 2025 with Trump as part of offering briefings to all presidential candidates.... Trump campaign spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt said Roberts never briefed Trump." MB: So who you gonna believe? In fairness. Trump's plans are worse than Project 2025's recommendations. ~~~
~~~ Madeline Peltz of Media Matters: Heritage Foundation President Kevin Roberts' book will be published after the November elections, according to a report from Real Clear Politics. This comes after backlash against the Heritage-led initiative Project 2025, which aims to provide policy and personnel to the next Republican presidential administration.... Project 2025 has deep ties to ... Donald Trump and his running mate Sen. JD Vance (R-OH). Vance wrote the foreword to the now-delayed Dawn's Early Light..., calling Roberts' ideas an 'essential weapon' in the 'fights that lay ahead.'... Media Matters has obtained a galley copy of the book. A review found Roberts rails against birth control, in vitro fertilization, abortion, and dog parks. He says that having children should not be considered an 'optional individual choice' but 'a social expectation or a transcendent gift,' and describes 'contraceptive technologies' as 'revolutionary inventions that shape American culture away from abundance, marriage, and family.' He labels reproductive choice methods as a 'snake strangling the American family."
Trisha Thadani of the Washington Post: "Prominent X accounts advocating for Vice President Kamala Harris have been labeled as spam or restricted in recent weeks, triggering alarm among some Democrats that Elon Musk's social media platform is tilted in favor of his chosen candidate..., Donald Trump. Only a handful of pro-Harris accounts, including one called 'White Dudes for Harris,' appear to have been affected. But the recurring issues are raising questions about whether Musk's platform is intentionally censoring the pages, or if the deep staff cuts he made after buying the company in 2022 have left the platform ill-equipped for the surge in political speech ahead of the Nov. 5 election. Musk's recent posts on X -- which have actively courted support for Trump and amplified a manipulated video of Harris -- highlight the potential risks of having the owner of a major platform openly champion a presidential candidate."
Yvonne Sanchez of the Washington Post: "An Arizona grand jury that indicted 18 Donald Trump allies this spring for their role in efforts to overturn the 2020 election had expressed interest in possible charges against the former president, according to a legal motion filed this week by state prosecutors.... The interest prompted the Arizona case's lead prosecutor to give a PowerPoint presentation and request that jurors not indict Trump, according to the motion. Nicholas Klingerman, assistant attorney general for the Arizona attorney general's criminal division, cited a rule about prosecuting someone for the same crime twice as well as a lack of evidence.... Trump was not indicted but was described as an unindicted co-conspirator." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Fake Elector Cops a Plea. Kyle Cheney of Politico: 'An Arizona Republican who falsely claimed to be a legitimate presidential elector for ... Donald Trump ... has pleaded guilty for her role in the scheme. Lorraine Pellegrino, one of 11 Arizona Republicans who falsely posed as Trump's electors that year, accepted a guilty plea to a single charge for filing a 'false instrument' -- the fraudulent Electoral College certificate. The state charge was one of several she faced for allegedly joining in a conspiracy to corrupt Arizona's election results.... Pellegrino's plea deal is the second victory in the Arizona case in as many days for [Arizona Attorney General Kris] Mayes, a Democrat. Another one of the 18 defendants, former Trump campaign attorney Jenna Ellis, began cooperating with prosecutors this week in exchange for a deal to dismiss the charges she faced. Ellis similarly cooperated with prosecutors last year in the Georgia case." (Also linked yesterday.)
~~~~~~~~~~
Austria
Zahid Mahmoud, et al., of CNN: "Organizers have canceled three Taylor Swift concerts in Austria after authorities said they foiled a terror attack planned for the Vienna leg of her blockbuster Eras tour. The extraordinary decision -- which could come at significant cost to Vienna's businesses -- has devastated fans and renewed focus on the vulnerability of huge concerts as soft targets for terror networks and spree killers." ~~~
~~~ Sarah Nir & Christopher Schuetze of the New York Times: "Less than 24 hours after the arrest of two teenagers who the Austrian authorities say planned to attack a Taylor Swift concert in Vienna, security officials outlined a picture of an Islamic State-inspired assault designed to kill as many people as possible.... Searching the [main suspect's] home, where he lived with his parents, the police found explosives, timers, machetes and knives, Franz Ruf [-- head of public safety --] said."
Great Britain
William Booth & Karla Adam of the Washington Post: "Faced with a week-long wave of widespread violence and rioting by people authorities describe as far-right 'thugs,' British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and the police have been struggling to end some of the worst civil unrest here in more than a decade. On Wednesday night, something unexpected happened. Thousands of counterdemonstrators poured into the streets of a dozen English cities to denounce racism and to protect refugee centers, law offices and other sites that had appeared on an online 'target list' for anti-immigrant protests. Video of a gathering in west London's Brentford neighborhood showed a large crowd chanting 'This is what community looks like,' as police looked on from a distance. People shouted 'No to racism' in Harrow. In Southhampton, a dozen anti-immigration protesters showed up, to be confronted by hundreds of counterprotesters who bellowed 'Racists go home.'... For the most part, the counterdemonstrators appeared to outnumber the agitators. And, for one night at least, they helped stop the violence."
Billionaire Know-It-All Pisses off British PM. Eshe Nelson of the New York Times: "As he tries to quell violent outbreaks across Britain, Prime Minister Keir Starmer is also embroiled in a war of words with Elon Musk.... Over the past few days, Mr. Musk has posted incendiary comments and shared memes and videos about the riots in Britain to his more than 193 million followers on X. Violence has flared in towns across the country over the past week amid widespread misinformation after a deadly stabbing attack in Southport, England, last week, in which three girls died at a dance class. 'Civil war is inevitable,' Mr. Musk posted on X on Sunday in response to a video that showed small fires in the streets, fireworks being set off and rioters confronting the police.A spokesperson for Mr. Starmer said there was 'no justification' for Mr. Musk's comments. Since then, Mr. Musk has continued to post comments directed at the prime minister.... The comments fit a wider effort by Mr. Musk to influence politics in several countries, including the United States, Italy and Venezuela, and at times sow discontent." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Andrew McDonald of Politico: "Amid an ongoing feud with the British government about unrest on the country's streets, [Elon Musk,] the billionaire X owner boosted, and then deleted, an entirely-manufactured news headline Thursday pushed by a far-right political party. Musk shared a fake headline -- purporting to be from the Telegraph newspaper -- that said U.K. PM Keir Starmer is 'considering building "emergency detainment camps" on the Falkland Islands' to house far-right rioters arrested in the country's round of race riots. A cursory Google search for the headline would have quickly proved that it isn't real.... Musk shared the image posted by Ashlea Simon, the co-leader of Britain First. It's a fringe faright party in the U.K. known for its 'invasions' of mosques and the time its senior figures have spent in jail for religiously aggravated harassment. Though Musk deleted the tweet within an hour, he is yet to acknowledge the move. According to one U.K. journalist, the tweet was seen by almost two million people before it was deleted."
News Lede
Washington Post: "Tropical Storm Debby moved ashore once again early Thursday, its center appearing to make landfall near South Carolina's Bulls Bay. The tropical storm, which has already dropped 15 to 20 inches of rain in spots this week, is now poised to lumber through the Carolinas on Thursday, bringing more torrents and flooding. Between Thursday night and early Saturday, the storm will gain speed, sweeping from Virginia to Vermont, where it could also produce 'considerable flooding,' the National Hurricane Center said." This is a liveblog. ~~~
~~~ The New York Times' live updates are here.
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Reader Comments (17)
Just wondering how long the corporate media will help the Trump-Vance lie machine in propagating their Swift Boat attempt to smear a veteran.
I’m gonna say at least a month, or until the PoT can concoct a juicier lie-shiny object to hypnotize “journalists”. Also wondering if the outlets (lookin’ at you, NY Times) will print a correction to the lie they’re helping to roll out. And if they do, will it be in the form of “Gov. Walz “claims” he put in for retirement months before his unit deployed”, and if so, will it be on page 52, underneath the obits.
Alexandra Petri
"Tim Walz unleashes hell on Earth"
Foreign Policy
"The world has a lot to lose from a second Trump presidency
The foreign policy stakes of this year's election are high."
For those wondering if Trump is too old and pooped, or really sick: Just check his golf schedule. If he's too old and infirm to take three steps out of his golf buggy to knock his TopFlite up range the man is in serious condition.
Weird, liar, or both.
If you might be wondering what people in the VC “hillbilly’s” home state think about him, I direct you to the Columbus Dispatch.
Shady Vance has been riling up the MAGAts with tales of how those horrible Democrats want to put a whole pile of sexually explicit books into “toddler’s libraries”.
Okay, first things first. Most toddlers don’t read. And even if they did, they’re not the ones hitting the bookstores hunting down salacious reading material.
So…if a sexually explicit book—oh, sorry…BOOKS, cuz there are so many of these porn 4 kids tomes infecting toddler libraries—ends up being read to the kiddies, it’s the parents who are responsible. But let’s not let logic get in the way of a steaming pile of shady bullshit.
Anyway, upon hearing that Vance (the Couch Molester) is in possession of this list of sex books, a librarian tried to see if she could take a peek at this litany of licentious Democratic horrors.
“I tried to contact Vance at his five different offices, as well contacting the Republican National Committee, Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, Ohio Speaker of the House Jason Stephens, Ohio Assistant Majority Floor Leader Jon Cross, and Ohio Sen. President Matt Huffman, to ask where I might find this list of dangerous books.
Oddly, I have yet to hear back from any of their offices. I was, however, able to speak directly with an intern in one of Senator Vance’s offices, who stated that he didn’t think such a list of books actually existed. I was shocked. If no such book list exists, does that mean Senator Vance might have been exaggerating?“
Gee…no such list exists.
So not exaggerating, just out and out lying.
Weird AND a liar.
Because of course. He’s connected to the Biggest Liar.
No doubt pissed about reports of him being low energy and too tuckered out to do much campaigning, the Decrepit Douchebag is holding a press conference today.
At Marred a Lardo,
No word yet on whether he’ll be doing the presser from his bed still in his nightie with Dorito crumbs scattered over the covers or whether he’ll be propped up, wearing his usual XXXL, ill fitting blue suit and mile long red tie.
Poor Donnie. So tired. Can’t they just give him the presidency? So unfaaaair!
@Akhilleus: I recall that when my younger siblings were toddlers, my parents got them some "soft" books that had pages made of cloth. Even if these fabric books had a more sensual texture than a paper book, I don't recall that the subject matter veered anywhere near porn 4 kids.
BUT. Don't you suppose it could be that there's a subliminal relationship between JayDee's toddler's libraries and his affection for fabric-covered couches?
Does anybody know why Trump is in Mar-a-Lardo in August? Even in a nice place like Palm Beach, where you're likely to catch an afternoon breeze (especially when Hurricane Debby is passing by!), Florida is not where a person wants to be, especially a person who has multiple homes in cooler climes on both sides of the Atlantic.
It could be Trump is just hiding out from a New Jersey process server or something like that, but I suspect he is in Florida for a medical reason. Maybe it's just for cosmetic surgery; maybe for something more serious. (South Florida is loaded with top surgeons and other medicos for your common geriatric needs.) Whatever reason for Trump's out-of-season sojourn, it is certainly something out of the ordinary.
The New Yolk Times sucks eggs, hence Yolk... They do this skirting of lies as a regular thing-- not any better than the Natl. Inquirer. Disgusting how they are defaming Walz.
Maybe Mango Monster is in Florida to have a new wound put in his ear so he can go on whining all fall. Just a little cut and I'm sure his doctors would know how to have a reeeeally good scar to show.
The crowd sizes for "Kamabla" and "Stolen Valor" Walz must be driving MM insane. Insane-er. He has obsessed about that from the escalator when he hired followers, and then lied endlessly about his crowd size on the National Mall, when we could all see the empty bleachers and the aerial shots... This is all so pathetic, if it weren't so scary and infuriating...we should all feel badly for the poor schmuck.../s
Maybe DiJiT has to stay in FL for x many days to establish his tax residency for the year. I.e. no tax in FL and avoiding tax in NJ & NY. He can hide his paper, but anyone can count his days in residence.
Whatever. It has to do with money. In some way.
Where's Melanie? We haven't seen or heard hide nor hare from
the former first lady for a long, long time.
Oh, maybe she's working on new Christmas decorations for a
future stay in the White House. I just loooove those black trees, so
Christiany.
@Patrick: You're right. To maintain Florida residency, one of the requirements is to be in residence for more than half the year (183 days). I speak from personal experience. You also have to vote there, hold a Fla. driver's license, file for Fla. homestead exemption and register your vehicles there (or at least not do these things in another state). I did all that to keep my Fla. property taxes down. (It made a huge difference).
But Trump may have other financial reasons, as you say. For one thing, Florida has generous bankruptcy laws.
Anyone have any thoughts, information, citations regarding a possible link between the Right's natalism and the Supremes' Dodd decision and the hints that have leaked about some of its kooks might like to ban contraceptives...
Vance's voting record
President Joe Biden points out that you can’t love your country only when you win, referring to the very real probability that Trump will trigger a bloodbath if he doesn’t get his way.
A good point. But this statement infers that Trump would love America if he wins. This is a logical fallacy, or more to the point, a logical impossibility.
Fatty does not love America. Even when he wins. In fact, he hated the essence of Americanism, the ideas of equality and justice under the law.
He loves himself, money, power, and sycophantic submission to his every infantile whim.
Even if he wins he will hate America.
Harris and Walz have quite the response to Trump's presser today.
"Donald Trump’s Very Good, Very Normal Press Conference
Split Screen: Joy and Freedom vs. Whatever the Hell That Was"
Here's mediaite if the other doesn't work.
I was recovering on the couch from nothing in particular last night when Lawrence came on. My lord. The man was LIT. He was sparking up the room. He was furious. Well, we all know that he cannot bear the Mango Monster-- he has been hating him for as long as I have been watching, and he was patiently recommending that MM be put in prison years ago. He was sure Mueller could do it. And on and on...Last night he was fizzing with anger at THE PRESS. He said they asked softball stupid questions and fully understood they would get NO answers. As they did. He said MM can't speak, can't think, can't anything. So the question becomes: if the press can't figure out what to do with this charleton, how the hell can we? So furious at the "presser" that Stupid Pigman called... I did not see the presser. Apparently, it was broadcast instead of one of Kamala's/Tim's rallies attended by thousands of people.
I completely agree that headline writers should be shipped to Mongolia. They are just as bad as the worms in the press corps.